Today was a very good day. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world for all God's blessed me with. What did I do to deserve the life I've been given? Stop. It's not my deserving it, its God's plan and God's UNDESERVING grace. I don't deserve it- and that just makes me more thankful. Now that I've publicly declared the Lord as the provider and only reason my life is going anywhere, I shall tell you some things that I'm thankful for and why today was so great!
First of all, I woke up to the nervous excitement of my first day at a Spanish k-12 school. I made my way there (WITH map and thankfully WITHOUT problems) up the ginormous hill- that undoubtably gives these chicos killer lookin' legs- and after trying a few doors, finally found my way inside. After asking for some guidance, I was brought into a 5th grade class where one of my peers who also has an internship there was standing in front of the class smiling already. I quickly joined in and was accepted into a class of ADORABLE children eager, happy, and excited to learn. The teacher told us that they were working on numbers because they were having trouble with the numbers after the hundreds... ok. First of all, I'd like to make known that both my friend and I have been living here for a month now and can't even say numbers in the hundreds without struggling. So these kids were already doing better- I thought- than us. (in the number department anyways) and I was surprised! We went along in our lesson of numbers and at the end I had them play my favorite game from Spanish class in the states- Tortuga ("turtle") and they LOVED it!!! It made me so happy and there were a few moments where I just burst out laughing! By the end I couldn't stop! These kids are soo precious and so smart and I just love them!!! We repeated this with another 5th grade class right afterwards and the same thing! I left feeling sad to leave! I'd been wanting more hours anyways, so I went to ask about getting more but it didn't seem possible. I was a little sad about that and when talking to my friend and lesson planning for her 11th grade class (which she had right after) we decided to ask the teacher of that class if I could stay and teach with her. He said yes and actually I'm going to be in that one also! So happy to teach alongside her the whole day every Thursday! I was a little nervous for the 11th graders because well... they're 11th graders. There were boys saying "hello" to us in the hallway on the way there and when I stepped in the classroom, it was like a big hormone pond. Dripping with hormones I tell you! haha Although, after we started it went pretty well! We worked off of the lesson plan she'd already created and taught them adjectives pertaining to personality and physical appearance. We did a few exercises with those and had a lot of laughs. I left, extremely happy and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I love high schoolers! Who knew? So now I have another piece of the what-are-you-going-to-do-with-your-life puzzle to put into the picture! I found out that being a high school Spanish teacher is not something I should disregard. It's something I still can consider! More options. Good. Anyways, the sky was GORGEOUS this entire day. When we walked out it was picture worthy. The dark purple foreboding rain clouds in contrast of the bright sun and blue sky. aaah :) So THEN I came home and over lunch conversation, I found out that my parents are going to a wedding for the weekend AGAIN (seriously how many weddings? Lucky!) and they told me that if I wasn't going on an excursion, I would go with them, but since I've got to stay, she's going to make two of my favorite foods for me to have for the weekend! How sweet! I told her I'd like to learn and she suggested that we make one of them together tonight! I was pretty excited and regressed to my room for the afternoon. After some facebook and finishing a summary I had to get done, I sat with my Dad on the couch and watched an english western in Spanish while eating some yummy leftovers :) not going to lie, it was a bit awkward just both of us sitting in silence eating, but it's the small steps. I made an effort to spend time with him and I feel good about that. He's so sweet and I feel bad I haven't made more of an effort! After that, I went to meet some of my friends to just be out. We haven't done much going out and I (being the social person that I am) feel very much the need. So we ended up having a few little tapas and talking before going back to our houses for dinner. After dinner, me and my mom cooked together! (something I've been wanting and waiting for this entire time being here!) It was the first meal I had here and one of my favorites -if not my very favorite. I loved learning the similarities and differences in their cooking! Something she did that made me think of my mom was her emphasis on always having the kitchen clean and cleaning up as we went along! It's nice to have little similarities of home to mix among the differences. I hope to be able to make a full Spanish 3 platos meal for my family when I get back, and I'm on my way! Oh, and THIS is what we made:
(picture taken from another time she made it)
First of all, I woke up to the nervous excitement of my first day at a Spanish k-12 school. I made my way there (WITH map and thankfully WITHOUT problems) up the ginormous hill- that undoubtably gives these chicos killer lookin' legs- and after trying a few doors, finally found my way inside. After asking for some guidance, I was brought into a 5th grade class where one of my peers who also has an internship there was standing in front of the class smiling already. I quickly joined in and was accepted into a class of ADORABLE children eager, happy, and excited to learn. The teacher told us that they were working on numbers because they were having trouble with the numbers after the hundreds... ok. First of all, I'd like to make known that both my friend and I have been living here for a month now and can't even say numbers in the hundreds without struggling. So these kids were already doing better- I thought- than us. (in the number department anyways) and I was surprised! We went along in our lesson of numbers and at the end I had them play my favorite game from Spanish class in the states- Tortuga ("turtle") and they LOVED it!!! It made me so happy and there were a few moments where I just burst out laughing! By the end I couldn't stop! These kids are soo precious and so smart and I just love them!!! We repeated this with another 5th grade class right afterwards and the same thing! I left feeling sad to leave! I'd been wanting more hours anyways, so I went to ask about getting more but it didn't seem possible. I was a little sad about that and when talking to my friend and lesson planning for her 11th grade class (which she had right after) we decided to ask the teacher of that class if I could stay and teach with her. He said yes and actually I'm going to be in that one also! So happy to teach alongside her the whole day every Thursday! I was a little nervous for the 11th graders because well... they're 11th graders. There were boys saying "hello" to us in the hallway on the way there and when I stepped in the classroom, it was like a big hormone pond. Dripping with hormones I tell you! haha Although, after we started it went pretty well! We worked off of the lesson plan she'd already created and taught them adjectives pertaining to personality and physical appearance. We did a few exercises with those and had a lot of laughs. I left, extremely happy and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I love high schoolers! Who knew? So now I have another piece of the what-are-you-going-to-do-with-your-life puzzle to put into the picture! I found out that being a high school Spanish teacher is not something I should disregard. It's something I still can consider! More options. Good. Anyways, the sky was GORGEOUS this entire day. When we walked out it was picture worthy. The dark purple foreboding rain clouds in contrast of the bright sun and blue sky. aaah :) So THEN I came home and over lunch conversation, I found out that my parents are going to a wedding for the weekend AGAIN (seriously how many weddings? Lucky!) and they told me that if I wasn't going on an excursion, I would go with them, but since I've got to stay, she's going to make two of my favorite foods for me to have for the weekend! How sweet! I told her I'd like to learn and she suggested that we make one of them together tonight! I was pretty excited and regressed to my room for the afternoon. After some facebook and finishing a summary I had to get done, I sat with my Dad on the couch and watched an english western in Spanish while eating some yummy leftovers :) not going to lie, it was a bit awkward just both of us sitting in silence eating, but it's the small steps. I made an effort to spend time with him and I feel good about that. He's so sweet and I feel bad I haven't made more of an effort! After that, I went to meet some of my friends to just be out. We haven't done much going out and I (being the social person that I am) feel very much the need. So we ended up having a few little tapas and talking before going back to our houses for dinner. After dinner, me and my mom cooked together! (something I've been wanting and waiting for this entire time being here!) It was the first meal I had here and one of my favorites -if not my very favorite. I loved learning the similarities and differences in their cooking! Something she did that made me think of my mom was her emphasis on always having the kitchen clean and cleaning up as we went along! It's nice to have little similarities of home to mix among the differences. I hope to be able to make a full Spanish 3 platos meal for my family when I get back, and I'm on my way! Oh, and THIS is what we made:
(picture taken from another time she made it)
So after this amazing day of connecting to kids, my friends, and my host family, I continue to feel more connected to my savior, and to my life here. As my host mom says: "poco a poco" (little by little) and she's right :)