Another Update.

Xin chao friends!

I have been sitting in my apartment for about an hour looking up ideas for science journals for my kids and I decided I needed to take a break, so here I am blogging!

There is not a whole lot of new stuff to tell about, I am in a pretty normal routine. Everyday I go to school around 7:00. My kids come at 8:15 and I have them until 3:20. I leave school between 4:00-5:00. Then I either workout or go out to eat and sometimes (like tonight) I can squeeze both in. Then I watch TV or read for a while. I am typically in bed by ten (I'm running late tonight) I read for a while and I zonk out. Exciting right?

While my routine may be boring, my students are still anything but. Many of you have said you thought Max (formally known as Phat) seemed like he could be the entertaining one of the class and he certainly has proved to be quite the character! For example, a couple weeks ago we were learning about adjectives. I had the kids fill out graphic organizers about themselves. I was looking over them and about died when I came to Max's. He described himself as....

 

I still laugh every time I come across these photos! We were using the five senses, so the first picture was what he looks like and the second was how he feels inside. 

Another thing that makes me laugh on a daily basis is watching my kids read silently. Everyday we do the daily five where they may choose to read silently. We also have DEAR (drop everything and read) everyday. It is school wide and lasts twenty minutes. I tell my kids that when they are reading silently they may sit where ever and however they like. Lay on the floor, lean against the the wall, stay at their desk... wherever. Some days the kids spread out like crazy. Other days they just stay at their desks. Last week after I reminded them they could sit wherever none of the students left their desks. One student asked me, "Ms. Michelle, can I sit anywhere?" I answered yes and he walked back to his desk and sat in his seat. I was reading my own book (modeling reading for the kids is AWESOME) and I looked up to make sure everyone was reading. This is what I saw...

 

Yes this is Max again.

Today I took picture of my kids progresses from the beginning of DEAR till the end. They get more and more comfy throughout the 20 minutes. 

 

I'll let you guess who asked if he could stand by my desk. He was very curious to see what I was reading!

 

And since I think my class is so adorable, I will end with some pictures of our daily five. This is a literacy block we do daily where students choose between five different activities. Though the week they will read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, working on writing, do word work, and work with the teacher.

 

Read to someone

 

Work on writing

 

Teacher table with our wonderful ESL teacher

 

Listen to reading... Max being silly. Again.

These pictures don't even begin to show the reasons I love my job. Even my 'bad days' aren't really that bad. One my newest reasons for loving my school is that right outside there is a coconut stand. You can go get a cold coconut in the middle of the day for 7000 dong... less then 50 cents. I will be so sad when I can no longer drink fresh coconuts every day. 

Anywho, that is enough for tonight. I hope you all have a fabulous hump day.. thanks for keeping up with me!

Love always,

Michelle

Mui Ne Mini Holiday

Hola Friends,

It is Monday night and I am home from my mini holiday in Mui Ne. I was so excited to get out of the city for a long week and spend some time on the beach! Mui Ne is a small beach town north of HCMC that takes about six hours to get to by bus. It was a gorgeous little town and I loved how quiet it was! A big group of us stayed at a small resort on the edge of town called Mai Am. It was pretty nice, especially considering we paid less then $40 each for two nights.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon around 1:00 and the first thing we did was jump into the ocean. It was a ton of fun to swim and play, and it was my first time in the Pacific Ocean! How exciting! We swam for a while and then rented bicycles for the day. To rent the bikes we paid two dollars picked out a bike and left. No paperwork or signing anything, no nothing. Just pick a bike and see ya tomorrow. So we headed down to eat lunch with some of the other teachers. While we were eating a nice little storm came and went. In fact each day we were there a storm passed through in the afternoon, but I suppose that is what you will find happens during rainy season. ;) Saturday night we rode our bikes to a place called Wax (bar or club? I can't recall). It was a fun bar where you could sit out on the beach and drink or eat. They also had a 'bone fire' at night... I think they were going for bonfire... We had a lot of fun hanging out on the beach and then dancing inside. We also limbo-ed which I found out I am pretty good at.. woop woop!

Sunday we rented motorbikes which was a lot like the bicycle process except you had to pay a whopping $8. Pretty steep for a whole day, I know! It was my first time riding a motorbike and it was so much fun! It was a bit intimidating at first because I have never driven a motorbike in my life, but I loved it. It was also really great practice for when I decide to get a back here in the city. I can't imagine getting one and riding it for the first time with so much traffic! Back to Sunday... after we got the bikes we drove out to see the white sand dunes which were about 45 minutes away. It was an easy drive until a dirt/sand rode. I manged to tip my bike on this rode, but luckily it was in sand and I jumped off first. It was a sight to see I'm sure. I don't think I will ever attempt driving a motorbike in sand again, it was terrible! The dunes however were really cool. It was like seeing a huge desert in the middle of all the greenery. We rented sleds and walked to the top. It was quite the hike in the hot sand, but very worth it. We tried a few times to 'sled' down the dune, however most of us simply sank down right away. Hannah was the only one who got to the bottom. She accomplished this by running and diving head first down the dune. By the time we were done we were completely coated in sand, it was such a windy day! When we got to the bottom of the dunes and as we were walking to our bikes I spotted a sign that had a picture of a girl riding an ostrich. It was the funniest looking thing, so we stopped and asked how much. Well it was only 40,000VDN which would be about $2, so we said why not?! It was so funny, but to be honest those of us who did it felt kind of bad after. The poor ostriches seemed pooped!

As we left we were going to find a waterfall, however when we stopped for lunch the daily storm rolled in and wasn't letting up. So after waiting a while we decided to head home in the rain. At this point I wasn't driving because I wanted a chance to look at the scenery we were driving past, I missed out driving there since I was pay such good attention to the road! This was my second time this weekend (Friday night too) riding on a motorbike in the rain with no poncho and I have decided it it not fun at all and way too cold! Right when we got home we once again jumped into the water. It was so nice to get all that sand off my body! I am still finding sand when I take stuff out of my bag and I am pretty sure it won't stop any time soon!

Sunday night we went to din din at a yummy Mexican restaurant (thought it was NO El Azteca.. not even close!). After we went to a bar called Joe's that had some live music. It was a fun little bar and we spent the end of the night drinking on the beach. It was much more relaxed then Friday night, there was no crazy dancing or limbo! This morning we went swimming a resort that a few of the other teachers were staying at. They had a super nice pool and it was fun to see some of the other people that we hadn't seen much.

I am still having a hard time remembering it is MONDAY night and not Sunday. I have no idea how I am going to teach everything I need to teach this week in only four days. And to be honest, I miss my kiddos! When I told them how much I would miss them I don't think they believed me. I'm a little nervous about how attached I am to them already, I can only imagine what it will be like saying goodbye for our week break in October!

I hope you all had a fabulous (or are still having a fabulous) Labor Day weekend back at home! Once again I will leave you with some pictures from my short vacation. These uploaded in the most random order but I am too lazy to rearrange them at 11:00 on a school night! Enjoy....

 

Riding on Krystal's bike.. note how the helmet is barely on my head. I can't find out that fits.. all too big. :(

 

View driving home on Sunday before the rain set in. 

 

Ahhhhhhh!

 

Enjoying a yummy coconut after nearly dying on the sandy road to the dunes!

 

There were hammocks everywhere! I think I need one...

 

We had a LONG hike to the top!

 

My friend the ostrich and I

 

The beach at our hotel

 

Another view!

 

The view from our room... lovely!

 

Almost all the teachers from the trip at lunch. 

 

Storm on the first day

Until next time,

Michelle

P.S. Please forgive all type-os... as I said before about editing pictures, it is too late to fix them. My students won't be happy if they come to school with a grumpy Ms. Michelle