Teaching Makes Me Happy

I told myself that I would never be that person that once they started teaching, they would give up on the blog.  And obviously I failed miserably.  I became that person that gave up on the blog.  For this, I am sorry.  With that being said, I want to let you in on a little secret.  

Teaching Makes Me Happy

I love it.  I love that my students (well most of them at least) have fun in my class and like me.  I love that I get to devote my life to helping others.  I love that when I come home, I do fun arts and crafts projects to make my classroom more cheery.  I love that my students still draw me fun little pictures.  I love that I get weekends and random holidays like Presidents Day off.  Who gets Presidents Day off?  Teachers, that's who.  Most of all, I love that teaching is not what I thought it would be.

It's Better.    

Don't Worry, I Got Your Back

If there ever comes a time in the near, or not so near future where you might need somebody to run 6.4 miles in the mud, hurdling obstacles, getting down and dirty, nearly facing death from sheer mud exhaustion, I got you covered.  

From scaling bales of hay to climbing over walls, from swimming through a stream of mud to riding down the worlds largest slip-n-slide, I got your back.  

Fierce

From running through hundreds of tires like a football player to climbing a huge rope wall, from crawling through metal tunnels filled with mud to swinging on giant ropes over mud piles, which girl can do it?  (with two thumbs pointing towards me) This girl can.  

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

I'm a female tiger.  Rarrr!  

And if you've had enough of me, you can check out Moses and Kaylee from the biggest loser.  Moses said, "This will be just like doing a team challenge."  Take that Bob and Jillian.  That's right, I'm tough stuff. 

Now for an actual legit runner, check this girl out here.  Lindsey, my little marathon bff is one stoic gal.  She can whoop my trash at a race any day.   

Boy, it sure is fun stuff this running thing!

*All photos were taken by my friend Lindsey's father.  If you are interested in his photography, contact me and I will get you in touch with him :) 

Am I old or am I young?

Two things happened this week at school that made me reflect upon my age.  One made me want to jump up in the air and scream YES!!! while doing a fist pump.  The other made me think, "I guess this is what being old must feel like." 
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
The first - I was walking a small group of students through the halls during class time.  Now at VHMS, students are not allowed to walk in the halls without a hall pass unless they are accompanied by a teacher.  After seeing our small group, the school guidance councilor put his hands up in the air, made a mad face, and yelled, "What do you guys think you're doing?" when he saw us.  I just waved at him and when he recognized me he said, "I'm sorry.  I thought you were a student."  Awesome.  Being mistaken for an 8th grader?  I'm ok with that.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
The second - I was reading a student's paper where she was supposed to describe what the setting will be like for her upcoming short story.  She wrote, "The setting will be from a long time ago in the mid 90's.  It will be back when they still listened to things like The Goo Goo Dolls and Backstreet Boys."  If there is any benefit to feeling practically like a grandma, I figure that at least I can fill her in about the rest of this ancient time period now. 


Peace and Loves,


Jaimie

La Jolla

I went to one of my favorite places this weekend, the sea.  There is something about the vastness of the ocean with it's eerie but yet methodic rhythm that draws me to it.  La Jolla, located in California, is my usual stopping ground.  I was blessed enough to go there this weekend for a big wedding with my nanny family as well as a couple of weekends ago with some friends.  I guess to make a long story short (I mean it is 12:21 AM here people and I am a teacher now for goodness sakes), I don't care how I get there, I am just happy that I get to go :)

Student Story

Yesterday a student ran up to me and said, "Miss Sintay!  Miss Sintay!"  Looking at him with semi-amusement and almost annoyance at the fact that he is needing something so early in the day, "Yes student?"  My smiling student says, "Can I write something on your board?"  What?  You want to write something on my whiteboard?  My precious whiteboard where I write all of your important information?  "No, you may not."  Dejected looking student says "oh" and starts to walk away.  "Ok, what do you want to write, student?"  I couldn't handle his sad face.  I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that I crumbled under the pressure and that maybe I am not tough enough to handle these little guys.  Well, I'm probably not.  "I just wanted to write that there are 110 days until Christmas!"  Smile to myself.  "Yes student, you are right.  That is important!  You may go write that on my whiteboard.  Thank you."  It was the topic of discussion amongst all of my classes for the rest of the day.  Christmas is coming people!  I'm glad we talk about the important things in English. 

What up blog?

I think I just became one of those people.  You know the type, the ones who only blog every once and awhile and makes a list of everything that has gone on in the past month and a half to make up for the lack of blog.  Well, since I set the precedence I guess I better follow through with it -

1 - Successfully ate an entire bag of hershey kisses ALL BY MYSELF.  Who cares if the new pants I bought for school might be a little bit tight now.  Does chocolate have any limits?  I think not
2 - Covered my roommates TV screen entirely in sticky notes to make a pink smiley face with a green background
3 - Flirted with the Graywhale sales boys so that they would find me cool music and then hung out with them for about an hour and a half without actually buying anything
4 - Added a killer pair of hot gray flats to my shoe collection
5 - Learned that pushing people off tubes at Seven Peaks makes lifeguards blow whistles at you
6 - Found out that trying to paint an entire bookshelf using only spray paint is a bad idea
7 - Nearly peed my pants while taking kung fu fighting jumping pictures with my roommate
8 - Attended safety belt school.  Best 4 hours of my life.  How in the heck they made a safety belt course last for 4 hours is beyond me.  Wear your seatbelts people!
9 - Created a synchronized swimming routine
10 - Won the title of best presentation at a cooking competition.  So what if the competition was just at my house and everybody competing got an award

I think that pretty much sums up my month.  Pretty sweet huh?  Oh yeah, and I started teaching today.  Those little snot nosed hooligans cute adorable adolescents wont know what hit em ;)

Sharky Sharks Shark

Today I was catching up on some shark week while quilting (don't judge) when it dawned on me that I've swam with sharks.  Up until this point it was just something that I would tell people like a, "been there don't that" sorta thing.  But you know what?  Shark week made me realize that it's actually quite an amazing thing that I didn't get my head bit off.  

It was a sunny day in The Bahamas and a school of nurse sharks had just finished feeding.  Soon the sharks started to swim around the yacht.  Everybody else (aka the normal people) stood there and watched, but I dashed off to find my swimsuit then jumped right in with them.  What would possess me to do such a thing?  Well, a deep love and appreciation for one of the greatest predators on earth.  And yes, I would do it again if I could :)