What a week! My class started the Everyday Math curriculum last week and has been doing great with reviewing things from last year. This week I added the Reading Street curriculum. It is going to take a few weeks to figure out how to get everything in that we need to each afternoon. There is a lot to cover every day. It was another hot week with temps "feeling like" over 100 degrees each day. The heat is hard on teachers and students by afternoon. But we manage to push through. Tuesday was the SCS open house. My students made "people" to put in their chairs that had "Math About Me" worksheets attached. They also had quizzes for their parents. Half the paper had a favorites list that the student filled out and the other half (that was folded over so the parents couldn't see) had the same favorites list that the parents had to fill out about their student. It was interesting to see how many each parent could guess correctly. Some were quite surprised by their student's answers. The parents could also write their child a note for them to read the following day. I was pleased to have parents of 14 students show up. Many of them I hadn't met previously. The challenge was each parent wanted to talk with you for a while about their student and you knew you had other parents in the room that wanted to do the same. Balancing them all was difficult. The parents had a meeting in the gymnasium following the open house. I'm learning that the days we don't go home after school because of evening events are going to make the week feel much longer.

Thursday was the beginning of the new teacher Spanish class. I was excited to start learning how to put all of my vocabulary into usable conversation, but nervous about messing up or not being able to remember it all. However, God gives grace. We have two amazing teachers- Victoria teaches grammar for 1/2 hour and Ruth teachers conversational Spanish for 1/2 hour. Both are very important components to learning Spanish. It can be very overwhelming for me, but I am so blessed to have many people around me encouraging me that it will come! One step at a time. 

Friday we all needed a break and the Boehnings kindly opened their home so about 30 of us could get together to play games and eat banana splits. It was so nice to put aside school and hang out. I didn't play the games as much as I was entertained watching them. I was so excited to be able to sit down with Ruth and "talk" with her. She is learning English and I am learning Spanish, but we both have come far enough to communicate without someone having to translate everything. This was a HUGE step for us. I listened as she talked to others in Spanish and could follow the conversations pretty well based on my vocabulary. If I was completely lost on a certain word, I'd ask what it meant in English and then repeat it in Spanish. I understand how others feel after a conversation in a second language- it is exhausting! Small steps again. It was a late night, but the company was great and it was just what I needed to unwind.

Today, Darlene (our wonderful neighbor) took me to Claro to get my phone fixed. I couldn't make calls on it, because something was deactivated. It was fixed within minutes and after several weeks I am back in business. I "convinced" her to take me to the monument here in Santiago to tour the inside. You can't got to the top of the cylinder part, but you can go up about halfway to the balcony part and get a great view of the city of Santiago. It was sunny and very warm, but not too hot to walk around. Supposedly there are 365 steps, but I did not count. Darlene gave me some of the history of the Dominican Republic and how it got its independence. It had to gain its independence twice from Haiti- the final time being in 1844 (I think). Each of the three levels had a few displays/paintings of history or culture. I was glad I finally got to go (and with someone who took the time to explain the history aspect of it). We ate lunch at Subway again, but this time I could order my sandwich and combo on my own (pretty much). I'm sure the Dominicans laugh every time I come around. I know posting a lot of pics in this blog, but each painting had importance significance and the pics of Santiago are a 360 degree view of my "home" now. The breeze was amazing at the top and the view of the mountains on both sides was breathtaking. Darlene was able to point out some landmarks from around the city as well. Enjoy seeing this adventure through my eyes!