The Daily Grind and Small Luxury

The initial shock of transition is no longer present in my thoughts; I've adapted and I'm finding a sense of normalcy in my life, so I think a new portion of learning is about to happen in this Americorps adventure. I'm not quite sure what that might look like. We'll see!

The New Daily Schedule

1. Try to wake up at 6:30; hit snooze until either 6:45 or 7:00.
2. Get ready for work and do any chores I didn't do the night before because I was too ready to hibernate to be functional.
3. Arrive at the elementary school at 8:30. Work in the 3rd - 6th grade English Language Learner classrooms as an extra support to students, i.e. practicing reading with them, guiding them through critical thinking questions, assisting with math work (this gives me anxiety as much now as it did when I studied math in school). This is a brand new edition to my schedule that started this past Thursday and will happen consistently Monday - Thursday going forward. They call me Miss Hunt! :)
4. Leave for lunch at 11am. Go make lunch at my home. I make allllllllllllll my food and I like it that way.
5. Go to the office and do office-y things; check emails, schedule meetings, plan activities, confirm miscellaneous things.
6. Go to the middle school to help facilitate the afterschool program made possible by the federal Schools for the 21st Century grant that I assisted with (collected supportive data). I love working at the middle school SO MUCH! I get to work with the same students everyday so I know how they need to be supported and I've been able to build trust relationships with them. I let them call me Miss Jessie; it makes me feel very Southern. 

About the Afterschool Program

Myself and 3 other teaching staff have a mixed group of about 12 students each day; average SES, extremely low SES; stable family home, unsafe family home; U.S. citizens, refugees;  strong academic performers, failing students. We work on homework for 1 hour and then do an enrichment activity with the students for another hour. I was very excited last week when one of my students got a 98 on a big US states test that she was not feeling confident about; we studied the whole week for it so I was SO proud of her for doing so well.  
HOORAY.
The enrichment activities can be any variety of things. Sometimes I plan and lead them, other times one of the other teaching staff does. Tomorrow, I'm leading an enrichment in which we'll make SLIME and learn about proportions. I generally have been elected to lead all of the science and physical fitness enrichments. Science I'm very confident about. I love science. I'm less confident about physical fitness because, well, all I can teach them about is (1) running, (2) cheerleading, (3) ultimate frisbee, and (4) yoga. I am going to make my friends that play sports come teach them about other things :)

MORE CHRISTMAS GOODNESS!

I went to Portland again this weekend for a potluck that my corps had. It was so wonderful. Portland was decorated beautifully for Christmas. I arrived early so that I could walk around the city a bit, but ended up being a slow poke before leaving and only had about 30 minutes to ramble about when I'd planned for the whole afternoon. Another day!

City Hall

City Hall (again)

I love this square

There was a long stretch of these trees that led right into another square of the city that I love.

Sweet window display

Just kills me. Look at those lights!

There is a local artist who does these light installations all over town. They are very unique and vibrant.

My original plan as I mentioned above was to spend the entire afternoon wandering and exploring and shopping in cute little boutiques. Instead, I made it only to a French cafe that I saw last time I was in Portland. Through its windows, I spied a pastry case containing Parisian macaroons, which happen to be perhaps my very favorite sweet treat. I have been pining away for macaroons for months now and wanting to go sit down in the atrium behind Amelie's and have a plate full, but alas, I do not live in Charlotte and L/A has not shown me any macaroons yet. Needless to say, when I saw this cafe, I knew I had to go as soon as possible to deal with my craving. Handled it.

The street where the cafe was

The Cafe

The bit of heaven, dusted in gold dust. I ordered just one because they were a bit pricier than Amelie's. I think this was creme brule flavored. I picked it because of the gold dust.

 To go with my macaroon, I ordered a cup of white peony tea. A little moment of total happiness gilded in gold trimmed china, gold dusted chewy-crunchiness, and golden incandescent light. Divine.

So from this petite bliss, I went to the potluck party and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my corps as I always do. I think it's miraculous how well all of us mesh. We laughed so much. I beat boxed, my friend Ashley rapped about cats, we ate delicious food, and had a Yankee Swap, which has the same rules as white elephant but you bring real gifts instead of silly gifts, which is a pity because the gift I brought was a vegetable peeler, a sweet potato, and an apple. The woman who got it said her peeler had just broken, so it turned out fine. AND WHO DOESN'T LOVE A SWEET POTATO???

After hanging out for many hours, we decided to go to a bar for a drink before calling it a night. We group of about six of us went to this place that I now love and can't wait to go back to called The Snug. I was very sleepy and got into weirdmode, and fortunately, my friends are really supportive and reciprocating to weirdness, so we just had a great silly time. I always find that I laugh so hard around these friends. It's a beautiful thing. Below, the most normal glimpse of the silliness.

Perhaps drained of complex and abstract thoughts for the time being, but keenly observing and joyfully savoring all the goodness I've got,

JB