my big news

it's not really big news, but it's a big change in my life.

on tuesday i'll start teaching another ESL class. i have roughly 22 students- men and women from a huge range of ages and over 8 different countries. the most exotic student is a "temple president", aka buddhist monk, from thailand. holy moly!

i'm really excited about the new class: 6 more hours of work each week, aka 6 more hours of pay each week; a wider range of students; extra opportunities to be creative in my lesson planning; more chances to learn and be challenged.

happy halloween

Q: what do you call a daschund with an empty belly?
A: a hollow-weenie



when asked to tell what they picture when they think about the united states, my students said the following:
-big opportunities
-green
-lots of jobs
-people from many countries
-beautiful
-big country
-free expression

granted, these statements aren't necessarily completely accurate [lots of jobs is a big overstatement]. but it reminded me that i don't live in such a terrible place. the u.s.a. is pretty grand in many ways.



in other news, the phillies won the world series! i don't really care about baseball either way, but i think it's pretty great luck for the team that i moved here this season, ne? ;)

i'm off to head into the city and meet allen at the china bus stop in chinatown!! wahooo for a fall brother weekend!

espanol

yesterday i overheard one of my students talking to her little girl, citalali. they were both looking at me and my student goes:

"ella no es miss june. es miss kelly"

i'm super glad she's teaching her adorable daughter how to say my name. and i'm even more glad that i still got a little spanish in my brain, even after japanese took over for an entire year. HOORAY!

spiderman

aka: dante

this morning we tested the cutest little boy named dante. he's four and in pre-K at headstart. he came in sorta shy, but i knew he'd eventually warm up to me. we did all sorts of stuff like build gates with blocks, draw Hs and Xs and Ts, strung beads on a string and recited our colors [in english].

every time he completed a task, he glanced up to check my reaction. about halfway through the test i noticed his spiderman sneakers and asked him to count how many times spiderman's face was on them. he obliged. twenty minutes later, he looks at me all of a sudden and twists his fingers into a web-making position. "spiderman!!", he exclaims.

<3 oh, dante, you make me remember how much i adore little kids.

real life conversation

this afternoon i was having my ladies write about rainy days. they said answers like playing in puddles with kids, reading books, staying inside to relax, etc. etc.

one student, lucrecia, wrote about watching a movie with her husband when it rains. i corrected her grammar and then asked her a couple questions to follow-up.

me: i like to watch a movie, too. i love to sit under a blanket.
lucrecia: yes, me too. i like to cuddle with my husband!
me: [smiles and nods a little]
lucrecia: "ay, miss kelly! you don't have a husband."
me: [in my head] "bahhhh lucrecia, you're killing me!!!!"

way to rub it in.

thankful

basically the best birthday weekend i could possibly ask for.

friends, dutch blitz and a successful dinner [cooked by me] on friday night. thrift store extravaganza, lunch with linda and some amazing bargains on saturday. grocery store whirlwind tour with meliss. dinner and relax time with mom and dad on saturday night. making new japanese friends at tenth international fellowship sunday morning. delicious lunch and birthday dessert sunday afternoon. gifts, cards, phone calls and more all day sunday. THANKS, EVERYONE! <3

city of sisterly love

the birthday celebration has begun a week early. my fav sis-fan came to visit me for the weekend. we spent a day in the city, an afternoon adventuring a cathedral and another afternoon exploring the neighborhood of chestnut hill.










i think the photos speak for themselves. we had an absolute BLAST <3