snow, snow, go away

yesterday was such a nice day! I could have left school at noon but I felt a bit obligated so I stayed until 1:30. (Wed. is always early out at 1...) Then I made a trip to the huge Harold Washington Library again and decided to walk along State St for a bit in the nice weather. I unfortunately didn't feel much like shopping which is the thing to do on that street, but I walked for a few blocks mostly people watching and enjoying the sun and its warmth. Then I went back north to our neighborhood and walked around up here because we haven't really explored it much as it is a lot of residential. I probably should have gone to sit at the lake or somewhere and read outside but instead I came back to the apt and opened the windows. Its funny how literal that is, no screen, no ledge, just open window to the rocks below :) [even as I sit here now, the feather boa we have on a table next to the window is actually blowing in the breeze. the breeze from the 'closed' window mind you. (don't ask why we have a feather boa, I can't answer that...)]

It was a wonderful day. While walking to the park with the 2 and 3 graders, we saw a cardinal and you would not believe how excited they got over that. It did seem out of place; the flaming crimson perched on the vacant branches of a winter-sleeping tree. Signs of spring are everywhere. The bulbs in the public flower beds are poking up their first growth. Birds are singing us awake (whether we like it or not).

Then the day changes and true to Chicago style, so does the weather. I got to walk the half mile from my school to the el station in some awesome sleety snow. I was kind of angry about it because I had just missed the first bus and the second bus drove right by me at the stop. thanks. So it was a definite stay in and watch a movie night. After some Oceans 11 now, I am already ready for bed... lame I know. I need to pick up a hobby eh?!

Today at school we got a few new additions, all involving arachnids. Both grades 1 and 2 are on the Spiders Unit, I have been learning quite a bit. Shortly after lunch a large parcel arrived, this meant the rest of the day was pretty much gone. The kids were way too into the new arrivals. The first grade room I was helping with today received a dozen cellar spiders. It was pretty comical to watch the teacher transferring the spiders from their individual containers to the terrarium, she is not so comfortable with spiders, and the kids were unsure as well. Needless to say, I did most of the relocating while the kids sat around the table squirming with excitement, fear, revulsion; choose your combination. The second grade room received their tarantula as well! The class voted on its name and decided on Gerrad Jr, aka the teachers husbands name, thought that was funny. Then after school I used my web-spinning skills to make the hallway bulletin board. My skills are pretty good I'd say ;)

Gerrad, Jr

Eat your heart out spidey :)

Para Pro

So I'm an excellent teachers aide :) It was a fun day, I almost don't feel like I should be able to get a degree doing this stuff! Today I was in the Celebration Center which is grade 2. [aside: I dont think I ever mentioned the names this school has for every room. Its kind of fun, slightly confusing for others but mostly fun. Exploritorium = K, Imagination Post = 1, CC I mentioned, Discovery Zone = 3-4, Learning Lab = 5-6, Idea Factory = 7-8, and then each room beside has another but thats as far as I will go for now. just a fun little tangent for you] So anyway, I gave some reading assessments and did math fact work and then just odd jobs around the classroom. The teacher in that classroom is quite a bit like me in a lot of ways so it was fun to work like that for a change! Many of the techniques she uses in her classroom I am sure I will utilize someday. For the next two weeks I will be in one of the three lower level classrooms, K, 1, or 2. All of these teachers seem pretty stellar so I am really looking forward to it.

Bside: For any one who watches Friends, and know of the Ugly Naked Guy... we have our own version here. There is a large apt building across the street from us and one apt a few floors up lives Halo Guy, a much more G rated version of the Friends friend but... For the past few weeks I have assumed he was playing Halo or Call of Duty or the like in video game goodness because of the flashes of light that illuminate his walls. Today he must have moved his couch a few inches while cleaning or something because now I can actually see a bit of the tv screen and it is constantly catching my eye, do guns really light up that much when fired? man, that's distracting.
and now you know how I spend my nights?! :)

He is Risen

Happy Easter!

Today we went to an 11 Easter service. On the walk home we stopped by our local grocer, Jewel, for our Easter dinner. We even visited the RedBox, the dollar video rental vending machine for a special movie treat. Ham, cheesy potatoes, and a green salad were followed by the candy, ice cream, and cookie dough we've stocked up :) It felt great to just relax and have a fun stress-free day with the roomies. One of Janice's favorite Easter traditions couldn't be skipped either so we invited Karyn and Sarah over for an egg dying party! It was fun to pretend we were 12... But then we had to go to bed to get ready for work the next day :(

all dressed up (don't mind the messy apt)

this is how we do :)
who needs an oven when you've got three spoons?!

Sarah, Janice, Karyn and I with our pretty eggs!
mine may have taken 20 mins to perfect but it was cool! you try doing stripes :)

under pressure

Since wed/thurs of last week, I have basically been stressed out of my mind. I was as close to being told I wasn't going to get a Pass as I could get. [sidenote: this has nothing to do with my teaching abilities, I would put off as A) personality clashing and B) overwhelming environment. Not having any curriculum to base my lessons off of proved too difficult for me as a newbie. I didn't have a pool to pull from and I wasn't getting much support to help me out. please don't think I am a bad teacher :) ] I decided I couldn't just waste the last 6 weeks away and then not get a pass. This meant making life decisions in a matter of a few days.

After hours of analyzing pros and cons, I decided that my best option was to come home to northwest Iowa and start over with student teaching. There were many issues either way, staying or going but that seemed the best. THEN on Saturday I was given another option, the one that is now in action. Now, I am not here in Chicago student teaching, I am only here to be a paraprofessional. this does get me my education degree which means I can still teach in Mexico thankfully. However, to get my teaching license for a future job in the US, I will have to student teach at a later date. It may actually get me a chance to get my two endorsements though, reading and ESL, so that could be a blessing in disguise. April 4 is V-Day. Then I guess I am in Chicago for a few weeks just chillin! Come visit!

Unconfirmed future plans: get degree finished up -Apr 4
stay in Chitown until May-ish
May-June-ish work at Hills Gardens! woohooo
August move to Mexico until June
then either: apply (and get) job in Spain as a "North American Language and Culture Assistant" or go back to NW that fall to do the student teaching to get my license...
we shall see

oh and ps. . thank you to everyone who's supporting me! it means a lot to have the kind words and feel the love :)

Defying Gravity

Trying very hard to forget my stressful work day (week, month), I, along with most all of the students in Chicago Semester and Chris and Laurie, went to the Oriental Theater downtown to enjoy the "wickedly good" Wicked!

So exciting, I loved it! I tried really hard to read the book before we went but only having the 20 min train ride per day to do so I only got about 10% of that goal (its a big book!) :) Though in just that little bit I still saw some differences between written and acted story and apparently the gap gets bigger later on. Ideally this experience would have included both Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, but life is not always what we want so we got some pretty good replacement actresses. Actually the girl who played Glinda was very reminiscent of Kristin so that made me happy. The stage was very much more involved than RENT, moving parts all over and scene changes often and some pretty wicked special effects :)

Above stage at all times there was a huge dragon, moving head (with glowing red eyes) bigger than a killer whale (Janices description :) ) and a wingspan that reached the length of the stage. Galinda (who later changes her name to Glinda) does come flying in on a bubble. There is also a pretty stellar scene where Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) flies away and as she rises up from the stage a huge black curtain is billowing behind her like the black sky she is speeding through. Obviously my descriptions are lacking so you just need to see it yourself! I would be glad to accompany you there, just let me know!

A Night of Knights

Yay castles! To Medieval Times we go!

A stellar night of eating half a chicken, a spare rib, some soup, and a dessert pastry all with no silverware, in the dark, while watching knights fight for their honor. As we were going to be late, (we= Laurie, Chris, Janice and I) we up-ed our tickets to Royalty. This meant we got good seats and the awesome crowns and flags to wave for our glorious Red Knight, along with complimentary dvd :)

I have to say that I didn't really pay attention to the King as he told us the tale of ...whatever it was! It wasn't hard to follow who wins and loses though. It was all so real! ;) We got to see the initial 'equestrian skill games,' the jousting, and the sword fighting; real sparks and real splinters flying! It was so randomly funny, they threw carnations to the crowd (Laurie recieved one from our valiant knight) We were so close to the arena that we could actually see the breaks in their lances and the wonderfully acted falls off the horses. I had a lot of fun though. Afterward we got our pictures taken with our knight AND the prince!! (those pics are on Chris' camera.. so I can't prove it) They were both happy to be taking pics with people over 9 yrs old. So besides the slightly expensive cab ride there and back, it was so good! :)

For a good time call: 1-888-WE-JOUST

The valiant Red Knight

action shot! Go Big Red!

This is the footstep of the PRINCE! Just moments after he gave me a high five... did they do that in the Middle Ages?!

Air India

After spending most of my Sunday lesson planning for my week of full time teaching, I decided I deserved a break and went with Janice and her visitors to a restaurant in Little Italy. We were 8, Janice and I, Chris and Laurie, and four friends of Janices from back home. (Somehow the last four mentioned are all crashing on our living room floor, not quite sure how they manage!) The restaurant was pretty good, the pre-meal bread and olive oil was delicious and I had some very large cheese ravioli that was quite tasty as well. Unfortunately I had to end my fun there and refrain from going to the iO theater again for improv because I had a few more things to finish.

It was all for a good cause. I got to school around 7am to set up our classroom and get other things together. I moved the desks around in the shape of a plane! I even gave them boarding passes as they entered the room (THANKS for making those Susan!!) The kids were really excited about it all, it was a pretty good morning! We skipped Math class, because of course, a flight to India takes awhile! In-flight entertainment was a slideshow and reading of a few Indian tales. Complete with peanuts and juice boxes as our airplane food! We learned how to count to ten in Hindi along with some facts from India. The rest of the day was not so exciting, but it was still all me. Working on transitions between subjects and keeping track of time was probably my biggest challenge, along with praying which I forgot to do at both lunch and the end of the day. my bad. Overall, I think it went well and hopefully that continues!

Tomorrow my class gets to build Lego cars with some engineers from the company and race them... darn, no Math tomorrow either! I'm also pretty excited that my good friend Katie Stenseth is going to come visit this weekend! among other exciting things this week... stay tuned to find out :)