Classes have kicked into high gear for Justin and he's taking it like a pro. You'd never know that 1. He only studied in college right before the exam AND 2. He's been out of school for 18 months (he was really worried about that). He has made it to class every day and comes home and reviews the days material and then previews the next day's lecture. He is a studying machine! This past Saturday he studied in a group with his buddies Robert, Kyle, and Greg on campus from 10 in the morning until almost 10 in the evening. On Sunday he took a break from studying and played in a dodgeball tournament for an organization he joined called Salyvia. His team of brainy study buddies won the whole tournament! So to celebrate, they went sailing. I was so disappointed I couldn't go because I was working! Robert rented a sailing pass which lets him take a boat out whenever he wants to. I don't think he's an experienced sailor, but it sounded like a good idea, so why not?! The owner of the boat didn't even go out there with them, but Justin said they caught on pretty quickly. Apparently they were supposed to stay in the bay, but got a little over adventurous and went out far enough to see Martinique. When they returned, the owner of the boat was like, "what were you doing, mon? We thought we'd have to go out and rescue you, mon" But in the nonchalant manner that most medical students who have taken out huge loans and are looking for a thrilling, adreneline rush, they just replied with a "well we made it back okay." The truth is, they almost didn't make it back because the winds were pretty fast and they overshot the pier and had to back track. Anyway, Justin had a blast and is already looking forward to his next sailing adventure. Today he had his first dissection in anatomy lab. His group worked on the back of the neck and the base of the skull. He said that he really enjoyed getting his scapel out and digging around.
As for me, I'm staying very busy. At the prep school on campus, another spouse, Julie, and I are reorganizing the library. The current system has no accountability for student to return books. So we are taking inventory, pasting pockets and cards into the cover, and colorcoding the reading level of each book. We've done about half. The day school has a sister school in the community called Savonne Paille. Last Thursday, the principal of the Ross school, Julie, and I went over to Savonne Paille to meet with the Principal, Mr. Seaman. He is a very nice man who is arranging for us to come in and work with his students. The school is several miles north of Portsmouth and has about 50 Students and four classrooms.
Their major area of need is reading skills and reading comprehension. So I'm going to go up to the school every Tuesday to work with the fourth/fifth grade class on reading skills. The teacher in that class is Mr. Mitchell, and this is his first year to teach, does not have a certification, and I'm not sure if he went to college (probably not). Today, I just sat in his class and observed and then we talked during lunch about what I could help him with. We decided for right now, I would work with fourth while he works with fifth during their reading time. That will allow him to give better feedback to each of the students and focus on key skills. I'm excited to help out but I do feel a little nervous about being the "all knowing American teacher." I'm attaching a few pictures of the school 470 is the side of the building you see when you drive up. 469 is the front of the school. 467 is the view from the school. Ross is located on the second bay, so you can tell it is quite a distance from campus. 471 is the kindergarten classroom. I didn't get a chance to take picture of the students because they had gone home for lunch by the time I pulled out my camera, but I'm going back next Tuesday. The students seem really sweet. When I came into the classroom this morning, they each took turns standing up and introducing themselves to me, "hello my name is Edmund and I'm 10 years old", and so on.I'm also working at the bookstore about three days a week. One thing I like about working at the bookstore is getting to know the other students. The other day, this guy came in to buy coffee and he looked at me for a second and said, "I know you. We went to school together." I was so taken aback I asked "what school?" to which he replied in a "duh" tone of voice "look at your finger" DUH! I wear my aggie ring for a reason, after all. I felt pretty dumb. So this guy also went to A&M. But the really weird thing is that we actually took a class together and (it gets weirder), we worked on a project together! Seeing his face so out of context, I never would have recognized him!
As you can tell, we're settling into our life here and getting down to business. I'll try to keep you updated with all the ongoings. Thanks for all the emails I've been getting, I love to hear from you too!
No comments:
Post a Comment