Reason I Choose to Be A Teacher

Yesterday, as I was cleaning out some files and preparing my classroom, I found this letter from one of my senior English students from last year. This letter is honestly one of the best letters I've ever received in my life. The whole reason I chose to become a teacher is to make an impact on students. Because of the tragedies I've gone through in my life, I feel like I can relate to students and help them learn not only about my subject area, but about life! This letter has proven to me that I've achieved my goal at least with one student. She was struggling so much last year with horrible family issues. It looked like she might not be able to pass my class (and a few other classes), meaning she wouldn't graduate. I took the time to work with her and told her that she WOULD graduate. Because of that, she was able to make up her work in my class as well as her other classes. I'm SO proud of her! I can't wait to see what she does in her life. Teaching English last year at Kalaheo High School has definitely been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life! Among other things, it taught me that if you truly go above and beyond to dedicate yourself to teaching, there is not limit to what you can achieve! Below you'll find the letter:

To Ms. Russell

Yes, one of my letters is for you and the reason why I'm writing this for you is because you've helped me through a lot of thigns during your time here. During my time at this school, you are the only teacher that took the time to help me. You took time out of your day to help one out of how many students you work with. I appreciate all the time you gave me of your own. I love the fact that you care about each and every one of your students. Ms. Russell you are a great teacher. Not just because you made things slide by, but because through all your troubles in life you hold your head up and become a better person. For that, you made me believe. Because you taught me that I can do it and that I can succeed in life. I know that it may not mean much, coming from just another student, but I believe that you came at a good time in my life. Throughout my school years, I wasn't really great at English. But I have to say that you are the best out of all of my English teachers, that you're the best English teacher ever! I love you as a person and I love you as a teacher and just saying thank you so very much. I hope that you don't forget about me!! HAHA... nah, I won't forget about you. Thank you.

Love a student so very thankful.

So, here are a few pictures of my current German classroom... I cleaned off those tables after the pictures were taken. I feel incredibly blessed to come into this situation with so many resources and wonderful colleagues at my fingertips!




Self-portrait of me looking scared for the first day of school (HORRIBLE PICTURE, by the way! The lighting in my room leaves something to be desired when it comes to picture taking!)


One last thing I want to mention are a few educational buzz words that were flying around my teacher meetings the last week or so. The word "collaborate" or "collaboration" seems to be a hot one right now in all states, not just Washington. Also, I can't tell you how many times in the last few weeks I've heard the word "piece" used. It makes me laugh each time it has been used by a variety of people. I've never heard it used so much in my life! Essentially it's been used to say "thing" or as my boyfriend said when I described it to him, "da kine." Here's are a few examples: "This piece of the system works well with..." Or "The educational piece has excited several teachers to...". There are other ways to use it as well, but those ways are not coming to mind.

Random Adventures...

Evan's '56 Chevy truck


At my little sister's wedding


Hiking around a lake with my former roommate, Darcy


More views from the lake.

Seattle Ferry Boat Adventure

Two weeks ago now (I got SO busy with Zandy's wedding I didn't get a chance to post it!) Evan and I went on a ferry boat ride. We both hadn't been on a ferry in a long time and wanted to go. We drove up to Seattle and walked on the first ferry that was leaving. Off to Bainbridge Island we went. It was just a fun day! Very picturesque with ocean/mountain views, island views, a fun, new town to explore. We really enjoyed ourselves!

Seattle as we were leaving the dock...


Evan and Sarah trying not to get blown away. We started out wearing T-shirts and the ferry became too cold for that VERY quickly!


Evan decided he was going to take a ton of pictures of me because he liked my new shirt. Here's one of them!


Another ferry boat that looked identical to ours, just to give you an idea of what we're working with here.


Seattle as we were almost at Bainbridge island


The island as we were coming upon it...


I'm realizing now that the only pictures I took of the town were when Evan and I were being silly eating ice cream. Well, you can't see much of the town in the background, but you CAN see some of the amazing ice cream Bainbridge Island has to offer! I got raspberry cheesecake with blackberry on top. SO good! I generally don't like ice cream, but this was too good to pass up.


On the ferry heading back close up...


And some kind soul asked to take a picture of us.


All in all it was a fun day! The cool thing about going to Bainbridge Island is that the ferry only charges you one way. The way back is free! We didn't know this until we were heading back, but it was a pleasent surprise! We really enjoyed our little ferry adventure. It's always fun to explore areas where you live.

After Rock Climbing Adventure: Ballard Locks

Yesterday, Evan and I had a fun day. After I got done with all of my teacher meetings, we headed up to Seattle with the hopes of buying Evan a wetsuit for surfing in Washington. He got a great deal on a PERFECT wetsuit from a cool guy off Craigslist. (Side note: I STILL need a wetsuit so I can use my surfboard again! If you know a good place to get one or someone selling one, let me know.)

After we got done with that, we drove around Green Lake. Driving around Green Lake made me want to live in Seattle just so that I can run around Green lake everyday. It is just a picturesque setting and very accessible and runner-friendly. Maybe someday I'll live by it. See image below for a view...



Once we navigated our way around Green Lake, we headed over to Stone Gardens (a rock climbing gym in Ballard) to hit up some rock climbing. It's such a great place for bouldering with a ton of different bouldering problems to work on. Sadly, I wasn't very prepared for rock climbing. I had just come from work and grabbed a pair of old jeans to throw on instead of my high class dress pants. Unfortunately, said jeans obtained a rip in the crotchal area as I was stretching my leg out for a hold. I kept climbing anyway until my jeans ripped so badly that I could no longer climb. Next time, I'm leaving pants better suited to rock climbing in my car just in case of spontaneous climbing adventures. (Usually I am fully prepared for such an occasion. However, since purchasing my new car, I've been a little lax about restocking my car with adventuring necessities.) Evan and I still had fun anyway and at least I got a little bit of climbing in!



Once we were finished with Stone Gardens, Evan and I headed over to the Ballard Locks. I've been wanting to go there for some time and since it's just a block away from Stone Gardens, we walked over. There are some beautiful, botanical gardens you can also walk through. Once again, if I lived in Seattle, I'd come down to Ballard to run or read in the park. It was a nice little adventure to go see the Locks. Plus, there were some cool buildings that really reminded me of Europe. I loved it!



For those of you who don't know what the Locks are, essentially they are dams created in order for ships to go from the Puget Sound (ocean) to Lake Washington. Since the elevation is different between the two, the Locks help boats and ships to gain elevation and travel between the lake and the ocean. If you're interested you can find more details about the locks here.



This was a really unique bridge on the West side of the locks... I wish the picture wasn't so backlit.



Dam goes below the bridge we were standing on... that is Fremont through there.


Evan and I by the fish ladder... The fish ladder allows salmon smolt (small salmon) to go back to the ocean after they hatch. Yearly, salmon travel from the Puget Sound up to Lake Washington to make fish babies. There were some pretty big salmon in the underground observation tank. There are underground "windows" set up so you can see the salmon. It was interesting.


I loved this rose bush that just creeped up out of nowhere. This is next to a building on the middle of a man-made island structure. It reminded me of stories I've heard about roses or other flowers popping up between the sidewalks in NYC. Here's the rose up close...


And here's the rose next to the building.


We have a plethora of Canadian Geese here in Washington...


Evan looking hot as we walk across the Ballard Locks.


Me in the beautiful botanical gardens...


So, that's it! Those were some of our fun day/afternoon adventures! Oh, one more thing... after we left the Locks, Evan saw a struggling motorcyclist on the side of the road. Evan stopped and helped the guy get his bike going again by push-starting him. It was funny to watch them finding the closest hill and Evan running while pushing this guy down the hill on his motorcycle. Even though I was laughing, it still made me proud of Evan for serving random people he doesn't know, which actually happens a lot. He's a good guy!

Mawaige is what bwings us togetho today...

I have SO much to write about and have had SO little time in which to do it! Look for future blogs about a ferry ride adventure with Evan 1 1/2 weeks ago and how teacher meetings and preparing for school has been going for me.

For now, I'm going to post about my little sister's wedding of last week. I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but just haven't had the chance! Even though everything appeared to everyone else to settle down after her wedding, for me it all started picking up with school preparations and meetings. That's neither here nor there, however, because I want to talk about Zandy and Shane.



Zandy is one of the best people I've ever known in my life. She is just so honest and good. When she told us she was dating someone pretty serious, I thought that there was no way there could be someone good enough to deserve her. Well, Shane most certainly is! In fact, these two are PERFECT together! I'm so happy that my sister has found someone that she feels comfortable and happy with; someone who inspires her to be better. I couldn't be happier for her!

Because of this, Thursday was wonderful. I've never seen Zandy look so beautiful. Although I didn't get to partake in the sealing (Evan and I were stuck on kid duty watching 7 kids!), I did get to feel of the spirit of that sealing. It was such a great day. Enjoy the following pictures from her wedding day that I feel help capture some of the beauty and joy!

My older sister's kids... aren't they so precious? I love them!


My niece, Maria, and I... she's getting so tall! I'm wearing 3" heels and she's still catching up! (Side note: Evan's mom made both of our dresses. She worked long and hard making one practice dress and one final dress for Maria AND two different practice dresses before the final so it could be the absolutely right fit for the real thing. She's great!)


The group! And no... that is NOT me off to the right-hand side. That is Zandy's sister-in-law who is also my look-alike. Isn't it uncanny how alike we look?! We're even the same height, have the same shoe size, and weigh relatively the same. Weird.


Annie was having a hard time with Zandy getting married and the fact that she couldn't be in every picture! Here Shane came to the rescue...


And then his mom came to the rescue while we were taking our family pictures...


My four siblings and I... aren't we a cute bunch? Crazy that I'm the only sibling who got my parents' hair color and sassy curls.


The wedding party jumping for joy (minus my brother... he left early and didn't get to be a part of this picture). You can see that I clearly jumped the highest of all the girls... this is due to the fact that when I removed my white heels, my feet were so happy I couldn't stay on the groud.


Shane and Zandy... don't they look SO much alike? You should see them in person!


Throwing the garter... Zandy doesn't look too uncomfortable in the picture, although I think she was a little embarrassed. :)


Cleaning off the windshield so they could leave the reception!


All in all it was a great (although TIRING) day. Congratulations, Zandy and Shane!

Attitudes of Gratitude

I was thinking today how grateful I am to be a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. No matter what happens during my week, every Sunday I look forward to attending church. I love Sundays! I love how I get time to be at peace with myself and my life. I get time to forget about the pressing demands of the world and to focus on my Savior. I have time on Sunday to reevaluate my life in order to improve for the coming week. Sunday is such a great day to fill my spiritual reservoir, to remind me of what life’s all about, and to just help me to chill out. Today, thankfully, was no different.

Lately, life has been a little stressful with preparing for an entirely new teaching position as well as getting ready for my little sister’s wedding this week. Needless to say, tensions have been high around my house! It was such a relief to be able to go to church with my family and just enjoy feeling of Heavenly Father’s spirit. I actually went to church twice: once with my family and then once with my boyfriend to our normal church congregation. I feel like I gained MUCH needed spiritual insight today. I had been praying in my heart all week about ways to overcome some current issues. I felt like I received answers to those prayers today at church. I am incredibly blessed to be able to attend our church and feel of God’s love and peace for me. Additionally, I know that attending church also helps Evan to search for ways to improve himself as well. All in all, I want to say that I know that our church is true. There are many Christian denominations that have SO much truth, wisdom, and love… they’re just missing a few key pieces. I’m thankful for the knowledge I have that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I’m thankful for a God that blesses me in ways I cannot foretell nor imagine. I know that it is through His Spirit that I am able to gain a testimony of these truths.

Fahrvergnügen

Fahren = to drive, Vergnügen = joy of something,

Fahrvergnügen = JOY of driving

The above pictures are actually pictures of my "new" car. I've realized since I've purchased said car, that I really enjoy driving more than I used to! Owning this car makes me want to road trip or drive fast or all of the above. I'm really happy with this automobile. I know it's fancy and was way out of the price range I set for myself, but I have decided to like it and enjoy driving it. So there.

Onto other things... I went to a family reunion with Evan today. It was fun meeting his mom's side of the family. I also played badminton with Evan's dad for an hour and it was more of a workout than one might have imagined. I got a little sunburned on my face. I guess I've been too long out of the Hawaiian sun! The pictures below are after the reunion (and AFTER I found my camera lurking in Evan's messy truck). This is Evan's mom and I (his dad tried to sneak in the background of the picture too). I really love Evan's family and am excited to be a part of it someday!



I was talking with a coworker at my current job and she said that I should be grateful for a good boyfriend and a good family. She's 42 years old and has NEVER had a boyfriend and has only her mom. This made me SO sad for her and made me incredibly grateful for the life I've been able to live. Heavenly Father truly has blessed me to be able to travel, study, live in engaging cities, and be surrounded by wonderful people! I have been very blessed in my life!

Constructive Criticism

My family has done many wonderful things to help me in my life. I really look up to them for who they are and what they've done. They truly are great examples to me of Christ-like friends who love and accept all.

However, there is one hubris (fatal flaw) in my family (and I suspect in many families): Being critical. It's ironic that the same family that is incredibly open and kind to everyone in all walks of life, judges those whom they hold dear. Although I'd like to exclude myself from this category, I'm no different.



This week, as Evan was at our house, I realized how critical our family is. Evan kept trying to get me to be quiet and stop bossing my family about how they should improve their lives. And it hit me... I'm critical of my family. I guess we were raised that way. We have high standards of ourselves and our family. We want each other to be perfect and to do things as we see fit. And we don't hesitate a moment to think before we tell each other how we feel and what we think.

It has been subtly damaging to our family. I see its harsh effects in many ways. When the people I hold dearest are constantly telling me I'm "selfish" and that I "never help" (which may be true only 5% or less of the time) or calls me a "liar," it doesn't inspire morale. I feel as if my family doesn't even see the positive things that I've been able to achieve in my life. I've worked incredibly hard to graduate from college in the top of my class and to become a teacher that changes lives. Although I hear my family complimenting others, I rarely hear them complimenting me or buoying me up. Shouldn't they be the first to notice?

I guess a HUGE part of this problem happens when we're living together. It seems that when we live separate of each other, we can be best friends. However, when we all come together under the same roof, the criticality (yes, I made up that word) of our family sadly shines through. My parents wouldn't want their children to act like this.

So, what can I do? I've determined that I'm going to change myself. If others in my family decide to follow suit, then that is their decision. I have to learn to deal with this behavior and find the positive side of life. I need to cease criticizing my family on immaterial day-to-day activities. Viktor E. Frankl said, "When we cannot change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." That, good sir, is exactly what I'm going to do. And hope that my future family can be a positive one.

P.S. After writing all of this, my sisters and I ended up going to dinner together where we discussed this issue and made a plan of action to be more positive with each other. I'm SO grateful that they were on the same page in this realization. We're having a family meeting tomorrow to discuss this and to work on improving our family! :)

Tedious, Tenacious Traffic

I've come to realize during the past year that I encounter LESS traffic at 5 on a Friday than on 5 any other weekday. This all changed yesterday

I was driving home from work and got stuck in the WORST traffic! I literally drove about 0.2 mile or less in 30 minutes before turning around and driving back the way I'd come. See exhibit A below.



Unfortunately, the other way I chose to go home had concert traffic for an amphitheater near my town. Sadly, it took me 1 1/2 hours to get home when normally it takes HALF that much time in traffic. C'est la vie. Exhibit B below is of my favorite tree, which I happened to view on my alternate route home.



It's somehow ridiculous to me to understand how more cars on a highway produce "traffic," when if we had more intelligent drivers who knew NOT to go in the fast lane when they're going 20 under the speed limit, we'd actually have less cars clogging up the road.

I also think it's inefficient and pointless to speed up and pass someone when you're going to be at a red light or else encounter the traffic that was making the person being passed slow down in the first place. I find cars doing this constantly (and occasionally I become impatient and fall victim to this derisive behavior as well)! If only we could all travel at relatively the same speed and lessen traffic. I know, I know. Wishful thinking on my part.

At least the traffic situation in the greater Seattle area is MUCH better than in Hawaii! There was only a 2-lane road for about 20 miles of my commute. If it got backed up, better be ready to sit there for a while. At least I had the beauty of the ocean to solace me on my drive to work! See exhibit C below for one of the MANY stunning views on my way to work:



With gas prices and traffic problems, I'm incredibly grateful in a few weeks to be teaching only a few miles from where I live! Now I'll be able to ride my bike or walk to work more easily.