We have seen lots of movies in the last month:
Amazing Grace - SO good
National Treasure - entertaining
Enchanted - darling!
Juno - not sure how I feel about it
Kite Runner - culturally awakening
August Rush - loved it!
Stardust - fantastical, good ending
Nanny Diaries - alright
Happy movie watching!
Long time no blog! You may be wondering what those three words have in common. Well, the only thing is that they have been on my mind recently!
CHINA - We had planned on living in China for a 5 months between graduation and medical school. As fall semester progressed, we anxiously waited to hear from med schools. In the meantime, we were assigned a school in China to teach at with an apartment, benefits, and classes. It was actually going to be at a college! We started to get nervous when we didn't hear anything from med schools. Eli contacted a school and told them of our situation which they responded to with "we conduct interviews through April." I kept holding onto the hope that we were still going to China and that things would work out. As finals week approached, China was put on hold until we heard from medical schools about interviews. A week after Christmas, Eli received two interviews from Wisconsin and Vermont which take place in February and March. So any hopes of going to China were thrown away which resulted in me being pretty bummed. This left us in search of jobs for just 7 months. It's hard to find temporary jobs that aren't just desk jobs or office assistant jobs, and neither of us wanted one of those now that we have degrees. So...
Eli was hired back at National Jewish Medical Center as a research assistant, but this time with a salary and benefits. Yay! I was planning on substitute teaching but realized after many phone calls and much waiting that, with a December graduation, my documents wouldn't be ready for a while. I still applied to a last minute 4th grade teaching position in Castle Rock which I had two interviews for. I was one of two finalists. The principal knew that I would only be able to teach for this school year as we would be moving in the fall. Still, she interviewed me. My hopes were up and then shattered when she told me that I was her top choice and would have hired me, but that the other 4th grade teachers wanted someone who was more long-term. I understood that, but it was still a bummer because she knew that. Again, it's hard to find a job temporarily! BUT, she did offer me a kindergarten teaching job while the normal teacher is gone on maternity leave for 3 months. I never thought I would teach kindergarten (2nd is about the lowest grade I like to teach!), but I decided, "what the heck!", I might as well get more experience teaching a different grade. At this point, I have now taught K, 2nd, 5th, and 6th grades! It's kind of like student
teaching again since I'm in another person's classroom, but at least I am able to teach regularly and not a different class everyday. This job will last for a few months and then I'll be looking for a new summer job...oh boy! I am extremely grateful that things worked out.
GRAVITY - I absolutely LOVE Sara Bareilles' song "Gravity." It's all I've been listening to lately and can't wait to learn it on the piano. Beautiful.
TWILIGHT - 
At the encouragement of many peers, I finally read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. They are addicting! They aren't the best books I've ever read but I do like the love story of Bella and Edward. The only thing I don't like about the series is that Bella is 17...a little too young for this type of love. Still, the books are entertaining and I'm excited for the 4th!
We had a wonderful Christmas break! Here's a little narration through the pictures:
Lots of practicing with the new camera
Skiing and Condoing at Winter Park
This is the coolest light display! The lights on this house are timed to music on a radio station broadcast from the house. I have seen emails like this but never seen it in person. It really exists!
The elementary school I'm student teaching at right now does a "Sing Around the Tree" program 4 times before Christmas. Every grade performs a couple of songs, a few teachers perform songs, and the whole school sings along to Christmas songs together. At faculty meeting a few weeks ago I signed up to be a part of this holiday activity and they assigned me to sing a solo! I decided to get my 6th graders involved, even though they were already singing two songs. I sang "Nuttin' for Christmas" and my kids posed for a picture for each line of the song earlier in the week. I made a slideshow of the pictures and then showed it on the giant screen while I sang for the whole school. Everyone loved it and now my students are famous!! It was a pretty funny slideshow...they were so creative! (Click here for a link to the words.)
There really is no place I'd rather be during the holidays than in an elementary school. Tomorrow I'm planning a Polar Express day and we're going to watch the movie with blankets, pillows, hot chocolate, and donuts, AND do lot's of fun Polar Expressy activities that I have yet to plan. (The students were mad that the school didn't allow them to watch the Grinch or Elf so I am trying to make it as fun as possible for them to watch the Polar Express). We're also doing a service chain. My students wanted to make a Christmas chain (you know, like the one you make in kindergarten) so I decided to do something good with it. Everytime a student does an act of service for another student or to help in the class, they can take a link off the chain. They briefly write what they did on the chain and then put it on a service poster. When the chain is done, there is a bag of candy at the end that I'll cut open like a pinata! Thanks momma for the fun idea - the students are starting to catch on. I love seeing them serve each other! Anyways, here are some of the pictures of my awesome students...
I like these pictures of Andy in Iraq. Thank goodness for Skype - we are able to chat with him weekly through the internet. Love modern technology. There's nothing like 9 Archer's chatting through the computer though we are states and countries apart.
He's in a city called Kirkuk in Northern Iraq. His job is to "find the bad guys," as he puts it. He questions people and searches villages for any signs of insurgent activity, while trying to avoid roadside bombs.
One more week of undergraduate education...YESSSSSSS!!! We are PSYCHED!Within the last month we have spent time in Rexburg, Mesa, and Tucson.
Eli's mom lives in Mesa so we spent Thanksgiving there before heading down to Tucson to see Eli's dad. A snow storm hit Utah the day we left so we were excited to experience the wonderful Arizona weather.
Climbing windmills in an orange orchard. My awesome friend, Aubrey, joined us for the night. (my roommate in China)
Museum for Youth - fun activities for kids! Eli and I both loved it...
This horse is named Goliath - appropriate I'd say.
I loved this statue outside of the library - so darn cute!
We loved our weekend in Rexburg, Idaho!
