Take it where you can get it....

As you probably can assume, any pretense of a social life is null and void by this point.  However, the other day a little boy from another teacher's class did let me know that I'm not completely decrepit yet...

He overheard me talking with my mentor teacher about her leaving the room and leaving me in charge...

Him: "You're not a teacher...?"
Me: "I'm not?! I wonder why I'm doing so much teaching then..."
Him: "Well, you don't look like a teacher."
Me: "Why not?"
**thinking**
Him: "Well...you're too young, and you dress too nice!"

Like I said, I'll take it where I can get it. Haha. Kids are funny the things that they notice.

On the other hand, in the middle of a math test the other day a little girl raised her hand.  I went over to see what she needed.  She pointed right at my belly and said, "You has a baby in there?"

Didn't love that so much.

Last week we had a substitute teacher, who just happened to be a 25-year old male.  (Now, don't get too excited, he was taken).  However, it wasn't so easy to convince the kids of that - they were SURE that he was my husband.  So were a couple ladies in the staff lounge....awkward.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  Yesterday, I got all my "presents."  I received a rose (from a little boy that was beaming SO big when he gave it to me, he was very proud of himself), a tulip from a little girl's garden, a dandelion from the playground, a watercolor picture, AND a plastic toy cow.  Yes, you heard me right.  A plastic toy cow.

I love my job.  These kids never cease to make me laugh (except on the few rare occasion they make me want to tear my hair out).  Social life be da**ed, at least for now, I'm glad that I love going to work every day :)

They Do Say the Darndest Things!

Well friends, my absence lately has been well-merited.  I've been wrapped up in the world of 2nd graders and grad school, keeping my plate very full.  I absolutely love my internship so far.  Yes, there have been some very tough parts, and some things that really take getting used to - but I think that I have been placed exactly where I'm supposed to be.  My students are so much fun, and so sweet (for the most part!).  I'm still learning how to use my stern teacher voice and enact consequences for bad behavior while still showing them that they are cared for and that I want to see them learn - it is an interesting balance to find.   Needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun, and a few embarassing moments well.  One of the funniest things about students this age is that they seem to have absolutely no filter - they literally say whatever they are thinking...because I find this so humorous, I want to attempt to catologue some of the entertaining (unwittingly so) comments I have heard from the mouths of these kiddos...for posterity's sake I suppose.  However, with my increasingly limited time for anything even slightly recreational, I haven't written here since I started my internship and some of my best stories will have slipped through the cracks.  I have a tendency to facebook my funny kid stories, rather than blog them, so that my fellow teacher friends can appreciate them.  I will share a few here though and hope to add more in the future....

Talking about no filter....

Student R came up to me...
R: "Teacher can I go the bathroom?"
Me: "Ok, you have one minute and I'm timing you" (this is common practice at my school gives them incentive not to be playing around in there)
R: "Can I have 3 minutes, I have to poop!"

While sitting in the teacher's chair and reading to the large group, I suddenly felt something and looked down only to find that a little girl was rubbing her finger on my legs (covered with nylons)....

During a read-aloud, one of my (male) students raised his hand, right in the middle, to ask me,
"Teacher have you seen that one movie about the twilight people who suck your blood? and they glow in the dark! "
Side note: there's another little boy who wears a Twilight t-shirt, often, and I can't help but think that he will regret that when he grows up.  Also, for spring break one of the little girls was soooo excited because her family was taking a trip to Forks! I can't help but laugh, because Forks is about the least interesting place in the world, especially to any of us who grew up near it - but, that doesn't seem to stop those vampire-wannabes.

Of course, now that I sit down to write about them, I can't remember all the funny stories.  But these kids do make me laugh on a regular basis, so hopefully I'll be able to share more often.

Also, kids love to give gifts...so far I have received: a drawing of a panda, a drawing of an armadillo (apparently, I wouldn't have known until it was explained to me), a bunny sucker, a Spongebob sticker, half a pair of sunglasses (yes, I said half), 4 NutriGrain bars (I finally had to tell the kid to stop bringing me them! poor guy, he loves to share), a grubby handful of sweaty Mike n Ikes, and a snail.  Life is good. haha.

Who knew?!

Apparently it's still winter...

New Home



View from the dining room window



Here's the lake from a nearby park, bit of a cloudy day...



Hello friends...well, God came through again just as He always does.  Contrary to my last post, I am now actually already living in Kent.  God provided me with a place to live just as I was about to set into panic mode - gotta love His timing right?! I'm living in Kent, close to Covington and only about 10-15 minutes from the elementary school where I will be working.  I am living with the pastor and his wife from the local Vineyard church here - they are great people and completely opened up their home to me, so generously.  They are friends of the pastor of my parents' church in Port Angeles, and actually had a brief encounter with my parents (through church-planting) about 20 years ago.  Amazing how God works! Needless to say, I've spent the last couple days getting acquainted with this area and getting used to living in someone else's house and adjusting to their schedules.  It is a bit of a weird place to be in, but I am very grateful for it.  Also, their house is very close to Lake Meridian, so from the upstairs (I'm living in the daylight basement) there's a great view.  I took a picture with my phone, so it's not the best quality. (see above - for some reason I'm having trouble with pics on the blog lately, so take them as they are...)

Student-Teaching

Hey friends, most of you know this already, but I finally got my student-teaching placement! Yay! I'm going to be at Park Orchard Elementary in Kent, WA. You can check the website out here: http://www1.kent.k12.wa.us/ksd/po/PAGES/STAFF/staff_directory.htm
I'm going to be working in a second grade classroom with a teacher who has never had a student-teacher before.  I did an interview with her last week and it went very well.  She is pretty young and enthusiastic, so I'm excited to work with her.  Almost half of her classroom is ELL (English Language Learner) students - a majority of them are Spanish-speakers, so I will be doing some translating.  Although the students are learning English, many of the families do not speak English, so hopefully I can bond with the parents through translating.  Also, I'm pretty sure that this is why I was placed at this school - because of the Spanish connection, so it's all starting to make sense!

I'm currently in the last week of my job and I need to move into the Kent area ASAP.  I went and looked at places to stay on Tuesday.  I went to 3 different places and none of them will work out, unfortunately.  The parameters of my living needs make it very difficult to find somewhere...but I'm doing my best to have faith that if God wants me at this school, He will find me a place to live! I'm not very good at being patient though...who is?!?  If you happen to know anyone that might have somewhere I could stay, here's what I need....

A room in the Kent/Maple Valley/Auburn area.
Month-to-month lease (or possibly a 6 month lease, but even that would be a stretch, because I will probably only be there for 4 months)
No cats! (I'm allergic, and every place I looked at yesterday had cats...:S)
$400 a month or less (I will have no income during student-teaching and will be living just off of my savings/emergency fund)

I have already asked my friends, my church members, 3 churches in the area, and friends of my parents...so if anyone else has any great ideas, please let me know! Thanks :)

What My Phone Has to Say...

While cleaning out the pictures from my phone memory the other day I came across a few to share....

On Thanksgiving I made my first ever angel food cake from scratch! It turned out excellent.  I added my own cranberry glaze, that I made like you would make a normal glaze and then added some cranberry jelly and strained the glaze to get the jelly lumps out.  It was pretty.

Around Christmas time, I made snowman mints.  Do you believe those are actually mints? Yep, they're awfully cute, but they are also tasty - to me, they tasted like "After-Dinner Mints" (if you've ever had those..they're kind of old-school).  My Grandma refused to eat these, or even try one...perhaps they were too cute for her, who knows.  I had fun making them...they'd be great for a kids' Christmas party.

Gorgeous morning at John Wayne Marina the other day....this is one of the places I will miss when (if) I move in the next couple of months...speaking of which - my last day of work is a month from yesterday, wow.

My cat (Boo) likes to "help" me with homework...she rubs her head against my laptop. Thanks kitten. She also demands lots of petting...as shown in this picture.

That is all for now....

Happy New Year!

2 months have passed since my last update...that's funny because one of my goals for my Christmas "break" was to write on this blog when I had "spare time" and fewer responsibilities.  However, the urge to write seems to hit me more often when I have other things that I really should be doing..and don't want to.  It is as the they say..."my room is never cleaner than when I have a paper to write or an exam to study for." 

 


Turkey Trot in the snow...so cold, my sweat became frost on my headband!

 



After the Reindeer Run with my medal, it was chilly.



In the last couple of months I have...done a few things.  Mainly, I finished up my fall quarter at SPU...it was by far the toughest quarter I've had yet.  I enjoyed my break...although, I must say it feels significantly less like a break when you still have to go to work, but it was nice.  I did a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving with my dad...I had a bit of a rough time in that race because it was snowy and I also forgot to tape up my arm beforehand.  I did a 10k Reindeer Run right before Christmas and performed much better - even taking 3rd place for my age group!

*An update on my shoulder problems - for those of you who haven't heard, I won't be going for shoulder surgery, as I was originally worried about, for now.  I may have to go in for it in the future, but for now, I am simply trying to do some arm strengthening exercises.  Apparently, my shoulder bones are too close to my nerves....go figure...Here's something that may make you laugh...my physical therapist recommended that I use the ShakeWeight....yes, you heard me right, that rather obscene-looking device...I now own and use one...laugh away*

Christmas around my house was pretty quiet this year.  Fortunately my brother was able to traverse the snow-covered roads and visit from Idaho. That was a blessing...although it turned out I am allergic to his dog and broke out in a terrible rash :( I think I will be more careful before petting unfamiliar dogs in the future - I grew up with a dog that never caused me any allergies, so I must only have trouble with certain breeds.

The biggest news is really that I STILL don't have my student-teaching placement....I will begin my internship in a little less than 2 months and I don't know where I am going! Although I am somewhat comforted to know that about half my cohort is in the same boat as myself...it is still frustrating...especially for a Type A person such as myself.  I keep reminding myself that God is trying to teach me patience...something I desperately need to learn...but it's hard! haha.

I have given my notice at my job though...knowing that God WILL provide somewhere for me to student-teach, starting on March 1st.  My last day at the church will be...February 14th! Yes that's right, the all-exciting Valentine's day.  I figured that would be a good note to go out on...lots of love...or whatever that holiday is really all about.  I will be sad to leave this job, I adore the kids here...however, I am ready to move forward in my pursuit of a teaching career and it's really time...They are conducting interviews for my position...and that is a little weird...but I'm sure there's a great person out there to fill my shoes.

If any of you out there are praying people, pray for me in my patience as I wait to find out about my student-teaching placement and along with that, that when I do find out where I'm going, that God would provide somewhere for me to live.  Because the internship is 4 months, and I will have no income during that time, it would be virtually impossible to sign a year lease on an apartment...again, I'm trusting that God will provide...but it is definitely more in my nature to worry....

One thing I am sincerely hoping is that if I get placed in the Seattle area (which is highly likely) I will be able to reconnect with Seattle friends...if any of you out there still read this, that means YOU! :) I am also hoping that I will finally be able to actually GO to a church again without working on Sundays...working for a church has been great in many regards, but I miss being in a service and not working a service for sure...

That's all for now...probably until the next time I have a looming deadline....haha.  Happy 2011 everyone!