End of Institute! (Some of the classroom I taught in this summer, the summer floods at the school, which required us to ride in a bus from one room to the other to get to the cafeteria the water was so deep, we had a closing ceremony and the videos are my group doing our cheers/chants against the other school sites from this summer, I found fake snow at the dollar store and bought it, and the last printing and copying days in they copy cave, a lot of the stuff was gone when I took the pictures but still had to document it, and of course all the buses the last day we rode to our school sites, 5:55am!)

The next pictures are: Videos on the last bus ride, part of the area on the way to my school, the gifts that our FA (faculty advisor, an actual teacher from the school) gave us, as well as the last day, all of the FAs and people from the actual area in Belzoni made us lunch in appreciation of us teaching the kids.  They made us Catfish, salad, beans, dessert, and lots more and served us and clean up for us.  The picture of me with the girls, is me and the three other girls I taught the same kindergartners with this summer and our FA (Tamy, Monika-our FA, Claire, and Heather), pictures of the school as well as the painted catfish.  Painted catfish are all over Belzoni.  The last few pictures are us out to dinner at Hey Joe's after Institute!  (Jake, Kristen, Patrick, Ian, and me!)  The other picture is me and my CMA Brittany!

Next Pictures:  Last breakfast in the cafeteria at Delta State (Jake, Ian, Tee, Patrick), Our dorm-Lawler-Harkins, James' and my HUGE breakfast/lunch at some random gas station-sit down restaurant on the way back to Greensboro, NC, and of course all the mountains in North Carolina- a NICE, beautiful change from the flat lands of Mississippi!

Next Pictures:  Toby!  My long-lost, loved baby dog!!!! (and a super comfy bed to sleep in!)  The first car I rented from Budget being towed.... I ended up leaving at like 1:00pm instead of 8:00am like the original plan.  Of course only I would have a RENTAL car break down and have to be towed-so of course there is a picture to document it.  The next pictures are of my room before I did anything in it!  Room 101!  Then starting with the fish door, you see the progression of it changing.  I've added a lot more too, but don't have any updated pictures yet!

Next Pictures: Class Norms- Stolen from my CMA's classroom, lots of di-cut letters, more classroom changes,  next two pictures are the view from my front yard.  The next three pictures are of the beautiful sky taken at the Shack-Up Inn in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  One of the teachers I've met at my school worked there, and now lives there.  The place is actually really neat, and looks like it should be in a movie!  The sky is obviously beautiful though!!  And, of course- my baby outside!!!

All of my pictures are now caught up!!!  As for my life- my stuff has arrived!  So nice to have a bed to sleep in!!!  I have also completed two weeks of teaching as of tomorrow afternoon!  It's going pretty good- however is also crazy!  I also started training for bartender/waitress at the Country Club here in Helena, which has been great!  I'm working again tomorrow night and Saturday!  Anyhow, I have some lesson plans to work on- I'll catch up more soon hopefully!!

Bye!!!

Picture Time!!!!

"Sometimes the system goes on the blink

And the whole thing turns out wrong

You might not make it back and you know

That you could be well oh that strong

And I'm not wrong"

-Daniel Powter, Bad Day

Alrighty, Alrighty!  The moment you've all been waiting for!  PICTURES! VIDEOS! MORE PICTURES!   Get ready to be overloaded!!

First set of pictures/videos:  End of Institute!

Also- 1,400+ views on my page?  Wow, I feel kind of special and important!  Thanks for reading! =)

WWhewww!! (Yeah- that covers it!)

"Twenty five, all of these mixed emotionsTangled up in pure confusion"-Colbie Caillat, Tailor Made
Well, family, friends, and strangers- Week 1 of teaching is complete!  WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!  It was definitely a learning experience, but a good one!  I have 15 little scholars and potentially more as the month progresses.  I feel like I've kind of been thrown into this new world, and really I guess I have.   I kind of feel like I have NO idea what I'm doing, but I'm figuring it out!  The people at my school are great.  I'm getting to know some of the other teachers really well and hung out with some Friday night and listened to some Blues music.
On another note.... my stuff has yet to arrive so no furniture or belongings have made it into my home, and still no real food happening as my pots and pans are not here yet.  Hopefully something with that will work out soon!  
Right now I'm in the middle of writing 25 lessons for the upcoming week!  It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be because we are supposed to use Common Core and I'm unsure of how that works.... but I've about got reading done for the week.  4 other subjects to go... blahhh.
Luckily I have some amazing friends down here so I've been able to use their internet and furniture to work on!  
Again- lots of pictures.... and lots of my classroom for the year... ONE DAY!  I PROMISE!!!  You'll be in overload with all the pictures.... =)
Okay... lessons to finish.  Yay!  Then bed.  
Later.

Oh You Gotta Keep Your Head Up!

Alright, I'm back for a veryyyyyy brief moment.  I currently don't have access to the internet, even at my school, so the only time I can get on here is if I can get to the library when it's open or go to McDonald's.  

I am now living in Arkansas, and teaching in Mississippi!  Tomorrow is my first official day with the new kindergartners and I have to say that I am excited, happy, nervous, scared, and really have no idea what to expect.

Many of you already know just getting down here has been a challenge on it's own for me... starting with a rental car breaking down, paperwork going array with my moving company, having HORRIBLE movers in my house, confusion with what's being moved, as well as barely being able to get in touch with the moving company.  Needless to say, none of my stuff has arrived yet. But I'm making the best of it.  Also turns out there was trouble with the car I returned (and the place I returned it to is 2 hours away) so that's the other fun issue I have to deal with now.  I truly think I can claim the title for Worst Luck Ever.  Fortunately all of you, friends and family have been once again beyond helpful with everything.  I definitely hit my breaking point the other day and my parents were of course there on the phone to listen.  

Things obviously happen for a reason, and I'm hoping this just means I am going to have an amazing school year! =)  My class is coming together, and I really want to post some pictures of it, but I forgot my cord to hook my phone up to the computer.  I have a huge classroom, will have probably 15-20 students, an assistant, and lots of technology in my room (however with the internet being out, I don't know how much I can use it!) We get EEF cards at some point that will have at least $175.00 on them to spend for our classroom, so I'm trying my hardest to hold out on buying anything.  

I did end up getting a part-time job at the Helena Country Club.  I will probably be working around 15 hours a week, Friday evening, Saturday Morning-lunch, as well as Sunday for brunch.  I'm actually pretty excited about it as it pays $7.25/hour + tips and I will get to wait tables, and apparently learn how to bartend.  Bartending when I worked at Outback was a high privilege, and allowed for a lot of tips, so hopefully that will be the case!

Anyhow, my animals have all settled in. Toby was a little sad at the beginning without his fellow fury friends, but he's back to being my little baby now.  We go on big walks every day and he seems to enjoy that.  

I still feel like I have a to to deal with but it's going to come together little by little, I know it. 

I'll try to get back on here in the next day or two to update about my first day!  

I truly miss you all very much and love you!  THANKS FOR EVERYTHINGGGGGG!!!!!