Middle of the month

We are in the middle of August already!  Whoa!

School started yesterday in Santa Clarita, and if Amos and I still lived there, I would be in junior high right now, taking notes for Pinkie.  (I just typed Pinkie into my blog search bar, but I accidentally substituted an O for the P: Oinkie.  Oh dear!)  However, I am NOT in California, so I'm not in school yet, but I will be soon!  I'm signed up as a substitute teacher with three school districts and a Christian school.  I should start working in September; hmmmmm, I should probably find out where all the schools are...If you prayed for us, thank you very much!  The Lord showed us just in time 1) that I needed a job and 2) where to get one. :)


Today I am doing several things...

- reading this post from Mike Gaston about a mutual friend with a brain tumor (Our friend went back to work yesterday, teaching high school history!  Talk about a good recovery so far, thanks to the Lord!)

- making tapioca pudding using Amos' mom's recipe

- burning a nice pumpkin-somethingorother candle

- eating Aussie Bites!  I adapted this recipe a bit (vanilla, some chia seeds, a little regular flour), and the cookies/fiber muffins/whatever-they-are were really good. Amos likes them, too!

- listening to Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Anne was a nut!)

- cleaning vegetables out of the sink and washing dishes

- looking up books via Modern Mrs. Darcy's August twitterature post (check out her website; I like all her posts about books and reading)

- investigating new places to live.  Our lease is up in six weeks!

Fifty-cent peanut butter

It's that time again!

Amos and Jennica: Ummmmm, where did our money go?!  We haven't spent THAT much of it.

*Amos does a quick expense report*

Well, no more Chick-fil-A!

I don't like not having money.  It makes me feel anxious, and now I really should go out and get a job.  It was nice being Pinkie's note taker because I went to work every day and I got paid every day.  I was making close to what Amos was making, so we almost doubled our income and thus we paid off my school loans, bought a new computer to replace Amos' dying one, tuned up our car, paid for my trip to Canada, spent more money on groceries, put money away in our savings account, bought some nice Christmas presents for people, went out to frozen yogurt once a week, paid for a few trips to NorCal, etc.

Everyone we talked to said that the cost of living would be a lot cheaper in Oklahoma, but as Amos said, that was just people talking; we really didn't know, and I just trusted what our California friends said.

But, car insurance isn't cheaper (hail damage), internet isn't cheaper (they just raised the price on us, too!), food isn't cheaper (farther from the fields, orchards, and ports), rent isn't cheaper (we had the cheapest place available in Santa Clarita), even gas isn't that much cheaper (per gallon it is cheaper, but stores and church are more spread out in OKC).

So now we are back to scraping by, and it isn't that fun; I'm sure many of you reading this can relate.


But in the mean time...

Before, we couldn't get by just on Amos' income (I had to sub at least a few days a month to make it work), and now we can, though I'm still going to get a job.

I filled out applications, looked up substitute opportunities, and e-mailed a lady at church for information about the Christian school that shares the church campus.  I heard back from the headmaster today (I didn't know headmasters existed in the United States), saying that there weren't any openings at the moment but that they are always looking for substitute teachers and I am welcome to drop in and meet him; I plan to do this tomorrow or Wednesday.

Amos and I figured out how much I can spend on groceries, and it isn't very much, but I like shocking people with how little I spend for how much I get.  (I got all-natural peanut butter for $0.50 a jar today.) :)

Matthew 6:8b: "...your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

Pinkie

I'm an instructional assistant for a little girl.  I call her Pinkie (in my head).  I sit in her classes, take notes, and smile at her when she turns around to make sure that I'm there.  She's a very nice girl, and she works hard and pays attention in class.

Pinkie is hard-of-hearing. She has a cochlear implant which enables her to hear most things, plus her teachers wear an FM microphone which transmits to a receiver that she wears around her neck.  I take notes on what the teachers are saying so that she will have a record later, in case she missed anything.  Today I took Pinkie into the library through teachers' lounge, so she could bypass the metal detectors (she's never been through one).

When I took the job, I was afraid that I would be bored.  Not yet!  So far I've learned about the tools of geography, glanced through a science book, reviewed PEMDAS and absolute value, heard about proper kitchen safety, helped kids log on to multiple internet accounts, and observed the three-clap in P.E.  It's my first time going to junior high (besides being a teacher), and it's okay so far.

On to the rest of the year!

Ouch

It is Saturday!  I taught every day this past week, and it was a little crazy.  I worked with mainstream kids, special ed kids, and autistic kids (one of whom could be possessed, which is scary).

Now it's the weekend.  Amos is taking a nap, and I'm stuck on the couch with a terrible crick in my back, neck, and shoulder.  I hope it gets better soon! :P  Here are some things I would be doing if I felt better:
-Mixing gyros for dinner
-Experimenting with my chocolate muffin recipe (I want to add a peanut butter ribbon next time)
-Sweeping the floor
-Cleaning the bathroom
-Printing out prayer support forms for our missionary friends, whom we'll see tomorrow!
-Thinking clearly so that I could write an e-mail back to my friend, who took a lot of time to answer a question (it will come eventually, Heather!)
-Sitting out in the backyard reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, A View of the Nile by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, or Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Instead I believe I will lie here and find out "whodunnit" in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.  I love audiobooks!

E.D.

E.D. stands for emotionally disturbed in the world of special education.  For the last four and the next eight days, this is my world.  I'm subbing at a small charter school which serves emotionally disturbed junior high and high schoolers.

When I worked at Summit View in 2011, the line was basically that every day could be different; you never knew who would comply, who would crack up, who would defy, who would break down.  This school is the same.  I never know who will show up for school, where they will be on campus, or if they will ever enter my room, even if their name is on my roll sheet.  Most of the kids are fine, but there are still some defiant, rude, foul-mouthed stinkers.  One student I could only recognize by two square inches of his lower face; he's afraid of germs right now, so he keeps his hood tightly cinched around his head (strangely, he still let me near him to ask about his work, even though I had a bad cold).  Another student got mad when I shushed him during class, and a third kid piped up during art and said that he wanted his teacher back, that he was tired of looking at me.  These are just a few of the stories I could tell; it's draining, to say the least.

I'm thankful for it, though.  The call for this long-term sub job came from God out of nowhere; He is caring for Amos and me.

If you think of me, please feel free to pray that I will be firm, wise, and kind with these broken, broken kids.

So far...

Kids. Rain. Curry. Chapati pancakes. Skits. Songs. Paraphrasing. Water.  More water.  No water.  Dogs.  Motorcycles.  Heat.  Naan.  TGI Fridays.  Kurtas.  Homework. Ties.  Ill-fitting skirts. Videos.  Electricity.  No electricity.  Electricity.  No electricity.  Mangos.  Reading. Car rides. Butterflies.  Please, no more mangos.  Sleeping.  Jet lag.  Excitement.  Photography.  Impatience.

The purple college building!  Looking at the front and the men's wing.

This has been our trip so far.  On Thursday, I found out that I would have one hour for each of my classes instead of an hour and a half.  I also found out that I would have a class of students that knew almost no English.  That makes it rather difficult to teach hard subjects such as paraphrasing and figurative language.  We shall see how this turns out...

Sweethi, working school work

On Thursday, we slept through the kids' homework time, so we really didn't meet them until Friday.  I was greeted with shy smiles and big eyes when I walked up to them.  Amos, with his blonde hair and tall stature, was greeted with smaller smiles and looks of awe.  When most of the kids were done with their homework, Amos and I played a game with them.  In between rounds of the game, one boy rubbed Amos' hairy arm and stared. haha!  After church today he caused quite a disturbance with his big, black dress shoes.  One boy was fascinated with them and brought other boys over to look! haha!

Working on Hindi and Karnaka homework with two girls from the college

On Friday I taught my classes.  It is hard to teach English Language Learners in a big group!  I just hope that they are understanding the majority of what I'm saying, though I'm not too sure.  We went over paraphrasing.  Hopefully they understood enough to do the homework and to be able to paraphrase in the future when they have more important assignments!  The main reason I came was to teach, so please keep me in your thoughts as I attempt to help the students; I really don't want my time to have been wasted!

Beautiful old building that now houses a Hard Rock Cafe!

On Saturday we headed for the city!  We had lunch before going shopping.  Amos was able to work on part of his project by getting some footage of the streets and traffic.

In a small motor taxi, driving back to Timothy's car

Today we went back to the college for Sunday services.  Amos got some pictures of the kids doing a skit as well as pictures of Timothy speaking.  We then went out to lunch at a very fancy hotel/resort place.  I went back for a ladies' meeting at the college, and one poor girl was paired with me to practice her teaching!  She was so shy that she couldn't think of anything to say.  Sounds like me when I was younger...

Thanks for reading about our adventures so far!  It hasn't all been easy, but we are really enjoying ourselves.

Lab monitor

I've been subbing at my favorite high school this whole week.  One of the teachers, Mr. Walker, is out on paternity leave, and the temporary computer lab monitor is teaching for him.  This lab monitor, Mr. Shapiro, took over after the regular lab monitor, Mr. Newman, found a new job.  Even before Mr. Newman was Mrs. Newman, Mr. Newman's mom, a smiley lady with a young, black, guide dog puppy named Kona.  So...I am the substitute lab monitor for the temporary lab monitor who took over after the previous lab monitor and the original lab monitor got different jobs.  *whew!*

I've enjoyed being the lab monitor.  My duties include monitoring computer usage, scanning textbooks in and out, checking out laptop carts, and collecting money for printing; not much to do and relatively easy compared to herding a classroomful of cats students.  On Monday I got used to my job and finished reading The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois. On Tuesday I subbed for the absent Mr. Walker when his substitute, Mr. Shapiro, was absent as well (the class and I watched part of a very interesting series on the Supreme Court).  On Wednesday and Thursday I spent a good part of the day working on my writing class for India, creating a missions blog for my church, and reading The BFG by Roald Dahl.  Today I read several Smithsonian articles (including this one) and looked up titles of missionary biographies.  My last day is supposed to be Monday, though with all of the switching around and reporting absences and getting new jobs, you never know. . .

Not too bad...

Not too bad of a day today.  I went to school, drank some coffee with hazelnut creamer, taught two classes, and was released at 11:00!  I said hi to another teacher who told me that there was a special lunch today for the teachers.  I wanted to get home as soon as possible, so I just retrieved my own lunch from the fridge and took a burrito to go.  As I walked to my car, I listened to a voicemail asking me to call back for an interview at a local Christian school.  I only applied on Friday (about four days ago) and now have an interview for a part-time English position at a school that is only seven miles/twenty minutes from my house.  We shall see!

Now I'm home.  I read some blog posts, toodled around the internet, pruned a tree in our side yard, washed the dishes, and am now waiting for Amos to wake up.

Happy Tuesday!

Testing, testing...

Yep, tomorrow I am taking a test. I hope I pass!  The test includes an English section, a math section, and an "ability to assist" section.  If I pass the test and the interview, I will working as an instructional assistant.  Yes, I am thinking of making the change from teacher to assistant (for various reasons).  First I need to make sure that it isn't a contract position, and before that even, I have to pass the test.

Here we go!

Rowdy

I had several things to do today:
1. Go to school and teach rowdy seniors and distracted juniors: check
2. Get frustrated with kids who won't just behave: check
3. See several old students from student teaching days: check!

4. Come home and have lunch with Amos: check! :D

5. Finish with the last period of rowdy seniors: check

6. Cancel my bank account: check
7. Meet a teller who knows several of my friends and goes to a local church: check

Next up:
8. Go to Lens Crafters to get some contacts that I can actually SEE out of

9. Go to the grocery store for something (hopefully I'll remember it before I get there...)

10. Call in to Ross or Audra to listen when they find out what they will be having next February (I'm guessing a boy)

11. Wait for Amos to come home from work

Stream of consciousness

[Disclaimer: I've never studied the art of writing in the stream of consciousness style, so you can just think of this as rambling if you know what stream of consciousness is really supposed to be like. ;) ]


I have four more days of CELDT testing...so glad!  I talked to one of the other testers today at lunch, and it turns out he's been a lot of the same places I've been.  He started out in Malawi, traveled up through Africa into Egypt, Jordan, and Israel before hitting up Italy and Germany.  Crazy.  $10,000.00, eleven months, and some teaching in order to get a ticket back home.  hmmmmm...How can Amos and I get $25,000.00, just to be safe?  Haha, that's more money than I've EVER made in a year.  Below the poverty line?  Yes.  Do I need to be above the poverty line?  It would be nice, especially for paying off our loans, but no, it's not absolutely necessary.
I told the tester, Sergio, that I wanted to live overseas.  He asked if my husband did, too.  I said yes, I wouldn't have married him otherwise.  You should have the same goals if you are going to get married, at least that's what I think.  He had no comment.  Weird.  Makes sense to me.  You need more than just "chemistry."
I have some ideas for teaching, but I have no students. :P  I think I might start asking kids when I sub what they like in a substitute.  I'm not talking about watching movies in class or letting kids do whatever they want.  I know that I don't have classroom management down.  Maybe the kids themselves can give me some pointers. ;)
Katie, Amos' sister and my sister-in-law, had a baby!  His name is Oliver Ryder and he is so cute.  I'm glad he finally arrived. :)  I don't know when we'll be able to visit, but maybe Katie and Seth will put up more pictures. ;)
I guess that's all for now.  I might take out my new contacts and read a book.  Amos will be home in an hour! :D

Intentions

So, I really thought I would have more posts in August...and now August is gone...oooops...
Ummmm, what have I been up to...

1. I worked five days last week. :)  I'm a CELDT proctor again.  This means I administer tests to junior high and high school kids in the local district.  It's not very exciting even at first, and after a week or two it's downright boring.  HOWEVER, I am getting paid and I am very thankful for that. :)
Last week I was at one of my favorite schools.  I had to test nine kids over the course of two days.  I basically read for three hours each day, tested kids for the other three hours, and got paid for all of it.  Not too bad. :)

2. I finally finished The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday by Neil MacFarquhar.  The narrative picked up after I went back to it, so it didn't take too long to read.  Now I'm reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.  It is supposed to be really funny...we shall see.

3. Amos and I have friends in China, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, and New Zealand, and soon to be Turkey, Czech Republic, and England.  This is getting crazy.  I want to go.

4. We finally got around to picking out wedding pictures to put on our walls.  I will take pictures of our little house one of these days and will put them up on-line.  I think it looks very nice. :)

5. Yesterday I made Korean barbecue.  It was really good. :)  I also made little personal pizzas using some very flat and dry pita bread ($0.65 for six pieces!) from a local grocery store.  They came out very well and don't take too long to make.  Another creation was a white cake with coconut frosting.  A few weeks ago I made coconut rice, butter chicken, and saag aloo (potatoes in a spinach sauce).  It's been fun. :)

Sometime I will have to write about the spiders and the tiny red ants...but not today!  Happy Labor Day! :)

Spiders

Quite a few years ago (i.e., the other day ;) ), I was up late at night.  I saw a spider high up on the wall in our hallway but didn't want to kill it.  However, I thought I probably should because my little sister was sleeping in the room nearby, and I didn't want her to get bitten.  My brothers were asleep and I thought, "I kill my own spiders.  I don't need them to do it for me."

Thus, I came up with a bumper sticker idea.

I kill my own spiders.

That bumper stick has been affixed to all the cars I have driven/owned.  When I run out of stickers, I simply go on-line and make a new one.  I've gotten all sorts of responses.

One man in a business suit talked to me a gas station.  He was very confused.  He thought I raised spiders just to kill them. (Ummm, no, that's creepy; I don't do that.)

Another time two high school boys drove by in a truck.  One leaned out the window with both thumbs in the air and yelled, "Yeah!!  I kill my own spiders, too!"

On another occasion I walked out of the bank and towards my car.  A lady in another car was very excitedly taking a picture with her cell phone.  She said she thought it was great, and she was going to send the picture to her friend.

When I went to India last summer, we went on a church retreat in the jungle for a few days.  I decided that I didn't want to sleep with my bed right up against the wall in our room, just in case some bug came along.  There were some pretty gross spiders that stayed in the jungle, too. They weren't colorful or evil-looking, but they had fat, squishy bodies and could get pretty big.  I pulled the curtains over the window and found a spider running along the fabric.  I knocked him to the ground and killed him.  I moved another curtain, but this time a spider ran down my arm, which I flailed violently.  That spider died, too.  I also found another spider living in a crack near the sink.  I think managed to get him to come out, and he too gave up the ghost.  I'm really glad none of the other girls found the spiders; they didn't have as much "spirit of adventure," as I like to call it.

Over the last few months, my students found out which car was mine and now periodically make comments to me in class.

"Oh, Ms. Byers, I kill my own spiders, too."
"That's great, David, thank you, be quiet now."

Today someone decided to tease another student.

"Oh, you have a huge spider on you!!"
"Just get Ms. Byers to get it off!!" :)

Ahh, spiders.

*Edit: Dave Tuck, my speech professor in college and one of Amos' friends, reminded me that I used my bumper sticker in a speech in class, too.  I almost forgot about that.  (I think that's the thing that sticks out to him most about me... ;) )

11.5

11.5 days until the END of SCHOOL!!!!

I think I'm more excited than the kids are. :D

Mish-Mash

This post's title is essentially a nod to Heather's Hodge-podge:

1. I have been busy.
2. We had STAR testing this week, so I didn't have to teach as much and I didn't have all of my kids every day; that was nice.  Back to the regular schedule tomorrow!
3. My neck got sunburned at school today.  The whole junior high and high school student body and staff walked to a park for a student-staff softball game.  It was fun being in the sunshine and talking to some of my kids. :)
4. Only 51 more days! :D
5. Amos is sick with some bug that went around in NE last week.  Theodore, Reuben, Barb, and Caitlin got it, and now Amos succumbed.  I'm hoping I can avoid it. :/
6. I believe spring/summer has come to stay, finally.  Enough of the rain already!
7. Katie is now a Vlieger!  She looked beautiful in her wedding dress with her beaded (decorated? fancy?) headband.  Seth was really funny; he came up to the first floor of the Ralston home "dressed" for the wedding in his pajama shorts and shirt and his wedding tie and vest.  He got his picture taken. ;)
8. I have 19.5 days left of school.  It is going to go too fast and too slow, all at the same time.
9. That's all for now!

WW

Well, it's Wedding Weekend!  My mom is here from NorCal, and we're about to head out to find a bunch of wedding stuff.

In other news, I like my job, even if I have some difficult students.  One of my principals visited my class on Friday to talk to the seventh graders about their horrible behavior in another class the day before.  He was impressed with how the class was going, especially since I didn't have either of my TAs with me that period.  This is good. :)

In other other news, I love Amos.

Even less

No, I didn't fall off the earth, and no, Amos and I didn't elope. ;)

We've been pretty busy trying to figure things out for the wedding, from the wedding party to the date to the desserts to the location(s) to the registry to the photographer to the...you get the picture.  We think it'll be a pretty good wedding. :)

Today was my seventh day at school.  This job is a challenge, though not so much in the areas of planning or even grading.  The challenge is in the fact that my students are difficult and need a lot of help because of their individual learning disabilities.  Also, in one class, at least four out of the fourteen students are discipline problems.  Seventh grade is not exactly my favorite age at the moment.  However, I am very grateful to have this job and to have multiple TAs to help me.  Working at my school is interesting, but I do enjoy it.

Happy March!  Spring is coming!!!! :)  After spring is summer!!!! :D

Survival

I survived school today.

B period was chaotic, to say the least.  In one forty-eight minute class, I sent two kids to the "Opportunity Room" (how lame is that name?!) and told six other kids to stay in the learning center after taking their quizzes, just so the rest of the class would settle down.  One of the OR kids was actually walking around the class, bothering people with a feather duster while I was on the phone calling for a campus supervisor.  Another kid, who had been a problem earlier in the day, decided he wanted to skip his scheduled class and come back to mine instead.  I managed to shoo him away, though he couldn't have made this particular class that much worse.  I normally fill one side of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with notes from the day, but today I filled both sides.  That's how bad they were.  I'm glad I'm not their teacher.

Yet, in the midst of it all, I realized they were not bad kids.

They were just very loud and very disrespectful.

But it's the weekend, and I am ready for it.

Quilt

Well, I have decided to make a quilt.  For years my mom, a talented seamstress, tried to get me into sewing.  I wasn't interested, but I decided finally to make a quilt!  I currently have a handmade quilt on my bed, sewn by my sister-in-law Audra.  When I go North in a week or so, Audra is going to help me pick fabric, and Mom and Audra are going to help me make it!  I'm thinking of dark turquoise, deep blue, jade green, and dark green as the overall color scheme with some cranberry-colored pieces as well.  It's going to be a unique quilt because it's going to include fabric I got in Africa and India, as well as fabric from Israel (I might cut up an old purse or use part of a pillow case, just so I can get Israel in there. ;) ).  I sure hope it turns out well!

In other news, I did not get the job I applied for at the local high school.  It is comforting to know that God made that decision, and He obviously has something different for me.

At tutoring...

In addition to my work as an on-call substitute, I also tutor at a tutoring agency for approximately ten hours a week.  I have one first grader, two fourth graders, two seventh graders, and one fifth grader.  I tutor mostly math and writing, though science and history are also part of my repertoire.  I like my kids, though I definitely prefer teaching in the high school environment.  One of my fourth graders was my tutee last year, and this year I started tutoring his first grade brother, too.  These little guys are so cute and funny.  It is hilarious to watch them be goofy elementary kids who aren't afraid of what other think yet.  I feel like laughing every time I tutor them; sometimes I do laugh, but they don't mind. :)

On Monday I had an interview for a job at one of the high schools in the district, and I will find out on Friday if I actually got the job (please pray!).  If I get this job, I think I am going to drop most if not all of my tutoring so that I can really focus on my teaching and hopefully be hired back next year.  But that all depends on the decision that will be announced on Friday.  I am comforted by the fact that GOD has made the decision, not the people who interviewed me (especially since the interview could have been better; oh well!).

Anyway, here's a little peek at what goes on at my job.

At tutoring today...
Me: "Think of another animal. It begins with M. It lives in Canada."
Student: "Monkey!"

Frequently repeated phrases:
"Stop."
"Please stop."
"Your parents are paying right now for you to [insert misbehavior here]."
"Stop."
"I really don't want to be poked in the eye with your pencil."
"Come over here."
"One of these days I'm going to go crazy, and you'll have to get a new tutor."
"Stop messing around."
"I really don't want to be stabbed in the eye with my own pencil."
"Does that make sense?"
"Please stop."
"I'm going to trip over your chair and break something, and you're going to have to take me to the hospital, which is a problem since you can't drive."
"You are crazy!"
"I don't mind you being silly, but we have to be serious right now."
"Please stop."
"Is that how you spell that word?"
"Please sit down."
"Sit down."
"Don't sit in your chair that way."

And on and on it goes... ;)