la dee daa...

hi friends. hi family. hello, blog.
seems as though i've been dodging this white screen and blinking cursor, attempting to avoid remembering the things I've done thus far and recording them here for you.
for those of you who have been so anxiously awaiting these miraculous words of wisdom and life experience from me, i apologize. i apologize not for the wait, but for your lack of patience as the art of patience is the first character trait one must master in order to survive in Thailand.

Let this be your first lesson. ;)

All kidding aside, it's been great thus far. I've been assigned the homeroom teacher for grade 5 and so i can decorate the grade 5 room as "my own". I finished decorating and organizing things today and tomorrow I will spend the rest of the day organizing my lesson plans. (ugh). At this very moment I would like to personally honor all of the following::

Ms. June- for letting me play with shaving cream
Mrs. Oscarson- for reading Spot books
Mrs. Katcherowski (i never could spell your name)- for her patience with me
Mrs. Meisenzahl- for giving me my first after school detention (instilling fear)
Mrs. Golet- for giving me my second detention. and third. and fourth. and so on.
Mrs. Gorman- for having the coolest laugh, EVER.
Mrs. O'Malley- for being the sweetest being on the face of this earth.
Mr. Sczymkowitz- for being a "FUN-GI". hah.
Mrs. Booth- for expecting a lot from me.
Mr. Hyland- you're an inspiration and i admire your love for God and your family (AND, I have quotes you shared with us hanging in my classroom: "the most important thought that you will ever think, is what you think, when you think about God because it will determine every other aspect of your existence")
Miss Marks- for being a friend to me my first year of high school
Mrs. Velaustagui- for giving me a hard time while always pushing me to achieve more..i miss you!
Mrs. Stewart- for your dedication and hard work in everything (and giving me a passing grade in chemistry..)
Mrs. Potter- for your strength and teaching me that cat veins and arteries really can be cool
Professor Marybeth Davis: for deepening my love for literature (and for thoroughly assessing literary works..)AND for the encouraging little comments you'd always write on my papers
Professor George Young: you're the man. thank you for EVERYTHING YOU DO...
Professor Paul Young: for your friendship and conern for your students' future
Professor Edward Edmond: for being so critical of artwork and determined to mold great artists
Professor Timothy Van Voorhis: for somehow tricking me in to really loving Statistics.
Professor Edward Moore: for "WHY WHY WHY"-ing me to death and challenging me more than I've ever been challenged by picking my brain until it almost bled business sense.

These are all the teachers I believe have greatly influenced my life since preschool. If I've forgotten someone...I really do apologize.
So, back to business here. Ah, yes...to all of them- THANK YOU. And why? Because teaching seems to be the most time-consuming, exhausting process EVER..and somehow they all managed to do this job well (even with me, the "disruptive, doesn't listen and follow directions" girl).

My classroom has a nature theme..I've drawn tree branches, suns, moons, the sea- anything i could do to fill up bulletin boards. I've done all i could to avoid resulting to the "shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" deal. I've put up several quotes around the room and plan on addressing them during english lectures... words of wisdom from John Piper, the Bible and pastor Jon Dupin from Brentwood Church in Lynchburg, VA. I figure these kids could actually use some practical advice rather than advice everyone seems to be fed in classrooms these days.

it's weird to be the one with the "teacher's desk". i remember how off-limits this area always was growing up. it's never like i really was that interested in what liquid was floating around in the Big Gulp plastic mug, or what type of crackers were stored in the bottom drawer for secret teacher snacktime... i just wanted to touch things on the desk because i wasn't supposed to... i just wanted to stick my hands in the top drawers and mess up all the pens and pencils collecting the spare change that somehow found it's way into the rubber band collection and go buy myself a coke in the forbidden teacher's lounge. what were they doing in there? what was lounging?
can i lounge now? ....will there be coke?

such curosity i have.




..apparently i'm also part yoda.

honestly, i've been thinking of everything i could do until 3:30 when i get to leave this library, and well...the time is here. i believe i'm going to unstick my thighs from this vinyl chair and go find myself a cold drink.






first, i'll check the teacher's lounge.
maybe they give out free money there, too.