CS Lewis Bilingual High School and Schedule for Block A

I teach 4 different classes to 4 different levels of students. 

1. Freshmen Conversation - this class is a supplement to the book the students are learning from in other classes. My goal is to get them speaking and using the vocabulary and grammar structure as much as possible. Getting them to speak is easy...getting them to speak in English is not so easy. 

2. Public Speaking  - this is a sophomore level class. It is a new course this year: they have combined two classes into one and I am the first to teach it. My goal is to prepare them to make all kinds of public speeches.

3. Writing - this is a junior level class. It is also a new course this year. I am building the curriculum for this one from scratch. It is the most time consuming, and I am glad it is only one block - see below. It is also the most grading intensive. 

4. Course Book - every level takes this class, but I am teaching the SuperSeniors. These are the fifth year students that are getting ready to take the exit exam (Maturita) and graduate from high school. This course has a text book (Praise the Lord!) and the students speak English nearly fluently. 

The school schedule here is very different from America. Our school year is broken up into quarters, which we call Blocks. One block is approximately 9 weeks long, sometimes a little longer. Classes might meet for one block, two blocks, or four blocks. My Writing and Public Speaking classes are one block - so the class will repeat with new students every 9-10 weeks. My Course Book and Conversation classes are four blocks, so a full year.

My schedule is below.

Classes are abbreviated as follows: Conversation = CO, Public Speaking = PS, Writing = WR, Course Book = CB

Freshmen = 1, Sophomore = 2, etc. 

the A, B, C, and Ds are the groups that each class is broken into. The number is the classroom.

The periods when I do not have a class are open/office times. We also sub for each other during those open times. For example, this Monday, I will be subbing during 2nd period for another English teacher. I also have lunch duty on Mondays and Hall duty on Fridays.

Check out the school website - you'll find the link to change the language to English on the very top right over the logo of the tree and lamp post. There are some neat things there and it will give you a better feel for the school. www.bilgym.sk

Settling In

First of all, let me apologize for my lack of communication in the last six weeks. It has been a good time of adjustment. Here is a list of things I am adjusting to:
1. new roommate
2. new transportation system (i've almost got this down, although new places are still an adventure)
3. not hearing English everywhere you go
4. trying to figure out what the signs say
5. new school schedule
6. fall weather
7. Slovak wet-ness (it rains or is misty a lot)
8. new classes at school
9. new food (The Adventures of Mel & Gina in the Canteen - coming soon to a theater near you)
10. new culture

Some things are easier to adjust to than others, but most of it is going well. I'm still struggling with the school part a little...just trying to stay a day ahead is tough sometimes.

It takes me a long time to go grocery shopping sometimes because I can't find what I'm looking for. Or I don't know what it should look like.

I think this is a general overview, and I'll try to get some more specific posts up as well.

Please continue to pray for me as I'm learning Slovak and building relationships with my students and colleagues.

No Water!

Monday evening when I was getting ready to get in the shower about 8pm, I turned on the faucet and nothing came out. I tried the sink…nothing…tried the kitchen sink…nothing. We were out of water.

Apparently, this happens occasionally, and you just have to wait for it to come back on. It was not back on Tuesday morning, so I went to school a little smelly with a washcloth and washed my face in the sink at school. I did wear perfume, so that masked the BO a little bit.

When I got home at 4, there was hot water, but not cold yet. The water was definitely brown, and left gross dirt stuff in the tub. I washed it back out after the water had run for a little while. We got the cold water back about 6pm, so I took a shower and got all clean. It was definitely more appreciated that day than most others.

Today is Saturday, and I'm trying to do a load of laundry. I'm afraid we are not going to have water again today. The pressure is low in the sink, and there is no water going to the washing machine. I turn it on, but no water goes into the tub. Ashley is still sleeping, and I don't know who to call about this unfortunate event.

But this is what life is like in Slovakia…there is no warning, and you just learn to deal. But I'm really hoping I don't have to go to church without a shower tomorrow. And clean sheets and clothes would be nice too.

First Days of School - sort-of

School officially started on September 2. The students came to their homeroom classes (I am not a homeroom teacher) and received a little bit of information. Then we went to a large opening session with the elementary school. After this, we took the high school students to the gym and each teacher introduced themselves. At this point, the students split back into their homeroom classes and stayed for about an hour. Then they went home about 10am. That was the end of the first day. We had a staff meeting at 11 to discuss the "field trip," which is code for emergency training, and then spent some more time planning.

Friday, the students arrived at 8:10 and went to their homeroom classes again. Then we split up into two groups: Theoretical and Practical. The theoretical groups had a class session of what to do in emergency situations. I was paired with a Slovak teacher, and she did the whole presentation in Slovak, so I have no idea what she was reading. But I'm pretty sure it had to do with first aid, what to do in a natural disaster, and what to do in case your friend gets alcohol poisoning. Then they switched groups and the Practical group had a few activities outside, but I wasn't there, so I am not sure what went on. Then we had fire drill at 11 and the students went home. We stayed and did some more planning and preparing for lessons.

Ashley and I went to see the movie "SALT" with Angelina Jolie Friday night. It was in English, with Czech subtitles. (Czech and Slovak are very closely related, and in general, they can always understand what each other are saying, so some movies are in Czech, some are in Slovak.) I really enjoyed it and it was nice to get out and just relax. The ticket prices are comparable to the US, but the popcorn and drinks are much cheaper.

Monday will be another strange schedule…Melissa and I will have 2 classes with the sophomores called NAT Chat - New American Teachers Chat. This means that they didn't have anything else for these students to do, so they get to hang out with us for a little while.

Tuesday, we will start actual classes. I will only have my first two classes since the SuperSeniors will still be doing some other training and seminar activities. But it will be nice to finally be in the classroom after all this planning time. I'm starting to feel like I'm ready to begin teaching. The first Block (quarter) will be more difficult than the rest since I will have all new classes. But after Block A, two of them will repeat, so it will be a little better.

Hrad Devin (Devin Castle)

OK...I can't figure out how to move the video to the bottom of the page, so here goes anyway. The video is 10 seconds long. In the courtyard of the castle, there is a very deep well. They provide a bucket, with a cup attached that you can use to pour a cup of water down the well and wait to hear it hit the bottom. In the video, Ashley dumps the whole bucket so you can hear it a little bit clearer. There is a lot of wind noise, because it was so windy, but you can hear the water hit the bottom of the well. Listen closely!

The Ruins of Devin Castle from the parking lot

Saturday we went to Devin Castle. I slept until 8:30 and then we got ready and left our flat about 10 am. We were going to try to leave earlier, but were pretty slow movers, which is alright. It had felt like a very long week, but I am finally adjusted to the time and on a regular schedule, so it's nice. My body is mostly adjusted, except for this really huge knot under my left shoulder blade. I'm working on finding a heating pad and am using the door jams to rub it out. I look like the bears that rub their backs on the trees, and it's working a little bit.

A Blacksmith at the Craft Festival

There is a great website here that will help you figure out which buses to use to get to where you want to go, but it was down on Saturday, so Ashley contacted a few friends that were able to help us figure out how to get to the Devin bus. We got off the 83 at the mall and walked across the bridge (under the cars) to the Novy Most bus stop. We bought bus tickets since the castle is outside of zone 1 (it's kind of a complicated system, and most of the time we don't need tickets because we have passes, but this time we did.) We were kind of just looking around, and then realized that the bus pulling out in front of us was the one we had wanted to be on, probably 30 seconds too late. The next one came 30 minutes later, so we went across the street to a very fun old-time craft fair. There was a blacksmith, people wood-carving, basket-weaving, making pottery, making corn-husk dolls, beautiful-magnificent-incredible-gorgeous eggs (the kind you might think of from Russia, but they are local here as well…not really expensive, but impossible to transport. I'd really like to have one, but have yet to figure out how to get it to the US. Any ideas?)

Slovak Knights

We went back to the bus stop and found our friends Melissa and Ryan there, so we joined up with them and got on the bus. It was about a 20 minute ride to the base of the castle. It's really beautiful out there. We paid our 7 Euro entrance fee…(still cheap by American Standards, but more expensive than normal for Devin due to the festivities) The Renaissance festival was just getting started really, so we wandered around the tents some, watched some Slovak Knights on stage…it seemed to be a comedy routine, since there was lots of laughing and Monty Python-type gestures, but it was all in Slovak, so I can't be sure of that.

The entrance to the castle grounds

Then came the castle itself. It was really incredible, and Ashley says it's just a baby castle, and not nearly as pretty as the others, but I really liked it. There was a game exhibit with really really old games…and some set up that you could play. Melissa and I played a game similar to Checkers, and it was harder than it looked, but was really fun! We went as far up as we could and took a lots of pictures. It was really windy and cool - probably only in the mid 60s. The locals think Fall is here to stay now and it won't get much warmer for a long time. I could have probably stayed for a long time, but everyone else felt like they had seen everything so we went down to see what time the bus came, and we had just missed it, so we ate lunch at a little place at the base of the castle, missed the next bus again, and walked around the outside of the castle. We found a little place where we could do some mountain climbing, so Ashley and I scrambled up about 25 yards or so and took a picture. Then we came down and caught the next bus back to town. We went back to the craft fair and did some more browsing, but still didn't buy anything. I still haven't decided if I want to go back or wait for the Christmas markets…I saw some things I really liked, but Ashley said there would be more and better prices at Christmas.

Our Checker-type Game: AlQuerque

We came home and did some deep cleaning in the kitchen. Two months of just sitting leaves things pretty dusty and a little gross. Plus, we wanted to rearrange things so that it was a little more organized and easier to find. Then we made a trip to the grocery store for some staples and stock items. We will probably need to do this again in the near future as we find things we wish we had on hand. Good news…I found a chocolate chip muffin mix! It's not quite the same, but makes a good substitute. It's weird, because that’s the only muffin mix we could find…but lucky for me, it's my favorite!

It was a very good day and I felt very good about all we did.

Can you tell how windy it was?

The Slovak Doctor Visit

(Actual Date: August 24)


Today Maria took us to the Slovak doctor to get them to say that we are not carrying any communicable disease and we are healthy enough to live here…at least that’s what I think we went for. We were not supposed to eat or drink anything, so I was really glad we got there pretty early, because this girl loves her breakfast. The first stop was a very nice and bright and clean office, similar to a Public Health place where you might go to get vaccinations for tropical adventures or just updated shots. The plan was to see the doctor, pee in a cup, and give blood. The problem was I had not had anything to eat or drink, and was pretty dehydrated.

I saw the doctor first and she asked for my weight and height…She was a bit upset that I couldn’t convert it into kilograms and centimeters, but she just put down the pounds and inches instead. (Melissa was able to convert this for her using her handy Slovak phone.) It was a little weird to me that they didn’t want to weigh me or measure me themselves. (Note: if American doctors would do this, the overweight problem might disappear. “And how much do you want to weigh today?”)

I waited while the doctor saw Melissa, and then they wanted to take my blood. Apparently, I was out of free blood. I’ve never had to fast before giving blood before, so I’ve always had plenty. But not today. They tried the right arm first, and found a vein, but only drops were coming out. Then they tried the left and couldn’t get anything. I was sent out to drink as much water as possible. By this time I was pretty light-headed, and really wanted to eat, but tried to fill up on water instead. I think I probably drank about a gallon of water, then they made me try again. This time they went for the top of my hand, pushed the blood down my arm, and used a suction-type needle, like you would to inject your meat before barbequing, but not quite so big. They managed to get 5cc and called it good. I ate a banana and some dried fruit I had with me for breakfast to help with the light-headedness. I had finally had enough water that I could pee in the cup, and we were off to location number two.

We had to have chest x-rays done at the hospital. If you can imagine a creepy psycho ward, you would be pretty close to the hall we were in. It was the x-ray/ sonogram/ultrasound hallway, and I really hope the rest of the hospital wasn’t like that. The one major difference from America: no paper gowns. Just strip down and walk into the x-ray room. There was a changing room, and you were the only one in there with the x-ray tech, but it was still pretty weird. I think this part was worse than the blood part, just because it was awkward. It actually went very quickly though, and then we were finished. Melissa and I made it back to school about 11:30, after stopping to have something to eat at a restaurant near the school.

We spent the rest of the day doing school stuff and came home for the evening.

Random Monday Notes

(Actual Date: August 23)


I had to be at school an hour before Ashley, so I went on my own and made it with no problems. We had several meetings in the morning and an orientation in the afternoon. We were able to get tickets for lunch and had a special Slovak dish called Halusky. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was pretty good. I’m going to go to the little grocery store near our flat by myself this evening for the first time. My internet still is not working, so I can’t post these blogs yet, but I am going to try Plan C tomorrow – get someone to call the company for me.

The Head English teacher gave me a special gift today of a Slovak language textbook so that I can learn more Slovak. The best part is that she helped write it! Her name is on the front cover…isn’t that cool? Now I just have to find the time to use it…and since I don’t have internet, I guess I’ll start tonight! (update on this: I have completed lesson 1, but don't remember much of the vocabulary...probably need some flashcards!)

First Church Service

(Actual Date: August 22)

I decided to go to church with Ashley today, and since it’s an evening service, I slept in again, but not so late. I got up about 10:15 or so and did a load of laundry. It literally takes two hours for the washing machine to cycle one time, and then we have to hang everything to dry. We have a rack on the balcony and we also hang things from the antlers in the common room, especially big things like sheets that don’t really fit on the rack. (I will eventually post pictures of this, just haven’t had a chance yet to take one.) Ashley made pancakes for brunch and I’ve been working on typing up these blog posts for a couple of hours now. I’m still not sleeping well, but someone told me that for every hour of time difference from where you left will be one day of adjusting. So I’m looking at 9 days, since I left from California. I’m taking it easy today and hoping that I’ll be able to fall asleep at a decent hour tonight so that I can get up and be ready for school training in the morning. We will not have students until September 2. (Sept 1 is a national holiday celebrating the Velvet Revolution.) But I have a lot to do to get ready for classes, and I’ll need every minute of this next week and a half.

A Lazy Day

(Actual Date: August 21)


Slept in really late – later than I think I have ever slept – I was up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night and then finally fell asleep about 7 am and thought I’d get up about 9 or 10, but rolled over and the clock said 12:52pm. At first I thought something was really wrong with my clock, so I got up and checked with Ashley…yep, was really 1pm.

I probably could have gone back to bed at that point, but figured I should probably be up for a little while. I got dressed and Ashley took me to a little Slovak/Czech/Hungarian restaurant near Old Town called Divny Janko’s – which means Weird John’s. It was a beautiful place and had really good food for a great price. Then we walked around Old Town for about an hour and made our way home.

I finally got to skype with my mom for the first time since I arrived and it was really good to catch up with her. I had talked to my dad several times, but sometimes a girl just needs her mamma. After hanging up, we made another trip to Tesco for a few more things. I think this will definitely be a weekly thing (at least) for a while until I’m all set up. We had some leftover spaghetti for dinner and I tried to get ready for bed, but I really wasn’t very tired. So I watched a movie and finally laid down about midnight.

Staff Team-Building and a trip to IKEA

(Actual Date: August 20)

at a park outside of Bratislava (similar to a State Park)

Friday was a team-building day which basically meant that we were all going to do something fun together. Several people met at a trail in Petrazalka to bike or roller-blade to the park outside of Bratislava (someone said it might have been 12km, or about 5 miles). But since I did not have either of those options, I joined the cooking team. We met at the school and walked to a bus stop that would take us out to the park. We found the park and the top chef who drove a car full of supplies. We helped carry supplies in to the park and found a place to set up. Slovak BBQ is nothing like the states, but it was pretty good. They had chicken, bread, sausages, raw vegetables, grilled zucchini, grilled bacon, and some kind of cake for dessert.

It was very pretty and relaxing. I had a good time, but it was pretty hard to join in because most people spoke in Slovak the whole time. Reason #953 to learn Slovak quickly. All the teachers speak English (it’s required by the school in order to get hired), but most are not comfortable using it all the time. And honestly, if I had to speak in Spanish all the time, it would not be very easy for me either, so I don’t blame them.

getting the food ready for lunch

When I got back, I met up with Ashley, Jenni, and Katie for a trip to IKEA. I got a rug there and a rubbish bin (trash can), some picture frames, and a few other items to help me set up my room a little better. I will need to make another trip, but I can only buy what I can carry, and that’s a new concept for me. It’s weird to not be able to just buy what you want since you don’t have a way to get it home. I really want a desk for my room, but I have to find someone with a car that would be willing to go to the store with me and bring it to my flat. So I’ll get one eventually, just not right away. (Thank you, Ozona, for getting me ready for that one!)

By the time we got home from IKEA, we were ready to put our stuff away and start thinking about bed. I seem to be able to go to sleep for a couple of hours, but then I wake up and can’t go back to sleep for a couple more hours, then I finally fall asleep again and wake up really late! (see next post)

First Day at School (no students)

(Actual Date: August 19)

This was a very short day. Ashley showed me how to get to school, and then we split up for our school meetings. We had one large meeting together about vision and goals (like the superintendent’s talk on the first day, but much shorter). Then we had a little bit of time to get a quick tour and find our office on the 3rd floor. (Who needs a Stairmaster?) We had a short English department meeting and then went to lunch. For the afternoon, we just kind of read over some course descriptions and tried to figure out the schedule. Then I got on the bus and came home all by myself! Hooray for not getting lost the first time…maybe later I’ll get lost, but I was successful the first time. I know I was home by about 3pm, but I don’t really remember what I did the rest of this day either. I’m writing this on Sunday, so it was only 4 days ago, but I still don’t remember. Probably went to Tesco, which is like Wal-Mart…we’ve been there lots lately, so it’s safe to say we went on this day as well.

First Day in Bratislava

(Actual Date: August 18)


Maria (the one helping us with visas) picked me up at 8:15 on Wednesday morning and we went to register at the foreign police and begin the visa process. The foreign police station is right in front of my flat, so it was a short walk to get there. It took about an hour and a half to get all the paperwork done and give all the stuff to the lady behind the counter. Lots of places here work like the DMV – you take a number when you walk in the door and wait in the lobby for your number to come up on the screen, then you can go in the door to the desk. We got lucky and Melissa and I were at desks next to each other so it was very easy for Maria to translate for both of us at the same time.

From there, we went to the school for a little bit so that we could check our email and request original birth certificates. I did not know we would need them, so I didn’t bring one. Maria also wrote letters for us to sign so that she would have the authority to work on the visas for us. We then had to take them to a notary/lawyer to get them signed.

After this, we found the cell phone store so we could get local phone numbers. Again, this is a take a number kind of place, so we waited until our number was called. I was able to use my US phone and just get a new SIM card with some credit on it. Most people have credit, which is like a Go phone in the US. When you get close to running out, you go buy more credit. It is significantly cheaper than phones in the US.

Melissa remembered a nice place she liked to have lunch so we went there for a late lunch. Then we went to get bus passes so that we did not have to buy tickets all the time. They would not take our passport photos we had brought because they were too big, so we had to find a photo lab that would take our picture for the passes. Then we went back to buy the bus passes. So I can now just hop on a bus and ride wherever I want (in Zone 1…which is mostly where I will be).

By now it was nearly 4 pm so Maria helped me get home, and I don’t remember what I did the rest of that day. Weird, I know, but really, I can’t remember the rest of that day. Probably went to bed early and slept.

Travelling

(Actual date: August 16-17)




I travelled with Melissa and Ryan, a couple that is also going to be living in Bratislava this year. Mel will teach with me at the high school and her husband will find a volunteer position somewhere in town. We began our day by meeting at the designated spot at 3:20 am on Monday morning. We got all our luggage loaded and were off to the airport. Because we were flying internationally, it took us a long time to check in. Then we had to wait in a really long line to get through security. (at this point, I was really missing DFW…my favorite airport for security checks) Finally, we were all through the security point and went to find our gate.

We did not have enough time to do anything except go to the restroom…so this is where I made my biggest mistake. I did not eat breakfast, and I know that I feel yucky if I don’t eat enough before I fly. We had a 3 hour flight to Chicago first. By the time we got there, my tummy was a little off kilter, but I figured if I ate a good lunch it would be better. We had a quick meal at McDonald’s (because it was right in front of us when walked off the first plane and directly next to the gate for our second flight.) We had about an hour to eat and I needed to rearrange some of my carry-on luggage and then we were off on the 7 hour international flight to Frankfurt.

I tried desperately to sleep on this flight, but I’ve never been much of a sleeper when travelling. (note to self: bring drugs next time.) I can’t get comfortable enough and I had an aisle seat, so I was subconsciously worried about getting whacked with the carts. I was pretty impressed that I only had to get up once, until I realized that my ankles were swelling to the size of grapefruits. Since this was my first international flight, I did not realize that you should get up every hour so that you don’t get cankles…so please learn from my experience and get up often. By the end of this flight I was feeling pretty queasy, but we had a 3 hour layover and I thought some solid ground would be nice.

We had entered the Schoengen (sp?) zone, where you have to have your stuff checked by customs. They were nice, but went through my entire carry-on suitcase. So then it wouldn’t zip too well (it was pretty tightly packed!) We found a place to set up camp for a couple of hours in Frankfurt. Then I realized that all I had with me were American Dollars…no good in Frankfurt. And we couldn’t find the currency exchange place, or it just wasn’t open that early (6:00am), so Mel got me a little croissant. I thought I was feeling pretty good. Then we found our next gate and scanned our own boarding passes and went down the stairs (carrying all our stuff) to the bus….yes, bus. We rode around on this very crowded bus for ten minutes or more all around the airport, between planes and all. I think we ended up all the way at the very edge of the airport before we saw our plane. Then we had to lug our stuff up the stairs to the plane doors. I found my seat and got all settled. I was in the window seat, the middle seat was empty, and a nice man was on the end. At this point I was extremely exhausted and really wanted to sleep. I got my pillow out and laid my head on the window. We took off, it was really turbulent, and I was up to go to the bathroom. As soon as I sat down again, I needed the barf bag, but I didn’t make it in the bag. There is nothing like having travelled for 24 hours, not slept, then throwing up all over yourself in a place you can’t escape, and no one speaks English. The flight attendants were very nice, but clearly not happy I had made a mess. I got to the bathroom (the man next to me moved to a new seat, poor guy) and cleaned up as best as possible in a plane bathroom. I felt pretty good for about 20 minutes, then we were getting to land, and I used the bag in the seat next to mine. This time I had better aim. I just waited til everyone else had left the plane before getting off and then had to change my pants in the airport before meeting Daniel who is the manager of the school where I will be teaching.

We were somewhat worried when we walked out to the parking lot and he only had a small sedan. But we managed to get everything in. I wish we had taken a picture of this because it was pretty funny. We had all 6 big suitcases and one little one in the trunk…it looked like a low rider at this point, before we even got in the car. There were two duffels and my carry-on suitcase in the back seat behind the driver. I had to ride in the front with a backpack under my feet and with my laptop in my lap. Mel and Ryan squeezed in to the rest of the back seat and had to hold the trunk cover (like for SUVs in the US, but everyone has one here) in front of them, so they couldn’t see at all. I made it to the Novy Most (New Bridge) and had to have Daniel pull over so I could barf again at a bus stop. We were only about 5 minutes from Mel & Ryan’s flat. What a way to impress your “big” boss.

Melissa and Ryan have a flat in Old Town, which is the really cute (and old) part of town. But there is no elevator and they are on the 3rd floor (which is actually the 4th, counting the American way). So we carried all of their things up and had a short meeting with another lady and met the girl who will be walking us through the visa process. Then they brought me to my flat in Petrazalka – the part of town where the communists had built a ton of apartment buildings all in concrete. However, there has been a lot of renovating lately, and they used bright colors to paint over the grey. Our building is yellow and white, but is a little older than others, so it’s kind of dingy, but clean and renovated on the inside. I live on the 10th floor and am very grateful for the elevators. I have my own bedroom, and will hopefully post a video tour within the next couple of weeks. It’s pretty plain right now, but I’m slowly collecting things (of color, the entire flat is white) and finding a place for them.

I tried very hard to not take a nap, but a little one was necessary. I felt much better after an hour nap and set to work unpacking my clothes. Jenni and Katie came over to take me to the grocery store and dinner. We went to a Slovak pizza place they really like. It was very good and I was incredibly grateful for their help and companionship that night. About 15 minutes after I got home, Ashley arrived as well. We chatted for about an hour and I went to bed.

And that was my last day in America and my first day in Slovakia.

Training Ends

We ended training with a commissioning service and pray for each group.

Hiking and Waterfalls

A very long morning of hiking to a very lovely waterfall.

Talent Show

The last night of training we had a talent show...some serious, some funny...pictures and video later.

Hollywood

I will come back and fill this in, but I wanted to make sure I kept them in order. :)

Chicken & Waffles

On the last day in July, we had a pretty busy day, but were free from 5:30pm on. Sarah, Jamie, and I had planned to go back to Old Town to explore some more, but the busses stop running at 8 pm and we didn't feel that was enough time, so we decided to just walk to the next major street over (Lake Ave) and see what we could find.

We found Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles...apparently it's world famous (and in a Jackie Chan movie), but not in Texas, Florida, or Colorado. None of us had ever heard of it but several staff members said it was really good. So we decided to stay and see what all the hype was about.

literally: Waffle, Syrup, Chicken (must be fried for it to count!)

We are now believers! Our chicken and waffles (with syrup) was a treat! It reminded me a lot of Chick-fil-A's chicken biscuit for breakfast. You have to get over the fact that we don't think of chicken as breakfast food first, but we decided it was a safe start to our year of adventurous eating anyway. I really did like it and we had a blast taking pictures. (the waitress probably thought we were a little crazy, but it was super fun.)

Sarah, me, and Jamie - a nice security guard took this picture for us

Then we walked back to campus and made the weekly stop at Rite-Aid on the way home. Rite-Aid is like a Wal-greens or CVS store...and it's the closest thing to us and so we just give them business sometimes so that we can get off campus and enjoy the beautiful weather out here. 

New Side Job: Tattoo Artist

Check out this new tattoo design I drew on Shelly’s arm today! It means “I love the world!” I think my skills need a little work, but I might be on to something for me to do when I come back to the States next summer. I will begin taking appointments now if you are interested.

Truthfully though, I have actually turned out to be quite the artist with a sharpie. I’ve been drawing simple pics of random vocabulary words on notecards to be used in our ESL lessons. I can draw weather, post office items, places (like Laundromat!), and money. And maybe other things, but that talent remains to be seen.

Week 3 of Training

morning worship time

Week three is the hardest so far. No one is up early in the showers…everyone keeps getting to breakfast later and later every day. We are tired, but there were some good things this week. We had two great skits from the alumni: one about reasons we don’t get along and one about cultural differences in the different countries. Both were super entertaining, and probably pretty accurate.

We are also no longer required to go to the ESL classes if we are not teaching that night. Half of us are on campus tonight while the others are teaching. Then we will switch places tomorrow. It has been very nice to have 3 hours with no responsibility. I should be doing my last bit of homework, but I’d rather catch up on my blogging before I forget everything that has happened in the last week and a half.

Worship team getting ready
Karissa, Sierra, Melissa, Eric, & Morgan

The other nice thing about week three is that the schedule has loosened up a little bit. We are getting longer breaks…especially in the afternoon. This has allowed us to do a little bit more planning for our lessons and is alleviating stress. I am doing a load of laundry tonight as well as emailing, lesson planning, and just enjoying some alone time.

I found a quote this week from Mary Oliver. It is my challenge to you this week to think about this quote. You need not get an answer, but just the thinking will probably change your perspective on a few things anyway.

What do you plan to do with your one wild & precious life? ~Mary Oliver

Paul's make-shift Drum Set. It actually sounds really good! (note the "box-top cymbal" in the chair)

Santa Monica Pier

Jess, Chelsea, and Laura try to figure out our route

I’m getting all kinds of practice with public transportation. On Sunday, August 1, several of us decided to go to Santa Monica Pier after our Sunday service. We wanted to buy day-passes for the bus and train so we had a friend shuttle us down to the nearest train stop. We each paid our $6 for a day-pass (definitely worth it!!) and went up to catch the train. Out here, the trains run between both sides of the interstate….cars were flying by us at a really fast pace. The train came pretty quickly and we were off on another adventure. We rode the gold line to Union Station and then caught the purple line to a place where we could get a bus that would go all the way to the pier. The trains seemed to go pretty quickly, but the bus was really a long ride. In all, it took us 2 hours to get from campus to the Pier.

The pier from Ocean Drive. It was pretty crowded.

looking back at Santa Monica beach from the pier

The pier was nice, and it was officially my first time to see the Pacific Ocean. I did not stick my feet or any part of my body in because people said it was really cold…maybe next time. My teammate Ashley and I walked up and down the pier and then found a little place to get some dinner. Then we decided we should start heading back since it took so long to get there. We left the pier with three other girls around 6pm and caught the same bus (from the other side of the street) to begin the trek home. This was definitely the worst part. There were a ton of people on the bus and it stopped all the time. Then we caught the trains in reverse order. We were trying to get back in time to catch the bus that goes right by campus, but we were too late for it. So we tried for another bus that would get us close. It never came and we got tired of waiting so we called a taxi. It was 9pm by the time we got back, so it took us 3 hours to get home. We didn’t get much else done, but we learned that we should carry things to do on the bus and train. Even if it is just a book to read, the time would not be wasted.

LA skyline from Union Station while the sun was setting

Me and Ashley, Jamie and Sarah at Union Station

Week 2 of Training

This week was pretty predictable. It was the same schedule as the first week and we still taught or observed ESL classes every day. My teammate came in on Thursday, so we got to spend a little bit of time together. Her name is Ashley and she is from Mississippi. You can definitely tell when she talks. I didn’t think I had much of an accent but people say I do a little bit. So we have two southern girls going to Slovakia this year. A third teammate also came to training on Thursday. Her name is Melissa and she is from Phoenix. Her husband Ryan is going as well, but will not be teaching. Melissa and Ryan will be staying through the end of training and I will be flying to Vienna with them on the 16th. Ashley will leave next week to spend some time with her family before she meets us in Slovakia. I still have yet to meet the other three girls teaching in Bratislava this year. This will be Jenni’s fifth year and Kate and Katie’s third year there. They were not required to come to training since they were not getting new roommates. I am sure I will meet them in my first few days in Bratislava. I am getting very excited about meeting them and making new friends. Only 2 more weeks!

My First Bus Adventure

On Saturday, July 25th, we had a scavenger hunt in Old Town Pasadena. This is like their downtown area, but it’s really cute and artsy and really doesn’t look very old since they’ve fixed everything up, but they still call it Old Town.

Preview of European busses...everyone from ESI

In order to get there, we rode public transportation since we did not have enough cars for all of us…and to make us ride the bus. Getting there was pretty easy. We had an alum from last year on our team who helped us find the bus stop and get on. It’s $1.50 to get on the bus, but you can go anywhere that bus goes. We got off in Old Town and started the hunt. It was very fun to explore and the only hard part was calling in the answers to our clues. We had to borrow someone else’s phone to call in our answer and get the next clue. We ended up getting 4th place out of 10 teams. Then we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and Sarah and I chose to stay in Old Town and wander around a little bit.

me pointing to the bus stop sign

We each bought a little sweater since it had been cool in the mornings that week. (turned out to be a fabulous investment…I wear it nearly every day now) Then we walked about a mile down the road to Target to get some breakfast and school supplies. When we left Target it was just the two of us and neither of us had ever ridden the bus before that morning. We found a stop and waited and waited and waited. Finally this nice lady came to the stop so we asked her where this bus was going just to make sure we were at the right stop. And we were not. That bus was going to downtown LA. We wanted to come back to the campus. She said we were on the wrong side of the road! Did you know that busses run on both sides? We did not. We needed to be on the North-bound bus. While we were having this conversation with her, the North-bound bus came and left. So we had to walk across the street and wait some more. They only came every 45 minutes, so in total, we waited 1.5 hours for the bus to take us back to campus. But we made it! And now I know that to come home, you have to be on the other side of the street. :o)

Sarah and I on the bus

A Day at Training

Here is a typical day's schedule while I am at training:

Annie, me, Sharon, & Sarah all wore coordinating clothes.

6:00-6:30ish get up and get ready

6:30-7:00 make phone calls, have quiet time

7:00-7:45 breakfast

8:00-8:50 Discovery Group/Worship/Devotions

9:00-10:20 Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) class

10:30-12:00 Country or Region specific TEFL class

12:00-1:00 lunch

1:30-3:30 life overseas training - topic varies by day

3:45-5:30 Practicum Prep - see description below

5:30-6:15 dinner

6:15-7:00 drive to Practicum site

7:00-8:30 teaching ESL classes

8:30-9:15 drive back to campus

9:15-9:45 de-brief the day with same group from the morning

9:45-10:15 get ready for bed!

We do get short breaks after nearly every session, but it's only 10 or 15 minutes. However, the material is exceptional and I might even say it's better than my "regular" teacher workshops. They have a different way of saying things that is going to help me be an exceptional teacher (I hope) and I can't imagine how much better I will be when I get back to the states.

Practicum Prep

Erin & I wore matching clothes on accident!

We are actually teaching ESL classes this month. ESI has partnered with local churches to provide free English classes to the communities. And we are providing the teaching! Scary, but extremely beneficial. Most of the people here have never been teachers before, so they are getting their feet wet, and those of us that were are getting a chance to re-program our "teacher-brains" to what appears to be a better lesson planning strategy (at least for teaching people to speak English...I'll evaluate it more after I've taught for a few months.) Since I have experience, I got the wonderful privilege of going first on the first night. Unfortunately, the classes are very small, and no one came to mine. But we will do teach almost every other night, so Thursday I did actually have two students. It went pretty well overall, but of course I made a few bloopers. I'm excited about watching my progress over the next 3 weeks.

Prayer Requests for this week:

- for continued excitement

- for plenty of rest

- for my roommate - she should be here this week!

California Breakfast

This is a "You-know-you-are-in-California-when" story.

Sunday morning we had a continental breakfast. I saw some cereal boxes on the table, but no milk, so I made a comment about it. Somebody answered, it's probably for the yogurt. aaaahhhhh....

The cereal boxes turned out to be 3 different varieties of Kashi granola. Who knew there were that many different kinds of granola! I thought all granola was the same kind of granola, but the one I actually ate had strawberries, some other berries, and kiwi! It was actually very good and tasty.  Maybe I'll eat more granola this way :)

Training Begins

Leavin’ on a jet plane...don’t know when I’ll be back again!

me and all my posessions for the next year

Michelle, me, Brance & Wren

Saturday morning I packed up all my things and went to the airport. My parents, my sister’s family, and my best friend’s family came to see me off. Everything had gone so smoothly until we boarded the plane. Everyone was in their seat, the flight attendants had done their thing, then the captain comes on and says that there is no air conditioning and the plane won’t start. So several people chose to deplane and wait inside, but I just stayed in my seat. I did not want to take all my carry-on items off again. It only took about 30 minutes for them to fix it, and another 30 minutes to reboard those who left. So we were off, but about an hour late.

I sat next to two little boys, about 9 and 4. They were travelling with their dad and sister (in the row behind us) to see their grandparents in California. Spencer was so talkative and told me all about California and what I should do while I am here. His brother (William, I think) drew me two pictures with stars and shooting stars. They were so cute and great travel companions.

me, Amy, Guinevere, Floyd

Once we landed, I had planned on getting lunch at the airport. I couldn’t see anything in the waiting area, so I figured there would be something outside by baggage claim…nope. The Burbank airport was very small…a little larger than San Angelo, but not much…and no Chinese restaurant. So I found a Hudson News and got a granola bar and a Butterfinger. I ate the granola bar while waiting for my luggage and was saving the Butterfinger for the trip on the van/shuttle. However, it was so hot (and humid) here that my Butterfinger melted before I could eat it.

I met two other girls going with TeachOverseas at the shuttle stop and we all rode together to William Carey International University. It is very green here and I’ll try to get some pictures posted later this week. We went through Registration and got our room keys and then some nice staff & volunteers helped us get our luggage up the stairs. That’s when we discovered that we did not have air conditioning in the dorm (which really looks more like a 2-story motel.) This is quite an adjustment for me. I’ve never not had A/C. Last night when we went to bed it was 93 degrees in our room. We have a fan and left the windows open and all the doors open and it has cooled off considerably this morning. It is now 77 degrees inside. And very nice outside. We are hoping that it will not be as hot today. I have 2 roommates and there are 4 rooms in our suite. So 12 girls altogether – we all share 2 showers and 2 stalls and 2 sinks. Each room has a small mirror. So far it’s working out ok, but we didn’t have to be anywhere until 8:30 today.

Dad, me, Mom

There are more than 50 people here for training and a few more will come and go at different times during the next 4 weeks. I did find out that I will be leaving the States on August 16th.

This is long now, and it is nearly time for breakfast so I’ll continue my stories about training in upcoming blogs.

Please pray for cooler weather!

Farewell Fiesta

This past weekend began the farewell phase of my preparations.

I said good-bye to my many friends in Ozona this weekend. My Sunday School class hosted a Farewell Fiesta for me at a ranch. All the rain recently has made everything green, the temperature was down (in the high 80s/low 90s) and it almost felt like spring again. It smelled so good out there - all the greenness, wet earth, and a few blooming plants made for a spectacular scent. We had fajitas, chips and dips - guacamole, salsa, 7-layer dip, and a fantastic dessert called sopapilla cheesecake - cheesecake in the middle, sopapilla on the outside. I had a gigantic piece and it was delicious.

Sunday was a comissioning service at church. The ladies of the church all gathered around to pray for me as I take this step of faith and begin to serve the Lord in a new capacity. We also had a potluck lunch. I love potluck lunches! It might be one of my favorite things about small churches. Everyone pitches in a dish and voila! instant feast for 100 (or more). Some of the ladies even made Slovak recipes for the event. One in particular was very good - kind of like a ham & pea salad combination.

I will leave my parents' house tomorrow and make my way to my sister's house, stopping to see a few friends along the way. My flight leaves DFW for California on Saturday morning.

My goal going forward is to update the blog once a week. I will do my best to make it happen, but no promises! Please pray for safe travels this week as I galavant around the state.

Funds Raised!

My funding has been completely raised!

Thanks to everyone who contributed financially, with items for garage sales, or with prayers. It was a very humbling experience, but I have learned to be a gracious receiver. In our American culture, being receivers is much harder than being givers.

Why is this? I think it has to do with the American Dream - where you build everything you have all by yourself, from the ground up. It's easy to become prideful if you did it all. It's harder to be prideful if you have to say that someone helped you. It's impossible to be prideful if God did it for you. I say impossible, but I mean impossible for personal pride. I have pride in my great big God that he did this for me, because I surely didn't raise all these funds on my own. The Lord pricked hearts and put numbers in heads for this to be the success it was. I think this kind of pride is OK. Just like having pride in a friend or relative when they have accomplished or done something great is OK. So long as it doesn't come between you and your relationship with God.

Thank you Lord for teaching me to become a gracious receiver!

Garage Sales: West Texas Style!

"One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I've recently become a garage-sale Pro. I received this distinction after being a part of 3 garage sales in 2 weeks. Here's how that worked out.

1. I held a garage sale for my own personal belongings. I did not want to put things in storage, so I decided to get rid of almost everything. (I do have about 20 boxes in storage right now, about half of which are school-related.) I told a few friends they could come by for an "early-bird" preview. A friend told a friend, who told a niece that was about to get an apartment for the first time. She called me and came over. She ended up buying almost all the furniture! It was a wonderful start. The day of the sale, a great majority of the other stuff sold as well.

2. My Sunday School class decided to host a garage sale as a fundraiser for my trip. So what I did not sell at my personal garage sale, we took over to the host's house. I was incredibly impressed at the amount of donations people from the church had brought over to their home. It completely filled a bedroom and the front living room. We ended up using the entire front lawn and car-port on the first day. The second day, everything fit under the car-port. What a successful garage sale!

3. The same weekend as the Sunday School garage sale, my grandmother decided to host another garage sale at the church where I grew up. This too was an amazingly successful garage sale. We had several people bring donations to the church. The church is located on a prominent street, so there were lots of people that stopped by to browse and generally everyone purchased something.

It was this particular garage sale that reminded me I live in West Texas. First, I've never seen anyone arrive at a garage sale on a tractor. Yes, tractor...like the kind you use to pick up the big round hay bales. He bought some CO2 canisters for a pellet gun, but was planning to use them in some kind of wine-bottle-opening-contraption. So a wine-drinking tractor-driving man visited my garage sale! How fun!

Second, a couple arrived on a motorcycle. How can you properly garage-sale on a motorcycle? The man got all excited about some zinc canning lids that were on one of the tables. He was calling people and checking out the lids individually...even counting to see how many there were. Then, he only wanted to pay .50 for them! Bizarre, but hey - it's a garage sale. This couple did only buy about three small items and then stowed them in the saddle bags of the motorcycle and drove off.

Third, toward the end of the garage sale, a young man rode by on his horse. He did not dismount, nor did he buy anything, but it was interesting anyway. He rode right up to the edge of the tables and just kind of gave it the once-over. I think he was just curious about what kind of junk was left. But I'll bet this never happens in the city!

All in all, it was a crazy, hard-working two weeks to get these garage sales off the ground. I am so thankful for all the help and all those who came to buy. The money raised put me within $500 of my goal. PTL!

Last Week of School

There are only 5 more days of school. Two regular days and three days of finals. I almost can't believe that it's nearly over, but at the same time, I'm so glad I can put my full focus on getting ready for Slovakia. I have two more books to read and more packing to do. I'll be having a garage sale in two weeks and there is more to do for that than I remember. It's been a while since I was on the selling end of a garage sale, and I forgot how hard it is to put a price on your personal belongings. Some are worth more than others, but some of the worth is only sentimental. Buyers do not know about my sentimental attachment to the item, so that value is worthless. How do you decide how to price those items?

I'm also trying to decide what to keep. Some things will store better than others, and those are easier to decide to keep. So far, I've kept some glass bowls from the kitchen, my box of costumes (too much work went into collecting them to get rid of them...and who knows when you will need a costume or themed outfit), a few Christmas decorations, and I'm boxing up all my school stuff (again, too much work is represented by that pile of papers).

I am un-officially at the half-way point money-wise. I officially have $5,000, but my church has quite a bit (I don't know the amount) they will give me in July. So thank you again for your generosity!

All Kinds of Updates

Financial Update:
This week I added up all the funds that have been contributed and I get nearly $5,000. Thank you so much!  TeachOverseas.org asks us to have $6,000 by the end of May, so I'm nearly there. Once I hit the $6,000 mark, I'll be half-way to the goal of $12,000. The Bible shows us with Paul that some of us are meant to be the ones that "go" and some are meant to be the ones that "give". Praise the Lord for faithful givers. If you would like to contribute financially, visit http://www.teachoverseas.org/contribute.php

Language Update:
I know 85 words/phrases in Slovak...sounds like a lot, but I still can't really say anything worthwhile. I'll just keep plodding along.

Preparation Update:
The past two weeks have kept me very busy. I scheduled a physical with my doctor. He ran several blood tests and I have to have one more test done at the end of May.

With my mom's help, I've been looking at international insurance. I think we've found one that is going to work and we'll be ironing out the details for it next weekend.

I reserved my plane ticket to get to training in California. I'm actually using some airline miles I have collected, so it will help bring the cost down a couple hundred dollars or so. But it was a concrete thing that made this experience a little bit closer and a little bit more real.

I'm trying to pack up the things I want to keep in storage while I am gone and get the rest ready for a garage sale. I'm learning to let go and get rid of things. It's a hard lesson to learn, but I'm getting there. Really, its just stuff...it won't do me any good sitting in a building for a year or more. And someone else could be using it. (I think it's probably a good thing to learn this lesson early in my life, too...) I'm planning to use the money I get from selling my belongings to help finance part of the trip.

School Update:
There are only three weeks of school left for this year. All the students are ready to be done and it's getting harder and harder to convince them to do these last few lessons that will tie all their knowledge together. My focus is split between getting ready to leave and finishing what I'm already committed to. Please pray that I'll be able to keep things going on both fronts at the same time.

Emotional Update:
This past week was very tough.  I think because of all the combined factors mentioned above, plus it's starting to sink in that this is for real, and I'm going to be gone for a long time. I can't really explain it any better, but it was just a hard week. I'm spending the weekend with my family (for Mother's Day), so that will help.

Prayer Requests for this week:
For an emotional lift
To know the right questions to ask when looking at insurance
For my teammates/roommate in Slovakia - I don't know them yet, but they have been on my mind a lot.
For TeachOverseas.org as they make preparations for our month of training

Physical Training

A couple of friends have taken it on themselves to be my walking trainers...Literally.  They walk around town for exercise and have adopted me into their group. Nearly everyday for the past two weeks, I've walked with them.  There are several different routes...most of them more than 3 miles. You would think that walking in West Texas would be easy because it's so flat...not so. The town is actually built in a little bowl, so there are some pretty big hills to climb and come back down.

I've really enjoyed this training as it gives us a chance to talk about all kinds of topics and get to know each other a little better. Plus, it smells so good outside. We had a very wet winter and the wildflowers smell fantastic. And it's helping me to get ready for walking in Slovakia! I will not have a vehicle, so I'll be walking to the bus stop and from the bus stop to my destination all the time. I should probably start lifiting weights so I can carry my groceries around town too! Hmm...that sound's a little ambitious...we'll just stick with the walking for now.

The next time you take a walk, think of me and say a little prayer for my physical training and the people I will meet while walking in Slovakia!

Fingerprints!

A lot of times, I hear our uniqueness defined in terms of fingerprints. This is true biologically, and spiritually as well. None of has the same story, and none of us have had the same spiritual experiences. This week I had the opportunity to examine my actual fingerprints. Here's how that happened:

I received an email from TeachOverseas.org giving me instructions on getting an FBI background check in order to obtain a temporary residence permit in Slovakia. I had to submit "fresh" fingerprints to request a background check. I called the local sheriff's department, but they could only print out my fingerprints if they charged me with a crime. Since that would be counterproductive, I called a police department where my parents live and they could print them for $5. I visited their office on Wednesday and in an interesting few minutes, I had a copy of my fingerprints. They have a very cool machine that you put your fingers on and it scans your fingerprint. Then they print out on a special form from a laser printer. And that was the end.

I have to say this might be a fun family event in the summer...Its so neat to see something so unique about yourself in pure black and white. I spent several minutes in the car just looking at them. Then I took them to the post office and sent them to the FBI. In 13 weeks, the FBI will tell me that I have no criminal background and I will be able to get my temporary residence permit in Slovakia. 

One more step completed! On to the next one: full physical from the doctor.

Money Update: I have received about $1200! Praise the Lord! Only $11,000 to go! Please keep praying. This week - specifically pray for time to see the doctor about my physical.

Signed, Sealed, & Delivered

One of the biggest tasks I had to get finished was to get my support letters in the mail. I had vainly assumed that I could get this accomplished in about a day. It turned out to be a much bigger task and my life got in the way. I found that after teaching school all day and attending to my extracurricular activities, I had very little time left for anything other than sleeping and eating. My household chores even went unattended for a while...(not that this was very unusual...it tends to get really bad before I make the time to clean...) But now my house is mostly clean, my letters are sent, and now it's just time to wait and see what the Lord can do.

I had a hard time deciding what to include in my letter. There is so much to say and I only had one page to do it. I generally get the same questions when I tell people about my mission, so I tried to answer as many as I could. In the end, it took me three weeks to get them ready to mail. But 64 special requests are now on their way to the intended recepient. If you did not receive a letter and would like to get one, please leave me a comment with your email address and I will get one to you.

This past week I also had the privilege of speaking to the Castle Gap Association WMU. It was a very supportive group of women and they have pledged to lift me up in prayer as I get ready for this mission. I was very blessed to be able to speak to them. The leader said I didn't have to speak long, but with questions and answers, I ended up talking about 45 minutes. I'm finding that I can talk about Slovakia, why I'm going, and what I'm going to be doing for hours. I can't imagine what it will be like when I get there, but this week I found out there is an IKEA in Bratislava!! How wonderful is that? Something sort-of familiar to look forward to.

Precious Children

This past Wednesday I spoke to the group of Awana children at my church. The leaders had asked me to tell them about my decision and where I would be going so that they could pray for me over the next year. I shared with them about how the Lord will speak to anyone through whatever means He can. (but not always in the obvious way of Moses and the burning bush).

They had a few minutes to ask questions. I have to say, they had a few really good questions. One boy asked, "Do you have to go?" No one has asked me that yet, but I figure it's been on a few minds. I told him that I didn't HAVE to go, but that I wouldn't be very happy if I didn't obey God. I think that might have been my second favorite moment.

My favorite moment was after I had finished talking. The kids were leaving to go to their group activities and a little 4-year-old boy named Michael brought me a dollar. He didn't say anything, but his mom, Annie, came to tell me that Michael had asked her for a dollar to give to the missionary. I had forgotten how easy it is for little children to hear the Lord and obey him. Their hearts are not hardened yet, and they aren't worried about what other people think. If only it were as easy for the rest of us to hear and obey. May the Lord bring you an opportunity to hear and obey this week!