2009 In Review: May

May was a very busy month! I finished my first year of teaching and lived to tell the tale! Haha! I actually LOVED it! I didn't have the terrible experience so many people told me I would have; it was awesome...SO much work, but awesome! The 6th grade classes had had the opportunity to go on some walking fieldtrips to visit the nearest high school and also tour the middle school they would be attending the next year. The day before the last day of school, we actually got to ride a bus somewhere! Halleluia!!! Yes. I've said it. I never thought I would be SO ecstatic about riding in a school bus anywhere, but after marching 80 6th graders down busy streets in the ghetto part of Fontana, a mile or so each way...in the heat TWICE, even the non-air cinditioned Twinkie bus looked great! : ) We went to the Mary Vagle Nature Center where we got to play with reptiles, learn about minerals, hike, test water samples taken from the pond, eat lunch surrounded by dozens of angry geese (this was not my favorite part and I actually lost my apetite thanks to those dirty birds, and just enjoy some tome out of school. I loved that my kids seemed to enjoy it and actually took the water testing activities seriously. I'm so proud of those kids! For the record: only ONE fell in the pond! haha!

These are some of my students gathering samples from the pond. They really did have way more fun than it looks like they had!







Here we are on the hike into the hills. The tour guide guy told me to stay in the back on the way out and then I would take the lead when we turned around to hike back. I was glad there was only one trail to follow because I seriously have no sense of direction! : )

My students and me enjoying the shade

These are some of the kids at our 6th grade Promotion Ceremony. This was actually in June, but since I was blogging about the end of the year, I figured I'd just include it here.

My friend, Melissa, and I at Sixth Grade Promotion. I have always been one to try and keep a very definite line between my personal and professional worlds and never thought I would actually make a real friend at work, but I ended up doing just that! We taught in classrooms next door to each other, were both first year teachers, and actually have a bunch of other stuff in common too. I now consider her one of my very best friends and, fortunately, we still get to hang out alot!

The day after school got out I flew to Salt Lake to meet Diane and then we flew through JFK in New York and then on to Dublin, Ireland. It was amazing! I will be doing a separate post for this when I find a little more time to put into it. It ended up being quite the survival adventure and I'm pleased to say that I won! Here are some pics:

Me in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland

Diane and me in front of Blarney Castle

This is a picture I took of the Blarney Castle ruins! It is beautiful and truly amazing to walk through the ruins and see what used to be the Great Hall, the kitchen, sleeping quarters, etc. It now just looks like a bunch of rugged stones piled into a rough semblance of a room. Also, this is where the Blarney Stone is and I totally got to kiss it! It was among the scariest experiences of my life and, though I'll never do it again (even if given the opportunity), I'm glad that I did it! To kiss the Blarney Stone you have to climb up a million, which actually doesn't seem like too much of an exaggeration, dilapidated castle steps to the very top of the castle, where you then lay flat on your back, scoot to the edge and hang upside down from the top of the castle while a stranger holds onto your legs for dear life. I thought I was going to die and was shaking SO badly, but I did it! YAY!!! lol

This is Diane and me at the Cliffs of Moher (pronounced "More") on the coast of Ireland. They were so incredibly beautiful and really amazing! It was SOOOO windy there!

Here I am, in Scotland, with Loch Ness right behind me. Sorry to say that I did not see Nessie.

This was taken at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is probably my new favorite city in the whole world. He was all dressed in his fancies! lol

Me in a real life Euro telephone booth!

We got to tour the Royal Yacht Brittania, which is docked in Edinburgh. It's not super old or historical, but it was among my favorite things we did and does offer some pretty cool inside scoops!

Aww! Another bus ride. There were many of those.

This was taken at Stirling Castle, which was an amazing place, by the way! It used to be said that "who holds Sterling, holds Scotland" and now I understand why.

Our trip lasted from May 23rd to June 1st and it was simply incredible!