8.27.2008

classroom pics!!

Alright, so I am posting photos of the classroom even though it's not complete at all. This way you can see what my students are seeing when they come in tomorrow! :)


Here's the hallway entrance to my classroom.


The hallway has a garden! I would never have that in the States! My classroom door is open.

Through the gated doorway... I really want to use this door for students entering the room, but we can't find the key for the gate!


My messy desk :)
I took this photo around 4pm but I made changes already... but it gives you a good idea!

I had a whole conversation in Spanish today... or rather, I understood most of what Mrs. Lucy was saying to me... and I attempted Spanish :). I'm so excited that I am hearing and understanding words and phrases now! The custodian, Marie, will also talk to me... and she says "poco a poco!" to me a lot :). "Little by little," that's for sure.
Shout out to Aaron and Maria Wood... Thanks for these great organizer baskets from your leftover wedding favors :) They hold my paper clips and thumbtacks!
Another shout out to Melissa Smith for her amazing Faith and Life speech when she let us keep chunks of her painting! The piece that I claimed labels my clock well!
Another BIG thanks to Erin Blucker! Woohoo!! First piece of snail mail from the U.S.! :) It made it here in 8 days... My boss says it takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, so we got lucky this time!
Introducing a student of mine, Carissa. She's lived most her life in Costa Rica, and it's amazing to hear her speak Spanish! She helped me paint curtains today and literally told me her life story, ha. She told me matter-of-factly that she likes jazz and salsa music.



Here's the curtains we painted... I'm not sure how well they work next to the painted windows... so I'll brainstorm what to do next.

a moment for thanks

Thank you all for your messages, your emails, your encouragement! It's so fun to come home in the evenings and find all these messages from back home! (You know who you are! :))

8.26.2008

would anyone like to proofread this for me? :)

so... I just typed my for 4th grade "syllabus" (I'm not sure what else to call it! "Syllabus" sounds too grown up)... It's 6 pages long, if you can believe that. New students come to Sojourn all the time (I have 5 new students in my class tomorrow!!) and so it will be nice to be able to have my guidelines typed and ready for parents and students.



I did consider copying and pasting the whole document on my blog, but I wouldn't want to bore any of you. Let me know if you're interested, however. ha!

So I found out today that I won't be paid for these teaching endeavors for quite some time... but when I do receive my first paycheck, it will be wonderful. I want to thank those of you who have been so generous to support me and make this whole thing possible! God is providing and will continue to do so!

Sorry, I still haven't taken photos of the classroom. It's not how I want it yet... so I don't really want to take photos. But it would also be nice for you to be able to picture where I've already spent 23 hours this week, right?

Tomorrow I will only be testing my 5 new students. Thursday's the BIG DAY of KATE'S FIRST DAY OF CORRALING 15 STUDENTS...

I did have 27 4th graders in student teaching, so what's a mere 15?? (That's what I keep telling myself :))

Oh, and some photos from today. Here's the outside of our apartment... outside the gates and everything. Bright orange!! :) That will be a great story for someday. Our apartment door is right behind the tree in our front yard.



And here's our apartment again through the back gate of the school. Vivo muy cerca a mi trabajo! (I live very close to my job! :))
And here's the school in the morning. Beautiful warm sun and the mountains beyond the city limits. The clouds are already forming and promise rain from about 1pm for the rest of the day. If you want to exercise outside or run errands, morning is the best time!

Oh, and the language mix-up of the day. I was trying to write directions to our apartment in Spanish, and I wrote "gato enfrente" to describe the front gate. ha. I had a tico teacher proofread for me, and she said... "Um, Kate, 'gato' es 'cat' en ingles." Whoops. I'm definitely learning from my mistakes. Now I know that "gate" in Spanish is "proton" with an accent above the second 'o'. (I don't know how to make accents on this keyboard, can anyone help me with that?)

Wow, this is all incredibly humbling.

8.25.2008

primera dia...

Today was the first day of Teacher Institute meetings at Sojourn.

The staff is mixed gringo and tico... so everything said in Spanish and English was translated into the other language...

I'm not sure if my brain hurt more from listening to lots of Spanish or from everything I have to get done in the next few days...

New students come on Wednesday for preassessment in Math, Reading, Writing... then all the students will be here on Thursday.

I've been organizing the classroom (books, files, and my binders)... I really want to make other decorations, but I figure organization is more important at this point and the ideas I have for learning posters can be made within the next month :). Grace is good.

Pictures of the classroom to come...

8.24.2008

and...

Here's a link to my roommate's blog. We tend to tell different stories about our adventures, so check it out!

Domestication: to accustom to household life

Tricia and I have been practicing our homemaker skills today... See Mom? You have got to be so proud! We mopped our floor -- Tricia mopped and I dried (that's what the towel is for!).
and then.. drumroll please... we practiced our chef skills with gallo pinto con huevos y tortillas, a traditional dish here in Costa Rica. Yum!

8.23.2008

la pintura, la feria de frutas, el seguridad, y aprendiendo espanol

Translation of the title: Paint, Fruit Market, Safety, and Learning Spanish.

The new teachers at Sojourn have been busy setting up their classrooms this week, and these two lovely ladies, Kia and Aylish, came to help me paint my classroom windows. Kia is going into 8th and Aylish into 7th grade, and they just moved to Costa Rica from Georgia. They said they were bored at home so they were glad to come help! I need all the help I can get to be ready for students on Thursday! More photos to come of the classroom....



Trish and I woke early this morning to join our neighbor, Steve, in his weekly trip to the "feria" (fruit market). Farmers travel into the city early Saturday morning (arriving as early as 4am!) and set up a market with their fresh fruits and vegetables. Yum! We bought garlic, cilantro, potatoes, mangoes, green beans, apples -- all fresh!! Well, the apples are actually rare here in Costa Rica and these were imported from Chile... but they were definitely cheaper than the imported apples from the grocery store. Here's our beautiful sinkful of fresh goodness :). We had previously purchased tomatoes, peppers, oranges and strawberries at the supermercado, but we realized we needed to wash them all before indulging!



So... you probably think I live in the beautiful rainforest of Costa Rica..... Good guess, since that is 80% of this country, but I actually live in the city. Think of where I was living before -- Elgin -- and then travel about 35 miles east into Chicago... and that's the kind of neighborhood I am living in. Busy people, beeping horns, rushing traffic, iron gates and barbed wire. In Chicago, we have tall cement buildings that are entirely enclosed to protect us from the cold of winter, but since snow and freezing rain are not factors here, the iron gates and barbed wire are sufficient. Then, as if the culture shock of moving from an open neighborhood to a barred neighborhood isn't enough, imagine you can no longer ask simple things such as where the store is or how to purchase a bus ticket... Yup, welcome to my world. Thankfully, I do know how to ask where the store is and how to purchase tickets, but there is so much more to learn.

My neighbors Steve and Diane have been a huge help in all this transition -- I think I have already mentioned them a couple times. Steve made a video of how many locks we have to get through just in order to leave the house -- check it out here. Yes, Mom, I am safely locked away from the city at night!! But please don't worry -- we are taking precautions and being aware of our surroundings at all times in public. God is providing protection through our neighbor's knowledge and through the buddy system at all times (Tricia and I are going to spend an awful lot of time together -- also pray we won't be sick of each other!).

And learning Spanish. That's another prayer request. We rode a bus into downtown this afternoon and practiced our growing Spanish vocabulary in the markets. I learned to say "No gracias. Estoy mirando (No thanks, I'm just looking)" when vendors approach to sell me their goods. Tricia and I are making a Post-It collage of words that we've learned. Someday soon I'll have to take a photo of that...

Alright, I think that's enough stories for one day! I would love to hear how you are doing too! kathrynsiscoe@gmail.com