The Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patty’s Day

If there is a reason to celebrate, no matter how big or small, this city is all over it. Saturday was wild. After eating the greenest waffles known to man we headed down to the Irish Channel. The Bulldog has already started the party when we arrived and there were people in green and other incredible costumes all around. It was a gorgeous day with a high of 86 degrees and the sun was bright. The parade began to roll and once again I thought to myself about how wild and unique this city is. First there were the old men in kilts or tuxedos with bunches of green white and orange silk flowers. They come give you a flower and a kiss on the cheek. Or some give you pins, stickers, the occasional pair of St. Patty’s undies, or my personal favorite the green lace garter. The floats are much like Mardi Gras throwing beads (but only green ones), but you have to really have those hands ready for the good stuff. All the fixin’s for a wonderful stew. Courtney and I filled our big bag with 3 heads of cabbage, a bunch of mini carrots, 4 onions, a bunch of garlic, and 10 potatoes. It was quite a haul back to our car, but worth it. I think we will have lunch and dinner for the entire week:)





BEFORE

AFTER





After an evening nap we headed back out. We met up with some friends at a little bar in our neighborhood and then Lizzy, Heather, and I ended up at an incredible show in the CBD. First was a short set by Rebirth and then Trombone Shorty played. HE IS AMAZING!!! I believe he is 22 years old and the most talented musician I have ever experienced, plus he really knows how to put on a good show!


“Don’t get me wrong, we got it goin’ on in
New Orleans, he is just better.”
– Allen Toussaint

And finally a wonderful story written by one of my students. This story explains how he would trick a leprechaun into giving him his pot of gold:

I would dress up as St. Patrick. I would find the Leprechaun and act as if I was the Lord of the Leprechauns. I would say, “It is me, St. Patrick, I will confiscate your gold”. So he will give me the gold, and I will run.

23, Michael Jordan had the number for a reason

My first month of 23 has been wonderful. I have experienced new things, made new friends, become closer with my roommates, and enjoyed some incredible weather. My birthday was great. My students all made me adorable cards and some brought me little stuffed toys.

After my PTP class a group of us went out to the Bulldog and got a drink and expanded our pint glass collection. We celebrated even more over the weekend when we had our 8 months delayed house party/ birthday party. We had a theme of “All you need is LOVE”! We had a good turn out and everyone said they had a great time dancing under out disco ball, talking, and eating heart shaped food. I had a blast:)



Last weekend Courtney, Lizzy, other TFA friends, and I went camping! I know, camping in Louisiana, right? I didn’t know what to expect. We went to Bayou Segnette State Park just 30 minutes from our place. It was nice, but very different from the camping I am used to! The park was pretty open without a lot of trees – we could see our Boy Scout neighbors in all their tug-o-war glory. It was possibly the coldest weekend of the year for New Orleans. It was down in the low thirties at night and only a high of 50 for the day. The first night was crazy cold. I wore 2 pairs of socks, leg warmers, spandex, yoga pants, sweat pants, 2 long sleeved shirts, a sweatshirt with the hood on, a fleece, and a beanie. Even with all of that, an extra fleece blanket in my sleeping bag, and four of us sleeping close I had a hard time sleeping. Luckily the second night was warmer. On Saturday morning we ran in a 5 mile road race. Coach Courtney helped me to pull through and run the whole thing. I was so sore the next day that I could barely walk! Before this race I had only run about 3 miles consecutively. We planned on doing the 2 mile course, but we realized we had a whole day with no plans so we might was well just keep running. We finished in 55 minutes. Even though it was very hard, it felt good to push and challenge myself physically. The whole weekend was great. It was incredible to just enjoy living without an agenda. To take in some fresh air and just relax. I wrote some notes, wrote in my journal, finished my book, drew a picture, took some walks, napped, ate good food. It was a needed trip. I found it very hard to come back into the rush and stress of my daily life. I feel like I do a pretty good job of doing things for me, but this life just doesn’t leave much time to just take a break!




I will soon have a long break – spring break! We have 4 days this week and then I have 10 days off of work! Oh, I cannot wait. My entire family is coming down – Mama, Daddy, Athena, Bekah, and Scott. It is going to be a wonderful 7 days with them. It will be great for them to see what my life is like and experience the crazy Big Easy!


I still cannot say that I love this place, but New Orleans is really growing on me. I can’t complain about this early spring weather. They say it wont last long, but right now it is incredible. I am sitting on my porch looking at the bright blue sky, enjoying the strong sun, and light breeze. The week’s forecast is looking pretty good…

P.S.

I forgot to inform you of the best New Orleans tradition...on your birthday people pin money on you. I made $45 baby!

I just had the most encouraging phone conversation. It really was the most motivating and encouraging moment in my short teaching experience. I always put off calling parents because I never really know what to say or how the parents are going to react. The conversations always seem to be just a little awkward. I decided though that I needed to call all of my students parents before the iLEAP (state test) that will be occurring all next week.

I was talking to the mother of a sweet little girl in my class. I asked her if she had any questions about the test and to let her know that I really appreciate her daughter’s hard work and the role model that she is in our classroom. To that she explained that her daughter has wonderful and strong women to be role models to her. Not only the women in her family, but also in me. How lucky her daughter and the other students in my class are to have a teacher who wants to make sure they really understand the material. Her daughter loves to be in my class and says that she can ask me if she needs help on anything. It is great for her to see her teacher work so hard and care so much. The mother was nothing but thankful and full of compliments. I get encouragement from my friends and family all the time so I don’t think I can explain to you why this particular conversation means so much to me or why there are tears rolling down my cheeks. I do know that if has the power to overshadow the daily “I hate this class”, “I wish I went to a different school” or “I shouldn’t have come to school today”.

Fannie C. Williams

Some people have been asking about my school building - what it looks like, what the original building looks like, etc. So I thought I would put some pictures up on here so give a peek.

Fannie C. Williams used to be a middle school. The school was in a very nice building prior to Katrina. Our school is now Pre-K to 6th and is a group of about 9 modular units on the land next to the original building. The "trailer park" is different from the portables that I has been used to from when I was in school. These units are large and most have 8 classrooms in each.

Here is your tour....
This is where I spend most of my time. The classrooms are very large which is nice!


The halls look a little prison-like


The Blue School - Building 6


We get our exercise by walking up and down this path each day.


The original Fannie C.


The strength of wind and water


This is what happens when it rains at school