FAILURE

So yes I have been slacking MAJORLY....not since October....almost 2 months, wow! At this point, there is too much to write about everything so I will just provide a few pictures and explain what they are from.





Jose's brother's wedding.


My friend Nikki's wedding that I flew home for in October.



My spanish class and I traveling to a small town to try some local food.


For the long weekend of Thanksgiving, some friends and I went to Golfo de Fonseca. It's a set of islands off the coast of El Salvador between Nicaragua and Honduras. 6 of us drove the 4 hour drive to the coast where we then boarded our two hour ferry ride that we took from where we parked our cars to our hotel. It was the most tightly packed boat full of so much stuff that we delivered to different places on the island. Definitely an experience.


Gina and I doing some yoga on the dock of our hotel one of the mornings. It was a beautiful place and VERY relaxing.

First weekend trip home

Aye.....me = slacker.

So life has been a little crazy recently and I was super busy preparing for my trip home. Some of you know, others of you don't, but I was home in the states last weekend for my friend Nikki's wedding. The week before was busy, busy getting prepared for what I thought was going to be 3 days of a sub (I'll get to that later) and then I flew home last Thursday. I got into Chicago late Thursday night and then left Friday morning to drive to Iowa. The wedding was wonderful and so amazing to see some of my best friends. On Sunday, I drove back to Chicago to fly out at 6am Monday morning. It was definitely a whirlwind weekend and I was back in El Salvador before I knew it :)


All of us with our hair done in downtown Cedar Falls :)


Rehearsal Friday night.


Everyone all fancied up!

The biggest news is the terrible rains we have been having here. It started the Tuesday before I left and was getting steadily worse. I was able to fly out no problem but school for kids was actually cancelled on Thursday so I thought, great, one less day for the sub. Well while I was gone, I found out that the rains continued and got REALLY bad. The MINED (ministry of education) required all schools to close. We have still not started school since I have returned. I got back on Monday expecting to have to jump right back into things but have had some time to adjust. We have had to work some half days and I have started another 2-week masters class so have had that every day. It's not like I have just been sitting around doing nothing haha. It was a great weekend to go away though because I didn't miss any days of school and was planning to miss 3!

We will be back to work on Monday and I have next week of the Framingham master's class and then I will be finished with that. I had class all day today and then am running another race tomorrow morning. The other excitement is that I officially have a ticket home for Christmas and Jose is coming too!!! We will be home December 19th-December 31st so mark your calendars!

First trip with the American Society

So this weekend was a busy one. The end of the week turned out well and Friday I went out to dinner and then to bed early. Saturday was an all day trip to Suchitoto. A beautiful city in the north of the country and then Sunday was a day trip of kayaking on one of the estuaries down to the south beaches, so I was all over the country. :)

Saturday in Suchitoto was a trip with the American Society so it is organized through the embassy. We left around 8:30 from San Salvador and started in the town with a guided tour. We went in the church, wandered around the streets and stopped in some different art shops and old hotels. After our tour of the city, we went to a store that makes Indigo. The lady described the process of making it step-by-step. It was very interesting. From there, we went to lunch on a spot overlooking the lake. We had lunch and then went down to the lake for an hour long boat tour of the lake. It was relaxing and beautiful scenery. On the way back in, there was a big storm brewing up off to the distance that was getting closer and closer to us. There were big bolts of lightning coming down and we were out in the middle of this lake with a metal roof over us so we were a little scared but our guide didn't seem to be concerned so we continued on. After the boat trip, we headed back to the city and I eventually got home around 6:45. It was long day number 1 of the weekend.

The view on the boat in Suchitoto.


View from where we ate lunch.


The lady describing the indigo to us.


Here is the main church in Suchitoto.

On Sunday, we got up VERY early to go kayaking. Jose and I were in one kayak, Colleen and Gina in another and our friend Steve in another. It was a big group of about 15 kayaks. We paddled out for a few hours to an island and then hung out on the island for a few hours while the tides changed and then paddled back in to have some lunch. It was a great trip but Jose and I are not expert kayakers and were getting VERY frustrated because there were crazy currents pulling us all over the place and we couldn't stay straight. Then his paddle broke and we almost got pulled out to sea haha. We had to get towed in by one of the jet skis....it was a little embarrassing but essential. We would have been long gone!


Gina, Colleen, Steve, Me, and Jose

This week is off to a good start and on the downhill now. This weekend, no big plans but I'm sure I'll find something. Then only 3 days of school and I'm home. I'm super excited to come home but also a little stressed about missing 3 days of school. That means lots of planning and lots of things to prepare. I've only ever missed a half day...never even 1 full day! It will be so worth it though! Well hope everyone is doing well, miss you all!

First Spanish Field Trip

So the rest of the weekend finished off well with the race Sunday morning and the city tour Sunday afternoon. The race on Sunday went well. It was a smaller race than some of the others and was an 8K in the Eco Park here. It took me 40 minutes to run it (I got 11th for woman overall) but I would say the first 32 minutes were running straight up hill. About minute 25 I started really hating running and thinking in my head "why do I do this?" "Why do I think this is fun?" but then once I got to the top part and had the little bit of downhill, it was much more enjoyable.

In the afternoon, 3 other complejoers and I went on a free tour of the city. It was a replacement for the questionable tour we had for the Farralitos a few weeks before. We went to El Centro and went to the beautiful cathedral and a few other churches. Then stopped by Parque Cuscatlan where there is a wall with a bunch of names of people that died during the war.



We also stopped by a few other places but since it was Sunday, many things were closed. It was a nice tour but since I had just seen many of the things during my race a few weeks ago, it wasn't SO exciting but still interesting to get more information and history about some things.


This week is off to a good start and tomorrow is already Thursday, how wonderful! Tonight I had a field trip with my Spanish class. 3.5 hours of straight spanish, it was painful but fun. Our first stop was a nearby cathedral which was very beautiful, lots of stained glass. The circular windows on the side opened and I had never seen that before.


The circular stained glass windows that opened!

After the cathedral, we went to Antiguo Cuscatlan which has lots of great food places. We stopped in and had some pupusas (typical Salvadorian food) but it was fun to be out in the evening and attempting to speak spanish for a while. Our teacher just laughed the whole time. 2 of the guys always put -o on the end of words they don't know to try to put them in spanish haha.



The whole group of us!

Tomorrow and Friday are pretty typical days. Tomorrow night Jose has the 2nd game in the best out of 3 series for the championship of his bball league. They won pretty easily last night so I'm sure tomorrow will be the same. Friday, I'm planning to play soccer at the school and then this busy, busy weekend. Saturday's day trip to Suchitoto and then Sunday's EARLY morning kayak trip. Oh well, gotta stay busy :)

First Te de Regalos

So it's been a while but I don't have too much to report on. I had a long weekend last weekend because of the Salvadorean Independence Day and I was supposed to go to Parque Imposible (a beautiful national park here) for hiking and hanging out but got super sick so spent most of the long weekend in bed. It was some kind of stomach flu I think and knocked me out for a few days. By the end of the weekend, I was better and have been fine ever since.

This week was nothing out of the ordinary. My class is still GREAT and I just smile every day thinking about how wonderful they are. Although I loved my class last year, they had SO many issues and I didn't realize it until I had something to compare them to. I just got lucky this year because when talking with some of the other 5th grade teachers, they seem to be having the problems I had last year this year and I just smile and say "I know EXACTLY how you are feeling". This weekend is a busy one. Last night, I had my first Te de regalos which means Tea of Gifts. It's basically a Bridal Shower. Jose's brother is getting married in November so this was the tea for the soon to be sister-in-law. It was very similar to a shower in the states with a few Salvadorian twists. First, we played a few games...a word search and a word scramble. I won the word search so got a prize of a little key chain! Then we ate and after that opened presents. The host (Jose's mom) and also his sister helped but the host opens all of the presents for the bride except for the last piece of tape and then she just opens the last bit and shows it off. I thought that ruined all of the fun of opening the presents but oh well.

THEN....

So apparently its another thing that the 7th present that is opened is the person that is going to get married next. Oh heyyyy guess whose present was opened 7th? I wasn't even paying attention and was talking to one of his other sisters and then everyone started shouting my name and I thought they were just calling my attention because she was opening mine but then they all told me what it meant. It was quite awkward in front of all of the women of his family. Then his mom said..you don't have any plans do you? Hahaha I just laughed and said uhhhh no? and then she said....well, not yet at least. AYE, so awkward!

The rest of the weekend is pretty busy too. I'm running another race tomorrow. An 8K in the ecoparque here. It's almost straight uphill, awesome! Then tomorrow afternoon I'm going on a free city tour. The tour company is giving us this tour for free because of the lack of tour when we went to that Farralitos lantern festival. So we figured why not? We'll take it. So Char, Gerri, Colleen and I will go on that tomorrow afternoon. Then it's back to work again. Busy, busy. Time is flying and I'm home in just under 3 weeks for Nikki's wedding (wooooooo!) Hope everyone is doing well. Love you!

First Faralitos, ziplining, race in El Centro

The girls all ready to go before ziplining.

This last week and weekend have been busy and full of lots of FIRST things. On Wednesday night, I went with a few other teachers to the Faralitos festival in Ahuachapan which is about an hour and half outside the city. It was a big trip for a school night but it was fun. The city has a big ceremony and festival where people put up displays of lanterns to celebrate the birthday of the Virgin Mary. We walked around the town which felt kind of strange to be out on the streets at night but there were so many people around and its a big festival so everyone was celebrating and having a great time. One highlight was going to a sanitary bathroom that was "sanitary". We had to pay 25 cents to use it which really just gave us a few sheets of toilet paper. The bathrooms were disgusting and I would have rather gone on the street, ew ew ew! It was an interesting festival though and I'm glad I went.



Char, Gerry, and I at the Faralitos festival.



Friday a couple that has student at the school, had all of the American teachers over to their house for a Taco Party. It was quite the party complete with clown wigs, blinking red noses, and party hats that were randomly brought out midway through the party. Towards the end a mariachi band showed up and the drinking began. That's about when I left but the dad brought out his VERY expensive tequila and people were taking shot after shot. No thank you!


Andrea and I at the Taco Party.


The Mariachi Band.

Saturday morning, I went ziplining for the first time. Another parent invited the teachers to try out the new zipline that he owns just outside the city. It ended up being a parent of one of my students so she was there doing the zipline with us. It was super fun and something I would definitely like to do again. There were about 20 people that went and because they let us go try it out for free they only had a few guides with us so there was lots of waiting in between each line for everyone to cross. Overall, a great experience.

Coming in ziplining.


My student, Natalia, and I showing off our gloves (your brake) while ziplining.

Sunday I decided it would be a good idea to run a 12.km race (about 7.75 miles). A friend was talking about doing a 4km and that there was also a 12.5km so the group that runs on Saturday mornings decided why not go for it? It was down in El Centro which is the downtown and city center. I had never been before so I decided it might be fun. It actually went well, it was an up and back and then you got back to the cathedral and ran a few laps around there to finish the race. It's in a part of town that I would probably never go to otherwise because on a normal day, it's not the safest place, so I decided to take advantage of the highly secured race to check it out. A friend and I ran it in 1:09 which is not too bad.

I have just been LOVING having Antonia, the maid, come twice a week. I rarely ever have dirty clothes and her cooking is wonderful. On Tuesday she had written a note saying that if we wanted her to make a quiche for us she would and she could make mine without milk or cheese. Well, Holly bought the stuff she had listed she needed so I assumed she was making one just for Holly. Well we got home on Friday after school and she had made one for each of us. There were two pies and she wrote a note saying that she put an H and an M on them to distinguish which was which. SO cute and sweet:)


Our designated quiches that Antonia made for us last week.

So this was a busy week but overall it was great and went by very quickly! I can't believe it's already the weekend again! On Monday, there was a security talk at the school about safety which was helpful but nothing that I didn't already know. Lots of "Be aware of your surroundings" "Don't go to places you don't know" "Follow your gut instincts" BLAH BLAH BLAH. They were helpful reminders though. Tuesday night, I went to Jose's bball game which they won against the 2nd best team in their league. It was a great game. Wednesday Spanish class started again woooooo. It was very easy and I felt comfortable with everything that was being said. I'm going to do my best to go more regularly this year because I definitely slacked a lot last year!

Thursday night was Open House at school and I had all of the parents in my class come except for one set that I knew already was not coming so that was exciting! It went really well and everyone was nice! I talked for a bit about myself, the class, my philosophy and then the spanish teacher came in and did her little presentation. We showed off all of our new technology and the parents seemed to be very impressed! After the spanish teacher talked, the parents went around and did a scavenger hunt of the classroom that their child had made for them. I figured they would not want to sit and listen to me talk the whole time, so they could explore the classroom that way! I was happy with how it went and everyone had nothing but positive things to say. It's fun to meet the parents because so many of them look just like their children!

I've been relaxing on the weekends mostly and this one will be no different. I am going for a run with the crew in the morning then Jose has another game tomorrow night. I don't have any work to do either because I am already almost fully prepared for the week ahead. This 2nd year with experience, the new technology we have, and this new reading/language arts curriculum has made my life!

Some other luxuries I have been enjoying since being back have been having Antonia, our maid, come twice a week this year. It is so wonderful to have her Tuesday and Friday. She does laundry both days, cleaning and cooks if we ask her to. She's made burritos, some egg frittata, some broccoli dish and some potato salad. All delicious! It's amazing to come home to clean sheets, bed all made and dinner ready to heat up. I also began this week getting the vegetable delivery service. There is a lady that comes and delivers organic fruits, vegetables, or other things like breads and muffins that she makes. I got my first delivery tonight so I am looking forward to having her come weekly again!

So overall, all is well. We have one more full week of school and then a short 3 day week for Independence Day. No big plans for that weekend yet but maybe a trip up to one of the national parks up north. Hope everyone at home is doing well. Love and miss you all!!

First pupusas since I've been back

So after two full weeks of school, things are going VERY well. I like my class a lot and I think it's going to be a great year. They are definitely a lot more relaxed than last years class and I don't think I realized how crazy those kids were until I got this one. Some of the other teachers were laughing and saying that maybe the principal gave me a really chill class so that I am convinced to stay longer. Who knows but I still have no idea what I will do.

One of the highlights of the week was when we were doing a science experiment that I had done with my class last year but it ended up being so crazy and the kids were all over the place. This year (having learned from last year) I made sure that instructions were VERY clear and guidelines were understood and it was great! Another highlight was one of the mom's came in this week because I have a new student in my class. When there is a new student, the parents come in to tell the class about the child and their family. She moved here from Mexico but is fitting in just fine. It was interesting to hear the mom talk about their family history and the back and forth from Mexico.

This weekend was relaxing. Friday night, I just hung around my apartment with friends, Saturday went for an intense hill run with the complejo running group, ran some errands doing the day and FINALLY went to get pupusas that night. I hadn't had them since I was back in July, how crazy! I am trying my very best to not work on the weekends or bring work home and so far so good :) This evening, Jose and I watched Green Hornet. It was good....an adventure movie but also funny too!

This week is a busy one with spanish classes starting up on Mon/ Wed (yes, I am going to do my best to actually go for longer than a few weeks this time). Then, Thursday night is Open House. Busy, busy but only 2 full weeks then a short 3 day week for Independence Day. Happy Birthday to Caitlyn on Wednesday and Happy Anniversary to my parents on Thursday! Love and miss you all!

First week down

After the first full week at school, I am feeling great about the year and all that it will bring. I have been LOVING using the projector and document camera that I now have in my classroom. It has made everything SO much easier! Overall, my class is great. I have 20 kids.....12 girls and 8 boys, all fun kids. They are a lot quieter than my class last year but hopefully they open up a little bit.

I've been thinking more and more...maybe this class is just better behaved because I am doing a better job at disciplining because I have more experience. Which, yes I'm sure is a part of it. But thinking back to my class last year, they were already a little crazy this early in the year.

I am excited for this next week and hopefully things continue to go well! I've already been back 4 1/2 weeks which has flown by and I've been thinking....before too long I will be home again for Nikki's wedding in October. I have just been enjoying time on my weekends and relaxing around the city mostly. Haven't been going to the beach as much because it's rainy season so you never know what the weather is going to be like. I went on a long run (7.25 miles) with the Complejo running group on Saturday morning which was rough since I haven't been going nearly that far but it was a good one! Not this week but next week is open house at school so I will have to start preparing all of the materials for that.

I have very much enjoyed having Antonia (our maid) come twice a week this year. She has been doing some cooking and extra cleaning, it's been wonderful! I rarely have any clothes dirty because she washes them right away. Also, coming home on Friday's after playing soccer and having dinner made and sheets, clothes, everything all clean is amazing!

So all is well here. Hope everyone had a great weekend at home and hope to hear from you soon! Love and miss you!

First few days of Year # 2

I can not believe that I have a new class. It is so strange to me thinking that I have a whole different group of kids and the old ones are off in 6th grade now! This new group is great though and I'm hoping for a fun year. I have 20 kids.....13 girls and 8 boys which is the opposite of last year and I think is what is going to make a HUGE difference.

The first few days we have done lots of getting to know you games and organizing of supplies. This weekend has been full of time for recovering and preparing for the full week ahead. I am pretty well planned for this next week and tried to be productive and get a lot done. On Friday, I played soccer again and it was lots of fun. I am always the only girl that plays but it's fun. After soccer, I was exhausted from the week so just hung around with my roommate and went to bed early. Yesterday (Saturday), I went to the embassy pool with some friends and saw one of my new students there :) I have a few embassy kids in my class this year but it was fun to see her and I met her parents....not an ideal first meeting but it was fine! Tonight, I have a bbq at a friend's and then will be getting all ready for the week.

My goal for this year is to be more prepared and follow through on things better. Last year I was so scatter-brained all the time trying to try so many different things and this year I am going to do my best to stick with things and not stop and start with so many different things. I am also starting out focusing on all of the things that bothered me towards the end of the year last year but I just let it go at that point in the year. I am being a bit more intense about the quickness and order in getting lined up to go to recess, lunch, specials and also with the students speaking spanish to each other in class. For the first few days, I would give them gentle reminders but I said that starting this week it has to be English.....always. I am still at the point in the year too that I am so excited about planning. When I was planning this morning, I was getting so excited to do the activities over the next couple of weeks! Let's hope that attitude continues :)

Well I hope things are going well for everyone and people that are starting back to school over the next couple weeks have a great start to the year, it's such an exciting time! I also want to wish a Happy Anniversary to my grandparents today and to Chris and Latoya on Tuesday. I am so happy for all of you! Miss you and love you!

I'm baaaaaack

So I am officially back and settled. I had a great time at home but the time went by very quickly. I was home 5 weeks and in that time, spent some time in Colorado, visited friends, enjoyed driving, and Jose came to visit! I didn't realize how much I missed being home until I was there and it was so wonderful to see everyone!

I got back on the 21st after a missed connection and extra night spent in Miami and have been busy welcoming all of the new teachers for next year. We have been taking them on lots of shopping trips, to different parts of the country and have had lots of dinners and gatherings and things. It has been busy but also fun to get to know them and see all of these people with eyes wide open and think that it was just a year ago that I was in their exact same position.

Once all of the welcoming was done, I still had a bit of time before school started so I went to a resort for a couple nights with some friends. It was a nice, relaxing end to the summer.

Today was the first official day of work and it was somewhat productive. We got back into our classrooms, started putting things back on the walls, got our schedules and are getting all ready to go. I have the same morning plan time which will be nice so my schedule will be exactly the same as last year. I still don't know who will be in my class but will find out on Wednesday. I am ready to start the school year and getting excited for Thursday to come.

This week has been busy, busy preparing but I will write more after the first few days of school. I can't believe it's time to start another year already, my SECOND year of teaching. So crazy!!

DONE

So I'm sitting here in my room, packing up my life and realizing that this first year is over. What happened? It feels like just yesterday that I was getting ready to come and telling everyone that I was going to teach in El Salvador. Then people responding in two ways...."That will be such a great experience" or "What? Why would you want to go there?" I was going to a world, a life, and people that I didn't know and had no idea what to expect. I arrived here 11 months ago, 11 months! with eyes wide open, ready to take on anything that came my way. As I was taking things off the walls of my classroom the other day and cleaning everything up, I was thinking....did i really just complete my first year teaching? I felt like I was just putting things up on the walls and wondering what my students would be like. Time goes by SO fast!

This year has definitely been one that I will never forget and I have created my own life here and found where I fit. My friends, my support system, my house, my routines....it's been an adjustment but a life that I have grown to love! I will go home for a bit but then will be back again the end of July. Next year is going to be so great. I will have already taught everything once and I feel like I learned soooo much this year both from making mistakes and things that went well. I loved my class but I'm sure that I will love my next class just as much. We are getting a lot of new technology next year too so it's going to be a whole different experience. We are all getting new computers, projectors in our classrooms, and a document camera. Which from what we had this year, is a HUGE improvement. I had an ancient computer this year and just an overhead.

Everyone has been asking...do you think you will stay longer? How was it? Will you be there more than just next year? What are you going to do? And my answer is always...I have no idea. I could see myself staying a third year, I could see myself leaving after my contract ends next year. I really have NO idea! Life here is great....sometimes I feel like it's a dream. I didn't have a car all of this year but I'm thinking I might buy one when I get back in the fall. I'm coming back early to do welcoming committee next year and welcome all of the new teachers, I am excited! It will be fun to be on the other side of things.

I get home tomorrow and then am leaving for Colorado on Sunday. I will be there for a week and then I will be home to see everyone and all of you that I have missed so much! Thank you for all of your support this year, positive thoughts and words of encouragement to get through all of the hard times. It has been an amazing year and I can't wait for the next :) 24 hours from now I will be in the US...just in Houston but in the US!!!

First year teaching....check

Graduation.

I can not believe it is over. It takes me a long time to realize things and it is hitting me more and more every day that this school year is done. I have not cried yet though. People say that you never forget your first class from your first year teaching and that is so true. I throw every part of myself into teaching and relationships so I got really attached to these kids. I know that I will have a whole different bunch next year that I will love but these kids were extra special to me.


WIth some of my girls at graduation :)

I still have to work on Monday and Tuesday but then I am done and coming home Thursday! We had graduation yesterday morning and that was hard but I didn't cry or get too upset there because I knew I would see the kids again at the party last night. Leaving the party, I didn't cry but I was hit with a huge feeling of emotion and sadness. The party was organized by the moms and was just a party for the kids. As everything is here, it was over the top. It was like a wedding reception haha. At the beginning, there was a slideshow of pictures of the kids all the way from kinder up until now. Then it was a big dance party so I was up dancing with all of the kids. When I was leaving, I was saying goodbyes and a few of the girls and a couple boys started crying. It's crazy how much of an impact you have in the lives of kids. For me, it was such a great year. It was definitely challenging at times and tested my patience but overall, for a first year, it was great.

This weekend, I am just relaxing mostly. A big group of teachers are going down to the beach club one last time before one of the families leaves to go back to the states. Tomorrow a set of parents from the school (who have taken a lot of us in as part of their family) are having a goodbye party for all of us at their farm out near the volcanoes with pool and all. Then I work Monday and Tuesday, pack up Wednesday and head out early Thursday morning. I can not believe it. I am feeling very excited and very ready to come home! I can't wait to see all of you.

First Decamaron trip

A lovely place :)


So we had the long 4 day weekend this weekend and I spent it relaxing mostly. For 5th grade, we had to enter our grades before the long weekend which was nice because I have had nothing to do this weekend while everyone else is stressing out to get everything submitted. Today I'm going to clean my room and maybe rearrange it haha.

Sunday night I went to a different all inclusive resort with a group of friends...7 of us total. It was a REALLY nice place. It was all inclusive so all drinks and food and everything were included. By food I mean constant meals ALL the time....I think I gained 10 pounds. You have breakfast which is an all you can eat buffet and then there is a "snack" again before lunch but the snacks are like meals all over again. Then it's lunch again. Thank goodness we were only there 2 days because I consumed enough for a whole week.


One of the many pools at Decamaron.

First injury from soccer

Strange how it's just bruised around the outside? Who knows?

So I have been playing soccer on Fridays with a bunch of men at the school. I am always the only girl that plays but it's a mix of coaches, janitors, people that work in the cafeteria, maintenance people...really whoever wants to come out and play. Well some of the guys kick it REALLY hard, as you can see in the evidence on my leg. I was defending one of the guys and we was winding up to take a big shot and I didn't want to get hit in the face so I turned my body but my leg got in the way. This picture was taken 3 days after I got hit. Today is day 4 and it's getting better but still a pretty nice battle wound. I think it's the worst ball mark I have ever had haha it really doesn't hurt that bad but it makes me look pretty tough haha.

The days are flying by and I'm at NINE days until I'm home and only 2 days of school left. I'm feeling like school is pretty much done because tomorrow is really the only day that I have to manage because on Thursday we are just watching a movie in the morning and then playing games in the field all afternoon that the PE teachers organized. I am having very mixed feelings about the school year ending and about coming home. I am very excited for summer but am going to miss my class and these kids SO much. Also, coming home is such a transition and throws the emotions all off but I am VERY VERY excited to see everyone that I have been missing so much! I will be home 5 weeks.....until July 20th.

First school year coming to an end

So I don't have too much to report on but I felt it was time to post again. Since my birthday weekend, things have been doing well, just relaxing mostly and taking a day at a time. The kids are feeling ready for summer and so am I so we just try to get through each day :) We have a full week this week and then a long weekend because there is a conference in town so they have to close the school Monday and Tuesday. Then we come back to finish up on Wednesday and Thursday. Kind of pointless but what can you do?

I have to have a formal evaluation this year so the principal came in to observe me again Wednesday of this last week and it went really, really well. She came during math time so we were reviewing and then the kids started on a math hunt where they had to go around the room and find different numbered problems to solve. She stayed for about 30 min but it was great. I'm not sure when I will hear from her about her thoughts but probably this week sometime. Earlier this week, she also came up to me and said "Marissa, you are making my life very difficult." I thought to myself, "Ummmm, I'm sorry?" She said, "I don't usually tell teachers this but I have had SOOO many parent requests for their students to be in your class, that I don't know what to do with all of them." I'm not sure how these parents know who I am but even though I think I'm doing horribly, I must be doing SOMETHING right hahaha.

Outside of school, life is good. Went to the beach for the day yesterday with some friends which was nice. Today just hanging around and making sure I'm all caught up on grading and ready for the week. I have to submit and finalize my grades on Thursday so I'm trying to stay on top of things. I was still tutoring this last week but am done now because there isn't really anything more to study for. Both of the girls have come such a long way though and I am so proud of them. I am getting beyond excited to come home. I will be in the states in 18 days, that will fly by! This has been such an amazing year and I can't believe it's already over, where does time go?

My plans until I come home are to get through this week, enjoy the long weekend next weekend by going to an all inclusive resort for a night or two with a big group of friends....maybe something that last weekend before I leave but really just visiting with people and hanging around. The work load is definitely going to slow down which is wonderful. I won't have much planning or grading to do. Really, after this Thursday I don't have anything to do because grades will all be submitted and we will just be doing little fun, end of the year things. Hope all is well at home. Love and miss you all and SEE you so soon!

First Salvadorean birthday

So I have lots of firsts from the last few weeks. I had my FIRST SALVADOREAN BDAY followed by my FIRST SUCCESSFUL MOTHER"S DAY SHOW, FIRST TRIP TO A LOCAL SCHOOL and then my FIRST JAZZ RECEPTION AT THE AMBASSADOR'S HOUSE. Very exciting events :)

The picture below is of a group of students at a school outside the city. I went with a friend to this school because she teaches English on Saturday mornings. It was such an amazing experience. All of the students there go to school all week and then come to school there on Saturday mornings to learn English. I was so impressed with some of their stories and how difficult their lives are. One of the girls I was talking with leaves home at 430 in the morning to ride the bus 1 1/2 hours to the city....has class 6-8am, works all day, and then goes to class again from 6-8 at night. Then rides the bus home and gets home at 10pm. Each day is the same. SO amazing! I had taken some supplies that Mrs. Hepker, a friend's mom, had collected from her students in the states. She then sent the supplies down here and I took them to donate to the school. They were so excited about all of the new things, it was so cute! We spent the morning just talking.....English/Spanish. They did very well though and were all so motivated and wanted to make sure that they were saying things correctly so would repeat things again and again. I hope to definitely go back and see them again before I come home!


The students and I with the donated supplies.

My birthday was amazing....one of the best that I have had. A group of friends and I decided to go stay down at the beach for the night on Saturday and we stayed in a very nice hotel. We got down there Saturday afternoon and just hung out at the pool at our hotel and then showered and got ready for dinner. There were 9 of us staying at this particular hotel which was about a 5 minute drive from the town. So we drove and met up with 7 others to have dinner and go out to some beach clubs right on the beach. Our group ended up being 16 and it was so wonderful to celebrate with almost all of my closest friends here now, like my family! Well we danced all night and then slept in Sunday morning and got up and did more of the same. We had a nice breakfast, then spent the morning just playing vball in the pool and sitting around. It was a great birthday and one I will never forget!


This was the hotel that we stayed at. Ocean is behind in this picture so the decks looked out at the ocean...amazing!


We had some intense games of vball in the pool. A pretty great view too! I stayed in the room on the top right.

In El Salvador Mother's Day is always on the 10th of May, no matter what day of the week it is. Well it happened to be Tuesday this year and we had a big 5th grade event. All of the moms came and the kids sang 3 songs, then danced with their moms at the end. They had also made poems and drawn portraits of their moms. When they gave them to their moms, so many cried and it was super cute. It really made me miss home and my mom though. So between having bday wishes from a far and then having to wish my mom a happy mother's day only over skype was a little hard. I come home so soon though, just about a month!


Valeria, me, and Jesse in front of some of the decorations at the Mother's Day Luau. All survived our first year at EA!


Another first this last week was my first Jazz Reception at the embassy. A friend asked if I wanted to go and I said sure why not? So we got all fancied up and went to the reception at the ambassador's house. It was just a reception so drinks, snacks, and a live band playing jazz. It was fun to do something different and get all dressed up.


All dressed up for the Jazz Reception at the Ambassador's House. Fancy!

Overall, things are going very, very well. Only 17 days of school left. How crazy! We have 3 full weeks and then 2 days the last week. We finish June 9th with kids and then June 12th for teachers. I will be home June 16th, so just a little over a month. I can not believe that I have almost survived my first year. It has gone so well and I am going to miss these kids SO much. This weekend I'm planning on just hanging out and relaxing. A week from Monday starts the last master's class of the year so I need to enjoy the down time that I have now. Hope all is well at home and I'll see you so soon!

More pics

So I forgot to take my camera so I've been getting pictures from other people. These are a few more pictures of the amazing views that we had all week. I feel like I didn't give justice in the other ones.


View from the back deck of our house.


Sunrise from the bedroom window.

First Semana Santa in Utila

Our whole group: Rachel, Colleen, Jose, Emmy, Isaias and me :)

So last week was Semana Santa (spring break) for us and I went to Utila, Honduras which is an island about an hour by ferry off the coast. There were 6 people in our group...Jose, Colleen, Rachel, Emmy and Isaias. It was a fun group and we were heading out for the week. We decided that instead of renting a car and trying to navigate the way there ourselves, we could rent a van w/ driver that could take us there. So we left at 330am Saturday morning because the driver was going round trip and needed time to get back. So we packed our bags, got in the van and took off. It was a 10hour drive to La Ceiba which is where the ferry leaves from. We got there in time for the ferry, took the ferry and got to the island around 6pm. There were people there to greet us and show us to our house. Our house was amazing. 2 bedrooms, 1 loft and a huge kitchen and living area. One of the best parts was the deck looking out at the ocean and also the gazebo right down by the water.


This was the backside of our house. The ocean is behind in this picture so our house looked right out at the ocean.....AMAZING!

We spent the week relaxing at our house, playing cards, listening to the waves crashing, and hanging around. I went snorkeling one day and kayaking another. There are no cars on the island mostly just motos and golf carts. We rented bikes and walked or biked everywhere. It was a nice change of pace. It was amazing to wake up every morning to the sunrise and listening to the waves crashing all night, I couldn't believe it. I really felt like I was in a dream well week. I mean these are the vacations that people dream about....beaches, clear blue water, house right on the ocean and I was living it!


Rachel and I on the boat taking a break from snorkeling.

I can't really pick a favorite part because it was all so great! It was something that I will not forget for the rest of my life! The downtown was pretty small and there wasn't a lot to do but we just wanted to hang out anyways. We spent most evenings making dinner at our house and talking or playing games. The 6 of us got along pretty well for the most part. It was a lot of together time but I was pleasantly surprised how well things went. I felt like it was also the perfect amount of time. Just enough. When it came time to leave I was feeling ready to come back to reality, well, my reality :) We left early Saturday morning and got back late Saturday night. It was nice then because we still had Sunday and Monday to get organized and ready for the week. I colored eggs on Easter with a bunch of friends using the Egg coloring kit my mom had sent. It's hard to find white eggs here so we colored brown ones, it still worked just fine. Jose, Rachel and I cooked dinner at night so had a lovely Easter meal of ham, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs (after an egg fight) and a broccoli salad-delicious!


Jose, Rachel and I cooking Easter dinner.

After the wonderful week, it was back to work this week and things were very busy. I've starting tutoring two 4th grade students now so I'm busy after school Tuesday-Thursday but it's nice to have a little extra money too. I only have 6 weeks of school left! I'll be home so soon!

First Intramural Opening Ceremony

So this week went well. It's starting to get pretty hot in the afternoons and the classroom turns into a bit of a sauna so I get irritable and the kids get whiny. We have 2 full weeks until spring break and then hopefully it will start raining a bit so it will cool off but until then, we will have to deal. This week's excitement was the Intramural Opening Ceremonies on Friday morning. The intramurals are played in PE and each class plays against another in bball and soccer. Each class has a class color and my class was yellow so the kids decided they wanted to be the Yellow Puffles, don't ask. We had to make a banner to walk in with. During the ceremony, students put flags up, lit a torch, and the 2nd graders performed short dances. It was cute! Very over the top and a little long but fun.


Here is a picture of our class walking with our banner.



The students created solar system projects a couple weeks ago so they are proudly displayed in the classroom.

School has been great recently and I've been getting lots of positive notes and comments from parents and the principal. I feel like this year has been such a roller coaster but overall, awesome! I must be doing something right.

I've been resting up this weekend, because I'm starting another master's class on Monday which means intense class every single day. Class Mon-Fri until 7:30 and a full day Saturday too. It's only 2 weeks and once it is done it's also time for Semana santa so I will survive! I've also been playing soccer on Fridays and loving it. I am the only girl and it's a bunch of guys that are janitors or work in the cafeteria but its just so fun. Tomorrow I may go to a house with one of the soccer guys and some of his friends but undecided because I already have a dinner date so we'll see. Other than that, just getting prepared for the week and mentally preparing myself for the intensity of the next two weeks! Spring break will be here so soon...... Home in 10.5 weeks, CRAZY!

First presidential visit to El Salvador

So I have been slacking, yes I know. Nothing TOO exciting has happened recently. Life is just flying by but I am SO happy and things are going very well. The last few weeks have been great. At school, class has been going wonderfully and I'm just loving it. Only 9 weeks left of school, how crazy is that? I'm going to miss these kids so much and I can't believe they are going to be in 6th grade next year! I've had some interesting times in school recently though. In English class at school, we teach about American History. They get Salvadorian history in Spanish. It's been challenging to teach it because they have ZERO background knowledge on it. Right now, we have been talking about the 13 original colonies and when and where they were founded. To tell these kids....Massachusetts was founded here, Georgia was here means nothing to them. They are familiar with the names of the states but have no idea where they are located. Florida is the only one they know because of Miami and Orlando because of the vacations that they take there. It's been a good challenge and very eye opening for me, it's been fun.

Outside of school I've been trying to save money and haven't been doing much on the weekends. I'm going on a big spring break trip with some other people from the complejo. We are going to Utila, Honduras. It's an island just off the coast. Roatan is the more famous one but Semana Santa is going to be such a busy week at all of the touristy places so we decided to go to one that would be a little less wild. I'm excited, I've heard it's beautiful! So on the weekends I've been just hanging around with other friends here mostly which has been nice. I've become such good friends with so many people here that its nice to just catch up with them on the weekends. I've realized also how NOT-emotional I am. Sometimes I feel like I am the go-to person for everyone's emotions just because I can sit and listen :) For some reason, people have been having lots of emotional things happen recently so I've felt like a counselor at times. I'm not so good at expressing my own emotions or talking about things myself but I'm really good at listening to other peoples.

This next week should be pretty normal. I'm down 4 kids because now our kids are off to Virginia for the Exchange program. That means I will only have 18 this week but too bad it's all of my best students that left. Well I hope things are going well for everyone at home and the weather starts to warm up a bit, I've heard it's still pretty chilly. I'm available to skype anytime. I'm an hour behind most of you now because we are too good for Daylights Savings time here so we don't change our clocks :) Love and miss you all!

First Weekend feeling like a Queen

Diego and I.

So my student has been asking me week after week to go to his lake house and then the mom was asking me too. Things kept coming up and I was unable to go but I decided that I needed to stop saying "another time" and go! So I said I would go and they said that I could bring a friend. I made my friend Andrea go with me for moral support.


Lake Coatepeque-a crater lake. GORGEOUS!

So we left Saturday morning around 11am and went to meet them at their amazing city house which is actually very close to the complejo. So the mom rode down with Andrea and I just in case we got lost and separated from them. We drove down and Andrea and I were thinking we probably wouldn't spend the night just because that's a lot of time for me to spend with my student haha. We got there around 12:15 and the house was BEAUTIFUL.



House at the lake...no big deal.

Once we settled in and got a tour of the house, they took us for a tour around the lake on the boat. Well, actually the helper man that lives there who drives the boat for them took us out on the boat. I forgot to mention that there is one maid that lives in a smaller house next to their house on the property and her and her husband watch over the house during the weeks. They also brought another maid with them from the city. It gets better....

So after the trip on the boat, we sat on the dock and watched the boys wakeboard and jet ski while the parents, Andrea and I just relaxed and chatted. There was constant food, service and drinks. I felt a little overwhelmed with all of it. Well after some time in the sun, the mom said they were going to take a nap and the boys were playing video games so she told us we should watch the sunset from the 2nd floor balcony and lay on the lounge chairs. She brought us a blanket and asked if we needed anything to eat or drink.....treating us like queens.



Watching the sunset from the terrace.

After the sunset, we showered and got ready for dinner. There was fondue for dinner which was again served to us by the maids. I felt so strange having people doing everything for me but that is how life is for these kids, that's all they know. After dinner, they had made up a room for us because we decided we were going to stay. It was like a hotel...sample size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, towels and wash cloths. There was a candle lit in the room and they had turned on the A/C for us. They showed us to the room and made sure to close the curtains and also the darkened curtains so that no sunlight would come in and wake us up in the morning. We had a full breakfast in the morning and took one more trip on the boat before we took off around 11. They wanted us to stay for lunch but we needed to get back to the city and get ready for work tomorrow.

It was such an amazing weekend. I can't believe it! My student was so funny too because he was SO excited that I was there and kept saying "Miss Marissa, watch this" "Miss Marissa, did you know this?" haha and he was filling me in on all of the gossip of the 5th grade and tattling on kids that do things at school that they think I don't know about. I then told him that I was going to talk to those kids on Monday and he said "NO! Miss Marissa you can't tell them that I told you!" haha it was too funny. Overall, it was a really great weekend and I'm interested to see how he acts this week and he will be so proud and rub it in to all of the other students that I went with HIM to HIS lake house haha. Hope everyone else had a great weekend and has a great week.

First Reading Week

So this past week was Reading Week at school. We spent the week doing different activities to celebrate reading. On Thursday, the assistant principal asked me and 2 of the other 5th grade teachers to be the "Mystery Readers" which meant that we had to read a book over the intercom in the morning and then the students had to guess who we were. All of the 5th grade classes except one were able to guess it along with a few 4th grades. It was super fun and the kids had a great time with it. On Friday, all of the 5th grade teachers decided to dress up like the characters from the Wizard of Oz.






I was the Good Witch. We performed a shortened version of the play for the students and they had no idea we were going to do it. A few parents also came in throughout the week to be Guest Readers. Some of them were very nervous and it was so cute. The kids enjoyed listening to someone else rather than me all the time and most parents brought some kind of treat which was a plus! The rest of the week was pretty standard and same old same old. I felt like such a performer though between the reading over the intercom and acting out the play haha. On Wednesday, one of my students asked me to go to his lake house for the weekend so that leads me to my next first....

First "too many emotions" moment

So last week was the arrival of the exchange kids from Virginia. They arrived Monday morning and were with us for a very eventful day. The morning was going fine, they went to specials and then around 11 the emergency siren started going off and we were not warned ahead of time that this was going to happen so I had to rush over to the art room, get my kids, and have them sit in the field outside. The kids from Virginia were freaking out because they didn't know what was going on and were only used to tornado and fire drills. I had no idea what was going on either but I did my best to comfort them (counselor moment #1 of the day). The rest of the day went smoothly, with 4 extra kids in class, until the end of the day when I had to pass out progress reports. So I had 3 kids in my room crying after school about their low grades so I had to comfort them for a while (counselor moment #2). Next, I was getting ready to leave school at 4 and got an email from a parent saying that the principal had told her son that he could not go on the exchange field trip the next day because of his grades. Well needless to say I had to comfort her and the student (counselor moment #3). So i had put up with enough emotions for one day.

When I got home, the complejo drama began. All of the single people who have had guests spend the night got an email saying that no salvadorian is allowed to stay the night in the complejo, EVER. Well, obviously people with salvadorian boy friends or girlfriends or just friends in general were very upset about this and so I had to spend the evening talking to a few friends who were very upset about this new rule and restriction (counselor moment #4). At this point, I had had enough emotions for one day so just had to call it a night.

The rest of the week went smoothly and we had an Institute day on Thursday which was somewhat productive. We just listened to different teachers present on things that they had seen presenters about when they were at a conference, pretty low key.


The beach where we had lunch and hung out for the afternoon.

I spent the weekend at the beach mostly. Friday I went for the day with a few friends and came back around dinner time. Saturday morning I went to a different beach to spend the night with a big group of friends, there were 8 of us. It was a hotel right on the beach, it was very nice. We didn’t do a whole lot, just relaxed, ate some good food, played some Uno, kayaked and laid around on the beach.


Colleen and I at the beach.

This week is off to a great start. My kids are back on track and things are going well. I've realized that sometimes I think the best ideas in teaching come from nowhere. I'll be mid teaching and then think of a great way to explain something. Today we were talking about the orbit of the earth and seasons and things in science and the kids were so into it, it was awesome! It was so strange to talk about seasons with them though because they really only have 1 temperature year round. This week is also reading week so we are doing lots of extra reading activities and parents are coming in throughout the week to read to the class, it’s lots of fun. Thursday morning, the assistant principal asked two of the other 5th grade teachers and I to be the “Mystery Readers” so during homeroom time we will be reading over the loud speaker for the students to guess. I wonder how many classes will guess it correctly? Hope everyone else is having a great week and hopefully the weather continues to warm up for you! Miss and love you all!

First 11K Race

Two posts in two days, you all should be impressed!! This morning was my first race in El Salvador and it was definitely an experience. I went to bed early last night for the early 5:30am wake up today. We left around 6am to get down there and get all warmed up. There were 5 of us running the race and Eileen and I talked before the race and decided that no matter what, we would stick together. We knew going into it that the first half was all up hill but I was not expecting the hills that we actually had. The whole first 5K was straight up hill and I mean BIG hills. There was a point that I was running and I wasn't sure that I was even moving (reminded me of my dad when we went skiing one time :). Well we finally made it to the top or what we thought was the top but it wasn't over yet. The second half was mostly downhill except for a few little hills.

We ran all over that part of the city which I haven't been to or explored too much so it was nice to have some change of scenery. There was a beautiful view from the top too and made all of the effort to get to the top of the mountain, yes a mountain, all worth it. Some of the intersections had police blocking them off and stopping traffic but some did not so we had to cross ourselves, across busy streets. It was an adventure. Overall, the race was pretty organized for El Salvador. I was impressed. We got a really nice shirt out of it too. Our time was 1:08 which I was impressed with because my goal was around 1:15 and considering all of the crazy hills, we did pretty well. I'm not so tired now either. I'm sure I'll be pretty tired later tonight though and tomorrow. Plan for today is to sit around, relax, and run some errands. This 3 day week shouldn't be too bad but I will have 4 extra little bodies in my class. The Exchange Kids from Virginia are coming to school all day Monday and Wednesday so I will have them with me. They are here in El Salvador for 10 days and then our kids go to Virginia in April. It will be an interesting experience, I'm sure but how fun for the kids! I have a professional development day on Thursday and then off on Friday. I'm not sure what I will do for the 3 day weekend. Maybe just go to the beach for a few nights or go check out another part of the country, who knows. Well hope everyone had a great weekend, Miss you all! Love you!

First Rough week

I'll start with the PTO Turno last weekend because people were asking about it so much. I honestly didn't go for that long. It was Friday night and most of the day Saturday. Friday night was when it was busiest and I guess it was wild. There were about 5 or 6 carnival rides and then a bunch of different booths that you could play games at. I went down Saturday afternoon for about 45 minutes just to check it out and see what it was like. It wasn't very busy when I was there which I was happy about. I saw a few students and just took it all in. I'm sorry to say that I didn't even take any pictures but it was just like everything else at this school, unnecessary and over the top.

But this last week was a rough one. I spent last weekend just relaxing and sitting around, nothing too exciting. Monday came around and I was just feeling very burnt out from teaching and not wanting to be there. That attitude definitely rubbed off on the kids because Monday and Tuesday were very rough days. The kids were misbehaving like crazy and we weren't getting anything accomplished, I felt like a terrible teacher. Tuesday night I slept well and woke up Wednesday morning with a positive attitude that I was going to make a change and make things better! The rest of the week was 100 times better and we are back on track now. I just needed to change up some seats and being a little bit stricter to show them that I meant business. Yesterday they were like angel children so I'm not sure what's gotten into them but I'm ok with it :)

I got my grades from my masters class this week too and I got an A on my final paper and my presentation. The professor gave me some great feedback too and some kind words about how I'm going to be a great teacher. I was the only first year teacher in the class so I was kind of the "baby". This weekend I am just relaxing today and running an 11K race tomorrow with some other people from the Complejo. It's about 7 miles so we'll see how that goes, hopefully I survive. We went down to pick up our packets this morning and got our shirts and things. The shirts are very nice. I'm excited for the race...i haven't run one in a while. It's tomorrow morning at 7am. Well that's been the last week or so of my life. I'll write updates again after the race. Hope all is well at home. Love you all!

First field trip

Oh what an experience....I had NO idea what to expect but everything actually turned out to be really fun. Definitely very different than any field trip that I've gone on in the states. So we headed to Izalco Sugar Mill this morning around 8am. This country is so small that these kids rarely have to drive more than 45 minutes anywhere so for them an hour long bus ride was the end of the world! We boarded the bus and had the hour trip to the mill. A couple of the kids asked me where the security was because I think they were concerned but we had security in front of and behind the bus so we were just fine.

We got to the sugar mill and they had huge muffins and pop for the kids. Great, load them up on sugar right away :) Next, we listened to a presentation about the process of sugar and how it is produced. It was interactive, fun and the kids seemed to somewhat enjoy it. After the presentation it was time to go see the mill. Keep in mind, our school is up in the hills a little bit so it is a bit cooler up here but we were down in the sweltering area, VERY hot. So it was around 11am when we headed into the mill. We had to put on our hard hats, goggles, and masks before we could go in.


My group inside the mill.

Walking in you are blasted with a wave of heat. We went upstairs and downstairs and were VERY close to very quickly spinning machines that were very sharp and sparks flying near us. NEVER in the states would students and people be able to be this close to the machines but we just carried right along.


Another picture of the group inside the mill.

After our tour that lasted about 20 minutes, we had sweated enough so walked over to the big barn that had huge piles of sugar inside. The kids could take a small cube with them and they had fun playing around with it and trying it.



Most of my class (minus a few) in front of all of the sugar.

After the tour we went back and ate lunch, played games we had brought under a pavilion until it was time to go. The kids behaved very well for the most part and had a really good time. Before we got back on the bus, they gave the kids some more sugar in the form of popsicles so it was a very exciting bus ride home. They also gave each of us a really nice water bottle as a souvenir. I was in charge of controlling the back of the bus on the way home where all of the "popular" kids sat. 5th graders are so funny. They would just shout out a girls first name with a boys last name and then everybody would laugh. Then the boys would respond with a name too. They would get so embarrassed and laugh and clap at each other. They also decided that B-I-N-G-O was going to be their favorite song. We heard that probably 15 times on the way home. Overall, it was a great trip and the kids had lots of fun. Tomorrow is just a half day and then the weekend. We have a half day because this weekend is the PTA Turno which is a huge carnival that the PTA runs but it goes on right outside my classroom on the main field of the lower school so the kids will have zero focus tomorrow. Well that's all I got. Hope everyone is having a great week! Love you all!