Helllllllllo

Oh hey friends,

so while all of you are off doing amazing things in other countries, i am here, in wilmington, delaware. now before i go off about how there are no redeeming qualities about delaware, i really do love what i am doing. and i need to tell myself that everyday. and delaware has no sales-tax. so that's one for the redeeming qualities.

just to fill you in on what i've been up to, i'm at Serviam Girls Academy, and this is it's first year. we take girls out of the inner city schools and prepare them for the long term goal of college. it's a long day, starting at 7am and they leave at 6pm. i've been teaching 33 inner city girls religion and health. oh, and coaching volleyball, because getting cut from the volleyball team freshman year means i have all the experience and talent in the world. they, on the other hand, have been teaching me hand games, how to build a thicker skin, the words to just about every hip-hop song, patience, what strength really means, and of course, double dutch. it's impossible, but we're taking baby steps. my goal is to be double dutch master at the end of this year.

like any first year teacher will tell you, it's hard. but at the end of the day the rewards are endless. some of these girls have been through so much in their lives, and come to school everyday smiling and that gives me a whole new perspective on lives. but before i make them out to be angels, they aren't. now i know why i never went to an all-girls school. DRAMA. and total 'tude. even to people of authority, like teachers, especially teachers. but that's the demographic and how they are raised. but i love teaching them religion, it makes me so happy. and i'm also happy that i am no longer teaching them sex-ed. cause that would have been interesting and scarring on my part.

i really love the other teachers i work with. they are hilarious and are always there to help me out. my principal on the other hand is a different story. i don't know who takes up more of my patience, her or the girls.

i live in an old covent with 7 other teachers that teach at the boys' school down the street. the house is so big and creepy. there's a whole 3rd floor we don't use cause we're pretty sure its haunted, and religious art everywhere you turn. oh and there's an empty chapel. so naturally we are throwing an oktoberfest party this weekend and using the chapel for beerpong. yay Jesus. and yay beer.

hope you all are doing well and finally settling into your respective places, well, for some of you, when you get there. i miss you all and i have the girls keep all of you in their prayers.

Hi everybody!

I just spoke with Mr. Wonder online and he reminded me that we have this lovely joint blog set up and you people are actually writing in it. I was excited to be mentioned by name in most of your posts, though less excited that each time was a reference to just how cold I'll be in two short weeks. As your adventures continue, do not forget home. New and exciting things are happening here as well. For example, 21,000 showed up at Van Dyck Park yesterday for a McCain-Palin rally. Considering the city of Fairfax only has a population of 23,000, it was quite a turn out especially since there is no parking there. I had know idea that many people could fit in the same area where we used to play capture the flag at St. Leo's. I went with my Mom to check it out and it was kind of cool to observe, but also kind of scary. I get claustrophic in crowded bars, so it was too much to be in a crowd of people chanting "U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A." Kelly and Elizabeth, do you have access to news where you are? I guess if you can get on the internet you must, but will you when you move away from the cities?

My day can currently be divided into about 5 activities that I do everyday. I babysit for a family with many children under the age of 6, I play Pokemon War with Zach, I go shopping for discount winter wear, I eat dinner and then I hang out with the other Zach in my life. Alright, good luck and have fun!

Privyet

Hey all, I just wanted to check in from the Motherland. Things here are good, but I've been ridiculously busy with training. For instance, I left my apartment today at 915am and won't get back until prolly 10-1030ish pm. Kinda sucks, but the training itself isn't bad. Today, I taught some Russians both vocabulary used in murder investigations and the past continuous tense. You'll have to take my word that they went together. I like teaching more than I thought I would, although I've taught a grand total of 3 hours, so the jury is still out. I've also realized that my Russian is definitely not up to the task, but I am learning new words slowly; for instance, I learned the words for handcuffs (narunichniki) and cough drop (dlyagul...something or other). Katie, take notes. Moscow itself is huge; it's the biggest city ever. I live about 15-20 minutes inside the city limits and I am still a 15 minute walk to the last Metro stop on my line. I've explored around my neighborhood and around the school where I am doing training and haven't had time to go anywhere else. I live about 15-20 minutes inside the city limits and I am still a 15 minute walk to the last Metro stop on my line. Red Square and the area down there was closed off last weekend for City Day (861 years of Moscow and still kicking) so I am planning on making my way down there Saturday or Sunday. My apartment is small, but nicer than I thought it would be. The building itself is a stereotypical Eastern European apartment block - again, notes, Katie - but the inside is pretty nice. The weather, on the other hand, has not been so nice. It's been in the forties (5-8 Celsisus? I don't really get it) and raining the last couple day. I made a joke about it to the class today - that I'm not used to the weather and they laughed, but probably because 5-8 degrees celsius is nothing and not because the joke was funny. Anyways, I'll put up pictures on Facebook or somewhere once I take some. Hope everything is good with everyone else, I'm doing well until it gets really cold, which is probably right when Katie will arrive in Ukraine...sorry, couldn't help throwing that jab in there. See ya.

Hola holaaa

¡Hola gente!
I hope this works, everything is in Spanish so hopefully I´m doing it right. Anyway, I´m here in Xela (aka Quetzaltenango...but that name is really long, everyone calls it Xela) Guatemala where it is rainy and cold. They said it would be cold, but I think I thought to myself "It´s Central America, how cold could it be?" but I was wrong wrong wrong. In the evenings and mornings, and during the day when it´s raining, which is almost every day, it´s about like Virginia in late October because I´m up in the mountains. Other than that I´m loving the food and culture here--muy muy rico! Oooh the food is good, lots of fresh, home made corn tortillas and cheese and coffee, oh man the COFFEE is amazing. I live in a house with 9 other members of my host family ranging in ages from 1 to 78. I am always wet and cold, and I just always think to myself "Oh Katie...Katie...this does not feel good" haha. At least when I get down to Honduras it will be wet and HOT.
I´m taking Spanish classes from 8-1 5 days a week, and it´s really good because I have a private teacher who is hilarious, and I´m actually learning really in depth Spanish grammer versus the kind of general stuff you learn in high school and college. In the afternoons my group (the 6 other kids all going down to work at the Finca) and I usually do some kind of activity. This week we took a salsa class one day (so unsuccessful), went to this natural hot spring about an hour away another day, and yesterday afternoon the three other girls and I started taking these weaving classes at this women´s cooperative in town. We will eventually each have weaved a scarf but it´s going to be over many days and hours. That´s pretty much how I´ve been spending my days.
In two weeks we´ll be making the trek down to Honduras, which is actually quite far. It would normally be about a two or three day journey, but we´re taking 10 so it´s really going to be more like a quest. We´re stopping at alot of cool places like this giant lake (Lago Atitlan) for a few days, these bat caves and natural pools (google image search Semuc Champey, it´s not ugly), and these Mayan ruins. Then we´ll finally get down to my future home on October 1st (hopefully, though we don´t have any specific plans on just how we´re getting there yet).
Anyway I´m really excited, I love the other people in my group, and I´m really looking forward to getting down to the Finca. Hopefully I´ll be able to put some pictures up soon of people and places I´ve been so far.
¡¡Miss you all!! ¡Se extraño muchisimo!