yesterday I celebrated my 22nd birthday in the great city of DC! I was a little emotional being away from my family and our tradional birthday activites, but my day was lovely.
work was a little hectic. we had our annual visit from the DC public school auditors for "Count Day." on this day, auditors check to verify if the number of students in our classrooms match up with the actual number of students participating in the program. this report in turn provides our program with scholarship for our annual operating budget. a very big deal! we offered breakfast snacks in the morning to entice students to come early, gave away new children's jackets and adult gloves and hats. we basically bribed our students to be present for this count! as a result, no one was missing from my morning and afternoon class! with all of that tension though, I wasn't thinking about my birthday!
30 October 2008
13 October 2008
My Crazy Month of September!
last month was SO busy! goodness! I am happy though that we are in a new month. correction: we are in the best month of the year! ROctober! my birthday month! only 10 more days!
rewind. back to September.
the month started out with a MVS orientation in [unincorporated] Murdock, Kansas with all of the new VS volunteers from around the country. 30 of us stayed at Camp Mennoscah, which is in the middle of nowhere! (sorry Kansas lovers.) let's just say I got a lot of reading done that week! which is a miracle because I am a very slow reader! ha! and I totally appreciate Camp Keola so much more now! Mennoscah has a lot of flat land, a nice running river on one side, a great tradition of Giant Dutch Blitz. but, Keola has much better facilities. Mennoscah's cabins are quite old, their dining hall is large, but is not designed camper and staff divisions. after one week there, I was so much more appreciative of the hard work of Keola-lovers who donate time and money to keep the camp running and looking good. with that said, Keola is continuously on my prayer list; I would hate to see the camp go down the drain. back to Mennoscah: I made a lot of connections with other volunteers that week: met a girl who is doing VS in Fresno, fancy that! one of the volunteers in Baltimore, Maggie, her Dad runs the Newseum, the (obvoius) news museum in DC and is willing to get our house in for free! $20 discount! totally cool! plus, her favorite movie is "Almost Famous" so we became instant friends. also that week, we met our 6th and final housemate Tim, who moved to DC right after the orientation. it turns out that he really completes our house!
teaching at the preschool is going quite well. we had our first field trip to an international children's festival with lots of music, dance, and artwork. we did not leave any students behind, just me! two buses left the location without me! the students thought it was very funny! in the classroom, the kids are getting use to a school schedule, remembering our routine and helping teachers clean up to go to the next activity. I have learned to not underestimate preschoolers. just because they are three years old does not mean they cannot be given small responsibilities. the story for most of our preschool families is that only parents clean up around the house. the parents are totally surprised to come into our classroom and see their child willingly cleaning up along side the teacher. as I get to know the students and their parents, our team will be working in way to incorporate some of these basic ideas into a child's every day routine at home as well. I am learning that that link takes time and consistency as well. small steps! the sad thing is too that most of these parents cannot spend the time to teach their children these basic human-development needs. their life outside of the 2.5 hour class is working to bring home food and clothes for their family. some of the mothers in our program truly should not be mothers yet. some are still searching for their own individual identity as an American, as an employee, as a wife/ girlfriend. from their actions, one can tell they think they know what is best for their child (i.e. letting a four year old wear diapers so that it is easier for the mother throughout the day) but some of their actions will actually put their child behind in development and school. (DC public schools will not enroll children into kindergarten until they are toilet trained.) with all that, I am having a great time with the kids, learning a lot from them and hoping they are learning that much and more from me! here is a picture of us on a walk. this is some of our morning session with my co-teacher Lorena.
apart of the month's retreats, our house went to West Virginia for a weekend to bond and share our faith stories. I feel truly blessed to have such great housemates thus far. we are all very different, from all over the country, with many different views of religion, politics, God, social responsibilities. then on top of that, we have different views on house life, chores, recycling, use of electricity. a whole pot of differences! and we will be housemates for one year! with that said, we are a great bunch who are enthusiastic about our community and placements. I am praying that this year will be quite transformational in all aspects, not only for me, but for my wonderful fellow VSers.
ROctober has been pretty wild so far as well! explanation: October is the #3 month of the year for great reasons (17th- housemate Tim's birthday, 27th- my Uncle Andy's birthday, 30th- my birthday!!!, 31th- crazy costume day). with all of those celebrations, our house has now been referring to this great month as ROctober. I do not have a plan yet of how I am going to celebrate this year. I have a big meeting at work and choir rehearsal at night on my birthday. I might just wait for the weekend to get my party on!
my 22nd birthday list: a chance to see my California family and friends.
I miss home! especially with my birthday around the corner, I miss all of your faces and laughs and hugs. this will be my first birthday away from home and it will probably feel a little off because of that. but the greatest part: having people to miss.
rewind. back to September.
the month started out with a MVS orientation in [unincorporated] Murdock, Kansas with all of the new VS volunteers from around the country. 30 of us stayed at Camp Mennoscah, which is in the middle of nowhere! (sorry Kansas lovers.) let's just say I got a lot of reading done that week! which is a miracle because I am a very slow reader! ha! and I totally appreciate Camp Keola so much more now! Mennoscah has a lot of flat land, a nice running river on one side, a great tradition of Giant Dutch Blitz. but, Keola has much better facilities. Mennoscah's cabins are quite old, their dining hall is large, but is not designed camper and staff divisions. after one week there, I was so much more appreciative of the hard work of Keola-lovers who donate time and money to keep the camp running and looking good. with that said, Keola is continuously on my prayer list; I would hate to see the camp go down the drain. back to Mennoscah: I made a lot of connections with other volunteers that week: met a girl who is doing VS in Fresno, fancy that! one of the volunteers in Baltimore, Maggie, her Dad runs the Newseum, the (obvoius) news museum in DC and is willing to get our house in for free! $20 discount! totally cool! plus, her favorite movie is "Almost Famous" so we became instant friends. also that week, we met our 6th and final housemate Tim, who moved to DC right after the orientation. it turns out that he really completes our house!
teaching at the preschool is going quite well. we had our first field trip to an international children's festival with lots of music, dance, and artwork. we did not leave any students behind, just me! two buses left the location without me! the students thought it was very funny! in the classroom, the kids are getting use to a school schedule, remembering our routine and helping teachers clean up to go to the next activity. I have learned to not underestimate preschoolers. just because they are three years old does not mean they cannot be given small responsibilities. the story for most of our preschool families is that only parents clean up around the house. the parents are totally surprised to come into our classroom and see their child willingly cleaning up along side the teacher. as I get to know the students and their parents, our team will be working in way to incorporate some of these basic ideas into a child's every day routine at home as well. I am learning that that link takes time and consistency as well. small steps! the sad thing is too that most of these parents cannot spend the time to teach their children these basic human-development needs. their life outside of the 2.5 hour class is working to bring home food and clothes for their family. some of the mothers in our program truly should not be mothers yet. some are still searching for their own individual identity as an American, as an employee, as a wife/ girlfriend. from their actions, one can tell they think they know what is best for their child (i.e. letting a four year old wear diapers so that it is easier for the mother throughout the day) but some of their actions will actually put their child behind in development and school. (DC public schools will not enroll children into kindergarten until they are toilet trained.) with all that, I am having a great time with the kids, learning a lot from them and hoping they are learning that much and more from me! here is a picture of us on a walk. this is some of our morning session with my co-teacher Lorena.
apart of the month's retreats, our house went to West Virginia for a weekend to bond and share our faith stories. I feel truly blessed to have such great housemates thus far. we are all very different, from all over the country, with many different views of religion, politics, God, social responsibilities. then on top of that, we have different views on house life, chores, recycling, use of electricity. a whole pot of differences! and we will be housemates for one year! with that said, we are a great bunch who are enthusiastic about our community and placements. I am praying that this year will be quite transformational in all aspects, not only for me, but for my wonderful fellow VSers.
ROctober has been pretty wild so far as well! explanation: October is the #3 month of the year for great reasons (17th- housemate Tim's birthday, 27th- my Uncle Andy's birthday, 30th- my birthday!!!, 31th- crazy costume day). with all of those celebrations, our house has now been referring to this great month as ROctober. I do not have a plan yet of how I am going to celebrate this year. I have a big meeting at work and choir rehearsal at night on my birthday. I might just wait for the weekend to get my party on!
my 22nd birthday list: a chance to see my California family and friends.
I miss home! especially with my birthday around the corner, I miss all of your faces and laughs and hugs. this will be my first birthday away from home and it will probably feel a little off because of that. but the greatest part: having people to miss.
27 August 2008
1st week in DC and 1st day of preschool!
this week has flown by so fast! I am glad to report I feel more settled, more familiar with my new house and job, but it still doesn't feel like I am living in DC. it still feels like I will be going home from this vacation soon. how about going home in one year?!
today was the first day of school!
here is the traditional "first day of school" picture my Mom requested!
these last four work days I have been getting our preschool classroom ready, getting acquainted with the school's operation and staff. (we played a mean game of softball at a staff retreat Tuesday! it brought back memories of the staff v. campers traditional game at Keola!) today I made five new friends, five cute little Hispanic girls whose mother's are enrolled in Mary's Center's English/computer classes. we had two great sessions together, playing with blocks, coloring different shapes, and taking a walk to the park! I am slowly learning how to communicated with these non-English speaking. I relied most on smiles, bright eyes, and willing hands to try to lessen the language gap. and these girls were so dear to me! at times they thought it funny when I was doing something completely different from their request. I frequently found myself laughing at our miscommunication. I so desperately wanted to be able to help right away. I pray that this situation won't be frustrating over time. overall, I feel that this job will bring so much fun to my life this year. I will definitely have many stories and pictures of all of my new preschool friends!
here are some pictures of my classroom!
as you can see, the room is overloaded with color and activities! I feel that this year will bring back my preschool days of coloring, make-believe, and silly songs. and what a year that will be! so fun!
I am working my magic as an artful teacher. (which is quite out of my element as I definitely did not have many, if any, art projects as a math major!) I made this game to help the kids recognize shapes and colors.
thanks for taking the tour of my classroom!
today was the first day of school!
here is the traditional "first day of school" picture my Mom requested!
these last four work days I have been getting our preschool classroom ready, getting acquainted with the school's operation and staff. (we played a mean game of softball at a staff retreat Tuesday! it brought back memories of the staff v. campers traditional game at Keola!) today I made five new friends, five cute little Hispanic girls whose mother's are enrolled in Mary's Center's English/computer classes. we had two great sessions together, playing with blocks, coloring different shapes, and taking a walk to the park! I am slowly learning how to communicated with these non-English speaking. I relied most on smiles, bright eyes, and willing hands to try to lessen the language gap. and these girls were so dear to me! at times they thought it funny when I was doing something completely different from their request. I frequently found myself laughing at our miscommunication. I so desperately wanted to be able to help right away. I pray that this situation won't be frustrating over time. overall, I feel that this job will bring so much fun to my life this year. I will definitely have many stories and pictures of all of my new preschool friends!
here are some pictures of my classroom!
as you can see, the room is overloaded with color and activities! I feel that this year will bring back my preschool days of coloring, make-believe, and silly songs. and what a year that will be! so fun!
I am working my magic as an artful teacher. (which is quite out of my element as I definitely did not have many, if any, art projects as a math major!) I made this game to help the kids recognize shapes and colors.
thanks for taking the tour of my classroom!
23 August 2008
preschool teachers are very artsy
yesterday was my first day on the job! I will be serving at Mary's Center as an early childhood preschool teacher for bilingual students. I will be assisting a great teacher named Lorena who has worked at Mary's Center with 2.5-4 years old for a while. we spent an entire day getting the classroom ready for school to start on Wednesday. preschool classrooms are colorful! there is not only dull spot on the walls! there are huge spots of color and patterns in every section of the classroom, making my eyeballs at first freak out wondering where I should focus! not only will a colorful classroom fill my time at Mary's Center, I learned that preschool teachers do a lot of art projects. Lorena gave me several jobs to create new games for kids to work on learning shapes, colors, and patterns. I spent a whole hour cutting out circles of different colors, gluing them on to bottle caps. a whole hour! I am greatly looking forward to meeting the students and learning how a typical day feels. from the first day, I believe I will have a great time teaching at Mary's Center.
*update*
I really miss having two family doctors within a half a mile away from me. I woke up this morning with 19 bug bites on my left leg! itchy! I have no idea where they came from! I am spending my morning washing my sheets and deep cleaning my room, hoping that will help. say a prayer for my leggies.
*update*
I really miss having two family doctors within a half a mile away from me. I woke up this morning with 19 bug bites on my left leg! itchy! I have no idea where they came from! I am spending my morning washing my sheets and deep cleaning my room, hoping that will help. say a prayer for my leggies.
08 August 2008
Free Food!
yesterday I had my first food distribution experience in DC. man, was I out of my element!
there is an elementary school, Harriet Tubman Elementary to be exact, right across the street from the MVS house. every Thursday afternoon, they give away produce and food goods to people for free.
I was walking home from my day at the teaching conference when I noticed a long line forming outside the school gate. I did not really have anything I needed to do at that moment, so I decided to join the line to see if there was anything that would liven my dinner.
I have never stood in line for free food before. well, take that back. in elementary school, when I swam each summer for the Mosqueda Mariscos, on sight was a free-lunch program for neighborhood kids. every day, my Mom would have us eat there, which was awesome because I got to eat white bread sandwiches, and we did not have white bread at home. totally cool!
for clarification then, this was my second time in a free-food line. wow, was it an experience. I was the only one there who looked like me. there were grandmas and grandpas, baby-sitters with young children; everyone lined up with their carts and grocery bags. I stood in line in back of a Mexican grandpa who tried his best to tell me in English what to do. I wish I knew Spanish to communicate with him. I wish I knew Spanish to be able to communicate with most of the people in line. I was surrounded by people who had walked a few blocks to get food to help round out their food pantry.
after waiting one hour, the workers were finally ready to start distribution. the mood in the line swifted. people were no longer grumpy from the heat, tired on their feet. they were alert, ready to gather their food. I was just curious what they were giving away, hoping it would help our house's $100/ week food budget.
what did I get? 12 medium potatoes, a 6 pk of hoagie rolls and two bottles of water. not bad!
I decided to experiment at dinner and make vegetable croquettes with the potatoes and carrots and onions from the refrigerator. I have a deep feeling that this year will be quite a challenge for me come meal time. I love food SO much! now, I will have to learn to love it, without eating so much of it. well, that might be a good thing too!
there is an elementary school, Harriet Tubman Elementary to be exact, right across the street from the MVS house. every Thursday afternoon, they give away produce and food goods to people for free.
I was walking home from my day at the teaching conference when I noticed a long line forming outside the school gate. I did not really have anything I needed to do at that moment, so I decided to join the line to see if there was anything that would liven my dinner.
I have never stood in line for free food before. well, take that back. in elementary school, when I swam each summer for the Mosqueda Mariscos, on sight was a free-lunch program for neighborhood kids. every day, my Mom would have us eat there, which was awesome because I got to eat white bread sandwiches, and we did not have white bread at home. totally cool!
for clarification then, this was my second time in a free-food line. wow, was it an experience. I was the only one there who looked like me. there were grandmas and grandpas, baby-sitters with young children; everyone lined up with their carts and grocery bags. I stood in line in back of a Mexican grandpa who tried his best to tell me in English what to do. I wish I knew Spanish to communicate with him. I wish I knew Spanish to be able to communicate with most of the people in line. I was surrounded by people who had walked a few blocks to get food to help round out their food pantry.
after waiting one hour, the workers were finally ready to start distribution. the mood in the line swifted. people were no longer grumpy from the heat, tired on their feet. they were alert, ready to gather their food. I was just curious what they were giving away, hoping it would help our house's $100/ week food budget.
what did I get? 12 medium potatoes, a 6 pk of hoagie rolls and two bottles of water. not bad!
I decided to experiment at dinner and make vegetable croquettes with the potatoes and carrots and onions from the refrigerator. I have a deep feeling that this year will be quite a challenge for me come meal time. I love food SO much! now, I will have to learn to love it, without eating so much of it. well, that might be a good thing too!
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