My Mississippi Mattress

Greetings from the South where I am living with teachers from all over the world for two weeks, learning more about how to transition into a new culture, how to teach kids who have lived in several cultures and sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a classroom. Along with hearing humorous stories about cross-cultural adjustment and experiencing huge Mississippian thunder storms, the best part has been meeting my new team. Our school director was here for a couple of days and so we got to know him and ask him plenty of questions. Also, two of the teachers here taught at our school last year and have been able to offer us newbies lots of insight. Here's a picture of our school group here at PFO (Pre-field orientation).
From left to right, back row: Mandy, Joel, Dan, Byron (our director), Ken holding Jett, me
front row: Leslee, Becky, Jaden, Erin, Ava



Left: Becky and Joel, married 3 days before coming to PFO!
Right: Jaden prepares for a cultural transition
Bottom Left: Erin and Ken, a brave couple who are bringing along their three kids, willing to raise them in the country we are going to.

Blue Tubs, Cherries and Goodbyes

The days are dwindling and I'm almost ready to go. My life for the last week has revolved around two blue plastic tubs pictured below. Many of my belonging have to fit inside, both for me and my classroom. Not an easy task, but a great chance to learn to live with less. I keep telling myself that many people in the country I'm moving to probably wouldn't own enough to even fill two tubs that size. I am rich beyond measure.


This week I also got to take a break from packing and showed a movie about the country I'm going to to some friends. The Matteo kids and Hannah helped me make snacks and we had a fun evening together. Here's some pictures.



This has also been a week of goodbyes. I'm leaving for two weeks of training in Mississippi along with all the other new teachers in my organization. So some of my friends thought that it was high time for some crochet and cherry pit spitting contests before the summer gets away from us.

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Life is not a List

I'm a list person. I like lists because then I don't have to remember everything in my head which makes me less stressed and nicer to be around. I also like lists because they show me if I'm making progress. I must confess, sometimes I write something on a list that I've already done, just so I can check it off. Sad, I know, but its a trait I inherited from my father. Plus, sometimes its the jumpstart I need when I'm not motivated, although deep down I know I'm just cheating. Lately, life has been full of lists...stuff to pack, supplies to buy, important computer/technology tasks to solve, papers to mail to some oraganization, brilliant schemes for tricking the TSPC into giving me my teaching license for less money...the lists go on and on. It takes alot of energy to keep all of these lists going. Especially when I keep losing them and have to spend all that time re-writing the lists I already made. As some of you may know, lists can get depressing, so take a deep breath with me while I remind myself that life is NOT a list. Life is enjoying the people around me and embracing with joy the future I'm being given, even when I can't control it or be 100% prepared. This picture helped me remember what all of my recent lists are really for. These kids are second graders and next year, most of them will be in my class. This means that in twelve months, I will know (and hopefully be able to pronounce) their names, interests, fears and annoying habits and I will be saying goodbye to them, ready to hand them off to the fourth grade. I will probably forget alot about them in time, but I doubt I will forget their faces. And I hope they remember some of what I showed them about life, hopefully about life beyond the lists. And what about these lists that hang over my head each day? In twelve months, they will be utterly forgotten, decaying in the Roseburg landfill, as insignificant as those Guess jeans I had in Jr. High are to me now.

Whale Tales

Last week I received an email informing me that I had graduated from WGU's online teaching program. It seemed slightly anti-climatic to just get an email, but I was grateful nonetheless. Its been a long haul, but I'm finished. The last part of my schooling consisted of a four month student teaching experience which I did in Brenda Shelby's second grade class at East Primary. It was fantastic. I learned so much from watching excellent teachers in action and from making my fair share of mistakes. One highlight for me was creating and teaching a unit on the ocean. On Whale Day, we went down to the gym and measured out how long a blue whale is (28 second graders with their arms stretched out). Did you know that a blue whale's tongue weighs as much as an elephant?! Its sure fun to watch kids get excited about what they're learning and this was a really enthusiastic class. Here's a picture of me showing the kids where I'll be teaching next year, along with a couple from our field trip to the Newport Aquarium.