Two big highlights this past week:

PhD Year 2

Jake started the second year of his Economics PhD program! And like we mentioned before…it’s going to be a crazy busy year for him (and us.) This year, on top of his program coursework, Jake will be a Teaching Assistant (TA)! This means he will need to attend the main lecture of the course he is TA-ing for, teach 2 discussion sections for the course, and host office hours. And also prep and plan his lessons as well as grade tests. It’s only been a couple of days since he’s started school, and we’re already starting to feel overwhelmed. But for now, we’re focusing on taking it one day at a time as we find and settle into a new routine.

Jake is excited to experience being a TA. He really loves economics and he enjoys teaching it too. It is a lot of responsibility, but he’s excited. He even went and scouted out his classroom before the first day. The biggest question on his mind: to use the chalkboard or whiteboard….? lol.

As for Cindy, she’s still trying to grapple with the perspective shift. When she was an undergrad, she was terrified of her TAs. Just like how little kids think their teachers live at school, Cindy also thought her TAs lived at school. jk. But she did think they were more legit than some of them probably were….lol. Anyways, she’s really looking forward to Jake’s teaching adventure.

Circus Themed Birthday Party

The second big highlight of the week was one of Cindy’s best friend’s birthday party! It was a joint birthday celebration with a circus themed costume contest. We dressed up as the strong man and bearded lady. And Cindy won the costume contest! It was held at a VR Arcade place called Two Bit Circus. We had a fun time playing games, hanging out with Cindy’s friend and Cindy’s friend’s friends, and just letting go of the week.

And that’s our week!