never have i ever...

never have i ever...

1. run
my 5k training has been going well so far. i am proud of the fact that i have actually been able to stick with it and am surprised that it is not as bad as i thought it would be! (insert shameless plug for money) i am about half way to my fundraising goal and you can still help me out! heres the link :) https://lasallianvolunteers.myetap.org/fundraiser/lvsrunninginmemphis/individual.do?participationRef=4586.0.2022467

2. been an esl teacher
each wednesday, i spend time with a middle school student named kim. he is a native of thailand and still struggles with the english language. and by struggle, i mean struggleee. he is supposed to be a freshman in high school this year but it was decided that he would stay in middle school for an extra year because he is not comfortable with english.

when they had first asked me to help kim with esl, i figured that i would helping him working on his reading and maybe some writing skills. easy enough- i do both of those things everyday with the kids at the center. what i found out when i arrived was that this was not the case. we are working on the alphabet, letter recognition, phonics, and vocabulary. and it is hard! i think it is safe to say that this is probably one of the most, if not the most, challenging task i have taken on in a longggg time. i often ask myself "whats the best way to teach a 15 year old the alphabet without using materials that are designed for a 3 year old?" it is definitely difficult at times, but i think i have a good plan of action for the time being and hope that it will work. keep your fingers crossed!

3. argued with middle school students so much, even when i was in middle school!
i mostly work with middle school students. some elementary. and some high school. so i now know exactly why my mother was not such a fan of me during grades 6, 7, and 8. some of the middle school kids are so great and well behaved one day and the next day will fight me to do their homework and argue about everythinggggg. i dont get it. good thing i had plenty of practice dealing with college students who behaved like middle schoolers during my time as an RA! but i suppose that i too was just like this at one point in my life so i am willing to be patient and hope that there are more great and well behaved days than fighting and arguing days. please pray for this as well :)

4. felt like such a mom/kid all at the same time
on wednesday, thursday, and friday this week the center was closed. so there were no kids :( but i did get a lot of work done :) we took a group of kids to chuck e. cheese for a reward from our incentive program on thursday afternoon and another group of kids to racine's factory of fear haunted house on friday night for their reward. chuck e. cheese was so completely overstimulating- i felt like i was about to seizure from all the noise and lights. i hadnt been to chuck e. cheese since i was about 7 years old so it was fun. i almost didnt go in the haunted house because i hate scary things but i figured i kind of had to because it was for the kids and everything. verdict- it wasnt that scary. i actually found the whole thing somewhat hilarious minus the creepy monster guy who followed me through the haunted house breathing in my ear the whole time. grosssss

that was the kid part. it was nice to see the kids outside of an academic setting and allow them to participate in something that they might not get to do on their own. and pretending i was in middle school again :) the mom part is pretty much a lot of my other time at work. i email teachers, go to teacher conferences, and make sure that the kid's finish their homework.

i guess for where i am at in my life its pretty fitting. i get to pretend im actually an adult but still get to have fun. the best of both worlds? i think so! :)

double, double toil and trouble

some pictures from our recent halloween activities! :)

roses and thorns

i feel the need to update my blog but dont have too much to report, so a i figured a quick edition of roses and thorns (thank you horan hall staff meetings!) would be fun...

roses:
-i have been superrrrrr productive this week and its only wednesday
-next week is short- i only have to work 2 days!
-i have catalogued EVERY book in the entire library of the center...and yes that means taking each one off the shelf
-kids asking me to be their own personal mentor :)
-my running is getting easier
-i have 2 visitors coming in november!
-someone anonymously donated money to me today for our LV fundraiser...thank you mysterious donor :)
-pandora has really been on point lately

thorns:
-i really would love some ny pizza right about now
-the fact that i actually spend time arguing with middle school students
-complainers
-i have to buy things at walmart tomorrow for an activity- stupid rollbacks that help us stay within our budget
-cold weather is coming...i can tell! :(

somewhere in between:
-october is flyingggg by
-i had a break from cooking dinner this week
-LVs are recruiting at MC (yay!) but im not there (boo!)
-i have a ton of things on my to do list

more roses than thorns- thats a good sign!!

good things come to those who wait!

soooo i must first start by apologizing for taking so long to update everyone since my last post!

things have been going well and i have found that there is little time for me to be bored, hence the lack of posting. last weekend, my dear friend chris(toph)er michael dempsey came to visit me! we went to a brewery, got to tour the jelly belly factory, made new friends at karaoke, and spent some time at the lakefront and on main street. nothing too terribly exciting, but it was sooooo nice to have a familiar face around and reminisce about all the silly/funny/crazy things that we did in college :)

having a visitor really made me think about and appreciate how lucky i am to have so many good people in my life. while many of them may not be near me right now, it is still nice to know that even from far away, i have a lot of support. it makes being away a little easier and gives me reassurance that what i am doing is worthwhile.

nothing too terribly exciting or interesting has happened at work lately. just doing my cath thing, trying to the kids to love/not hate science :)

i talked with another friend this past week about a job opportunity that has come up for him that would require him to move away from his family for 3 years. he is hesitant, which is completely understandable, but i still think he should do it! talking with him also gave me some clarity on my journey and what i am doing with my work here, so for that i am grateful. so i thought i would include the convo that we had (with his persmission of course!). i think it pretty much sums up where i am at right now...

me: have you thought anymore about your job thing
friend: its all im thinking about
me: i would do it. but thats me. if you dont think you will be happy, then its not worth it.
friend: idk if ill be happy. all i keep hearing is you saying "you cant live your life in fear"
me: i do always say that!
friend: i know and i keep on saying "damn you catherine
me: yea you cant decide without some time
friend: i know. i really dont know what im thinking. its like my mind is racing.
me: thats fair. i completely freaked out when i heard that i could be agreeing to move to wisconsin.
friend: i know. and youve calmed down
me: right...the best thing about people is that we are resilient. even though you think you cant you most likely can.
friend: but what happpens if i get there and everyone i work with is 40 and married?
me: then they are 40 and married. you just have to decide whats more important to you right now...having a job or being around other people. and it sucks that you have to decide between those things but unfortunately thats the decision you have to make.
friend: true
me: its annoying...i hate making decisions!
friend: yeh. like i mean..how happy are you?
me: there are days where i completely love what i am doing. and there are days when i dont. but then i think that if i were doing something else that would still happen
and i just have to trust and know that while this may not be what i had planned or what i saw myself doing its where im supposed to be right now. its not forever and experience is never a bad thing.
friend: yeh true
me: i mean think about all the other times in your life when you didnt want to do something bc you were worried you would be lonely. it always works out.
friend: true. ok i think i can do this.
me: yes you can!
friend: i can have a blog too!!!
me: yes...and be famous!

there you have it...inspiring the world one blog at a time :)

like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives

i have recently been thinking alot about how my life has changed so much in the last 2 months.

2 months ago i lived on a college campus with mostly people who were all my age. i had enough money to do (almost) anything i wanted to whenever i felt like it. i knew enough people that i could call/text when i felt like hanging out and would usually be able to find someone to spend some time with.

now i spend most of my time with people who are 18 years old and under. i work at least 10 hours a day. and i only get $200 a month. i can count how many people i know who live near me on my two hands. and as different as it is and as strange as it may sound, i wouldnt want it any other way! :)

i was placed in racine for a reason. and until now, i do not really think that i truly believed that. there were more days than not that i would be annoyed or frustrated with the idea that i was living and working in wisconsin, when i could have easily decided to stay in new york. i didnt feel like i was doing anything worth doing. it felt like i was just going through the motions for the sake of getting a task done. buttttt...thankfully, that is no longer! i am confident that this is where i am supposed to be and this is what i am supposed to be doing, at least for now. i do not know that i will continue to work in the field of education in the future, but for the time being this is completely right.

i spent friday morning attending parent/teacher conferences with a family of students that come to the center. the students, marcos, who is in 8th grade, maria who is in 3rd grade, and johnny who is in 2nd grade all attend a private school in the area. neither one of their parents speak english so they struggle with communicating with teachers at the schools. they asked me to attend the conferences with them so i could help translate and also get a better idea of what the students need to work on when they come for tutoring.

i was and still am so impressed by marcos, maria, and johnny's parents. they moved here from mexico to ensure that their children had more opportunities than they did. neither one of them can read or write in english and they have to work ten times as hard as most people to get the same results. simple communication is a challenge, but despite all of this, they took the time to meet with their kids teachers and are so completely invested in their childrens education. when the teachers reported something bad, you could tell that they were dissapointed. and when the teachers said something good, they were proud. they were concerned with how the children behave at school and what they can do to help make sure they are successful in their academics.

marcos struggles with science and being organized. perfect! those are both my areas of expertise :) his teachers said that he is a hard worker in class, but needs to work on making sure he turns things in on time and puts in as much effort outside of school as he does when he is at school. maria reads below grade level, but is improving. her teacher says that she struggles with written work, which is not surprising considering she comes from a home where spanish is spoken exclusively. johnny also reads below grade level and is having a hard time improving his reading skills. he also needs to work on his multiplication and math skills.

as i spent time at the conferences discussing these things, i realized that these are all things that we can work on. you can help someone be better organized or improve their reading skills or practice multiplication tables. but unfortunately, for the parents of these children, the situation is completely different. marcos, maria, and johnny's father told their teachers that the reason why he is so strict with them about school is because he does not want his children to be in the same situation that he is in. he explained that since he cannot read or write, he has to use his body, instead of his mind, for his work. he said that he knows that he has to have the worst jobs because of this and at the end of the day he often feels badly. he comes home tired and worn out because of the physical nature of his job. and he doesnt want this for his kids.

i felt so terrible after hearing this. i felt angry and sad. but in a backwards sort of way, it also helped me be more inspired. while it would be difficult to change the situation of these students parents, it is not so difficult to change the situation of these students. they have tonssss of potential and, with the right resources and in the right environment, can achieve success. i am only one person, and i cant guarantee that what i do will ensure a perfect future, but what i am doing cant hurt.

and so after this veryyyyy long rambling of thoughts, the moral of the story is that like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives- and as of right now, my days are completely, 100% exactly what they should be :)

ok racine...we can be friends now

friday, september 24, 2010 was most definitely one of my favorite days everrrr!

i woke up early to go for a run in preparation for the 5K race that i have decided to take part in on december 4th...ahhhhh. the lasallian volunteers program participates in a marathon every year to help raise money to allow the program to continue sponsoring volunteers each year. soooooo...(insert shameless plug for money) if you want to help sponsor me in running and help support the lasallian volunteer program, you should go to https://lasallianvolunteers.myetap.org/fundraiser/lvsrunninginmemphis/individual.do?participationRef=4586.0.2022467 and help me out :)

i spent the rest of the morning over at the center do some catch up stuff. we met some people who may be potential benefactors for the center. they seemed really interested in the work we were doing, so hopefully they will be feeling extra generous the next time they want to give money away. and they will remember the center!

after work was done, we went to lunch at a new place that just opened. its called the soup and as you may have guess it serves only soup. the food was so delicious and we got to speak with the owner for a few minutes. she told us that she only uses locally grown produce and makes the soup fresh every morning! loveeeee

we walked around main street for a little while after and went to the HOPES center. it is an organization run by the dominican sisters and has three different purposes. the HOPES center has a fair trade goods store, a coffee shop with all fair trade coffee, teas, and hot chocolate, and an area that offers counseling and life coaching services. SOOO COOOLLLLL- google it! needless to say i loved it :)

we were able to speak with one of the sisters who works there and a woman who was so knowledgeable about everything fair trade. she told us that of all the places in wisconsin, racine is one of the most progressive! coming from ny, i wouldnt label racine as "progressive" but i completely understand what she meant.

there really are some very cool places that are doing "out of the box" stuff here. i have seen so many different organizations and establishments that recognize the green movement and fair trade and the importance of saving energy. there are entire buildings here made of recycled materials and that run entirely on solar energy. pretty awesome.

thennnn last night a woman named mary beth, who was the former principal of the school where the center is located and we have affectionately named our crazy aunt of racine, invited us to go to family fun night with my absolute favorites family of students that come to the center. and the theme last night was chemistry! I WAS SO EXCITEDDDD! my favorite kids and my favorite subject- what more could i ask for? :)

so we went over to that with the kids. it was basically a bunch of demonstrations by the chemistry majors of a local college of various experiments involving chemistry. the kids loved it! every time one of the college students did something the kids clapped and every time they asked a question the kids were jumping up and down trying to get picked to answer. it made me wonder if teaching (yikes!) may be in the future for me. i have always said that i dont think i would want to teach but who knows? maybe?

after the chemistry night we went over to the pumpkin farm and then back to mary beth's house to roast marshmallows. it felt so much like fall! such a great night :)

and after alllllll of that, we came back and decided to go out for beer with one of our other roommmates. we got a drink and then stopped at a pizzeria. i asked if they sold slices of pizza to which they replied yes. so i ordered one. naturally i expected this slice of pizza to be a large triangle shape and be ready in about 3 minutes, right? WRONGGG...it took about 15 minutes to get a circular personal pan pizza deliver to me. it was so weird to me haha and i wanted to share. whatever midwest...

i think thats it for now- catch you on the flipside!

happy anniversary to me!

its official..i have been a resident of wisconsin for exactly one month! i cant believe that i have made it through 4 entire weeks of being back in the midwest- needless to say, i am pleased :)

at the center today, i worked a lottttt on reading with the students. it made me think about my own time in elementary and middle school and how lucky i was/am for having been able to be educated in the setting i was educated in. it is something that i have most definitely taken for granted and i am now just realizing how lucky i was to have teachers who wanted to see me succeed, an environment that promoted success, and parents that constantly supported whatever it was that i was pursuing.

the kids here struggle. they struggle at school with reading and writing and math, the same things that most kids their age struggle with. but they also struggle at home. they dont live in homes where they are told they can be anything they want to be, or with parents who have the time and energy to sit down with them and go over their homework, or in an area where they can play outside whenever they want and not have to worry about being safe.

part of me feels sad for the students that i work with because they are constantly working against the odds. and then i remind myself that this is all the more reason to invest myself in what i am doing here and really work to inspire and motivate these students to reach their full potential.

i am most definitely learning and growing and i can tell! and thats good news! so far i think its been a good first month- im excited to see what the future has in store!