So close I can taste it....

That is exactly what one of my fellow Kindergarten teachers told me this afternoon after school had ended. We just have one more day of school, and a half day at that! Just 3 more hours of school tomorrow, then I'm gonna finish up report cards, clean up a bit, go to the staff Christmas lunch, finish up any loose ends and then I am on vacation!!!! I am so excited to just have a break! Plus, I will be going home in a few days and see all my family and friends! This has been a crazy couple of weeks, but the end is in sight! The kids are all ready for vacation already, as am I, which I think is why things have been so chaotic.

To all those who live in California and read this I love you and miss you and will see you very, very soon!!!!!

My new chuch

These are some pictures that I took of the church that I have been attending since I moved here. As you can see the building is pretty small, but it fills up quick with overflow to the outside, and they have three services. I usually go to the 11am service, except for when I play bass... then I have to be at all the services! As you can see the church is located right on the water. It is absolutely beautiful and I like to sit outside because there is always a nice breeze. There is no sand, just lava rock, but I think it looks cool.

Livin' it up!

This past weekend I went to the Hilton in Waikaloa for a women's retreat with my church. It was fabulous! I got to bunk with one of my best buds Chrissy and we had a fabulous time staying up late and eating a gigantic chocolate brownie with peanut butter frosting. Delicious! I played bass at the retreat and it was a lot of fun. It was great getting to be a tourist for the weekend and enjoy the luxuriousness of the resort. That place is huge! It has a tram and boats that shuttle you from one part to another. Our first night there was Halloween and one of the boat drivers was dressed up as captain Jack Sparrow. He has a full on costume and looked just like him! It was amazing. Oh, and there also is a waterslide that was super fun! It was such an amazing weekend and I didn't want it to end!

Chrissy and Me on the boat

Invasion

Aloha all! Do I have a story for you!

So this morning the school counselor for K-1 came in to do a lesson with the kids. Part of the lesson involved watching a video. As she talked with the kids, I got the tv ready. It was the first time I have used it all year and needed to make sure it was plugged in and ready to go. Well, as I reached to the top of the tv to grab the remote I noticed on the top a swarm of bugs. What kind of bugs you may ask? Well... they were baby praying mantises. And there were a ton! I left them be while the kids watched the video. Afterwards, while the kids went out to recess the counselor helped me get them outside. A few of the boys stayed around to help as well. After she left, and before recess ended I found the egg sack. It was on an extension cord that was on the bottom level of the tv stand. For the rest of the morning we kept finding little "friends" all over the place.

When I told my story at lunch one of the other K teachers gave me a book about a kid who has a praying mantis and while the family is away all the eggs hatch, but the lid to the terrarium was off, so they were all over the house! We sure could relate. The kids were really able to use their schema then! (Note: If you don't know what schema is, look it up... My Kindergarteners know what that word means so you should too!)

It was a very eventful day to say the least, and hopefully that will be the end to our infestation.

Top Five

I really enjoy living in Hawaii and feel very blessed to be here. Hawaii has lots of great things like the continuous warm weather that allows me to go swimming even in the middle of October and the beautiful scenary. However, it's not all just sun and fun. So, as a tribute to all my peeps back home, here are my top 5 reasons why Rohnert Park is better than Kona.

1. In-N-Out
2. Target
3. Shangri-la
4. Taquerias
5. Tuesday night dollar scoop night at Baskin Robbins

Weee!

Today I went to a 1 year old's birthday party and had so much fun! The little boy whose birthday it was is brother to one of the girls in my class. It was at one of the pavillions at the old airport which is on the beach. The food was phenomenal and there was a blow up water slide! So awesome!!! I went on it a few times with the girl from my class, but when we would get to the bottom I kept squishing her! My friend Chrissy came with me as well, and it was really nice getting to hang out with her.

Keahou

Today I went to the first seminar of Kahua, which is a component of the teaching induction program that focuses on Hawaiian culture. I did the orientation 2 day part during my fall break, and really liked, and enjoyed today just as much. Though it was a loooong day. It started at about 7:30 and went to 4. That's actually a little less for a normal work day for me, but it's different when you are the listening the whole time I guess....

The seminar took place at the Keahou Resort. It was so beautiful there. We had breakfast and did our morning protocol which involves going outside and doing a chant to welcome the sun. After some indoor stuff, we went outside and walked through the tidepools and learned about the history of the land. There were these stone walls forming squares that were built in 1200AD! That's pretty heavy (No pun intended!)

Afterwards was lunch, and I ate sooo much!!!! There was salad, macaroni salad,pasta, bread, rice, chicken, fish, and vegetables. And when I went back for more there was poke!!!! My favorite!!!!! Mmmmm. And for dessert there was bread pudding, which was the best bread pudding I had ever had! After eating a full meal, these two teachers presented a restoration project that they do there with their classes, and they had the lights turned off because there was a slideshow going on at the same time they were talking. Well, when you add a full stomach and a dark room, only one thing can happen.... sleep! I think I nodded off a few times, but I sure felt rested afterwards!

All in all it was a great learning experience. I enjoy taking part of different Hawaiian customs at these seminars. I hope to learn a lot more as the year goes on.

Teacher Institute Day

Aloha friends and family!

Today was Teacher Institute day, which is a contractual day where teachers get paid, but instead of school we learn more about union stuff. It was at the Marriott in Waikaloa, which was nice to be somewhere other than school! The day went only until 12:30 and I even won a gift certificate! (though it is for a place in Oahu!) Afterwards a friend of mine from work and I went to outlet mall by the Marriott. I bought a book for school, a bunch of postcards to send to my kids back in Santa Rosa, and one Christmas present... though I will not say who it is for!

Yes, I have begun my Christmas shopping... I figure if I see something I might as well get it now since I will not know if I will have time later.

Tomorrow I am back at school, and for the first time I am going to have my class paint. We have used watercolor before, but this time we are using tempura paint. I hope that kids don't make too much of a mess!!!

All good things must come to an end...

Aloha! Well, the end of my fall break is coming to a close, and much to quickly I believe! The last two days I went to the north side of the island to Honoka'a for a Hawaiian culture course for new teachers. Despite the long bus rides there and back, I really enjoyed the experience. I have some follow up seminars to go to and a final project, but I think that this will be a really great experience to learn more about Hawaiian culture and language.

Last night I went with some friend to Koloko (I am not sure if that is right?) for a bonfire. It was a really great time and I brought rice krispie treats, so I am sure I will be invited again :)

Today has been a pretty chill day. Slept in a bit, hung around the house and did laundry, took a nap, and later today I am going to a friend's house to watch the latest episode of The Office, because we have Bible study on Thursday nights, so we have to watch it later in the week. But it should be a good time. Ironman is today also. I saw them biking on the road this morning where I live, but that's about all I am gonna see today. Maybe next year I will actually watch part of it.

I am really excited for tomorrow because I will be playing bass at church for the first time since being here. I knew a couple of the songs already from back home, and the new ones were easy to pick up. I also was asked to play for the women's retreat coming up at the end of the month, so that should be fun too!

The Other Side of the Island

Today I went to Hilo, which is on the other side of the island. It is a couple hours away, which goes to show how big the Big Island is! Ha! I went with a friend from work and her daughter. Amongst errands that needed to be done, we went to the zoo, stopped at the black sands beach, as well as the waterfall. It was a really fun trip. Here are some pics from the day....

Fun, Fun, Fun

Hey all

I know that I haven't posted anything in a while, but things have been pretty busy. I am finally beginning to feel settled and finding my place here on the Big Island. This past weekend was the first time that I actually had plans for the weekend! On Friday I went to my friend Chrissy's house and we watched "Made of Honor". It was actually pretty good. We also go Chinese take out (which was okay, but not that good). Then on Saturday night we went out Salsa dancing with some of her friends. I didn't dance much, but it was still fun. I got to meet some new people which was nice. And then on Sunday my church had a dinner for new attenders so that we could learn more about the church. I got to meet some new people and had some really good food! And I'm going to be joining the worship team at church too! I met with the guy in charge on Monday, and he is going to work me into the schedule. Yay!!! Well, I guess that's it for now. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me. Things are definitely going so much better!

Oh! And the weekend before last I went to Oahu! I will hopefully have pics of that up soon!

Mama always said life was like a box of choclate...

You never know what you're gonna get...

Today we had Forrest Gump and Shrimp Louie come into our classroom (from the local BubbaGump's). Forrest read a story the kids and they loved it! They were in awe of the giant size shrimp as well (it was someone in a costume, and it was huge!)

I definitely had a box of chocolate kind of a day today... I woke up this morning just knowing that it was not going to be a good day. Well, when I got to school I realized that I had left my keys at home! Fortunately, I was able to get another key from the office. The rest of the day was pretty okay, but during it lunch it started raining. Later in the afternoon it rained pretty hard, and as we were all sitting in a circle on the carpet, we noticed a drop of water fall to the floor. I looked up and there was a leak in the roof! I quickly put a plastic lid underneath, and we moved onto something else. The rain eventually stopped (it is completely sunny now!) and therefore so did the drip! I hope that they are able to fix it soon!

One more...

Aloha all! Well... I just found out that I will be getting a new student tomorrow. That puts me at 21....with no aide.... oh well, what am I gonna do about it. Just my best!

I had a really nice loooong weekend. Saturday I just hung around the house... went to the grocery store... nothing too exciting. Sunday after church I hung out by the pool and read my magazine... very relaxing! And yesterday I went to the pool and swam for a little bit, and then did Tae bo (spelling??) with my roommate. I am sooo sore! It was fun though. And then I went to dinner with my friend from work and her daughter. We had the BEST pizza!

The best part about having a Monday off is that you still only have a four day week!!! Yeah!

The Longest Day....

Today was seriously the longest day EVER!!! And we got an hour earlier at that!!!! I guess I should say this was the longest morning ever.... I kept thinking that it was almost lunch time, and we hadn't even had our morning recess yet! Plus, this has felt like a really long week... and it's a short week! No school on Friday... well, no kids at least, I still have to go.... So I don't know what is up. It seems that all the other teachers had bad days too... Everything was just off. One of my students who has been a behavior problem has been really good lately, now that we have a system in place... but today was just not a good day for him either, which made it not a good day for me.... On top on being a pain in the classroom, he lost his lunch ticket while in line to get to the cafeteria. He lost it because he was not listening to ME and was doing the exact OPPOSITE of what I told him to do, which is putting his hands through the slats of the railing, and thus dropping his ticket in the bush. I told him that he couldn't have lunch now, and he has a total melt down! He was screaming, and throwing a tantrum, and then to top it all off, because he wanted to go look for his ticket and I told him he couldn't, he flipped me off... yes, a four year old boy gave me the finger! I am just glad that tomorrow is another day, and the last one for the week at that!

Eight Days A Week

This is honestly been the best week that I have had here yet work wise, yet it still felt like a really long week... I think that four day week last week spoiled me :) I also got sick again this week. That is right, this is my SECOND time getting sick after only a month of school. This time it is a sore throat. So I am gonna pack up here soon and head out for the weekend for some nice R&R :)

Here Comes the Sun

Do do do do.....

I am coming to the end of a long, productive yet relaxing weekend... Friday there was no school because it was Statehood Day. Yeah for holidays! I went into school anyways and did some work around the classroom and got things organized. I have also now rearranged my room again now for the third time. I think it is getting there!!!! I stayed from about 9-3, and then went home so that I could Skype my family for my dad's birthday. My grandparents and two of my aunts were also there, so it was nice to get to see everybody.

Saturday I went to the beach with Jill and it was the first time since I have been here that I have stepped into the ocean! I has thought about bringing work with me to the beach, but instead decided to buy a People magazine at Wal-Mart and read that instead! (Brad and Angie's baby pics are soooo adorable!) I took a picture at the beach which I am gonna send to my grandparents, but I posted it here, so I can share with everyone!

Today I went to church, and it was really great. The worship songs reminded me of church back home, not only the songs they did, but the way they did it and the Spirit behind it and everything. There are three guys who rotate leading worship, and I would have to say that I like today's the best. After church I went to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth" with a friend from work. It was actually pretty good!

Okay, so that was my weekend... oh yeah! And I have to say, that I have discovered that the Hawaiian commercials are the funniest I have ever seen!!! Seriously, there is just something about them. They all make me laugh. I don't know if it is the cheesyness or the bad acting, but they just make me laugh all the time!

Another one bites the dust...

Aloha once again to all my mainland friends and family! Friday is finally here!!! I am so excited for this weekend. This has been a loooong week! Well, the first few days were pretty good, but the last two weren't, especially yesterday. I think the days and week are too long for the kids, which makes my job even harder! The kids are getting better, but some still need a lot of work. I am still learning the ropes and trying to keep my head above water. Luckily I don't have any other commitments besides my job, because it is pretty much consuming all of my waking moments! But I don't mind the business.... at least not yet :)

I don't have any plans for the weekend, except doing lesson planning for the next week, and then there is a potluck on Sunday with some of the teachers here at school. So that should be fun. Well, I am off to finish up here in the classroom so I can get out of here and start enjoying the weekend... the best moment of the whole week (wink, wink to Stephanie)

P.S. I spent all of yesterday afternoon rearranging my room... so when I get a chance I will take more pics so you can see the transformation! :)

Monday, Monday

I must admit that it was hard to relax over the weekend... I kept having this feeling that I there were things that I needed to do, but I didn't have anything to do, if that makes sense.... The last week has been sooo consumed with school that I couldn't comprehend not doing anything. Plus, I was stressing about my class... It seems to be fluctuating so much, I was afraid I was going to end up with more kids than I could handle! Although I was not looking forward to coming to work today, it turned out to be quite enjoyable. I believe that my students are going to be a steady 22. The class was also well behaved today, which made things less stressful, more fun, and we were able to get twice as much accomplished! I think my room is finally starting to feel not so ugly and dirty. I think I'm gonna put up another bulletin board over a chalkboard to add some more color.

Well, I guess that is it. Hopefully this week will continue to go well. It's weird how I felt so stressed out over the weekend, and now that I am back at work, I feel so must better! Maybe because I have more of a sense of control here ! Ha! Who knows!

TGIF

Aloha again! It's the first weekend of the school year! And boy am I glad that it is here! It sure has been a long week, filled with loooong days! I FINALLY remembered to bring my camera to school, so here are some pictures of my classroom (pre-kids that is!). Enjoy!

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...

Aloha!

I am writing you from you classroom again! It is finally Friday! It has been a long week, and I only spent 2 days with the kids... and I only had half of them!!! The other half come on Monday and Tuesday, and then I have them all together starting Wednesday. Today was better than yesterday, but there were still struggles along the way. I even had moments where I missed D***** from my class last year :) Yes! Can you believe it! But I was feeling the same way last year... so I know it will just take time til I get to know the students. I think what is hardest is that these kids have NEVER been to school... so there is so much that they don't know! Like walking in a line, or sitting still, or LISTENING! My goodness... we've got a lot of work to do here!

Aloha all!

I am writing from my computer in my brand new classroom! Actually, it's not brand new, but it's new to me! I still have a lot of work to get done before parents come tomorrow (yikes!) so this will be short for now. But I just wanted to let you all know, in case you didn't already... I am going to be teaching Kindergarten! I keep meaning to bring my camera to take pictures of the process of cleaning the room and then the final project, but I keep forgetting! Hopefully I will eventually remember and you all will be able to see what it looks like! Okay, back to cleaning and organizing frenzy!

Now I know my ABC's

Next time won't you sing with me :)

Aloha all! Well, I heard back from the principal at Kealakeke Elementary School... she offered the fifth grade position to the other candidate.... BUT.... she will more than likely need another Kindergarten teacher due to a sudden incline of student enrollment! I will hopefully know by tomorrow if I have the job or not!! I am soooo excited for it, though.... I was trying to get myself excited for fifth grade, but this just comes naturally!!! Yeah!!! OMG.... I am so stoked.... I pray I get it :)

I'm So Excited!

And I just can't hide it!

For the past WEEK my computer has been failing to connect to the internet... well, praise Jesus! It is working now... so a total of four minutes so far!!!! Which is TWICE as long as it has worked so far! So PRAISE JESUS!!!! Hopefully it will keep it up!!!!

So island life is going pretty well... I am waiting to hear back still about a fifth grade job. I would of course be totally stoked to get it! (even though fifth grade is NOTHING like first grade) I am up to the challenge. If I don't get it, then I'll go back to my plan b of subbing.... or there is always Bubba Gumps, which is about a ten or so minute walk from my house... (I think that would actually be kinda fun :)

I've gone to the same church the past two Sundays... I like it so far, but still want to check out some other ones, but I'm gonna have to wait until I get my own car to do that. But no hurry!

Well, when I hear about the work situation, I will let you all know! And hopefully my internet will continue to function (Praise ya Jesus!!!)

Just call me teacher, in the morning, baby!

Aloha friends and family!

About a half an hour ago my phone rang, and it was a principal from one of the local schools! I had gone out on Monday to three local schools, just to make myself known to the administations there. The final school that I went to the principal said that they were not hiring for teaching positions and later said that they may be calling me for a reading tutor job...

Well, she called me, but it wasn't for the reading tutor position. She had forgotten that they need a grade five teacher! Yes! Isn't God great?!? Fifth grade is definitely not a first choice for me, but I got to get my foot in the door somewhere!!! So tomorrow I am meeting with her at 3:30 my time adn she is gonna talk with me, look at my portfolio, and I guess see if I am qualified! Oh my! I think I am still in shock :)

Cause You Had a Bad Day....

Ha ha ha! Hopefully I did it again, and now that song will be in your head the rest of the day! Jill and I heard that song at Safeway yesterday before we hit the road to see the volcano, and I had it in my head the whole day!!! But I love that song, so I don't care... ha ha, it makes me think of you Avila :)

So after Safeway for some lunch, we headed off to the volcano... on the way we stopped at South Point, which in the most southern point in all of the USA! Pretty neato! :) At south point, people go cliff jumping, but unfortunately, there were no cliff jumpers when we were there...

After we finished eating our lunch at south point, we continued on to the volcano. It rained at first when we were there, but it didn't last long. After we saw the plume of smoke coming out of the crater, we headed off to the lave tube... it was super cool, and super dark. You HAVE to have a flashlight, otherwise you can't see a thing. When we were about to go inside the tube, we met a family of five from Chicago who wanted to go too, but didn't have flashlights, so we had them tag along with us. It was super fun!!!

After the lavea tube, we headed off towards where the lave was pouring into the ocean and creating steam... we couldn't get too close, but closer! It was cool because we got to see where lava had over taken the road. There was a point before and after that where we couldn't get out of the car because of the sulfur dioxide coming from the volcano.

We didn't get home until about nine, so it was a long day... but it was lots of fun getting to see the island! :)

Kama'aina

Aloha! For those of you who don't know, Kama'aina is a Hawaiian word for "locals". Today I became a Kama'aina! I officially now have a Hawaiian driver's license and I am a registered voter here on the island of Hawaii. (i was gonna get a library card today too... but that didn't end up happening) I still don't have a job or a car (though I may very soon!), but I am finally beginning to feel like this is where I live.

Tomorrow I am going with Jill to see the volcano, so hopeful I will have some pictures for you all!

Just Another Day in Paradise

Ha ha ha! My hope is that you all will have that song in your head for the rest of the day :)

So today I walked into town and went to the library, and hung out there for a couple of hours... I couldn't get a library card because I have no proof of residency... YET! but i stayed there for a couple of hours and read "Monk Goes to Hawaii"... Yes! Monk, as in THE MONK... there is a book series... who knew!?!

On the way to the library I took this pic... Just for you Mom... cause you wanted me to take pics! So only one pic for now... hopefully there will be more to come!

Arrived!

Aloha all!

Yesterday I arrived safely to Kona... thank so much for all of your prayers. It is very much appreciated. Today has been my first full day here in Kona. Jill took me to the post office, Wal-Mart and Safeway.

Ha! I must interject! There is a gecko crawling on the carpet! This is great! :)

Okay, anyways, later today Jill had to go to a meeting, so I decided to take a walk into town. The marketplace is just down the street from where I live, so it is really convenient. The vog comes in the afternoons, which is actually kind of nice because the overcastness makes it not so hot.

Please still be praying for a car and a job for me! Not having either right now is driving me crazy... but it making me have to rely on more than just myself, so I guess it is good!