I have missed you. Life has just been moving so fast lately, each day moving me farther and farther away from the days when I used you to share my stories, triumphs and failures during my study abroad adventures. You know how they say that when you come back from study abroad, one part of reverse culture shock that you may experience is the need to travel? Yep, I think that's what I'm feeling now. I've got the travel antsies. It probably doesn't help for me to read the blog of the girl, Beth, who is currently living in my host family's house. (Don't worry I'm not a complete creeper, she and I are friends on facebook. . . but no, we've never met). You see, when I read her blog I get this little jealousy problem and then I start thinking about how I didn't appreciate my host family enough second semester and then I start kicking myself and then I want to call my host family and then I remember that I didn't call my host mom on her birthday and then I feel nervous and anxious and I don't call.
Anyhow, just yesterday I was talking with my mentor teacher and I said I didn't think people should use blogs as a diary, which is kind of what I just did. My apologies. School has been going pretty well. I haven't been as motivated the past couple of weeks. I think I started feeling anxious about some big projects so instead of working on them, I just freaked out and didn't want to do any work at all. Maybe it doesn't make sense, but I am seriously more productive when I am not anxious about having to get things done. This past weekend I went to Indiana for a field trip with my U.S. History class. We went to Connor Prairie, which is a live history museum, meaning you actually get to live the history, not just look at it or hear about it. The simulation we did was of the underground railroad, so for an hour and half, we got to be slaves, yelled at, sold, forced to work (moving wood for 2 minutes, not nearly the hard work real slaves had to do), running away, getting caught, hiding in the Quakers' house, etc. I had a really bad attitude before going because the field trip was mandatory and I didn't want to take the 4-hour bus trip to get there and then have to be treated like a slave, all while my friends were having a 90s themed party. However, I must say that overall it was a good experience. My ability to imagine the horrors that slaves faced is not nearly as good as experiencing it. I was shocked by the way I was treated, and I was not even hit or beaten or forced to do hard work like real slaves would be. Having grown up free to speak my mind, it just struck me as ridiculous that someone would yell at me for looking them in the face and that I couldn't yell right back because I was powerless. I learned that I am easily trainable - I only had to be told once to keep my eyes on the ground and call everyone mam and sir. I am in fact so trainable, that when they gave me a lantern and told me to hold onto it even if someone tried to take it from me, I would not even let it go when I was supposed to. . . one of the actor women came up to me and tried to take the lantern and I just kept saying "No mam, miss told me to hold onto it." And she pretty much had to pry it from my fingers, which is when I figured out that perhaps at that point I was supposed to give it up. Haha.
Two weekends ago I went on a field trip to Chicago with my Asian Politics class to eat some Indian food and "experience" Diwali, an Indian holiday honoring the goddess Lakshmi. The food was delicious and it was highly amusing to see my professor, who grew up in Dehli, negotiating with all the store owners. She is a very aggressive bargainer. It was a fun day, but long and tiring. I was excited to get to know some students in my class who I had not talked to much. One girl is Korean but lived in Bolivia for several years and now her family lives in China. Another girl is Indian but only lived in India for four years before her family moved to Thailand. Another girl is American but studied in Germany for a year during high school and is studying abroad in China next semester. I love spending time with students whose experiences extend beyond Hope and the United States. It's just so cool to connect with people who are from other countries or as interested in other countries as I am.
I cannot believe it is already the middle of November! I have a class that only meets on Thursdays and today my teacher said, "Well, the next time I see you guys it will be December" and I froze and was shocked to realize he was right! December will soon be here! How is that possible? Can a year really have passed since I was finishing up my first semester in Peru and anxiously awaiting my flight home for Christmas? Two of my friends that I met in Peru last semester are now finishing their second semester in Lima. They have less than a month left! Wasn't that just me? Isn't it still July? Clearly not as the cold whether and lovely sleet we were having today indicates. You know, the thought crept into my head that maybe I actually will be ready to graduate at the end of the year. At the beginning of the semester I never would have thought it possible. But honestly, the biggest thing I have learned in my classes this semester is that I just want to student teach already! My ed classes are starting to feel repetitive, and my other classes don't feel like they will be that useful for teaching. What I really need is practice in the classroom. I have gotten to teach several times this semester in my field placement at Holland High School. It was quite challenging, as the subject was econ (shout out to Mr. Staron, even though he won't be reading this), but it was so good to just plan some lessons and get up in front of students and teach! All the theoretical stuff we talk about in ed classes are great to think about, but actually standing in front of live students is so different. And I'm really exciting to be challenged next semester. Oh, and I have my student teaching placement. I am going to be at Hudsonville High School, about 20 minutes from Hope. I met with my 2 cooperating teachers last week and they both seemed great! The reason I have two is that I have two ed majors - Spanish Ed and Social Studies Ed - so I will be doing mainly Spanish but with one section of U.S. history. I am psyched to teach Spanish because it is a subject that I am way more passionate and knowledgeable about than econ.
Hooray for Thanksgiving coming up! We have classes through Wednesday next week, but I think I'm going to skip out early so I can have a longer break. I never skip my classes so I figure once a semester can't hurt. :-)
And now for pictures.
Carving Pumkins
Colleen, Clare, Erin
Clare, Colleen, me, Erin
And of course the beautiful jack-o-lanterns!
(There's only 3 cuz I didn't carve one - I was just the photographer)
Trying to be cute, but just being awkward. . .
More awkward - poor Colleen's brother had to indulge use by being our photographer :-)
Spiderweb brownies that I made for Halloween!
15th street family!
Colleen, Erin, Clare, Krista, me
Can you guess what we all are?
Erin and me :-) I love her!
Also, I painted her shirt because I got my mama's fabric paint skillz!
Clare was a "blessing in disguise" - I believe her t-shirt has the pope blessing someone. Hehe
This is my wall next to my bed. I had about 80 pics printed to put on my wall. This is only half of them.
This is the wall behind my bed, covered with the other half of the pics!
This is most of the students in my Asian Politics class on the van ride to Devon Street.
Back: Heather, Miriam, Laura
Middle: Priscilla, Amy
Front: Jenny (from Korea/Bolivia), Tanya (from India/Thailand), Hanna (studied in Germany/going to China)
Not pictured is our driver Kevin, and I was in the front because my prof decided that since I was an ed major I should navigate us there - not sure how those ideas were connected, but I do have a good sense of direction.
Me and Jenny at the Indian restaurant
Hanna and Tanya enjoying their tea!
Molly, Caitlyn
Tess, Erin
Celebrating Molly's birthday on Tuesday
Molly was my freshman roommate :-)
And Tess and Erin both lived in my cluster freshman year
What you see here is my lovely hairdo (I had to look up how to spell that)
I took a pen and wrapped my hair around it and then stuck the pen through so I would stay all on its own. It looked rather awkward but it felt cool, haha!
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