I am now in a new classroom with a teacher that has a LOT of the same personality traits as me which is nice. Her kids are fun, she's fun, and she even let me go out to lunch with her and some other teachers for her birthday last week! She makes me feel right at home and volunteered to take Chels, Laur, and I somewhere in a few weekends just for another adventure!
My last week in my first class went great.. the kids were SUPER sweet and we had a ton of fun. I had some trials and tribulations as well, but they ended up throwing me a party, which was cute. A few of the girls made me really sweet cards and there was cake and balloons and writing all over the boards and everything. They filled out evals for me and actually told me EVERYTHING I bulletpointed on my last entry. Go figure! I'm SPOT on with my reflecting, so that's good!
I've been reading some REALLY good books, but am officially run dry, so any recommendations would be gratefully accepted! I just finished Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns and then watched the movie of Kite Runner tonight... it was GREAT!
Last weekend (like, 9 days ago), we pretty much just bummed around town. Saturday I went for my 8 mile run and then Annabel's friend was in town, so she, Nisha, Chelsea, Laura, and I hopped in her car and drove to Eastbourne (across the bay... about 30 min) to get some CHEAP fish and chips wrapped in paper and ate it on the beach. It was so relaxing and wonderful. That night, Laura and I went to a movie (it was really bad... I slept through most of it) with John.
Sunday, Laura and I took an adventure to Lower Hutt to find this Mexican restaurant I found out about at the Food Show and had been salivating over ever since. After about half an hour of walking, we finally found it. It was REAL Mexican. Expensive, but real. Delish!
Last week absolutely flew by. I don't know how but all of a sudden it was over! I love my new sydicate, but I every so often walk past my old classroom to see my old kids and it just warms my heart. They're too sweet!
On Friday, we left class early so that we could catch the 2 PM ferry to the South Island. Chelsea's teacher drove us down there and I binge ate because I was so nervous about it. The last time I was on a ferry, I was with Morten in Denmark and I got so sick that I had to drink alcohol and mix it with Benadryl just to get myself to pass out so I wouldn't have to think about it. Well, as luck would have it, the Cook Strait is one of the rockiest and roughest water passages in the world since the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet there. We sat at the front of the boat (my first mistake) and about 20 min into the ride I was feeling sick. I had to move myself to the back of the boat (even though I took two dramamine) and in between streams of consciousness, I saw people puking and smelled it as well. It was disgusting. And rough... to say the least. BUT, we finally got there and Margaret, a woman that my Aunt Sarah and Uncle Steve stayed with over two decades ago when THEY came to New Zealand, was waiting for us outside the gate.
More on this tomorrow... I'm getting tired!
I would like to suggest for you to read Water for Elephants, if you haven't already read it. I'm loving your posts. I'm so proud of you, and it sounds like you're doing great. Love and miss you!
ReplyDeleteI loooooved the two books that you just read, and ironically, I read them when I was abroad too. I then read Pride and Prejudice which consequently improved my English writing skills for about 2 weeks :) I guess that would be my recommendation.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're having so much fun over there, I had my first last day of school yesterday and I don't think it's really set in yet how much I miss my kids. For the last day, we went outside and made chalk drawings of made-up countries that my 5th graders have been working on for the last 4 weeks. Then we toured them and I was so proud of how much they learned just from being in German for 1.5 classes a week for a year! So awesome!!!
This coming Sunday, Post and I are headed south for a week long trip of camping and staying with relatives. Hopefully we'll survive the trip and still be dating at the end of it :P We're camping one night in the Smoky Mountains and every page of the campground's website had warning about bears, so if we're alive at the end, that would also be a plus!
Do you have a mailing address over there? Maybe I can send you some memorabilia from "the real America"
Hope you keep having such a grand time! I truly enjoy seeing all of your pics:) I've run out of places to put smiley faces, so I think I'm done for the day.
See ya real soon...love ya...and On, Wisconsin!
Jill