Netheranniversary!

Today is my one month anniversary with Rotterdam! How exciting right?!

Stupid moment of the day: 
Get excited about goodies in the teachers' workroom, ask one of the teachers if he brought it, and happily ate the goodies....without wishing him a Happy Birthday. Ugh.

Lately, I've been having such a hard time getting up in the morning. I'm so sore from all the working out, and my bed isn't the most comfortable thing in the world. I cycled to school this morning, and ended up sweating by the time I arrived there. I haven't been layering as much either. I guess I'm getting used to the weather! Yay!

I arrived to school at 8, and just printed things out for my next class. My 8:15 class was canceled due to a German listening exam. So for my 9:30 class, I had the chance to review Thursday and get the students writing an argumentative essay! It was hard to motivate them at first because their work will not be graded, but I finally encouraged some of the guys to start writing. :) My mentor teacher complimented my presence in the classroom - how the students are only 4 years younger than me but I still get their attention and respect like a teacher. :)

Now I just have to look at the papers and make suggestions. The essays were very basic, and grammar is what really matters, not the content or style. Since English is a foreign language, writings don't have to be in-depth or amazingly structured. They do all that fun stuff in Dutch classes. So I have to turn off my what more can you do with this paper switch and turn on just my grammar switch. We'll see how it goes.
My 12:20 class (which is only 20 mins long), I am in charge of coming up with little activities to practice their verbal skills. Today, I introduced dialogue journals and made them sign a contract saying they abide by my rules and expectations with the dialogue journals. I'm hoping it will be as successful as I'm thinking. We'll see, I guess. 

My 1:55 class is the same as my 12:20 class, but we read from the WASP report about Skateboarding in Kabul. It was very interesting for me since I just finished reading the Kite Runner which was all about Afghanistan. I love all the reading that I'm capable of doing now, since I do have plenty of time. I'm starting on Bridget Jones's Diary tonight. :) Since I only bought two books to read, I'm checking out books from the library!

I cycled home with my mentor teacher and she took me to this bike route that was really nice and relaxing. Then we parted our ways. I talked to my parents today, and it was really good to hear their voice. I was upset about a couple of things, but I didn't allow myself to be too angry. I love and miss my parents like crazy. 

Then, I cycled to my gym and did Zumba!!! It was a great workout and I couldn't help but laugh at this lady who was beside me. She just couldn't get the rhythm or the moves so she just did her own thing. It was hilarious to watch. There's also this girl that works there who seems so interested in me, I'm guessing because I'm American? I'll approach her next time and see if we can be besties. Ha. I can never say no to new besties. 

Anyways off to bed I go. :)