Elizabeth McCarthy and Tom Wonder

what up everyone,

I've been absent in this blog thus far, but have been reading everyone's entertaining entries. Good stuff, lets keep it up. FXCF, after reading your posts, I'm still dumbstuck that you are responsible for the education of 2o something 5th graders. You are a buffoon. In other news, heres a quick update on what I'm up to. I'm living in DC with 3 roommates (one a good friend from ND, one the friend of a good friend at ND (also in DC) who went to Dartmouth, and one a random Craig's list kid from Wash U in St Louis). I really couldn't have asked for a better living situation, as we're all pretty sweet. Going in to a living situation not knowing 2 people is a tenuous situation, but it's more than worked out--it's rocked out (sorry for that). I'm working at a law firm in DC, and after going in to the job mildly interested at the prospect of law school, my interest has since dwindled. They work way too much. The only kind of law I can see myself possibly doing is human rights law, but all things considered its just too panstakingly meticulous a profession. Ivan came up 2 weekends ago for his bday and me, him, Danger Reeves and Mach H all were able to meet up at the Sabarre sanctuary for a good old fashioned big ass food bash. No night would be complete, however, without Aaron randomly showing up with Paolo by his side, and that is just what happened. This week I'm going up to NYC to visit 2 of my roommates from senior year who now live with one of my other best friends from school too. The tentative plan is to watch High School Musical 3 with that dreamy Zac Efron. Before I wrap this up, has anyone heard anything from Liz? like her status of being alive? Liz, if you read this, you should write us when you get the chance (and I understand you may not have had the chance yet). And Tom , whats the haps in Russia? Alright playuhs, im out. latro,

Zach

all right all riiiiiiiight

So a lot has happened from the labor day weekend as far as teaching goes! Well for starters, my school has started this new thing called Benchmarking. Throughout the entire year, a teacher has certain state-wide standards that we have to teach. Beginning each quarter, the kids take a pre-test (which they're supposed to BOMB considering they don't know anything on the test) and then take a post-test, where they're supposed to improve. We have a math benchmark and a writing benchmark test. . .but it gets a little tricky. The thing is our school curriculum has not been universal by any means. . .so essentially there are 8th graders in my school who don't know 3 x 3 off the top of their head. The school expects an 80% increase in grades from pre to post but with that many deficiencies there are obvious huge problems.
. . .So here's where I come in. I suppose it's rough enough to come into the first year of teaching, trying to find your method of doing things. It's incredibly difficult to do it while an administration is attempting to make a school-wide change of implementing and executing instruction, all while more or less grilling us about the scores. I felt in the dumps this past Thursday when I got some scores back and my kids improved by just 10%, where the administration then told me I should use the math textbook program even though they told me not to in the beginning. Haha, it's kind of a mess BUT the bright side is that it can only get better from here and at least next year the administration won't be so confused about what to do. My kids are doing great. . .having a birthday and being a 5th grade teacher is maybe one of the best things ever. I got a MASSIVE smiley face baloon, bags of candy, homemade cards, and 2 kids even brought me empanadas (think of the delicious mexican version of a Hot Pocket) and a giant cheesecake. I gave them practically no homework that day. Thank God the kids are a great group, they really have made this experience worth the hard work and endless amounts of planning. Also, if any of ya'll remember maybe a story you REALLY liked in 5th grade, let me know. . .I'm reading them the BFG right now, they're lovin it.
As for the community I'm living with, things are amazing. I'm really lucky to be in the place where I'm at with the people I'm with. We get along super great (which is good, considering other ACE communities don't always click so well) and we do stuff with each other all the time. I just gotta mention yesterday because I guess it was pretty epic as far as teachers on the weekend.
Basically I got my house on a VIP list for this swanky club called Myst. Two weekends ago, my housemate Pat and I went out to the bars with some of his friends in the area. A friend of one of his friends so happened to be the DJ at said Myst, and Pat and I chatted up a bit. He told us he could get us into the club for free, so I took his number down. . .time went by. . .and Matty Stuntz (I kid you not, that is his name) texted and asked for all the peoples we wanted to bring.
So then this happened. We rolled with 10 people, partied for 3 hours, then went home. It's pretty fun
especially when your housemates literally just fist pump the entire time. The club-goers just kinda stared at us, but we didn't care. . .I guess when you can stand a class of 26 5th graders for 8 hours a day, you start to get pretty tough skin.
Hope all of you are doin well, keep up the updates!

Mi familia

Life and mi familia

So…. I am not so intelligent- After setting up this blog, I’ll managed to lose my gmail account name and password which I set it up under…until a couple of days ago. But, eureka, I figured it out finally… kinda like a pirate finding a buried treasure (I apologize I have been a little obsessed with pirates since coming to Caribbean, haha I even have a skull and cross bone bathing suit). But anyways, now I have been able to read and see how everyone has been doing. It sounds like everyone is managing well, and we are all going through that first fun and ackward stage of getting acquainted with a new place.

So today is just another day in the sweltering heat of the DR (although the mountains are not as bad as Santo Domingo). I am right now watching a cult of aliens in “Hombres en negroes dos” Men in Black 2, with my 11 and 3 year old host nephews, as I wait for my host brother to come home so I can interview him about his business for my project for class. I have to write a business plan paper in Spanish and an Income Statement by the end of this week for one of the companies I interview. This should be interesting, since most of the places I interview don’t really keep any kind of records… and not to mention I am sure things are getting lost in translation (my Spanish is progressing slowly but surely. I think I am passed the early child stage. But I have definitely not matured yet. I think I am in the ackward puberty phase of my Spanish capabilities).

I really like my family here in the Mountains of Juan Lopez. I dance and sing with them all, especially the 3 year olds. I play lots of baseball with the 11 year old. Whenever the volunteers get together to play at the field on the side of our mountain (I’ll need to take pictures of this, like lizmac says, its sure not ugly) kids appear out of thin air in the matter of minutes and soon there are 25 kids playing/ watching. For a place where there is no cell phone reception, word sure gets around here fast!

Also, I really like the daughter-in-law, Jokaira, whose family lives with us right now. If its not raining, I am going to skip class tomorrow, and go to her work, which is in Porta Plata, the big beach town about 2 hours away. Since she works at a resort, she speaks a little bit of English, which comes in handy if I am having communication issues. She is really trendy, cool, and an awesome mom (her kids are so good and not annoying!) So she is sort of my Dominican role model here. I decided I might even change my name once I get to my village and start going by Jokaira. Not just in memory of her but because I have found that NO Dominican can say/ remember my name, I think the double L is tricky or something. But it’s always kind of funny, to watch people struggle at it.

And my neighbors are really fun too! We convinced, Jesse, who is the host sister of one of my best volunteer friends to have a house party 2 nights ago. Now Jesse has a little 3 year old, but she is really crazy and funny! We have dance parties A LOT, where we teach her the Macarena and the running man, and she teaches us to try to shake our hips… (one of my 2 year goals is to be able to shake it like Shakira). Or we will have cooking contests or just mess around. Well anyways, she lives next to me, and we convinced her she should have a party. So I went on a beer run on the back of her husband’s moto, helmet and all! And some how we were able to a fit this huge crate of beer on the motorcycle with us! Then our other friends and volunteers arrived from the top of the mountain with the Dominican rum! We blared the music and my friends host dad whom is 60 came over somewhat drunk and showed us card tricks. Then the Spanish and English music flowed, and we had a good old time talking in Spanglish and learning lots of Spanish slang and bad words. Then me and my friend Justin, pulled out the Soulja Boy Superman dance to show Jesse. Haha my Dona, also around 60, came out too, it was a good old time in the campo!

So yea, my family is basically the bomb, except for one. The other daughter-in-law, whom is my age, doesn’t like me so much. Luckily, she has only come around a few times, but every time I see her, she always has some not-so-nice comment for me. But I think I am going to just kill her with kindness. Today, for instance though, she came over and before even saying hello, she tells me I am gaining weight, but my Dona (host mom) and Jokaira came to my defense real quick. And then I ran about 9 miles, to show her! But, besides that life on the mountain is pretty sweet! I am going on a lot of cool field trips this week, so I will update you guys soon about stuff I am actually doing!

Adios BFFS,
Kels/ Jokaira

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!