Weekend Updates

Well, it was an interesting weekend. I spent Friday night with Sammy and Emily and got to catch up with Wendy. I enjoyed an ultimate grilled cheese sandwich at Culver's and we baked some very yummy chocolate chip cookies at the house. On Saturday, we walked in the "Walk for Autism" Picnic at the Park. It was an interesting day to say the least. See photo below :)

Got to hang out with Abby and see her wedding plans. I am so pumped! It will be another spring/summer filled with weddings. There are already two set in stone; who knows what else might come up! See photo below :)

All in all, it was a fun weekend. Good food, good friends, good times. I am glad to be back though...I am starting to get into a routine here. Tomorrow, however, we will break the routine for a field trip downtown! We are taking the entire 5th grade to see Ant Bully at the IMAX at Navy Pier. How fun is that??!?! Then, on Wednesday, I am participating in an urban education panel discussion at ISU. They are actually asking each of us (3) to speak for 6 minutes about our preparations at ISU for teaching in an urban environment. I have no clue what I will say. I am sure it will be fine, though.

Then, next weekend, it is back to the homestead! Sunday is Ethan's 9th birthday and the next Saturday is Andrew's 1st birthday! I wish I could be there for both, but we all know that Andrew won't have any recollections of that day. Ethan, however, will. I need a creative gift for him...any suggestions? Being the nerd I am, I kind of wanted to get him a book or something educational. Is that corny? Anyway, there will be some great food, two soccer games, and a fabulous birthday party for a fantastic boy. I am so excited! Plus, I will finally be able to get some of my much-needed things from home. The week will be over before I know it!

Back in Business

Almost...

A very nice man came to my house on Saturday morning and replaced my window. Supposedly, he vacuumed the millions of glass remnants from my seat and floor, but I keep finding more of it.

They are still in the process of finding/replacing my stereo. All in due time. I am not really in any hurry to have another one; I don't really want to go through this again.

My insurance folks have been incredibly nice to me. Ed, from Indiana, has called me several times to make sure I am doing okay. He also knows that I am student teaching right now and he has been randomly encouraging about it. He used to teach in Chicago and keeps telling me that it is worth it and to press on. How neat it is to have connections like that.

I ventured to a White Sox game tonight. My friend Maureen had extra tickets, so 4 of us took a drive and eventually hopped a fence and made it to U.S. Cellular Field(which is rather impressive if I do say so myself). I enjoyed a lot of peanuts, a delicious hot dog, and some expensive but delicious hot chocolate. It was FREEZING! I had on 5 shirts and was still cold. I guess it just adds to the experience.

I am heading back to the twin cities this weekend for adventures in babysitting Sammy. It will be a fun one! We are participating in a "Walk for Autism" deal. I hear there might be some good eats there :)

And break.



All of my peanut shells. I was obnoxious and stomped on them a whole bunch.



The crew: Maureen, Kristy, me, and Jayme

The Honeymoon is Over

Well, the rain wasn't the only damper to my day...







But, on the bright side, I was asked to go to a conference next February for a panel discussion about the program I am in. The best part about this conference is that it is free...and it's in NEW YORK CITY!!!!

So, my day wasn't too bad after all.

ECSTATIC!

We F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. have internet at our house. Praise the Lord. We have an excellent wireless signal and it is not bootlegged. Joe from Comcast saved us. I think we may have scared him a bit...

Anyway, this is one of the best days! I also got a power cord so I now have a printer too.

Hope everyone else is having as much fun as I am :)

Pictures

The view from the L, winding into the loop.


My borrowed Cubs shirt


The Ladies of "The Millard" (the name we have given our house)



9 of the 12 Little Village Interns. This is my new "family" in Chicago.



Bulletin board with "I Am Poems"



Another bulletin board...

School Daze Revisited

I just made an entire post and blogger lost it. Arrgghhh...

Well, we made it through our first week of student teaching. It was one long week, but it was a lot of fun too. Yesterday was the only day all week that I made it home before 4 pm. I walked in the door at 3, had a snack and put on comfy clothes, and by 4 I was fast asleep. I didn't wake up until after 10! I was so tired. I knew going into this that it would be hard and that the days would be long, but I had no idea I would be that exhausted. This is going to take some getting used to.

I can already tell that I am going to crave my Saturdays. I have already gotten so much accomplished today. Looking ahead at the calendar I can already tell this is going to be one crazy busy semester. I know it will be good and that the benefits will far outweigh the stress and anxiety, so I will just have to keep reminding myself that this is going to be great. Who am I kidding, it is already great!

Yesterday, I shared my first read aloud with my students. Seeing as it is the beginning of a new school year and the beginning of a lot of changes for all of us, my mentor teacher included, I decided to read Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess. It is one of my all time favorite books. My friend, Sarah, and I shared it with our fellow classmates at graduation four years ago. I wanted to encourage the kids and let them know that there are great things in store for all of us this year. I told them that I have faith in them that we will make it through the hang-ups and bang-ups and that we will make it out of the land of the Slump together. I hope they enjoyed it and that they heard at least part of the message hidden between the silly words and crazy pictures.

Wednesday night we went to the Cubs game. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the other interns for a while. There were nine of us altogether, plus some of the liaisons from ISU and the Little Village community center. By no means at all am I a sports enthusiast, but I don't really like the Cubs. Not that my cheering counts for anything, but my loyalty lies with the Cardinals. A friend of mine was worried that I wouldn't fit in with my roommates if I showed up in a Cardinals shirt or in anything but some form of Cubs attire. So, he loaded me a t-shirt and I succumbed. I wore it just so I wouldn't get the snot beat out of me by some of those defensive Cubs fans, including one of my roommates. We spent over two hours commuting to and from the game, but it was well worth it. We all had a great time, but it sure made getting up on Thursday morning very difficult.

Here are a few pictures from the week. Hope you enjoy!

School Daze

Two down...lots more to go!

School started yesterday. What a whirlwind. I went at 7 am both days and stayed until 4 yesterday! I am still trying to find the best shoes for the job, which I have striked out twice now. I have blisters all over, but it's kind of exciting! I did my first lesson yesterday and it went fairly well, considering that one of my students speaks no English whatsoever and a few others know very little English. Today, a few of the boys in my class looked mortified when they found out I can speak some Spanish. It was a fun moment.

Tonight, ISU is treating us to a Cubs game! We are leaving here around 5:30 for the evening's festivities. I am so pumped. I don't really care too much about baseball, but if I had to pick sides, I would definitely choose the Cardinals. But, I have never experienced a game at Wrigley, so this will still be grand. I might even humor a friend of mine and wear a Cubs shirt he insisted that I wear. Our house is divided between the Sox and Cubs, so that makes for entertaining conversation as well.

I can't wait to get to know the kids in my class more. They are just adorable and so sweet. I hope that we can help our little monolingual friend to become more bilingual by the end of the year. Her name is Yessica. How fun is that!?!?

Okay, time to do homework. Will update soon.