"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!!!:)