Another Lengthy - But Exciting - 'Catch-Up' Post

One of our goals is to blog more frequently, because then we wouldn't have to write such long blog posts and write about so many different things at the same time. So, in other words, this will be another 'catch-up' post like the last one.

October 19th was our 3 year anniversary. We celebrated by going out to our favorite restaurant. Shortly after we got married Michelle made a book for me with 101 reasons why she loves me. Ever since then, making a list of reasons why I love her has been something I've been meaning to do so on our anniversary I finally gave her a list of 101 reasons why I love her. I also included a quote by Dr. Seuss that I stumbled upon that accurately describes how happy I have been since meeting Michelle: "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

Shortly after our anniversary was Halloween. The very first time Michelle and I saw each other was on Halloween, 2006, in a preparation class for the Washington Seminar program we were about to embark on. That makes it very convenient to calculate how long ago we saw each other for the first time (4 years ago on Halloween). We had a very fun Halloween here in DC. The weekend before Halloween we went on a walking haunted ghost tour through Old Town Alexandria with another couple we are friends with. Our guide was very much an enthusiast of ghost stories and made the tour very interesting. His firm belief in the stories he was telling us made it fun, but Michelle and I were a little skeptical of some of the stories. Nevertheless, it was very informative and educational (there is a lot of Revolutionary War and Civil War history in Alexandria) and a great thing to do for Halloween. This is a picture of us in front of one of the buildings that one of the ghost stories was about. Thanks again Mike and Chelsea for inviting us to go with you guys on the haunted ghost tour!

On the weekend of Halloween, we helped setup and run the ward chili cook-off and trunk-or-treat. We had a great time manning the ring toss table and giving out prizes to all the kids who played the game. We also tried several different home-made chilis and of course ate lots of candy. This photo is courtesy of Chance, who you can always count on to take a great picture when you really want one. Having visited Peru over the summer, we decided to dress up as Peruvians for Halloween.

In other news, I am still biking my commute to work three times a week. Since each day's commute is 30 miles, it takes a long time to get fully accustomed to the additional day's worth of mileage. In other words, it was difficult to go from two to three days a week and it is taking me longer than I expected to move up from three to four days a week. Currently, I am biking about 90 miles a week (15 miles each way=30 mile round trip, three times a week). Since moving up to four times a week would thus be going from 90 to 120 miles a week and is quite a big jump, last week I bike in 3.5 times a week. Basically, I rode to and from work 3 times and and I also rode in an additional day but took my bike on the Metro home. This was a good stepping stone to increase my weekly mileage to a little over 100 miles; and now I think I am ready to try riding in 4 times this week. I will let you know how it goes. Also, I am not planning on letting the winter season slow me down. I have bought some really good winter gear and so far, I haven’t let the cold or precipitation prevent me from even missing one day of riding. I have ridden in in the high 30’s once, and it wasn’t much of a problem at all, so I am optimistic that I will be able to ride in through the entire winter (except for when there is ice or snow).

All this biking I've been doing has helped me get to a new milestone in my quest to eat healthier and lose weight. Since I started to improve me eating habits and exercise more, I have now lost 50 pounds! I am at a weight that I never even thought would be possible when I started all of this a year and a half ago. I think I am actually at my old high school weight, which is pretty cool considering how much weight I had gained. The following is a picture of me from last summer, right before I started dieting and exercising (on the left with Honest Abe), followed by a recent picture of me celebrating Michelle's birthday at Six Flags:

Lotsa Things

Michelle and I have been pretty busy lately. School is going pretty well for both of us (both teaching and also the grad school classes we're taking), and on top of that we have been visiting lots of places around DC. We have lived here for well over a year now and there is still no shortage of things to do on the weekend. We have had to start paying for some of the museums because we have visited most of the free ones but that is alright. In this blog post, I will try to cover a lot. I will not go into too much detail about each place we have visited but I will try to put at least one picture up of all the fun places we have been. I think this blog post is as much for us as anything because we want to have a record of all the things we've done for when we get our next blog book made. That is also why I keep track of all the sightseeing and touristy type of stuff we do (see sidebar of blog). Alright, having put that disclaimer in writing, let's get started!

Theodore Roosevelt Island

Teddy Roosevelt has one of the coolest monuments/memorials in DC. I say this because not only does he have a huge statue of himself but he has his own island! We recently went there with the Hammocks and explored what little of the island we could see at night. I thought it would be lit up or something but it wasn't. It was still a great place to see, but we plan to return during the day some time.

National Geographic Museum

The National Geographic has a fun, interactive museum in DC. It is comprised mostly of exhibits that change periodically so this is a place you could re-visit every now and then. There are free exhibits and exhibits that cost money, we just stuck to the free stuff. The highlite was looking at the collection of amazing photographs that National Geographic photographers have captured over the years.

Ben's Chili Bowl

I was pleasantly surprised at how good and cheap Ben's Chili Bowl was. It is basically a small food place that sells everything that you can put chili on: chili cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, etc. It reminded me a lot of The Varsity in Atlanta, both places being a type of icon and long-time establishment of the city.

International Spy Museum

This is the first place we paid to get into since the Crime & Punishment Museum, fortunately we were able to get tickets to both through Groupon and Living Social discounts (those two programs are websites that offer discount tickets to all sorts of things and has come in handy and
saved us a lot of money since we moved out here). Anyways, the Spy Museum was a lot of fun. You could spend days in there if you tried to read and watch everything, so we tried to just really enjoy the best parts. For us, the best part of the museum was the first half or so that consisted mostly of interactive spying situations where you had to look at pictures and try and spot suspicious activities. There were also lots of fascinating artifacts from throughout history and especially the Cold War that were used in for all kinds of espionage. These artifacts ranged from the elaborate to the subtle. For example, there were coats that had a camera in one of the buttons.

The National harbor

After we visited the National Harbor we couldn't believe we hadn't been there during the whole first year and half (almost) that we lived in the DC area. We actually went there twice in the same weekend with the Kachers and then with the Hammocks. There was a pier to go for a walk on and lots of fun stores to visit. I was surprised to learn that there was an entire store dedicated to Peeps (the Easter candy, yeah, the marshmallow ones).

Capitals (NHL) Game

A coworker gave me free tickets to a preseason Capitals hockey game. It was a great experience that we probably won't have again anytime soon because tickets are very expensive.

Udvar Hazy Smithsonian Museum

Not everyone realizes there are actually two Air and Space Smithsonian Museums. If you were only in DC for a few days, I would recommmend going to the one on the National Mall because it is much easier to get to. Nevertheless, if you had an extended amount of time or lived out here I would add this place to your to-do list because it offers a very different experience than the one on the Mall. This one is mostly full of actual planes and other unique flying machines. Definitely a cool place to visit.

US Marine Corps (Iwo Jima Memorial)

This is a beautiful monument with a lot of history behind it.

Gravelly Point

Look up on the Internet airports that are fun to visit and watch planes and the Reagan (National) airport will be on each one. There is a park called Gravelly Point where you can have picnics and watch the planes fly right above your head while standing only a couple hundred yards (at the most) from the actual runway. It is a really neat place to visit because, needless to say, the planes are very low at this point and it is fun to see and hear them as they fly over you! Although this picture is not of an airplane, it is of the next best thing: us practicing swing dancing! Michelle is good at it and she taught me how to do this cool move.

Biking the 'Triple Crown'

About two weeks ago I returned my bike to Costco (thanks Costco for having the greatest return policy EVER!!!) and then went and bought a little bit nicer bike, one that is more suited to long distanc biking. It is almost a rode-bike, you might call it a hybrid or an entry level rode bike. Whatever it is, I like it! It is much lighter than my old one, it has much thinner tires, and a lot of aspects of it are much better.

In part due to having a better bike and in part due to just building up my strenght and endurance, I have been able to ride in to work and back home three times a week for the past two weeks. I do it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to give some time for my legs to recover. It is a 28 mile round with some moderate changes in elevation so I would say that it is a somewhat challenging bike ride. I was so happy when I rode in three times in one week for the first time, I was on top of the world that day. I dubbed this achievement the 'Triple Crown.' And if I ever ride in 4 times in a week I will call it the 'Grand Slam.' My legs are getting much stronger and my endurance is improving as well. It is seriosly a great work out and I love the days that I get to ride in, I just feel really good about it for a few reasons: the exercise, not wasting so much time stuck in traffic or sitting in a ssubway car, and all the MONEY I am saving. With the latest incresases of fare charges with DC's Metro system my round trip to and from work would be $8.70. This has helped motivate me to ride the Metro as little as possible, and inversely to ride my bike to work as much as humanly possible. Stretching out a lot after each bike ride really helps a lot. My legs don't hurt if I stretch out a lot, they just get sore. Ever since I got IT Band Syndrome when I ran 11 miles last year I have had to make sure I don't push myself too hard too quickly in running and biking.

All of the pictures are pictures that I took with my new 4th Generation Ipod Touch during a ride home from work. As you can see, I get to ride in some cool areas. It is nice to be in the naturey areas for most of the ride. Passing the famous monuments is fun too!

Hey! Give us back our pinata!

Michelle and I celebrated our birthdays this month. My birthday was the 5th and we had a really fun get-together with friends here at our place. Since I told Michelle that the only thing I wanted was to have a pinata at the party, she got my a treasure chest pinata and filled it with really good candy. We took it outside and one of our friends actually climbed up in the tree to let it hang and to pull it up while I was blindfolded and swinging at it. While we were all gathered outside doing the whole pinata thing, a bunch of little Latino kids saw us and all came over. I told them they could go after the candy when I busted it open, and man oh man they sure did go after that candy! Those kids made out like bandits! One kid did that thing where you use your shirt to carry a bunch of stuff (think elementary school) and filled his shirt with candy. Other kids stuffed their pockets and still walked away with handfuls of candy. The funniest thing though was one kid actually tried to take the pinata. We told her that we actually wanted to keep it in case we wanted to use it again. It was a great way to spend my 27th birthday.

Michelle's birthday was on the 18th and to celebrate, I decided to surprise her by taking her to Six Flags. I was talking about it though with other people and trying not to give it away but when we pulled into the parking lot she said 'I knew it!' I was going to take her to Hershey, Pennsylvania, where there is a theme park and a lot of fun Hershey chocolate stuff, but our friends the Jansons have season passes to the DC Six Flags and they were able to get us both in for free with some season pass holder coupons. This worked out much better because Hershey, PA is a couple hours away and the DC Six Flags is only 30 minutes (tops!) from here; I had no idea it was so close! I was just settling in for the ride when we got off the freeway. We had a really fun time at Six Flags: we went on a lot of fun roller coasters; we got soaking wet on some water rides, but we dried off pretty quick because the sun was out; and we ate an obligatory funnel cake with ice cream! Even though we were there on a Saturday, it was not crowded at all. We pretty much walked onto every ride, no joke. I think we may have waited about ten minutes for one ride near the late afternoon when there were more people there. Either it is the slow season if the place just doesn't get the crowds I associate with theme parks. Either way, it was fine by all of us.

School Evacuation and a Glimpse into the Chaos

Yep, we had to evacuate our school today at 11:00, and nope, not a fire. When we got to school at 7 am this morning we realized the water did not work. That meant toilets couldn't flush and no one could wash their hands - a pretty big problem for a school full of kids ages 3 - 12. They can't go without a bathroom for too long. Our principal spent the morning on the phone trying to get it fixed, but I guess a big water line busted and it was not going to be fixed soon enough. Our whole school ended up having to walk about 5 blocks to another elementary school. They doubled up 2 of their classes to a classroom and then gave us the other classrooms to use for the afternoon. We had three classes in the one we used. With all the chaos and the crowded room, there was no way any teaching could take place, so my class spent the afternoon coloring, drawing in their journals, and reading (mostly coloring) - not the most productive day and definitely a crazy one (which is not that abnormal for my school).

Other crazy happenings at my school over the past week (a glimpse into the chaos):
*One of my students hit the art teacher after hitting several of my students and throwing things across the room.
*A first grader in the other class tried to choke a girl in her class, tackled (literally) 2 of my kids in the hallway and tried to choke one, stripped naked in her classroom, and slapped her teacher in the face - all in the same day.
*chairs thrown across the room on 3 different days
*one of my students cussed out the computer teacher and my entire class during specials - repeatedly and loudly

I often go home thinking "Wow, did all of that really happen today? Do I really work at this place?"

There are good things that happen too and good students, but everything above is actually pretty normal. Hopefully I can help to change some of this and introduce my students to a more positive and cooperative culture. I definitely have my work cut out for me this year!

The First Two Weeks of First Grade

I've just finished the first two weeks of teaching first grade as a second year teacher. Teaching a second year really is a lot easier than the first. I actually know what I'm doing this year as far as the material that needs to be covered, how to teach it, how to handle behavior, etc. I'm definitely not an expert and still have a lot to learn, but it feels good not to be totally clueless! Planning has been a ton easier this year too. I remember at the beginning of last year I was up at 6, taught and planned until at least 9 p.m., and then went to bed and started over again the next day. It was pretty draining and stressful. This year I have been able to do most of my planning at school. It is my goal this year to stay until no later than 5:30 at school everyday or work at home until 6:00 and then be completely done with schoolwork. So far I have been able to do it. It is so nice to be able to reuse the lesson plans I have from last year. I'll make some minor adjustments on some of them and plan some completely new lessons, but it is going to be so much easier! The other first grade teacher at my school is new to first grade this year, but is also a second year teacher. She is so great to work with. We plan everything together and do a lot of combined class activities. It makes planning and teaching easier and more fun. It is so nice to have someone to collaborate so closely with.

While this year is a lot better than last, there are still some big challenges. There have already been a couple days (or times of the day) when I don't want this job. This is all due to the huge challenge of student behavior. I only have 16 kids in my class this year, which is amazing (and probably won't last long), but there are a couple that are a real handful. I just get tired of fighting behavior to be able to teach. The behavior is nowhere near as bad as last year, but it is still hard. I just get sick of the fighting, disrespect, and lack of effort. I need to keep practicing my patience. Most of the students in my class are great, and I think as the year goes on and we get routines and procedures down more thoroughly, things will be better.

On a separate note, I completely forgot how little first graders are at the beginning of the year. They can't read, can't count, struggle to write letters and numbers, don't really know how to listen, always just want to play, and are pretty socially immature. They grow SO much by the end of the year - behaviorally, socially, and academically. I think of my first graders at the end of last year and it is amazing all of the progress they have made. I look forward to my students this year making all of that progress - especially with their behavior and ability to focus.