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!!:)