And then I burnt a cake DURING my evaluation, maybe I garnered some sympathy points. ;)

Day 72:

Today was the first half of my language evaluation.  It is not a test, I repeat it is not a test.  I am repeating that for my own benefit.  These evaluations are a way to gauge our progress and help us re-work the plan and get feedback/suggestions on how to move forward.  It's still stressful because no matter how you slice it, there's going to be constructive criticism and feedback about what you are saying incorrectly. I've never been great at accepting criticism of any kind, I'm over sensitive if you will, but I will say, no matter how it feels in the moment, I am fully capable of using the information and doing my best to improve.  I remember in college there was a particular child at the pre-school where I was interning, he was such a challenge, 2 years old and I kept telling him "no" instead of re-directing him. Beyond that, I think my body language and intonation were probably noticeable.  I received some feedback that was hard to hear, but I went home thought it over and decided that instead of shying away from that child and letting someone else "deal" with him, I'd take the opportunity to learn from it.  That's what we SHOULD do in these situations!  I'm trying to channel that young idealistic version of myself and make it fit in this context.  No matter how these two days go, no matter how hard the feedback may be, I have to keep my chin up and hit this language head on.  So please be in prayer with me.  I'm typing this and my language helper and my consultant will be here any minute.  If you are reading this within an hour of me posting, please pray!  I'm in the midst!

Love to all of you.  I'll add pics later this afternoon, I just took a few yesterday, but Doug got some of my kiddos!

Update: 
Okay, so on the actual first day, I met my consultant at our Foundation office and we discussed culture. We started at 9, took an hour lunch and finished around 3 pm.  It was exhausting, but good.  I feel like I have a decent handle on culture, as much as any outsider ever really can and considering my limited language abilities.   I'm an observer, and wasn't much of a participant for quite some time since I couldn't really speak. While that's extremely frustrating, it also gave me more time to make sense of the culture here and get a handle on how and when to speak appropriately. Let's face it, if anyone could benefit from that it's definitely me.  I'm the QUEEN of speaking before I think. And I talk really fast, so that can get me into trouble.  I've said more than my fair share of idiotic things in English, so if being delayed in Thai can prevent a few of those blunders, I'll add that to my PROS column. ;)

Almost time!

My survival kit: ice water, granola bars, and a ponytail holder.

On our way to lunch. Notice our matching shirts! I have a feeling my mom my spaz a little about me riding a motor bike, but I did. I even contemplated jumping off at one point, but in the end, I probably wouldn't have been lucky enough to die, and it would have only delayed the inevitable.  (I'm using dark sarcastic humor, I am not really suicidal)

My lunch.  We ate at a market, and of course the way they serve the food and take the money was weird and I ended up looking like an idiot. NICE!

Kora and Kees got to play at the playplace with Daddy during my evaluation. Kora's dress is tucked into her bloomers so she can climb and not get her feet tangled up.  She has gotten so tall and she has bird legs.

Why does Kees look 9?

When I got home, I rested a while and had dinner with our new friends at their place.  When we came home, I had a terrible headache.  I think it was brought on by the weather, it rained all of a sudden and I got nausea and one of the worst headaches I'd had in a while.  So I went to bed and thankfully felt better the next day....

Evaluation Day #2/ Day 73:

We started the evaluation at 8 on Wednesday morning.  I had 4 language tasks to do: introduce myself with descriptions about my family, where I'm from, who I look like, and what they like to do etc.,  playing the questions game I've been doing with Kruu Jeab, give step by step instructions while baking a cake, and then describing our trip next week including why we chose to go to Phuket (Poo ket).  The first and last speaking tasks I had pre-recorded and the middle ones were planned to be done live.  We listened to the first task, then performed the second.  After we played the game, my consultant asked me to have a pretend phone conversations with Kruu Jeab and invite her to a pretend birthday party for Kees the next day.  Then we went to make the cake.

And here's where it gets interesting.  Janna, my consultant had been doing her research and was trying to make sure she gave me language tasks that were ones I was somewhat comfortable with.  That's why she had me make the cake, it's the exact task I'd just done the previous Sunday for the baking class. On the first day of the evaluation, she asked if I had all the ingredients, and I said yes.  I even set everything out before they got there and put them in the order I'd need them.  The problem was, I didn't quite have enough flour, I had 2 cups, but not 2 1/2.  Whoops.  We just made the cake as is, and I'd let you know if the lack of flour mattered, but I have no idea. I forgot the cake in the oven for an extra HOUR!  Yep, nothings says, "I got this!", like being ill prepared and burning a cake.  Thankful the evaluation was not on my baking abilities cause I would have failed. :)

We wrapped up day 2 with just enough time to go and grab lunch.  I remember last month when Doug finished his evaluation and I wanted to take him out to celebrate, but all he wanted to do was take a nap.  Now I know why, evaluation time is one of the most mentally, physically and emotionally draining things I've ever had to go through.  I think we unintentionally build it up in our minds as this make or break day in our lives.  Like, if we don't do well, we've failed, everything we've worked so hard for has turned out a waste.  I know logically that's not true, but emotionally it's hard to convince myself of that in the moment.

Day 2, sorry no more pictures, but I did manage to get my beautiful nails into this picture. Hoping they will look nice until vacation is over.