GIVING THANKS
Thanksgiving was incredible. Even though it was very hard to be away from family, it was amazing to have KJ here with me. We had such a blast, here is a play by play of our adventures:
Friday: Even though it was the end of a long week of doctor visits and days spent sick in bed I was so excited to pick Kristin up from the airport at 10 pm. I saw her standing outside the terminal and could barely stop the car before I jumped out to give her a hug. What an amazing gift to have her in this city with me. After living with her for the last four years and even sharing a room with her for the last year it has been so hard to not even see her once in five months!!! I am so excited that she now has an idea of where I live, work and what my new life is all about.
Saturday: The next day was a chill day, trying to get myself all the way better, so that we could enjoy the rest of our week together. We took a drive down Saint Charles to show her all the massive old houses. Then we headed over to City Park. We walked around and saw some of the sculpture garden. Half of it was closed which was a bummer, but she was amazed by the warm weather in November! On the way back we got some Sno’balls from the Queen of the Ball.
Sunday: What a crazy busy, fun, and totally New Orleans day it was. We went to church then headed straight to the 9th ward. This was her first experience in the 9th – an area of New Orleans known for being rough – before Katrina it was the location of the most crime (gangs, drugs, murders, and other violent acts) in the city and was hit by feet and feet of water during the storm. Some houses were in water up to the roof. It is now left with many abandoned houses and a limited amount of residents who have returned. We went to the annual 9 times pleasure and social club 2nd line. I had never even heard of a 2nd line before moving down here, but now it is one of my favorite things about the city. Basically a group of people all gather and follow along with a brass band as they walk through the streets. The music is so upbeat, the people are all dancing, it is just so hard to explain – it is something you just have to experience for yourself.
It’s crazy how things that were so different for me when I first came here have become the norm and I don’t even notice them much at all anymore. Having Kristin experience all those things for the first time made me remember how it really is a different world down here. The crazy music and dancing all the time, alcohol everywhere (even if it is at 9am), being a minority, the way people talk, the awesome hairstyles, how loud everything is, drive up daiquiri shops, the terrible roads and pot holes, the huge mansions built close together, houses being gutted, abandoned houses, the Katrina markings spray-painted on houses, fried chicken shops on every corner, and this is also probably the only place where there is a festival in honor of po’boys. That is just where we headed next - the Po’Boy Preservation fFstival on Oak Street. After viewing about a hundred options we decided on some delicious and huge crabcake po’boys.
Monday: I had to work and it was a very boring day at Fannie C. I sat in about a 6 hour long staff meeting where we all talked in circles without making any decisions. Luckily KJ had some homework to do so she just hung out in my classroom, studied, and even made an awesome map of the world for me. My KJ even got to meet the crazy KJ at my school. Really, she is crazy. She is always cussing, she can never remember my name and she has no shame…She says its because she is old and has been teaching for too long – or at least that is what I think she said…she talks so fast, on and off, with her crazy southern talk that half the time I am not sure what she is saying. I warned Kristin to try to steer clear unless I was there to interpret (this skill has taken a while to develop). Sure enough during our lunch break I looked over and they were talking, later I asked if she knew what she was saying – I guess what she understood was something like her asking what my name was (I guess she forgot again) and that she should get lunch from the pie-man, oh the pie-man, that is a whole different story. We left school and drove to the Hong Kong Market – I think I would normally like the place, but after a long day and still feeling pretty terrible it was a little much for me to take! We tried to avoid the brains, necks, feet and other strange animal parts hanging up around the store, plug our noses, and grab some sushi basics. As always it was fun making our own sushi creations and teaching Courtney and Lizzy how to do it.
Tuesday: While I had some more boring professional development KJ did some exploring around our neighborhood by herself. In the afternoon I picked her up on Maple Street and we grabbed some Gelato. We walked down looking in the CRAZY expensive stores on Magazine and laughed at the SUPER SALE everything on this rack for $100 sign and went home for some dinner. KJ took care of me like old times and made Courtney and I pizza. After a nap we were off to the Maple Leaf for Rebirth’s Tuesday night show. I agree that Rebirth is one of the best brass bands in New Orleans, but the packed, smoky, claustrophobic atmosphere is just not my thing.
Wednesday: Wednesday was a big day. We walked around the French Quarter, ate beignets at Café du Monde and got some sweet gifts from the balloon man.
We ate lunch at The Gumbo Shop (even though I am a disgrace to New Orleans culture and don’t like Gumbo!). Since Kristin’s birthday was just 2 days before she came we decided to have Wednesday evening dedicated to celebrating! Her parents treated us to an amazingly delicious fancy birthday dinner @ NOLA, one of Emeril’s restaurants. It was super fun to get all dressed up, but I am for sure not that classy. They have routines perfected for every movement and service, if you get up they escort you to the bathroom and when you are gone they will re-fold your dirty napkin. When the food comes they put all the plates down at exactly the same time. They made KJ this amazing dessert plate with cookies, Drunkin Monkey ice cream, and berries. After our amazing dinner I knew it was going to be a good night…you know how people always wave at fire the firefighters? Well this time the firemen waved at US. In honor of an old New Orleans tradition KJ wore a pin with money on her shirt for her B-day, then everyone knows its your birthday, wishes you a good one and if you are lucky gives you some moneyJ We met up with Court and hung out on the patio at the Bulldog for Wednesday free pint glass night – KJ picked up a few complimentary souvenirs. The Saint Charles street car just re-opened so we took it down to the French Quarter. We tried really hard to find the Zydeco dancing for Jim, but were not successful. We made friends with some guys from “the bayou”, pretended we were in the movie Coyote Ugly, KJ saw her first rodent-sized cockroach, my shoe heel got stuck in a grate, Kristin raised some more birthday money, some people told us they loved us and well apparently that was enough to make us want to hang out with them the rest of the night – they were divers who were cleaning up the mess that was left in the Mississippi. The rest of the night was filled with live music, dancing, and the highlight (after watching other bull riders look ridiculous) we dominated the mechanical bull at Bourbon Cowboy.
At the end of a long night we jumped in a Taxi and headed home– it was a good night. Thursday: THANKSGIVING!!! And so much to be thankful for. Even in the hardest times, I know that I am so blessed. Most importantly I am thankful for my family and friends and strong faith. Without those things this new challenge in my life would be impossible. We spent Thanksgiving with a group of TFA folks. Andrew and Ben hosted the dinner and it was an amazing spread! Even though we ate 2 hours after expected it was all worth the wait. We played games, watched football, and played catch in the yard – I think it was the best it could have been away from home!
Friday: Time to say goodbyeL We had breakfast at the Panola Street Café before I sadly dropped KJ off at the airport. I can’t wait to go visit her in Colorado!
There is plenty more to come…now is a good time for a little STRETCH BREAK!
THE CLASS
No one warned me that the two weeks before Christmas would be absolutely insane. It was almost like we reverted back to the beginning of the year when the students do not know any of the rules and simply do not care what I say. They seem to want to do about the opposite of what I expect of them. Plus, I was over exhausted, and just as anxious and excited for Christmas break as they were.
Its pretty safe to say that there is really no place like the Recovery School District or the “are-a-s-d”. After Thanksgiving my class got shifted around quite a bit. Our school was not following the state mandated inclusion model where special education students are in the regular ed classroom at all times. The problem was that these kids were spread out among all the classes, so in order to give them what they need they put them all in one classroom. For the third grade they choose my class. I was excited at first because it meant that I would have another para-educator and a special education teacher in my room at all times. I thought that this would be an amazing way to really differentiate to the needs and levels of my students. The problem is I only got the extra help for a week and now my class is just very diverse without much help. I do have an amazing para, Miss Collins, but she has to stay with one child at all times. This means in our class we have two children in wheelchairs, one child who has to use a DynaVox to communicate, a student who is hearing impaired and does not have hearing aids, 3 students on a kindergarten reading level, one student who has to be watched at all times because of aggressive sexual behaviors…and I am supposed to teach them something? It is quite a challenge, but I continually remind myself, this IS what I signed up for.
On a better note, I do feel like I am becoming more organized and efficient. I decided not to do work over the break and just enjoy my time off. The break was so short, there is no reason for me to feel guilty for spending it with my friends and family as much as possible and not worrying about work.
I think that my students think I have some sort of magical powers – they always expect me to heal their headaches, stomach aches, or whatever other ailments they can find. One of my students has something wrong with her everyday…maybe I should read her the story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”.
I have been called so many crazy names lately. One of my students refers to me only as “mama”. I got called “dawg” and my personal favorite “Miss Pinky” (and take note that I was wearing no pink at the time)
HOLDIAYS
We had our TFA Holiday Party the weekend before break. It was great to spend some time with the roommates, get dressed up, and have our corps together for some holiday cheer.
WE GOT ROBBED
I came home a few weeks ago to Courtney walking over to my car crying. I knew it was something bad because in the last 6 months living and spending time with her, I have never seen her really cry. She said we got robbed. How can people do that? It is so frustrating and violating. I was lucky – for some reason they walked right passed my bedroom. They took Courtney’s DVD player, her laptop and digital camera and Lizzy’s computer too. It reminds me I really need to make sure that all of my pictures and documents on my computer are backed up. Because really in the long run when something like that happens it is not he computer you care about, but all that is saved on it.
HOT YOGA
Hot yoga has changed my life. I feel so much better since I started practicing – more like myself. It is just so relaxing and cleansing, just what I need. Plus it is an extra treat to get to see Kasey Jo every week. I love it and recommend it to every one.
FREEDOM…for a week
And most importantly, I have absolutely never been so excited for a Christmas break. I could not wait to get back to the Northwest. It was a little overwhelming trying to see all the people I wanted to, but overall AMAZING. I spent time with all my friends from Sprague,
Saw Susan, Ellyn and met her brand new fiance Andrew 
went to the African Children’s Choir concert, bowling with my old coach and teammates from SGC.
I was so glad my sisters and mom had the whole break off so I got to see them a lot and dad only had to work a few days. On Christmas Eve we went over to the McLean’s and then to church.
The candle light service is always incredible when they turn all the lights off and we sing Silent Night and then Joy to the World! It is strange to open presents without Bekah there. My most exciting gift was money for a digital camera – my Dad and I went to go pick one out a few days later. The worst part of break was the terrible stomach flu that attacked our house and wiped out my mom, gramps, and I and 4 or 5 of the Nunley’s. Luckily it was just a 24 hour thing, but I still missed my trip to Portland with all my girls:(2008, ALREADY?
After some crazy car issues I made it back up to Seattle to celebrate New Years. It was one jammed pack day: Breakfast on Queen Anne at Noah’s Bagels with Haley, Carl, and Aubrie. Then Mattie and puppy Joey and I walked around Greenlake.
I met Kels and Tom downtown and we caught the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. 
It was a wonderful day in the Northwest – blue skies and sunshine. One of those days when I am reminded just how much I love SEATTLE!!! It was strange. I loved being in Oregon and spending time with family and friends, but it wasn’t until I got back up to Seattle that I really felt like I was “home”. We got back to the city, stopped by happy hour at Fado Irish Pub and then met back up with Carl and Aubs and Brian came over too!!! 
>We just hung out, got all jazzed up and some of my old SPUG teammates Sadie, Bri, and Kelli came over to say hi! 
Then we went over to Deb’s place to see her. And finally I ended up back with Tom, Kels, and Brian at our friend Cory’s New Years party. I was skeptical at first because I knew only a couple guests and soon found out that the vast majority of people were recently engaged or dating - Just my luck, haha! Anyway, I had a wonderful time!
We rang in the new year and got back to Aubs and Carl for some last minute hang out time.
I am now back in action. I quickly realized there was really no point in us rushing back for this short week of school. There wasn’t much critical instruction occuring as someone apparently forgot to inform the students that yes, we did have school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At most I had half of my class present. I am just taking it is an easy transition back into chaos.
CHEERS
I am amazed by you if you actually made it through this entirely too long update.
God’s blessings of hope, joy, peace, and love to you in 2008!
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