spring break

i'm unofficially on spring break! the great thing about grad school is all of our work is due during the last week of classes, so no finals for us! hooray! i'm all recovered from being sickly. the last few weeks have seemed really busy, though i have a difficult time remembering what i actually did.

i finished up my student teaching assignment on the 10th. it was tough. i was so blessed to be placed in that 5th grade classroom. my guiding teacher was fabulous and she was so encouraging to me. she told me i had good instincts...i almost teared. that's right, i'm cheesy like that. and the kids were so sweet on my last day. they "surprised" me with a pizza party and letters. it was doubly cute because the day before, one of the boys, erik, asked me if friday was my last day. i said yes and he told me that that meant they'd be bringing in food. i was confused, since they're heritage unit potluck was the following week. but then i caught the looks that the other students were giving erik, trying to signal to him to stop talking and backtrack. and because they're 10 years old, they're trying so hard to be subtle, but obviously they are not. i like to think i played it off enough to help them keep their "secret surprise." anywho, after recess, they brought out the food and other goodies and each came up to hand me their letter. seriously, i almost cried. and, one of the students was moving and he didn't tell anyone. another boy told us, and as we were saying some nice things about jaime, he kept looking down, trying not to cry, and seeing him struggling to hold it together just about made me cry. i enjoyed being in this classroom so much!!!

so, since i was done, i got to sleep in all last week. it was fantastic. i haven't felt that well rested in so long. i turned in all of the remaining assignments and we did our course evaluations. i've actually never given a super bad/harsh evaluation and i've had some bad classes. for the first time, i wrote in the comments section "this class really was a waste of my time. the lectures did not connect with the readings and discussion sessions were wasted on logistics. i actually want to ask for my tuition back. this class was not worth the money that i'm paying to UCLA." and lest you think i'm the only one, my fellow teammates all wrote things along the same line. this class really was that bad. utter waste of time. time that i can never have back! at least it's over. that's my silver lining.

on friday morning, i stopped by the school to drop off booklets that i had made with the poems that the kid wrote with pictures of them. they absolutely loved it. and they told me that they missed me! after only a week! it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. after that, some girls from my team decided to go shopping since the robinson's-may at fox hills mall was closing down. we thought we'd go and scavenge for some good stuff, but it was already pillaged before we even got there. instead, we walked around, ate, and just talked. it has been super enjoyable getting to know my cohort friends. and then there was afternoon/evening knitting and dinner at this mexican restaurant with no menu. that should have been the first clue that it would not be a cheap dinner. but it was delicous and the ambience was pretty cool.

i watched v for vendetta on saturday night and it was awesome. i super enjoyed it. i left the movie wanting to start a revolution. the UCLA program + the movie = total revolution in schools. i'm all over it. :)

on sunday, i played flag football...sort of. i got a little dizzy in the beginning and then it was ok. helpful tip: do not eat mcdonald's before playing sports. i shared at church about how i spend time with God. i actually haven't spoken in front of a group of people in awhile and i could feel my face getting red and feeling abnormally warm. so not great at public speaking. but it was really nice to share. post church and dinner, i visited jonathan (exodus pastor) and emily's condo. they have a great condo. and their little girls kay and bekah are too cute. when kay found out we were going to her house after dinner, she said, "i'm so happy." seriously, is that not cute?

oh! and tomorrow, i'm going to a dress rehearsal for american idol. my friend from school, alexandra, got tickets to the rehearsal and invited me to go. we're going to try and wait to get into the live taping too. i'm soooooooo excited!!! i'm finally doing something "LA" after having been here since the fall.

and along the same lines of entertainment and music, check out this concert going on at the house of blues this coming sunday, march 26, here in LA benny mao in concert. buy your tickets during the presale to support the artist!

this thursday i'm flying back to portland. a week back up north...a week without LA traffic and crazy drivers...and a week family and friends. hooray!