Real World: Student Teaching Episode 2

I have worked up enough energy to blog about yesterday. After I explain the events of Wednesday, you'll understand what an accomplishment gaining some energy has been.

First, let me start by telling you how much my "warm" personality and internal thermos dislike the weather here. Laying by the beach, it's wonderful. In a classroom with no air-conditioning and flustering situations... not so much. Not to mention, having a "good" hair day is about as common as getting the high school boys to see me as more than "the student teacher who lives with (insert fellow high school student name here)." So that's where I'll start my day... in the 10th grade classroom.

I always knew teaching high schoolers would be a challenge. That's part of the whole deal I look forward to the most. I want to teach kids about my content area, certainly. But that's not all I want to give my students. I want to give them a trustworthy role model, someone they can look up to, someone they can talk to, and someone they respect. That's hard to do when I stand 5 foot 4 and don't understand the first language of many of my students. It's even harder to do when I let that get to my head... about 45 seconds into the lesson.

Paragraph structure-- that was the topic of my 25 minute mini-lesson. "The students know what that is... they just need a refresher. Would you like to do it?" the American and Brit Lit teacher asked me. I pounced on the opportunity instantly. High school Literature and ESL all in the same classroom-- my kind of paradise. I began prepping that night (this was Saturday). I was going to have the best mini-lesson on paragraph structure ever-- the perfect balance of teacher input and student intake. I couldn't imagine a single thing that could go wrong...

Fast-forward to 11:50AM on Wednesday. The students had walked in, completed their "morning work," and all eyes were on me. I gave a really simple introduction, since I had never worked with or observed these students before, and then began. I heard a soft laugh from the left side of the room. There sat a rather tall boy, smile on his face, arms folded. I wondered what was funny but kept going. Seconds later 2 more boys joined in on the whispered laughs, this time making eye contact with each other after several glances up at me. I looked at one of them with my best "teacher look" possible and pressed forward. As I kept racking my brain for the points I had planned to make, the boys returned to their childish laughs and high school boyish interactions. I could feel my body getting warm and could feel my face turn red (more so than typical). Suddenly, everything I had prepared was lost in the back of my mind, and I could hardly find enough words to keep the lesson flowing semi-smoothly. I decided it was best to hand out the mentor text, ask the students to turn to their neighbor and find the intro, supporting, and conclusion sentences and to be prepared to share their answers.

I took a minute, plugged in my flashdrive, sat down, and fanned my warm face with my notes to gain a normal complexion and some more composure. After a minute or two, I glanced in the direction of my three biggest fans in the class. I approached one of their desks and asked how it was going.
"Eh." He responded. I looked at his paper and asked if he knew what we were doing. He said no. I took the opportunity to ask one of the other two boys to help him. They couldn't. "We're looking for the sentence types we talked about during the discussion. See if you can find a few and be ready to get called on for an answer." I gave them a few more minutes before I opened up the floor for discussion. The answers and questions were fine-- very basic, hardly any discussion, and very unenthusiastic-- but fine. The boys continued their childish behavior and the girls continued acting mindless. I knew I hadn't accomplished even half of what I wanted. I left the room feeling, warm and flustered, down and out, and defeated. I failed at a mini-lesson... how on earth to I expect myself to be prepared for a lifetime of teaching when I can't even gather my composure from high school boys' nonsense laughter?

I returned to the ESL classroom a few minutes before my next class-- 1st graders. There was just enough time to vocalize my frustration to my cooperating teachers and refocus on my 1st graders. That lesson went so well. We reviewed vocab words, watched a short video on a very colorful chameleon, read the story with cue cards, and then watched the motion picture of the story. The students loved it, and at the end of the lesson, every single student was able to answer my comprehension questions. Success!

Literally a minute later, I left for my 8th grade class-- Debate time. The students were very passionate about the debate. While their supporting facts and information wasn't as strong as I would have hoped, they really nailed the "defend your argument" part of it. We kept them to a very formal procedure, limiting the time, the talking, and the discussion time. At the end of the lesson, the students were supposed to have a thesis statement and several supporting examples to prepare them for my writing workshop the next day, but that never happened. No problem: they can do it in the first 15 minutes. They have so many examples; all they have to do is choose a side... this should be easy.

About 3 minutes after that class, I walked back to the high school. I was scheduled to give the same mini-lesson to the second class-- the group I spend 2 hours with a week. I knew this would be a little easier, but even the thought of another failing lesson was enough to make my stomach ache. I talked to the teacher for a few minutes outside before entering. "Tell me what went well" She asked. The only positive running through my head was that I didn't cry. "I don't know," I responded. "You have to think of the positives. There were good things, so just think," she smiled and waited. "Ok... they recalled some information? They participated towards the end, but not like I anticipated." She nodded in agreement and gave me some pointers. The next lesson went great. I adjusted the intro, engaged the students immediately, and held them more accountable, but most importantly I maintained my composure... something I couldn't manage the first class.

I'll skip to the lesson learned. Yes, the teacher recognized that she had put me in a tough situation-- jumping into a class I had never met, teaching a mini-lesson in the middle of a unit, and it was the lower of the two classes. That would have been good to know beforehand, but it wasn't her fault.
As someone who desires to teach in high school, I can't let three 15 year old chucklers cause me that much fluster. And I can't lose sight of what I'm there to do. I'm not there to impress them, and I'm not there to care about what thoughts about me are running through their minds, and I'm not there to experience only success (though that would be a lot easier). I'm there to develop my teaching skills, to experience the real world of teaching-- good and bad, to learn from my mistakes and to adjust accordingly. Teaching isn't easy, and yesterday that really hit me hard. But giving up isn't something I was taught to do. I've heard stories of lesson disasters and I've seen them, too. I knew it wouldn't be fun to "fail" in front of my students, but it's something I needed to experience. It's just the test I needed.

So what did I learn? In 25 minutes of first-time exposure to students and classroom, there is no way that I can expect my 3 big aspects of teaching to get accomplished: developing good teacher-student relationships, delivering the content I need, and gaining my student's respect as the authority-figure in the classroom. So instead, I focused on two things for the next lesson: deliver clear and accurate information and instruction, and maintain my composure. That was it. Everything else that went well was a bonus. Luckily, I was able to end the day on a good note.
I also learned that my confidence isn't unshatterable, but my perseverance is. I don't like being embarrassed; it's not fun, but I do like a challenge.

After the second dose of 10th graders, the teacher asked if that felt better. "Yeah," I said. "And I'd like to try it again, if that's OK. With the first class, too." She smiled, "Of course! I'll look at what else we have coming up and let you know."

Real World: Student Teaching Episode 1

Sunday evening I sat in my apartment, making a very thorough checklist for the week.5th grade vocab list, activity, and assessment-- check. First grade lesson plans-- check through Wednesday. 8th grade writing workshop-- check. Sophomore mini-lesson-- also check. I was all ready for a very full, very productive week.

Monday morning rolled around, and the 5th grade class went almost as well as I expected. There are 2 reading classes for 5th grade, and I was leading the lower of the two, because they are the only ones I have observed. We did an activity I called "Vocabulary Scattegories Jigsaw." Basically, the students split into 4 categories (noun, verb, adverb, adjective) and had to put the vocabulary words in the right category and come up with a definition. I gave them the page number in the book for context clues. After that, they mixed w/ a representative from the other categories and shared their answers. Then we all came together and went over the right categories/definitions. Working with the class that has a few more needs than the other made it a bit challenging, took a bit more prodding in the right direction, but overall, I was pleased with it.

Then I moved onto the squirmy first graders... just as squirmy as ever. We went outside to do what I thought would be a "super fun activity." In my defense, it was super fun...for about 2 minutes. I overestimated their attention span by about 8 minutes, leaving me with no choice except to return to the classroom to move onto the next activity. Normally, introducing vocabulary takes a lot of visuals, repetition, practice, and patience. Add a camera that the students self-discover to the classroom setting, and all the sudden the short attention span disappears and the students are able to focus... on their poses for the camera. After about 6 double takes at the camera, several silly faces, and a few stern teacher looks, I took a deep breath and asked the students to refocus their attention on me...again. I informed them that just because I am not my cooperating teacher, that being disruptive isn't OK. I am still a teacher, and I am still here to help them learn. The students just kind of looked at me, so I asked them how they thought they were behaving in class today: thumbs up or thumbs down. Two thumbs down, one thumb up, one confused look, and one smiling at the camera. Another deep breath before I continued. "Alright, class, I'll make you a deal. If class goes like this, we'll focus on reading and taking tests. If class starts going better and we all participate and pay attention, then we'll do some fun activities along with the reading and taking the test." Eyes lit up. 

"What kind of fun, miss?" I smiled. I guess we'll see when class starts going better. Instantly the mood shifted, the students started paying attention, and the camera seemed to be of less importance. After wrapping up the new vocabulary and a brief introduction to the new story, I walked the students to the door, and wished them all a good rest of the afternoon. "Bye, miss!" The girls hugged me and the boys smirked and escaped out of my sight as soon as I opened the door. 

What a day... and I still had 8th graders and 10th graders to observe that  day.

Now, what did I take from that day? And can I share the video of the candid camera? I'm going to put off my lessons learned until the end of the week. Believe it or not, the first graders were given a run for their money by another class. Unfortunately, I'm far too exhausted to continue blogging my busy day today, but let me give you a feel for it: leading the class in 1st grade, 5th grade, 8th grade debate, and 2 10th grade classes.

And as far as sharing the candid camera, the professional in me says "absolutely not," and besides... little to my or my students' knowledge, it died about 10 minutes into the lesson. 

The True Tests for Teaching

Four day weeks seem to be much longer, busier, and exhausting than the average week for some reason. After the holiday this past Monday, there seemed to be a lot more work than usual. Maybe that's because I also started working on my TULIP (basically, it's a unit plan for my student teaching), but regardless, the past 4 days left me far more exhausted than I've been thus far in student teaching.

Tuesday was a fairly normal day-- introducing vocabulary (which is normally done on Mondays) to the Language Arts classes that receive ESL support, reading with the 8th graders, and sitting in on the British Literature class in the afternoon. Wednesday was the same-- reading with the Language Arts classes, working on my lesson plans for next week, and sitting in on the American Literature class's introduction to "Paradise Lost." Good luck, sophomores!

Thursday was a bit out of the norm. First, I received my first in-class observation from my supervisor during the 9am 1st grade class. Normally, I don't do a lot of work with these students because Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I am with 5th grade until 9:30, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays I spend the whole hour with them. On Thursday, the students were working on finishing a test from a previous story, so I walked around, provided support, answered questions, etc., and then I read with half of the class. Seems like a pretty smooth class to be observed during, right? Wrong. 

Over the long weekend, I came up with a few vocabulary review activities for my cooperating teacher. On Wednesday, I worked with half of the students on one of the activities during a centers class. Up to this point, it seemed as though I had built a trusting, comfortable relationship with all of the students in the 1st grade classes (a total of 9 students). Even the newest students, who just joined the pull-out program in the past week or so, seemed to trust me and want my support. Creating a fun review activity that they got to participate in seemed like the icing on the cake. 

Everything seemed to be going great through the test. I helped the kids read the questions, reworded them for easier comprehension, referred to their previously-acquired knowledge, and couldn't help but smile when I saw the students working so diligently as they recalled information with minimal support. Then, all of the sudden I heard this annoying clunking sound. I looked at the fans-- that wasn't it. Looked at the aide working on the computer-- that wasn't it. Looked at the newest student in the class-- that was it. There he sat, dropping his eraser down the rings of his 3-ring binder, pencil on the desk, test incomplete. I approached him and asked if he was finished. He ignored me. I asked him if he needed help. He shook his head and proceeded dropping the eraser down the rings. I asked him if he could put the eraser down because other students were still testing. Ignored again. I took a deep breath, grabbed the eraser, and asked him if he was having trouble understanding the questions on the test. He shook his head and looked the other way. Meanwhile, the door had opened, my supervisor walked in, and I had been observed as my patience was tested. A few moments later, time was called, tests were collected, and the students split into their centers.

In my reading center, I had the two boys, one of which was the student I just described. I sat down,  handed them the stories I wrote over the weekend incorporating review vocabulary words, and explained to them what we were going to do: read the story together, then take turns reading, and then a little game for points (and candy). One of the boy's faces lit up, the other's did not. Instead, he flipped over the paper and said "I will read it like this!" I flipped the paper back over and responded, "No, I think it's best to read it this way." I asked them to follow along with their fingers. "I don't have fingers," he interjected as he held up two fists. I smiled and responded, "Really, I see 10 right there, and I think you can spare one of those to follow along." I gently guided one hand to the first sentence and began reading. After 2 lines in the story, I realized he wasn't going to pay attention. "(student name here), how many points do you have right now?" I asked him, soft enough to not make a scene, but stern enough to know that he wasn't getting away with not paying attention. "Four," he said. "How many points do you want? I can take some away if you'd like." He shook his head and began reading. I smiled and said, "OK, let's start at the beginning." 

The rest of the reading went a lot smoother. Sure, there was still some goofing around and some silly answers to my questions, but at the end of the lesson, he had met my expectations of following along, participating appropriately, and recognizing and demonstrating an understanding of the vocabulary words in the story. And at the end of the day, he's still a first grader. It's OK that he didn't understand the story perfectly, and it's OK that he wanted to have fun, and it's great that he gave me the attention and participation I asked for. The class ended and I gave each student the appropriate amount of points they deserved. The students exited the class and my supervisor approached me. That morning I received one of the greatest compliments of my life-- good classroom management. I think being a student teacher, that's the hardest thing to establish. The students all have previous expectations from the cooperating teacher, and establishing my own classroom management makes it difficult. Apparently, I did a good job.

Half an hour later, I headed up to third grade: field trip day! We had been reading a story about a baker and his bread, so naturally we had to take the students to a bakery. On the field trip, we learned the entire process of making a pizza (from the owner's 5th grade son-- so precious), made animal-shaped bread, assembled our own pizzas, and ate it. It was so much fun, but so exhausting! After the field trip, I returned just in time to meet with the 5th grade Language Arts team (gen ed teacher, SST teacher, ESL teacher, and myself) to plan for next week-- the week I take over the ESL teacher's responsibility in that classroom. It was a great meeting-- presenting my ideas for a vocabulary introductory activity, receiving feedback, asking questions, and coming out with what I feel like is a well thought out activity and assessment. I can't wait to put it all into action next week!

Friday was another fairly normal day, minus the puking of a third grader that I "got to" help clean up. At the end of the week, my mind and body were left drained and ready for a relaxing weekend. I cannot emphasize how much more rewarding weekends are as a teacher than a 12-credit college student. 

The best times of my life go by too quickly.

Happy some-sort-of-Catholic-Holiday Day! Apparently this country celebrates all of the Catholic holidays, and today happens to be one of them! Unfortunately, my knowledge of Catholic holidays is extremely limited-- with the exception of Carnival (thanks to my time in Europe), which I will also be here for, so I'm unable to give more information about the specialties of today. On the agenda for the day: plan a cumulative review for my little first grade children, begin reading the story I will be teaching next week, and teach my host mom how to bake an apple pie! Hopefully my baking skills followed me overseas...

This weekend has been so much fun! After finishing a long week of student teaching (I think it's because I knew I had a long, fun weekend ahead of me), I went shopping with one of the sisters and the other teacher. Successful evening full of shoes and accessories. It's weird-- people here care a lot about what they wear, like a really unhealthy amount and worse than most Americans I've met, and yet their stores are mostly full of shoes and jewelry. So what I want to know is where all these clothes they own come from, because I hardly saw any in the mall.

Saturday I woke up around 8:30, thought about taking Kelly (the pug) for a run, looked outside and saw rain, and re-considered. Around 10am, Audrey and I were picked up by a few of the other teachers to head to the beach. In total, there were 6 of us North American teachers. It's a little over an hour to this particular beach. When we got there, we made camp in front of some of their favorite pizza lady's restaurant. It wasn't the warmest, clearest, rain-free day at the beach, but compared to the water of Capris last spring break, it felt pretty good. Plus I got a little bit of a tan-- on my way to blending in with the locals! Saturday night I pretty much just vegged the rest of the night; laying on the beach, drinking fresh pina coladas, eating Dominican french fries, and snapping photos really takes it out of a girl.

Yesterday I went to church with my family again. Yes, it's all in Spanish. No, I don't understand most of what's going on there. So why do I keep going? 1) I am a part of this family, and I love spending the time with them. 2) Cultural experience. There's nothing cultural about going to a church that caters to my North American needs. 3) I love the people. The fellowship and community of that church is so great. 4) So this is how all of my ESL students feel...
Besides, soon enough I will be in the comfort of the Sioux Center URC. It's not every day that I get to experience this type of church. And whether it's my "style" of worship, my language, or whatever else might be "my type," it's a group of believers joined together for worship-- and to me, it's pretty special to get to enjoy that here.

It's hard for me to believe I'm in my third week here already, and it's hard for me to imagine having to go through all those goodbyes I hate so much about spending time abroad. Developing relationships in my time overseas is such a huge blessing and so valuable to me, but it sure makes going home even harder. For now, however, I'll focus on the positive: I have 5 weeks left, full-time teaching to look forward to, and so much more to do and see before those dreaded goodbyes come along.

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

Well, I'm halfway through my second week of student teaching and just as much in love as I was last week. This experience is everything I could ask for in a student teaching session. Being in an international setting is so dear to me, but getting an experience in a place that I'm truly foreign to is so much more than I could have ever asked for. I'm not only getting the teaching experience of a lifetime, but I am also getting to experience firsthand what ESL students go through on a daily basis. The country, the people, the culture, the language-- everything is foreign and uncomfortable. Not only am I trying to learn and grow in my education, but I'm also attempting to adjust to a whole new understanding and way of life.

Putting myself in the shoes of my students is an opportunity I wish more teachers were able to have. As a 21 year old, it's hard to empathize with the emotions of 1st graders who get pushed in the mood while looking at a rooster in the backyard of the school. It's easy, however, to empathize with the frustrations of inadequate communication and differences in cultural behaviors. By putting myself in situations that resemble those of which my students (now and future) may have gone or currently be going through allows me to reconsider my teaching strategies, choices, and attitude towards them and their learning needs.

This week I have been given the privilege of participating in the high school English classes at SCS as well. In other words, I am now involved in all three levels of education here (elementary, middle school, and high school). My plate is full, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yesterday a few members of my host family and I went to a museum here (Centro Leon) to explore the Dominican Republic. Something I need to stop doing: assuming everything and everyone will translate for me. First, it's KFC. Now it's their cultural museums... maybe by the end of my 7 weeks here I'll at least get that down.

I don't really have a whole lot more to say... I'm loving my life here. I think this weekend we are going to the beach, and I know this week the other teacher I live with and I will be shopping. Next week Monday is a holiday, and in 2 weeks I start teaching full-time! As for now, I am going to continue my job application process that seems to be never-ending...

Speechless, Really.

I have officially been here for a full week. Most of my time has been spent at school or at home with the family. I've been getting more and more familiar and involved, and I'm starting to feel at home. It's weird; when I was in Europe, even though I had 16 other Americans running around with me, it seemed to take me a little bit longer to really feel "at home." Looking back, it was probably around the 2nd or 3rd week when all the adjustments had been made and everything set in and my heart and mind were put to ease. Here, by day 4 I was already feeling a lot of that-- in school and at home.

Perhaps it's because I've done this before. I've lived with a family I've never met. I've been in a foreign school. I've been abroad. I've traveled. I was prepared for this. Or maybe it's because my whole experience here is in the school and at home. When I was in the Netherlands, life was so uncertain. I never knew what I'd be doing that weekend or where I'd be (unless it was one of my few very planned trips), who I'd be with, or anything. Life was incredible but so spur of the moment. 

I think the most spur of the moment thing I've done here is ordering lunch for next week without being able to read half of the menu. That's my life here-- it revolves around the students and growing as a teacher, and I was prepared for that. I wanted nothing more than to dive in and dedicate all of my time, passion, and energy into teaching here. I didn't want anything to stop me from giving this experience my all. Teaching is what I love and what I want to be. Why let anything get in my way?

This weekend we've spent a lot of time with the family-- the mom of the family I'm staying with's side (hopefully you can decode that horrible grammar) of the family. On Thursday night we went to her sister's place for dinner. Friday the crew came here, and today we all went to her mom's for lunch-- sancocho (spelling?) a typical Dominican "soup" with a root that tastes kind of like a potato, an orange vegetable, several meats, and served with rice and avocados. I know I'm  not doing it justice, but take my word for it-- it was really good. While we were there, I spent a bit of time reminiscing on my Europe days with the girls and the son in my family. I explained to them how much time I spent biking, traveling, running around in typical American style-- loud, ignorant, and eating everything in sight (I really hope I wasn't that bad...). I asked questions about traveling-- transportation, what's safe, when it's safe, etc. Of course, as a white girl who speaks minimal Spanish, my options are a bit more limited, for my own good of course. 

After lunch, the parents and one of the girls had a meeting at church, so their son and I headed back home. On the car ride back, we talked about the differences in driving here vs the States. He told me about how he didn't want to drive when he first came home (he studies in the States), but how he got used to driving here in the chaotic streets again and now enjoys being able to drive how he wants. Then he told me about how sometimes, especially at night, it is more safe to break the law. Before you think he is too crazy, let me explain. Because the president (?) of the DR just passed some new tax thing, chaos and the fear of poverty is even worse than before. People are willing to do just about anything for money. Theft is common, and approaching cars in the streets during the night isn't far from a lot of people's minds. 

What an eye-opener. When traveling around Europe, I felt practically invincible. I could bike around at any hour and not feel threatened. I hopped on trains by myself without a doubt in my mind. But life is different here, and this world is messed up. When you're in an environment like Santiago Christian, where parents are often the wealthiest population in the city, it's easy to overlook the scandal and chaos of the "real world" outside of that community. And it's sad. These people don't see any other option to make a few bucks, to make it by. It breaks my heart, really. While it makes me anxious and apprehensive to go outside of the SCS community without a member of my host family by my side (I would even settle for the Great Dane), it makes me even more sad to think about those people-- trying to make a few bucks by selling fruit that will probably give me some sort of bacteria, breaking into houses, hassling tourists-- and to feel like I can't do anything. I don't speak their language. All I have to offer is money, but is that really all these people need? 

For all you 399ers reading this, I think this may be what the Poverty group and professor were trying to get at. 

I didn't really expect to touch on that so much in this blog, but that's part of life here. It's not something that I'm merely exposed to; it's something that I am certain to see a lot of during the next 6 or so weeks that I'm here, and it's something I want to grow from. Maybe I'm not just here to teach. Maybe I'm meant to see more and do more... but what?

Miss Van Der... you must be Dutch.

Yesterday I started my student teaching at Santiago Christian. I am working in the ESL classroom with (mainly) 2 other teachers. I bet none of you expected this, but I am currently observing and will soon be teaching grades 1-5 (less 4th)! It was a bit of a surprise to me as well, as I wasn't really sure what grades my cooperating teacher worked with, nor what "ESL" meant for this school. Here's the basic breakdown:
1st grade is pull-out ESL, which means that once a day the students who need extra support in reading are taken out of the general ed classroom to work in a smaller classroom environment but still have the same basic content. 2nd and 3rd grade is a mixture between pull-out (once a week) and co-teaching, which is when the ESL teacher comes to the gen. ed. classroom and works along with the gen. ed teacher. 5th grade is strictly co-teaching.

So far, I have been observing, walking around the classroom and interacting with the students a bit, and getting familiar with the school. And so far, I am in love with it. I never pictured myself enjoying teaching elementary, but seeing these kids struggling with and learning English, interacting with their peers, running up and down the stairs, hiding from the rain before recess, and how much they love their teachers, it's hard to remember why I didn't want to teach K-12. And then I picture what being with these kids from 8am-3pm would be like. Being able to help the students develop and attain better English is an incredible experience, and being able to see the progress from grade to grade just as well, but a full school day with one grade would require twice as much coffee as I already drink (that'd be about 10 cups a day). Thus far, I couldn't be much happier with my placement, and I can't wait to start interacting even more with the students. They are so lovable... usually. :) As the student teaching session progresses, I'm sure I'll have my fair-share of frustrations and times when I don't know what to change to better meet their ESL learning needs, but for now, I can't imagine a better experience. The teachers I am working with are great as well. Looking back to how frustrated and disappointed I was when I couldn't go back to the Netherlands, I now realize why. This experience is truly a blessed one.

The weather here is a bit strange. It's "cool" in the morning, sunny in the late morning, usually rains a bit in the afternoon, and then the sun comes out again, but I really can't complain. It's not freezing, snowing, or Iowa. :)

Besides teaching, I've mostly been spending time getting to know my host family, meeting the girls' friends, and trying to order KFC in a Spanish speaking country... If you're going to bring American food to a foreign country, I believe a prerequisite for working at the joint should be to speak English, but I suppose I shouldn't be so naive as to expect everyone to speak my language in their own country. It's not like this is Europe. 

For now, that is all I have. I'll be spending my evening watching the Bachelor and trying to get on a better sleep schedule than a mediocre college-meets-professional-semester one. Adios for now!

First Impressions... Gut Reactions.

Hola!

                Greetings from the Dominican Republic! Sorry this wasn’t updated on my first official day, but we were having some trouble with the internet. Luckily, the family I am staying with has a son that is extremely good with computers and came to the rescue today to fix it.

                For those of you who aren’t aware of the travel day I endured to get here, let me break it down for you. Friday night I departed Boise at 7:45pm. I arrived in Salt Lake City around 8:45 and chilled, drank some Starbucks, caught up on Facebook and Pinterest until my flight boarded at 11:20pm. I then flew to New York for a 7AM departure to the Dominican Republic. I arrived in Santiago around 11:30AM, got my tourist visa, went through customs, grabbed my luggage, went through more customs, and then proceeded to step into the hot, sticky air of Santiago, Dominican Republic. I looked for a “familiar” face (one that looked at me like they knew me) for a few minutes before someone recognized me: the mother of the family I am staying with. She grabbed her car, we loaded my bags into it, and drove down the crowded, chaotic streets to my new home for the next 7 weeks.

                Upon our arrival home, I noticed two things. First, the front door is more like a gate than a door. Second, there’s a pug! It was love at first sight. Not only do they have a pug, but they also have a great Dane. A little contradictory, but so classic.

                My host mom then showed me to my quarters: a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment connected to the rest of the house. I ate lunch with my  host mom and then ran off to unpack and take a quick shower and nap before doing anything else too productive. Then she showed me around town a bit as we got some groceries. Later that evening, we returned to the airport to pick up the teacher from SCS (Santiago Christian Schools) who also lives with them.  When we arrived, the area where travelers arrive was extremely empty and so was the parking lot—which is weird. We walked up to check the monitor and it said “Delayed” (except in Spanish). I was able to access internet on my phone for a few minutes there as well, and Audrey had messaged me saying that her flight wasn’t arriving until 9:30 pm. Since it was only 8pm, we decided to return home and eat some supper. At 9:30, we went back to the airport, only to find out the airplane was delayed again—this time only by 35 minutes. After picking up Audrey, we returned home, talked for a bit, and then I headed to bed.

                This morning I woke up at 9:45am—a solid 10 hour slumber. I showered, realized I still didn’t have internet, had a cup of coffee, and caught up with Audrey on things about the school, life in the Dominican, and got to know each other a bit better. Later this afternoon, the rest of my host family arrived and my brother fixed the internet dilemma! I spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know them a bit— seems like a legit family. J

                Here’s a few of my first impressions about the Dominican Republic. The drivers are crazy. The people dress like they’re always going to meet their soul mate anywhere they go. They have a store like CostCo called PriceSmart—complete with hot dogs and pizza. The water is not safe to drink—good to know. The weather is legit. Everyone apparently thinks New York is another word for the United States. 

For now, that's all I have. Tomorrow I'll start my student teaching session, and I couldn't be more excited...or nervous. Here's to 3 1/2 yrs of education and praying for the best!