miss independent

Hey All!

     This week has been quite an empowering week.  I went out shopping alone and took the bus several times alone. I even took the bus to Guadalajara alone which really concerned the men there.  They were seriously worried and it was seriously funny. We are talking 15 minute conversations about my bus trip. They wanted to make sure I had a cell phone, then they wanted someone to put me on the bus, then they wanted someone to tell the driver exactly where I was going. But you know me, I settled on leaving an hour early and calling when I left. I put myself on the bus and made it just fine. Of course, Carlos was there waving down buses just to be sure. But as for the bus thing, I got it. 

     

Seasons are changing and it has been raining a ton. Which is fantastic for me! It's cooling off a little and the rain is beautiful! 
    



      Last Friday, I brought my students Reese's. There is no peanut butter here so it was a seriously big deal. They loved it and now ask me everyday for more. But I'm not sharing :).  They, in turn, brought me Brazilian candy and it was super yummy! It was like a chocolate covered something with something else yummy inside. I know that was helpful but I don't know how else to explain it. Maybe I will bring a bag home.
     Carnival is next week so there is no school! Carnival is like Mardi Gras only intensified by a passionate crazy country full of people. They have already started the block parties which entail tons of drinking, dancing, and those large speaker cars driving down the streets as people follow. Needless to say, sleep will be sacred these next couple weeks.  
     I was lesson planning for this week and came to Friday and I sat and pondered the day of school before a break. Visions of writing Bon Jovi lyrics and passing them under the divider to Maggie flashed and I decided to show movies for classes Friday. Well, it seems to be an impossible task to download a movie here. I paid for it and that took some cheating of the system but it won't let me downlaod. Arg. I just want my 7th-9th graders to see To Save A Life. Jeff made one last attempt for me today so I will know tomorrow.
     Last week I did my workshops on Nevada and the kids were hysterical!  I did a slide show of pictures of  Mt. Rose, Tahoe, Balloon Races, Hot August Nights, and the Rodeo and the kids were literally screaming. It was hysterical. I thought they were going to break glass when I pulled up the Balloon Races one. It was really funny and now they are constantly making "it's cold like Lake Tahoe" jokes!
     I've been dealing with some serious bully situations since I got here and it is really frustrating!  Honestly, I understand the punching more than I do the older kids picking on the younger (however the punching can get very frustrating when it is continually happening). 

   


   So I am going to start profiling the kids in my classes for you! I will do a boy and girl each week. I'll start with 3rd-4th grade. We are learning how to describe and compare things in 3rd-4th and these kids are all brilliant!  They are all, except one, very strong willed kids so it can become very interesting sometimes but I really enjoy it. My favorite is when I hear "Oh Teacher" in this cute little whiney voice. . . I suppress a giggle every time.








Vinicius

I love Vinicius! He is so incredibly intelligent and has the makings for a great leader some day.  However, getting him to stop talking can be quite the task sometimes so we have a reward system going right now. If Vinicius is quiet for journal time for a week then he can teach class for 1o minutes at the end of the week. So far, it's really working! Vinicius was the first student I met. He and his family came over for supper before school started and honestly I love the whole family. As soon as Vinicius sees me he yells, "Teacher Brittney" and comes running for his hug.  He even put his arm around me during opening session one morning in front of the whole school (I was sitting there thinking, "Is an 8 year old staking a claim on me?").  Vinicius loves, sports, his sister, and drums [he is incredibly talented (although I think he was serenading me)]. He is super passionate and pretty cute.




Olivia (LiLi)
Oh, LiLi. She is my one non-strong-willed student in class and how I love this sweet thing! She incredibly smart. She is very fluent in English and comes up with the most ideas for our projects in class. She is really shy but once she feels comfortable this girl is a bucket of hugs! She loves Nike (she wears these tight pants and has these huge metallic multi-colored nike's on and it's the cutest thing ever), pink, and Karate. The girl can play some beats. I've never seen her play the drums but she is constantly pounding on her desk and dancing to it. It's adorable. On days that I feel like I can't get my class to listen, I can always look to LiLi and see her knowledge thirsty eyes and know that it's worth it. LiLi is a super sweet, super adorable, super intelligent little girl!




I love you all!  Will be sure to take lots of pics of the beach this next week! Maybe even get a tan!


Love your independent girl,







Brittney