Hello Everyone!!! (all 3 of you…) : ]
I am so sorry I am a horrible blogger. I haven’t really gotten it down yet, but I am hoping to improve this summer, now that school is officially over!
That’s right my first year of teaching has come and past. It was quite the experience. Extremely challenging at times but also immensely rewarding. The end of the year was an absolute whirlwind. Us JV’s missed a whole week for Re-O/Dis-O(will talk about that in the next entry…) and so the kids were not super prepared for their finals but we made it work. And then we got back and immediately were practicing for graduation.
Now, I’ve only gone through 8th grade graduation once, and never had to plan another one, so to have this responsibility pretty much solely on my shoulders was a bit intimidating. The process started back in January and I thought I was going to receive much more support…not so much. But it actually went off fantastically well, despite the mediocre practices and last minute rush additions. The rest of the staff helped me decorate the church to perfection and the students did a wonderful job. Especially my Valedictorian and Salutatorian – Rianna and Julie! (Luckily I will be teaching these two wonderful ladies again next year at OLM!) Incase, I didn’t mention it before, I will be teaching at the high school next year, taking over the ENTIRE math department from Brian. So after my two years are done I will have taught 6th through 12th grade math. Wow.
I am so sorry I am a horrible blogger. I haven’t really gotten it down yet, but I am hoping to improve this summer, now that school is officially over!
That’s right my first year of teaching has come and past. It was quite the experience. Extremely challenging at times but also immensely rewarding. The end of the year was an absolute whirlwind. Us JV’s missed a whole week for Re-O/Dis-O(will talk about that in the next entry…) and so the kids were not super prepared for their finals but we made it work. And then we got back and immediately were practicing for graduation.
Now, I’ve only gone through 8th grade graduation once, and never had to plan another one, so to have this responsibility pretty much solely on my shoulders was a bit intimidating. The process started back in January and I thought I was going to receive much more support…not so much. But it actually went off fantastically well, despite the mediocre practices and last minute rush additions. The rest of the staff helped me decorate the church to perfection and the students did a wonderful job. Especially my Valedictorian and Salutatorian – Rianna and Julie! (Luckily I will be teaching these two wonderful ladies again next year at OLM!) Incase, I didn’t mention it before, I will be teaching at the high school next year, taking over the ENTIRE math department from Brian. So after my two years are done I will have taught 6th through 12th grade math. Wow.
Anyway, the graduation was beautiful and I have some
pictures to prove it. The students were so excited and 7 of my students were
accepted to Xavier! I am so amazingly proud! After graduation we were supposed
to have our reception at Flamingo Club (one of only two clubs in all of
Micronesia) but there was a miscommunication and the parent I thought had
reserved the space actually hadn’t. And I tried calling the venue but
“everyone” knows that no one answers the phone at Flamingo Club, instead you
need to go to the store that the owner also works at to talk about these
things. Clearly I did not know any of this and found out 15 minutes before the
reception was supposed to start that we had no venue….Oh man Micro life.
Thankfully, the parents of one of my students own a hotel and graciously invited us to use their space last minute. Some people were understandably upset, and once again I looked like the idiotic foreigner. But it all worked out, the party went off great and the kids had tons of fun. So in the long run, I’d say it was a success.
But now, they’re all gone… I am very happy to be done with the school year and have this amazing summer to fully embrace so many things I’ve wanted to do but have not had the time, but at the same time, I am sad my 8th graders are moving on. I felt a connection to them since the very first day I met them and will miss them all terribly. As a class they are a beautiful symphony and family.
This summer will be filled with adventure though! The rents are coming in a month!!!! I already have a ridiculous itinerary planned of all the things I want to show them. It’s basically nonstop and includes 40-ft cliff jumps and scaling 75-degree rock walls. But they’ll love it! (hopefully…) And we have so many other visitors! Meredith’s parents, Brad(Brian’s second year), and some JV’s on their way home from Chuuk. Also, Brian, Kristen, and I are getting on a ship on Sunday to make the 4 day journey to Kosrae (another state in FSM)! We will sleep 6 nights on the deck of a cargo ship and one night on land in Kosrae! It will be an experience! Can’t wait to tell you all about it.
But then Brian is leaving! And so many of our other friends: World Teach and Peace Corps. Meredith and I made a list of all the people visiting and leaving and coming and after the summer 16 people will have left us…but 1 will join! Emily will be coming at the end of July. Kristin, Meredith, and I are all nervous about becoming second years and starting a new community but are also really excited to welcome Emily into our family. It sure will be a crazy summer. And I didn’t even mention MicroGames! They will be from July 20th to the 30th and should be super exciting. I probably won’t accomplish half of the things I would like to over this summer but I at least I know I will have tons of fun!
Thankfully, the parents of one of my students own a hotel and graciously invited us to use their space last minute. Some people were understandably upset, and once again I looked like the idiotic foreigner. But it all worked out, the party went off great and the kids had tons of fun. So in the long run, I’d say it was a success.
But now, they’re all gone… I am very happy to be done with the school year and have this amazing summer to fully embrace so many things I’ve wanted to do but have not had the time, but at the same time, I am sad my 8th graders are moving on. I felt a connection to them since the very first day I met them and will miss them all terribly. As a class they are a beautiful symphony and family.
This summer will be filled with adventure though! The rents are coming in a month!!!! I already have a ridiculous itinerary planned of all the things I want to show them. It’s basically nonstop and includes 40-ft cliff jumps and scaling 75-degree rock walls. But they’ll love it! (hopefully…) And we have so many other visitors! Meredith’s parents, Brad(Brian’s second year), and some JV’s on their way home from Chuuk. Also, Brian, Kristen, and I are getting on a ship on Sunday to make the 4 day journey to Kosrae (another state in FSM)! We will sleep 6 nights on the deck of a cargo ship and one night on land in Kosrae! It will be an experience! Can’t wait to tell you all about it.
But then Brian is leaving! And so many of our other friends: World Teach and Peace Corps. Meredith and I made a list of all the people visiting and leaving and coming and after the summer 16 people will have left us…but 1 will join! Emily will be coming at the end of July. Kristin, Meredith, and I are all nervous about becoming second years and starting a new community but are also really excited to welcome Emily into our family. It sure will be a crazy summer. And I didn’t even mention MicroGames! They will be from July 20th to the 30th and should be super exciting. I probably won’t accomplish half of the things I would like to over this summer but I at least I know I will have tons of fun!
Well I hope that updates you a bit on my life… I will write
another entry about Re-O and then post a bunch of pictures! Picture Bonanza!
I miss you and love you all and again I apologize for not being more on top of my blog game…but I’m always trying to improve.
Oceans of Love,
I miss you and love you all and again I apologize for not being more on top of my blog game…but I’m always trying to improve.
Oceans of Love,
Britt
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