smoky sunset

Let's take a journey to Ireland: Day 1

It was cloudy over most of Ireland when I flew in, but when it cleared, it was pretty surreal!

It took a long time to find each other. I walked around and bought a coffee while Alexis' flight was delayed and the bus was slow. I took about 15 pictures of busses thinking that I could catch that first shot, but it was a no go. Here we are outside of our Hostel.

We had our first Irish Pints along with potato soup and soda bread. We ate at a small cafe and looked at high euro fashion as people walked on the cobble stone road out the window.



We wondered upon the Christ Church Cathedral which was beautiful. We listened to a little diddie on my ipod to get in the Irish spirit. Background music always helps make it a little more cultural.


Here we are at an entrance of the Dublin Castle.

This was one of those 'money' moments. All was right with the world.

'...would you kindly tell to me...'

We finished our night at a pub with live music. Two people even did some irish dancing. And thanks to Nick, I even recognized some of the songs!


CHEERS to that!!

Mrs. Holck is my mom's name!

We have now earned one dime, one nickel and two pennies in my first grade class. That's right, 17 days of being a Teacher's Aid! Here's a day in the life:

I'm sitting in my apartment right now. I just had a salad with roasted red pepper vinaigrette. I'm listening to this random CD that Emily left in the cd player. The sliding door is open and I can hear wind/cars on Wilshire which is less than a block away. Outside my door, I can see three other apartment windows where lights are on (from across the alley).

Today, I went to school at 8:30 (after stopping by Vons to get two LA times). I got the kid's homework out of their folders and stapled the directions of the new homework together. They have to fill out a story chart with setting, character, problem and solution. Then the other first grade aid came in the room and pointed out that they directions say Tuesday instead of Wednesday. My teacher did them a day early and messed up. I feel lame bc I didn't catch the mistake and begin to unstaple all the homework. Go make copies of the new directions ('Instructions for Wednesday's Homework"), and add another staple to each page. I check their reading logs and their homework. Then I cut out the laminated pages of this book they made "At Calvary Christian School...." A girl wrote 'you can't sneak out'. A boy wrote 'you can't litter because it will make the school stink.'

More TA stuff, snack, math centers (Weather books), lunch, recess, then the adventure begins. I was a sub in the afternoon for in kindergarten. Well, yesterday I subbed in the afternoon for my 1st grade class and it didn't go too well. It was my very first time ever having a class all to myself where I wasn't just reading a book. And the kids really worked it. Finally I made one change his card. The crying began. We were running late. So, I did the unthinkable and said I'd change his card back. I still feel terrible for breaking every teacher code ever created and giving the kid what he wanted. But, lesson learned.

So, all the kindergarteners were sitting on the green rug. "Raise your had if you've never had a substitute teacher before." 1/2 of the kiddos raise their hands! Yikes! I'm their first sub EVER! We have a very serious talk about if they behave, they will get 'surf cards' (20 = prize from the office) and each student will get a star (5 = five goldfish crackers!). It goes really well! We talked about how a plant grows, what the parts of a plant are, and what a stem does. Then we started our experiment : dying celery. I'm not sure if I did it right, but they kids where pretty well behaved. When one of the smallest boys was falling behind, he said, ' will I get an F?" and I said, "You're doing a great job, keep writing!", then he said, "So, then I'll get an 'A'!!" "...just keep writing."

Next was my "Newspaper" after-school-program. That was decent, there's 11 2-5 graders and we're making a paper. I think the best story we'll have this time around will be an interview with a teacher who made up a song about beavers.

Tomorrow is Friday, and now I too, like the rest of the world, can say this on Thursday evening: "I'm so excited for the weekend!"

There you have it!

Road Trip II

Nel: Hey, I have a really random question for you. Want to go on a road trip?

Lee: Sounds fun. I just bought my ticket to L.A.


A: Mark, can I take your Mercedes cross country?

M: Sure, but make sure you only fill it with premium gas.


(it went kind of like that)