HTAD (Head Teacher Appreciation Day)

Let me tell you about a holiday that I had no idea existed. It's called Head Teacher Appreciation Day! Let me tell you something. I feel appreciated. Story time!

Susan and I were invited to spend the night with Kelly (our coordinator). We didn't know what we were going to do, but we knew that we were supposed to dress nice. So, Susan and I dressed up and got all fancy and we met Kelly at the school gate at 5:00. She then drove us to this restaurant about 5 minutes away. We didn't really think this was unusual because we go out to eat with her sometimes. But, we went inside the restaurant and guess what happened? Lots of our teachers all jumped out and yelled "surprise"! Understand that I had NO IDEA that this was going to happen. I was absolutely speechless. Then, Susan and I were bombarded with hugs and lots of "I love you!"s.

To make the night even cooler, we ate delicious Korean food and at the end of the meal, all of our teachers went around and said something nice about Susan and I. Of course I cried. Okay, I bawled. What really did it in was when Kelly spoke and said that we were her favorite and most hard working head teachers in the 8 semesters that she's worked with ILP. She then said "I will love you two forever". Okay, I'm getting weepy just remembering it, it was that touching. She's incredible. Apparently she and our teachers planned this whole surprise party for Susan and I just to tell us that they loved us and appreciated us. All of the teachers said the nicest things to us as well. It was just an incredible night.

To make things even better, we all went to a mystery location and I didn't figure out that it was a massage place until I saw the chairs! I never would have gone to get a massage if I was left to my own devices, but Kelly was insistent that Susan and I have some time to relax.

The massage was the furthest thing from relaxing. It. Hurt. So. Bad.

But it felt so good.

Curious.

I also got what is called "cupping" on my back just to say that I did it. This morning I have 14 circular bruises on my back that are pretty rocking.

To make the whole night really over the top was my teachers later showed me a photo collage that they put together for us. How sweet can they be???

In conclusion, I am so incredibly blessed. I had such a hard week this last week and I remember praying for things to be better. I had been so stressed and I felt like no one really noticed how hard Susan and I were working. However, they did notice and they were so sweet in planning that whole night for the two of us. I am so thankful for them. I'll brag and say that they're the best ILP teachers ever. Ever.