Juanes/Goat Farm

Well as many you know and are thinking to yourselves as you are reading this that I am not very good at keeping up with my blog. I am not sure why I find so much trouble in updating you with my life. I do put off things until the last minute many times and maybe this is one of those things haha...Also, I am crazy busy with 3rd and 4th graders...however I will try harder I promise! I am having difficulty remembering what I did since Oct. 24th so be patient:) and following the headings:)


Juanes

This really was an awesome concert! I loved every moment of it and Juanes is definitely more good looking in person. I knew a lot of the songs and heard some new good ones to add to my list. One of the reasons I knew a lot of the songs is because of my friend Val. She loves Juanes more than I do and we would listen to the whole cd many nights when I was an RA in college. OH the memories:)......We actually had pretty good seats and I would say that it was well worth the money. I even got a sweet tee out of the deal.


Goat/Cotton Ranch

A couple of weekends ago a family invited Emily, Krista, Joanna, Erin, Genevive, Lesley, and I to there ranch outside of Torreon. It was about an hour drive to get to this ranch and we had to take little curvy roads. Some were paved and some were gravel but even though it was still a rough ride haha. They had a long gravel drive way that led through their cotton fields and farm machinery. When we got there it was a cute little authentic ranch with goats everywhere. We were going to the goat farm but apparently it had flooded and so they decided to have their little get together at their cotton ranch. These people crack me up because they are uber rich and have two huge farms which allows them to have the choice of which farm to go to when they want to get away on the weekends. The house was nice and quiant and very inviting. That is the one thing about all of the families is that they are all very warm and welcoming. The US could learn a thing or two about hospitality. When the mom's were cooking the food, the kids took us on a little tour of the farm. There were goats everywhere and it felt like I was in rural MN or IA, or at the Freeborn County Fair in the goat barn; except we were in the middle of the desert:). There were lots of cute baby goats that we go to feed and hold. In amongest the goats was the cutest little boy chasing the goats, and we somehow ended up keeping an eye on him.

After the tour of the goats, we hopped on some 4-wheelers and went for a spin. It was a lot of fun tooling around in the desert with cacti. One of the moms was a harley chick and she taught me how to run a stick shift 4-wheeler sooooo that was interesting and exciting. Emily chose to ride behind me hahaha. When we got back, the food was ready and let me tell you it was QUITE the feast. There were grilled ribs, hotdogs, hamburgers, quesadillas, cheese, crackers, any kind of veggie you wanted. Let's just say I haven't ate that good in a while, and they would continue to shove it down our throats..of course in the most pleasant way hahaha. One of the mom's made me a special burger with anything and everything on it. It was delicioso but MESSY. After the scrumptious meal, Krista, Lesely and I headed out on the 4wheelers again. This time Lesley and I got filthy from all of the dust. It was quite humorous and we were also got lost for a while but thankfully myself with the help of Lesely got ourselves back to where we needed to go. When we got back everyone laughed at our expense because we took off our sunglasses and there were lines of dirt everywhere. Lesley's hair was gray and looked like she aged a few years. After we got brushed off and clean it was getting dusk and Krista volunteered herself and I to drive the 4wheelers to the other ranch. I was hesitant from the begining because she got us lost earlier that day and well she got us lost again in the pitch black. I admit it was a a little scary but well we got back and everything is well again:) It was nice getting out of the city and I would love to do it again!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!:)

Well....October has flown by and I haven't blogged since the beginning and next week is already Halloween.:) It will be difficult for me to update you on the whole month so I will do it by little tid bits that have happened:).

Drain
Well, I think I have solved the issue to some degree....I poured some bleach down it and ran hot water! It does have a unpleasant smell but at least I can breathe better than I used to. I am still not sure what the issue is but hopefully it will continue to get better!!

Copa Libertad
Well this event was both an awesome and a pain in the neck time in my life. This is a huge tournament with schools from all over and it is a pretty big deal. It was on Thursday and Friday and continued on the weekend. The thing is that whole week we basically couldn't teach anything new, we couldn't assign homework because of games and practices, and we were to go and support our kids when they played. The plus is that it was great to be able to watch all my kids participate in the different sports. The pain was having to teach something amongst utter chaos of not knowing which kids were going to be there, when they had to leave, and when we were suppose to watch their games. I basically made the decision that we weren't going to do anything those two days. It really was impossible because between girls and boys basketball and soccer for two grades, there was no time left. So for two days, I got to just hang out with my kids and have some fun. I loved watching the girls basketball and it helped that they beat the pants of the other schools hahaha...however, as much as I love basketball, most of the population here doesn't agree with that...so I did end up watching soccer as well. I do enjoy watching my kids play soccer. I think the bonding was actually a good thing for my fourth graders. Most of you know how they are such pistols, but I think bonding with them and watching them in their sports helped create some relationships. Diego the Demon is proof of this. Each day that week, he would ask me if I was going to watch him play or if I liked soccer, or some other random questions. Those days and lately, he seems to be warming up to me and thinking that maybe I am not such a bad person after all. Let's cross our fingers that it continues!!!

Hot dogs wrapped in bacon
Since I have been in Mexico I have wanted a hot dog and well a couple weeks ago, I got my wish:). A bunch of us went to Victor's aunt's house in a different town for a little shindig. It was a pretty good time. Not only did I get a hot dog, but I got one wrapped in bacon. I have never had a hot dog quite like that but I did enjoy it:). It was fun getting away for a while and Victor's aunt was very kind in opening up her house for us!

Tutoring
Well I have another tutor job:). Now I tutor two Alejandros, the one is in 6th grade and the other is in my class. It's funny how I got my second tutoring job because I was walking out of school and this fancy SUV pulls up next to me and the mom rolls the window down and shouts "Are you Alejandro's miss?" I said yes and she offered me the job and asked when I could start haha. This family is loaded and she said that she values education and that is what she wants to put her money in. So my first day she sent me and two boys to Apple Bee's for tutoring. We spent over thirty bucks because the boys could order what they wanted; which included dessert, non alcoholic pina coladas, chicken fingers..etc. I couldn't get over that!!! But it was a fun time with the boys.

Death by Exams
So last week (oct 20-24), we had exams due, which meant each of the teachers had to make 4 exams over everything we have taught the kids since August. I think this is a load of crap and against everything Mrs. Willms taught me in Goal setting and Assessment. I don't understand why when we give daily, weekly, monthly tests to assess our kids, why do we just have to give them an exam just to give them an exam. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!!!! So one day, I was uber pissed because I had to redo my composition exam. I was upset because I feel like I have the tools to make a quality assessment and so based on what I have taught my students and what they should know, I created an assessment. My third graders and fourth graders because they are ESL students, I feel in terms of composition are around the same level. My tests were very similar because of that reason. Well, my coordinator tells me they aren't like the tests from last year. I about died because most of the stuff that was tested last year I haven't taught and it's over my kids' heads. She also wanted me to do cloze paragraphs with them and at this time they are not ready to be assessed on this. I was so upset that I said "fine, I will redo them but I will not put cloze paragraphs in them" and I walked out. So the rest of the week was spent making those exams.

Now it is exam week and I am already hating it because I don't understand the point of them. Also, my kids are 8 years old and I think it is wrong to give them 6 exams!!!! over stuff we have covered since Aug. Not only do they have 6 exams for their English classes, they also have 6 exams for their Spanish classes. Willms HELP ME:)!!!

Technical Difficulties
Well.....last week my computer started having some issues and let me tell you it was really starting to get on my nerves. Here I just spent good money on a computer in March and it was already failing me. I use my computer sooooo much here and all of my grades are on it. I almost had a nervous breakdown because for a while I only had a black screen and I didn't have my grades on my external hard drive. Somehow, after a while I got back on my computer for enough time to put everything on my hard drive. It was frusterating me so much and I didn't know what I was going to do....oof. So I talked to the school's computer engineer and he told me that I have fan problem and that I would need to call dell. Well this news was just great because well I am in Mexico and all the time and work it would be to sent it to get fixed. Well I went to Charro's office at school and was explaining my issue and she called up DELL in Mexico for me. It turns out, if I fill out some paperwork to change my origin from US to Mexico, a DEll dude will come to my house and fix it. Well, I filled out the paperwork and sent it it and it takes about 7 days...so we will see what happens. Cross your fingers, and until it gets fixed Breanna is ever so kindly letting me borrow hers. thanks che:)

B-ball showdown
Last Friday night, I finally gave in and played basketball with the guys and Lesley. They have been asking me every Friday but I have turned them down because I was intimidated and well I haven't played for a long time but I decided to get over myself and play. It turned out to be some of the most fun I have had in a while. Lesley, Kevin, and I were against Tom and Victor. We won hands down and it was AWESOME!! ....and it wasn't because it was 3 against 2 either:)...haha I think I will for sure be back next Friday!!

Dancing Queen Karaoke
This past Friday night, I was invited to a Halloween party by Alba, one of the cousins of the kids I tutor. She is a funny gal and I get along with her very well. So Lesley, Erin and I decided to hit up her party. When we got there, we got some drinks and talked to people but then Erin had the great idea that we should go to a Karaoke bar. So Alba, her friend Damaris, Erin, Lesley, and I headed to La Santa for some sweet singing:). It is really a cute little place and it had a fun atmosphere. The people there were crazy. There was this Spanish lady there and she was belting out Spanish love ballads and she honestly should go pro!:) The girls and I decided on 4 songs; Dancing Queen, Take a Chance on Me, Tengo La Camisa Negra, and Me Enamora. I LOVED every minute of it haha. It was pretty humorous and just as we were getting ready to sing Take a Chance On Me, we saw Eva who is a tutor at the school and she sang along with us. I had a ton of fun and when we got back, I was exhausted!!!

JUANES
Guess what?!!! We scored some Juanes tickets for this coming Sunday!!! I am soooo pumped and those who know me, know I love most of his songs...(right Mollusk and VAL?!!) Breanna went with Charro to pick them up at a liquor store. They are pretty decent seats and were pretty reasonable, too. I can't wait!!:)

Corn dogs and Tilt-A-Whirls
This past Sunday, Breanna, Lesley, Erin, Emily, and I went to the Bosque for a concert in the park. It was a pretty good time. One of Lesley and Erin's students was in the band that was playing. I was impressed with how good those kids were at playing a variety of songs, that included Aladdin, Pocahontas, Benny Goodman style..etc. I could hardly sit still:) It was really relaxing sitting there with a nice breeze listening to that type of music. I enjoyed myself. When it was over, we walked throughout the park and Breanna and I decided to get some corn dogs and they were pretty awesome. Considering the price you pay for a small corn dog at the Freeborn Country Fair, these were just as good for way cheap. Also for 7 pesos, Erin, Emily and I rode the tilt-a-whirl. It was sooo much fun because it was cheap and it lasted longer than it would have at a typical fair. I thought the day at the park was a pretty good pick me up to get ready for the week of exams ahead!!!

Well, I hope that I have updated you enough on my life in the past month...haha I am sorry I got soooo behind..even Breanna's mom told me she was sick of seeing raunchy drains and medicated chihuahuas haha. I am caught up and hopefully won't get so behind again!! Happy Halloween on Friday whoop whoop:)

a raunchy drain and a medicated chihuahua

This week was a pretty typical week: meaning my third graders were awesome and my fourth graders were awful. It seems to be the trend lately and well they are improving ever so slightly, it just isn't as quick as I want it. I started tutoring for the Balderas family this week. They have three children: 2 boys and 1 girl. Their youngest is in my class but I am tutoring the older brother Alejandro. He is a pretty good kid and I have enjoyed getting to know him thus far. We have a lot of work to do but the great thing is that he wants to learn. It is a pretty nice set-up I get paid 15 dollars an hour and they come and pick me up 3 times a week for an hour. I am hoping it will be a good way to earn some extra cash. The thing that cracks me up but yet is good for me is that the parents only speak Spanish so I really have to work on my Spanish and they are very patient with me.

Speaking of Spanish, I started a conversation Spanish class this week and I am still up in the air about how I feel about it. They are offering two classes, a beginner and a conversation class. I am definitely not a beginner but yet I am not ready for the other one so I am torn. There are about 9 other American teachers in the class and everyone's levels of Spanish vary. However, I would have to say I am the lowest on the scale. Most of them had Spanish in college and studied abroad...so where does that leave me...well no where exactly hahaha....It did however go ok, we had to start out by introducing ourselves, what our job is, where we were born, about our family, and our best friends. I was extremely nervous because it is intimidating to be in that class and my face grew very red up until the time a spoke and while I was speaking. It didn't help that I was the 4th in line, right after 3 pretty fluent speakers. I wanted to die but whatever I it and I thought it was ok because the lady didn't really correct me so...who knows:) We will see how next week goes because I have a feeling it is going to pick up because we are starting a book and that is going to be a challenge for me...and to tell you the truth I'm not sure if I can do it so stay tuned:)

Friday couldn't have come soon enough.:) Breanna's boss Ms Charo brought us home with her and fixed us a delicious meal. Her house is pretty sweet! It was elegantly decorated and smelled amazing! She made us quite a feast that included: chile rellenos, rice, beans, an awesome fresh veggie salad, tortillas, some sort of beef stew, and poppy seed cake for dessert. I was pretty stuffed by the end of it. The one thing that is pretty comical is that I didn't see this little onion bulb under my piece of lettuce when I stabbed and as soon as I bit into it, I realized what it was. my eyes and nose started burning immediately and I wanted to spit it out..but I felt like I shouldn't:)...so I got through it somehow haha. After the meal, we shared stories about our lives and listened to Charo's stories about when she was a kid and let me tell you she is a funny story teller; you can't help but laugh and want her to keep on telling more and more. Most of her stories were about pets and lack of luck when it comes to them. The one that makes me smile the most is she had a cat who her mom spoiled. Her mom would give it actual ground beef in tiny little balls. I can't imagine doing that for one of my cats. I love my cat to death but still!!! After we shared some laughs, Charo took us into the center of town to the market so she could buy some eye stickers for spiders:). Random I know but it was still a good time. Afterwards, she showed us the oldest house in Torreon and promised she would take us on a little adventure sometime. When we got back to her house, her son Cesar and his buddy hopped in the car to take us home. Cesar decided that we needed to stop for ice cream, so we quickly pulled over to what seemed like a house and walked in and a lady was selling chepos ice cream. It really didn't seem like ice cream however. It was like shave ice but a tad creamy. I am not really sure how to explain it but it wasn't too bad and it was really cheap. So we continued on our way home but we stopped by the vet to see how their little chihuahua was because earlier Cesar took it to the vet for a routine teeth cleaning procedure. Apparently it had been having some issues and needed her teeth cleaned. It was a normal procedure but the vet numbed the dog’s entire body. Cesar's amigo got into the car first and showed us how the dog's face looked. We were laughing so badly because we didn't really think the dog would look like this but we were wrong!! The dog's tongue was hanging out of its mouth, there was a bloody cotton ball on his mouth and he looked like he was dead. It was quite a site and we are pretty sure the dog wasn't ready to come home!!! When we finally got home, we ate some pizza and Breanna and I were pooped so she moved her bed into my room for a slumber party and we watched Made of Honor before falling asleep.

Saturday was pretty much a day of relaxation and slow moving haha. We didn't set an alarm and got up when we wanted. We finished the movie we started the night before and I made us some eggs for breakfast. We then watched another movie and I got cleaned up and made us some alfredo, chicken and broccoli greatness. We also decided to watch yet another movie:) and then it was time for me to tutor. Tutoring was fun and at the end we played Mario cart racing! I love that game and my sisters and I would play it by the hour we were kids. Ahhhh the memories:) When I got back, Breanna and I needed to head to Walmart to solve the case of the stinky bathroom.

So my bathroom has had an awful smell since I moved into it and let me tell you, I am not a dirty person. I have scrubbed the toilet, floor, shower, etc. Nothing seems to stop the terrible odor. I got this citrus smelling thing and that didn't seem to help. I knew it was a problem when we would get home and the hallway smelled awful and we knew it was from my room. Breanna even said that one time I smelled like my bathroom. That was THE last straw and something was going to be done. So we headed to Wal-Mart and guess what we saw on the way. Well we saw mountains, Carl's Jr., Wal-Mart, and oh random grazing horses. It was quite the sight. Random. So at Wal-Mart, I got a glade candle, a new shower curtain, and some Mexican Drain-o. When we headed back from Wal-Mart, the horses were still out and about:) and the sky was one of the best ones have I seen in Mexico. I could try and explain it but it wouldn't do it justice. Just trust me on this one:) When we got back, Charlie, Malita, Breanna, and I headed to Ok Maguey. On the way there, we had the best taxi ride. The taxi driver cranked the music because we were singing and having a great time because the songs were; girls just want to have fun, funky town, and Gloria. Very funny but it was one of the best taxi rides and we weren't ready to get out of the car! The restaurant was a very cute little place and the service was awesome. Everyone ordered the same food and drink but me. I got enchiladas and a margarita and everyone else got some meat with cheese over a bed of potatoes and a piña colada. That did sound tasty but I was content with my order. It even came with free ice cream at the end and if that wasn't enough there was a deal where you buy one get one free, so it was a lot cheaper than we thought it would be. When we got home, I tried out my Wal-Mart purchases and hung my new shower curtain. Now my b-room smells like sickness, plastic, and fruity air freshener...and that is not ok!!! Also, Breanna and I decided to have another movie slumber party but we didn't make it, we were out in no time.

Sunday was also a lazy start to the day. I took my time in getting up and Breanna made us some French toast. I was excited to see if my bathroom would be better, but it wasn't at all. I wanted to scream haha....so I decided that I would try baking soda and getting a fan so that meant another trip to Wal-Mart, but it was actually on the way because Breanna and I decided to go to a movie, The Mirrors. It was a CREEPY movie and we were the only ones besides two other people. The theater was huge and it only cost us 4.50 to get in and 5 bucks for an icee and popcorn. I can't complain!!! When we got back from Wal-Mart, we made some quesadilla burgers and they were pretty awesome and I hope to have them again! Then we headed to the school to get some papers to grade and when we got back I had a lovely convo with the rents. Well it is now 11pm and I have school in the am so I better get some shut eye...talk to you soon:)

Mazatlan, Mexican Bridal Showers, Massive Packages, and Magnificent Friday Afternoons

Well, I finally have some time to write in the blog...I know it has been awhile...I guess I don't really have time since grades for 56 children are do right away Monday morning and one would think it would be a speedy process, however it is not. We have to enter grades by hand and the grading scale is very different than what I am used to. So it more than likely will take me all weekend to get them ready. Also, I have to grade some more papers from today and the missing work I collected. Missing work really is a pain in rear and I am definitely coming up with a better solution ASAP. I had a pretty good day today. It was basically a work day so I could meet with each kid and tell them what I was missing from them. I was a little worried about how they would act with writing things on the board for them to do during that time but they did an awesome job. Speaking of board: I no longer have a chalkboard!! This is exciting news, I finally have a white board and I am pumped about it. Even the kids were super excited and they acted like they have never seen one before. It is pretty sweet but now I have to constantly tell them to not erase the things I wrote on it:).

This afternoon, Emily and I decided to be spontaneous and go to Faralitos for a little afternoon treat and it was awesome. We had flautas, rice, and beans. It was a magnificent little trip and we will for sure need to go again. The funny thing though on our walk back, all of a sudden we heard "Miss Jenna, Miss Jenna, Miss Emily, Miss Emily," and two of our students were in the van across the street and the mom stops the van and tells us to get in and she was going to take us home. So we run across traffic and she pushes the automatic sliding door opener and we hop in. In the van, it was humorous because it was like I had a mini-confernece with her mom. She was asking many questions about Isabel and how she is in class. I couldn't stop from laughing becuase sitting right behind me, not even 2 inches from me, was Isabel smiling from ear to ear, loving that I was speaking Spanish with her and her mom. She is the cutest little thing with her bangs chopped severely with cute little dimples. So then her mom brought us home and it was a great end to our lovely afternoon.

This week was actually a pretty good week for me. The kids weren't too horrible except for the infamous DIEGO dun dun dun. My third graders really make me smile though. I am so proud of their recent behavior. They did awesome on all their tests this week and they come into the room and get busy. I do have some toubled boys but they are not too bad for the most part. There are a few girls in the class that make me smile because they are always asking to pass out papers or clean my desk or basically anything. My door to my closet it full of pictures they have drawn for me haha. The one thing that cracked me up was I put on the board _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and they are able to earn letters for their behavior. It just so happened that they finally got the word popcorn. So I brought in popcorn and I was going to read Amelia Bedilia to them while they were eating. While I was reading one girl shouts out "It's like a cine!, CINE CINE, can we turn off the lights?!" So there I was reading while the kids ate popcorn at 8:30 in the morning pretending that they were at the movie theater. It was a pretty fun time.

Another interesting thing I experienced this week was going to a Mexican bridal shower for one of the spanish teachers. The spanish teacher I work with, Ana Olivia, picked us up at around 6pm on Wednesday and we headed to Paty's, one of the principal's house across town. Paty's house is awesome. It definitely is more fun and better to look at than anything else I get to see on a regular basis. When we got there, Emily and I took a tour of her house. It was so cute and Paty's artwork was all over the walls. It was pretty amazing because she taught herself to paint from a book. Now if it were me, there is no way I could read some skill from a book and expect to be awesome at it. She painted a portrait of Frida Kahlo and it could honestly be the real thing. After we were done with our tour we joined the rest of the people outside on the patio for some snacks. Georgina, the school pyschologist made some garlic cheese dip and it was AMAZING. She told us how she made it and it seems like quite the process but well worth it. Then we had to go around and give the bride to be some advice for her married life.....well just picture myself among 2 other americans, a fluent canadian, and 12 spanish teachers, attempting to find the words in spanish to give this lady advice. They told me I could say it in English but I said I would attempt in spanish and when I was done I got an applause haha. That boosted my self-esteem:). I was uber nervous because not only did I have to give relationship advice, it was said in Spanish. I laughed and my coodinator told me she needs to find me some nice boy...so I told her good luck with that:). Speaking of my coordinator, she is a great lady. Her name is Ana and she makes life easier. She makes Emily and I laugh because she always says este andale pues..and so during supper we told her that and we are going to make a little surprise for her:). Well supper included some of the best food I have had. It was crema de crepes and it was DELICIOSO. It was cheesy, creamy, spicy, greatness and I told Paty I need the recipe soon. I also mentioned to Charro, the principal, "Same night next week at your place:)" I am hoping that happens sometime haha. A lot of fun was had all around and Georgina was nice enough to give us a ride home.

The other nice surprise was that I finally got my PACKAGE!!! It has taken an act of God to get this package my mom and dad sent me. I was a little worried about it because I got a message weeks ago saying I needed to call this number. So I had breanna call the number and they told her I needed to send them copies of my tickets, passport, and a letter saying what was in the box and why I needed it. So I wrote the letter and got that sent off. Well then I got another email saying I needed to be more specific and it had to be in Spanish. So a crap ton of annoying work later...my package arrived and I was happy. My mom and dad slipped in some chocolate, movies and some other fun surprises. Thanks mom and dad:).

Oh and a couple of weeks ago we had two days off and I went on a little vacation with Breanna, Emily and Erin to Mazatlan. It really was what we needed and it was really rejuvinating. We ate some awesome food, swam in the Pacific, basked in the sun, reinacted statues, and watched the sunset nightly. It was a great time and if you want some more details, let me know or check out Breanna's blog:). Her link is located on this page and if you want to see some pics, you can check out http://picasaweb.google.com/jennarmiller/Mazatlan?authkey=L7AOctJaSyI#

Well have a great weekend!:) Peace out and think of me when you are doing better things than grading a boat load of papers!!:)

IMSS-Thanks to God

Well......I think I am on the mend from a whorle wind of a stomach infection that basically only allowed me to lay on my bed in the dark for 2.5 days. It all started on Tuesday; when I woke up, I didn't feel like myself but I figured it must be just that I am tired and what not. Well I went to shower, and no water was to be found so I got to go to school with out a shower:). I tried to eat a little something for bfast but it just didn't settle. I got to school that morning and I could tell that my health was on a steady decline. By noon, I could hardly stand and have the energy to teach. Unfortunately my not so wonderful 4th grade class was in the afternoon this week. I hardly had enough energy to keep them in line. To top it off they were TERRIBLE, and the only way to get their attention I walked over and slammed the door to the classroom as hard as I could. This did get their attention:). So I continued teaching in my chair and as soon the bell rang, I got out of school as quickly as I could.


As soon as I got home, I changed into my pjs and hopped into bed. I slept for almost 3 hours and woke up in a cold sweat. So I basically fought a fever the entire night. Luckily I have such nice friends that were worried about me that helped me out. Breanna brought me up water and gently forced me to drink and take meds:) Thank you beans!!! Emily would change my cold wash rag for my forehead and since I still had a pretty bad fever they turned my fan off and Emily lent me her little fan. When morning came, I felt gentle hands touch my face to see if I was warm or not and Breanna, gotta love this girl, got up at 5am to check on me and she called Eren to tell her I needed to go to the doctor. Then Breanna and Emily so graciously walked to school to my classroom to find my social security card before the sun was up. They searched for it for my card for a long time and had no such luck. So they came back and very slowly I was going to go with them to find the card and since my mental abilities were faultering, I forgot that I put it in my purse.....so we did find it but I owe them big time for getting up early and trying to get that for me. Thank guys!!


So I went back to sleep after they left and Eren called me around 8am and she came over to see how I was and to see if I was in the morning or the afternoon for the social security (Mexico has a national health plan so when you get sick you go to the social security place). This was a day for of "thanks to God moments." The first moment was when we found out I am in the afternoon, so Eren sent the chaufer to sign me up for the afternoon and she said she would be back around 1ish. She made sure to remind me to try and eat some toast with jelly-no butter and some 7up:) haha...So I fell asleep until she came back to get me at 1 and we were off. We got to the social security place and it was huge and there were tons and tons of people there. Thanks to God moment #2 was that we got a parking space right in front and that never happens! It was quite a sight. We walk in and we had to go to the fourth floor and since I am under the number 27, I had to go down a long hallway to that door. Well we finally get there and we have to wait and of course there is confusion. I was signed up to be the number 4 person however, they only allow 3 people to go without an appointment. So we thought I would have to try the next day. So here comes in Thanks to God # 3, the number 3 person didn't show up, so I got to take their spot. We were pretty happy about it!! So Eren told me to sit down and wait until the nurse called my name because she had to leave but she would be back to pick me up.


Well I thought no big deal. I know how to explain my ailments in Spanish. However, I was wrong! About 10 minutes after she left, the lady called my name and I handed her my social security card and she put the information in the computer but my name wasn't there. So is the fastest spanish ever she was trying to explain that I had to go to this other place to get it fixed. So I go and try to find that place but it was a no go. So I come back and she flet bad for me and gave me a hug and took my arm to help me find it. We get to the room and they can't seem to help me either. So they tell me to go downstairs and get a vijencia. So I go all the way downstairs where there is a line of prolly 100 some people. So I join the others in this line and it was sooooo warm. The whole time I was there I kept thinking and hoping that Erendira would walk through the door. Finally, She comes strolling in through the door right before it was my turn to speak with the lady at the window. Man what a sigh of relief, the whole time I was waiting in line I was trying to figure out what I was going to say and how I was going to say. It was a good thing Eren came when she did because she and the lady went back and forth in quick heated Spanish and finally they figured it out and I could go back upstairs and get back in line to be seen.


So after we get back upstairs, I had to wait about another 30 minutes before I was seen. When I finally got into the room, it took about 15 minutes haha...I had to lay down on this weird cloth cot and she poked around on my stomach and decided I had a bad stomach infection. So she prescribed me 5 different medications. In my mind I was thinking oh great 5 different meds, how much is that going to cost me. Well actually it was all free so that was sweet!! All we had to do was take it to the pharmacy and boom boom boom, I got my drugs:). Well all I can say 5 long, exhausting hours later, I got some meds and I got the sheet of paper that will let me still get paid because we don't get sick days. So I guess it was worth it:)...especially since we were headed to Mazatlan that FRIDAY for our mini vacaction. Malita was kind enough to make a schedule for my medications! It was actually really helpful and I looked at it all the time!!! I owe my roomies big time for all of the help they gave me!! THANK YOU:) The rest of the week, I didn't go to school and I just stayed home to rest and recover. I was however curious how my kids were acting for those three days I didn't go to school. I am a tad worried. ;)

I survived week two.....

Well as many of you can see, I haven't blogged in over a week and well I apologize but it has been quite a week. I am going to start from the begining where I left off..which is last Saturday:)..

Saturday

We were pretty excited because we got to sleep in after our crazy first week of school and it felt good:). It took a while for us to get moving because we got distracted watching old music videos online. After we got our butts in gear, Malita invited us to come with her and Charlie to her grandma's house. We of course said yes and all 5 of us piled into a taxi to her granny's house. It was a nice little house where her grandma lives with her 3 sisters. The outside of the house is tourquoise and it looks like it is going to be quite small but you walk in and it actually goes pretty far back. It has a nice little outside area where they have plants and hang laundry. The inside is typical of loving elderly people:). There were definitely two pretty interesting features which included their water purifier and air conditioning unit. Their water purifier is a pretty nifty and inexpensive way to purify their water. It is basically a hollowed out stone that resembles a orange traffic cone tipped upside down but made of stone instead of rubber. They pour water into the stone and about 3 hours later they have a pitcher of purified water. Malita's granny said they bought it 30 some years ago so I am pretty sure they have gotten their money's worth. The water did have a distinct taste, it wasn't bad just different...and we didn't get sick from it so it that 30 yr old stone really does work! Their air conditioning unit consists of a square like container that has hay in it and you pour water into it and through some magic:) it cools the air. Most of the town, including our house and school uses this as a cooling agent. After we chatted for a while, Malita's granny and aunts fed us lunch and it was quite the feast! It was sooo nice and generous of them. We started out with some sort of soup that had a little shark in it. It wasn't too bad...I admit I was a little concerned but you know me and trying new things:). Then there was a second course which consisted of some sort of fried fish, rice and a sweet salad. It all ended up being pretty good and I of course was happy because it ended with nuez ice cream which is basically like butter pecan and it was GOOD!!

When we were finished with lunch, Malita's aunt took us to the market....so all 6 of us piled into her little car and she drove us throught the streets in her stick shift car. It really kind of cracked me up because she is such a crazy driver and she resembles my Grandma in so many ways!! It honestly is soooo strange. She basically is the Mexican version of my grandma...even Breanna agreed. While we were at the market walking the streets, we saw a ton of flower shops which brought me back to the days of Addy's Floral:). The flowers were arranged beautifully and they smelled as good as they looked. We stopped and went into this open air market that was full of anything and everything. Anything from little maracas to special potions/powders to Santos shirts. Santos is the local soccer team and so we thought we should go to the games in support of the team. It was a plus because we got them for a deal but here I thought mine was going to be 8 bucks too but since all the women's shirts were skin tight, I had to settle for men's which was a dollar more...bummer:)

When got back from the market, we took a family trip to Soriana to buy the weekly groceries. We decided to pick up some fried chicken when we were there for some grub. The fried chicken was pretty tasty! Well by the time we got home from store, it was about 8pm and we had to eat and change so we could head to this bar with live music for Gina's birthday. We once again around 9:30 piled into a taxi and tired to find the Cantanita. It was pretty funny because the taxi driver didn't know where it was and we had no idea but we eventually found it! It was a pretty sweet lucha libre themed bar with live music. Most of the teachers here were there and it was fun just hanging out. The live music was for sure a plus. As you can see our Saturday was JAMMED packed! I was exhausted and ready for bed by the time we got home and I slept in and it was great! Sunday was an ok day, basically it was spent grading grading and grading some more papers and doing some work at school.

The rest of the week

My week was pretty crazy. My kids still are having issues with talking when I am talking. Monday was horrible especially with my 4th graders. I was pretty upset with them because of how rude they were. I had a lot of kids in for recess because of this reason. On Tuesday it was one of my last straws. One of my worst kids decided to throw a fit and throw objects at me and throw a tantrum. It was pretty fun;). I ended up giving him detention because of his choices and he was not ok with it. I think it made him more angry but well a note went home and what not. The next day I decided that I was going to have a better attitude and some how try to find a way to reach or relate to this kid. So even though he wasn't acting very well, I designated him my errand runner and permanent board eraser. This somehow made his day and his face just lit up. This really caught be by suprise.. so well we will see if this works. I also had my fourth graders spend some time journaling about how they were going to be a better person in my class. I am also hoping this solves some problems as well. I was very stern when explaining this to them and I mentioned that on Thursday night I would be meeting their parents and they were oddly quiet for the first time since school started. Actually I don't know if they were ever that quiet.

Well Thursday came and it was a LONG day. It started at 7 am and ended about 9pm. I had school all day and then I had a short break and then I had to go back for a 2 hour tutoring session and then I had to quick go home and change so I could go back to school for parents night!!! Parents night was pretty fun. I admit I was a little nervous because many of the parents would ask me things in Spanish. I did have a Spanish translater but she was more nervous than I was and she wasn't there afterwards when parents would talk to me. All round it was a good time. The parents for the most were very warm and welcome. I was greeted with many hugs and kisses haha...The parents were very supportive and they told me that their kids liked me and if there was anything I needed, that I should not hesitate to ask! That was very reassuring and I am hoping by getting to know the parents more will help me in dealing with the kids. One parent raised their hand though and I thought they were going to eat me because of the look on her face. She asked me why I assigned soooo much homework. As soon as she got done saying this, the parents in the room quickly turned around and faced her. It turns out her daughter who doesn't listen, wrote down that I assigned 6 pages of math homework, when in reality, I assigned 1 page and 6 problems that should have taken them no time. It was interesting:)...My second heartfelt moment was before I was about to give my speech, a mom slowly came up to me and quietly said.."I'm Diego's mom and I am ashamed to show my face." He was the boy who threw things at me and who I gave detention to...Well we did have a nice chat and we are going to work together to get this figured out. All in all it was a good night with the parents and I felt good about it. The thing that just cracks me up is that the fourth graders tell their parents that I am great but I feel like all I do is yell and assign journal assignments about good behavior....very strange...very strange...:)

Well that puts us to Friday and we were all pretty stoked for it. It was a tad crazy because it we had mass in the morning which meant my morning group had barely anytime to do anything but it turned out ok and I didn't really have any behavior problems so I guess you could say I had an okay day. Let's hope next week is a ton better!! This weekend, I am looking forward to rest and relaxation!!! and of course grading grading grading and more grading....grading may be the death of me.............:)

My Classroom

Survival of the fittest

Well I survived my first week of teaching and let me tell you it wasn't a treat...:) There were definitely highs and then definitely lows. I really enjoy the kids and they all are pretty decent kids, it's just that we are the English speaking American teachers and they get sick of us quickly. So they start to tune us out. It is so different than teaching in Forest City, Iowa. It has been a challenge but it has been a good challenge. This will help me grow in my skills and hopefully by the end of September, they will be eating out of my hand. I had after school duty all this week and it was CRAZY. The parents have this pick up system where they get into a line and each family has a particular time to pick their kids up. The Spanish teachers announce the names over the mic system and we take them to their cars. It is a quick way to get all the kids out at the end of the day. The kids are here for a sec and gone the next. I would have to say each night this week I was TIRED and every morning I was tired...so hopefully each week will get better with that as well:).

My third graders (morning group) are the cutest kids and they still like to please and ask lots of questions. One thing though is that they are so hyper and they all talk at once and want to know what they are supposed to do. They raise their hand while shouting and saying, "No meeess I dunno," or "I don't understand." This is after I have explained it many times. I am training them to just raise their hand silently and I will answer their question. I am also teaching them to read the bold print because so many times after I tell them to read the directions to me they go "oooooo I seeeeee." Another thing is that I will have them turn 2 things into their in-box and then for the next 2 things, they will constantly ask me where it goes. I try patiently to remind them. Part of the reason they don't know is because they are talking, explaining things to their partner in Spanish or they just plain don't understand English. It is frustrating at times but we are both learning to better get across what we are trying to say. Each day has been significantly better than the first. So cross your fingers it will only keep getting better. One of my highs for the week is getting to know the kids in the morning. They will all come to my door really early and just crowd around my desk and ask me questions. Many of them bring me presents which just make me smile. One of the girls even wore a t-shirt two days in a row that said Minnesota on it for me:)

And now for the Fourth Grade Demons.....Let's just say the first day, I came home with a hoarse voice. These kids have zero concept of what it means to be quiet when someone is talking. It doesn't faze them at all to talk when I am talking and just tune me out and they are in 4th grade. I've started this new system with them and each week a folder goes home with them about their behavior. I haven't seen it this bad, they laugh and giggle, while I am explaining things to them and then they even have the nerve to ask me to repeat and/or explain it again. I have been rearranging desks all week and I am running out of room to put people. I have 28 kids in one room. Part of the problem is that they come to my room just from recess and then they have to stop at their locker and get a bunch of books and then get to class. It wastes sooooo much time and then they need a drink or they need to go to the bathroom. Then they get to class and they don't read the board and mess around and I write their name down and then they argue with me that they didn't do anything wrong. I know a part of it is their culture and language barrier but another part is that they don't hold the same respect for their Spanish teachers as their English teachers. I don't mean to just be a downer about my kids but it is frustrating. There are however sooooo many good kids too. There are a few girls that ask questions and if I had a class of them I would love it!!! I feel terrible that I have to assign more homework and raise my voice. One of the girls said however even though I yell and give extra homework, I am cool. That actually made my day because then I didn't feel so crappy. I know the kids are prolly bored because they have to do so much in one day and it is a lot of book work. They way the school has the curriculum set up, we aren't able to do as much outside of the books as I would like to. So my goal is to somehow incorporate it into fun things and maybe the kids will be more interested. I did send home Friday folders today and I made 5 kids cry about the marks they got this week. I feel bad yet at the same time my hope is that they see this and want to change their behavior. This weekend, I plan on just doing some grading, relaxing and SLEEPING IN. I honestly can't wait!!!:)

Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss (meeesss long /e/ sound)

Well today was the first day of my educational career and it was not anything like I thought it would be. All in all it was a pretty good day and it was fun getting to know the kids and such but ufta it was CRAZY. So this morning we decided to head to school early so that we could do some last minute things and go over what we had prepared. Well when I woke up this morning at 6:15, it was pitch black. For a moment I thought I had woke up way to early but I checked my clock and it was indeed 6:15. So after I picked out my 1st day of school outfit, the roomies and I headed to school. Well school was crazy at 7am because parents were bringing in their kids and getting situated. I would say they were a tad early:).

When I got to my room, there were parents and kids waiting outside for me. I was caught a little off guard and all of the work I was planning on doing...didn't happen. I would say I met at least 12-15 moms’, who were so warm and friendly, and of course greet with a hug and kiss on the cheek. That was for sure new for me hahaha. I even had one mom already tell me that her kid needs to sit in the front. I met her for like 5 mins and she is already inserting her parenting input:). However, I wasn't sure how the morning was suppose to go and when we were suppose to meet for the greeting, but my students quickly informed me. How it works is, they line all the grades up in lines in the outdoor gym and then they do the salute, Mexican anthem, Lord’s Prayer, and some "hail Mary's." That alone was a new experience for me:).

However, I thought the sight of it was quite a sight. I know that sounds a tad corny but as I was standing there (looking at the kids in their lines while the parents were all lined up around while this was happening), I thought about how different they value their education than in the US. There were parents everywhere and you can tell that they take an interest in their child's education. I just thought if every parent in the US treated the first day of school or even school alone like this, how different the educational world would be!

So after all of that jazz, I directed my kids back to my classroom. I had the third graders first and I already love them. They were so good and wanting to please. I may have some problems but so far they seemed pretty accepting of the rules and procedures. I got so into my schedule that I almost forgot they had specials. One of these reasons is that I don't have a working clock in my room. I have tried a few batteries but I finally took it to Erendira and she gave me a new one. I thought all of my problems would be solved but no. The brand new clock stopped working as soon as I got to my room. I think that I am cursed:) The rest of the morning ZOOOOOOOMED by....and I didn't accomplish much because someone lost their locker key, someone had a locker issue, and then someone spilt their drink for their lunch so I had to go and find someone to mop that up. It was quite a hassle:). I still can't get over how fast that time with and I am wondering how I will get through the material and yet stimulate and engage the kids because we all know how exciting workbooks are.

The afternoon definitely set a different pace. It was crazy from the get go. They have music right after lunch and recess and when recess is over, I am suppose to meet them in front of their lockers and take them to music. However, they don't know who I am and they were crazy from recess. So it was almost impossible to do it in an orderly fashion. So I go a half an hour later, I go and get them and they are even more ecstatic. So I finally get them somewhat quiet so that we could go over the rules. I have this clapping signal so they know when to be quiet and freeze so I don't end up yelling so much. Even though we practiced, they totally tuned me out. At one point it was so frustrating that I was just standing there waiting but they finally shaped up for a split sec and I said there will be consequences, even on the first day. They actually surprised me because they got a lot further than the third graders and I had an extra half hour where we did some get to know you questions. Even during that they wouldn't stop talking. I already had to move some kids. I hope tomorrow gets better since they will have their first day crazies out. The fourth graders asked me a ton of questions and it was always miss, miss, miss. If I had a nickel....:). But the afternoon flew by and apparently I was suppose to tell my kids to go to their lockers and then hold them until the bell rang but no one really knew what was going on. Also, I had after school duty which was psycho as well because here all the kids meet at the door and they have a number system where the parents line up outside in their cars and the kids' names were called. This honestly took almost 45 mins! CRAZY!!! But I did get to bond with some of my fourth graders:)

So at about 3:30, we got home and collapsed. Our feet hurt and we were just plain tired:) We decided that we would go back to that place that sold empanadas but it was a no go because they were closed....so we kept walking and ended up at the InterMall. We ate at Opa's and it was spectacular and it was just what we needed. Emily and I got this roast beef roll up thing and Breanna got a burger that was pretty tasty too. It tasted like there was butterscotch on it...so a little odd cuz I wasn't expecting that taste but it was good. Their fries were AMAZING. The best I've ever had....I will for sure need to go back just for them:). We walked through the rest of the mall when we were done and we found the IMAX theater which we will be going to soon:) and the ice skating rink. Breanna and Emily said they definitely want to try it out. Check out the pic of Breanna wanted to trade teaching in for skating:) After the mall, we got back and just chilled and did some planning for tomorrow. I caught up on some emails while Breanna took a power nap. She had a rough day because her kids don't know English really at all and they don't care and listen. Both of us also have a hoarse voice for all of the talking we did today! Hopefully tomorrow is a calmer day!:)

(check that out rachie:) i'm in the new movie!!!)
(those are the mountains out my classroom and the outdoor gym)

Here goes nothin.......

It is Sunday night and I am officially exhausted. Breanna, Emily, and I spent every spare minute at school this weekend getting ready for school. Saturday we got up early and headed to school around 10 a.m. It was a great start to our day because we didn't have running water, therefore we could not shower to flush the toilet...SAWEET....I spent a lot of time in my classroom making signs, schedules, posters, bulletin boards...etc. Breanna was nice enough to help me make a traffic light for the behaviors in my classroom. The kids start out at green (doing your job) and then if they misbehave it goes to yellow (make a better choice) and if they continue, the move to red (stop the behavior). If they get to red more than 2 times throughout the week, they will need to fill out a behavior plan and get it signed by their parents. Breanna also helped me hang my alphabet on the clothes line in my room (I was a little vertically challenged). We got to a point in our planning where we needed more supplies before we moved on. Before we went shopping, we stopped at home and at a lot of left-overs because it was now 2:00pm. I honestly don't know where the time goes here....So after lunch, we headed to Waldo's Mart since it is cheap. We however couldn't find everything we needed so we walked all the way to Soriana. We looked all over Soriana for magnets and a koosh ball...they unfortunately didn't have either so we thought we would check out Wal-Mart. So we made the trek to Wal-Mart and they didn't have what we wanted either. However, we did find a cheap printer that we splurged on because we thought it would be very handy to have at home. By the time we left Wal-Mart, we were so tired that we were all in agreement that we would take a taxi.


We got back around 6pm and headed straight back to school for another couple hours. As soon as I got home, I checked to see if the water was working and I took a nice relaxing shower!! Later that night, Emily and I made BLT's for supper and Charlie, Malita, Breanna, Emily and I watched a marathon of Sister Act while we worked on stuff for school. Emily wanted to use the printer but as she was trying to set it up, she noticed we didn't have any black ink or an usb cord. So that was pretty sweet...however Charlie was kind enough to lend us his and she printed in dark blue haha...It was a late night and we all had to get up early on Sunday to go back to school.


Today I got up at 9:30 and Breanna and I headed to school. I felt like I accomplished the most today than out of all the other days. One of these reasons is because I had everything that I needed; I didn't have to run around trying to find it today. Before our break for lunch, I made my hall passes, and hung up the posters I made. Emily came and got Breanna and I for lunch and then we headed to casa A and B to pick up Erin and Megan. We wanted to get some empanadas so we thought if we got to the place early, we would have luck.....but no go. We are going to keep trying though!


After lunch, we headed back to school for some more! I was very productive and was whipping out signs and posters like crazy, all while belting songs from my iPod! I enjoyed myself. I rearranged my classroom and got my rules and procedures in order and posters. It was A LOT of work but I would say in the end it made a world of a difference. I think it is definitely has a homier feel to it. There are a lot of desks to situate which is somewhat of a challenge. I think I finally came up with an arrangement that will work. I guess we will see how it goes tomorrow. We were at school until about 7pm and it was good thing we left when we did because it was a COMPLETE downpour the rest of the night. So far we have gotten more rain than all of Torreon got total last year. We decided that we should get to bed early since it was going to be an early morning and a long day tomorrow for our first day of school!

"I'm sorry I broke your chalk!"

Friday
Man, today was a crazy day and now that it is over, I do feel somewhat satisfied. This morning, Breanna, Emily, and I got to school at 8a.m. because we decided we better get a head start since our plans for next week were due today. If you were a pedestrian watching us get to school, I am sure you would have got a good laugh out of it because Emily and I had so much stuff that we piled it into her huge suitcase. We even had stuff left over that we had to carry. So just picture me wearing my purse, book bag, and plastic bags full of stuff all while lugging this huge beast on wheels. The reason why we had too much stuff was because I have two sets of curriculum books and she has one. Then on top of that we had to get some more supplies for our classroom because there wasn't a single thing in our rooms. In order to do this cost effectively we went to Waldo's Mart; which is a dollar store and bought most of the stuff. We ended up having to walk back from Waldo's Mart in the rain. It was quite an adventure.

Anyways, back to this morning we get to school and I found my partner Gina and we got to planning for next week. Well 3 hours later, we were ready to meet with Ana. Ana said they we were good to go and then asked me if Charlie and I were ready to meet with her about 4th grade. I about had a heart attack because I only had the first day planned for 4th grade and Charlie and I hadn't met yet. So Ana gave Charlie and me some more time to get done planning. Charlie and I got done around 1:30 and I realized I had until 2:00 to get all of my handouts made, printed, and sent for copies. AHHHHH, I was freaking out and running around like a fool. Charlie and I got all 9 of our things to the office for coping by 2:10..whew:) Hopefully things won't be as crazy as this in the future. It was a little confusing because I had to keep track of what I was using for just 3rd grade, ones for just 4th, and then one's for both....aye aye aye.

After I got everything handed in, I spent some time in the computer lab printing out things that would take a long time to make by hand. While I was in there, I had a fun convo with one of the Spanish teachers. She was cute and would ask me how to spell things in English and I would ask her things in Spanish. Once I got that all printed, I felt a sigh of relief...until I got back to my classroom and realized I still have a lot to do. I decided though I would come in on Saturday to get more things done. So Emily and I left school around 4:30ish.

When we got home the roomies and I decided tonight would be a night free of thinking. We got some ice cream at Bips to relax. Breanna and I decided we would make our specialty pizza and Malita suggested we watch the Sound of Music. Well Beans and I got everything ready and went to start the oven but we couldn't figure it out haha. So I called my new friend Gina and she kindly came over and helped us start us. It smelled horrible and we were a little concerned but hey whatever:) It was an awesome supper and movie. Malita is hilarious and honestly is the next Maria because she not only knows every song but also the dance that goes with it!! Breanna laughed so hard that she was close to spraying the pop in her mouth everywhere. Tonight definitely helped in unwinding from a chaotic week!

Thursday

Thursday was "meet the staff day.”We met in the library to get to know each other and play a few games to create bonding. It was a lot of fun and there was laughter had by all. The chairs were put in a circle and it was typical because all the Spanish teachers sat together and the American teachers sat together. We then had to go around the room and say our name, where we were from, and what we were teaching. I thought it was so great to see the warmth and comroddery in their faces and voices. I felt like I was in a room full of encouragement and support. Our first ice breaker was the animal sound game. We each got a little piece of paper with an animal on it and we needed to find our partners without using anything but the sounds the animal makes. It was hilarious because animal noises in Spanish are different than in English. Once I found my other "birds," we talked and learned things about each other. Then the next bonding game was we were to choose a color of a square that was taped throughout the room and then find our other color members. I chose yellow and when I got in my group, the rest of the yellows only spoke Spanish. This was interesting but I was proud of myself because I could understand what they were saying and I actually could form comprehendible responses in Spanish. As a group we were to draw a picture of why we chose yellow. Most of us chose yellow for the sun and happiness but one lady got us laughing because she said she chose yellow because it was just there and she was scared lol....My Spanish partner teacher was also in my group and we got to chatting. She is very pleasant and her name is Ana Olivia. We will be spending a lot of time getting to know each other.

After all of the bonding, I pretty much organized my classroom. I needed to decide how I wanted my bulletin boards and what to display around the room. I then realized that I didn't have chalk for my board, so Breanna, Emily and I went to find some. In this little room were multiple little bags of chalk. I went in there and grabbed a bag and tossed it gently to Emily. She unfortunately dropped it and EVERY single piece of chalk broke into tiny pieces....ooops so we hid it under the table and grabbed new ones...shhhhh:). After that excitement, we decided to leave and go to some stores to get some more supplies. For supper that night, Emily made us some pretty amazing vodka penne....yum. We are really starting to feel like a family; eating together and sitting at the table:). I love my casa C familia!:)

Pic for Mollusk-get a load of those mushrooms!!!:)

¡Ay Carumba! How many people does it take to fix a stapler?!

I can't get over how quickly this week is speeding by. Tomorrow is already Thursday and that means I have less than a day to get my planning for next week finished and I have until Friday to get my room ready for my kids on Monday. I am a little freaked out because of the work load and balancing two different classes but I am up for the challenge I guess...BRING IT ON!:)

Today we spent most of our time in our classrooms planning and getting ready for Monday. It took a lot of team work to get each other’s bulletin boards up. Breanna, Emily, and I worked pretty solidly cutting and gluing and writing and thinking. When I went to use my stapler, it wouldn't open. I had Breanna, Emily, and Gina all try to see if they could fix it and they couldn't. So I found Ana, our coordinator, and she had at least 10-12 people try and see if they could fix it and finally it was decided I needed a new one! It was pretty comical watching everyone try and fix it. After, Breanna and I got all my bulletin boards covered; we headed towards her room to get hers ready. When we got to her room, it was locked and all of her stuff was in there. We then had to go and find someone to let us in and they didn't have a key. So we had to break into the windows. It was pretty funny trying to break into the classroom with a scissors and random keys instead of a screw driver. We left the school about 3 today and we were pretty exhausted and when we got home, we took a break to have tostadas and then got to work planning. It is going to be a long night!
("Hi, I'm Miss Breanna and this is my friend the giraffe")
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Yesterday, we had a meeting with our coordinator, Ana, and we went over the teaching manual page by page, word by word. It was good to see what was required of us but yet at the same time a tad overwhelming. They are pretty hardcore here. Homework is to be assigned every night and if the kids don't hand it in 3 times, they are sent to detention! I guess I hope it will help hold my students accountable. The one thing that is going to be hard is getting through the materials. There is so much to cover and so little time. It will be hard to steer away from the workbooks and do some fun things...but I am going to try as much as I can. At our meeting, Anna also gave us the keys to our classroom and our curriculum books. When she gave me the curriculum books I would be using, my mouth dropped a little because I had to get all the books for two grades. All I could do at this point was laugh and get over it. Another thing that made my mouth drop was learning my classroom would need to put on an activity/program for the whole school! Yikes!!After we got our materials and three trips later (I had so many things that it took three trips to get it to my classroom), I found myself staring around the room and thinking...wow this is my classroom and I am the teacher. It was exciting yet at the same time I was thinking...holy, the kids are coming on Monday and I am the one in charge. I didn't do much organizing and planning the rest of the day. After we got home from school, we wanted to go to a teacher store to get materials because the Spanish teachers' rooms were amazing in comparison to ours. So we got in a taxi and headed to the mall across town. When we got to the "teacher" store, we were depressed because there weren't a lot of things and the things that were there, were either too expensive or in Spanish. After we bought the few items that were in English, we decided to hit the food court. We were in luck because it was taco Tuesday and the tacos were AWESOME! When we were finished eating, we left the mall and headed to Soriana for some more little things that we needed; which included a squeegee for my shower!..because it has been having some issues. Later that night, I got a chance to talk to my mom, dad and sibs on SKYPE. It was funny trying to get it to work on both ends but it was worth the headache. While I chatted on SKYPE, many of the girls tried out the free aerobics classes and they said their instructor worked them pretty hard. They were dripping when they got back. I said I would consider it next time:).

At about 7:30, Charro, the principal of the school, called me and asked if we would want some tacos delivered that night. She wanted to send us some tacos as a thank you for switching houses with the boys. I thought it was nice of her to do that. At about 9:30pm there weren't no tacos to be found. We weren't sure what happened but it turned out that the guy who was delivering them was lost...so at about 10:15, we got the famous tacos from Vampiros. I have to say they were very good and was a good way to end the evening!

What a day....Mexican Insurance and Moving

Sunday
It was pretty low key on Sunday; we wenjoyed our last day off before the fun begins:). Casa A, B, and D went to Soriana for some groceries. After that trip it was decided that we would never go there again on a Sunday. It was PACKED with people and carts everywhere; which was a little overwhelming. Soriana is a Mexican version of Walmart and it is run by Mexicans/created in Mexico. Soriana definitely beats out Walmart not only in price but in selections. I couldn't get over the amount of things in that store. There were fresh vegetables and fruit galore, yummy looking/smelling breads, tons of meat, more cheese than I could imagine, and tons more. We will definitely be heading back there soon because it is so close and I am sure we forgot some things because we were taken back by the size and how busy it was.

(molly get a load of those peppers! I can just imagine your mouth watering:))

After we got everything unpacked we made some more quesadillas. However, we put jalapeños, green peppers, onions, and a different type of cheese in them. I have to say we are getting better and better at this. I love tortillas and I honestly could eat quesadillas everyday!:) We also had some pico de gallo that was EXTREMELY hot. I've never had it quite that hot...I could hardly talk haha..

Later that afternoon, we had a phase 10 party at casa C and it was pretty intense. We had 6 teams of two and it was fun to see who hadn't played before and who had. It was a lot of fun! After cards, Emily, Breanna, Megan and I decided we would hit up Bips for some ice cream. This definitely is the place to be. Every night it is jam packed with people and after eating there I can see why. For 15 pesos ($1.50), I got a large scoop of homemade ice cream, made that day, with oreos in it. We all agreed we would be coming here very often!


For supper that night, Emily made us some delicious rice and beans. She put onions, green peppers, black beans, and tomato paste in it. It was good by itself but it was also tasty wrapped in a tortilla! She will for sure make it again because everybody loved it.

Monday
Today we had to report to the school at 10am to go over all of our paperwork. The paperwork was the easy part. One thing that was a little comical was how we had to write and sign our names many times, and not only that, we had to write them in the Mexican way. So my new name is Jenna Rae Miller Quam...haha. The thing that was the most difficult to understand was the insurance and social security. Insurance itself is already confusing now throw in the fact that it was explained all in Spanish! I am pretty sure that I get the gist of it but I am hoping for no major injuries!

(Back row: Tom, Victor, Charlie, Megan, Erin, Jen)
(Front row: Natalie, Breanna, Malita, Lesley, Emily, Me, Joanna)

We also got a tour of the school and it was pretty sweet. There are two floors of classrooms that form a rectangle and inside is a huge grassy area and the "gym." Yes, they get to have gym outside!..pretty sweet huh:) All of the people were very warm and welcome. I met the teacher I will be working with. She is the Spanish teacher for my kids; when they are not with me they are with her. So I will have 3rd grade in the morning and 4th in the afternoon. It is going to be an interesting year!

We also were told that there were too many boys coming and they would not fit into the house that currently housed the boys...so that meant we had to change houses with them. This did not make many people happy. Here we were all settled and getting comfortable, and now we have to move. The house we moved into isn't so bad and it doesn't smell as awful as our other one does. However, since we don't have air conditioning anymore and use something else that uses the outside air, we get this awful smell sometimes wafting into the house:). It took everyone's help in all of the houses to make the move. Before we got down to business, we got some lunch down the street, which was very delicious.

Once we got everything moved, I didn't feel like unpacking my suitcases again so instead we got some ice cream at the place on the corner named Bips. Breanna had some interesting nachos and I had a double scoop ice cream cone. IT WAS AWESOME..however, it melted faster than I could eat it so I had a complete mess. I can tell you that it was definitely worth the mess;) I plan on getting a cone there again but maybe not a double scoop!
The rest of the night I unpacked a little and Breanna, Malita, Charlie, Emily, and I watched Hairspray. I love that movie and I especially love that we all sang along with the songs. I got to bed before midnight because I was exhausted and we had an early morning the next day.

(sidenote this is a note we left for Arthur...we hope he gets it but we won't know because we moved:)

Olympics + Instant Replays + 6 hours = craziness

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/16/bolt.100gold.ap/index.html

Today was a very relaxing day. My morning consisted of eating azucaradas and watching the Jamaican man win the gold medal in the 100m a million times in replay. I have yet to figure out why it is necessary to play it over and over and over and over....I got it he broke a record and won the gold:).

Once the rest of the girls were up, a bunch of us took the trek to the pool. Let me tell you that it was refreshing and hit the spot to a warm day. There weren't too many people there and we enjoyed watching the little kids jump into the water with zero fear. The pool is rather large and there is a smaller "kiddie" pool that is just as relaxing to sit in if you want to not be totally immersed. Most of us were applying sunscreen like crazy and then Breanna pointed out this sign that said it was illegal to get into the pool with any creams or lotions on!? We may have pretended we didn't see it;) It was Breanna's lucky day though because she found 3 pesos at the bottom of the pool and one peso on the walk to the pool..WHOOP WHOOP!

After the pool, we got some grub at a cute little place that had a tv in the kitchen with a little kid about the age of 2 sitting in a chair watching Dragon Tales. He was so cute and would walk around and put things on our tables. I tried a cubana sandwich and I have to tell you it wasn't too bad. Some parts were odd but I didn't mind it. It included tomatoes, jalapeños, cheese, beef, some sauce, and sausage….I also had this new carbonated drink that is basically apple juice with carbonation. I have to say it is DELICIOSO! I am surprised I like it considering apples aren't my fave but it will do:).

Later that afternoon, we had plans to go to the grocery store and what not; however when the other girls came over to meet us, we saw that there was a Michael Phelps marathon on of him winning his gold medals and started watching. Well that watching turned into 6 hours of watching the Olympics! This also meant that I saw the Jamaican man win the medal in replay another 20 times and the replays of Phelps winning the medals. During this 6 hours marathon, Breanna and I made some grilled cheese and ham sandwiches to curb our hunger. The whole gang was over and we got to witness history in the making! We got to see Michael win his 8th gold medal. Yay, that means tomorrow I will prolly get to see him and the Jamaican man in instant replay ALL DAY LONG:).....but we are not going to get sucked into the Olympics for that many hours again and hopefully get to the grocery store:).

Also here are some pictures of where I am living:) It's our front door:) and the bottom is our sweet little courtyard.

**side note that I forgot to mention....for those of you who know and love Val, know about her deal with purses and what happens to them when they are on the floor, so I am sure that you will enjoy this picture because at El Castor they had a special hanger dealy for purses! So problem solved: I didn't lose any money!!