Happy New Year!

I get excited for new beginnings; hence, I often like to capitalize on natural “restarts” throughout the year in order to refocus on areas I want to improve in my life. Typically, New Years and a new school year are my favorites! I’ve been plotting adjustments I want to make for the last month or so. Clearly, there’s no reason why these changes couldn’t be started at any time, but for me, clean breaks work better!

Academic Goals

Read an average of 2 books per month.
I started reading a lot more when I was living Nigeria without a lot of other entertainment opportunities and remembered that I DO like reading! My goal for the past few years has been to read 1 book per month, but I’ve been surpassing that, so now that I’m living abroad again with limited options after dark, I feel I can up my standards.

Read 1 Spanish book per week.
I’m going to start at a low children’s level and increase the reading level as I (hopefully) improve!

Internet Goals

Limit facebook usage to an acceptable amount.

-No facebook news feed in the morning.
-Only check email/facebook at lunch.
-No facebook news feed until workout has been done

I am a firm believer that facebook is a positive thing. I truly appreciate being able to keep in touch with so many friends from literally all over the world. However, I’m also confident that checking the facebook newsfeed every 30 minutes isn’t a good use of my time.

Diversify internet usage.
Read international news and Salvadoran news daily

Health Goals

Maintain running and include strength training.

-Run at least 4x’s per week.
-Other exercises (yoga/calisthenics) 4x’s per week

Running is just a part of my life, so it’s not a big deal. However, trying to increase my motivation to do strength training is ridiculously challenging for me. I think if I link it to facebook, it will help! J

Drink more water
Drinking more water will make me less hungry and help me to eat reasonable portions.

Eat fewer sweets-good rule of thumb is 1/day after Jaunuary.
I love sweets. It can get out of control…and did. After I once again realize I don’t need ridiculous amounts of sugar to function by going cold turkey, I can return to the happy place of moderation.

Service Goals

Participate in one weekend service activity per month.
I loved the opportunities I had to travel around this first semester here in El Salvador, but I also realized that I’m living in a developing country with all sorts of service opportunities available that I hadn’t adequately tapped into yet. I’m excited to mix that in a bit more this year!

Get involved in Glasswing –a program involved with Salvadoran public education.
I’m teaching at an elite private school, but I’d love to be able to get involved at some level with public education here in El Salvador as well.

Ask about volunteering at the nursing home.
I miss the elderly. I loved Gavino, the man I visited weekly in San Antonio, and the regulars I was able to see in Clinton. There’s a nursing home not far from where I live, so I’m going to go see if I can volunteer there on a regular basis. It’ll be interesting to see how similar it is to nursing homes in the states.

Increase Community

Cook a dinner to eat with others 2x’s per month.
This always sounds like a good idea to me, but then I get worried about whatever I made being strange and appealing only to me. I’m going to quit being concerned and make some arrangements!

Professional Goals

Do one chemistry demo per week.
I know that kids love demos and they can be a great teaching too both for application as well as engagement. It will simply take a little extra planning and effort to make sure they happen regularly. The results will certainly be worth the effort!

Increase the amount of patience displayed.
This doesn’t mean I want to decrease rigor or lower expectations but simply to teach the expectations that I desire instead of displaying frustration when those expectations are not met.

Investigate Curriculum Writing.
This is the first school I’ve worked at where the curriculum standards weren’t presented to me. The scope and sequence is also lacking. I have a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in Science Education and should be applying that training to improving the curriculum around me!

Wow! This list turned out to be a lot longer than I had initially anticipated, but all of these things listed have been pondered regularly for a while now, so in theory they shouldn’t be that difficult to implement. As I review it, they all seem to be very do-able but just require a bit more mindfulness than I had been employing. I’ve never really written them out in such an official fashion before, but this will hopefully provide me an opportunity to look back and reflect on my progress! Now that I am officially settled and comfortable in new Salvadoran life, it’s time to tweak it from great to delightful AND worthwhile! J I’ll get started on all of this when I get back from a week of volunteering down in Costa Rica! Should be an exciting start to 2012!!!

Home for Christmas!

When I left this summer for El Salvador, I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d be home for Christmas or not. I’m very thankful that everything worked out for me to come home for almost two weeks!

In preparations for my trip to Iowa, I realized I didn’t have to pack hardly any clothes because of the different climates. Here is a picture of me in El Salvador the morning before I left for Iowa with a poinsettia that I discovered was growing in my back yard! Shockingly, I wasn’t going to need my sandals and skirts in the frozen temperatures. As I stepped off the plane and onto the gate, I was quickly reminded that Iowa in December is colder than El Salvador...even though it has been one of the warmer Decembers in recent history! While I was a little disappointed about the lack of snow and consequently lack of cross-country skiing, the good roads for travel and pleasantly, cool temperatures have been an acceptable exchange.

The first evening I was home, I decided to dig out my winter running clothes and go for an invigorating and liberating run at night, in the dark with my ipod to look at Christmas lights! What an enjoyable treat!!! It’s all about celebrating the positives: while I’m in El Salvador, I love the fact that I can wear shorts and t-shirts year-round and can therefore be dressed and ready to run in less than 5 minutes! However, I can’t run past 6pm because it’s not safe to run in the dark and running with my ipod would act as a neon-flashing sign asking to be mugged. Taking the extra time to search for all my winter running accoutrements and having some chilly hands at the beginning were fully compensated by the pretty lights and music of a Christmastime run in Iowa!

In the weeks prior to my arrival back in the US, I began to arrange my schedule for my time at home in order to maximize the amount of family and friends I would be able to see. I’m so glad I did because I have had so much fun getting together with friends old and new and from near and far! Technology is SUPER because it enables me to stay in contact with so many people from so many places, but a hug and face to face conversation can’t be beat! I remembered to get out my camera during some of the get-togethers…others got taken over by conversation will have to be represented with old pictures. Family and friends are a HUGE blessing in my life, and I have been extra thankful during this Christmas season!

My Family (Wilton)

Sarah, Joshua and me (Clinton High School buddy)

Sue, me and Chuck (Former Clinton Landlords!-old picture)

Deanna, Tami, me and Jenna +Jill, too!- (CHS Science Department Girls-old picture)

Kirsten & me (Former Texas roommate-old picture)

Laura (UNI friend), Meredith (friend through Laura) (Des Moines)

Angie & me (Cedar Falls-Texas friend)

Danielle & me (Cedar Falls-UNI friend-old picture)

Carter-side Christmas
(picture to come...)

Carlson-side Christmas

Salvadoran Christmas Observations

Christmas here in El Salvador seems like Christmas in the states upon initial review, but when I take a closer look, there are some interesting differences:

-I was in Wal-Mart and wanted to find Christmas stickers but discovered that Christmas is contained to one small corner and it doesn’t include stickers.

-I thought I heard a Salvation Army bell ringer, but it was a man pushing an ice cream cart down the street.

-Going to the beach in December is novel and cool, but I miss snow!

-I was told that THE Christmas gift to bring back to all male relatives and friends is a Salvadoran machete. The people helping me at the hardware store told me the pros and cons of each of the two different designs. They also humored me and taught me the Spanish word for the holder. However, they proceeded to look at me funny and eventually outright laugh at me when I said I wanted three.

-I delivered cookies to the street vendors and guards that work at businesses along the street that I walk regularly to church. They were really excited about them-favorite Christmas gift given so far.

-Drinking hot cinnamon tea adds to the Christmas-feel even if it is 80 degrees outside.

Christmas Party

I’d been hearing about the Escuela Americana Christmas party for months now and was excited to finally get to experience it in all its glory! Everyone kept telling me, “It’s quite the experience…” They were right! :) To set the stage, the school employs probably around 500-800 people from administrators to teachers to aids to secretaries to guards to maintenance people to coaches. For a school that only has about 125 per class, it employs a LOT of people and all are invited to a giant Christmas party at the Holiday Inn. While we were waiting to go through the buffet lines, the DJ, decked out in a festive, felt- top hat boasting the flag of the US, kept us entertained with snippets of Latin and US songs alike.

After people had eaten, the music increased from background level to dancing level. Imagine big, crazy wedding reception: crowded dance floor, colored flashing lights, bubbles and streamers floating down intermittently. Then, the Salvadoran special was a video being projected on the entire side wall that was completely unrelated stylistically, or really, in any way to the music being played as well as two promotional dancers. The male was wearing a fluorescent orange shirt with ruffled sleeves and the female was dressed rather scandalously in short, tight clothing for a school Christmas party and both were dancing in an extremely enthusiastic manner winding throughout dance floor.

I watched wide-eyed taking in the grand spectacle and wasn’t considering being a part of the soirée taking place in the center of the room. However, when my table buddy told me that she was going out there to dance, I decided to leave my comfort zone behind at the table and join the dance party! Soon I had been handed a glow stick bracelet and I was doing my best blend in by getting my dance on. After about an hour the lights came up and the final portion of the afternoon began.

The giant video on the side wall was converted into the prize randomizer. The prizes ranged from computer speakers to water glasses to pillows. Each person’s name that was called had their ID picture projected to billboard size just to ensure we knew who everyone was. The majority of the people stuck around all through the dance and the distribution of maybe 50 menial prizes all to be in the running for the final grand prize: a plane ticket to Miami! When it comes to travel, many costs can be reduced or evaded except that of a plane ticket. I wanted to win it. I didn’t. I hope the recipient has a nice trip! :) As I left my inaugural Escuela Americana Christmas party, I felt that an additional level of Salvadoran induction was complete.

Other Side

I’ve always been the one leaving: moving on, new location, fresh start. It’s been bittersweet but happened with the knowledge of a new, unknown and exciting adventure ahead! This time, I’m the one who’s being left behind and it’s a never-before-experienced, strange feeling. In all seriousness, I’m LOVING my life in El Salvador…a LOT! However, it’s strange to realize that many of the new friends that I’ve made over the past 4 months are leaving at the end of this school year. Many current conversations around me consist of job applications, interviews, or the pros and cons of potential future cities/countries of employment. I’m excited for them and know that this is a new and exciting step in their lives, but it’s also a strange realization that 8 people that I’ve just started to get to know and like are all leaving the country in a few more months! I’m beginning to get a small taste of my own medicine.

I know that I’m not ready to leave now that I’m feeling settled and comfortable, but it’s strange to consider next year knowing that places and procedures will be familiar but there will be an entirely new crop of people to meet, introduce to El Salvador and explore with! This is a role that will be new to me, but thankfully, I’ve had some SUPER role models everywhere I’ve gone in how to make a new girl feel welcome, accepted and loved. What a great opportunity it will be to get to return some of the extravagant hospitality I’ve received so many times over!