John you will think this is funny...

It's slightly awkward teaching Spanish when I don't know the language very well. It's even more awkward that some of my students are fluent Spanish speakers. Actually, it's awesome in most cases - they are really great and help the students. But today, it ended up causing a minor commotion.

I was reading aloud our pen pal letters from Prof. Josue Sanchez de San Pedro, Costa Rica and his class. Some of his students were being little tricksters. They wrote about their life in the Tipton Hotel. I thought this was a little strange, but didn't make much of it. I read one letter from a little boy named Zack who had a brother named Cody and a friend named Maddie. As I read it out loud, my students started laughing hysterically.

It turns out, those little pranksters were impersonating the characters of the Disney Channel show "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." Not only did I have two letters from "Zack", I also had another one from "Cody"...ayiyiyi. But it was even funnier because one of the letters said the Tipton Hotel was in London, and another said it was in NYC. My oh-so-observant students wrote in their replies, "Nice try- we know the Tipton Hotel is in BOSTON. In English, we call that being a poser."

Oh yeah - the minor commotion wasn't about that. The minor commotion was when I didn't understand a part of a letter (they came mostly in English, since Prof. Sanchez's students are learning English, but there was also some Spanish) and asked a native Spanish speaker to translate. He started to read it out loud, and all the Spanish - speakers started to gag. Basically, the sentence said "I like to eat boogers and vomit" in Spanish...and I had NO IDEA! I guess I need to figure out how to screen the Spanish more carefully.

ay de mi...

Today in math class, I just started cracking up. I could not stop laughing. This is a typical sequence of events:

Me (explaining that I had to go to a training tomorrow): I'm not going to be here tomorrow.
Student X: Was it something we said?
[Student Y jumps out of seat, runs into the wall, flies into the air and crashes down onto the floor.]
Student Z: That's our Student Y!

Sundayyyyyy

I just got a math CD from 1998 to load on my computer (yaaaaaaaaaay!!! it has been giving me troubles) and now I can generate assessments very easily :) I might stay here a long time tonight, hahaha. Tonight = unit planning, long-term planning on the calendar, assessment-making, and finally fixing up the Under the Sea Assessment stuff.

Updates on Life:
U of Hawaii stuff - big project due this week, 2nd observation by my professor (eek)
School stuff - ALLL of my students moved to the island of Kauai!! This means they mastered their individual goals for the first Quarter. I'm so proud of them :) IEPs are still kicking my butt. As is everything else. But I still have the best kids. Also, Spanish class is going a little better, I think (I hope!)
TFA stuff - Also kicking my butt. But I have an awesome program director :)
Home - I will be home on Friday, December 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Island Fever - I didn't understand it when I moved here. But now, I get it. I really get it.

COME VISIT ME!!!!!!!! :) Email me for details!

Things I Miss About Mainland Living, Part 1

Returning to your desk, taking a shower, or just simply being in any room and not having to worry about geckos who are EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

update

Okay, so I left at 5:20...not quite 5. But I'm at home now watching "The Office" and I am seriously cracking up sooooooo hard I barely have time to breathe...if you haven't seen "Launch Party" you need to go to nbc.com and watch it NOW :-)

5 PM!!!!!!!

I'm probably jinxing myself by posting this, but it's 4:21 PM and signs point to me being able to LEAVE BY 5 PM TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO WE HAVE TEXTBOOKS :-D And they're really, really awesome ones too!

"Computers are about trying to murder you in a lake" - The Office

Some of you may have been wondering how I still manage to get lost even with a GPS. Like Michael Scott, I sometimes lack common sense and put a little too much faith into machines. Fortunately, I have never driven into a lake...yet.