So, I went to observe at Wilson today...INTERESTANTE! It was a day full of surprises....never a moment's rest. So, most of the kids are black. Most of the teachers are black. It is very interesting to observe how they interact with one another. I almost want to laugh or be scared when they start raising their voices at each other. I have never seen anything quiet like it, as they swear back and forth at each other.
I get there this morning, after a 40 min metro ride, not really knowing where I was going. I find my teacher, Wanda Oats. She is in a class with the other PE teachers. The health teacher is also a part of the department. He needs to leave early and the school, being the amazing public school that it is, doesn't have sub for him...SOooo, he looks at me and asks me if I will cover his class! HIS HEALTH CLASS! Not PE! H-E-A-L-T-H...am I certified for PE...not yet...let alone HEALTH! hahah I can't even be alone in a classroom alone with students legally yet! H-E-L-L-O ay ay ay. So the office gets word and they tell them it is a no go...uffff...way to get the blood pumping first thing in the morning. That black coffee he offered me was almost appealing. So, I observed his class...interesting. I got locked out of the high school doing errands for him. The school is locked down. You only have two entrances to the whole school, where the metal detectors are. I didn't want to walk alllll the way around and go through security again, so I was locked out waiting and banging on the door for like 20 min! :) Gotta love it!
I went to make copies, didn't know where the copy machine was, didn't know the code etc...got yelled at to go to class, to hurry up, got looks of why I would want to go into the teacher's lounge, etc...YES they allll think I am a student and about 17 years old...GREAT! It will be even worse when I am in my PE apparel! Fantastic!
My teacher didnt' have students until 12:30..so lots of sitting around. There were kids in the class sexually harrassing a girl that we didn't catch doing it while in class but it came out later...was left alone in the gym with two classes of students while Ms. Oats dealt with the sexual harassment..mm...what else can I add to what happened to me today...My teacher is 67 years old...is black with grey/white hair and has a man's voice. She is super funny and told me she was the first female football coach...she has been invited to the White House, was in lots of magazines and been on TV etc, they made a movie out of her...Wild Cats... but has changed the story a bit....she is quiet the women. She almost died and was in a coma for 45 days, she says she died adn came back...a miracle women. Not the most ideal mentor in the world but it works. The other teacher, Nicole Adiar, is a first year teacher, has NEVER taught before, and has no degree in pedagogy, let alone PE! FANTASTIC! hahah I asked if I could observe her class and she told me hoepfully I coudl give her some pointers and teach her some things! Things just keep getting better and better! I only laugh out loud! However, Nicole and I did start talking a bit about the church, so there is some potential missionary work to be done there! That excites me!
So...my roommates are fantastic and all came back with similar interesting stories that happened to htem today. One of them even almost got in a fight in the lunch room with a black girl that was about to jump her until she found out she was a teacher. Good times! We signed up for it! We knew it was going to be interesting! hahah
So, yes my roommates...all four of us do everything together. We laugh more than you could ever imagine. It is great. They call me Polly Pocket or midget. Take your pick. We go to Costco and take the cart home with us, through the lobby, up the elevator, to the apartment to unload...then we leave it outside the other apartment's door (the other girls in the program) as a prank! :)
My BYU supervisor doesn't want to let me teach at Ellington...that is another story...no decision made for sure yet...but no worries.
We are going to Gettysburg this weekend. That will be fun.
Yup, exciting stuff! Let the fun continue!
Oh yeah and nothing slides with my roomies...I couldn't even run into the wall and play it off like it didn't happen without being made fun...geeze! The sarcasm is thick, heavy, and never ending!
This was our ride to church one day. Our chapel is a half hour from where we live and we can't ride the metro, we have to find a ride to church every week. To our surprise this is what came to pick us up one day, a kid in a jeep! Good times! It was a beautiful day!
Carols (our friend in the army), Me, Melanie, Naomi, and Jessica
From left to right: Scott, Jessica, Chanel, Leigh, Matt, and ME!
Imagine...this is how we have been getting around...using these cards and trying to put them together!
Thomas Jefferson Memorial. 
Amazing, there will be more pictures for this as well...great times...we went to Costco...we don't have a car...so, we took the grocery cart home with us...did we take it back? no...we left it outside the door of the other apartment of girls that are here with us as a prank. In return , they smother us with their kindness! Boo.
This would be ranked as one of my favorite monuments of all time. It is the Pentagon Memorial for September 11th. Each one of those lights is a bench and under neath them is running water. Each bench represents a person that died and on it has the person's name. The benches facing the left represent the people that died who were on the plane and the benches facing the right are those who were in the Pentagon. If you see a name in the water it is showing that someone else they were related to died in the tragedy. Each row of benches represents the year that the person was born in. Fascinating! We only went at night, we need to go back in the day too!
Gettysburg...there will be more pictures to follow. My camera died so I relied the rest of the day on others!
We are proud Virginian residents!
What? Federal offense? Who knew?
