School has been crazy lately, but what’s new? Other than that, life has been pretty normal. I’ve had some rough days and some really good days lately. I’ve been really, really busy with my seven classes. For the most part, things are going well. This past week ninth grade was really good, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because there have been soooo many out sick lately. I had one with dengue, another that’s been in the hospital with a bacteria infection in his stomach, and then a bunch that have had a weird strain of the flu that’s going around. We did a cool lab this week to calculate how many calories are in peanuts and cheetos by burning them under cans of ice, measuring how much ice melted, and then using that in various calculations that ultimately tell us the number of calories, based on our experimental data, are in each. In eleventh grade we did a lab by heating baking soda until it decomposes. We then used that data to figure out which of three possible decomposition reactions had occurred. It went well except the Bunsen burner malfunctioned. I was adjusting the side valve when all of the sudden flames started shooting out the valve I was holding. I have never, ever, ever seen a Bunsen burner do that! It sucked because I burned my forearms pretty bad. I couldn’t wear a watch for the rest of the week because it hurt too much!
My math classes have been pretty normal. In geometry, we went outside and measured a bunch of shadows of things like trees, the basketball hoop, the flag pole, the building, as well as the height of kids and how long their shadows were. Then, we used those measurements to calculate how tall things were. In twelfth grade, we’ve been doing a lot of trig and a lot of graphing which is tough because they don’t have graphing calculators. In eleventh grade we are working with polynomials. In ninth grade, we are factoring.
Other than that, we haven’t been doing too much around here… We’ve been to the beach, down to the monument, around Santiago, but haven’t had any big adventures for a while. On Wednesday, Mom and Grandma are coming down to visit, so that should be fun and exciting! Then, in two weeks, we have spring break. Our plan is to go to Samana which is a peninsula on the east side of the Dominican known for it’s beautiful beaches and waterfalls for the first couple days of break. I’m going to have to figure out how to meet Jessie, Kaitlyn, and Jackie there because they will be coming from Santiago, but I’ll be going from Puerto Plata where I’ll be with Mom and Grandma. It should work out ok though. Jackie and I are going to try to get cell phones this weekend so it will make meeting up and stuff easier. In the middle of the week, we are going to come back to Santiago, and then go climb Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean. So, it should be a fun, exciting week! Only two weeks to go! And only four days until Mom and Grandma come! Yay! Let me know if you want anything from the DR sent home with them :) Love you all!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
We're off the the Capital!!!
So, February 27th is Independence Day here in the Dominican Republic. So, we had a the day off of school. So, Lauren and I decided, "Hey, let's go to Santo Domingo for the long weekend!" Here is the run down of my awesome weekend in the capital. I have links to my facebook pictures at the end. You might want to have them open in a different page so you can check them out as you are reading since they go through most of what I talk about in this entry.
On Thursday, we had an Independence Day presentation at school. The kids had this march they did across the basketball court as patriotic music played, they sang the national anthem, and each class did something in the presentation whether it was recite some important piece of Dominican history, sing a patriotic song, act out the Dominican independence day events, or dress up as famous Dominicans. It took all morning, but was actually pretty cool. Jennie asked me if the kids marched at school on our independence day, and I told her, "No, we don't have school on ours." "Well, we don't have school on ours either!" she snottily told me , but looked a little sheepish when I was like, "Well.... Ours is July 4th... So, it's the middle of summer vacation...." Any ways, the kids did a good job. After the presentation, I had some of my little cheaters retake their chemistry test, and then corrected until 3:00 when we were free for the long weekend! Lauren and I got packed up, got some snacks, went and got money, and then hit up Caribe Tours to catch a bus to Santo Domingo, the capital. We got in around 8:30, taxied to our hotel, got checked in, and then went out and got some yummy dinner before heading to bed.
On Friday, we got up and out around 9:30. We walked down to the Zona Colonial. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and contains a lot of "firsts" for the new world. We started off in the Parque Colon, a big park dedicated to Columbus himself, with a big statue of him in the middle, a lot of big shade trees and benches, and the Catedral Primada de las Americas, the oldest cathedral in the Americas. We didn't get to go into the cathedral though because the president was in there. We had a guide book that had a walking tour in it, so we decided to follow their advice. We walked through the Parque Duarte first, and saw the outside of some cool churches. Our first stop after that was the Ruinas del Hospital San Nicolas de Bari. It's was the first hospital in the New World, built in 1503. It survived several hurricanes, pirates, and earthquakes, but was finally done in by a massive hurricane in 1911 and then partially knocked down by the government for public safety reasons after that. Then, we headed to the Monesterio de San Francisco, the first monastery built in the "New World". All that's left of the monetary now are cool ruins thanks to the pirate Drake and some earthquakes. It was rebuilt after each of those disasters, used as a mental asylum for a while, and then destroyed by a hurricane. Now, it's just a bunch of cool ruins. We next hit up a small rum museum, which talked about how rum is processed traditionally and today. They had some cool old sugar cane presses, old rum boxes, and bottles, and some cool pictures. The tour ended with a shot of rum. It was pretty neat to see. After that, we headed up to the Plaza de la Hispanidad, a huge open plaza surrounded by two museums in old historic buildings. The first we went to was called the Museo Alcazar de Colon, which is the house Diego Columbus and his wife lived in. It's been restored as accurately as possible, and contains a lot of period objects, so it looks as much as possible like it would have when they lived there. (Diego was Chris's son and governor of Hispaniola.) The other museum is El Museo de las Casas Reales which for a long time was the seat of Spanish authority for the entire Caribbean region. It has a ton of old stuff from all periods of Dominican history, including Taino artifacts, Spanish galleons, period furniture, and antique weaponry from around the world. It was cool! Outside on the edge of the plaza where it could be seen from the people working in their government offices, is a cool old sundial. It's way bigger than me! From there, we headed down Calle Las Damas, named for Diego's wife and her friends who strolled down it daily. It was the first paved road in this hemisphere. Along that road, we stopped in the Panteon, the burial site of a lot of famous Dominicans. It's full of tombs, contains an ever burning flame, and is guarded by uniformed soldiers. Continuing down, we saw some more churches from the outside, some cool old buildings, including the house were Nicolas Ovando, an early governor, lived. It's now a hotel. That brought us to the Fortaleza Ozama, a huge fort located where the Ozama River meets the Caribbean Sea. It's the oldest colonial military edifice in the New World. It's got several buildings and statues inside. The first is the Torre del Homenaje (Tower of Homage) that we climbed for a cool view of the river/ sea and the Zona Colonial. We also saw El Polvorin, the Powder House. Along the walls surrounding the fort are rows of very old canons dating from 1570 to the mid 1600's. It was pretty cool. From there, we headed back to the Parque Colon, got some water, and trekked out to the Puerta del Conde where on February 27, 1844 (165 years to the day from when we were there!) Juan Pablo Duarte, Father of the Dominican, entered the city and executed their bloodless coup to overthrow the ruling Haitians. Also there is the Altar de la Patria where he, Francisco del Rosario Sanchez, and Ramon Matias Mella are buried. (They are on the 100 peso bill!). After that, we headed back to the hotel. On the way, we watched part of the military Independence Day parade and a cool air show they were having. After resting, showering, and getting dressed up, we headed out for dinner, eating at this really cute little place in the Parque Colon before heading back to get some sleep.
Saturday was just as busy! We got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed out. We took a taxi to Faro a Colon, the Columbus lighthouse, where he is supposedly buried. (Italy and Spain also claim to have his bones.) When you walk in, there is this huge mausoleum thing built of Italian marble. The whole thing is shaped like a Latin cross. Down the sides are small little museums with different things in them, most related to Columbus's voyages/ life, but some that to me seemed TOTALLY random. It was pretty interesting. Equally interesting was when we arrived, we got told to sit down on this rock wall leading up to by some really scary looking guards, which we did, when this big motorcade of SUVs, police cars, and essentially what looked like a Dominican SWAT team pulled up. They told us later that an "important VIP" was visiting the monument, but it was really weird, and we had to sit and wait a while. It was worth getting to see it though I thought. After that, we went to Los Tres Ojos, which are limestone sinkhole caves. It was SO cool! They are dark, humid, full of cool stalactites and stalagmites, and just really interesting to see. There are three main lakes in the cave (which is where the name three eyes comes from), and one more that is back behind the third and reachable only by boat. That one was discovered late, after the place was already given its name. Anyways, it was really neat to get to see, and none of my pictures do it justice at all! After that, we taxied back to the Zona Colonial and went exploring again. We went inside the Primada Catedral de las Americas, which is really big and open with vaulted ceilings and stuff. It was neat. Then, we went to the Museo de la Familia Dominicana. There is a really cool double Gothic window in the front, which is supposedly the only one of its kind in the Americas. It was set up how a rich Dominican household in the 19th century would have been and had a lot of cool period pieces as well as a really neat little courtyard in the middle. Then, we stopped in the church Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. It has a really cool front alter that is made of tropical hardwood and a pulpit on the side that is supported by a demon/ dragon sculpture. After that, we went to the Museo Mundo de Ambar, which kind of goes through how amber is formed and how it's used and stuff. It was cool. Lauren bought a cute pair of amber earrings and an amber necklace. From there, we headed up and saw the church Iglesia de Santa Barbara and the ruins of the Fuerte Santa Barbara. It was really cool, and we got to hike up and around them. From there, we headed back through the Plaza de la Hispanidad, back down Las Damas, back to the Parque Colon and a little further to the Larimar Museum. Larimar is a light blue stone found only in the Dominican Republic. The museum was small, but interesting, and talked about the formation, mining, and use of larimar. I got a cute necklace. From there, we headed back to Parque Colon for a beer and a rest. Then, we headed back to our hotel, stopped for ice cream on the way, took naps, showered, and changed. After that, we went to this cute little restaurant right on the water. It was delicious food and a really cool atmosphere. Then, it was back to the hotel, watch a little Night in the Museum, and get some much needed shut eye.
On Sunday, we got up, ate breakfast, and taxied to the Plaza de la Cultura near the center of the city. The first museum we went to was called Museo del Hombre Dominicano, and went through the history of the Dominican people. The first room was Taino artifacts and history, then there were rooms about how the Spaniards and the African slaves contributed to Dominican culture as it is today. Then was also a room dedicated to Carnaval, a month long celebration in February that culminates the last weekend of February/ first in March (conveniently, that very day!). After that, we went to el Museo de Historia Natural, or the Natural History Museum. While not amazing, it was worth a stop of this science geek. Finally, we went to the Modern Art Museum. While I’m not usually a huge fan of modern art, I must admit, I really liked the photography exhibits there. Then, we headed back to the hotel, checked out, ditched our backpacks and headed out to the Carnaval celebration. It's totally crazy, and very Dominican: loud music, bright colors, lots of beer, tons of people, no respecting personal space, and totally crazy. They wear crazy masks/ costumes and run around hitting people with real or imitation cow bladders in the butt. If you are a white girl, lots of people try to hit you and take pictures with you. We got some Presidentes and sat down to people watch and soak it all in. Eventually, we made our way down to the parade route and watched the huge Carnaval parade that is comprised of the best entries from each city in the DR. Each city has its own characters and stories. Santiago has lechones and pepines which are from La Joya and Los Pepines, rival neighborhoods in down. The lechon, or piglet, represents a devil and lechon masks have smooth horns. The pepines are mythical creatures that are supposedly a cross between a cow and a duck. Their horns are covered in spikes. They run around hitting each other and whoever is close with inflated cow bladders and crack huge rope whips on the street. Each town has their own characters and stories, but I don't know them all. Anyways, we watched the crazy carnaval parade which was pretty cool! Then, we headed back to the bus station after picking up our bags, caught a 6:00 bus and were back home and very exhausted and sunburned by about 9:15. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!
Picture links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009748&id=88400178&l=fc1b2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009751&id=88400178&l=691c9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009757&id=88400178&l=96394
On Thursday, we had an Independence Day presentation at school. The kids had this march they did across the basketball court as patriotic music played, they sang the national anthem, and each class did something in the presentation whether it was recite some important piece of Dominican history, sing a patriotic song, act out the Dominican independence day events, or dress up as famous Dominicans. It took all morning, but was actually pretty cool. Jennie asked me if the kids marched at school on our independence day, and I told her, "No, we don't have school on ours." "Well, we don't have school on ours either!" she snottily told me , but looked a little sheepish when I was like, "Well.... Ours is July 4th... So, it's the middle of summer vacation...." Any ways, the kids did a good job. After the presentation, I had some of my little cheaters retake their chemistry test, and then corrected until 3:00 when we were free for the long weekend! Lauren and I got packed up, got some snacks, went and got money, and then hit up Caribe Tours to catch a bus to Santo Domingo, the capital. We got in around 8:30, taxied to our hotel, got checked in, and then went out and got some yummy dinner before heading to bed.
On Friday, we got up and out around 9:30. We walked down to the Zona Colonial. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and contains a lot of "firsts" for the new world. We started off in the Parque Colon, a big park dedicated to Columbus himself, with a big statue of him in the middle, a lot of big shade trees and benches, and the Catedral Primada de las Americas, the oldest cathedral in the Americas. We didn't get to go into the cathedral though because the president was in there. We had a guide book that had a walking tour in it, so we decided to follow their advice. We walked through the Parque Duarte first, and saw the outside of some cool churches. Our first stop after that was the Ruinas del Hospital San Nicolas de Bari. It's was the first hospital in the New World, built in 1503. It survived several hurricanes, pirates, and earthquakes, but was finally done in by a massive hurricane in 1911 and then partially knocked down by the government for public safety reasons after that. Then, we headed to the Monesterio de San Francisco, the first monastery built in the "New World". All that's left of the monetary now are cool ruins thanks to the pirate Drake and some earthquakes. It was rebuilt after each of those disasters, used as a mental asylum for a while, and then destroyed by a hurricane. Now, it's just a bunch of cool ruins. We next hit up a small rum museum, which talked about how rum is processed traditionally and today. They had some cool old sugar cane presses, old rum boxes, and bottles, and some cool pictures. The tour ended with a shot of rum. It was pretty neat to see. After that, we headed up to the Plaza de la Hispanidad, a huge open plaza surrounded by two museums in old historic buildings. The first we went to was called the Museo Alcazar de Colon, which is the house Diego Columbus and his wife lived in. It's been restored as accurately as possible, and contains a lot of period objects, so it looks as much as possible like it would have when they lived there. (Diego was Chris's son and governor of Hispaniola.) The other museum is El Museo de las Casas Reales which for a long time was the seat of Spanish authority for the entire Caribbean region. It has a ton of old stuff from all periods of Dominican history, including Taino artifacts, Spanish galleons, period furniture, and antique weaponry from around the world. It was cool! Outside on the edge of the plaza where it could be seen from the people working in their government offices, is a cool old sundial. It's way bigger than me! From there, we headed down Calle Las Damas, named for Diego's wife and her friends who strolled down it daily. It was the first paved road in this hemisphere. Along that road, we stopped in the Panteon, the burial site of a lot of famous Dominicans. It's full of tombs, contains an ever burning flame, and is guarded by uniformed soldiers. Continuing down, we saw some more churches from the outside, some cool old buildings, including the house were Nicolas Ovando, an early governor, lived. It's now a hotel. That brought us to the Fortaleza Ozama, a huge fort located where the Ozama River meets the Caribbean Sea. It's the oldest colonial military edifice in the New World. It's got several buildings and statues inside. The first is the Torre del Homenaje (Tower of Homage) that we climbed for a cool view of the river/ sea and the Zona Colonial. We also saw El Polvorin, the Powder House. Along the walls surrounding the fort are rows of very old canons dating from 1570 to the mid 1600's. It was pretty cool. From there, we headed back to the Parque Colon, got some water, and trekked out to the Puerta del Conde where on February 27, 1844 (165 years to the day from when we were there!) Juan Pablo Duarte, Father of the Dominican, entered the city and executed their bloodless coup to overthrow the ruling Haitians. Also there is the Altar de la Patria where he, Francisco del Rosario Sanchez, and Ramon Matias Mella are buried. (They are on the 100 peso bill!). After that, we headed back to the hotel. On the way, we watched part of the military Independence Day parade and a cool air show they were having. After resting, showering, and getting dressed up, we headed out for dinner, eating at this really cute little place in the Parque Colon before heading back to get some sleep.
Saturday was just as busy! We got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed out. We took a taxi to Faro a Colon, the Columbus lighthouse, where he is supposedly buried. (Italy and Spain also claim to have his bones.) When you walk in, there is this huge mausoleum thing built of Italian marble. The whole thing is shaped like a Latin cross. Down the sides are small little museums with different things in them, most related to Columbus's voyages/ life, but some that to me seemed TOTALLY random. It was pretty interesting. Equally interesting was when we arrived, we got told to sit down on this rock wall leading up to by some really scary looking guards, which we did, when this big motorcade of SUVs, police cars, and essentially what looked like a Dominican SWAT team pulled up. They told us later that an "important VIP" was visiting the monument, but it was really weird, and we had to sit and wait a while. It was worth getting to see it though I thought. After that, we went to Los Tres Ojos, which are limestone sinkhole caves. It was SO cool! They are dark, humid, full of cool stalactites and stalagmites, and just really interesting to see. There are three main lakes in the cave (which is where the name three eyes comes from), and one more that is back behind the third and reachable only by boat. That one was discovered late, after the place was already given its name. Anyways, it was really neat to get to see, and none of my pictures do it justice at all! After that, we taxied back to the Zona Colonial and went exploring again. We went inside the Primada Catedral de las Americas, which is really big and open with vaulted ceilings and stuff. It was neat. Then, we went to the Museo de la Familia Dominicana. There is a really cool double Gothic window in the front, which is supposedly the only one of its kind in the Americas. It was set up how a rich Dominican household in the 19th century would have been and had a lot of cool period pieces as well as a really neat little courtyard in the middle. Then, we stopped in the church Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. It has a really cool front alter that is made of tropical hardwood and a pulpit on the side that is supported by a demon/ dragon sculpture. After that, we went to the Museo Mundo de Ambar, which kind of goes through how amber is formed and how it's used and stuff. It was cool. Lauren bought a cute pair of amber earrings and an amber necklace. From there, we headed up and saw the church Iglesia de Santa Barbara and the ruins of the Fuerte Santa Barbara. It was really cool, and we got to hike up and around them. From there, we headed back through the Plaza de la Hispanidad, back down Las Damas, back to the Parque Colon and a little further to the Larimar Museum. Larimar is a light blue stone found only in the Dominican Republic. The museum was small, but interesting, and talked about the formation, mining, and use of larimar. I got a cute necklace. From there, we headed back to Parque Colon for a beer and a rest. Then, we headed back to our hotel, stopped for ice cream on the way, took naps, showered, and changed. After that, we went to this cute little restaurant right on the water. It was delicious food and a really cool atmosphere. Then, it was back to the hotel, watch a little Night in the Museum, and get some much needed shut eye.
On Sunday, we got up, ate breakfast, and taxied to the Plaza de la Cultura near the center of the city. The first museum we went to was called Museo del Hombre Dominicano, and went through the history of the Dominican people. The first room was Taino artifacts and history, then there were rooms about how the Spaniards and the African slaves contributed to Dominican culture as it is today. Then was also a room dedicated to Carnaval, a month long celebration in February that culminates the last weekend of February/ first in March (conveniently, that very day!). After that, we went to el Museo de Historia Natural, or the Natural History Museum. While not amazing, it was worth a stop of this science geek. Finally, we went to the Modern Art Museum. While I’m not usually a huge fan of modern art, I must admit, I really liked the photography exhibits there. Then, we headed back to the hotel, checked out, ditched our backpacks and headed out to the Carnaval celebration. It's totally crazy, and very Dominican: loud music, bright colors, lots of beer, tons of people, no respecting personal space, and totally crazy. They wear crazy masks/ costumes and run around hitting people with real or imitation cow bladders in the butt. If you are a white girl, lots of people try to hit you and take pictures with you. We got some Presidentes and sat down to people watch and soak it all in. Eventually, we made our way down to the parade route and watched the huge Carnaval parade that is comprised of the best entries from each city in the DR. Each city has its own characters and stories. Santiago has lechones and pepines which are from La Joya and Los Pepines, rival neighborhoods in down. The lechon, or piglet, represents a devil and lechon masks have smooth horns. The pepines are mythical creatures that are supposedly a cross between a cow and a duck. Their horns are covered in spikes. They run around hitting each other and whoever is close with inflated cow bladders and crack huge rope whips on the street. Each town has their own characters and stories, but I don't know them all. Anyways, we watched the crazy carnaval parade which was pretty cool! Then, we headed back to the bus station after picking up our bags, caught a 6:00 bus and were back home and very exhausted and sunburned by about 9:15. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!
Picture links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009748&id=88400178&l=fc1b2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009751&id=88400178&l=691c9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009757&id=88400178&l=96394
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I don't fight little kids!
Life has been crazy around here lately! It is definitely never dull at Saint David School. I've got quite the stories from the past two weeks or so! Last week was not a good teaching week. This week has been really good though. Crazy none-the-less, but really good!
Last week, like I said, was not a good teaching week. I had to deal with breaking up three fights. On Monday, I walk into ninth grade and it's chaotic because the Dominican teacher finished late and didn't have the kids ready, and they are walking around, trying to find their stuff, and it's crazy. And all of the sudden I hear Frankie scream the f-word. So, I drop my books and turn to see what is going on. And his pants, and boxers are around his ankles, and he's screaming at Alex while trying to pull his pants back up. Meanwhile, everyone in the entire room can see everything because Alex totally pantsed him, boxers and all. The next thing I know, Frankie's got his pants up and takes a swing at Alex. Alex kind of ducked out of the way and so Frankie missed. That gave me enough time to step in between them. I shoved Frankie really hard in the chest, which gave Marcel enough time to grab him from behind for me. Fortunately, Alex thought this was hilarious, because if he was mad too, I don't know that I could have stepped between them. Anyways, Marcel had Frankie from behind. And Frankie is little. He's like my height maybe and super skinny. And Marcel is really tall and strong-ish so he held Frankie until I got Alex out of the room and to the office. I told him he could go tell Jennie what he did. So, I finally get class settled down enough to start when Alex walks back in and says she's in a meeting. I told him he could go to the office and sit and wait for her to finish. So, like halfway through the class Jennie walks in and is like, "What happened in your class?" in her British accent. And so, I walked out in the hall and was like, "Didn't Alex tell you?" And she's like, "All he'll tell me is 'It was an accident. They just fell!'" And I was like.... "Well, Alex pantsed Frankie." And Jennie was like, "What does that term mean?" And I was like.... "Well, it means Alex pulled down Frankie's pants. And he pulled down his boxers too..." And Jennie in her thick British accent was like, "Are you telling me that Frankie was EXPOSED in your classroom???" And I was like, "Umm.... yeah....That's exactly what I'm trying to tell you." Lucky I didn't lose my job right then an there! Haha!
On Wednesday between classes, Jose was apparently picking on Gilbert. Jose said they were "just playing", but George said he was being mean. The rest of the ninth graders would agree with George about Jose being mean. So, George asked Gilbert, why don't you just punch him in the face and get it over with already! And Jose got mad and turned to George and was like, "You always talk about fighting George, but you never do! Let's go right now!" And George told him, "No, I don't fight little kids." And apparently Jose got up in his face and started pushing him, and George shoved him back and tried to walk away, but Jose wouldn't let him and pushed him as hard as he could into the lockers. So, George got mad and just decked him in the face. He decked him good and hard; Jose was super dizzy and out of it. Marcel ran over and was like, "Come on George, let's go to class." Logical thing to do after you just punched someone, right? (Marcel is actually really good about breaking up or diffusing fights.) So he grabs George around the shoulder and brings him into the classroom away from Jose. And by now, Jose is kinda coming back around and punches a locker since George isn't there to punch anymore. Well, school being incredibly logical as they are decided that Jose shouldn't be allowed back in class the rest of the day, but George should since "Jose provoked him". Now, I honestly believe Jose did provoke him, but that doesn't really justify decking someone. Even tho Jose probably deserved it. Then on Thursday, Juan and Chris almost got in a fight over something that happened when they were playing basketball. These boys!
This week has been good though. Tuesday was a slightly crazy day, but good none the less. I had chemistry lab with ninth grade. Monday night I still hadn't found a lab to do. So, I was researching easy, but cool labs online. The one I found that sounded cool tested the boiling points of various mixtures of water and alcohol. The practice was meant to be done with rubbing alcohol, but I couldn't find any here. I didn't look super hard, but I did try at the close colmados. Anyways, I was like, well.... I could substitute rum in here. Then I was like, it's school though... Hmm.... So, Kaitlyn was like, just call Jennie and ask her. So, I did. I was just like, "Umm.... Jennie, can I use rum in chemistry lab tomorrow?" And she was like, "Oh, of course! Let me run downstairs to see if I have a bottle you can use!" Never once did she ask what I would be doing with said rum. Anyways, she brought me a bottle of rum, which led to a slightly awkward handoff. Haha, she made me wrap it in a towel to carry it to lab, with honestly probably made it more conspicuous! Haha! Anyways, I had the first two hours free, so I decided to test it. Juan and Jose were in in-school suspension for a board punching and the George fighting incidents respectively, so I made them come test it with me rather than set everything up for them again another day. Anyways, everything was going smoothly, they were getting good data, everything was working how I planned when Jose was like, "Umm.... Miss Scislow? MISS SCISLOW!!!!" The entire beaker of ethanol had started on fire. It was a pretty cool looking fire, and I let Juan take pictures of it with his cell phone before I put it out. It happened once more with them before I made the necessary adjustments that I figured out avoid fires. Anyways, later that day when I did it with the rest of my class, Rony started his groups on fire. This one was also a pretty cool fire, and slightly more stressful, since I had a room full of like 25 ninth graders. So, I got them out of the way, grabbed the flaming beaker with heat resistant gloves and brought it to the sink to put it out. Well, it spilled in the sink and filled the entire sink with flames. The kids thought it was amazingly cool, and since it was just rum, I wasn't too worried about it being a really dangerous fire. I guess I'm glad everything here is cement block though! Haha! But wow, three fires in lab in one day! That's pretty impressive! They all thought it was a really cool lab though, which was good :) And only George and Rony pretended to drink any of it.
Today was a really good day. Maybe because I don't teach ninth grade on Thursdays? Haha! It was a good day all around! Teaching went well, and I had a couple kids just make my day. My senior boys gave me Hershey's kisses at lunch and asked if I would be their Valentine. After school, I ran to the office to check on grades for one of my kids, and Alex was in the office. And he's like, "Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow!!!!" so I was like, "Alex, Alex, Alex!" with a goofy smile before I realized there was a grown up with him. And Alex is like, "Miss Scislow, this is my dad!" So, I was like, "Oh, hi! Nice to meet you!" It's always a little awkward because I never know if I should use English or Spanish, but I knew they had just moved down from New York, so I figured I'd start in English since Alex had introduced me to his dad in English. And Alex was like, "Dad, Miss Scislow is the nicest, coolest, best teacher I've ever had! She's the best!" And I'm kinda blushing, and his dad was like, "That means a lot coming from Alex because he's very picky about his teachers. He hardly ever likes them!" And I was like, "Aww, thanks Alex!" And Alex was like, "Yeah, I've never had a teacher that was as cool!" And his dad was like, "I bet you've never had a teacher who is as pretty either!" Ugh! Even at school, haha! And Alex was like, "Yeah! If I was 10 years older, I'd marry you! Maybe I'll just have to wait ten years!" Lol, I like Alex. He's a little stinker, but he's a good kid.
Then, after homework room, Oasting gave me a huge hug and was like, "Miss Scislow! You are the only teacher that I can hug!" And I was like, "What? Why's that?" And he's like, "Because every other teacher, I'd probably just want to break their neck. But I love you!" Aww! Even my naught boys like me!
After school, I was walking home when someone across the street started jumping up and down and waving at me. And I was like, ugh! Because I hate getting hit on on the street. So, I ignored this person until he was like, "Miss Scislow!" So, I looked over and realized it was Arnold, one of my kids who lives kinda close to us. So, he ran across the street and I was like, "Hey Arnold!" And he was like, "You are going home very late!" And I was like, "It's because I was correcting your guys' math homework!" And he was like, "Oh, Miss Schumacher isn't going to correct our homework tonight because she has a Spanish test tomorrow." So, I laughed and was like, "So, what are you up to?" And he's like, "Stalking you of course!" (He always tells me he's going to stalk me. He's not a creepy kid, don't worry!) He was actually on his way to an internet place so he could do 'Miss Schumacher's' homework.
Anyways, as you can see, life is never dull here. I'm sure if you actually managed to read all this, you are incredibly bored by now, but hopefully you got at least one laugh out of it all! Hope all is well at home! Let me know how you are doing! I miss everyone lots!
Last week, like I said, was not a good teaching week. I had to deal with breaking up three fights. On Monday, I walk into ninth grade and it's chaotic because the Dominican teacher finished late and didn't have the kids ready, and they are walking around, trying to find their stuff, and it's crazy. And all of the sudden I hear Frankie scream the f-word. So, I drop my books and turn to see what is going on. And his pants, and boxers are around his ankles, and he's screaming at Alex while trying to pull his pants back up. Meanwhile, everyone in the entire room can see everything because Alex totally pantsed him, boxers and all. The next thing I know, Frankie's got his pants up and takes a swing at Alex. Alex kind of ducked out of the way and so Frankie missed. That gave me enough time to step in between them. I shoved Frankie really hard in the chest, which gave Marcel enough time to grab him from behind for me. Fortunately, Alex thought this was hilarious, because if he was mad too, I don't know that I could have stepped between them. Anyways, Marcel had Frankie from behind. And Frankie is little. He's like my height maybe and super skinny. And Marcel is really tall and strong-ish so he held Frankie until I got Alex out of the room and to the office. I told him he could go tell Jennie what he did. So, I finally get class settled down enough to start when Alex walks back in and says she's in a meeting. I told him he could go to the office and sit and wait for her to finish. So, like halfway through the class Jennie walks in and is like, "What happened in your class?" in her British accent. And so, I walked out in the hall and was like, "Didn't Alex tell you?" And she's like, "All he'll tell me is 'It was an accident. They just fell!'" And I was like.... "Well, Alex pantsed Frankie." And Jennie was like, "What does that term mean?" And I was like.... "Well, it means Alex pulled down Frankie's pants. And he pulled down his boxers too..." And Jennie in her thick British accent was like, "Are you telling me that Frankie was EXPOSED in your classroom???" And I was like, "Umm.... yeah....That's exactly what I'm trying to tell you." Lucky I didn't lose my job right then an there! Haha!
On Wednesday between classes, Jose was apparently picking on Gilbert. Jose said they were "just playing", but George said he was being mean. The rest of the ninth graders would agree with George about Jose being mean. So, George asked Gilbert, why don't you just punch him in the face and get it over with already! And Jose got mad and turned to George and was like, "You always talk about fighting George, but you never do! Let's go right now!" And George told him, "No, I don't fight little kids." And apparently Jose got up in his face and started pushing him, and George shoved him back and tried to walk away, but Jose wouldn't let him and pushed him as hard as he could into the lockers. So, George got mad and just decked him in the face. He decked him good and hard; Jose was super dizzy and out of it. Marcel ran over and was like, "Come on George, let's go to class." Logical thing to do after you just punched someone, right? (Marcel is actually really good about breaking up or diffusing fights.) So he grabs George around the shoulder and brings him into the classroom away from Jose. And by now, Jose is kinda coming back around and punches a locker since George isn't there to punch anymore. Well, school being incredibly logical as they are decided that Jose shouldn't be allowed back in class the rest of the day, but George should since "Jose provoked him". Now, I honestly believe Jose did provoke him, but that doesn't really justify decking someone. Even tho Jose probably deserved it. Then on Thursday, Juan and Chris almost got in a fight over something that happened when they were playing basketball. These boys!
This week has been good though. Tuesday was a slightly crazy day, but good none the less. I had chemistry lab with ninth grade. Monday night I still hadn't found a lab to do. So, I was researching easy, but cool labs online. The one I found that sounded cool tested the boiling points of various mixtures of water and alcohol. The practice was meant to be done with rubbing alcohol, but I couldn't find any here. I didn't look super hard, but I did try at the close colmados. Anyways, I was like, well.... I could substitute rum in here. Then I was like, it's school though... Hmm.... So, Kaitlyn was like, just call Jennie and ask her. So, I did. I was just like, "Umm.... Jennie, can I use rum in chemistry lab tomorrow?" And she was like, "Oh, of course! Let me run downstairs to see if I have a bottle you can use!" Never once did she ask what I would be doing with said rum. Anyways, she brought me a bottle of rum, which led to a slightly awkward handoff. Haha, she made me wrap it in a towel to carry it to lab, with honestly probably made it more conspicuous! Haha! Anyways, I had the first two hours free, so I decided to test it. Juan and Jose were in in-school suspension for a board punching and the George fighting incidents respectively, so I made them come test it with me rather than set everything up for them again another day. Anyways, everything was going smoothly, they were getting good data, everything was working how I planned when Jose was like, "Umm.... Miss Scislow? MISS SCISLOW!!!!" The entire beaker of ethanol had started on fire. It was a pretty cool looking fire, and I let Juan take pictures of it with his cell phone before I put it out. It happened once more with them before I made the necessary adjustments that I figured out avoid fires. Anyways, later that day when I did it with the rest of my class, Rony started his groups on fire. This one was also a pretty cool fire, and slightly more stressful, since I had a room full of like 25 ninth graders. So, I got them out of the way, grabbed the flaming beaker with heat resistant gloves and brought it to the sink to put it out. Well, it spilled in the sink and filled the entire sink with flames. The kids thought it was amazingly cool, and since it was just rum, I wasn't too worried about it being a really dangerous fire. I guess I'm glad everything here is cement block though! Haha! But wow, three fires in lab in one day! That's pretty impressive! They all thought it was a really cool lab though, which was good :) And only George and Rony pretended to drink any of it.
Today was a really good day. Maybe because I don't teach ninth grade on Thursdays? Haha! It was a good day all around! Teaching went well, and I had a couple kids just make my day. My senior boys gave me Hershey's kisses at lunch and asked if I would be their Valentine. After school, I ran to the office to check on grades for one of my kids, and Alex was in the office. And he's like, "Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow!!!!" so I was like, "Alex, Alex, Alex!" with a goofy smile before I realized there was a grown up with him. And Alex is like, "Miss Scislow, this is my dad!" So, I was like, "Oh, hi! Nice to meet you!" It's always a little awkward because I never know if I should use English or Spanish, but I knew they had just moved down from New York, so I figured I'd start in English since Alex had introduced me to his dad in English. And Alex was like, "Dad, Miss Scislow is the nicest, coolest, best teacher I've ever had! She's the best!" And I'm kinda blushing, and his dad was like, "That means a lot coming from Alex because he's very picky about his teachers. He hardly ever likes them!" And I was like, "Aww, thanks Alex!" And Alex was like, "Yeah, I've never had a teacher that was as cool!" And his dad was like, "I bet you've never had a teacher who is as pretty either!" Ugh! Even at school, haha! And Alex was like, "Yeah! If I was 10 years older, I'd marry you! Maybe I'll just have to wait ten years!" Lol, I like Alex. He's a little stinker, but he's a good kid.
Then, after homework room, Oasting gave me a huge hug and was like, "Miss Scislow! You are the only teacher that I can hug!" And I was like, "What? Why's that?" And he's like, "Because every other teacher, I'd probably just want to break their neck. But I love you!" Aww! Even my naught boys like me!
After school, I was walking home when someone across the street started jumping up and down and waving at me. And I was like, ugh! Because I hate getting hit on on the street. So, I ignored this person until he was like, "Miss Scislow!" So, I looked over and realized it was Arnold, one of my kids who lives kinda close to us. So, he ran across the street and I was like, "Hey Arnold!" And he was like, "You are going home very late!" And I was like, "It's because I was correcting your guys' math homework!" And he was like, "Oh, Miss Schumacher isn't going to correct our homework tonight because she has a Spanish test tomorrow." So, I laughed and was like, "So, what are you up to?" And he's like, "Stalking you of course!" (He always tells me he's going to stalk me. He's not a creepy kid, don't worry!) He was actually on his way to an internet place so he could do 'Miss Schumacher's' homework.
Anyways, as you can see, life is never dull here. I'm sure if you actually managed to read all this, you are incredibly bored by now, but hopefully you got at least one laugh out of it all! Hope all is well at home! Let me know how you are doing! I miss everyone lots!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Pictures
Here are my latest pictures from the DR. The first two links are from my family's visit for two weeks over Christmas. The third link is to pictures from the past few months at school. Hope you enjoy them. If this makes anyone else want to come visit me, let me know! Haha! Hope all is well back home. Miss you all!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009343&l=d0956&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009344&l=0a778&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009263&l=4c5d6&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009343&l=d0956&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009344&l=0a778&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009263&l=4c5d6&id=88400178
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Will you PLEASE put down your hair so I can teach!
Interesting Quotes from the first two weeks back:
“Miss Scislow! You look... very clean!”
“Miss Scislow, you look like you are about 22 or maybe 23.” “Why do you think that?” “Because you look like a girl!”
“Miss Scislow, you look good. Your clothes always match!”
“Miss Scislow, can I call you Kaitlyn?”
Wendy (a fellow teacher): "Kristen, you know what Camilo (one of the ninth grade boys) asked me? He said 'Who do you think is prettier, my girlfriend or Miss Scislow? Because I'm thinking about breaking up with my girlfriend!'"
It’s been an interesting week and a half getting back in the swing of school. My schedule switched around a little. I have ninth grade for two classes now: math and chemistry. It’s really a challenge to have eight classes a week with them because they’ve been pretty bad since coming back from break. Hopefully they get back into the swing of school quick! I still have tenth grade for geometry. Then, in eleventh grade I’m teaching algebra 2 still and chemistry. And since I picked up a class with ninth grade, I dropped one in twelfth grade, so I only have them for pre-calculus. I’m also teaching an SAT prep class for about half the eleventh and twelfth graders during elective time (so it’s one 2 hour block a week). If you have any suggestions at all as to how to do that, I’m all ears!
It’s kind of nice to start getting back into a routine again, but at the same time, it’s hard to have to work all the time again! It’s a lot of correcting to deal with now that I have four math classes! At least with the older kids (aka: NOT ninth grade!), I can correct in class with them. In ninth grade it just kind of turns into a free for all, and they really can’t handle it. So, I’ve got to re-figure out how to balance all my time so I get planning and correcting done at school instead of having to bring it home, but hopefully getting back into the swing of things won’t be too bad!
I think I’ve started a Twilight craze at St. David School. The high schoolers are all borrowing my Twilight books. Haha! And then they all want to go see the movie. I got invited to go to it with Oasting and Yang-Gi this weekend. They’ve already seen it and thought it was probably one of their favorite movies. Oasting told me he wanted to be a vampire. Haha! Anyways, I just think it’s funny that my boys seem as much into it at the girls! That’s all for now! Hope everything is well back at home!
“Miss Scislow! You look... very clean!”
“Miss Scislow, you look like you are about 22 or maybe 23.” “Why do you think that?” “Because you look like a girl!”
“Miss Scislow, you look good. Your clothes always match!”
“Miss Scislow, can I call you Kaitlyn?”
Wendy (a fellow teacher): "Kristen, you know what Camilo (one of the ninth grade boys) asked me? He said 'Who do you think is prettier, my girlfriend or Miss Scislow? Because I'm thinking about breaking up with my girlfriend!'"
It’s been an interesting week and a half getting back in the swing of school. My schedule switched around a little. I have ninth grade for two classes now: math and chemistry. It’s really a challenge to have eight classes a week with them because they’ve been pretty bad since coming back from break. Hopefully they get back into the swing of school quick! I still have tenth grade for geometry. Then, in eleventh grade I’m teaching algebra 2 still and chemistry. And since I picked up a class with ninth grade, I dropped one in twelfth grade, so I only have them for pre-calculus. I’m also teaching an SAT prep class for about half the eleventh and twelfth graders during elective time (so it’s one 2 hour block a week). If you have any suggestions at all as to how to do that, I’m all ears!
It’s kind of nice to start getting back into a routine again, but at the same time, it’s hard to have to work all the time again! It’s a lot of correcting to deal with now that I have four math classes! At least with the older kids (aka: NOT ninth grade!), I can correct in class with them. In ninth grade it just kind of turns into a free for all, and they really can’t handle it. So, I’ve got to re-figure out how to balance all my time so I get planning and correcting done at school instead of having to bring it home, but hopefully getting back into the swing of things won’t be too bad!
I think I’ve started a Twilight craze at St. David School. The high schoolers are all borrowing my Twilight books. Haha! And then they all want to go see the movie. I got invited to go to it with Oasting and Yang-Gi this weekend. They’ve already seen it and thought it was probably one of their favorite movies. Oasting told me he wanted to be a vampire. Haha! Anyways, I just think it’s funny that my boys seem as much into it at the girls! That’s all for now! Hope everything is well back at home!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
"Is that a prison?" "No, Dad, that's a school." =)
I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Year’s. I know I had a great time. My family flew in on December 23rd, and Wendy (one of my teacher friends) and her husband Milvio brought me to the airport to meet them. That night, we went out to a great little Dominican restaurant that one of my kids recommended, so my family got to try locrio con guandules (rice cooked with meat and spices, one of my favorite things here!), chicken, beef, tostones (which are fried plantains, a relative of the banana, and which the closest taste comparison is French fries), and yucca (which was baked and served with butter and tasted sort of like a mashed potato). We were all stuffed by the end of the dinner, and I think they were a little shocked by the bill! It was 600 pesos which is the equivalent of about $18 American. For six people to eat out, that’s pretty impressive! And the food was all delicious!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we just spent hanging out. For lunch of Christmas Eve, I tried my hand at Dominican cooking and made mangu, which is mashed plantains served with fried Dominican salami and fried onions. We had a turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner, opened presents, read the Christmas story in English and Spanish, and sang Christmas carols. On Christmas Day, we went to Phil and Kathy’s house. (They are the American missionaries.) We had a Christmas Bible study, sang carols, and had dinner with them. It was a very nice Christmas.
On Friday, I took my family in to see my school. Then we went to a museum called Centro Leon which is a Dominican anthropology and art museum. We got a guided tour in English which was nice for them, but my Spanish did help out a lot when the guide didn’t know how to translate things! That afternoon we went to the Monument, a big, huge monument really that was built by Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican in about the 1950s and renamed after his assassination to honor the heroes that restored liberty to the Dominican. We also went shopping on Calle del Sol, which is a very crazy street full of little stores and vendors.
On Saturday, following another recommendation by my students, we went to a place called Veintisiete Charcos, which loosely translates to Twenty-seven Waterfalls. With guides, we hiked across a river, and up to the first 12 waterfalls. Sometimes, we had to swim across the river and then climb up the waterfall as it rushed down. Then, to come back down, we got to slide down some waterfalls, jump over others, and jump over some about 25 foot cliffs into the river. It was sooooo much fun! Our guides were really funny, and since we had a big enough group, it was just them and our family. It was an excellent day!
The next day, Sunday, we headed to Playa Cofresi for a week. We rented a house on the beach that came with maids who did all the cooking (delicious Dominican food!) and cleaning. It was so relaxing! We spent most of the days lounging around by our private pool, strolling down the beach or just relaxing and reading in the sand, and swimming in the water. The ocean here is pretty warm pretty much all the time. We had great weather the entire time! On New Years’ Eve, we went snorkeling, which was pretty cool and welcomed the new year watching fireworks over the ocean from the beach.
Coming back from the beach the next Sunday, our driver stopped at a tobacco plantation and we got to see some cigar rolling. That night, we ordered pizza and relaxed and everyone packed since they left the next day.
Tobacco Drying
Rolling Cigars
Family picture in the mountains in front of a tobacco plantation
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone after the amazing two weeks we had. I hope my family had as good of a time as I did here! Hope everyone had a great Christmas as well, and I wish you all a blessed new year!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we just spent hanging out. For lunch of Christmas Eve, I tried my hand at Dominican cooking and made mangu, which is mashed plantains served with fried Dominican salami and fried onions. We had a turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner, opened presents, read the Christmas story in English and Spanish, and sang Christmas carols. On Christmas Day, we went to Phil and Kathy’s house. (They are the American missionaries.) We had a Christmas Bible study, sang carols, and had dinner with them. It was a very nice Christmas.
On Friday, I took my family in to see my school. Then we went to a museum called Centro Leon which is a Dominican anthropology and art museum. We got a guided tour in English which was nice for them, but my Spanish did help out a lot when the guide didn’t know how to translate things! That afternoon we went to the Monument, a big, huge monument really that was built by Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican in about the 1950s and renamed after his assassination to honor the heroes that restored liberty to the Dominican. We also went shopping on Calle del Sol, which is a very crazy street full of little stores and vendors.
On Saturday, following another recommendation by my students, we went to a place called Veintisiete Charcos, which loosely translates to Twenty-seven Waterfalls. With guides, we hiked across a river, and up to the first 12 waterfalls. Sometimes, we had to swim across the river and then climb up the waterfall as it rushed down. Then, to come back down, we got to slide down some waterfalls, jump over others, and jump over some about 25 foot cliffs into the river. It was sooooo much fun! Our guides were really funny, and since we had a big enough group, it was just them and our family. It was an excellent day!
The next day, Sunday, we headed to Playa Cofresi for a week. We rented a house on the beach that came with maids who did all the cooking (delicious Dominican food!) and cleaning. It was so relaxing! We spent most of the days lounging around by our private pool, strolling down the beach or just relaxing and reading in the sand, and swimming in the water. The ocean here is pretty warm pretty much all the time. We had great weather the entire time! On New Years’ Eve, we went snorkeling, which was pretty cool and welcomed the new year watching fireworks over the ocean from the beach.
Coming back from the beach the next Sunday, our driver stopped at a tobacco plantation and we got to see some cigar rolling. That night, we ordered pizza and relaxed and everyone packed since they left the next day.
Tobacco Drying
Rolling Cigars
Family picture in the mountains in front of a tobacco plantation
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone after the amazing two weeks we had. I hope my family had as good of a time as I did here! Hope everyone had a great Christmas as well, and I wish you all a blessed new year!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Teacher, are you young enough that you still have to worry about child molesters???
December has been pretty crazy. The title of this post, "Teacher, are you young enough that you still have to worry about child molesters???" was a for real question Oasting and Juan asked me on one of their kicks to try to figure out how old I am. They always manage to keep me on my toes!
Finals started the first week of December and continued for two full weeks. The kids had an hour and a half of testing, then a 45 minute break, then three 45 minute review sessions for upcoming tests and then were done at 12:30. Seemed straight forward enough.... Until I realized the day before Thanksgiving, that I was going to fly home the next Wednesday for a week. (Yes, I booked tickets one week before flying out!) I had an interview at the University of Minnesota, the Twin Cities campus, for medical school. I won't hear back from them until the end of January, which is when I'll probably try to make my decision about where to go. Anyways, things got a little crazy with trying to get everything lined up for being gone for a week during finals. It all worked out ok for the most part though. Well, at least the trip home did! I got to see my family, my grandparents, aunt Tiffany, and cousins Jake and Alex. I made it to Mankato for two days to get to see all my friends as well as Aunt Linda and Uncle Vance and some of my favorite professors down there. I had my interview, and then just got to relax at home. It was really, really nice!
I got back a week after I left, excited to be back and see my kids. Until I got a phone call from Micah, one of the teachers that had covered most of my classes for me, informing me that Juan had taken the answer key to my biology final when he briefly left the room. Ugh! So, to deal with the fact that he probably saw at least the first page, possibly the first two of my answer key, I changed the first two pages of multiple choice to oral short answer since I didn't have time to get anything else printed. Problem solved, right? Or so I thought..... Until I collected the note cards I had allowed my kids to use on the final and realized that three of them (Juan, the one who took the key to "count the pages only!", was not one of them) had the answers to page two and three of my test written on them. Grr! So, I figured they had to have gotten more of the test than I realized and decided to fail the three with the answer on their cards, Juan, and Oasting, who had ripped his note card up and thrown it away after I specifically asked for it. Unfortunately, in the Dominican system, the final is automatically weighted as 30% of their final grade, and passing is a 70%, so if you get a 0 on the final, unless you had a 100% going in to the final, you can't pass the class. So, I had a really long chat with the principal about all of this, and we decided to make the entire class retake the multiple choice and matching sections again (the parts that had letter answers, which is what the cheaters had gotten a hold of), and to make the five that were more directly involved in cheating retake the entire final without a note card their first real day of Christmas break. Anyways, needless to say, I had five furious kids on my hands, but we got it worked out. Unfortunately, I found out that the day Juan took the test from Micah was NOT the day they had gotten access to the answers. They had actually gotten them the week before by walking up behind me and copying them over my shoulder one day when I had taken them outside to review since their room was so hot. So, that was frustrating for me, because they told me who did it, and thinking back on it, it makes sense, but I can't prove anything, so I can't do anything about it besides still fail the five I had originally decided to fail. Anysays,Jennie, the principal, called all the parents on Monday and explained the situation. And, then on Tuesday of this week, all five had to come in and retake the final. Monday, when all the parents got called about it, four of the five were at school, so I just took care of getting them their books back, and finding their notebooks and study guides and stuff. Gilbert however, wasn't at school.
So, I wasn't really sure what to do about that, until after school, when I was standing out in the parking lot with two of my kids, when I noticed that there was a grown up man walking out with a biology book... who looked like he could have a 14 year old... who looks like his 14 year old... who had Gilbert's little sister with him. So, I asked him if he had Gilbert's notebook too, since that would help him as much as the book, and he just glared at me. So, I switched to Spanish, knowing full well he speaks English, and asked again. He kept glaring at me, so sticking with Spanish, I asked him if he wanted me to go look for it, and he started yelling at me in Spanish about how nothing at the school was every kept quiet, and how some people were in to everyone's business. So, I ignored him, and walked inside to look for the notebook. And it would just happen that the keys to the ninth grade room were missing that day... But the room is really, really easy to break in to, so I just popped the lock... And then realized that he had followed me inside. He proceeded to yell at me because I didn't have permission to be in the room. I was so confused and he kept ranting... Until he asked me how I know about all this. And I was like, Umm.... How would I not, still slightly confused. All of the sudden his jaw just dropped, and he's like "WAIT! Are you a teacher???" He thought I was some random kid... And at least stopped yelling when he realized that I was Gilbert's biology teacher. Ugh!
Anyways, my retake kids did well. All scored 1 to 2 percentage points lower on the retake but one, who actually scored 4 points higher. So, that was good. And I argued with the principal for a long time over it, but she finally gave in, and is letting me count it as if it was the first time they took the test so it doesn't show up on their permanent records. Because I really feel that a really bad decision you made when you were 14 shouldn't show up when you are applying to colleges. So, everything is worked out there.
This week, we also had Christmas parties, the Christmas program, which wasn't very Christmas-y at all and involved belly dancing, and parent teacher conferences where I got yelled at by another dad whose kid failed four class (none of which was mine, by the way!) Now, we are officially on Christmas break. All my roommates flew home today, so I'm here by myself until Tuesday when my family gets here. Yay! It should be a fun break with them all here! Hope everything is well with everyone! Feliz Navidad a Todos. Merry Christmas!
Finals started the first week of December and continued for two full weeks. The kids had an hour and a half of testing, then a 45 minute break, then three 45 minute review sessions for upcoming tests and then were done at 12:30. Seemed straight forward enough.... Until I realized the day before Thanksgiving, that I was going to fly home the next Wednesday for a week. (Yes, I booked tickets one week before flying out!) I had an interview at the University of Minnesota, the Twin Cities campus, for medical school. I won't hear back from them until the end of January, which is when I'll probably try to make my decision about where to go. Anyways, things got a little crazy with trying to get everything lined up for being gone for a week during finals. It all worked out ok for the most part though. Well, at least the trip home did! I got to see my family, my grandparents, aunt Tiffany, and cousins Jake and Alex. I made it to Mankato for two days to get to see all my friends as well as Aunt Linda and Uncle Vance and some of my favorite professors down there. I had my interview, and then just got to relax at home. It was really, really nice!
I got back a week after I left, excited to be back and see my kids. Until I got a phone call from Micah, one of the teachers that had covered most of my classes for me, informing me that Juan had taken the answer key to my biology final when he briefly left the room. Ugh! So, to deal with the fact that he probably saw at least the first page, possibly the first two of my answer key, I changed the first two pages of multiple choice to oral short answer since I didn't have time to get anything else printed. Problem solved, right? Or so I thought..... Until I collected the note cards I had allowed my kids to use on the final and realized that three of them (Juan, the one who took the key to "count the pages only!", was not one of them) had the answers to page two and three of my test written on them. Grr! So, I figured they had to have gotten more of the test than I realized and decided to fail the three with the answer on their cards, Juan, and Oasting, who had ripped his note card up and thrown it away after I specifically asked for it. Unfortunately, in the Dominican system, the final is automatically weighted as 30% of their final grade, and passing is a 70%, so if you get a 0 on the final, unless you had a 100% going in to the final, you can't pass the class. So, I had a really long chat with the principal about all of this, and we decided to make the entire class retake the multiple choice and matching sections again (the parts that had letter answers, which is what the cheaters had gotten a hold of), and to make the five that were more directly involved in cheating retake the entire final without a note card their first real day of Christmas break. Anyways, needless to say, I had five furious kids on my hands, but we got it worked out. Unfortunately, I found out that the day Juan took the test from Micah was NOT the day they had gotten access to the answers. They had actually gotten them the week before by walking up behind me and copying them over my shoulder one day when I had taken them outside to review since their room was so hot. So, that was frustrating for me, because they told me who did it, and thinking back on it, it makes sense, but I can't prove anything, so I can't do anything about it besides still fail the five I had originally decided to fail. Anysays,Jennie, the principal, called all the parents on Monday and explained the situation. And, then on Tuesday of this week, all five had to come in and retake the final. Monday, when all the parents got called about it, four of the five were at school, so I just took care of getting them their books back, and finding their notebooks and study guides and stuff. Gilbert however, wasn't at school.
So, I wasn't really sure what to do about that, until after school, when I was standing out in the parking lot with two of my kids, when I noticed that there was a grown up man walking out with a biology book... who looked like he could have a 14 year old... who looks like his 14 year old... who had Gilbert's little sister with him. So, I asked him if he had Gilbert's notebook too, since that would help him as much as the book, and he just glared at me. So, I switched to Spanish, knowing full well he speaks English, and asked again. He kept glaring at me, so sticking with Spanish, I asked him if he wanted me to go look for it, and he started yelling at me in Spanish about how nothing at the school was every kept quiet, and how some people were in to everyone's business. So, I ignored him, and walked inside to look for the notebook. And it would just happen that the keys to the ninth grade room were missing that day... But the room is really, really easy to break in to, so I just popped the lock... And then realized that he had followed me inside. He proceeded to yell at me because I didn't have permission to be in the room. I was so confused and he kept ranting... Until he asked me how I know about all this. And I was like, Umm.... How would I not, still slightly confused. All of the sudden his jaw just dropped, and he's like "WAIT! Are you a teacher???" He thought I was some random kid... And at least stopped yelling when he realized that I was Gilbert's biology teacher. Ugh!
Anyways, my retake kids did well. All scored 1 to 2 percentage points lower on the retake but one, who actually scored 4 points higher. So, that was good. And I argued with the principal for a long time over it, but she finally gave in, and is letting me count it as if it was the first time they took the test so it doesn't show up on their permanent records. Because I really feel that a really bad decision you made when you were 14 shouldn't show up when you are applying to colleges. So, everything is worked out there.
This week, we also had Christmas parties, the Christmas program, which wasn't very Christmas-y at all and involved belly dancing, and parent teacher conferences where I got yelled at by another dad whose kid failed four class (none of which was mine, by the way!) Now, we are officially on Christmas break. All my roommates flew home today, so I'm here by myself until Tuesday when my family gets here. Yay! It should be a fun break with them all here! Hope everything is well with everyone! Feliz Navidad a Todos. Merry Christmas!
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