Summer Vacation

One of the best parts of teaching is having summer vacation. I am blessed to have two months off, and am very thankful for it - especially this year. So far I have been able to relax a bit, read a couple books, spend time with my nephews, teach at a youth camp for a week, and now return to Kosovo, where I used to live in.

Some may think I am crazy...and I might even agree, but it was all worth it. Two weeks ago I was on staff at a Christian youth camp for a week. I woke up early every morning, was very busy teaching bible studies and leading activities and went to bed very late. It was a great time sharing God's love and teaching about how God is (or should be) the director of our lives. I even got to show parts of The Princess Bride during Bible study, as that was the name of our group....as its one of my favorite movies.

Then after a great but exhausting week, I went home, unpacked and did laundry...all to pack again to go to Kosovo the next day. I had about 30 hours from when camp ended until I got on a plane. I slept on and off during the first flight to Zurich, then could not keep my eyes open during the second flight to Prishtina. I landed around 2:00pm and then waiting at the airport for about an hour for my friend to pick me up, thanks R! Thankfully I saw another friend at the airport (a positive thing about Kosovo being so small) and chatted with her until R came to pick me up. We then drove straight to Peja, had a bite to eat at the newly renovated Art Design and headed up the mountain to join the university Leadership Camp that had already started a couple hours earlier.

Again another week of waking up early and staying up late...but it was all worth it! It was so great to be back in Kosovo. For two years I have not been able to visit, and I was so thankful when I found out I had this opportunity to go. R and I worked together starting in 2004 and its great to be back together, evaluating where things stand with the organization we helped to create 7 years ago.

Three pictures for today:

1. My Bible study group at Crosswalk

2. The Leadership Camp students

3. The view from where we stayed in the mountains.

Warrior Dash

Many months ago, my cousin C suggested that we sign up for the "Warrior Dash." We had completed our first half marathon together a few months prior, and that was a huge accomplishment to me. I never imagined I could do that, so I thought, what could be worse than running for 2 1/2 hours? I quickly read the description of the dash, and thought it sounded like fun. I signed up, and so did my cousin, her friend, my sister-in-law and her brother. There would be five of us, it would be fun...or so I thought.

Months now passed and the time was approaching for the Warrior Dash. I started getting more interested and started looking up more information about it. I watched some videos and looked at pictures. Then I started getting nervous. The running 3.02 miles, thats nothing. The 10 obstacles defined on the website...now those were a bit daunting. But we proceeded and headed out yesterday in our bright pink bubble gum shirts and were prepared to get muddy.

I wasn't quite prepared to run (or attempt to run) 3 miles in ankle to knee deep mud/water. It was crazy. The obstacles, they were nothing. Although I am a bit afraid of heights, I accomplished all the tasks with ease (and some bruises.) The descriptions of the obstacles were very misleading and all the obstacles described were not actually part of the course. But thats okay, because I don't think they planned for the week of rain prior to the race, which made the course extra muddy. In reality the race should have been called the "Muddy Dash," but then I don't think I would have eaten a turkey leg and we wouldn't have gotten our warrior hats.

It was another great accomplishment that I can add to my bucket list of things I never imagined I would ever or could ever do. I might even do it again next year.

Summer Vacation

The best part of waking up....I mean, being a teacher is having the summers off. Okay, thats not really the best part, but it is very enjoyable and allows me to do some great things, and also relax.

This is my first week off. Last Friday was our last day of school and honestly, I was glad to be done. I am praying for a renewed spirit next year for myself, and my colleagues.

This week I have been lazy and am enjoying my freedom. Monday I made delicious apple cinnamon chocolate chip pancakes for my roommate and a student I mentor. Then had dinner with my sister-in-law and nephews. Tuesday I went to my family's summer lake, camp, and enjoyed a beautiful day relaxing in the sun with my cousin and her children. It rained on Wednesday, so I curled up with a book and enjoyed reading the entire thing in one day, while listening to the rain fall on the lake. Today I am catching up on emails and a few things that need to get done, and who knows what I will do tomorrow. Life is good!

11 months

Thats how long its been since I last posted. I just commented on a blog I am following this week while some students are traveling, and I was reminded of my own blog. So I jumped over here to see where I left off.

Kind of fun to read my last couple posts about teaching. With one year under my belt, I feel much more confident about my classes (even though they still continue to change often) and the testing I will be starting up next month again. I am no where near an expert at this ESL stuff, especially in the public school arena, but this year has made me realize I know what I am talking about and have some good ideas once in awhile.

Today I was so happy when the teacher of my lowest two fourth graders came up to me and shared that those students are using the new method for decoding words words I have taught them, and its helping. I have recently seen them finally understand and get excited about being able to "divide" new words they encounter after many weeks of reviewing the same thing. Its these little moments of realizing I am making a difference, be it oh so little, that make me happy and keep encouraging me even through the frustrating times.

One of my grad school classes has also been very fun and enjoyable this semester also. Its about language and culture, so of course, I am in my element and loving every minute of it. I am also realizing how many different cultures I have been fortunate enough to experience and how that has shaped me. For this class I have to write a cultural autobiography, and I am actually excited about completing this assignment.

Thats all for now. We will see if this keeps up, and if I continue to write updates here. I do enjoy being able to reread this online journal of sorts, and who knows, maybe someone else is also actually reading it too.

Mondays

I just decided that, in case anyone does actually still read my blog, I should change the name to something about teaching. That is kind of the biggest thing in my life right now. 

So last Monday was indeed a snow day and I was very excited. But I ended up spending my whole day studying for the exam I had on Tuesday, and didn't focus too much on preparing lessons for my new groups. I went in Tuesday, slightly unprepared in my opinion, and pretty sick. After a day of that I called it quits and stayed home on Wednesday to give my body some time to rest. Thursday and Friday were still pretty tough and made me realize I still don't quite know what I am doing with the new schedule.  To my delight I found out on Friday that for the next two weeks I would not be teaching, but will be testing all of the ESL students in the school. What fun!  Although I was a bit stressed about this endeavor as I left Friday afternoon, to my surprise it is not actually that difficult and gives me lots of extra time. 

Today, as it should have been a snow day but wasn't, many students were absent and I tested maybe half of the students scheduled for today. In our spare time, my colleague and I went over the tests before giving them out, enjoyed a relaxed lunch, and prepared for other tests we have to give later in the week. Although I do have many tasks at hand right now with these tests, I have high hopes for getting my room into order for the new schedule that will start again in a couple weeks. (And then be stopped again so I can proctor other state mandated tests. Gotta love No Child Left Behind!)

All this being said, I joyfully left school this afternoon quickly after the kids did, as I had no lessons to set out and get ready for tomorrow. Being home a tad earlier than normal I made some brownies along with dinner. Now its 7:18pm and I have already finished my homework for tomorrow's class and am not quite sure what to do. Ya, sure, I could post on blackboard for my other class, but the last time I did that on a Monday my posts were deleted by accident. I should go read some manuals for my new lessons at school, but that won't start back again for two weeks. Maybe I will go watch some TV and go to bed early. What a great Monday! 

Oh where does the time go? Its a bit harder for me to come up with good reasons to post on here nowadays, since I am living in America. But at the same time I see this as kind of a journal (although very public) and I always enjoy looking back and reading my old posts. 

I have been teaching in the public schools now for four months, and just as I was thinking I was getting the swing of things, everything is changing. I walked into another teacher's classroom the other day to let her know I had a meeting and would not be taking her students. This meant she now had 6 extra students in her class that she hadn't expected or prepared for in the final lesson of the day. She laughed and commented that when you become a teacher your middle name changes to "flexible." I laughed along with her as I knew my whole schedule was about to change.

I took home many new manuals this weekend and have made up my new blank lesson plan sheet. Now its time to make sense of the new curriculum and figure out exactly what I am doing. I heard there is a slight prediction for snow on Monday, I am thinking the timing is pretty good for a snow day, or at least a delay. 

update with photos

Wow, its been awhile since I posted.

So I bought a little whiteboard for my classroom, and I put it on the side of my desk, with a note above it that says "Write a note to Miss Kobus here."

This is what was left after a really tough day:

(names removed for security)

Here is a picture of the sunrise the day after a snow storm. (day before was Snow Day #9)


And last but not least, some photos of my favorite person in the whole wide world: