Day 152

It brightened my day when:

J: I met the nice lady who took our neighbor's ironing board from us
K: H was so excited after his hockey session
P: I saw how happy H was after his practice
J: I heard about my morning off on the weekend
H: when the coach told me how well I played tonight

Day 151

It brightened my day when:

J: K took over a lot of household items to our new place
K: our neighbor offered her outdoor protection to keep our boxes secured
P: got to go to school a bit later today
J: didn't have to wake up as early today
H: mommy let me watch a show while she packed

Day 150

It brightened my day when:

J: the terminal students had a good time at our end of year celebration
K: the kids in the library were well-behaved (most of them)
P: my teacher told me I did a great job
J: my brother's friends noticed I had a new hairstyle
H: my teacher let me stay with mommy in the library during our recre

Day 149

It brightened my day when:

J: the kids helped out with the yard pick up
K: Pat so kindly made a call in French for me
P: K ordered the book for me that I needed for school
J: K ordered "Outsiders" for me so I could do my book report on one of her favorite books
H: mommy told me there was no-school today because it was a holiday

Day 148

It brightened my day when:

J: K made crepes for the family
K: the kids played so well together today
P: H was so eager to learn how to throw a baseball properly
J: K saved some crepes out for me even though I slept in so late
H: mommy let me have as many crepes as I wanted

Day 147

It brightened my day when:

J: P's friend asked him to come help out with his project
K: the neighbor said she made it home safe during the storm
P: J took me to my friend's party and then drove me to my other friend's to work on our project
J: H and I sang "kumbaya" in the living room during the storm and in the dark with no electricity
H: the electricity came back on

Day 146

It brightened my day when:

J: a big tray of cakes (courtesy of some Board parents) was left upstairs in our officeK: Cecilia made the most delish carrot cake and shared it with the entire fam
P: H's teacher was happy with how I was working with the "jeu de societe" group
J: my friends and I started a water fight
H: P was able to lead my group at school for the "jeu de societe"

Day 145

It brightened my day when:

J: I found out my buddy passed his bar exam
K: Sean finished his play and it was such a great success-everyone loved it
P: Vlad, a parent a H's school who is from the Czech Republic, started talking to me a about hockey
J: I got to go to my friend Lauren's house before the school play
H: daddy was able to take me to both my hockey lesson and Sean's play

Day 144

It brightened my day when:

J: a student told me that they wanted to make me proud by doing well on her mock oral exams
K: J jumped up right away to come help clean up my accidental spill onto the dining room table!
P: I was able to ride the public bus to school with my good bud
J:  my friend asked me to come to her house tomorrow before we go to the school play
H: I got to watch an extra movie because the library had it and we checked it out

Day 143

It brightened my day when:

J:  Sean and I worked out a way to switch our classes later this week
K: two little girls in the petit section came running over to me so they could each take my hand while we walked to the library
P: daddy brought me down some cough drops when he heard me coughing
J: as I was walking to a class I saw D and she said a big "hello" to me
H: J brought home a huge bag of hand-me-down clothes from Lucas--I love them

Day 142

It brightened my day when:

J: a colleague and friend asked about my thesis -- and really seemed interested in how it was going
K: Steph was so kind to bring over delicious tofu for lunch and take a few bags of hand-me downs from us so we didn't have to pack them up!
P: my EDD teacher gave me a little nod as we passed each other at school today
J: our PE teacher let us play a game of handball with the 9th graders and I was on my friend's team
H: one of P's friends gave me some high five's at hockey practice tonight

Day 141

It brightened my day when:

J:  J's friend brought a small treat when she came over to work on a school project
K: H's friend's mom came to pick up her son -- and was appreciative of the favor we had done for her
P: H's friend gave him a Wii remote because he didn't have one
J: my friends got to come over to the house to work on an English project
H: K played so much with me and my friend

Day 140

It brightened my day when:

J: my French Bread Pizzas were a hit with all the kids in our house (our own and others)
K: H's friend asked if I could read him a book -- even though he knew it would be in "my" French
P: a frirend's dad gave me a chair when I was at a birthday party
J: my friends and I played at a birthday party
H: I got to watch a bit of soccer in the evening with J and P

Day 139

It brightened my day when:

J: H's friend was happy to be back "home" (our house for the weekend) after his gym and sax lesson
K: H's friend really enjoyed our Mexican-themed meal
P: I got a nice compliment from my teacher
J: I realized that our Rugby class was actually pretty fun
H:  I got to play all day with my friend

Day 138

It brightened my day when:

J: our neighbor was so happy we were able to help her with some yardwork
K: J did some mowing for our neighbor on his "day off"
P: J let me help mow for a bit -- with a huge mower!!
J: I was able to make chocolate chip cookies because my aunt brought real chocolate chips from the US
H: I found out my school is taking the 'pont' tomorrow

Day 137

It brightened my day when:

J: my friend S said how relaxing it was to just hang around our house
K: Mathias asked me to read to him in French even though he knows how horrible my accent is!
P: my teacher gave me the option to do my expose myself or wait for my partner to return to school--she was very encouraging, telling me she knew I could do it if I wanted
J: H's old teacher saw me and said Hi to me
H: Mathias came to stay with us for a couple of days

Day 136

It brightened my day when:

J: the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles was so helpful and friendly when I called them this evening
K: our neighbor did a big mow for us
P: everyone was so helpful to our friend who was not feeling well on our bus trip today
J: the tour guides were so friendly on our field trip today.  It was sooooo fun.
H: a man helped him into the car and shut the door for him

Day 135

It brightened my day when:

J: a colleage was so eager to tell me about his trip to the U.S. during the vacation
K: H came up to me and gave me a huge hug for absolutely no reason
P: the coach gave me a little wink before practice
J: the surveillante asked me if I got a haircut and then said she really liked it
H: K gave me a little ice cream

Day 134

It brightened my day when:

J: K brought me some toast with jam on it in the morning
K: I heard P singing in the shower
P: my friends asked me to go play at the ferme with them
J: K let me have some of the candy Teet's brought me
H: mommy read me my story

Day 133

It brightened my day when:

J:  the parents of H's hockey team all gave me a collective 'désolé' when I got the the locker room this morning.  I needed it after the Capitals loss in the NHL playoffs last night.
K: the kids seemed to thrilled to get their gold medals
P: the Brno, Czech hockey coach gave all the opposing players a little helmet tap after the game
J: one of the parents at the tournament made a few jokes with me
H: the coach put a gold medal around my neck after the hockey tournament

Day 132

It brightened my day when:

J: our hockey tournament was so well organized by the local team
K: J made a call to a friend of mine to help me understand the French
P: a mom at the hockey rink offered me a huge plate of pasta even though I wasn't one of the participants
J: the nice lady at the hair salon offered us 2 free shampoos to give to our neighbor because she loves the product
H: my coach said "good play

Day 131

It brightened my day when:

J: J and K brought dinner out to the table by the pool this evening
K: J put gas in my car
P: a girl in my class took the "blame" for talking in class so that others wouldn't get in trouble
J: K brought my shoe to me before PE class that I forgot at home
H: K told me she was going to pick me up for lunch on tuesday and I didn't have to stay at school

Day 130

It brightened my day when:

J: I got yet another email from my "Canadian" friend regarding the nhl playoffs
K: I recieved a incredibly nice email from the mother of a girl I am helping with English
P: the woman at the boulangerie was so nice and helpful when my friends and I went up to the Place Bermond at lunchtime
J: Madame LeRoy was so helpful when I asked her about getting another locker
H: my friend Quentin said "nice block" while we were playing soccer today.

Day 129

It brightened my day when:

J: my whole family (including my dad, brother, and sister) shared a great pizza dinner -- our last dinner before they return back to the States.
K: H asked me to play a little baseball with him -- and we had some great throws and catches
P: J helped me get a hold of a friend using his phone (I didn't have mine)
J: J brought me back some cute pink shoe laces from Decathlon
H: G-pop played football with me for a long time.

Day 128

It brightened my day when:

J: P and J spent some time in the car studying "aloud" for their Latin test.
K: P, J and H got along so well in the car trip today and worked so well together
P: the street musician in Avignon was so appreciative of the money I put in his hat
J: a guy on a bike rode right toward me in the main square in Avignon -- then turned at the very last second (and smiled to me)
H: uncle J played basketball with me!

Day 127

It brightened my day when:

J: a collegue said he was looking forward to seeing P and J in class
K: all the kids woke up for school so well after our two-week spring vacation
P: K brought me my sports shoes -- which I had forgotten at home
J: my friend told me she like my haircut
H: I got my "medal" for playing in a hockey tournament.

Day 126

It brightened my day when:

J: K decided to do a bit of exercise with me (seriously!)
K: it looked as if I caught a 'lice infestation' before the lice actually hatched (fingers crossed)
P: K gave me a great haircut
J: K helped me style my hair a bunch of ways after a haircut
H: K gave me a haircut and got some of the hair out of my eyes

Day 125

It brightened my day when:

J:  K, J, and my sister walked in the door with the some great food items for dinner
K:  I learned a bit about the owner of a great pottery shop I went to this afternoon
P: my sister let me have the last Schwepps because she knew I wanted it
J: I got to go shopping with K and my aunt
H: I scored lacrosse goals against my dad

Day 124

It brightened my day when:

J: the waitress at the pizzaria in Italy suggested we go to the place next door because it had a bigger menu (the place where we originally went had a problem with their kitchen so many items weren't available -- including pizza)
K: the owner of the small cafe in Dolceacqua began talking to H and asking if his ice cream was good
P: the lady at the cafe understood me when I ordered my ice cream in Italian
J: we were able to stop at Lidl in Italy to get my favorite drink
H: the gnocchi I ordered was soooooo good.

Day 123

It brightened my day when:

J: I saw a couple of my students while hanging out in Nice
K: I saw how excited H was to have his grandpa, aunt and uncle see his hockey practice
P: my friends asked if I could go paint-balling with them (even though I couldn't go)
K: I had a pizza with my dad's sister
H: my dad's family got to come to my hockey practice

Day 122

It brightened my day when:

J: my good friend (and colleague) made some pretty funny jokes with my dad, brother, and sister
K: I spoke a bit with the woman at the sandwich shop in Antibes
P: H had fun playing lacrosse with me
J: I say how happy and cheerful the lady at the sandwich shop was
H: when uncle J played so much with me today

Day 121

It brightened my day when:

J: my ice cream dessert (made by Julia) had rainbow sprinkles on top
K: our village boulangerie was open -- even though it is a holiday
P: the tour guide asked me to translate from French to English for my grandpa, aunt, and uncle
J: I realized my aunt C slept in as long as I did this morning
H: uncle J played goalie so I could take shots at him