Institute Week Four

I think I've finally hit my institute stride. Five step lesson plans seem to flow forth from my fingers effortlessly, I feel perky after six hours of sleep, and Houston is definitely growing on me. Too bad there's only one week left :-P

Here are some highlights of this week:
On the 4th (after a morning of sessions and an afternoon of lesson planning) some of us went downtown to watch the firework show. It was a great show and even greater to get out of Moody towers and see real people in the city. And I'm glad I got to see some fireworks on the fourth, sometimes I forget that it's actually summertime here.

Your teachers were never this cool. My CMA group threw a mini dance party at school Friday afternoon to break it down with a little Cupid Shuffle. (It was also college shirt day- we don't usually get to dress like this!)Friday night Kereoke bar extravaganza. Need I say more?

And finally, today the SoDak corps took a trip to the beach in Galvestan. It was possibly one of the ugliest beaches I've ever seen, but still a beach and a totally fun day.

Also today I bought a really truly authentic pair of Texas Cowgirl boots and I'm about to go break 'em in with some two steppin'. Texas does have it's strong points :)

Institute: Week Three- Plus Bonus MN Mini-break!

Week three over and we're already halfway through summer school! Ah!! Two more weeks! We gave our class a mid-term on Wednesday which went fairly well. We're on our way to significant gains! (never mind that the data is marginally worthless.... the whole testing and data collection they do here is pretty silly and has little to do with actual student achievement). Anyway, so after the testing we started a play with them on Friday which I'm pretty excited about. We're reading the Glass Menagerie and it's going to be cool. Short stories are not really my favorite literary genre, they can be good, but I couldn't take only reading short stories all summer. This way they get involved in reading in class. I started Friday by having them do 10 second auditions to decide who would read in class. It was awesome, they're totally hooked. Or as hooked as unbelievably apathetic teenagers can be...

Speaking of apathetic teenagers... how cute are my brothers and I? Yes, Scott is as tall as I am and he's about to be a ninth grader!! I can call him for some lesson planning tips next year :) In case you're confused, I went to MN this weekend for my Uncle George's wedding which was so fun, I'm really glad I made it. I'm getting sick of missing important family events because I'm far away, I'm ready to be closer to home. The wedding was great and they are so happy and cute, I can't wait to have more baby cousins!!

I heart Minnesota so very much. This morning I was cruising around the lake on our pontoon boat with my two bestest friends... now I'm back in hideous moody towers working on lesson plans. Sigh. Two more weeks!! Then one more week in SD and THEN finally a three week vacation at home. I. Can't. Wait. I need a vacation like whoa. It's time for life to slow down for a minute....

But not quite yet! Gotta get ready for week 4 and some classroom drama (in a theatrical sense only I hope).

Two Weeks....

left of my short DC life. Ah! Yesterday after work my roommate Meri and I rode our bikes down around the monuments and tidal basin, then back up to Georgetown where we stopped at an Argentinian Cafe for Espresso and Gellato, then we changed and walked out to a nearby bar for a couple beers. Talk about your action packed DC evening. There's so much to do in DC that I'm going to miss, I need to squeeze everything in to the next two weeks!

Cute little guy, isn't he? I killed four of these minniature monsters this evening. blech. In case you're wondering, it's commonly called a camel or cave cricket. They are found in dark moist areas like caves or... you guessed it, basments! kinda like the one I live in. Lovely. Needless to say, my dehumidifyer is now going full blast- best purchase ever.

Apologies for my lack of blogging. It certainly hasn't been due to lack of excitement. Well, not excitement really, but there have been plenty of amusing anechdotes strait out of typically twenty-something "young professional" big city life. Like xerox mishaps and printer jams, answering phone calls meant for NASA or FAFSA (it's NAFSA!!!!!), a pizza party in my hotel room on my first ever buisness trip in Minneapolis, meeting wonderfully friendly layed back Pacific Northwestern international educators on my second ever buisness trip to Boise Idaho, the power going out on my birthday because no one thought to pay the electric bill, participating in a brain research study to make extra cash, dancing with a giant bannana and Tigger in a bar on Halloween and randomly running into someone from my high school class, mid-term political madness, a trip to Philly for freinds cheesesteaks and sight seeing, navigating the city on my bike, farmers markets, happy hours, and generally doing my best to be a responsible, independant, grown up or something like that.

It's been interesting. I'm learning a lot. About myself, my streangths, weaknesses (I should definitely avoid xerox machines in the future if possible), and interests, about DC, about professional associations, about international education, about life in general. I passed my three month mark at work a week ago. Hard to believe I've been here that long, but also hard to believe it hasn't been longer. I have to come up with some goals for myself for my slightly overdue three month review, perhaps I'll share them with you after I come up with them :) I do like goals as you may have noticed.

P.S. Listening to The Writers Almanac online is very soothing.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch!

Ra Ra for Richmond!

I can't believe how German I am sometimes... living there for so long affected me more than I thought. I bought a bike over the weekend and I can't even tell you how much I have complained (at least in my head) since then about the lack of bike-friendlyness in DC. Not only that but I find myself worried about rules and laws and feel distressed that there seem to be no laws about bikes. I'm sure there are, but no one knows or follows them. How can people bike without bike laws??? How can there not be a bike rack outside every building?? But riding a bike to work is fun, and a huge improvement over taking the bus, so I guess I'll relax about it. I would like to start a campaigne to make DC a more bike-friendly city. Someone out there get on that for me, would you?

Backpedaling a bit (haha, it's a bike joke!), I had a great weekend in Richmond. I drove down there Friday night and met Jackie and Emily at Jason's apartment. Saturday afternoon we went down to Carry Town and then to UR campus to wander around. It was weird but nice. I somehow forgot how incredibly beautiful it is. I guess you don't notice so much when you're living there, but it really is a perfect little bubble of prettyness. And they remodeled the science center AND the dining hall which blew me away, I'm a tiny bit jelouse. Overall it was nice to see it and made me happy that I went there and have so many fond memories, but I'm done with that part of my life and wouldn't want to go back now. It's a good feeling. What I miss most is my classes, but that just means I need to get my butt back in school soon, and I can manage that. Moving on, Saturday night some of Jason's friends from high school living in DC came down and we all went out for a very nice dinner at one of my favorite Richmond resturants. (The Hard Shell, in case you're interested) There was wine and bread and wine and crab legs and wine and key lime pie and a little more wine.... It all felt very posh and grown up. Richmond night life is kinda like that. After dinner we went out to a couple bars and then all went back to Jason's to continue the party..... a good time was had by all. Sunday I stopped at Target, bought a bike and a de-humidifier (oh the joys of living in a basement) and then spent half and hour with two high school aged target employees trying to fit it in my car, I finally had to buy a wrench to get the front wheel off and get it home. whew.

Now it's back to work for me. Work is getting a bit more interesting as I get involved with more projects. I'm very excited for the meeting I'm going to in Minneapolis in a few weeks because a)I finally get to meet some members and see some faces to go with all the names I'm e-mailing and it should be interesting and b) It's in Minneapolis which means it's a free trip home and I get to see everybody!! :)

York, PA

hmm, there's a new blogger. I'll have to play with that later. After 7 hours of sitting at a computer at work I'm not all that excited to log on when I get home, hence the not so frequent blogging. But here's a quick update on my life anyway. My weekend in York was really nice. It was great to see Caroline and be around a close friend who's known me longer than a few weeks. I'm hoping she's going to apply for the open position in my department.... we'll see! I didn't really see the tourist sights in York (there are some) but we did go shopping and I got to go to TWO family labaor day picnics and eat a lot a lot of picnic-y food. So it was nice and relaxing and good to be away from the city and all the stress of moving and whatnot.

This weekend promises to be a bit more on the wild side, at least that's what Jackie is hoping for. I was never really all that wild during the four years I lived in Richmond before, so I'm not sure if that will pan out... but we'll see. I could go for a let loose kinda weekend about now. This 9-5 cubical stuff is getting to me... it's a little scary that I'm actually starting to get used to it and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

I saw Grant today! Here visiting his sister at George Mason, he invited everyone he knows in DC out to dinner, we had a two law students, two grad students and three young professionals. It's like I keep saying... DC is the place to be!

in fact it's so exciting here that I'm wiped out and may fall asleep right now before 10 pm. wooooo. it's a crazy life I lead. :)