New Year, New Me

(Attempting to take a pic of my new hair)

I don't have a lot of time to write today because I need to prepare my lesson plans for tomorrow and print out semester exam reviews, but I thought I would update on how my new year is starting off.  I visited my friend Lori at her salon the other day and got an awesome new haircut and new color.  She and I decided that I should go darker and redder with my hair.  I have to say I love the way it turned out!  It is a deep auburn type of color and it makes my complexion look a lot better than it had been looking lately with my faded highlights.  I really feel that highlights on me are a summer/spring thing only. 

So, I have a new haircut and it came at a great time because lately I feel like a new person.  I attended an orientation weekend last weekend for my Rotary Group Study Exchange program to Germany and I am really excited and very proud of my self.  I was able to truly understand what an awesome opportunity I have been given and how much this is going to affect my future career in education.  I also met a lady who does my dream job and made a great contact for advice on how to get there.  My dream job, by the way, is Director of Study Abroad at a university. 

I am reinvigorated in my job right now and it feels great.  I think that the Zumba club sponsorship has also had a big influence on my feelings toward my job lately as well.  I really feel like I am doing something meaningful and that I am making at least a small difference in the lives of teenagers. 

It's really early to say, but I am pretty sure 2011 is going to be just as good or better than 2010. :)

Salud!! (Cheers!)

Back to Work and Dancing and Interacting

So, I never had time to post pictures from Winter Break because work started again!  We went back to school on Monday and my life has been in full throttle ever since.  It has been a pretty good week back, though.  I had an Interact Club meeting with the kids on Tuesday and we made recycling  for classrooms in the high school and today I had a Zumba club meeting at the school. 

The Zumba fitness club I sponsor is really starting to take off.  We had about twenty girls today participate and finally were able to hook our student instructor up with loud enough music.  If you haven't heard of Zumba, you should really try it out!  It is a Latin-based dance fitness class that can burn up to 500 calories per hour.  The club at my school was started by a senior who is now a certified instructor.  The student and I have a goal to teach nutrition to the girls participating as well.  It is such an awesome thing to be a part of.  Today we had students and teachers dancing (finally I got some to join me!).  We had girls of all shapes and sizes and all of them had a blast, regardless of the fact of if they were doing the correct moves.  The best thing about the club is that the girls are getting healthy and having fun.  I know if I tried to get most of the girls there to run laps around the track, they would have laughed and walked away, but with the dance moves and the student instructor, the girls are really dedicated to this exercise.  We have another meeting tomorrow, so another chance to get my body burning some of my holiday calories!

Oh yeah, and my actual teaching is going well too!  I am teaching my booty off right now trying to get all my kiddies ready for semester exams that will be here in two and a half weeks.  Today we learned about new vocabulary and grammar and the thing my students found the most fascinating was the back pocket on my new Athleta sweater!  I told them it was for snacks when I got hungry for some chips.. :) 

It's Winter Break and all teachers are happy!

So, it's that time of year again!  The time of year that my boyfriend and I have about a week and a half without any work at all and get to travel and spend time with family and friends.  Christmas/Winter break is probably one of my favorite times of the year.  This year was a little bit different, as I am growing up.  I spent my first Christmas day this year without my family, traveling with my boyfriend to visit his family in Pennsylvania.  I have to admit that I was very saddened about the fact at first, but once the day finally arrived, it wasn't as hard to deal with because we have to learn to go with the changes that come at us in life.  
I have realized that I basically now have two loving families to share now instead of one, amazing family.  More is always better, right?  


Before we went on our trip, I spent some time with my family on the days leading up to Christmas and Christmas Eve.  I went to Busch Garden's Christmas Town with my sister, my nephew Nicholas and my mother, as well as other family members of my brother-in-law.  We had a blast.  Christmas Town made me feel like I was in a Christmas movie, so being who I am, I danced a lot that night and my nephew followed along to my steps.  


We exchanged some presents on Christmas Eve.  One of the best presents I got to give this year was a drum set for my nephew.  It was awesome to see him open the present and start to play/destruct the set immediately.  My sister gave me the most beautiful bracelet and my boyfriend gave me earrings made from mother of pearl from 10,000 villages (a store you should definitely check out!).  We will have part two of Christmas Day this year on New Years Day due to fact that my father is a tug boat captain and is currently on the boat working.  


I just want to end this post by saying that I love the holiday season.  I know sometimes we can get caught up in the every day work environment and the demands of teaching or whatever we do in our professions and it is nice to escape that every once in a while.  So, to all of my fellow teachers out there... have fun, be merry and share this amazing time off of work that we have been given!  Most people would love to have the days off we do, so don't waste them!  Spend the days with family, start a new craft, go travel somewhere local that you have never visited before....live it up!  


Happy Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Prospero Año!

Snow Day!

So, it is official!  My school district had it's first snow day today.  They announced the closing at 9:45pm last night and, I have to admit, I was just as excited as most students would be.  I love snow days, not just because I don't have to go to work, but more because of the fact that I love snow.  I love watching the flurries come down and seeing the brown, dry grass turn into a marvelous white canvas.  Every home looks beautiful in the snow, regardless of it's actual state.  Every window I look out of is similar to a fairy tale during a snow storm.  Right now I am sitting in my den watching television, listening to a fire crackle, admiring my Christmas/Winter tree (which is white, not green), and looking out the window at snow.  


I think snow makes many people act like children.  Last year when we had a snow storm, my boyfriend and I took our mountain bikes out and biked over to a local park to go sledding.  We were skidding all around and falling in the snow and we had no inhibitions about who would see us or if we looked dorky in our snow pants, bike helmets, neck gators and huge gloves.  


Today I am going to put out the rest of my Christmas decorations, drink hot chocolate and take my dog Carmen for a frolic in the snow.  And to all the other Virginia teachers out there - HAPPY 1st SNOW DAY TO YOU!
-Katie

Introduction - Hola!

Hola!  I want to introduce myself in this first post.  My name is Katie and I live in Virginia.  I am currently in my fourth year of teaching Spanish at an urban high school.  I never aspired to be a teacher, it was one of those great things that happened in my life.  I decided to teach after working at a database storage company, being a waitress at a French bistro, applying to be a Naval Intelligence Officer and working as a paralegal for a year for an insurance defense law firm.  Throughout my college years, I had enjoyed tutoring ESL students (English as a Second Language) and I decided to investigate teaching more after college and wound up realizing it was what I really wanted to do.  Sadly, one of the main things that always kept me away from teaching was the salary, but I have learned to love my profession regardless of the insane wages they pay me.  

I chose the scariest sector, in my opinion, to enter in the education world - HIGH SCHOOL.  My first year was like a movie.  I had students throwing objects across the room, running out of the door of my "learning cottage" (another word that my high school has for trailers), and pressing the emergency button continuously during the afternoon announcements.  Somehow I made it through my first year with only crying once or twice and I have survived three more years since.  

Since that first year, I have met another teacher who is the man of my dreams, traveled to Europe free and landed a sweet opportunity to travel to Germany for a month to study international education systems.  My boyfriend and I use all of our breaks, including a two month summer break, to travel and enjoy the best things in life.  So, except for being broke constantly, life is good.  

Srta. (Senortia /Miss) Kinsey