well, it's been forever...

Hey y'all!

Remember that time (oh, which time?) that I tried to successfully update a blog? Well, I'm at it again. :)

So, I just completed my fall semester of my junior year at UT, and boy howdy was it a good semester!!

-GOOD thing #1: God found me the most AH-MAZING spiritual group of friends I could have asked for. And I was asking for that! God was certainly faithful.

-GOOD thing #2: I have met/stayed up with some of the most bomb friends ever! Dear said friends, you know who you are. xoxoxo

-GOOD thing #3: Chamber Singers RULES. I love everyone in it, and I love making music with you all. So. Stinkin'. Much.

-GOOD thing #4: MY FIG was insanely smart, thoughtful, cool, lovely, etc. etc. all good things.

-GOOD thing #5: Austin has so many places where I can fulfill my kombucha tooth. God love you, dearest Austin!

-GOOD thing #6: I MADE ALL A's and ONE B! PRAISE JESUS!!!!

Alright, so onto the bad things (there really aren't many, to be honest):

-bad thing #1: I'm sick right now and am missing out on the best annual lake trip ever with my CCGD besties... :(

Yep... that's pretty much it- I told ya the bad things list was short (achoooo, excuse me).

A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO MY CUZ CORY, WHOSE BDAY IS TODAY!!!!!!

Love

Peace

Pilgrim Grease,

AC :)

my first week!

About time I wrote another blog, right? I've been SO busy, seriously! AH! In a good way, though.

SO, I just finished my first pseudo-week (Wednesday-Friday) of teaching at CCBA (pictured right). As I mentioned, I'm teaching 6-year-olds (one 5-year-old, though). They are ridiculously adorable! But I won't pretend like this experience hasn't posed any challenges: one of my kids (Jacky) doesn't speak English and another kid (Sophia) won't talk, in general. Trying to elucidate for and involve both of these students has involved a lot of going the extra mile. Jacky's Mandarin, thank goodness, can be translated by two of the other students in the class (the rest of them are fluent in Cantonese, and aren't much help, unfortunately). But Jacky and Sophia are both opening up and becoming more confident, even just within the past three days.

All of the kids are really enthusiastic about learning (even on their math and literacy work, surprisingly), and it's nice that they will pay attention, participate and really ask questions when they need help on their work.

I've already begun to fall in love with these kiddos- really! They're just fantastic. I was nervous about making my own curriculum for the summer and keeping kids engaged, but I've found that I actually have a real knack for teaching (not to brag; it's just a personal triumph I thought I'd share). I've done a lot of teaching, mind you, but this is the first time I, myself, have had total control of a classroom for 7 hours straight. That's a lot of hours, which completely freaked me out pre-camp, but now, I am confident in my abilities, and I LOVE going to see my kids every day and watch them grow in so many ways. AND, I even LOVE making lesson plans. Is that weird...? haha.

So, what are some of the things I've implemented in my classroom, you ask? Well, every kid has a journal, which I made and they decorated (I'll take some pics., they're really cute). They write or draw in the journals every day, and they LOVE them (sometimes when we have down time, they'll ask if they can write something in their journals). It makes my day!! Also, we have a vocab. word of the day; so far, the words have been respect, reenactment and integrity. You may think that the last two words are a bit difficult for 5- and 6-year-olds, but seriously, they grasped the concepts really quickly! Sometimes I think we baby kids too much- they are so capable of being challenged and coming out successful. So, with my word of the day, any time the kids hear me or my JC, David, use the word in a sentence or if one of them can use the word properly in a sentence, they get a sticker. Bribery, I know, but it really encourages them to listen and integrate the new word into their vocabularies. Also, to present the word of the day, I use a revised hangman approach called surf man. The kids love having to "unlock" the word of the day. They feel like little detectives.

Okay, so I just spent, like, a bazillion years talking about the word of the day, and now I'm tired, so I'll just give you a quick run down of other things I've done in my classroom: games, creating a play, reading circle time, outdoors games, songs, going to the park with other groups, going on field trips (like Harborfest), making and decorating our own recycling boxes, and my JC, David, did a really cool lesson on the senses (kids got to eat nutri-grain bars and play fishy fishy, cross my ocean. haha.

Also, I run a club on Friday called FUNdraising. So, basically, it exists to raise more money for CHAD (the camp in Chinatown where I work). The kids in it had a really good time yesterday. We brainstormed ideas for fundraising (I got some crazy ones and some really good ones, of course). And then Amy (my awesome JC for the club) and I took them around the area to several restaurants (Sandella's, D'Angelo's, Boston Pizza, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, Herrera's, Osaka and Crazy Dough's) and a CVS. Every place agreed to help us with our "FUNdraising". The kids, after each time, were sooo excited when a new business would give the go ahead! I think this club is really going to be a highlight of my experience working with CHAD.

Anyway, until next time!

:)

Alex

Day 1

To be cliche, time really does go by quickly when you're having fun. I got up at 4 a.m. this morning for my 6:40 flight, and I'm already in Boston and it's almost 10:00 p.m.

My day has been filled with some great exploring, new friendships, and of course, delicious food. Sue and David, my camp directors, picked me up at Logan airport at around 1:00 p.m., post finishing a scrumptious caesar salad from Starbucks. Om nom. Too bad I forgot to pick up some napkins- needless to say, it was a tasty mess. Anyway, that was irrelevant. So, David and Sue and I embarked on the multi-exit journey to Cambridge. When we arrived, Sue and I forced my massive bags 3 floors up a spiral staircase, not without a fight (Harvard doesn't have elevators in a lot of its buildings).

Then, I took a whirl around Harvard Square. Even though it was rainy, it was still wonderful. Of course, I spent almost all of my time in the bookstore (surprise surprise), texting myself interesting book titles and people watching in the cafe upstairs. When I finally felt I should wrap-up taking in the overwhelming academia, I headed for some indigenous stores: The Tannery, Curious George, and other good finds.

After that, I hung out at the PBHA building (for those who don't know what I'm talking about, PBHA is the organization at Harvard that the camp I will be a senior counselor for is affiliated with). The PBHA building is very quaint. Well, everything here is, although, more beautiful than quaint, really. But it's all old, and therefore, "quaint" usually comes to mind. I also got to meet one of my JCs (Junior Counselors), David Fun (cool last name, yeah?)! He'll be helping me, as well as Helen Zhao, who I cannot wait to meet soon!! So David and I took a lovely trip to the bookstore to get "Kite Runner" (I know, my second trip to the bookstore already). It was a crazy rampage to find that darn book- one would think it wouldn't be too hard to find such a bestseller, but no! haha. Following that, we moseyed over to CVS to get some Starburst gummies for Sue, and David got "old people candy" a.k.a. Werther's caramels. baha.

David and I came back and had the task of stuffing envelopes. David, David and I were a machine!

When my tongue no longer could taste anything but envelope adhesive, we ventured off to The Border (not to be confused with On the Border, Dallasites). I had this crazy delicious chicken breast, stuffed with chorizo and covered in cheese, with sides of veggies and black beans. I couldn't be any more of a fatty, for serious.

Post-dinner activities involved seeing more of Harvard Square and, currently, watching the Lakers/Celtics game ( I know this latter detail will surprise many of you, but I'm being open-minded).

So, the day isn't over just yet, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to write, since I'm just sitting on my buttox.

Au revoir,

Alex :)

'Bout to be in Bean Town!

I am on the plane to BOSTON!

YAY!

Today will probably be running errands and piddling around Harvard Square, but tomorrow, the work will begin, I'm sure. But while the madness is still 24 hrs. away, I will relish this time to explore!

So, I got incredibly ambitious, and decided not to ship a box and, instead, fit 2 months into 2 suitcases. We'll see how that works out...

If you want to know the breakdown of my time, I'll be living at Harvard for the first 2 weeks, and then the rest of my time will be spent residing at Emerson College, just blocks away from Chinatown.

Also, I want to give a shout out to Mrs. Greimann, Mrs. Ferguson and Ms. Nott for lending me excellent teaching materials and a world of good advice! I promise I will bring your things back in good condition! :)

And of course, to my parents for nagging me every second to pack because, finally, I got it done! And to Olmar for acting silly with me and not nagging me to get packing! Oh, and to Beethoven, for constantly reclaiming your territory (my parents' bed), which doubled as my packing grounds, by pouncing unannounced on my elegantly stacked and pressed clothing. I love a good challenge.

Well, until next time!

Adieu!

Chambs :)

Room Ideas 2010-2011

I know I said I probably wouldn't blog until I arrive in Boston, but hey, this blogging thing has already started to pull me in. Yikes!

Okay, so what's on my mind right now?

Decorating my room next year!

So, in the past I've always gone for pretty bold colors and patterns, but I'm trying a more relaxed, intellectual look this year. Why? A) I want something new, which is understandable, right? I'm growing up, becoming more sophisticated! B) Bright colors, although happy, don't really provide a studious atmosphere...

You can see some images of what I'm aiming for on this post. Let me know what you think :)

A glimpse of what's to come

So, since many of you are interested in my work this summer (an awesome teaching job in Boston's Chinatown, working with 6-8 year-olds for 2 months), I thought I'd start a blog for you to get a look at what I'll be up to! :)

Now, I must admit that I'll certainly have my hands full, training (the first 2 weeks), lesson planning, teaching, spending time with my awesome staff (development and play time), but in my spare time, I want to share with all of you.

Anywho, I will start my journey on June 10th, so expect a post sometime around then.

Until then,

Alex :)