Almost Thanksgiving

     Today is the day that the country has been preparing for...Presidential Elections 2013! It's very beautiful outside today and peaceful. There is an atmosphere of tension as the police are out in full force and it's "all hands on deck" for the US Embassy. It is thought that results will not be posted until tomorrow morning.
    This week seemed to drag by as we are all looking forward to Thanksgiving break. Tuesday was pictures with Santa and my kids were dressed up so cute! I was very busy after school this week as I was helping Kendra prepare for the Holiday Dinner/Choir Fundraiser. The students performed and served the food. I was page turner for the pianist, helped corral kids, and sang in the faculty choir. The night went very smoothly and none of the kids caught on fire from the candles! In Kindergarten, we started planning for December and Christmas decorations go up next week!

Weekly Happenings

Me and Baby Flavie!!

      Monday, we sent home progress reports which means the 2nd quarter is already half over. I was so excited to start teaching the Christmas song to my Kindergarteners. They will sing it for the Christmas concert the first week of December. Tuesday, the school had a late start. Our vertical science team meeting was rather stressful because everyone was writing authentic assessment rubrics and trying to fit them into the current curriculum. After school, I went to the HS Choir rehearsal as they are just over a week away from their concert. Thankfully, we had Frisbee that night! Wednesday was out Spanish tutor and Salsa classes. Thursday, Kelsey and I had coffee with Sarah (the Kindergarten teacher before me). It's always nice to chit with her and discuss her experiences teaching Kindergarten here. We had a teacher's dinner at the HS Principal's house on Friday night. She lives up on the mountains, so it was a beautiful view as we enjoyed our wine and turkey!
     I would like to take this moment to announce that a MIRACLE has been occurring in our neighborhood! Street signs have been popping up all over. In fact, they have even gone so far as to give our street a name!
     Stacey, Keiko, and I went to dinner at a friend from the embassy's house. They grilled us chicken wings, sausages, and corn; it was delicious. Today church and Frisbee, then time for another long week.



Kinder Spanish Teacher and I



MIRACLE STREET SIGNS!

Marcala

     The only important thing that happened this week is the return on Ms. Cuty! I am so excited and feel much more prepared! She seemed to have a wonderful trip traveling Italy and seeing the Vatican. Unfortunately, her luggage is lost so I haven't seen any pictures.
      For the weekend, I felt like going on an adventure. Frances, Meghan, and  I drove to Marcala on Saturday to explore the town and surroundings. We weren't able to tour a coffee farm but we went on a couple hikes and enjoyed the local cuisine. The landscape is very beautiful out here!
      Tonight we had a blast at Frances' house with game night, good food, and wine!


Marcala (Town Square)

Side Street

Meghan and Frances

Some Veggies?



Driving in the Clouds

Desayno Tipico

Meghan and Frances



Halloween

      After all the days off in October, this month is going to seem really long until Thanksgiving. This week was really long, but I don't think much teaching happened. I had several special conferences with parents of students who need attention or extra practice. Wednesday, the school had an early out which gave the teachers time to work on rubrics for authentic assessments, to upload curriculum onto computer software, and decide on what songs the Kindergarteners would sing for the Christmas concert.


I am "power ranger"

      Halloween was a crazy day! We didn't get much instruction accomplished, because the kids were in their costumes all day. Pre-K and Nursery came trick-or-treating to our room. At noon, all of Kindergarten went to the court to parade around in their costumes for parents to admire and take pictures. I had lots of characters in my room including Captain America, Wonder woman, 2 Batmans, Flash, 2 Ironman, Star Wars characters, and princesses. The afternoon was filled with trading candy and trying to make sure the kids left will all parts of their costumes.



I am "Captain America"



I am "Cinderella"

       Friday was all day parent teacher conferences where I showed the parents report cards, evaluation results, writing samples, and discussed behavior issues. Starting at 7:30am, I had 14 conferences before lunch. The afternoon was much lighter, with only 4 conferences though two needed translators. Overall, I think they went pretty well as the parents mostly told me that their children were beginning to understand more of my English! Also, Ms. Cuty returns next week!
     
At home, we had a visitor for the first part of the week, Heather. She is a friend of Stacey's, visiting Tegus to apply for residency. It was nice to have someone new around to talk with and gave us an excuse to eat out. Stacey also cooked dinner at the neighbour's and we had dinner with a couple friends from the embassy. Frances has been organizing evening games of Ultimate Frisbee with light-up disks. It is a lot of fun and good exercise. Unfortunately, about the middle of the week I started coming down with a cold so my weekend has been spent in bed, sleeping and munching on some pineapple from the market.