The future of Calvin's German department

I wanted to go to bed about an hour and a half ago, but something has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind for the past few days. I discovered that Calvin, my alma mater, is considering cutting the German major. The German department would still exist, but would be so much less than it is without the major, and my heart breaks at the thought of it. My gratitude for the German department and for Calvin is indescribable, so I felt I needed to write to the president. The following is my letter. If it's on your heart, I ask you to pray for the decision makers at Calvin to change their minds, and maybe even for you to write an email or letter to the president as well. 

"Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." Matthew 18:19.

Dear President LeRoy,
A few days ago, I found out through some fellow German department graduates that Calvin was considering eliminating the German major. I find this to be incredibly saddening. Without Calvin's German major, I have no idea where I would be. 

The same day I found out about the potential future of the German department, I happened to receive the Spark magazine. I opened it up, coincidentally, to the article titled "Through Their Own Eyes: Students reflect on global experiences." Allow me to reflect on mine.

I've always known I wanted to be a teacher, but it wasn't until I took German in high school that I discovered a deep passion for the German language and culture and knew I wanted to teach it. When it came time to look at colleges, I didn't know where to start. I received a large amount of mail from various colleges, but what I was mainly looking for, was a school that offered German as a major. I had never heard of Calvin until I received a mailer--my family is not Dutch, CRC, or from West Michigan. I grew up in public schools and never had a desire to go to a Christian school. After looking into Calvin because of the German major, I was drawn to the aesthetics on the campus, the friendly people I had met at Fridays at Calvin, the opportunities available as a student. But most of all, I was drawn to the German department.  

After beginning my studies at Calvin, I made some wonderful, lifelong friends, some of which I would not have made without the German department and German major that created our connection. My German classes were fun and challenging, and the professors were brilliant, cultured, and incredibly personable. I took full advantage of the study abroad opportunities. First, traveling around Germany in 2009 on the German Interim (which just celebrated its 40th anniversary). In the fall of 2010, I studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, which is a program through Central College but partnered with Calvin. These trips abroad brought my studies to life and gave me real-life experiences to bring into my classroom. All of this possible through my studies at Calvin. 

Yes, I could have studied abroad in any of the German-speaking countries through another college or university, if Calvin did not have a German major. But the people I met and experiences I had would have been extremely different. The one experience I've had--arguably my most life-changing experience--could not have come about from any other university or college but Calvin College, and would not have been even an idea without the German major. Last year, I spent the year in Winterthur, Switzerland. There, I interned at a small, but quickly growing, private school. My year in Switzerland was not from a grant or scholarship, nor was it through an organization. My year in Switzerland was made possible by Dr. David Smith, because he personally knows the people who started the school. Near the end of my studies, I asked if he knew of opportunities abroad, because I was itching for more experience in those countries and he connected me with the school. If I were to describe to you all the things I learned, amazing people I met and became friends with, and experiences I was blessed to have there, it would take up a novel. That year in Switzerland is invaluable to me, and was only possible because of my decision to go to Calvin, which was largely because of the German major offered. 

As a Fulbright Scholar and former Wheaton in Europe director and Central America Study Abroad director, there is no doubt in my mind that you understand the value and importance of language programs and study abroad opportunities.
German is an important language, as the most spoken language in the EU, and is growing in popularity in the US. I am one of two German teachers in my high school (Columbia, SC), and our program is booming and nowhere near extinction, but eliminating the German major at Calvin stunts the learning and potential experiences for so many high-school German students who wish to continue their German studies after high school. Please don't extinguish the possibilities for so many more future students. 

Thank you for your time. 

Blessings, 

Jessica Tucker 

Class of 2012 

On having a life.

Teaching is time consuming. Any teacher will tell you that--new or veteran. The job has no clear end in a day, because there are always meetings or after-school tutoring or lessons to plan or papers to grade or students to counsel or paperwork to do...I could go on. And it's not just the physical things to do that makes it so time consuming. It's hard to turn off the brain from thinking about teaching. I catch myself at all hours thinking about school, whether it's about students or the messy desk I need to organize or lessons I could do better or random ideas for future lessons--it even creeps into my dreams. At some point, I have to force myself to stop! It's well-known in the teaching world that it's important to take time out for yourself and to do things you like to do. Unfortunately, since I am in introvert, the things I like to do are to sit at home and knit or watch TV shows or something of the like, but in all of that, you can still think constantly about teaching.

So, I've been making sure to do some things outside of my apartment. I joined a small group at church and have been enjoying the new faces, fellowship, and discussions about God. I also volunteered with the church last weekend, which was fun. We taped up a house for women and children to prepare it for painting and then a small group of us went to do yardwork for an older widow. And tonight I'm going to see Catching Fire (the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy, for those that are unfamiliar--I highly recommend the books!).

And next week is a two-day week and then it's Thanksgiving break--and boy am I thankful for that!! I'll be heading to Sanibel, FL to spend the holidays with my grandparents :-)

Clever (or not-so-clever) metaphors

Learning a foreign language was once described to me as a snowball--it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, the more you study the language, and if you lose a part of it, the snowball falls apart and there are problems because the snowball is then no longer a snowball. This helps when explaining to students why it's important to keep up on everything you have learned in the foreign language so far, and not let some vocabulary or grammar rules slip, since eventually you'll need those words/rules again and if you've learned them for the test and promptly forgotten them or just plain never learned them, you'll have problems later on. It's better to just learn it all at the right pace and keep up with it. Anyway, I love metaphors and I thought this metaphor was perfect.

Until I moved to the South.

I know it barely snows down here, but it never crossed my mind that IF these kids have seen snow, they've probably never even had enough to make a snowball (although the world shuts down, apparently, at the hint of snow...that'll be interesting). At the beginning of the year, I explained this metaphor to all of my classes, but I think they all just let it go in one ear and out the other. I was re-explaining this metaphor to my accelerated class (they're doing German 1 and 2 in one year, so I was emphasizing the importance of keeping up on everything we've done so far, since this is a faster-paced class), when someone interrupted me and said, "But Frau, we've never made a snowball. We don't know what that's like." I stopped dead in my tracks (probably mid-snowball mime) and really thought about that. Whoa. Poor babies. They've never had the joy of making a snowman...so many childhood memories not made!!

So I've been trying to think of another metaphor but haven't found one. I briefly considered explaining it like a recipe that needs all it's ingredients for the entire time you're baking, but my students are way too literal with everything I say and would probably find weird loopholes (like the one time their Grandma accidentally left out the butter but made the best cookies ever, or something unlikely like that) or they would retort that no one bakes anything for such a long amount of time.

I guess I'll just stick with the snowball metaphor for now and reminisce on my snowman days for my poor snowless students ;-)

The night of the parents.

Tonight we had parent teacher conferences, which meant it was a half-day, so I had a lovely nap in the middle there. Just what I needed! The break-less time between August (start of school) and Thanksgiving is extremely taxing (and always the longest/craziest, from what I'm told).

So, parent teacher conferences went from 5-8pm and parents were limited to 10 minutes with each teacher. Before tonight, I thought that if certain helicopter parents showed up, I would have trouble keeping them under 10 minutes, but it actually was not a problem. Mostly it wasn't a problem because very few people showed up, but also 10 minutes is a fairly long time when talking about a student. Apparently there was nothing listed on the school website and no automated phone calls were made. And although all of the students were informed, they stop listening after they hear the words "half day".

With eighteen possible slots for parents, I had only seven filled. But it was good. I had some good feedback and two parents that really impressed me. They said they wanted to come just to personally thank me for taking an interest in their child and taking time to help him, which for me is just an obvious part of the job and I'm happy to do. But it's nice to be appreciated as a teacher in a society where it's becoming more and more common for the parents to side with students and blame everything on the teacher.

Now it's 9pm and my bedtime. Being at school so late just throws everything off for the next day, so tomorrow will probably be long and tiring. But I'm surviving and counting down the days to Thanksgiving, where I will have almost a whole relaxing week off to spend in Florida with my grandparents :-)

Quarter One: Check.

The first quarter is over...on to the second. It doesn't feel like I should be a quarter of the way through the year already, although the idea of five more weeks until Thanksgiving break is admittedly daunting.

The past two weeks have been filled with testing and grading, which is quite draining. As I start the second quarter, I'm looking back on the first quarter and realizing what did or didn't work and what I need to do better. I'm still figuring things out, that's for sure--like how to teach this language without putting any attention on grammar. The grammar nerd and lover in me is in mourning.

The first quarter was good, and I feel good about what I'm doing, but I am seeing a lot of areas that I need to improve upon. That's good, since I should always be reflecting and trying to grow, but sometimes it's intimidating and overwhelming. And it's intimidating and overwhelming with helicopter parents and with the students comparing me to what once was (meaning, the former teacher).

Today in church, part of the message was "give people what they want, not what they think they want...because what they think they want is just a reflection of the past." The example along with that was if Apple had polled people and asked if they wanted the iPad, before it had come out, they would have never put it out, because it hadn't existed so nobody would have known they wanted it. And it's the same with things like iOS7 and new Facebook updates. After every new major update, everyone complains and whines how much they hate it and wants what they had before (many threaten to leave, yet they never do), but after a week or a month, the dust settles and people realize how much they love it and get over what they initially decided to hate.

And that really hit home for me. I know the students compare me to their old teacher a lot, and some students have embraced me, but some have openly not. And I know I focus on that more than I should. So it was a great reminder today to give my students what they want but not what they think they want. What they want is a fun class where they learn German. I can do that, but not in the way that they think they want it, because I'm never going to be their old teacher. And eventually, they'll grow accustomed to the change and life will go on as if nothing happened.

How today was weirder than the PSAT day.

Today has been weird, folks, and something tells me tomorrow will be too.

First, I was at my morning post in the hallway, directing students through the halls, when a teacher came by and calmly said that a bus was on fire. As if this were everyday news. As normal as teachers making copies. Um...what? Sure enough, there was a bus with an engine problem that caught on fire. All students are safe and no one was harmed, which is probably why she was so calm in telling me that the bus was on fire. 

Next weird thing: Both classes that took exams on Tuesday complained of my worksheets afterwards ("But Frau! None of the other teachers make us do work after a test!" Lies.) but my German 2 kiddos actually wanted MORE worksheets after they finished the first one. They asked me! Just when you think you've got them all figured out...!

Most recent weird thng(s): We had an impromptu fire drill this afternoon. Of course, as soon as the students understand it was not planned, they swear they can smell smoke and blame it on burnt popcorn. Sillies. During said fire drill, which was with my craziest monkey class, the students followed my directions and listened to me. Amazing, especially when surrounded by their best friends from other classes. One chatty, but sweet, girl stuck by me to talk, as well as another girl who is very hot-and-cold about me and my class. But they chatted with me as if they actually liked me, haha. I was mistaken for a student about four times, by both teachers and students. The only good thing about that in this situation was the element of surprise when they would swear right next to me. The looks on their faces when they realized I'm a teacher was priceless. 

And now it's my planning period and I've got a mountain of grading before I'm off to get my hair done (thanks, Groupon!). Let's hope nothing weird happens there... 

Testing...testing...1,2,3.

This week is testing week. Since we are on a block schedule, with four classes per day, two classes will have an exam each day. It's supposed to be less stressful and more manageable for the students. Also the teachers, I think.

Today we also had PSAT testing. This was taken in our homeroom classes, where we, the teachers, had to be the proctors. And if you know anything about standardized testing, you know that it's a whole barrel of fun. ...Not.

I treated myself to a Grande Chai Tea Latte before work (usually, if I get something on the way to work, I get the Tall, which is smaller, but I knew I'd need an extra kick of caffeine and deliciousness today). When I got to work, I had to go to the guidance office to retrieve my PSAT booklets and answer sheets, as well as about 11 pencils and 7 calculators. I have 25 students in my homeroom class.

School starts at 8am and testing was to end at 11:20, although it ran late, so we got out at 11:41. I read the bolded lines in my PSAT script and Teacher Glared at any students chatting. After bubbling in about 8,000 bubbles for their names and addresses, they set to work. Section by section, 25 minutes by 25 minutes. It was intense. Standardized testing is SO strict and rigid in the test-taking. If a student wanted to go to the bathroom, he/she had to be escorted by a hall monitor to the bathroom. They had a total of two stretching breaks in the 3.5 hours of testing, which totaled six minutes (5 minutes and 1 minute--honestly, what's the point of a one minute break?!). And I got to stand there and watch them for 3.5 hours.

At first, it's not too bad. You start thinking about the personalities of the students and watching their Deep Concentration faces. You try not to laugh at their visual struggles of staying awake. You picture what they will look like as old men/women. You imagine what type of job they will have when they're older. But mostly it's just awfully boring. I have a stack of papers about as tall as me that I need to grade. I have lessons that need to be planned. And planned lessons that probably should be replanned. Or really almost anything besides just standing there for 3.5 hours.

If you're thinking it'd be nice to have a do-nothing break, you are wrong. I'd rather clean my apartment twice. Or do all of my laundry and refold all of my clothes (worst chore ever.) Or take the PSAT myself. Does that tell you how boring it is? It is not fun to do literally nothing for 3.5 hours. It's not the fun do-nothing Saturdays where you lay around being lazy while watching too much TV and sleeping too much. That's at least doing something.

So then my kids were monkeys for the rest of the day. It was weird mix of braindead tired and elated that the test was over.
Funniest/weirdest thing to happen all day:

One very sweet girl suggested I buy dry erase markers on Ebay, and I thought she called me a D-bag, to which the whole class erupted in laughter and my face turned tomato red.

Oops. I guess I'm braindead too.

The elusive nap points.

During any transition between activities (which in a 90-minute block, there are generally quite a few), my first block students always suggest naptime. Their obsession with naptime grew when I got irritated with the naptime suggestions one day (students love to push your buttons!), so after that, I decided to give in to their naptime desires. Kind of.

No, they do not get naptime. Yes, I tell them to sit-up-with-their-back-straight whenever they're drooping or sleeping.

But they THINK they're getting a naptime someday. After my first observation from the district foreign language head went well, I was praising the students on their excellent participation during that time. The students suggested naptime as their reward, of course. Instead of getting irritated or telling them to just be quiet, I said (in what could only be the result of improvisation) that they had earned two nap points. Of course, the next question was how many nap points they need to earn naptime. I love overexaggerating with my students (the answer to when they get to leave my class is always "never", and the answer to how long the test will be is always "800 pages/questions". Eventually they're learn to just not ask), so I said they needed 1,000,000 points for naptime.

Instead of being discouraged at the thought of trying to earn 1,000,000 nap points, they got excited trying to figure out how they could earn nap points. Honestly, I've given approximately 0 thought to it, because naptime during my German class will never ever be a thing, but they're enjoying it, so that's fine with me! They always ask if they can get more nap points for various things, to which I just threaten to take away the two points they have. One student offered me $10 and asked how much that would buy. I said half of a point. One student asked how much $1,000,000 would buy (silly question--technically only 500,000 points), but I responded by saying as many naptimes as they wanted, because then I'd just quit my job and move to Switzerland ;-)

They also complained about my lack of Kleenex, so I told them each box was worth half a point. (I hope no one brings me 2,000,000 boxes of Kleenex ever.)

Yesterday, one kid said "Man, it's so hard to get nap points, but it's so easy to get them taken away!" It's so hard not to bust out laughing at these things!

Maybe I should award a whole point if they can go a day without suggesting naptime. Bet they'll never see that point.

It may sound stupid, and it probably is very stupid, but it's the little, silly things that keep the class fun.

I've got that school spirit!

So, this week was Spirit Week at school, which means that there were different themes for each day that we could dress as. Teachers too :-)

Monday was Pajama Day, which meant I was super comfortable all day and was allowed to walk around in my slippers all day. Awesome.

pajamas and slippers :-)

Teachers have class!

I wore my Calvin College Education Program shirt, which said "Teachers have class" on the back. My students didn't find the pun nearly as funny as I do (typical!).

Tuesday was Costume Day. Bridget let me borrow a Dirndl, since I don't yet have one of my own, so I went to school dressed in traditional German garb. Many students asked "What are you supposed to be?" and "Are you Dorothy?" Sheesh. Kids. I got some weird looks and confused looks when I explained that it's traditional clothing from Germany, but I also got a lot of compliments.

I braided my hair in two braids

My Dirndl

Wednesday was America Day, so I wore my red, white, blue (and gray) striped dress over black pants with my blue scarf that has white flowers on it.

It's kind of American-Flag-ish

On Thursday, we had 80s day. There was a whole lot of negative anticipation for this day because I guess in the past, it was Neon day, which resulted in students (for some reason) going crazy and causing a lot of problems. Neon colors and "neon day activity" was completely banned. I am not aware of any problems from this year's 80s day, so I guess we were successful at that.

You can't really tell in the picture, but I braided my hair overnight so it would be crimpy for the day

It's interesting to see these nearly-Millenium babies' perceptions of what people wore in the 80s. Instead of acid wash jeans, oversized shirts/sweaters, and skirts with leggings, there was a lot of jazzercise clothes, and they're all pretty convinced that everyone walked around like that wearing only neon colors in the 80s. Not quite, kids. Not quite.

On Friday it was School Colors day (red, white, and light blue) and students were supposed to dress like their class theme (Freshmen: Arctic, Sophomores: Jungle, Juniors: Mountains, Seniors: Beach) but a lot of people did not. I just wore my school shirt.

Last night we went to the Homecoming game (there's no Homecoming dance, though). There was a barbecue beforehand, where I ate everything without the meat, as per usual. (My students canNOT get over the fact that I don't eat meat...) Sadly we lost the game by one point, but it was still a lot of fun.

Sidenote about my vegetarianism: My students believe it is impossible for me to live here without eating meat, but that's just because they're obsessed with fried chicken and bacon. Yesterday, some of them tried to convince me to eat just the skin of fried chicken because it's not really meat and supposedly the best part. Gross. I could gag at the thought of that! They were dumbfounded when I told them that even when I ate meat, I always took the skin off the chicken because I hated that part. Gross, I don't miss that.

Anyway, it was a fun week and fun to see what the students did for each day. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. The hallways were also decorated for each class theme, which was fun to see too. I'll try to remember to take pictures of that next year ;-)

Kids and Teachers say and do the darndest things.

I keep trying to think of something to write, something to update you on, but nothing comes to mind (story of my life...).

Things have been going well, though. But the daily routine of things means not much new to share at the moment. I had my first observation by the district head of the foreign language department and it went really well, so that was a relief.

We're wrapping up the first quarter of the year in the next couple of weeks, which is strange and feels too fast, but good because at least so far, I'm on track with the topics.

There are good days and bad days, but all in all, I'm feeling pretty good and positive about the job still. And even when I have the bad days or have bad hours, I'm still positive about it all and happy to be doing what I'm doing.

I don't have any funny things to share, at least not off the top of my head, although lots of strange and funny things happen each day. The students ask the most random things and really try to pry into my personal life (like searching for me on Instagram and Twitter, which means I've deleted all social media except for this and my Facebook), which is interesting to get used to. I guess they're just curious who this strange person is that they spend 90 minutes with 2-5 times per week. They ask strange things (like if I'd ever go to a nude beach) and make me say strange things (like, please put your pants back on). Gotta love em...

But they make me be creative, in constantly trying to get and keep their attention and having to break down what is (in my mind) something already very simple. I say weird things and dance around to charade the German vocabulary so that they'll understand me. They keep me entertained and on my toes, too, which is probably why I'm so concerned with going to bed between 9 and 10 every night. If I'm tired, it's going to be rough! And as much as my kids always suggest and want nap time, it's never going to happen.

So, on that note, I'm off to shower and go to bed. This week is Spirit Week, which means we have silly things for each day. Today was Pajama Day, so I've been in my pajamas and slippers all day. I'll try to take a picture each day of what I'm wearing so you can see my "school spirit".

Tschüss!

Action! Cut! Take two!

Tonight, I was on the phone talking to my sister and I was talking about being in contact with parents (it's a big, important part of the job). I told her about being in touch with one parent because of low grades, and she responded by asking, "wait, haven't you only been in school for a couple of weeks?" Good question! It sure feels like it. Today started my fifth week of school. I started a month ago...weird! Time sure does fly. The school here goes on quarters instead of semesters, so the first half of the first quarter is over (if that makes sense), which means grades are already due and important (well, they're always important...).

So, my weeks have been filled to the brim with a repeat of teach, plan, sleep. Some days I feel like I'm running a marathon and just trying my hardest to get to the end bell of the day. Some days it feels like I haven't planned enough (even if I did) and like I'm trying to stretch out every second of every activity. Some days it seems like I just started when the dismissal bell rings. Planning for the time I have has always been a struggle for me. When I first started in student teaching, I discovered that I wasn't planning enough. Now I'm not sure how that happened, seeing as I have to plan double for every lesson here (40 minute lessons vs. 90 minute lessons). I manage. The kids manage. It all works out in the end. Sure, I make it up as I go sometimes (okay, it happens a lot...but to any teacher! I promise!), but I for sure try to overplan instead of underplan.

What I can't plan for, however, is health. This past Thursday and Friday, my allergies kicked into high-gear. I'm not sure why, since Fall has yet to grace South Carolina. My brain wants cool weather, colorful landscapes, boots, scarves, and pumpkin flavored things...but all my body feels is summer. (Pumpkin-flavored things are here, regardless, but it's just not the same without the weather). Anyway, so my allergies really kicked my butt on Friday and I was dragging myself through to the end of the day. I don't think I've ever been so happy to have a 4th block planning period. So this weekend, I slept as much as possible so that I could be back to normal on Monday. It worked and today went well, but man, you don't realize how much acting goes into teaching until you're doing it. I remember in college, professors would tell us that acting was a big part of our job, but I didn't get it until student teaching, when you get that first-hand realization. Regardless of how tired I am, stuffed-up I am, or grumpy I am, or whatever the case may be, I still have to be "on" and ready to teach. Sure, I could give the kids some boring worksheet exercises and sit at my desk to relax, and if I were really that sick, then I maybe would. But generally, that's not going to help anything. How are they supposed to be excited about German if I'm not either? Don't get me wrong, I'm still super nerdy about German, sick or healthy, but the way I act plays a big role into the atmosphere of the classroom. And it's hard to act when your brain just wants to go home and sleep or your body is sick and tired.

Thank God for weekends to sleep in, vitamins and cough drops, and 4th block planning.  :-)

Feeling my way through the dark.

I think a lot of the start of any job is feeling around in the dark, trying to figure out what is going on. Eventually, it all becomes normal, and when you look back, you can't quite remember what was confusing or frustrating or a part of the scary unknown. I think I can remember feeling that way at every job I've had. But that doesn't make it easy to get used to. I've got the teaching part figured out--don't get me wrong...I know there's still a LOT to learn and improve upon on my end, but the day-to-day of it and the motions of it haven't been hard to get used to at all. It's the million other things I have to keep in mind during class and afterwards, all the paperwork that has to get done and kept track of, and the rules and regulations of how things are supposed to run--which are not the same in every district or even each school in one district. That can make things tricky.

But, as I've said before, I love my job, I really do. I love the chance to be nerdy all day long. Where else could I tell people for a whole day all about my most favorite subject?! I feel like I've won the lottery here. They can try to change the subject or ignore me all they want, but it doesn't stop me from trying to get them interested or informed about the German-speaking world. Ahh, this is the best. I've spent the past couple of hours planning how to teach and explain the present perfect (don't let that title fool you...it's a past tense form) tomorrow. I know it's nerdy, but I loved it. I guess that's why the overtime of being a teacher is okay...because you're (hopefully) doing what you love.

And the kids keep it fun and funny. Sure, I have lessons where they make me want to pull my hair out. Or it's like pulling teeth to get them to do anything I plan (or, ahem, spontaneously plan...). But generally they're fun. They keep me on my toes with everything (wait, did I really teach them that the plural of Zimmer was Zimmern instead of just Zimmer? no, I'm positive I didn't, Student X...) They have zero fear in asking any question that comes to mind (Today, I was asked in the same lesson if I'd ever been to a nude beach, if I'd ever go to a nude beach, and if I know how to twerk. I really NEVER thought those questions would come up ever...needless to say they were QUITE off-topic questions). They will love you and hate you in the span of ten minutes, but remembering the moments where they're happy to see you is so much better than the other.

So--at the end of another 12+ hour workday, where when I look at the clock and see it's 9:15pm, I feel it's past my bedtime--this is how I'm feeling about life and my job. It certainly has it's ups and downs, and I'm still feeling around in a pitch-black room with a match, but I'm hanging in there just fine.

Wait, this isn't my seventeenth blog post?

Oops. You don't know how many drafts I've had in my head about a new post. Always when I'm in the car or shopping at Target, but never when I'm home or have a free minute to type out a post.

This job is busy! Aside from planning what I am going to teach and how I want to do that, there are a zillion administration things that I need to do as well. I currently have a long mental list going in my head of stuff I want to get done tomorrow. Whatever date tomorrow is always gets changed on that mental list (thank goodness for mental white-out), because there just aren't enough hours!

I was writing a quick message to a friend the other night and described how I leave for work at about 6:45 in the morning, and came home every night last week between 6 and 7pm. How did I work 12 hour days? Your guess is as good as mine. It didn't feel like it. Or, I guess, it flew by so it didn't feel like it. I felt it, though! I came home every night physically and mentally exhausted, and sat on my couch for at least a half hour just sitting and enjoying the peace. This past Saturday, I purposely spent (almost) the entire day doing absolutely nothing. Self-care is really important in the teaching profession, since there's always more for us to do, and it's way too easy to take our work home with us. But don't worry, I'm not feeling burnt out. Just always happy to see my bed.

The first week flew by, and the past two days have flown by as well. Part of that is due to the newness of everything and the sheer amount of work to do and people seen. Part of that is due to the fact that we have block scheduling, where most of the classes only meet every other day, which means that two days kind of smoosh together in my head when I'm recalling the previous days. The week feels more like Montuesday, Wenthursday, and Friday.

But I'm loving it. I'm loving the kids--for the most part, they're all pretty into it and seem to enjoy my class--and I'm loving talking about German allllll the time. It's basically my nerdy dream come true!

Tomorrow night we have Open House, where the parents can come and hear what their student's classes are all about and meet the teachers. I'm nervous and excited, but hopefully the parents have only heard positive things so far ;-)

Sorry. This post is kind of rambly and weird, but I'm not going to edit it, because I'm tired and looking forward to sleeping sooner than I'd like to admit.

Thanks for tuning in...hopefully my next post won't be so far off in the distance and won't be so bizarre.

My first days.

Phew. Time flies when you're teaching.

The first week is over and I'm heading into the middle of my second week. Hard to believe. The first week was filled with meetings and professional developments, which were actually very helpful and informative, especially just moving down here and trying to figure out where I was going and what I was doing. There was a lot of new information and an overwhelming amount of names and faces, most of which I don't remember anymore...well, I don't remember them together. I remember names but not a face to put with it, or I recognize a face but cannot place the name. I'll get it eventually, I'm sure.

My mom came with me for the first week, which was maybe the biggest blessing ever. We drove down together on Thursday, August 7 and arrived Friday (after stopping overnight somewhere in Ohio). We went shopping at Ikea and maybe every store in Columbia for furniture and other necessary apartment things. While I was at work, she unpacked my whole apartment and put furniture together as it was delivered. Oh my word, I could not have asked for anything better. She didn't complain at all and managed to get me completely unpacked by Friday! Incredible. My apartment is completely organized and unpacked, which after two days of work, I can attest that it is an INCREDIBLE relief knowing that I don't have to come home and find energy somehow to unpack my life of boxes. Thankfully, all I have to do when I get home is feed my cat, who is incredibly impatient and very loving when she knows it's time for food. (Okay, she's very loving most of the time, but really decides to pay attention to me when it's dinner time.)

Here are some pictures of my apartment, so you can see my living space :-) They're panorama pictures, so they might look a little curvy/warped, but it was better than posting 20 pictures of my apartment for you!

Living room from my front door

Living room from the couch

Dining room area 

Kitchen/dining room

Hallway

Full bathroom with washer/dryer nook

Washer & dryer 

Spare bedroom/office room

My bedroom

The dressing area (walk-in closet, kind of) off my bedroom, which leads to my bathroom

My bathroom

And, with the first two days behind me, I can say that I'm pretty happy with where I am and what classes I've been given. We're on a block schedule, so there are four periods each day, with two different day schedules (A and B days). One half of my classes only meet on A days, and the other half meet only on B days. So far, I've really enjoyed meeting all of my students and have a good feeling about this year. I'm excited to get to know them and get to work with them. I know some of them are sad that their old German teacher is no longer at the school, but I'm hoping they'll be just as pleased with what I have to offer.

Here's a peek into my classroom as well:

I papered this with pages from a German-English dictionary that was falling apart

And to all of my SalZH family: Ich wünsche euch auch einen guten Start (obwohl ihr auch schon gestartet habt). Ich hoffe, dass die ersten Tagen super waren und freue mich, etwas von euch zu hören. Ich vermisse euch, die Schule und die Schüler. Liebe Grüße aus den USA und Gottes Segen fürs neue Schuljahr!! :-)

Bis bald!

The Beginning.

Hello readers :-) Welcome to my new blog! I'm excited for the coming year and whatever is to come. And I'm excited to share it all with you. Thanks for following along with me.

So far, I've been home from Switzerland for almost three weeks. Some days it seems longer and some days not, but regardless, I miss it. I miss speaking German every day and I miss seeing the people I became so close to. That being said, since I'm so busy with preparations for South Carolina, it's not constantly at the forefront of my mind, so I'm pleasantly distracted from my Heimweh.

I had orientation a week ago with all the other district new first-year teachers, and there were surprisingly a whole lot of us. The district is very large, so it makes sense, but I didn't realize how large it was! Everyone I met seemed really nice and I'm excited to get to know the people I'll be working with directly.

I drove down with my best friend, which was a long 12-hour drive, but definitely not bad since I was "stuck" with my bestie for so long. I had long days of orientation on Monday and Tuesday, which meant there was a lot of information thrown at us, most of it useful and helpful. On Wednesday, I found my perfect apartment and then we drove back home. Phew.

So here I am, in Michigan, wrapping up my last few days at home. Luckily I don't have much to pack, since I did all of that a year ago before Switzerland, but my days are filled with many hellos/goodbyes (since it's the first time seeing them since I left for Switzerland and the last time I'll see them before moving to South Carolina), which is exhausting, but probably in the best way.

Mom and I will leave on Thursday or Friday to move me down there. I'm excited, nervous, anxious, curious--everything all at once. I have no idea what's in store for me in the next couple of weeks, but I'm anxious to get there and begin planning everything. I'm excited to meet my students and fellow teachers. And I'm so ready to finally be the real teacher and not the assistant (and hoping that all that extra practice will make me extra prepared for it all)!

Prayers are appreciated as I begin my new journey. And I'll keep you all posted on here on how it's all going.