Well, there is officially no reason for me to rush to get a tv as soon as I move in order to see the NCAA championship. If I get one, great, I'll watch it (basketball is one of 2 sports I will watch no matter who's playing), if not, life goes on. Yep, Jayhawks lost! Hard to believe, but sadly, it's true. And I didn't even get to see a single game. Probably good though, because I would have been frustrated.
As for other things, I've been busy preparing for Easter music, spring piano recital, and various "performances" of my piano students. One student will hopefully be doing a duet with me for Easter, another will hopefully do a duet with me for the recital and sometime later for church (this same student will play in his sister's wedding this summer) and another will hopefully play in the recital and later in church a hymn that I arranged for his level.
My middle school girls made me laugh today in PE. The class has 29 girls, 7th and 8th graders, so as I'm sure you can imagine, never a boring moment. Last week, we started soccer, which we will be working on for this last quarter. Last week I did something that may seem crazy, but there was actually a method to my madness (for once in my life). We played a 14v14 game with barely any explanation or practice. It was a mess, but I intended it to be. If I start with drills and practices, they whine and complain about why they have to do this and "can't we just play a game?" etc, but when they see that they are lost, they are eager to practice and drill the skills they need. So why did they make me laugh? Last week, I had maybe 2 out of the 29 happy to play soccer-the rest were whining and complaining. This week? As soon as they saw me in the hallway, asked what we were doing, and heard me say soccer? I had maybe 2 out of the 29 that were complaining. The rest were overjoyed and cheering. I really do love middle school-they are soooooo interesting......
And tonight, ASL class again. Which may come in handy pretty soon, considering how my throat is starting to feel after the way I abused my voice today.

Moving and March Madness

I think second term may describe the first. I really do hate moving-that's why I'm trying so hard to get as much as possible done ahead of time. I never thought I'd be so excited about boxes. But you know what, I am! It was kinda frustrating this weekend going through stuff and organizing it and having not a single box to put the stuff in and get it out of the way! I asked at school, and I was told I can use as many as I want as long as I bring them back. So, I'm taking a few at a time and packing them as full as I can-mostly with books, books, and more books, and oh, by the way, did I mention that I have a few books?? I'll also try to get as much of my kitchen packed as possible and just be eating from paper plates, etc. for the next couple of weeks. I've found out that I have a bed, or at least most of a bed. Ok, so it's not in my possession, but it's available. There's still one part of it that I don't have that I'm not really sure what it is-I didn't really understand what it was, but we'll figure that out when the time comes.
One other nice detail that I'd forgotten to mention so far, is that this apartment comes with cable, which really isn't all that necessary in my life until it comes to March. Ok, so it's not technically necessary......unless you're a Kansas basketball fan. Which I am. Have been since before I was born, or so I'm told. Now I'm not moving until the 30th of March, but I will be moved in time for the Final Four and the Championship games. Let's just hope there's something good left to watch.

It's relatively official-I'm moving during spring break. I talked with the landlady today, and everything's set for me to move March 30. I hate moving! But, again, the closeness of this apartment, the price, the size, and the area will be worth it, I know. The moving shouldn't be too bad though. I've had 3 people/families who have already told me to count on their help, and a couple of others who have mentioned helping. If moving must be done, it might as well be done with friends!

A couple of student quotes:

It's my mom's fault. It's that she has a lot of things in her hair.
-Julio, 5th grade (his comment when he came to get his late slip)

I'm really not that much of a behave-y person.
-Daniel, 3rd grade (he was explaining to me about his bad day)

And now, I'm off to sign language class.

Field day and other events

Last Friday we had field day, and it was a little different this year, since we couldn't have it at the track (the track was under repairs for special olympics events). We used the outfield of a rather large baseball park, and set things up with ropes and cones. I was out on the field working with the races instead of in the scorer's tent like I have been for the last 4 years. It's a lot more tiring being in the field (we were in the sun from about 7:45 to 3:00) but I enjoyed being able to interact with the kids more. I teach just about all of them that were there, so they would come to me excited to show off their ribbons and tell me about their events.
In other news, I will most likely be moving during spring break. I have lived on the same street (I moved from one side of it to the other about 3 years ago) for almost 5 years. There's an apartment that became available that is about 2 minutes away from work with NO traffic, as opposed to 10-15-20 minutes where I live now, depending on which direction, what time, and how much traffic there is when you go. In PR, it's often quite difficult to go to and return from a place in exactly the same way, especially if it involves getting on the interstate. Also, I can think of about 3-4 variations of how I can get to school, each one having its own strengths and weaknesses depending on time of day, etc. So this new apartment is much larger, is much closer, and I like the yard! Seriously, I'm a country girl at heart and there's just something about sitting out side being able to see green, and not hearing cars-just the coquis (a puertorican frog that sings "coqui, coqui" at night) The banana and mango trees and the flowers don't hurt its appeal either. It's not completely for sure, but that's the general plan right now. I may be questioning my sanity in a couple of weeks (some of you probably already question my sanity), but I'm looking forward to being moved in-notice I did NOT say I was looking forward to moving!
A couple of student stories for you:
-I was teaching about even and uneven rhythm patterns in 1st grade music, and trying to get them to think, I clapped an uneven pattern, and asked them this: "If the first pattern I clapped was called 'even', what do you think this pattern might be called?", after which I clapped a skippy type pattern. Christian raised his hand and shouted, "Odd!!"
-while I was giving instructions in 7th and 8th grade girls PE, one of the girls shouted, "Teacher, your eyes!" Made me a little nervous, wondering what she saw, so I asked, "What's wrong with them??", and she replied (again shouting), "they're beautiful!"
Tonight is ASL class again-I seem to have a pattern (however shortlived it may be) of writing on Wednesdays. Maybe that's because I have a longer break in the morning and can get more of my school work done before the afternoon. A couple of weeks ago, we told Bible stories to the class. I had been joking with my teacher that my story was "Abraham not kill his son. The end" which amounts to about 5 signs. I chose the story of Daniel and the lions den though, I think mostly because I think the sign name for Daniel is cool. We would tell our stories, and then our teacher (who is deaf) would repeat the same story, giving facial expressions, helping with order of signs, missing details, etc. It's been a lot of fun, and I've learned so much.
And now, I just realized that I don't think I ever posted that I've got a "new" car. Classic (my old red car, so named by Hulda) did its time, and has been given away-it wouldn't pass inspection and someone drove by and asked what I was going to do with it. Since it was just going to the junk yard, I told them that if they would take it off my hands, they could have it-they did me a favor by taking it so I wouldn't get another ticket for having an unstickered car in the street. Yep, you read right-ANOTHER ticket. Anyway, the Lord opened up the opportunity to buy a 1994 Buick Skylark from one of the ladies in the church for a decent price. It has had issues of its own, but at least I'm not falling through the floor. =) Also, since the new one has a tape player, I've really enjoyed hearing service tapes from Bible Baptist as I drive around. It's been fun to hear familiar voices singing and preaching, and I always enjoy singing along with the music.