Finally, a thunder storm. And other adventures of a TFAer

Family and friends: I signed a lease. I am now the proud renter at the Bel Air http://www.belairhouston.com/. It's pretty crazy, but I figure, hey! I can afford it!  And I am going to want to come home to someplace that makes me happy and relaxed, and this DEFINATELY makes me happy!

On another note, I'm sitting in a coffee shop, writing lesson plans and watching an EPIC thunder and lightning storm take place outside. Here is where I am > http://www.agorahouston.com/. The coffee is yummy and the atmosphere is really great too. 

Oh yay! It just started raining! God I miss the rain. I think I have to go stand in it for just a second after I'm done writing.

I can't believe i am into my third week of teaching. Institute is almost over, and I will be home on the 11th. I have to figure out how to sell all of my stuff, so if you are in need of a bed, mattress set, bookcase and big comfy chair, let me know.  This also means I have to buy all of this stuff here. Shoot. 

Ok, back to lesson planning! Only a few more left!  

I miss you all!

P.S. Thank you Vicky and Paul for the great letter/card/book. All three mean so much to me and I know that I will use the book in the next few years.

Cheers,

Danielle

week 2 down, 3 more to go

I think I can count myself as one of the lucky ones. I've survived week 2 - my first week of teaching in Institute, and I did not break down. Not one single tear was shed.  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for some of my peers. This week was HARD. We were sleep deprived, struggling with classroom management, and dealing with printers that were busy, out of paper, or not working properly. 

I was in bed by 1 each night, which is also early compared to others here. My roommate went to bed at 3 one night, and we have to wake up by 6.  We know that this life is unhealthy, and we complain. But I keep reminding myself that we are not the first to go through this and that those before us survived. And really, this isn't about us - it's about the kids. We have set Big Goals for the kids at our schools, and we need to meet them. It's unbelievable the amount of help they need. They are so far behind, and it's literacy that will really make the difference. 

Ok, enough with all of that....

Good things that happened this week:

1. Welcome celebration when we got back to campus after our first day of teaching

2. Found a roommate

3. Washed my laundry

4. Sat by a pool today

5. Turned everything in on time

6. My Co-Lab rocks.

7. Happy Hour last night.

8. Skype

9. My packages from Wyeth and Mom. (thanks!)

10. Sleep

Thinks I miss terribly:

1. real coffee

2. weather

3. Urban Growth Boundry

4. zoning

5. I-5, 405, 205 and 26. It's that simple. They each go one direction, you only have to switch to one or two to get from one side of town to the other. You should all see how the freeways are set up here. Google it.

I'm too tired to write any more. I'm going to bed. 

love!

Update!

This is where I live! North Moody Tower

This is what greeted us the first day at Dogan! Go Dolphins!

Well, I'm sorry this has taken so long, but to put it simply - I've been BUSY!  Typical day at Institute goes something like this...

5:20 Wake up

6:00 Breakfast

6:58 On the bus (and you BETTER be on the bus or it will LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!)

7:15 At Dogan Elementary School

8-4:00 SESSIONS (And teaching starting Monday)

4:30-7 Sessions in the only "Spare" time I have... this will hopefully stop soon

6-ish Dinner?  SO SLOW

7-10:30 Planning...

11:00 Sleep?  

But other than the crazy schedule, I'm having a blast. Some people think that just because I was an ED major, all this stuff would be easy (I was hoping that would be the case) but it's far from the truth. I am learning so much. One of my friends' mom put it really well - we are learning how to drink from a fire hose. So true!

I start teaching on Monday - I'll be teaching 4th grade Science. The students I'm teaching are mostly ESL (English as a Second Language) so vocab will be really important. My teaching group (called a Cooperative) is really awesome. There is a girl who went to UT Austin, a woman from Atlanta, and a guy from Portland who wen to school at San Diego. We all get along and work well together and I'm excited for our students and the goals we have set for them. 

Houston is a CRAZY city. I'm trying to get used to a lot of new things here, like no zoning and the disparity between the rich and the poor. The freeways are also pretty nuts. GPS systems get confused because they think you are on one freeway that is right next to the one you are really on.  On that note, I will need a GPS. It's crazy. Oh and drivers are nuts! I've seen so many accidents in my one week here. 

Ok, back to lesson planning!

Love!

Pictures...

Final countdown

So I leave in exactly 6 days, and I had to check the calendar because I wasn't sure how many days there are between now and June 4th. What does this say about me? If you guessed that I am NOT prepared to leave, you are correct! I still have to re-organize my belongings in storage, pack what I think I'll need for a month of teaching/interviews/training/craziness, and get all of my other crap staged to move when I get back. This is really just too overwhelming. As for the clothes, what I wear this weekend at the Lake (woo!) will be minimal, and what I wear next week will comprise of jeans and t-shirts. That will keep washing down, and I can pack pretty much everything else. Speaking of packing, how does one pack hangers? I know that I'll need them, I just don't know how to pack them. Any gems of wisdom would be appreciated.

So that list I made about the things I want to do while still in Oregon??? I don't think I've done one thing. Maybe I'll talk Wyeth into stopping and doing some wine tasting on our way to Spokane tonight. That will cross at least one item off my list. But I think that my relaxing and spending time with friends totally beats anything on that list. And it's not like I'll never return to Oregon and Crater Lake will probably be around for a couple more millenia, so what's the rush???

Alrighty, my mom wants to me type up a press release about my Teach For America position for the local paper. God I love being from a small town!

Cheers!

Graduations

I went to Caitlin's graduation from Willamette University yesterday, and enjoyed it. The speakers were much better than the ones at my commencement, and the prayers were more true and pure. I've loved the time I've had at UP, and wouldn't trade it for the world, but I think I might have missed something. There is a lack of realness here. Was I taught to question enough? Because that seems to be a big thing at Willamette - questioning. And did professors ask me to form my own opinions and then argue them? Some yes, but now in the classes that I needed it most - religion. In those classes, I was told what was what, and was not given the chance to figure it out on my own.

Oh well. There is always grad school...

Things I want to do before I leave Oregon

There are some things I want to do before I leave Oregon. Here is the list so far. I'll update later.

1. Wine tour

2. Girls Night Out

3. Crater Lake (I've NEVER BEEN!)

4. A hike in the gorge

5. The Coast (I was there on mother's day, so this one is not as important)

6. Take pictures of all the places that mean a lot to me so I can frame them and put them in my room.

7. GET RID OF STUFF I DON'T NEED!

8. Buy a pilots, timbers and blazers jerseys 

9. Go on a bike ride (fix my bike, for that matter)