How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, O Lord God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
my week of teaching.
What an adventure this last week was in substitute teaching. It seemed like a long week because I actually subbed 4 full days! Normally I'm only able to do three, but I did my observations on Monday morning before heading down to LA for my class. It made for a long day, but it worked out well. I'm doing the same this week, too.
Anyway, my adventure in subbing began on Monday when I was asked to sub in a district I had never even applied to sub in. Definitely a first! So Tuesday morning I arrived with my paperwork in hand. I gave them my application and they handed me the keys. That day I was in a 4/5/6 combo class with about 25 kids in it. They were a good class, with only a little bit of attitude from the 6th graders.
Wednesday I received a call at 8:04am to sub that day. The start time was 7:50, so I called the school and told them I was going to be a little late. I ran to the shower, got dressed and presentable, and then drove between 15 and 20 minutes, making it to the school by 8:40. I was definitely my personal best when it came to getting ready and getting somewhere. I was in a 1st grade class that day that were a handful. One little boy peed his pants, not once, but twice. Seriously? How does that happen? The first time it wasn't very much, but that afternoon was a different story. Those kids were a crazy bunch, 30 of them total. They all wanted to be very "helpful." It wouldn't have been so bad if the teacher had actually left me the books that I needed out, too. Between the aide and myself we couldn't find the teacher's edition with the answers in it for a worksheet that made no sense without some sort of guidance. So we skipped it. Sorry, lady, you should have left me the answers! By that afternoon I had those kids figured out, had them a bit more under control, and when they weren't, made them do another worksheet instead of playing a game. I know, I'm so mean...
Thursday I was in a friend's Kindergarten class. I know the kids already, which made it a bit easier. Again, they were very "helpful," wanting to do things exactly like normal, but eventually I won them over to doing things a little bit differently that day. They are a sweet class and some of them told me that afternoon that I was a good teacher. So precious! They also picked me quite a variety of flowers/weeds from the playground during lunch. It was a good day, but long. I can't believe those kids have to be in school until 3pm!
Friday I had received a call at 6am from this same school's principal, asking me if I could come in and sub that day. I said yes, of course, and then he told me it was for their 7th and 8th grade class. Awesome. Can't wait. So I head off to school in great anticipation of a long junior high day. It's a small school that has exactly one classroom for both junior high grades. It's basically run like an elementary class, since there's no switching rooms or teachers. The class was alright, but the boys tried to push it all day. They all went by different names in the morning (I could tell they were lying, but as long as the roll was right, I didn't really care). By mid-morning, their name "game" had fallen apart and they all confessed to it. I threatened them with calling in the principal to sort out their names and they caved. That's right. Don't mess with me, kids. The rest of the day went fairly well. I mean it was junior high, after all...
By the end of the week I was exhausted. I was so happy to sleep in yesterday, and even went to bed a bit early on Friday night. I know, such a party animal. I didn't want to get up this morning when my alarm went off. I think my week really did catch up with me. Hmmm...I must be getting old.
Anyway, my adventure in subbing began on Monday when I was asked to sub in a district I had never even applied to sub in. Definitely a first! So Tuesday morning I arrived with my paperwork in hand. I gave them my application and they handed me the keys. That day I was in a 4/5/6 combo class with about 25 kids in it. They were a good class, with only a little bit of attitude from the 6th graders.
Wednesday I received a call at 8:04am to sub that day. The start time was 7:50, so I called the school and told them I was going to be a little late. I ran to the shower, got dressed and presentable, and then drove between 15 and 20 minutes, making it to the school by 8:40. I was definitely my personal best when it came to getting ready and getting somewhere. I was in a 1st grade class that day that were a handful. One little boy peed his pants, not once, but twice. Seriously? How does that happen? The first time it wasn't very much, but that afternoon was a different story. Those kids were a crazy bunch, 30 of them total. They all wanted to be very "helpful." It wouldn't have been so bad if the teacher had actually left me the books that I needed out, too. Between the aide and myself we couldn't find the teacher's edition with the answers in it for a worksheet that made no sense without some sort of guidance. So we skipped it. Sorry, lady, you should have left me the answers! By that afternoon I had those kids figured out, had them a bit more under control, and when they weren't, made them do another worksheet instead of playing a game. I know, I'm so mean...
Thursday I was in a friend's Kindergarten class. I know the kids already, which made it a bit easier. Again, they were very "helpful," wanting to do things exactly like normal, but eventually I won them over to doing things a little bit differently that day. They are a sweet class and some of them told me that afternoon that I was a good teacher. So precious! They also picked me quite a variety of flowers/weeds from the playground during lunch. It was a good day, but long. I can't believe those kids have to be in school until 3pm!
Friday I had received a call at 6am from this same school's principal, asking me if I could come in and sub that day. I said yes, of course, and then he told me it was for their 7th and 8th grade class. Awesome. Can't wait. So I head off to school in great anticipation of a long junior high day. It's a small school that has exactly one classroom for both junior high grades. It's basically run like an elementary class, since there's no switching rooms or teachers. The class was alright, but the boys tried to push it all day. They all went by different names in the morning (I could tell they were lying, but as long as the roll was right, I didn't really care). By mid-morning, their name "game" had fallen apart and they all confessed to it. I threatened them with calling in the principal to sort out their names and they caved. That's right. Don't mess with me, kids. The rest of the day went fairly well. I mean it was junior high, after all...
By the end of the week I was exhausted. I was so happy to sleep in yesterday, and even went to bed a bit early on Friday night. I know, such a party animal. I didn't want to get up this morning when my alarm went off. I think my week really did catch up with me. Hmmm...I must be getting old.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
april already.
Seriously, how is it already April? The first quarter of 2011 is gone...and it has been flying! I have just over a month before pretty much all of my classes are finished, graduate in just under two months, and so much to do from now until then.
This week was an excellent one. I don't want to get too excited about it, but there's a possible job prospect for next year. Please keep it in your prayers. I know that if it's the right thing it will happen. And if it's not, then there will be something else...eventually. That's the hardest part, the disappointment, the not knowing what to do if this doesn't happen. I really don't want to sub for another whole year.
The Lord has surely answered my prayers for friends in Bakersfield, too. When I moved home, I really only had a couple of friends here, both of whom are busy and in school like me. Then I got invited to a small group of young adults...of which I'm the youngest...we'll have to change the name in a year or two! ;) I get to see them every Tuesday night and it has been a wonderful thing in my life. We are waiting for our new Bible Study books to come in, so this week we had dinner and a game night. We played Quelf, which was awesomely hilarious. I'm just glad I didn't get the ridiculous singing or acting ones like some people had to do. Tonight all of the girls are going to dinner and then hang out. It should be a fun time...
Well, in a couple of hours my mom and I are headed to a class on how to use her new sewing maching. I want to use it, but would really prefer not to be going today. Too much to do!
April is my month to be productive. I not only want to, but I really have to. No options. I'm hoping to blog a little more regularly, too. I promise to finish my trip update soon, too. What? It's only been 2 months since I got home...I've still got time :)
This week was an excellent one. I don't want to get too excited about it, but there's a possible job prospect for next year. Please keep it in your prayers. I know that if it's the right thing it will happen. And if it's not, then there will be something else...eventually. That's the hardest part, the disappointment, the not knowing what to do if this doesn't happen. I really don't want to sub for another whole year.
The Lord has surely answered my prayers for friends in Bakersfield, too. When I moved home, I really only had a couple of friends here, both of whom are busy and in school like me. Then I got invited to a small group of young adults...of which I'm the youngest...we'll have to change the name in a year or two! ;) I get to see them every Tuesday night and it has been a wonderful thing in my life. We are waiting for our new Bible Study books to come in, so this week we had dinner and a game night. We played Quelf, which was awesomely hilarious. I'm just glad I didn't get the ridiculous singing or acting ones like some people had to do. Tonight all of the girls are going to dinner and then hang out. It should be a fun time...
Well, in a couple of hours my mom and I are headed to a class on how to use her new sewing maching. I want to use it, but would really prefer not to be going today. Too much to do!
April is my month to be productive. I not only want to, but I really have to. No options. I'm hoping to blog a little more regularly, too. I promise to finish my trip update soon, too. What? It's only been 2 months since I got home...I've still got time :)
Friday, March 25, 2011
the last while.
Life has been keeping me going in nine directions for the last while, so it's been difficult to give much of an update. I mean, I still haven't finished updating you about my trip to Slovenia almost 2 months later. I'll get right on that, I promise.
Despite not having updated for awhile, not a whole lot has changed. I'm working more, which is great, but it also contributes to me being much busier. Wouldn't it be great to get paid to do nothing sometimes? I think I did that today. Well, practically. I got a call around 8:30 this morning to sub in the afternoon. I decided 2 hours for $47.50 wasn't too bad, so I said yes. Even if it was junior high. When I arrived at 1:20, I found out that they were "Intervention" schedule, which meant that I had a 20 minute class where the students were supposed to read and write in their reading logs. This sounded great in theory, except the ladies in the office gave me the wrong attendance sheet, so we spent about 10 of the 20 minutes figuring that all out. Lovely. I think the kids loved it though. The next period was U.S. History (one of my personal favorite subjects). Bonus: the Intervention schedule also meant that all of the class periods were shorter, so 7th period really seemed to fly by. Last period of the day was called something like Sports Involvement and basically consisted of me taking 9 kids outside to either play basketball, work on their homework, or walk around the field. Whew, tough day's work.
Last Saturday night was my mom's 35th high school reunion. While she and my dad reunited with her classmates, I was home doing nothing. Around 9:00 or so, I heard this loud weird noise, kind of like a really loud clicking sound. I knew the only other living beings here were the dogs and cats, so I first thought it was one of them playing with something, throwing up, choking, etc. You name it, it probably ran through my mind. I cautiously went downstairs to investigate, only to find the lights on the refrigerator quickly flashing and the ice dispenser opening and closing (hence the noise). I pushed all the buttons I could find, held them, tapped them, tried to find anything that would make it stop. Nothing worked so I just went back upstairs and ignored the noise, which stopped a little while later. Just before the parents got home, it started up again. It was convenient, really, since it kept me from looking like I was crazy. Dad pushed and poked at buttons just like me (nope, it still didn't work) and then decided to pull it out and unplug it to reset the thing. Long story a little bit shorter, he plugged it back and nothing had changed. Turns out the circuit board went out, which also eventually caused the refrigerator portion to stop cooling, but the freezer still worked. Lovely. The new refrigerator arrived yesterday afternoon. It's so clean and pretty, my mom doesn't even want to load anything in to it :) My dad did end up ordering the part to fiz the other fridge, which we can hopefully then sell. Any takers?
Ok, I'm going to call it a night. Even though it's Saturday, I still have to get up by 7:30 to go to a breakfast thing at church at 8:30. My mom told me I didn't have to go until a bit later, but I decided that 8:30 sounded late as compared to the days I have to be at work at 7:20. Amazing how "early" is relative!
Despite not having updated for awhile, not a whole lot has changed. I'm working more, which is great, but it also contributes to me being much busier. Wouldn't it be great to get paid to do nothing sometimes? I think I did that today. Well, practically. I got a call around 8:30 this morning to sub in the afternoon. I decided 2 hours for $47.50 wasn't too bad, so I said yes. Even if it was junior high. When I arrived at 1:20, I found out that they were "Intervention" schedule, which meant that I had a 20 minute class where the students were supposed to read and write in their reading logs. This sounded great in theory, except the ladies in the office gave me the wrong attendance sheet, so we spent about 10 of the 20 minutes figuring that all out. Lovely. I think the kids loved it though. The next period was U.S. History (one of my personal favorite subjects). Bonus: the Intervention schedule also meant that all of the class periods were shorter, so 7th period really seemed to fly by. Last period of the day was called something like Sports Involvement and basically consisted of me taking 9 kids outside to either play basketball, work on their homework, or walk around the field. Whew, tough day's work.
Last Saturday night was my mom's 35th high school reunion. While she and my dad reunited with her classmates, I was home doing nothing. Around 9:00 or so, I heard this loud weird noise, kind of like a really loud clicking sound. I knew the only other living beings here were the dogs and cats, so I first thought it was one of them playing with something, throwing up, choking, etc. You name it, it probably ran through my mind. I cautiously went downstairs to investigate, only to find the lights on the refrigerator quickly flashing and the ice dispenser opening and closing (hence the noise). I pushed all the buttons I could find, held them, tapped them, tried to find anything that would make it stop. Nothing worked so I just went back upstairs and ignored the noise, which stopped a little while later. Just before the parents got home, it started up again. It was convenient, really, since it kept me from looking like I was crazy. Dad pushed and poked at buttons just like me (nope, it still didn't work) and then decided to pull it out and unplug it to reset the thing. Long story a little bit shorter, he plugged it back and nothing had changed. Turns out the circuit board went out, which also eventually caused the refrigerator portion to stop cooling, but the freezer still worked. Lovely. The new refrigerator arrived yesterday afternoon. It's so clean and pretty, my mom doesn't even want to load anything in to it :) My dad did end up ordering the part to fiz the other fridge, which we can hopefully then sell. Any takers?
Ok, I'm going to call it a night. Even though it's Saturday, I still have to get up by 7:30 to go to a breakfast thing at church at 8:30. My mom told me I didn't have to go until a bit later, but I decided that 8:30 sounded late as compared to the days I have to be at work at 7:20. Amazing how "early" is relative!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
days six, seven, and eight: the work continues.
Tuesday was bound to be a busy day since we had an afternoon session scheduled (at 2, if I'm remembering correctly). We had the typical morning session, only today we taught them about the Han people of China. One of my favorite moments of the morning was watching the kids eat goldfish with chopsticks for their snack. I must admit, most of them were pretty good.
As soon as the morning session was over, it was time for a little last-minute scavenger hunt planning between myself and two other team members. We literally put the thing together in about an hour. The theme was All-American Afternoon so a scavenger hunt was perfect. We decided to use some of the extra t-shirts we had, pin a note to them, and then hide the shirts. When the kids found each shirt, they had to read the note and then do what it said for a picture. The kids had a great time. Since I was partially in charge of the hunt, I had to run along with each of the three groups that we had. Only problem: my foot was still hurting. Nevertheless, I braved the pain and ran along for the sake of the kids. They quickly got into the competitive spirit and we all had fun. Besides, how else do you get kids to do silly things and take pictures?
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| Lie on the ground in a line |
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| Hands on your hips |
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| Do the crab walk |
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| Switch shoes with another person |
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| Do 10 push-ups |
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| Sunset over Croatian coastline |
Oh, and a rare moment from the morning:
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| Facing forward, quiet, listening to the story. A rare moment, indeed. |
Exhausted from a busyTuesday, we knew Wednesday was going to be a longer, busier day. We did the normal morning routine, today teaching the kids about the Fulani people of Africa (I don't remember which country...). The craft for today was masks!
Wednesday afternoon much of the team met up and put together missionary gift bags of treats we had brought over from the U.S. We took them mostly food items of things that they can't get where they live, like ranch dressing mix, taco seasoning, mac & cheese, cake mix, pudding mix, etc. We also put the class pictures into frames for the kids to decorate the following day. We had a quick break after we finished, then had dinner and prepped for our second movie night that night. This time we showed Cars, along with a little skit interspersed in the movie to add more of a "message" to it. The kids loved it! By that night, I couldn't even sit down without feeling like I was going to fall asleep, so I became the unofficial bathroom runner with the kids.
And here's the view from my room's balcony that afternoon:
Thursday was our last day with the kids. We had the typical morning session again and this was my day to teach about the Khamba people of Tibet. I don't have any pictures from the day. I think I was a) beyond tired by this point and b) was teaching, so I had more up-front time and less time to take pictures. Thursday afternoon we had a closing program for the parents and we showed them a little bit of what we had done that week. After they said their thanks and we said our good-byes, we still had one last event to put on: one last movie night. It might seem like we should have been finished after a "closing program," but that's just the way it worked out in the schedule. Our last movie night was Toy Story 3, again with a skit, which the kids also enjoyed. There were many hugs and tearful good-byes that night as we parted ways with the kids one more time. After the movie night, we had to finish cleaning up and packing our stuff. Thankfully we had most everything already cleaned up before the afternoon program since we had to turn multiple rooms into one big room, so the clean-up that night was relatively simple. We were still exhausted, though, so it felt like a lot!
If you are still reading, good job hanging in there. Still three more days to fill you in on...stay tuned!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
day five: a great surprise.
Ok, back to the Slovenia update.
Let me tell you, this post has been a long time coming.
Day five (Monday morning) dawned as early as usual. We had the same morning routine of getting up at 5:50, breakfast by 7, team devotions at 7:30, then off to our classrooms for last minute prep and starting our morning with the kids. We taught them about the Rajput people of India.
The sand art they were doing were those sticky papers where you pull small sections of the pattern off to decorate. One little boy I was helping kept telling me, "Look! I got a BIG piece off this time!" Yes, yes you did. I think you may be missing the point...
The kids left us around noon and our team, instead of having an afternoon or an evening session to put on that day, had the rest of the day off. What a nice surprise! So, taking full advantage of that time, a group of 8 of us took a day trip to Trieste, Italy. It was about 30 minutes by taxi, during which we had a very entertaining taxi driver, Emil. He learned English mostly through music. He also was a hippie at heart and played us a bunch of Beatles and other similar songs. At one point, he got us to sing along. It was very fun and very much entertaining.
Emil first took us to a beautiful castle that sits right on the Adriatic:
That was my fun, great surprise of a day. It still is a bit unreal that I was able to take a day trip to Italy. I can't wait to go back for real one day :)
Let me tell you, this post has been a long time coming.
Day five (Monday morning) dawned as early as usual. We had the same morning routine of getting up at 5:50, breakfast by 7, team devotions at 7:30, then off to our classrooms for last minute prep and starting our morning with the kids. We taught them about the Rajput people of India.
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| We did some really fun, but really messy sand art. They loved it. |
The kids left us around noon and our team, instead of having an afternoon or an evening session to put on that day, had the rest of the day off. What a nice surprise! So, taking full advantage of that time, a group of 8 of us took a day trip to Trieste, Italy. It was about 30 minutes by taxi, during which we had a very entertaining taxi driver, Emil. He learned English mostly through music. He also was a hippie at heart and played us a bunch of Beatles and other similar songs. At one point, he got us to sing along. It was very fun and very much entertaining.
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| On our way to Italy! |
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| Outer gate leading to the castle |
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| You can see how it sits right on the water. Also, please notice the Italian flag on the top :) |
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| If you look carefully, you can see land across this body of water...it's Venice! So close, I could almost see it :) |
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| Back to the City Center now... |
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| Trieste Piazza |
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| Piazza again |
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| One of the streets we hung out on...pretty much everything was closed though... |
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| We were very excited to find a pizzeria that was open! |
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| And my pizza was delicious! |
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| Gelato for dessert! |
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| Again, delicious! |
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| Walking back to the taxi. It was absolutely freezing out and we were eating gelato... |
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| The Piazza at night |
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| I just really like this photo |
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| This was out last stop of the night. We were back in Slovenia and Emil took us to this shopping area. It was an old street that apparently used to be all shoemakers. It was fun to see, but pretty much all closed. Also, Emil went to go grab some dinner and we couldn't find him when we were ready to go... |
That was my fun, great surprise of a day. It still is a bit unreal that I was able to take a day trip to Italy. I can't wait to go back for real one day :)
Monday, March 7, 2011
the last week.
Well, March is here, which only means one thing to me: my birthday! I turned 24 last Wednesday, but kicked off the celebration a bit early. My actual birthday was pretty low-key. Went to lunch with my mom and a friend, then dinner with my parents. I got a flat screen TV and DVR for my room, but those didn't arrive until Friday. My cousins from France arrived to our home on Friday (and have been here since) and we did a mini-party that night, too.
Saturday morning I woke up feeling like I had (another!) cold. Came on exactly the same way...woke up with a really sore throat. We had breakfast that morning, I took a pretty long nap, woke up for lunch, went upstairs to get dressed to take the kids bowling. As soon as I got to my bathroom, I felt extremely dizzy and feverish and barely made it to my bed. I proceeded to spend the entire rest of the day in bed, sleeping for much of it, only getting up to go to the restroom. It was not so fun. Sunday I felt a bit better as far as my body being tired and feverish, but I don't think my throat has ever been as sore as it was that day. It was like swallowing fire everytime I swallowed. It was excruciating to swallow, but even worse (what's worse than excruciating?) if I didn't swallow for awhile and my throat got dry. I missed out on more family time as I laid in bed through most of the evening, again with a fever.
Monday I was doing much better in the fever department, and my throat was better, too, but I was afraid it would hit me later in the day like it had the last two days. So, rather than drive down to school, my professor told me I could join in via webcam. Only it didn't work as planned and I missed class. Not a whole lot I could do about it, but a bit disappointing. Oh well...
Tomorrow I am absolutely thrilled to be headed back to subbing in junior high. The more I sub in junior high, the more it is confirmed in me that I was never meant to be a junior high teacher. I may get paid $5 more, but I really don't think it is worth it (plus it's another whole hour of work for only $5). Oh, well, it's work, right?
In other news, job applications are in the works still. Please keep praying as I submit them in the next week or so.
Saturday morning I woke up feeling like I had (another!) cold. Came on exactly the same way...woke up with a really sore throat. We had breakfast that morning, I took a pretty long nap, woke up for lunch, went upstairs to get dressed to take the kids bowling. As soon as I got to my bathroom, I felt extremely dizzy and feverish and barely made it to my bed. I proceeded to spend the entire rest of the day in bed, sleeping for much of it, only getting up to go to the restroom. It was not so fun. Sunday I felt a bit better as far as my body being tired and feverish, but I don't think my throat has ever been as sore as it was that day. It was like swallowing fire everytime I swallowed. It was excruciating to swallow, but even worse (what's worse than excruciating?) if I didn't swallow for awhile and my throat got dry. I missed out on more family time as I laid in bed through most of the evening, again with a fever.
Monday I was doing much better in the fever department, and my throat was better, too, but I was afraid it would hit me later in the day like it had the last two days. So, rather than drive down to school, my professor told me I could join in via webcam. Only it didn't work as planned and I missed class. Not a whole lot I could do about it, but a bit disappointing. Oh well...
Tomorrow I am absolutely thrilled to be headed back to subbing in junior high. The more I sub in junior high, the more it is confirmed in me that I was never meant to be a junior high teacher. I may get paid $5 more, but I really don't think it is worth it (plus it's another whole hour of work for only $5). Oh, well, it's work, right?
In other news, job applications are in the works still. Please keep praying as I submit them in the next week or so.
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