24 hours....

In 24 hours I will be on a plane to come home! WooHOO! Im a little excited. It is a combination of being away for so long and needing a break from the city. I love the city..don't get me wrong, but it will be nice to go up to the cabin and enjoy the clean air and no traffic. I am sad that I have to leave the Suz home for a week by herself, but my manager is going to come check on her each day.

The issue now is... cleaning. I have to clean.. pack... and everything else that comes with leaving for a week. Dishes... clothes... Christmas light (so Suz doesn't eat them!).. all that fun stuffs. Along with being up at 245 tomorrow so I can put my clothes on (if I dont wear them to bed!!) and walk out the door to the train. Then ride the train and the buss the hour and a half to the airport. Find the right terminal and get the heack out of here!

23 hours adn about 20 minutes and counting. All I gotta do is make it through the next 6 hours and Im home free! Wish me luck!

Long time no see

So I know it's been a while.. to those of you who are loyal readers I am sorry. Ok.. I probably dont have any loyal readers but hey. I can hope right?

So ... NYC in a nutshell the last week. COLD! On Thursday we had snow. It didnt melt on Friday or Saturday for that matter. But.. by the end of Saturday at least you could walk on the side walks. WAIT! Another winter blast called a NorEaster hit us on Saturday night. That's right folks. Smacked us upside the head. Ice.. Snow... and lots of it. Now while it wasnt that deep... its still here. Thats right.. Sunday morning to Wednesday morning there is still crud all over the ground. It is still slippery to get to the curb from the street and sidewalks where there are no businesses still have ice on them. That is because the snow/ice had melted.. then froze again. Doesnt all this sound like fun!?! Today we are supposed to get up to the 40's so hopefully the little stuff will finally get off the streets. The big stuff will still be here for a while.

On the Christmas front, I am super excited to come home for a week. It will be so great to see my friends and family. Though it's going to be a busy week..if you want precious Annie time, let me know and we shall see what we can do! My plane leaves here at 7 am on Saturday arriving in Ptown on Sat at like 1pm. I cant wait. Hope to see you all next week!

Well winter is here

That's right folks. Winter is here in the big city. It has been snowing and icing all day. There wass about 2 inches of ice when I came home about a half hour ago. Now.. who knows. Its still going out there. In true Oregon fasion I am going to run inside and hide from the scarry weather.

Frustrating days

So. My question to all the teachers out there. How do you get 25 kindergartners to sit still when you only see them once a week for 45 minutes? Between the kids who are doing cartwheels on the carpet to those who are jumping off tables, it makes me quesiton my idea to move here sometimes. Mainly Wednesdays when I have three kinder classes in a row.

I am trying to assume that they wouldn't be that way if I was their regular teacher and some authority.... I am hoping that if I was a regular teacher. That is part of the reason that I want my own classroom. But at the same time, my job would be amazing if the students respected me. It would be so fun if the students sat down and acutally listened once and a while. We shall see...

if you are going to fight do it right

Well. Two of my girls yesterday definitely decided to make this their motto. The girls got in a fight in my room yesterday. It was a knock down drag out... two hands full of each others hair. It was great. Once they finally got pulled off each other one took off with four other kids to the stairwell and the other one disappeared off the other way down the hall. After calling security, I got back to my class. When the phone rang I assumed it was security.
Nope. It was a teacher up on the fourth floor (one floor up). The girls had continued their fight on the next floor up. One of the girls threw a book at the other one and hit an innocent bystander in the process. Gotta love it.

If you are going to fight... do it right.

Gotta Love New York in all of it's glory

Today I experienced another one of New York City's amazing things. Guy with piss on subway. What the exact sitation was I am not sure. But as the train approached one car was full and the next was empty... always head towards the empty car so I can get a seat. WELL! As you walked onto the car you could smell it. It was horrible. Now sure if it was the guy in the middle of the car (because the only people on the car were at the ends besides this guy) or if it was the liquid on the floor but it was bad. It was so bad that I decided there was no way I was going to make it the four stops to 180th where I could transfer to the 5 train. I had to get out of this car. AT the next stop, the other three guys at my end of the car and I opened the door and went into the otehr car.

Gotta love it. But the rest of the day was spent shopping for Christmas. So far... mom, russell, eric, karen, lili and Jessica are done.

Ah the big city life...

Chasing a rooster around in front of the building before school. That's big city life for you. Wait.. rooster... o right... local killing factory about a block from school. Gotta love big city life.

Always squeeze from the bottom up..

A wise woman once said.. you should always follow the directions on the back of a tube of tooth paste... For best results, squeeze from the bottom up.

This week I was watching Oprah (don't judge) and they were talking about the book "Eat, Pray, Love." One of the underlying themes (Im assuming of the book) is to take life by the horns, which is the same theme as squeezing from the bottom up. It got me thinking...

I really want to travel this summer. I will have just finished my first year as a teacher... should have money from a grant.. and have a passion to travel. I want to combine the treat of surviving my first year in NYC along with the money I am getting and my urge to travel. Looking at prices of traveling to such places at Europe and the Caribbean it seems that you have to be rich to travel... or at least plan more than a year in advance.

But, in thinking about these two concepts together it seems that I need to find a happy medium. To me... one idea jumped out. A while ago I heard of the newest trend in vacations... Volunteer vacations. One of these organizations is i-to-i. They take your money... and help you volunteer half way around the world. I took theirplacement test thingee and it said I should look into going to Kenya to work in a school of course. How cool would that be? Travel to Kenya and spend two weeks teaching English.

Travel to another country and help others. Im ok with that. Look for updates.. who knows. Annie.... July... Kenya?

Cold in the city!

It is freaking cold in the city today. Though snow seems to not be so much fun if it doesnt freak out the kids. It snowed for an hour today and the kids went about their day. Though it was nice to be able to teach...not so fun for snow. O well...

Off to pretend I have stuff to do.

Two different feelings

Today was an interesting day. Good and bad.

Today was the first time I was totally comfortable in a kinder classroom. I go there early, set up the computers and was ready to go when the kids came in. The kids were active but not really fightening. They were sharing and playing the entire time. It was heaven. I didn't think a class could go that good.

Then... I walked into fifth grade. Those kids were insane today. I guess it was not any more than normal but meh. Its furstrating to go from such a good feeling to a headache in a half hour flat~ O well.

I think I am going to let the kids choose their projects for after christmas. Ill let you in on some of my ideas here in the near future but we shall see.

A long weekend

It was a good weekend.

The Ducks lost, but fought a good fight losing in the second overtime. Yes it was the civil war.. no I do not like my ducks to lose at home for the civil war, but they did put up a good fight considering the last two games we have played. Losing most of our starting line up and our start and back up qbs didn't help our fight but the fans back home helped the ducks to not get trampled. So all in all..not horrible.

The first snow of the season. That's right folks. I got my first NYC snow. Ok.. it was all that spectacular.. it was like 3/4 inch but that's better than the stuff that doesn't stick in Oregon. I will post a picture soon, I have to email it from my phone to my email. And because of the snow I decided that shopping when it was like 25 and snowing I got nothing done yesterday. That's right. Nothing. While I really only have two weekends left to shop I decided to stay home. I really need to get on this whole shopping thing!!! I have not gotten a single thing. O well. It happens.

Stay tuned to hear about my shopping adventures in the big city.

waking up in a fog

I have never really understood this saying. How can you wake up in a fog unless there is fog outside your window? Well... I finally made the connection this morning. I feel like crap today. I don't want to be at school and I would much rather be in bed all day and pet my kitty.

Whether this is an effect of five hours out in the cold last nigh to watch the tree lighting in Rockafeller Center or just a build up of the not so good feeling I have had all week. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. As for the fog... it was in my head. Never had that before but it was. O well. Off to work I go. Gotta love it!

spoiled

My cat is spoiled. Well..ok..its not that bad... really. Just when I went to the store yesterday to update the empty bag of cat food and cat litter...it was EXPENSIVE. Ok.. so I got her some wet food and a brush. But STILL!!! 45 dollars for all that is so expensive. Hopefully this will last me until Christmas break. I know I will have to get more before that.


Spoiled? Very much so...

A great turkey day weekend

It was a great weekend. I have had a number of firsts this weekend.

My first first of the weekend is the adventure of hitting the other two airports in New York City. I was able to fly out of LaGuardia on Thursday and I flew into Newerk this morning. That checks off all three airports in the New York City area.

My next first was Denver. I went to Denver for the holiday weekend. Now some of you are wondernig... WHY DENVER?!? Jessica, my college roommate, lives in Denver and invited me for the weekend. It was great. It was so great to see her and I can check Denver and Colorado off on my list of plaes to go. Denver was AMAZING. I love the snow, I loved the snow and cold sunny weather. It was SO beautiful.

Third on my list of firsts is a Jewish Thanksgiving. Ok... so a Jewish Thanksgiving really isn't all that different. They prayed in Herbrew but that was the only different thing. (besides sitting at a table which none of my family does but that's not really a Jewish thing...)

And while I was having a Jewish Thanksgiving, it was also my first Thankgiving without any of my family around. I did Thanksgiving with Eric's family last year but then we went to my aunts so this is the first without my family.

So that's about it for my lists of firsts.

I do have to say that I had a great weekend. It was so nice to see Jessica and spend time with her. It was also nice to see that people can have money (Jessica's family) and still be amazing people. They were interested in everything I had to say... They were impressed by me living in NYC... They were SO welcoming. It was a great weekend. I am sad that I have to get back to my real life tomorrow, almost doesn't seem real that I am teaching and I will be going back to school as a teacher tomorrow. Life is crazy. I am freaking living in NYC. I am making it on my own in a city where I knew no one. I may not have friends here so far but I can get myself to and from the airport.. I can get around the city... I can make it on my own. That is most important to me at this point.

Go me...

Mondays....

You know it's not gunna be a good day when its a Monday that does not start out good. First... didnt sleep well. Off and on all night. Second.. cold shower. Now in the summer I had shower issues but since the steam has been on it has not been an issue.... nope this morning... ICE COLD! Gotta love it. Then as much as I love the snow that is falling outside the school window right now, when I was excited about the possibility of snow yesterday I forgot the fact that I had to WALK to work in it this morning! Gotta love mondays right!?! Off to more work.

PROACTIVE AND VITACLEAR WARNING!!!

This is a warning to all yall. I recently ordered Proactive online. Well, apparently online you cannot order single orders. You enter a club and they charge your again and again. Also, the 'free' VitaClear vitamins that you get a sample of... that is also a subscription. I really dont like either of these products. First, the idea that I signed up for subscriptions without knowing it buggs me, but the way Proactive has killed my skin makes me mad.

My skin has developed horrible red acne that hurts down to the jaw bones. It was so bad that one of my kids thought I had a rash on my face. Sad Sad times. So I am sending back the vitamins (which I have to PAY for if I want my money back) and getting my money back on the Proactive.

O well. WE shall see if my skin survives.

The interesting keeps coming

Well. I am just hanging on here. Surviving. no.. no.. no... its not that bad I promise. The title of this post is the interesting keeps coming. Why you ask?
As I walked in to work and ran into my favorite custodian. Eddie, is a very nice guy. He is always making fun of me and has become my lunch buddy on my late lunch days. Bantering back and fourth has been fun. I thought nothing of it. Until yesterday. AS i was telling him about my weekend he was telling me about his. He was going to come into work for a couple of hours... basically just so he could see me. He was also talking about how he wanted to ask me to a movie. He wanted to ask me out. He even talked to his sister about it. She asked if I had a boy and Eddie said back in Oregon... she told him to go for it! OMG!!! Its crazy. He asked if I would have actually gone.. I said as a friend. It should be interesting around work.

So it's been interesting... gotta love being a girl!

An exciting turn of events.

Friday night was an interesting and exciting turn of events. Friday night I was talking to my college roommate Jessica about thanksgiving. AS you may suspect I am alone in the city. No family, very few friends. It is also WAY expensive to go home. So... Jessica invited me to Denver for the holiday. After searching and contemplating I bought a ticket to Denver and Jessica bough me one back to NYC. So Ill be headed to Denver in less than two weeks to spend the holiday with Jessica and her family. It will be super fun, a long weekend, but super fun. I have never been to Denver so... we shall see.

Just a shout out to my readers. If you leave a comment PLEASE leave your name so I know who is talking. Thanx a million! Love yall.

A weird day...

Today has been a weird day. First off. I got my NY licence today! I am offically licenced in the state of New York! Happy times.



The other part of the day was dealing with my supervisor. Today was my first offical observation of the year. It was an interesting observation. I was teaching a third grade class. The class started at 1205, but because it usually takes them some time to get back I had him come in at 1215 and he was late. He totally missed the begining of my lesson, which is fine I guess since I forgot to do something he told me to do... aka tell the students the aim of the lesson. Because he was late he needed to watch me in another class... so on the spot he decided he was going to follow me to my next class. Which was SUPER fun. I told him that I was not going into another third grade class, but a fifth grade class. But I changed my plans at the ast minute for him so he could see it again. This time it was about three kids. They were great because they totally wanted to learn about animation. So we shall see how it goes when we have our 'post conference'.

Funny comment for all you Oregonians

As I was walking into work this morning a first grade teacher walked in with me. She stated, "Wow, this must be like summer to you... being from Oregon and all." Ladies and gentleman this morning it is currently 33 degrees in my zipcode. 33 degrees to me IS NOT WARM!!!!! I kid you not. I very nicely said back... UM NO!!! Oregon is much warmer and even if it is colder I get in my car and drive to work.. I get in my car and come home from work. I don't walk ANYWHERE!!! So for those of you in Oregon who may be thinking it's warmer over here than there... UM NO! Im freezing my ass off over here!

HINT! Christmas... scarves... hats... gloves... warm socks...space heater.. all that good stuff