Days 21-26: Busy Busy Busy

Days 21-26:

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written… it’s been a long stretch of days, and I just keep forgetting because I’m so busy!

SO.  Let’s see.

Friday was a good day, but the weather was terribly nasty and cold and rainy and windy, so Karl drove me to the bus stop in the morning, which was great.  It stayed cold all day, and I was cold pretty much all day, and there was no way that I could have been outside all night at a movie at the Katusekino where the outdoor movies are, so we canceled our Friday evening plans, which actually ended up being just fine.  I stayed inside, curled up next to my cozy chimney, watching tv and knitting.  It was really relaxing, and even though I feel so lame, student teaching (read: teaching in general) really kicks your butt, especially when it’s nasty outside, so I just took a night to chill and recoup. 

Saturday I slept in, and then went to a party for the teachers.  Karolina and Toomas picked me up, and we went to get some things for the party from Selver together, and went to the teacher party!  It was so fun… I love being at a school where, for the most part, everyone gets along and is friends with each other, to the extent that we can hang out at someone’s house and have a barbeque and just enjoy each other’s company outside of school.  We talked about many things, like where to buy warm, awesome socks, where a new museum had opened up, how classes were going etc., and it was really fun.  Not only that, but we had amazing food, grilled meats and salads and breads and it was just such good food.  It was seriously a ton of fun.  I love teaching here.  I love working together with colleagues and combining our musical lessons with their classroom units.  Gah. It’s great.

Sunday was Karl Imar’s birthday (I can now spell his name correctly…3 weeks later).  We had been planning on going to the country to see him for his birthday, but they went to Sweden, so they ended up coming to see us when they got back on the ferry.  We had a nice little birthday party for him with the family and then Irina and I went shopping at a few secondhand stores.  I don’t know if I mentioned before that I had ripped a pair of the jeans I’d brought with me (I only brought 2, I ripped 1 in the thigh region, so they are semi awkward to wear now…) and Irina wanted to take me to look to see if there were jeans I could buy at a secondhand shop.  We went first to a secondhand shop of American clothes that was hilariously called USA Today haaaahaha.  There were probably 7-8 racks of jeans, and I searched through 3 of them finding literally only sizes 0,2,4,6, and 8.  The largest size I found anywhere was a 12, and I was skeptical on finding jeans my size at all… I wasn’t made in European sizes, sadly, so even though it was an American store, they still only had TINY PEOPLE clothes that my sister would fit, not me.  We tried another couple of stores, but to no real avail, but we did walk around a lot, and she showed me where her parents are buried, which was also interesting.  We got really hungry while we were walking around, so we walked over to the Viru Center, and Irina and I had sushi that was some of the best I’ve had in quite some time.  It was so fresh and juicy and fantastic and yummy… we sat and people watched and chatted, and it was really fun.  She also showed me where the “big people” shop, so that was mildly embarrassing after a really good meal, but I know she means well. 

Monday was a good day in class… we had the 2^nd grade, who is always a little rough, and today was not much different, but we discussed how to improve the things we did with them.  We also had the 4^th graders, which was a lesson that when it was done, I could’ve done a happy dance.  We are doing Recorder Karate, which if you’re a music teacher and you haven’t done this, you TOTALLY should.  It’s great, the kids love it, and they LOVE getting new belts.  They all were so supportive of each other, and it was just really nice to get to have a class that went entirely well.  In the 5^th grade, we’re integrating their classroom unit on Peace, so we watched a video with Martin Luther King Jr. speaking, and then learned “We Shall Overcome” and each student in the class sang a solo, even the one boy who I seem to have the biggest problems with (he’s the one who skipped from gr. 3 to gr. 5).  It was overall a good day of teaching.  Karolina said I could go early from school also, and not stay for musical rehearsal if I wanted to, so I didn’t end up having to stay too late either.  Happy girl.  It was nice to get home at a good hour, and I tried to go out and have dinner with Tiina and Maarja but they were busy, so we rescheduled.  It’s nice to have friends my age also, who I can hang out with.

Tuesday, I went to school, obviously, and did the whole school thing… teaching etc.  It was a fine day all in all, and all the classes were pretty good.  Funny thing: the 3^rd grade class, half of whom don’t speak English, actually did really well, because most of the things we did they either already knew, or didn’t require a lot of verbal communication.  My Finnish girl even knew some of the rhythm stuff I was asking, which was thrilling.  It was a long day though, for some reason, and I was kind of dragging (I think going to bed late did not help this, but MY BOOK IS JUST SO GOOD) and we had a lot of people come in right after school.

Side vent note: It’s been really frustrating trying to get all my information lined up, and we keep getting differing information from different professors, which just serves to further confuse everyone involved in my placement process.  It’s been unclear whether I’m student teaching BY MYSELF for 8 weeks, or only 2 weeks, and if I am allowed to share responsibilities with the teaching still with my teacher, or if it’s supposed to just be me, and what papers does the school need from them, and bla bla bla.  Don had a conversation today with Dr. Crosser and thought he’d gotten things figured out, but once again, it actually just conflicted with some of the information we’d been given before, and gahhhh it’s just so annoying.  Whatever.  THANK GOD I have a phenomenal teacher and a really supportive and kind director.  He reminds me of my dad, actually, only less tall and more teacher-y, but is gentle in dealing with people like my dad is, and patient.  

Anyway, things got mostly squared away, and I met up with Tiina later on for dinner (sushi again… I just really love it!) and we had a nice time with her man friend eating sushi and chatting.  Our waitress’ name was Santa and I was SO amused…that, and the place we went was like Harajuku Hello Kitty Japanese Anime Overload.  They all wore cat ears and had Japanese anime characters on the walls and had anime cartoons playing and Japanese death rock female screamo bands.  Quite amusing.  Also, quite tasty tasting.

Today’s been good, and pretty laid back.  I woke up with a migraine which increased today’s initial suck factor, and I thought it was going to be an overall crummy day.  However, it turned out to be a good day, minus the not feeling well, which is apparently going around the school (Yes, Mother, I am washing my hands, and yes, I am drinking fluids, and yes, I am getting enough sleep.  Thank you.)  We had the 1^st graders today, who were semi terrifying last time, and one of the kids who I had thought was paying less than no attention last time recited all the words of our recycling rap back to me.  I literally had tears in my eyes as he did, and ended up giving him a solo for the concert that they’re performing on in a few weeks.  I was a proud little mamma music teacher in that moment.  Lovely.  All in all, a good day.

As another little book plug, HOLY CRAP THE Millenium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc.) is SO good… I just finished the first book today, and couldn’t hardly put it down.  I just got the second one from a teacher, and Karolina is now reading book 1.  It’s really good.  Not recommended for directly before bed time reading… gets into your dreams, I found. 

More soon.

Maintain,

Virginia