A Christmas Without Snow

Today's HIGH: SEVENTY TWO DEGREES!

It's so strange that Christmas is right around the corner, yet there is no snow. In fact, it was t-shirt weather today. That's crazy. Two weeks worth of vacation started last Friday for me. A much needed two week vacation. The kids were getting restless, crabby, and unmotivated ... as well as I was. The last week of Kids in Motion was pretty much a party week. I brought in candy coal and candy canes for the kids on Thursday and we had a free day where we painted and did whatever. It was great. My class has been so great, they deserved it.

Work has been crazy. I have been assigned the PR and Marketing specialist at the Apopka Family Learning Center. I have started two initiatives since I've started working at AFLC. The first is a pen-pal program. A lot of the kids can't afford to be in the program we run so many gracious people have donated a lot of money to sponsor a few lucky children. So, I decided to put a face to the name of the child these big donors are sponsoring. I have picked 16 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders to correspond with their sponsor. This didn't seem like it would be that difficult at first, but it turns out, coordinating this pen-pal program has been exhausting. The kids have made and sent out two cards with letters in them and unfortunately only 3 sponsors have responded to the pen-pals. However, it was exciting because one of the pen-pals of the kids actually came into AFLC to meet with their child and brought with them a whole bunch of Christmas presents for the family, namely, gift certificates for Publix, the local grocery store. It was so nice to see the impact this one woman was able to have on her pen-pal. It made all the hard work worth it, I just wish more of the sponsors would be more receptive.

The second initiative that I am working on is setting up a reading program for all of the kids and parents of the kids on the computer. So far I have made an account for all the classes but there was a stall in implementing the reading program because unfortunately we didn't have any computers. I got in touch with IBM and being the gracious company they are, they are going to be donating 4 computers to our center :-) I guess being persistent often pays off...even if it does irritate lots of people.

So, that's what I have been doing at work.

I'm also volunteering in other ways down in Apopka. Yesterday there was a toy sale at one of the local churches. People donated many gifts to HCC and as a fundraiser we resold the gifts at a VERY reduced price to people who otherwise couldn't afford to go Christmas shopping for their children. One of the coordinators made a good point about this- it's nice for the families to be able to come in and pick out their own presents and be able to actually purchase them, make it feel like they're not just receiving a hand-out from some charity.

The toy-sale in itself was pretty crazy. Over 200 people came to buy toys over the span of 6 hours. It was a really great experience.

Today has been pretty lazy. I cleaned up a little bit and then did a ton of art projects... It has been very relaxing. Also, my first day without my roommates, the house is eerily quiet...

In other news. My family is coming down for CHRISTMAS! On Friday my brother coming in from Kansas with his wife, Lucy, and his son, Eugene. I'm planning on taking them to DINOSAUR WORLD! in Plant City. Exciting times. Then, on Monday my mom,dad, grandma, sister, brother-in-law, and niece are flying in. We rented a house in Kissimmee. It has a pool. SWEET! I'm excited to see everyone! I think we have a lot of fun activities planned.

Only a few more days until Christmas, yay!

Underachievers please try harder...

So, it's been a very long while since I have last written. To sum it up I've put everything I've done into short phrases! If anything sounds interesting, let me know and I will most definitely elaborate for you :) Happy Wednesday!


Magic game with students.Perseverance.Florida.Turkeys in the sky.And on my wall.And Alisha’s wall.Dinosaur World.Cirque du Soleil.Community dinners.Hookah.Garibaldi.Cocoa Beach.Orange trees.Gleaning.Gnomes.Eye Spy.Red wine.Murder Mystery party. Mini golf. Birthday surprises.Old Spice Classic.Jacksonville.Hispanic Festival.Christmas concerts and an introduction to Posadas. Empanadas.Tampa.The Village Inn.PetsMart.Fernando.Sand dollar party.Surfing.Austins.New computers for AFLC.Apples on the beach.New friends.Art.Family.Pumpkin Smashing on a Sunday morning.Lizards.First class.Feeding gators.Roosters on the road.South Apopka and the railroad tracks.

busy, busy, busy

Monday morning. Again. I don’t know how these weeks go so fast. Well this week is going to be a very busy week for me… lots of long days. Usually I work 10-6:15 …which means I don’t get home from work until after 6:30… However this week I have a lot of meetings and craziness going on.

Tomorrow all the volunteers at Kids in Motion have to go to the board meeting at 8am so all the board members can meet us. I cannot remember the last time I woke up before 8am. So, hopefully tonight won’t be too crazy so I can get some sleep.

Wednesday I have a meeting early … before work too and Thursday, well, a meeting after work. Needless to say, I will be ready for some surfing and beach next weekend!

This past weekend Alisha and I went to Cocoa Beach, our beach of choice ☺ it was a beautiful day. There is this nice little bar/restaurant right on the beach where Alisha and I had lunch and a beer while watching the Packers lose to the Redskins. It was great. Last-last weekend I broke a surfboard in half … totally (kind of) not my fault- the board didn’t have a leash so it got taken in a wave and crashed into shore. The rental place wanted to charge me $50!!! for the damage and I said “No way” and slightly got upset with them. This weekend I was afraid to go back in to their shop to get a surfboard, but…well, I didn’t have to pay $50.

Back to work for me! Hopefully I can find more time to update this blog more regularly, it’s been a long while!

P.S. I miss all my Wisconsinites ☺ can’t wait to visit sometime in the near future!

Favorite Quotes

After playing outside for a while Luis looks like he's ready to pass out so I go over to him and ask him what's wrong:
Me: What's wrong Luis?
Luis: I'm so hot, I'm so hot like eggs in souppp.
Me: Okay, well if you need water, go in and get some water.
Luis: (lays down) Miss, I'm so hot I can't move right now.


Stephanie: Do gorillas sleep?

Another Monday morning

Today’s high: 92° Today’s low: 72°

Well last week flew bye. And now … another week.

Last week was pretty uneventful. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were pretty normal, nothing too noteworthy happened.

Friday was our first AmeriCorps meeting since we all started our jobs. It was so nice to see everyone. Oh, yeah, every other Friday we have a meeting as an entire group, which means that we don’t go to our job sites. I kind of missed my kids! After the meeting Alisha and I went to Target to get stuff for this really yummy cheesy macaroni and chili dish that Alisha makes. We made that when we got home and watched movies- nothing too exciting for a Friday night.

Saturday Jordan took Alisha and I to the beach … to the shark bite capital of the world! I’m probably going to have to learn how to surf. That’d be fun. SATURDAY NIGHT WAS THE LAUA at the other community house. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday I didn’t do much. I kept working on my thank-you notes from graduation… a bit late :S

Today is going to be a long day. I need to go apply for food stamps. Emma and I are getting trained to be Boy Scout leaders and then after work we have a meeting with all the kids’ parents. It’s going to be a long day. Maybe I need some extra coffee for this Monday morning.

It's a small world, after all...

Today’s high: 90° Today’s low: 72°

This past week has been pretty busy for me and gone by crazy fast. Hopefully the whole year doesn’t go bye so quickly. Here’s a recap of what the latter part of my week was like last week.

Thursday: Thursday was my long day. Randy, Alisha, and I volunteered with the Parenting class at the Hope CommUnity Center, afterwards we went to Gators for FIFTY CENT beer. That was awesome. When we got home from Gators Alisha and I had another infamous chat out on the patio until way late into the night.


Friday: Every Friday the girls have Girl Scouts. A troop leader from the community volunteers to come in and lead ALL the girls in a Girl Scouts program. Where does that leave the boys? With Emma and me, we are now the official Boy Scouts leaders. There are 100+ kids in the Kids In Motion program, so here Emma and I are with all these energy-filled boys trying to get them to listen to two girls about Boy Scouts. It was hilarious. We ended up just being babysitters for the day.

Friday night Alisha, Randy, Jordan, and I ended up hanging out at our place and played Apples to Apples. One of my all time favorite games, and I guess when I was in Jacksonville this past weekend I missed a good game ☹

Saturday: Saturday afternoon Alisha and I went to Jacksonville to visit her cousin, Brian. Jacksonville is about a two hour drive northeast from Apopka, so not too bad of a drive. We spent the day at the OCEAN! Salt water is gross but the ocean was awesome. I can’t wait to try surfing! Saturday night Brian’s neighbor had a pot luck dinner for the complex. So, we went over there and the host, Jenny, had made a lot of yummy food, including a really yummy chicken spread-thinger. After we ate lots of yummy food it was time for some really yummy beer ;) … Alisha and I challenged the “notorious beer pong champions” to a face-off. We won. It was the first time they had lost in a very long time, I guess. Don’t worry, our win is documented with Sharpie on the beer pong table.

Sunday: It was a little difficult waking up Sunday but when we finally got up and going Alisha and I went down to the pool. It was so beautiful outside. Very sunny. Very awesome. Oh, here’s the weirdest story:
A few of Brian’s friends were down by the pool and kept talking about this guy named Jake and how they haven’t seen Jake in a really long time, so Alisha and I were curious as to who this Jake guy was so even though we were getting FRIED we stuck around until Jake came down. So, eventually Jake and his friend get to the pool and I open the gate for them. I looked at Jake and he had one of those familiar faces. So, they get in the pool and crack a beer and whatever. A few minutes later, I just had to ask him what his last name was… he told me. We went to high school together. It’s such a small world after all.
Monday: Yesterday was pretty uneventful, except that all my kids made fun of my sunburn. “HEY MISS HEIDI, You go to the beach this weekend?” “Yes” “I can tell. I can see that you wore HUGE SUN GLASSES TOO!” … “thank you for reminding me Silverio”…
What else… I bought a whole bunch of treats for my kids so when they get enough sand dollars for being good they get a treat from the treasure box. Hopefully they get excited about the treats I got, I forgot what it’s like to be in third grade. OH! Yesterday I had to give four of my favorite kids to a different teacher and I got four new kids, to try evening out the classes a little more. It made me sad. At the end of the day I came in from taking my class outside and Leydi had drawn me a picture of her and me and left it on my desk… awwwww. Here we go… happy Tuesday!

Goodbye Dread, Hello Real World

That's right, I cut the dread out of my hair. Now you know I mean business... ha ha it does kind of look silly because now my hair doesn't fit into a ponytail and... yesterday one of my students told me that I had a silly purple string coming out of my hair (I didn’t cut it high enough so the string is unraveling from my dread…gross).

I can’t believe it’s day 3 already. My first day in the classroom went smoothly, for the most part. I have 21 students in my classroom and like I said before I was scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to pronounce their names since most of them are Hispanic. But, I did fine, the kids are very willing and good at reminding me when I say someone’s name incorrectly. “MISS HEIDI THAT’S NOT HOW YOU SAY YHECELI!”… yup. They’re pretty darn cute.

The first day we had homework time while they had snack. Then we made nametags … I let them make their own. Maybe that was a mistake … as if remembering names weren’t hard enough the kids put names that were NOT theirs on their nametags. Let’s see, in my classroom I know have a BiBi, Tina, Queen Ella, oh, and my personal favorite “Mistery Hunter”. Man, to be in third/fourth grade again… after the nametags we did a “get to know you game”, and then had free time. They love their playground time. I love it to, there’s nothing like going outside and instantly sweating from the humidity ;-).

Overall, I was very impressed with how well my students behaved and how eager they are to be in the classroom. No real problems oh.. except the two MOMS that got into a verbal (and almost PHYSICAL) fight in the parking lot… over a parking spot. Yup, that’s right, the first incident report of the year was written for two parents. That was special.

Yesterday, day two, went well also. Every Wednesday we do rotations, so each volunteer/teacher was assigned a subject. I got lucky, I have math and science…(for those of you who know me, those are my two worst subjects and two subjects 90% of the elementary students in the WORLD hate). But that’s how it goes. The other rotations are Drama, Arts and Crafts, Sports/Health, and Home Economics. So, if anyone knows any good math or science games for k-5 let me know … suggestions wanted!

Hmm… my favorite story from yesterday: I was playing kickball with the kids and it was my turn to kick when one of my girls came up to me all frantic and tells me that I can’t kick. When I asked her why she told me I couldn’t kick because I was wearing high heals. When I told her I could kick in high heals she stops me again and goes “BUT MISS HEIDI YOU’LL ROLL AN ANKLE!” … I was made permanent pitcher…

Today will be the first day where I have to give a lesson, so that should be interesting. After work today I am volunteering with the Parenting class at the Community center. It’s going to be a very long day. At least 9pm isn’t TOO too late.

So, as I am sitting on the patio I am watch the lizards jump and run on the patio screen. It’s so weird! They are everywhere. Eugene (my (almost) 8 year old nephew) would LOVE it out here! This is such a beautiful area to be dropped in. I thought living in Florida was going to be torturous, but after meeting all of the wonderful people that I have met and starting my job I am starting to rethink that… I am actually starting to enjoy it here. Hopefully this weekend I can make it to the OCEAN! Yay! Time for work ☺

MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Here I am, it’s Tuesday morning … 8:30 am. ... 74 degrees, sunnnnny :-) Everyone in the house has already left for his or her job(s) except for me. I don’t start until 10:00am. I got pretty lucky. Trevor had to be at his site at 6:30AM. Poor boy. So here I am, empty house (it’s weird), sitting on the patio, drinking my wonderful Alterra coffee out of my notorious walrus mug, and blogging. Chillaxing before work ☺

Today is my first day with my third grade class. I’m nervous, tired, anxious, and excited… okay, mostly excited. This past week at orientation was very nerve-wracking. Being introduced to all the possible sob-stories we’ll hear about our kids was very scary.

I’m afraid the kids wont respect me because, well, I am white, not from Apopka, don’t speak Spanish, and I probably wont be able to pronounce ¾ of the kids names. Once I get to work I will have four hours to prepare for the day, hopefully someone can give me some hints on how to pronounce the kids’ names… oh boy. What have I gotten myself into?

However, I’m so excited to work with kids again. Last week I helped out with a parenting class that is held at the Hope CommUnity Center and those kids are in such dire need of attention. I’m looking forward to being able to maybe make a difference in someone’s life. I am also looking forward to those kids making an impact on my life. I have only been here for a little over a week and have already been exposed to so many problems in the American society that I NEVER KNEW EVEN EXISTED. It’s so true that the more you learn, the more you learn you don’t know. It’s so strange to me that the southern states are so much different than “Up North”- there’s such a blindfold that hides immigration issues and what not.

Well, I best get ready for work now... Oh, and pick some fresh fruit from the citrus tree in my backyard ;-)