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1 2 3 4 5 years and counting

Is it permissible to write in a blog that you haven't touched for 5 years?  I suppose anything is permissible when your blog isn't even open to the public. I've been scrolling back through some of my old blog posts and I am fascinated by the "me"s of the past.  Oh 2014 Caitlyn, if only you could see us now. As I was reading, I was thinking about the clever Christmas letters that my grandpa Ray wrote over the years.  Did I inherit a talent for writing from him?  On the other hand, I am not certain that my writing is objectively good - I've always had a hard time judging my own writing.  I will say this, though, objectivity aside, I like my blog writing.  Writing has always been very difficult for me as I imagine all the ways that my readers will criticize every word, every sentence (this was especially true when writing essays for my high school English teachers).  But blog-writing has always come much easier to me.  There is a freedom that doe...
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A la tercera va la vencida

Hoy cumplí tres semanas de mi tercer año de enseñar.  Y en camino a casa hoy estaba pensando en la diferencia grande de tener más experiencia.  Y además tengo el mejor horario.  Mi clases cambiaron la semana antes del comienzo del año escolar.  Iba a enseñar español 3 y 4 pero por el renuncio de dos de mis colegas no faltaba un maestro de español para hispanohablantes.  Así que decidí ofrecer a cambiar al horario de mi colega que iba enseñar esa clase y lo aceptaron.  ¡Y mis clases son fenomenales!  En serio, espero que no sea simplemente porque estamos a principios del año todavía.  Mis estudiantes parecen interesados en el español.  Participan mucho y quieren hablar.  :-D  Otra ventaja del cambio de horario es que ya no estoy enseñando español 3 lo cual me alivia solo porque tengo más libertad de hacer mis propias planes con los cursos que me tocan ahora.  Soy la única maestra de los hispanohablantes nivel 1 y solo hay una ma...
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Un verano espectacular

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I go back to school Monday.   Mixed feelings.  A good deal of dread.  It's hard to give up control of your schedule and go back to the grind of way early mornings, bells, lesson planning, and grading.  Also, meeting new students a little overwhelming just because there's only one of me and so many of them.  It's exciting, but challenging. This summer had been crazy and pack, but oh so good, and I don't want it to end.   Here's a summ ary of summ er: Completed 2 classes: basic stats & general psych.   Visited UIC to inquire about their social work program. Took 2 classes at my school district to complete my mentor program. Bought a house.   Packed & cleaned the townshouse. Moved.  Unpacked.  Organized. Organized a a ridiculous amount of messy papers & important documents. Interviewed for a job outside of teaching. Awesome trip to St. John in the USVI. My schedule changed for school (as of last we...
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Thankfulness & hope

It's Wednesday evening.  The first day of school this week after the freezing temps gave us two days off.  I'm inside keeping warm, waiting for my husband to get home, and feeling so thankful.  I can usually list off a pretty long list of things that I am thankful for, but the sad thing is that I don't always FEEL thankful for them.  I can acknowledge that they are good things in my life that I KNOW I am thankful for, yet sometimes I'm just not feeling grateful. Today I am very grateful.  I very much enjoyed having two extra days off this week.  Generally, during the school year, I feel like I can never catch up on sleep.  I wake up so early every day that usually on the weekends I can't sleep in long enough to feel like it has helped.  But this weekend I slept in.  Yesterday I slept until 10, and it was glorious. I am also thankful for my husband.   He is just so wonderful and loving, and we got to spend a lot of quality time toget...
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El otoño ha venido y ya se va.

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Time moves so fast during the school year.  It's hard to believe Friday is already November and second quarter has already started.  On one hand, I am grateful that school moves by fast because it would be horrible if it were dull and slow.  However, I do think that part of the reason it moves so fast is because I am so busy I hardly have a second to slow down and enjoy life.  That's not to say that I don't have fun or that my life isn't enjoyable.  But there just isn't time to appreciate life.  I'm just running full speed ahead ALL THE TIME. I've been learning that I need to slow down.  Es bien difícil to slow down cuando tengo tantas cosas que hacer.  Pero de todos modos es necesario.  Por ejemplo, ayer, había muchas coas que podía hacer pero decidí a dejar de trabajar a las ocho.  Dije, "ya basta".  Mañana seguiré.  Siempre hay más que puedo hacer. Lo más importante que he aprendido en los últimos tiempos es que no me pe...
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Getting back to blogging

It's time.  Time to return to blogging.  I may not be on some adventure to a foreign country, but I have come to the conclusions that life is a constant adventure.  There's always new changes and ideas to think about.  And I miss expressing my thoughts in writing.  I have thought about creating a new blog many times, but never followed through with it because I wondered why I couldn't just write a journal rather than a blog.  Isn't the point of a blog that it is public?  That people read it?  Do I really need or want people to read my thoughts.  Not really.  I don't intend to publish the link to this blog on Facebook or send out emails to let people know that I have this blog.  Yet, there's something about publishing a blog post that appeals more than writing a journal entry in Word or Google Docs.  So I return to blogging.  Y no voy a escribir solo en inglés porque no es suficiente expresarme en inglés.  Tengo que se...
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