Back in the Swing of Things

Now that I'm pretty settled into Raleigh I suppose it is time for me to get back into the grove of blogging....

I have decided that I LOVE my apartment and apartment location. I am two minutes from I-40, ten minutes from a newly renovated Super-Wal-Mart, ten minutes from Target, five minutes from school, and it's super easy to give directions too. I also love the layout, having my own bathroom and large closet, and I like my clean, organized, and respectful apartment-mates.


















































I have decided that I DON'T like riding my road bike in Raleigh. I road this morning for an hour and a half and it was super annoying. Every time I found a good two lane country road it led me straight to a large intersection. I asked some other bikers that I saw where was a good place to ride and they gave me some suggestions that I will try next week. I do however live about five minutes from a lake that has a five mile loop around it that I also LOVE running on.

I am an official "employee" (unpaid, that is) of Wake County as of yesterday when I went down to central office and got my teacher ID badge. I took a really good picture (YAY!) and I can now get into any Wake County sporting event free!....I saw this as a win/win situation (minus the "unpaid" part).

My roommate, Allison, and I went to the local farmers' market this morning where I bough some peaches and a green pepper. As for food, I have been cooking in large quantities and then eating off that particular meal for several days. Last night I cooked some rice and mixed vegetables in "sofrito" (a Puerto Rican classic of cilantro, onion, and garlic that they use to flavor about everything they eat). I also grilled some chicken that I like to have around for salads or to add to my rice.

In Destino news.... Last week we had a leadership meeting to begin planning for the year. In addition to Holly (our Campu Crusade Coach) we now also have Justin. Justin graduated from State in 2004 and then worked in Argentina with Crusade for 4 years. He should be a great addition to our leadership group. Also, tonight we are having a SURPRISE going away party for Ekaterina who is leaving us for a 9 month intership in Georgia. We are going to miss her!


(Ekaterina pictured here....)












I am enjoying my methods class (a 7-week "teach you how to teach" class). I'm finding it informative. We are currently in our FLES (foreign languages in Elementry schools) section. All of us are certified to teach kindergarten through 12th grade so we spend time studying each grade level and specific teaching techiniques. Yesterday I had to teach my Elementry School Lesson and I LOVED it. The idea in FLES is that you create a content specific lesson and through focusing on the content the young children just pick-up vocabulary and grammar. In FLES you can't just write notes on the board because the kids can't even read yet. So you just speak to them in Spanish the whole time and you have to be very repetitive. I had an abosolute blast teaching my lesson. My content focus was "patterns" and my grade level was 1st grade. Through my lesson, in addition to learning how to complete patterns, the kids were able to learn the words (in Spansh) for pattern, circle, square, triangle, boy, girl, green, blue, and red...and they took ZERO notes. I'm glad I will have the option to teach young children because I really did enjoy it.


(Pattern artifacts picture here....)















So, if you made it to the bottom I give you a "star"! (because teachers are no longer permitted to give out candy in Wake County.....LAME!)

Summer time!

Sorry for the absence, but I love summer and there are things I'd rather be doing then stuff on the computer!

History...check!

I have finished ALL of my classes but one, YAY! I took my history exam yesterday and to study I made a really large color coded time line of Latin American history...I thought it was impressive anyway. :)






















Last night some of my residents went to paint the Free Expression Tunnel in order to make their freshmen year complete...I tagged along. We spray-painted a whole bunch of nothing.

Spring is in the air!

I attended the Mi Familia end of the year Gala last Saturday night. The Hispanic organizations from NC State, Chapel-Hill, and Duke all get together for a night of awards, dinner, and dancing. If was an enjoyable night and fun to get all dressed up.

I went with several of the Destino Girls..... (pictured below)






























Also last Saturday in the afternoon we had our Triad Palooza...which is like an end-of-the-year cookout for my building. We had tacos, pizza, subs, games, and live music.







Yesterday we had our "Destino Despedida", or our Destino end-of-the-year/going away party. We spent the hot (90 degree plus weather) afternoon at the pool in Silvia and Manuel's apartments. We swam, played games, threw frisbee, grilled hotdogs, sat in the hot-tub (later that night), roasted marshmellows, and had a great time. We had a total of about 32 people...a Destino record!!! We also said goodbye to Rolando, our foreign exchange student from Honduras. He returned to Honduras on Sunday where he hopes to start a Destino on his university's campus. He is already in contact with a Campus Crusade staff worker who is working in Honduras.











































This week I have an exam Wednesday and a project due on Friday. I also will be busy with check-out and my other RA duties. Well, I'm off to study and work on a project!

almost there!

This week has not been too bad. I got the bulk of my work done before Easter so as long as I pace myself well I should not have any more stressful days the rest of the year! I'm on duty this weekend so I have to stay in the building tonight and all day tomorrow. However, we do have our Triad (the area in which I live) Palooza tomorrow afternoon. We will be having tacos, games, and live music. It should be pretty fun! Also tonight I will be spending several hours with some other girls cooking all the meat for tomorrow. Then tomorrow night we have our Mi Familia Gala. The Gala is the end of the year banquet that includes the Hispanic organizations from UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, and NC State. We all get dressed up, eat yummy food, and have awards. It should be pretty fun!

I also had a small scare this week when I called in to Stone Ridge Tavern to line-up summer work. The manager I talked to told me that they had been having so many college students just come back and pick-up random nights here and there but then not be availabe to work when needed. She said that since they needed more consistant/relaible staff they were requiring all college students to "reapply" and interview in order to get hired again for the summer. She also said that they were not hiring very many people. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO LOOK FOR OTHER WORK! So, I called my dear friend Hannah who works there full-time, prayed about it...maybe God had other summer plans for me..., and waited. Hannah called me back today after talking to the other (more "normal") manager and the owner and since I will be coming back for the whole summer they are fine if I want to work there and I don't need to reapply. WHEW! Glad I have that into place!

I believe...

Here's how the "I believe" game goes: write 5 beliefs or rules you live by. You can't be preachy, serious, religious, or political.

1.) I believe in setting goals and then striving to achieve them, whether they are daily to-do list or life long dreams.

















2.) I believe in dancing like people ARE watching.


















3.) I believe in taking naps (sometimes even when you're not tired).















4.) I believe in being tan (there's no excuse in the summer).











5.) I believe in letting you hair air dry and just being natural (but NOT greasy).









WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN????

The whether is nice these days!

I am really enjoying the whether. I have been increasing my running time and it is much more enjoyable to do long runs outside as opposed to the indoor track or treadmill.

This weekend I am quite busy... Today I had my Sigma Delta Pi Xi Omicron (National Spanish Honors Fraternity) Initiation Ceremony. Then tonight I will be working on Destino "stuff" for Latino Visitation Day. So, tomorrow morning is Latino Visitation Day is tomorrow morning beginning at 8am. All Latino's that have been admitted to NC State University are invited to come and spend a Saturday, their families included, with the current Latino students on our campus (...and, well, me!). All the Latino organizations, including Destino, will have tables with information (which is what we have to work on tonight), etc.


Tomrrow night we have a Destino movie night and we will be watching "End of the Spear"...a movie about missionaries in Ecuador (two being Jim Elliot and Nate Saint) who were martyred by the Auca Indian Tribe. The tribe later became a Christian tribe due in part to the missianaries' sacrifice.


I will spend the in between times doing some homework and such. On a happy academic note, I finished my history paper on Mexican Immigration two weeks early (it's due the Monday after Easter) and turned in a "first draft" to my professor to get feedback....Ah, I LOVE being ahead.

Enjoy the day; it's beautiful!