I miss this little boy

This little guy is who I spent all summer with...I took this video the weekend before I left for Colorado...just before he turned 2 years old.  Try to guess what his favorite word is!  At least it can be used against him later in life. ; )

Journal from Wednesday

October 19, 2011

            Ah, Wednesdays!  Today my goal was to leave work by 4:30.  I left work laughing because I honestly couldn’t believe what happened after school today.  My students were terrible today.  The whole school had junior achievement all day.  That poor shmuck that got placed in my room not only had to put up with my kids but he also was the only one who didn’t have a teaching partner.

            I had big plans for this day without having to teach.  Did I get anything done? No I didn’t!  My plans for getting ahead came down getting 4 slides done for vocabulary tomorrow.  If only my students didn’t have to constantly be babysat.

            During one of the afternoon sessions I was walking around and noticed one of them kept sticking his head in his sweatshirt and his arms weren’t in his arm holes.  He saw me and put his shirt on right.  Then I noticed that there was something in the front of his jacket.  I asked him what it was.  “Nothing Miss.”  “Boy, I can see there is something in your shirt give it to me.”  He pulls out his PSP.  “Really?  Really?  You are playing video games while we have a guest speaker?”  I wrote him a referral.  No electronics are allowed in school.

            My students aren’t allowed to sit in groups.  I tried it for a week and it was a nightmare!  However, for Junior Achievement they had to be in groups to do the activities.  While they were supposed to be playing a game I have a boy pull me in hall and tell me two other boys are calling him gay.  So I pull them ALL out into the hall to get to the end of it.  Neither will confess, each one says it was the other one.  I’ve got nothing.  I end up splitting up the three boys into different groups.

            I finally get a break from my kids at the end of the day and have a half hour to call a parent so that I can keep one of my students for 15 minutes after school and fill out 25 behavior sheets to send home.  Also I’m expected to sign their certificates for the day.  Not going to happen.  On top of it all it is also one of my students’ birthdays and so there is cake waiting for my horribly behaved students.  This all has to be passed out in the 3 minutes after specials…yeah right!

            I go and pick up my kids.  The mom I had called during specials shows up to talk to me.  As my kids are getting cake I turn around to find 2 of my students smacking each other.  My first fight as a teacher and it occurs in the classroom.  All at once I am ordering kids to sit down.  One of the students that owed me time after class leaves.  I run outside and yell for him to get back here!  A parent is waiting to talk to me.  I have to keep the two fighters apart and fill out two red referrals for fighting.  My two fighters are handling it totally different.  One is bawling and asking if I can give him another chance. I will now refer to him as the crying fighter.  “No I can’t give you another chance!  Punching is not allowed!”  My other one is asking if he can go home.  “NO you cannot go home!  YOU JUST GOT INTO A FIGHT!  Are you serious?!  You aren’t going anywhere!”

            I couldn’t even think there was so much going on around me!  Kate my teammate heard my yelling, came into my room, and asked if there was anything she could do.  I told her just to stand at the door and don’t leave me.  Jesse, another teammate, came in and asked if he could take anyone.  I had him take my crying fighter.  I quickly shooed the rest of the children out of my class so that I could talk to the parent and deal with my fighters.

            I talked to the parent, who only speaks Spanish.  I mostly spoke to the older son who then translated for his mother.  I explained that I had to redirect her son too much during the day so he owed me time.  It’s a standard consequence.  She asked to speak to our assistant principal.  So I walked down with her taking my fleeing fighter with me.  I walked into the office.  My principal is standing there and I hand her the two red referrals.

            She sends my fleeing fighter on his way with directions to report to the office in the morning for in school suspension. (This was his second fight in 2 days.  YIKES!)  I begin to cry out of frustration and being just plain overwhelmed by what just occurred in my classroom and now in the office.

In the mean time the mother I had talked to and my assistant principal walk into the office.  My vice principal explains that the mother wants her son to be moved to a different class.  There have been about 10 request from students and parents in my class for this already.  My principal will not budge on this issue.  They are just going to have to put up with me, whether they like it or not. 

The mother claims her son has not had behavior problems until now.  My principal tells her that’s a lie and he was sent back to Central from another school because he was too much a behavior issue.  I go through the day with this boy as my principal counts how many redirections I had to give him…we get to twelve.  Finally the parents admit they need help with him and we end the meeting by signing him up for counseling.

In the meantime my fleeing fighter and his grandmother appear outside of the office waiting their turn for a chance at me.  Begin round two!  So grandma and grandson come in.  Grandma points her finger at me and begins to say, “She doesn’t know that while the sub was there that crying fighter threw scissors at fleeing fighter and he had a cut on his face!”  WHOA! Who knew it was ok to revenge fight?  This lady obviously!  Then my vice principal steps in and informs the grandma that his is a different boy by the same first name.  So grandma settles down.

While my principals are talking to her, the crying fighter’s mom shows up.  We have her wait outside of the office while I go and find her child.  I left him with Jesse and haven’t seen him since.  I go to Jesse’s room and he is sitting at a desk.  I thank Jesse for his help and inform crying fighter that his mother is there and he can come down to the office with me. 

We get to the office.  He and his mother sit outside as we finish up with Grandma and fleeing fighter.  They finally leave and so begins round 3 for the evening.  Crying fighter recounts the fight events where he claims he didn’t hit fleeing fighter.  “Crying Fighter, I…saw…you…hit…fleeing fighter…back!  You and I both know you have trouble owning your behavior!”  He also gets in school suspension for the next day.

I walk back to my classroom in disbelief of what just went down.  I just went three rounds with parents.  It’s after 5 o’clock and I’ve been in the office dealing with parents for an hour and a half.  I am suppose to be home by now!  So I pack up and head out before round four can come my way!

Teaching the teacher

So if you haven't heard....
1. I got a job.
2. I moved to Colorado.
3. It's the most challenging thing I've ever done!

So on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 I had an interview for a 5th grade position in Commerce City, Colorado.  I had already interviewed with the principal and didn't really think I would get the job so I had taken a sub job that whole day and got home 20 minutes before my interview started! AH!  Anyway, they must have been impressed with something I said because on Thursday, September 22, 2011 I got a call that I got the job and prepared to move to Denver, Colorado!

On Saturday, September 24th I packed up my Ford Escape and escaped to Colorado!  I am now living in a spare room with very gracious, newly married friends in Englewood (which is a suburb of Denver) and making the 20 minute to 1 hour commute to Commerce City and back. My life lately has been full of changes and challenges.

My Job
I am taking over for a teacher who quit a month in to accept a position with the Denver Fire Department.  He didn't get paid for his last 2 weeks of school because he broke is contract.  So beside the fact that this district is a hard place to serve, my students haven't really had a teacher for 3 1/2 weeks.  (They had subs for 1 1/2 weeks.  I say subs because the first sub they had quite :S)  Anyway my kids haven't had much in the way of structure, rules, consequences for their actions/disrespect, etc, etc, etc.

My job is hard.  I came into a mess...and have felt the effects deeply.  I have been putting in 12-14 hour days to set up my classroom, figure out the school expectations of teachers, and figure out ways to best serve my kids.  I have gotten notes from my kids that say things like: "To Ms. McCasland, WE ALL HATE YOU!"  I have had parents tell me I'm not as personable as their child's last teacher and I am just plain strict. I have been told by my students they are moving classrooms because they don't like me.  I have to point out to them that every other 5th grade classroom has the same expectations as ours does.

It's been exhausting emotionally and physically.  It's hard to go to work when you know that the 25 little people that you spend all day with are going to test you in every way that they can.  There have been points in the last week and a half that I have just been sitting in my classroom asking myself, "How did I get here?  Why in the world did I take this job?  Can I really survive until tomorrow?! Until May?"

THE TRUTH!
My first day of my job I threw up because of altitude sickness, my first day with kids I cried from about 2:50 when I dropped my kids off at specials to about 6:00pm.  On my own I can't survive the day or the week or the month or the year!  There would be no way! The truth is that I have to give God control of my life, of my classroom, of everything! God had definitely orchestrated this experience for me and has put so many blessings into this situation.

My Team
The other 5th grade teachers are such a blessing and I really don't know that I would be able to come to work without them.  They are so willing to help me whenever they can and we get along so great!  I am so, so encouraged and grateful for them everyday! They have been so patient with me as I cry, ask what am I suppose to do now?, and just need so much support!

My Roomies
Ha! Sky and Abbey have taken me in and let me sleep on their air mattress until I find somewhere else to hunker down.  So funny that it took until after Abbey was married and moved to Colorado for us to be roommates.  Sky is also so great and really should win an award because Abbey works in the same district as me and if I don't come home crying she does.  A living in the same house as stressed, emotion women award...goes to...Sky Paxton.  With so many things that is ALL NEW it is so nice to have such good friends.

Church
So after I had interviewed for a job out here the first time Abbey had texted me and told me they had found a church they absolutely LOVED and thought I would love too!  So coming out I had thought about it and really was feeling excited about going to this church but unsure if it was ok to just go to a church and not look around first.

My first night at Park Church I knew it was for me!  Awesome message and just wonderful people who wanted to invite me into the community that was being established.  ALSO, I know 2 other couples BESIDES Abbey & Sky/Lauren & Stephen that go to this church.  They were team leaders at Snow Mountain Ranch (Navigator Summer Training Program) when I was a team member.  I was blown away!

Community Group
So through Park Church they do what's called Community Groups.  Pretty much it is a small group that meets to eat dinner, talk about the sermon the weekend before and share our lives.  It has been the biggest blessing and have felt so cared for by these people who I've known for a meager 2 weeks!  I reallly believe that God had set up this community for me to come into because he knew I would need it, He knew I would need to be encouraged!

What God's Been Teaching me Lately:
So in church we have been going through Hebrews.  Last week we talked about Hebrews 3:1-6 and how Jesus is the builder of all things.  I'm going to give the short version but after communion on Sunday our pastor got back up and asked "What are you putting your confidence in? Is it Jesus or is it anything else?"  The truth is that my confidence has been going down, down, down lately.  I lived at home all summer and school started and I hadn't even had a call for an interview!  Not much to boost confidence in yourself.  Then tack on a job where you have no control and you have some low confidence.
After my first day with kids I was praying on my way to school about my kids.  Not really having the confidence that God would answer my prayers.  I ended up having a great Thursday and Friday.  I've been realizing it's not bad to have no confidence in myself because I forces me to have confidence in Jesus.  It forces me to recognize his rule in my life and even if the don't know it, my students' lives.

 I praise God for he has placed me in a situation of growth, a situation of total reliance on Him!

Village Life

I live in the ANS Village.  To most of you that doesn't mean much but it's like living in a really small community.  If you have ever seen the village the "Others" live in on LOST then just imagine that but with a fence around it. :) There's lots of people, some excitement, and neighbors.  I lived in dorms with lots of roommates in college but it's not quite the same when you have families living around you rather than young adults.
About a week or so ago, maybe two weeks I was reading in my room (I do that a lot) and I hear Alex (my dear friend and neighbor) yell "SARAH! LAURA!  Come to my house ASAP and bring your cameras...I have something to show you!!!!!"  So in humoring my good friend in neighbor I did as she told me with as smile and went over to her house.  She told me to look in her toliet...my first reaction is "Alex, your gross!"  But Alex isn't the kind of girl who would poop and tell so I humored her.  This is what I found:

For those of you who don't know that is an iguana.  They are really common and we have tons on campus but I've never seen one in someone's house let alone in the toliet.  WHO KNEW!  So we went and got our good friend Melvin.  Melvin is one of the guys who is head of maintenance and he fixes things when they break.  He fixed my toilet, my air conditioner, listened to Alex cry when she an ant nest in her house; He pretty much does it all.  So here is a fun little video of Melvin the magician working his magic :)

My favorite part of this video is when Alex smiles in the end...haha! That one of the many reasons why I love her! :)

In other village news my friends bought motorcycles!  Learning to ride a motorcycle when you live in the village is a ticket to freedom and they cost under 2,000.  I couldn't get a picture, but i'm sure there will be one to come!

This semester has gone so so fast!  I can't believe it's only 8 more days of teaching for me.  Two this week, one week of SEMANA SANTA ( spring break!) in Costa Rica and Panama, and then we have Monday off the following week, and the next Monday off and then we leave!  It's gone so fast but I'm ready to be home and start the job pursuit!

One way I really need prayer is just of this whole job thing. Just that God would give me wisdom as to where to apply and he would just provide what I need in those places.  I had a little "worry day" on Saturday.  (Worry Days are day I freak out about the future)  Luckily I was able to talk to my mom who reminded me that it really isn't in my hands anyway!  Yay for wise mothers!

Next post will be full of Semana Santa pictures!!! WOOO HOOO!

Florida, Fifth grade, and Mombacho!

I am really a terrible blogger.  I think about it frequently but often put it off!  Oh well...here I am now and I've done a lot since my last post.

1. I traveled to Florida to see my family and for a break in between my two placements.  It was really relaxing and I had a lot of time with my dad to travel around Florida.  I got to go back to Jacksonville, which is like a third home to me!  And I after living there all summer I got to go to St. Augustine.  Which was an awesome colonial town.
After a few days with my dad the rest of the fam fam got there, just in time for my baby sister's national cheerleading competition.  They got second!!!!  Which is such a sweet accomplishment and I am so so proud of her!  Here are some pictures from that week!

The Fort at St. Augustine

It was also BIKE WEEK in Daytona...these are our new friends...The Phat Bastards.  My Father talks to everyone!

Dad and I at the Fort
*Photo credit: Phat Bastards founder :) 

Beautiful!

On the road to St. Augustine

The Oldest School House in the USA

Heather had an interesting idea that rice crispy treats made a good breakfast...."It's cereal!"

Iowa All Stars Fusion!  My sis is the 6th from the left in the back row

So proud of you JoJo!

We were bored waiting for our food

Impossible to take a good sister pic

2. I started 5th grade!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!  It is really fun and even though it's like a job in itself to get my students to stop talking, I love the 5th grade level of intelligent conversation.  It's so amazing and I love hearing there thinking.  I have 3 science classes everyday and then Language Arts.  We are reading The City of Ember.  If you like young adult books I would totally recommend it...I read it in one night and am waiting for the next one to be returned to the library.
In science we are doing ecosystems and using a FOSS kit that I used in 5th grade, which is totally fun because the kids think it's cool I did the same experiments as them.  We currently planted terrariums and the kids are really learning a lot...it's fun to see them collaborate and have to rely on each other.  Sorry no pictures from 5th grade yet.

3. This weekend we climbed a volcano.  This was probably the most physically taxing thing I've ever done in my life.  We climbed mombacho from the base to the top!  Most people take a military like vehicle up most of the way and then hike around the top...not us!  I didn't ever think it be so steep!  We saw people from Seattle there and they asked us where we were from.  We told them and they're like "Really!  We hike all the time and we would never dream of doing this!"  Yeah it was nuts and my muscles kept telling me it was a bad idea.   Getting to the top was so rewarding though...knowing I had conquered the volcano! There was a lot of praying going on in that last half hour (it took 2 hours to climb).  Here are some pictures that highlight the best parts of the climb:

The Volcano Mombacho from Granada...where we started the day at Kathy's Waffle House :)

These Howler Monkeys we saw on our hike up.  They were peeing as I was trying to walk under the tree...so I waited and then RAN REALLY FAST!

The one flat part in the road...it was AWESOME!

A Model of the volcano Mombacho

View from the top...looking over the crater at Granada and Lake Nicaragua

This is the crater

Learning to Long for More

Sunday I leave Nicaragua for a week.  I am so excited to have cleanness (not a word), no burning trash smell, good food, English, and Walmart....the list could go on.  But the point is that Sarah and I are stoked to go back to the states for even just these 7 days.  I've made out my list of must do's: Target, Asiago breakfast sandwich at Panera, Poncheros, Firehouse Subs (Florida!), STARBUCKS!, Kilwins (another Florida fav), driving, petting animals, drinking sink water, not getting whistled or kissed at, and sleeping without ants.
It's funny because everyone who is from the states or has ever been to the states is really excited for us.  My friend's fiance is Nicaraguan and doesn't really want to go to the states or live in the states.  He has known this his whole life and doesn't know the joys that are offered in the US.  (Note: I'm not implying the US is great and wonderful, it just has a lot more than Nicaragua)  She just tells him that it's better than Nicaragua but he likes his milk that makes me gag.  He likes where he's from and doesn't want anything different.  I feel like it's a lot of how I am.  I know where I am but I don't always believe that what God has ahead of me is better.  It's better to wait for something big than stay where I am or get little joys now when God promises Heavenly treasures.
As I said I've had a lot of time to read lately and have gotten really into a book by Elizabeth Elliot called Passion and Purity.  I have to say this book has not been what I thought it would be about!  I have learned so much and have actually seen my self in a lot of what she talks about in the book.  She doesn't only talk about physical purity but emotional purity.  Emotional purity or the Christian-ese term "guarding your heart" has always confused me.  What does it mean to guard your heart anyway?!?
A few years a really liked this guy and even though my close friends thought he might have an interest in me.  I thought I was again "guarding my heart" and I never pursued it...not even a little.  It wasn't until we were apart that I really realized how much that relationship (or whatever you want to call it) had hurt me.  There were so many times I thought about bringing it up, sending an email, or being like "WHAT IS THIS? What happened?"  One of the things Elizabeth Elliot talks about is how often we ask God to either give us what we long for or take that longing away.  What God tells us is "I want you to learn to long for something more"  I have to say this has been a hard learning experience and it's lasted way longer than I ever would have imagined.  And even though I am over him and have moved on I still think it's important for me to be pray that God will teach me and I will learn to long for something more than just this...just going home for a week...just Nicaragua...just the lima beans if I have the promise of an ice cream sundae...getting the drift of what I'm learning? :) (last one might have been a stretch)
I feel like being here has been a challenge for me spiritual but it's in these challenges that God is moving, teaching me, and molding me to be the woman of God he has created me to be and for that I am thankful.

The ultimate poop story and other tales from ANS

So last Wednesday one of the other first grade teacher came into my classroom after class.  He told me i would never believe what had happened today.  He told me that during reading time he sent one of his little boys to the bathroom.  After the boy had been gone for a while the maid that cleans our block came into the classroom...note that she never talks to us.  I guess it's a cultural thing that they "workers" don't talk to the teachers...weird but it puts it into perspective.  Anyway the lady motions him outside.  Jason is the last classroom on the row.  The maid tell him that she caught this little boy of his pooping next to the wall just around the corner from his classroom.  Sure enough there was poop there.  The maid told the boy to go to the bathroom to wipe and wash his hands...haha!  So the little boy comes back and Jason asks him if did it.  He says "no Mr. i didn't do it..."  Jason then pointed at the security cameras and said he would just look at the video.  The little boy then quickly admitted to doing it...His reasoning?  He was having such a good time in his reading group he didn't want to be gone too long.  WOW...I told Jason that he should take it as a great compliment to his teaching! haha!

So for the past 4 schools days: Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday I have been on my own...aka no cooperating teacher and no substitute.  Which is fine but has been very taxing especially since I am trying to get things done before I go home in 2 WEEKS!  I can't wait for a week in Florida with my Dad for most of it than the rest of my fam for 4 days!

Friday one of my favorite teaching moments...like EVER!  I found out via a mom that the girls in my class had been ganging up against one of the girls and she was going home crying every night.  This broke my heart especially that this is the one of the nicest sweetest girls that is in my class.  So we (me & my assistant) told the girls they had to come in during break and eat lunch with us.  While they were at specials we rallied the troops and got around 7 other 1st and 2nd grade teachers to join us.  We planned a little skit in which I was left out by all the other girls and they wouldn't talk to me.  The same situation my little Mia was in.  When they came into the room they all sat around one table expect for Mia.  I wanted to cry just looking at them!  I couldn't believe my girls were doing this!  I didn't tell them what we were doing...we just started acting.  It was awesome! A few of the girls came up to me during the skit, while i was cry and ask "Ms. Laura are you ok?  Are you crying?  What's wrong?"  After it all the other teachers left and we talked to the girls about how they thought I felt.  Mia started crying and we were able to really reconcile the girls' friendships with each other!  Mia was all smiles the rest of the day!  It was so rewarding and she kept coming up to me and giving me hugs.  All I could think was: This is why I want to be a teacher!  I want to be able to teach kids to love each other...build community and grow together!

My first graders have also started dating I guess!?  What in the world!? I had one of my little boys writing "Takoa <3 Mikela" on his paper!  I told him he better erase it or I would hang it up in the hallway...haha!  He doesn't even care that the whole class...including all 3 of his teachers know!  The best things is for Valentines he sent her a candy gram.  The next day she brought him a little card.  For cards we usually put them in their homework folders so she gave the card to my assistant.  At break Laura, who is my assistant, told me Mikela had written Takoa a card.  I asked if it was really bad that I wanted to read it...she told me she already did so I did too...(not sure if this is professional, probably not, but too cute to resist)  Let me paraphrase the card to the best of my knowledge.  "Takoa, Thank you for the candy gram.  I know that you love me and it's ok.  I love you too but please don't tell the class.  Mikela"  You can't tell me that isn't precious.  Yesterday, I talked to his mom who is a friend of mine.  She said she doesn't understand where he gets it...She explained....They don't even have a TV! haha  The best part is Takoa's little sisters is telling her mom that my cooperating teacher's son is her 'novio'...aka boyfriend.  They are in K4...which is preschool.

I'm going to keep this one strictly class related because I have so much other stuff to say that no one would read it if it was that long.  But I hope you enjoyed these little tales :)

Life in the First Grade

As of yesterday we have been in Nicaragua for a whole month!  It is crazy how fast it has gone and really how much I am beginning to feel comfortable.  I'm learning the routine of life here which is definitely growing on me.
First of all I LOVE my students.
Last week was a little difficult.  Friday after discussing with two of my male student why 'Where's Waldo' books are inappropriate to pick out during library time, I had to have an even serious talk with one of them who checked it out behind my back.  I had never been more disappointed in a six year old!
This week has been really fun.  Monday could best be described as a little awkward.  It was the first day I was teaching all day and I felt like I was a chicken with head cut off!  I was all over the place.  Yesterday (Tuesday) was just a really fun day!  I am beginning to really appreciate the little personalities that are in my class!  Today my mob boss gave my cooperating teacher a half eaten pastry...its funny because this kids love food so much.  He is also the one who calls me Ms. ALL THE TIME....finally yesterday I told him I asked him what my name is...he told me Ms.  So I started calling him "boy." :)
Friday they had Tiger Meeting...here are some of the pictures from it:

This little girl is from my class...she did a great job helping to MC the Tiger Meeting.

One of the groups from my class presenting their sentence on families.

"Families can be big or small"
The little boy standing up on the right, with his hair slicked back is my mob boss...

This one was very cute...their sentence was "Families are stuck together with love glue"
SO GREAT!

An update on life in the 3rd world:

Friday Sarah and I got a taxi by ourselves to come home from Spanish lessons.  I was pretty proud of our skills however began to panic as the taxi drive drove straight through the turn to our school!  I was said...Sarah, we were suppose to turn back there.  The taxi then preceded to pull into a hotel and go inside.  We were panicking because we weren't sure what was going on and taxis are a site of many robberies and kidnappings in  Managua.  So we got out of the taxi as the man came back.  He got his phone and we started walking alway.  I was just pissed and Sarah was trying to call everyone in our phone.  We ended up walking a ways to the only skyscraper in Nicaragua and called a taxi from there.  I think this was one of the best ways to call a taxi...when under the influence of fear and adrenaline :)  Anyway we got home safely but a the same time shaken up.  The problem is that we are white and don't speak Spanish so we couldn't understand what he had said to us.  The pluses were that we are becoming familiar with the city that has no order what so ever!  We knew where we were and where the school was.  It was also around 5:30 so it was still somewhat light out.

This weekend we chilled at home.  It was really great to just sit around and read, especially since I'm on a major reading kick.  I've just been reading every night before bed for a half an hour to an hour.  In the past month I have read like no tomorrow!

Books I've Read:
 The Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury - Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, Reunion
Really great series that I really connected to!

Currently Reading:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - my kindle has free classics so I'm taking full advantage!  I think Gulliver's Travels is next.

Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot - I absolutely love Elizabeth Elliot!  I read her "Let Me Be a Woman" a few years ago and was blow away but her insight and wisdom.  I've had this book since part way through the semester but haven't taken the time to read it.  I started it the other night and can't put it down.  It's amazing how now when I'm a single woman, in another country, trying to decide what to do with my life I have time to read it...timing is perfect.

*Any book suggestions are also taken :)

Here are just a few more pictures from my life lately:

My bedroom! 

Our living room

Our little kicten

other view of our living room, into our kitchen

My kick butt neighbors...haha
Allen is on the left- he is my friend Hailey's fiancée
Alex is on the right...she is fierce :)
They are both in Takwando

Alex and her new kitty Elton...who I frequently call Elliot
Alex is a proud mom

This little man is the hit of the neighborhood

First Earthquake + First Espanol lesson

This afternoon after my last lesson of the week, I walked to lunch with my cooperating teacher.  (I eat lunch while the kids are in Spanish) I had just sat down with my usual lunch of chicken strips with honey mustard and amazing homemade chips (great meal for $2! or 40 cords).  I was eating with my two friends who teach in the middle school when our table began to rock.  At first I though someone was just moving the table but then no one was moving and it lasted a little long for that to be it.  I looked at my cooperating teacher, Maria, who was smiling at me from across the room asking if I felt that.  IT WAS MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE!  Awesome!
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc00017cj.php
Then the sirens started going off in the school.  Being from Iowa there is no reason why I would ever need to know what to do in case of and earthquake so I had to ask her where I was suppose to go.  She said we just had to get away from the buildings and trees.  The siren only lasted a minute at most but I found out the tremor was a 5.1!  Such a cool experience.  Nicaragua has 50 volcanoes, 7 of which are active.  There is a lot of movement and shifting of the plates here.
My second unique experience of the day was our first Spanish lessons.  This is no Ballard High School Spanish class.  Professora Balew has nothin' on this lady.  She spoke Spanish the entire time...it was super intimidating and my brain literally hurts after being immersed in it for dos horas.  It's kind of crazy how much I can remember though because I didn't think it was as much as it was.  This lady teaches Spanish for the Peace Corp and is giving us lesson for 5 dollars each time!  I'm hoping I come home a better Spanish speaker and understander (not sure if that's a word but oh well my brain is fried!)
:)
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Starting teaching/weekend out of Managua

Last Monday was my first day at school.  It was only a staff work day but it was really nice to get to know the other teachers and the school without the worry of kids.  I meet my cooperating teacher who is very sweet and I am very excited to be working with her.  We also are doing a book study for professional development which I am really excited about.  I realized my need and desire to be constantly learning more professionally and this definitely is helping to fulfill this desire.

Last Tuesday I met my kids.  I don't think I have ever been so nervous to meet a groups of 20 six and seven year olds.  It is kind of hard because some of the don't know as much English and the kids usually talk to each other in Spanish.  This has been especially true after coming back from a month of winter break.  It's kind of difficult situation because I want them to be conversing with each other and doing think pair share but I never know if they are on task or not.

This week I have taken over writing.  It has been an adventuring figuring out what works and what doesn't with all ELL kids in a very open environment where it's usually fairly loud.  Have three little angels that don't seem to want to do any writing but I have already seen improvements in there stamina to write.

Yesterday I came home very frustrated and overwhelmed by the whole experience.  I called my mom and she suggested really focusing on building relationships with my students.  Today this was my main focus and I have to say it made it much more enjoyable.  I am beginning to appreciate and get to know the little personalities in my class.  I know you aren't suppose to have favorite but let's face it I have a little tiny favorite.  This little boy is seven years old and I have nicked name him the mob boss.  He is absolutely hilarious and always has a comment to say after every class discussion.  He also loves food and money and is very good at ordering people around.  The thing is they listen to him because he just has that mod boss way about it.  My teach and i constantly are smiling at each other when he does something that is mob bossish.  :)

The other really exciting thing is that we got out of Managua this weekend!  It was awesome!  Managua can kind of kill your spirits and so it was nice to see other parts of Nicaragua.  On Saturday morning we went to Granada for breakfast.  It was SO GOOD!  We went to a place called Kathy's Waffle House and then toured around Granada.

Above is a picture taken from the Cathedral's bell tower looking over at Lake Nicaragua.  The largest lake in Nicaragua

This is the cathedral!  I think it is so absolutely stunning!

This is a video of La Laguna.  We went to an overlook on Saturday then went swimming in it on Sunday! So much fun and so beautiful!

This is at a the Monkey Hut Hostel.  If you ever visit Nicaragua look it up! We went swimming and ordered pizza which was super good, but Sarah got sick after eating it.  As you can see though it's a little piece of paradise.

To get in you jump off the end of the dock.  We then swam out to the far floating dock.  I hope you can see it in this picture cuz it's kind of far away.  The water was really choppy this day so I was exhausted swimming out there and back...plus I had run Sunday morning so getting out of bed on Monday was a bit of a challenge. :)

No Mas Gasolina

So tonight Sarah and I went out to dinner with Alex, another teacher that lives here in the village, and Stephanie, a girl who works for the peace corp North of Chinandega.  It was really fun.  We went to a Middle Eastern restaurant.  It was muy, muy delicioso!  Although our waiter was not very good.  He brought me another drink that I never ordered.  He charged Alex for 3 drinks when she only had 2 and put in the wrong salad order for Stephanie.  She sent it back then he tried to charge her for both dishes.  It was very interesting but then came the big adventure.
What I haven't told you was this was our first experience taking a taxi in Nicaragua.  We got there perfectly.  They way back was a little more rough.  We got in a taxi and got him down to 20 Chords a person (about a dollar) to take us home.  However we only made it about a mile and all of a sudden he pulled over.  Alex and Stephanie started to ask him questions and then get out of the taxi.  I asked what happened and it turns out that the driver had run out of gas.  So he just kicked us out on the side of the road...never the way i thought my first ever taxi ride would go!  So armed with Stephanie's pepper spray we marched on along the street in Managua. We were about two blocks away when Alex hailed down a taxi for the road that I guess is not great to walk at night.  As we were stepping along the dirt paths toward the school I could only think that these are the kind of adventures i would not forget about Nicaragua. :)

I am currently watching Julie and Julia.  I am encouraged by watching Julia Child try to speak French :)  Sounds like my Spanish.
PS. If you weren't away Sue Sylvester in Julia Child's sister.

PPS. I just saw the first lizard since I've been here.  Sadly it was on the wall my apartment.  AH!  and Sarah is asleep so I had to withhold my scream and wake up my roommate tenancy.

No hablo Espanol

In other word...i don't speak Spanish!  Ah!  Sarah and I have been in Nicaragua for 3 days now.  It's definitely been and adventure of sorts.  I'll just walk you through the last 3 days.
*Note it's really long so I labeled the days and then did a brief overview at the end :)


Day 1-CRAZY scared, what am i doing here

The flights were perfect.  I really wasn't even nervous until we flew over Managua. We were worried about making out connecting flight in Houston but we got to the gate in time to go to the bathroom and have them check our passports and then load on time.

We went through customs which was a little confusing because again no Espanol.  We got to the greeting place and were met but 3 men that work at the school, none of which spoke English.  Sarah and I kind of freaked out because they just grabbed our bags and took off.  But we followed dodging traffic on the way out to the van.

This city and country is really poor.  I don't think I was ready for the poverty that is here and it came as a culture shock driving through the streets from the airport.  People stand in the middle of the road and sell things from water, to Disney towels, to juggling for money.  It's a whole new world down here and something were told we are going to have to get used to.

We arrived at our apartment wondering what in the world we got ourselves into!  Sarah and I both broke down for a while.  We had no internet so we went to the office so we could email our parents and maybe get some food.  Emailing was the hardest and i started crying but didn't want my parents to really know all that was going on with me.  We exchanged some money and went to the supermarket.

 We bought some food but then when we got back to make supper realized we have to have something to light our stoves and oven with...which we don't have any lighters or matches. So we had PB sandwiches. I brought PB in my suit case just in case this would happen. Their milk is SO weird...it came in a bag!  Yesterday we opened in an put it in our coffee pot...very interesting. 

We also came back to all of these ants of various sizes all over the aparment.  I went on a little ant masacre with my Deet bug spray.  Not sure if it did any good but it made me feel better. 

We do have air conditioning in our bedrooms, it's really loud! But so are birds and owls around our apartment.

We have a bathroom.  We don't have to go in the jungle luckily!  We can't put our TP down the toliet so we have to put it in the waste basket which is gross but I guess i'll get used to it.

We watched the Proposal before going to bed.  It was like a comfort activity.

Day 2- tour and stop crying day

Woke up and had internet.  Made our morning because we can now communicate with the outside world...and people who speak English.  I got emails from my parents which was so good.  I also bought some skype minutes so i can call anyone in the US from my computer, which is really awesome!  We also met a woman who works in admissions named Carola.  She is amazing and has been so helpful!  She was able to give us some really solid advice on what we are going to have to get used to in the culture and opened her office up to us as a place to talk which was a wonderful thing to have.  She even offered to take us out to La Galleria which is a mall and has lots of really good restaurants.  We also got a tour of the school which was BEAUTIFUL!  I think I'm really going to like teaching in this school. 
Sarah and I also decided that we might go to Granada this weekend which is about 45 km away and is a very colonial city in Nicaragua.  So update there later...in other words we'll see what actually happens.


Day 3- mall and pool day


Today was a great day.  Took my time getting up today...a read a little and just kind of lounged around.  When we got up we decided to see if we could go the Metrocentro which is a near by mall.  We decided it would give a break from our mac and cheese and we could get a cell phone...haha
Getting a cell phone was hilarious.  I have decided my way of dealing with not being able to communicate is to just laugh.  I feel so stupid and embarrassed not knowing the language that I have developed this nervous laughter.  So I laughed all the way through our attempt a buying a phone...we talked to him for about half and hour and ended up not buying any minutes just buying the phone.  WHoops!  The only reason we were able to make this discovery is that WE MET SOME NEIGHBORS!  
I left our doors open in hope that someone might come by and sure enough tonight around 5:30 three girls came to our door.  It was wonderful to meet them.  One of the girls was just visiting, one of the girls is an eighth grade teacher and the other girl is with the peace corps.  Alex is the girl that lives here and she was able to give us great advice on how to use our phone, using taxi services, how to find the laundry and just be in Nicaragua.  I think we are going to hangout with them tomorrow.
Tonight we went to La Galleria con Carola.  It was so nice!  Nicer than any mall in Iowa, which was a bit of a shock.  She took us to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  Sarah and I have discovered our stomachs have shrunk since being here.  But it was so good and we learned a lot about Nicaragua: the government, the poverty, the issues with young people, pretty much lots of cultural information.  It was very interesting and Carol has been such a blessing!  
We also found out about this thing called VIP movies.  Be prepared for you world to be rocked....k?  You can go to specific movies that are in VIP theaters.  Here you have lounge chairs...aka lazy boys....and people bring you food.  I mean you have to order it but you can get sushi and wine and pretty much anything you would like.  We asked her how much it cost.  She told us double...Oh ok...how much does a regular movie cost.  "Oh around 3 dollars."  HAHA!  we can have VIP service for under the price we pay at home to go the the movies!  LOVE IT! :)  Sarah and I decide we definitely have to try that out! :)


I know it is super long so her is the brief version:
It was hard getting used to all of the differences.  The first day was major culture shock, but it's just keeps going up and up.  We are meeting new people everyday and have begun to really enjoy it.