Check out my classroom...

     I apologize in advance as this will be a short post. The last few days I have been in lots of school meetings and prepping my classroom for school. It has taken a while to get everything finished. I am, however, in no way ready for school to start on Wednesday.


    I am normally a plan ahead, always prepared, future-focused kind of teacher. But I haven't really had the option here as I don't yet have keys to the school and don't have internet at the house. I hope that today through Tuesday will be productive so that I can get a handle on what and when I am teaching. 

   Here's what my room looked like last week before I got to work on it: 

This is what I accomplished in an hour and a half before our first school meeting:

And the finished product: 

Check out the awesome poster some of my students made me!

So there it is! All ready for students to come. Now, to begin lesson planning and deciding what to teach, when to teach, and how to teach. No small task.

On a non-school related note, Kayla and I took our first solo metro trip to Parque Estancia for some salsa rhythms classes. We were hoping it would be like zumba but the lady did more talking than anything. I had many old ladies pull me aside to teach me the correct way to salsa. Apparently I swing my hips too much and turn my foot...who knew? Kayla and I talked to several girls our age, although my contribution was minimal as it was in Spanish. It was a fun morning and a nice break from thinking about school.

Short Stories:

1) On Thursday we went to see Inception with some friends we met from church. Not only was it fun to hang out with some people outside of the school environment, but there were Spanish subtitles. I was loving my life trying to learn the words while still enjoying the movie. 

2) I am beginning to build relationships with some of our Venezuelan staff at ICS and am loving greeting them each morning and finding out how they are doing. Again, another opportunity to practice Spanish. In Venezuela, it is rude to enter a room and not greet each individual person. So at every faculty meeting, you walk in and give besitos (literally means little kisses, but you go cheek-to-cheek and kiss in the air) to all the Venezuelan staff. I feel like I have successfully broken my bubble of not being a giver or receiver of physical touch. I am embracing the culture with open arms and learning to make it my own. 

3) Through talking with another teacher and fellow housemate Natalie, I realized that essentially about 8 teachers/administrators keep this high school in existence. And I am one of them. What an incredible responsibility! My input and involvement in this school is essential to keep it running. No choice but to dive in head first!

4) Please keep praying for consistency in time spent with the Lord. While I communicate with God and rely on Him throughout the day, I have found it difficult to spend quality time in the Word. This has to become an essential part of my morning. He is my strength and my support but how can I expect to receive these things if I am not actively pursuing the relationship by reading His Word? 

Spanish (classroom) words of the day:

    aula-classroom

    escritorio-desk

    lapiz-pencil

    tarea-homework