DC

So, I went to Washington DC for spring break! It was pretty cool! It was my first time there, and I spent about 7 days there. I went with my parents, and yes still had a good time ;). The weather when we were there was ok, we only had 2 days of sun. The rest were cloudy, and the last day was really really rainy.

It was great because we were able to use the subway for alot of our traveling. Man I wish we had a subway in Colorado, they are so easy to move around in and it was pretty cheep. I could get a round trip ticket around the city for about 2 dollars...funny because It cost me 6$ for a round trip ticket on our lightrail...sucks.

I stopped at all of the hot spots. We had a cool night tour of DC where we saw all of the monuments lit up. We also were able to see the supreme court in session, and congress, which was fun to watch them work. I was also able to see Obama's motorcade...hahaha he is a pimp, he had like 20 cars at work for him.

We did not have alot of good food while we were there...except for some Qdoba :). good stuff! But I was able to get through half of my book kite runner. Sad book, but oh well it was good. On my final day it was rainning so hard, that I got completely soaked...shoes, shirt, pants lol. I had to dry off while walking around the art museam, and then the sun cam out and i dried off in that ;).

So I got home on Sat. And I got my Graduation presant :) I got a new camera! I love it. I had Steph show me some things with it, since she is so awesome with her camera! But had a lazy weekend, played some Pokemon snap...but didnt complete it :(, and chilled with the Stephanator! And tonight I have my first ultamate frisbee game! I'm pumped I hope it goes well. Well hopefully I make it up to the mountains for my last boarding this weekend...maybe get into my spiderman costume ;) if I can find someone to take pictures of me haha.
Adios

Schoooool!

Well the past two weeks have been fun in school...Last week was a living hell week. The kids had the previous 2 weeks with CSAP, so they missed 2 out of the 5 days in the week, and they really did not do much work. So it was really hard getting them back into the swing of things, but by the end of the week they were rolling...but next week is spring break so they will be lazy after that again.

But this week we are doing this cool project that I created. It builds off of the last project I made them do, where they created their own countries. Now they have to industrialize their countries. So thy have to create a map of their countries, cities, and show how they industrialized. It is pretty interesting.

Well School is winding down I almost have only a month left...weird...Then life starts...Speaking of life, I applied to this really cool summer camp in Italy, where I would be teaching english to young Italians, It is in Northern Italy So I will be gone for about 3 - 4 months. Housing food and everything is paid for. I just need to get over there. It will work out great because i could travel a bit when I was there too, If that does not work out i applied for a manager space at the pool, so I will have a job either way, and then I will go travel in Aug - sept/oct, not sure yet. We will see. Just need to be back by my sisters weding.

As for the GF, We are doing great I not robbed her house laitly, I think she locks it now ;). But we went up and had a deep philisopical night under the stars with my budy Carl, it was good times. lol we were up there for almost 3 hours...and my car did not get broken into!!!! yay! Also went to an Aves game with Steph and her parents, it was cool! But the Aves lost :( boo! And we had a foto day jajaja where she locked her keys in the car...funny stuff :).

Well that is life in the nutshell, yay Washington DC next week!
Adios
JeFf

BWA

Well I'm over half way done with my Student teaching, I'm almost ready to graduate! This is crazy! Life is really starting to role down a hill. Some noteable mentions for the last week...
THE ROBBERY! jajajaja
So I ran into Stella up in Fort Collins when I was coming home last week, and we got to talking about Steph. Notable we started talking about how she did not lock her door. And we realized we both had nothing to do during the day, so we took a group vote and voted unanimously 2 - 0 that we should go rob Steph. lol So we caravaned down to Boulder and proceded to take her computer, TV, Dresser, carpet, her hats, and camera! We had about 2 cars full of stuff, it was amazing. Then we walked back into the room, and it was just a little bit to neat...so we tore it apart! jajaja we looked as if we were professional robbers, it was amazing. So once we got her place perfect we went to the coffee shop and awaited her call...but it never came! It turned out her phone was dead so she could not call us, so she put it on the charger and went to her neighbors house and had them call the cops on us lol. about 10 minutes later we got ahold of her... and it was the saddest voice I have ever heard! "I got robbed" came from her and Stella and I were like YEA SHE GOT HER LESSON ;)...yes we are terrible...but then we were told she was waiting for the cops....and we broke our cover and told her to call them back and that we had her stuff. about 4 minutes later we were at here house and she was chassing us and punching us...
We put her stuff back in her house and fixed up her house...

Lesson of the day...lock your door! :) she learned it! jajaja other than that, Teaching is going really well. I'm loving it, only about 2 months left, it is crazy...it is all downhill from here. I also have a possible job in Italy, I'm working on the details right now...hopefully it works out!

later gaters!
JeFf

Time Flys

Wow, I looked at my blog, I thought I wrote something like 3 days ago but it was almost 2 weeks! Then I was looking back at this semester! Holy Crap I have been teaching for 2 months already! I have already been doing swim team for almost 3 weeks! All I know is that my parents were right, the older you get the faster life gets...it sucks ;(, but hey the roller coaster ride is a lot of fun.

Well beyond that deep look on life, what is new with me? Well above all I think the coolest thing out of the last 2 weeks, is that I got a new computer...yes old Dell Mc Dellster was about to die, so I made an executive decision and got myself a graduation present a bit early! And yes I went to the dark side and bought a Macbook. I'm in love....this thing is like my other half that I have been missing my whole entire life. I sleep with it, I eat with it, I shower with it, and a drink with it... If you are lonely you should get one because I think it will fill that hole that you are missing in your life! ...Just no one tell Steph...I think she will get a bit Jealous ;) But I got this Sunday, and it is amazing. It is just so user friendly. I have been able to customize everything to my liking. Switing over to a new operating system and new style has not been really hard, I have picked it up pretty fast. Thing thing I find more interesting is that I seam to be able to type faster with these keyboard...which aproxamently saves me 3.4 minutes every day! yaya! lol jk jk I really have no idea on the numbers.......or do I ?

Well as for school it is going great. I had the funniest problem last week with a student, and it got blow out of praportion. It was sent all the way to the administration! jajajaja. Well long story short...dont piss of a girl when she is already mad ;). But I got it all settled today, there was no problem because she told some lies to the administration so she got in trouble jajaja. As for something cool, I went in and talked to the principal today because he observed me a couple weeks back. He said I was doing pretty good for a student teacher, but the best part was I will be able to get a letter of recomondation from him which is big, because Mr. D is a bit time principle. yaya! I'm so excited! As for class. It is going great, alot easier teaching now, and coming up with lessons. I'm having alot more fun in the classroom. It was great I realted the blockade today to the one in Episode one of Star Wars with the trade federation. Half the kids loved it...the other half thought I was a nerd...lol then I told them I was but it still was a great demonstration of a blockade! Good times.

As for passtime activities I have my first swim meet this week, we are really not prepared, but it should be good fun. We have our first team dinner on Thursday and our first swim meet. last week I went to the School play Beauty and the Beast, and I took Steph. It was grand old time. The mics sucked at the beginning but then it ended up fine by the end of the play. The kids were amazing! Then afterwords I got a great lesson on how to ride a longboard from Steph. She is an ok teacher...I say ok because I think I matched her skills in about 2 minutes...jajajaja. But hey I have had 4 or 5 students in my class who have offered to teach me more. So thanks to Steph leaving me her longboard I'm going to get some lessons from my students. As for the rest of the night we did some star hunting it was fun :). Also last weekend we had a family getogether, with photos and everything. It was great. We had Grandmas great Italian food ;) mmmmmmmm SOOOO GOOOD. The only sad thing is I have to wait till Christmas to get it again! BOOO.

Well I'm off to bed Hope you all are well
JeFf

Stephs Friend

Just so I can let you all know...Steph's friend is named Stella! Now you all know!

Substitution Sucks

Hello there,
So the last two weeks have had some interesting and fun weeks. We will start off with last week ;). I think where I left off was with that Tuesday I was being observed. The week turned out to be a great end of the week, had a few Lost nights...as of right now I'm almost back through season 3! yay! I have also been going to the Columbine Basket ball games, and Hockey games. They are a lot of fun, and it is great when the kids see you there because they get so excited when they see their teacher there watching them do something that they love. I got to go snowboarding on Friday, I was the first person up the lift and was able to hit fresh powder, it was soooooooo nice! I stayed with Franzi and her friend, and sister Friday night. It was fun we played asshole...I was the president for most of the time ;). Then on Saturday I had a half of day and went back early so I could prepare V-day dinner for Steph!

As for the weekend, it turned out awesome. So my dates that I had been going on were going quite well so I asked Steph to come over for dinner on V day. She accepted! lol. So I made my first total Vegetarian dinner ever, and it was really great. We ended up just talking all night, taught her a bit of the UKU. The night really turned out well, and yes I really like her a lot, give me a call if you need to hear more. But when I think of her I usually get a smile bigger than :-D that. (I cant make it look any bigger on here)

As for the next week, it kind of sucked. Well it was not terrible it was just long. I had brain fart while planning, so I was never really prepared until ummm 5 minutes before class. I mean it turned out fine, but I think I could have done a better job at times. I started coaching swim team, which has been fun on my time. Morning practices ever day of the week from 530 - 7, So i'm up by 430... Which means I'm going to be really early now...jajaja My wed. was honestly the best day ever! lol I got in and taught some kids how to swim in the morning...and I forgot my underware so I had to go commando all day. lol and that day was parent teacher confrences...good times ;). But it was a really long day, totaling at about 15 hours of work that day. But it was nice because we did not have a staff meeting the next morning, but I still woke up at about 430 in the morning. jaja and ya I forgot my dads birthday on Wed. too, ya I had a long day, but he enjoyed the blanket I made him.

As for the weekend, I had an awesome one. I went boarding both days! The first day I was on Mary Jane, and I able to get the first lift up on the Panoramic express, it was great because you know there was about 6-8 inches of fresh powder, it was amazing going down through the trees, it was almost as if a sea of snow was following me. Met up with some of my International friends, it was good seeing them, it suck not being able to see all there faces ever day. But I ended up going up to vail that night and staying with Steph and her friend at their place. It was fun...I got dominated at Rock band....ya...DOMINATED....... I cried a bit but I think I will get over it once I practice a bit more. And then we had a session where they tried to get me to like techno...but it did not work out to well. But other than that I was checking out Steph's photography, and she is awesome! ya like 100 times better than me! She was showing me how to edit the photos on Photoshop to make them all look even better too, so I cant wait to try that on my own stuff.

So overall points, things are going great. I'm having a good time in school, just a lot of work sometimes. Steph is amazing, and we are having a great time. And Snowboarding has been awesome.

Catch you all soon,
JeFf

Roar!!!!!

Well lets just say the last few days have been holy moly Chip ca poly! Well Monday was honestly like the longest day of my life it started out bad, but ended great! I made it that way and I'll tell you why ;-). The first part of the day royally sucked! It was just a long day, and I had a lot of planning to get done for the next few days and I was really far behind. But I caught up in school so it turned out ok! But then After school I had to go to a UNC meeting for all of us teachers, it was in "Denver"! So right after work I went straight over there...Then it was like the worst three hours of my life! lol. jk jk, but really they just sat there and told us things that we should have already known...and we already learned from last semester. But then after the meeting came the light of the day ;-). I went downtown and participated in a date. We went to the cheesecake factory jajaja again.... But It was honestly the best part of the week so far. For all of those who are amazed and shocked right now...(just like me)...don't worry she makes me happy and makes me smile; the right person to turn a day around. So when it came down to it, Monday turned out to be a pretty good day! Jaja though it was late it was worth it.

But I ended up only having about 5 hours of sleep because I needed to plan some things for today because I was being observed. Also we had a meeting at 645 for new teachers about IEP! yaya Abbey, I was thinking of you the whole time...and our little kidos. jaja. But ya it was cool, its just that I realize that being a teacher is only 34% of the job, the other 33% is dealing with excuses and problems and parents, the final 33% is going to meetings and staying up on your training. It is amazing how much work goes into this job, and I still wish I had more time! But as for the rest of the day it was quite funny. I was scheduled to be observed today in my 7th period class, that came but not before the principle of the school came in during 3rd and observed me! lol it was so funny because in my mind I was like OH FUCK! I FORGOT TO PUT THE STANDARDS ON THE BOARD TODAY! lol OH man oh so funny. But it turned out ok, the kids actually worked better in the class. We had a real discussion, and it was pretty awesome. As for my final classes of the day they went pretty well. My last one was ok. I really have some classroom management problems in it. My adviser was talking to me about them, and I will be working on them during the next few days. It seems that I'm to much of their buddy than a authoritative figure. So we will see how that changes over the next few weeks.

But over all things are going great, in school and out of school. And I think I know why...because it has started to snow more in Colorado ;). Everything deals with snow I think! I cant wait to go snowboarding this weekend! oh man it should be great.

So I think the thing I have learned out of the last few days, life has its ups and downs, but there are somethings there that will always pull you through even if you are stuck in the crappiest of all crappy moments. lol Thomas Crapper, go google him. And the best thing about it, is when you can add the simplest things to your life, you will be amazed on how much more happier you are. Yay for simplicity! :) well I hope you all are doing well, and I will see you soon.

Hey check this video out, I love it, and I so want to try it out sometime!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY

May the Force be with you all!

YESSER REEE DOO DA DAY!

Well I sit here, as I'm pumping iron in my room ;-). And I cant sleep...you know why? Because I'm so excited to go to school tomorrow to see my kids! Wow...ya so I'm a nerd and dork, but I love teaching!

Who teaches who?

Well Ladies and Gents,
It is week 4 of the Student Teaching... So far I have not quit ;), have not killed any students, or any of my coworkers. But I have had my first parent call me and talk to me about their daughter. I was scared shitless when i called her back, even though there was no problem at all. We ended up having a meeting because she wanted to meet me, and she wanted to make sure I understood the problems that her daughter had...Well I survived it, and it was great! I gave my first test this week, most kids averaged between a 70 - 80 % on the multiple choice...jajajaja...and 6 essays in I have already failed 3 of the kids! UMMMMM So I hate grading essays. Note to all of you who want to be awesome writters...just grade some essays and you will learn more about writting then you ever wanted to know. I think that was my biggest problem was I was reading and I did not know what to look for. I wish I did something like this at the beginning of my college career, because it would have helped me with my writting so much.
Let see what else was new... It is really funny because the two classes that I thought were going to suck at the beginning of the year, right now are my favorite ones. Even though they are a bit more quite, they work hard and dont talk back! As for my last class of the day it is pretty rough. Most of the kids do not care because it is the last class of the day, or they simply do not want to be there. I have a girl who wont even look at me because I'm the devil of the world, and another one who can only say negitive things about life! jajaja But you know I talked with my teacher today and figured out how I can deal with the class. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a brighter shade to the situation. My favorite part of the job is the grade book! lol it is so much fun watching the grades go up and down...;) Just kidding my favorite part and my most dreaded part of the job are the kids.
Even though there are some bad kids, there are some really cool kids in the classroom. It is amazing when you show that you care, the kids do alot better. There were a few kids in my classes I saw that they were not doing any work, and I talked with them and asked them what was up. I said," hey I see you are smart why arnt you doing the work?" and they were like uhhhhh.... I told them "hey you are here just participate, it will make your time go by much faster" It was funny something as simple as that had an impact on some of the kids.
There is also another student who is just a lazy little bastard! I have to yell at him to do anything in the class, but I think I finally got him to wake up. Today we were talking about history for 30 minutes! jajaj! ya that is big! And even though he still has a 58 in the class, I hope to see that move up, to at least a C before the end of the semester!
It is funny, people say if you cant do anything be a teacher...who ever said that was a complete idiot! This is the most tiering job ever! But it is awesome and I would not change it for anything.
There are some stupid things. For instance the school curriculum. They lay out everything for you to teach. Which makes it really tough. I mean I have to teach 600 years to the students this semster about the entire world! I think in College If I had a class on 600 years of history it was over just one country! Shit my final class was only over one year! I just realized that I hate the way our schools are set up. There is no accountability for the students and it really drains the creativity out of the teachers. There could be so many cooler things I could be teaching the students, and they would actually probably retain that stuff, rather I have to waist days and teach things like the Columbian Exchange....Ya that is not about drugs...I was dissapointed ;).
As for me and life, things are getting better at home, you know still crowded in the house, still always tierd when I get home but I'm surviving. Found a Lost friend, but we are only on season one right now. Finished a big project ;). And I'm still working on my TEFL! OOOOO I went Ice climbing for the first time last weekend, it was pretty sick! I cant wait to go back. I had so much fun and enjoyed it so much!
Well I hope all of you are doing great, and I'll catch you soon.
JeFf

PANTS!

OK, So I tried yet again to wear my pants all the way up today....Not going to happen! I feel so awkward in my classroom with these thong jeans on! So I just thought I would let all of you out there know...who give me crap for wearing my pants on my butt that I tried...and it didn't work! :)
Have a good 3 day weekend all
Tchüß

WOA WEA

Well ladies and Gents,
I am past the one week of teaching full time, and I love it! I have to say that first week is quite stressful with all the added things that you do not learn in your classes. They really need to give us a class or two on like how to make announcements, grade books, organization of classes and stuff like that! I could teach and plan fine, its you know the other 60% of the job that took a bit to get use to. I'm really glad I have my teacher that I do, he has a lot of great information. We also can talk pretty much about anything so it works out really well. I just finished up teaching my first chapter, and I'm about to begin my second. I have my First quiz tomorrow, and then shortly after my first test a week from Monday! The grade book is starting to fill up and the good times are starting to roll!
As for my classes, I'm really beginning to build relationships with some of my students. This is making the time go a lot faster, and making class a bit more enjoyable. The kids can definitely tell that I'm a fun loving teacher, but if they cross my bad side I'm a pretty harsh teacher. Today we played a game in all my classes to review one of my readings on Martin Luther. It was great because all of the classes did it, even my 3rd period class which can hardly speak in class. We are about to move on to Exploration!
Lol today I was asking my teacher which chapters I could cut out to get to World War One and Two faster! I have so many Ideas. I cant wait to get more Star Wars into my classroom. I have an idea already for World War II, and am still looking for more. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Also some great movies I can not wait to use, La Vida de Bella and all quiet on the wester front :-). Also I can finally use my huge NAZI book collection I have! oh its like all my dreams have come true! I can teach little kids about Nazis! lol ;) that one is for you Abbey. Na This semester should be great and I'm looking forward to it all.
As for life on the home front, things have still ben a bit rough. But I got a few phone calls to cheer me up so, you know who you are, but thanks for those! As for now I'm going to be working on my car a bit...yes the hyperdrive is out again...fucking Falcon! For those of you wondering about my computer...yes it has about 20 lines on the screen now, but it is still pumping along. But good news I get a 10% discount on apple computers because I'm a teacher! yay!
I have been working on my TEFL class, but I have been sidetracked a bit do to a language program, lol so I have started learning Italian and German! haha ya why do one at a time when you can do 2! But the program is great, and addicting.
And for the final news, the best of all, SNOWBOARDING this weekend prey for snow, which I think there is going to be a lot of...SUPER B SIDE!!!! :) Hope all is well with everyone.
Ciao

First Week!

Well, As of today I have taught more classes then I have in all of my previous steps put together! So far it is not to bad. Yesterday I felt weird because I had to make the students read and I was just sitting up front looking at them...Awkward. Today we worked with some music and a hand out. It is funny how cool these kids are! Some of them are just way to cool to get evolved! But for the most part, all of the kids are great. I have a lot of intelligent kids in my classroom.
You know I have found that so far teaching and the planning have not been the hardest part of the change here. It really feels natural to be in the classroom and teaching the students, it is really great. I think the hardest part for me so far is the change back home. Not because my parents irritate me, but because I do not have all the same faces around me that I have had for a long time! So if I seem a little more sentimental to you all and full of love, that is why, just because I miss you all that have made my life so awesome the past few years! It is also weird to get in to the habit of a full time job...I mean Copper just had 25 inches of snow in the past two days...I really really want to call in sick tomorrow! But I cant :(. But it is great, I have been learning so much. And for all of you who have been there for me in the past few years I am making you a present of some of our great memories.
Even though it has been a bit tough this week, I have somehow learned even more about myself! I think this change will help me strengthen my independence a bit more, let me to take action when I get into a new situation. I'm just really excited for the next few months...Though there is one bumming factor, I was going to try and go to Europe with some of the foreign language classes, but they went last year, and they only go ever other year. So unless I go with the English department...I will have to wait till summer!
But, I get to go to a dance, the first time in 4 years! OHHH YEA. Feb. 7th 930 -11 Fiesta time. And also i'm excited beacuse I get to be an assistant coach or help guy, I dont know what my title is, for the Men's swim team! wooohoo.
Well hope all is grand for all you,
Catch you on the flipside

First days of School!

Well I thought I would finally start one of these because I keep getting more and more emails asking whats happening!

Over break I signed up for my TEFL class! Hopefully within the next six months I will be able to spell and teach English! HA! Like that will ever happen! But seriously I'm so excited because it is the first step to the future.

I started at my School yesterday. I'm at my old high school, Columbine High School. Yesterday we had a teachers meeting and just planning time. During the meeting I was introduced, and I think it was pretty funny because you could see some of my old teachers shaking there head and thinking oh shit he passed school! haha But the day really sucked though! I started off so excited and by the end of it I was thinking oh shit what did I get myself into! Thankfully I got a call from a good buddy telling me he was just and shocked from the first day, so that helped a bit! But after a long night of preparing nothing, sitting, waiting, and wishing. And I went to bed at 10:15!!!! That is the earliest time in like a year! As most of you know I am a nerd so I prepared my self for my first day of teaching by falling asleep to Star Wars ;-). Best idea ever!

As for today it was a good day on the most part. My teacher and I are a bit different in our ways of teaching, so we clash on ideas sometimes. Also I'm really excited to start teaching and take over everything so it is a bit hard waiting and watching him teach. But I was able to teach 2 out of the 4 classes today, and the first one was a bit shaky, but the last one went really well. I kicked some ass! But so far I'm still happy I am a teacher...so far... ;).