Bring on the Cabin Fever

I figured since I'm on DAY TWO of snow days that I should dedicate a little time to b-logging! It feels like so much has happened since I last posted that I think I'll break this down into little sections :)

Oh, this is 'Pongo' (not his real name but similiar. I like it because it's from 101 Dalmations!) looking out front at all of the snow coming down last night! He seemed utterly confused :) He is enjoying running around in it today though!

Teaching

I'm back in the classroom yet today's classes have been canceled due to the whiteness outside! I should be disappointed but it's so nice to have newfound days at home! Having a weekday off is so different than having a weekend off for some reason!

This semester I'm teaching Intermediate Reading and Advanced Speaking, much as I have done in previous semesters. This semester though, I've found one notable change in my Reading class...nobody is from the same country! I love it! There someone from: Columbia, Vietnam, Russia, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, and Peru. What a special experience for them and me! I love intercultural relations which is one of the five million reasons I love my job.

Now that I'm done with my own schooling, I feel like I am able to give my students more attention then before and thus feel as though I'm a better teacher for them. Also, both of these classes I have taught before from the same texts so I'm able to build on what I've done before, change this and that and build a more perfect class for them! Can you tell I like to lesson plan? ;)

My speaking class is shared with another teacher as we have so many students who want to take this class. It focuses on how to speak in a group, how to give effective and confident presentations and then works on natural gestures, intonations and cues. It is an incredibly beneficial class for the students to take. The first semester I taught it, I mentored under another teacher who is so energetic and is FULL of amazing ideas. The following semester I taught the class alone. Third semester, they asked ME to be a mentor teacher to another instructor which was awesome! This semester, I was supposed to be mentoring again but certain classes didn't make, blah, blah, blah and now I am team teaching with the original teacher I mentored under! I'm so excited to have his input and energy in this class! I think this is going to be a great semester :)

The House

The other section of my post I was going to dedicate to house stuff. We have been doing so much lately it seems! As of last Saturday, we have now owned our house for two years. It is amazing that so much time has gone by so quickly! We were talking about how nervous we were when we made the move as we hadn't even lived in the same city before then! I remember pulling up to the house the day the mister moved his stuff and seeing a big U-Haul out front. I remember thinking, 'ok, I hope this works!' And alas, it has. Thank God. :)

Some of the bigger changes lately is the removal of the Benjamin Franklin stove from the kitchen and the addition of some can lighting, courtesy of the electrically inclined mister. Please ignore the duct tape on the ceiling though which is covering where the stove used to go through. Remember, it's a work in progress :) Now we are able to house a (empty) fish tank there (the only empty one), plants during the winter, a little music station and most importantly the animals food bowls! SO nice to actually use that space now!

Here's a pic of the new can lighting in the kitchen! The mister went on a crazy cleaning rampage yesterday focusing mainly on the kitchen, which needed it badly, and made it look beautiful! One of these days we'll paint in there, replace the sink and the countertops. We're still debating on the cabinets...I am enamored with them and he isn't so much :)

Here's a lovely bedroom shot for you showing that we FINALLY hung up something above the bed! It took a mere two years but it finally happened ;) Oh, two of those three little pillows on the bed I hand made!

Finally, we've focused some time, energy and money into our fishtanks. We've four altogether with three of them actively housing fishies. We are both fish enthusiasts and love to just sit and watch them swim! We currently are fish parents to many convict cichlids, three baja sharks, a rhino pleco, an ancient and huge catfish, a plain jane pleco and three silver dollars we've named Finbad, Spike and Tetris.

So there's some actual photos for you and a lot of babbling to digest! Hopefully this formats ok and it all makes sense together! Hope all are warm and enjoying the pretty white!