Karen ♥'s Korea

Yesterday was a very full day of helping the kindergartners with making their Mothers Day cards. Miss Garcia asked me to stay with them all day this time so they would all be done. After I helped a bit with Pinedale Elementary's annual Salsa Festival. The school's biggest community event. By the end of the day I was so tired and sunburned I just got home and knocked out. The next day I got up early and was watching travel shows all morning on PBS. This made me even more excited for my Korean adventure. Speaking of Korea I am one step closer today... I received my Korean Visa in the mail! I have permission now to stay and work in Korea for the year. The next step is to let my school know and they will let me know about what flight I will take to South Korea! Today I was able to spend some quality time with family. I went to my nephew's baseball game and hang out with my sister for the first time in weeks she has been busy with finals just around the corner. Most of my friends are still in college and are busy in their studies. So pretty much this is really happening and happening quick. Pretty much all the paperwork on my end is done so All I have to worry about now is figure out what things I need to take with me to Korea and tying up lose ends in my last few weeks here in Fresno.

"Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do."
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

It's super hot tonight so I will keep this short and sweet. I've been very stressed out this week with a lot of different things on my mind not including having to do my brother's research paper for his English class (I can use the money). Also I am helping out with the Annual Pinedale Salsa Festival and my knee is killing me. Miss Garcia the Kindergarten teacher could tell. She asked me "Are you Hurt?" I said "No". I don't know why I lied. Anyway 2 positives for this week are: I sent off my visa documents to the Korean consulate in San Francisco and my laptop was delivered straight to me this time . Now that small detail of paying for it......

Well I am now into my second week as an in-class volunteer in Miss Garcia's Kindergarten class at Pinedale Elementary. And I have to say I have warmed up to the kids quite a bit and I think the kids have warmed up to me as well. I was just so pleased when one of the students Aiden S. (there are 2 Aidens in Miss Garcia's class haha) came up to me and said "Miss. Gonzalez I think you are a good teacher" I told him "Aww thanks Aiden I'm not really a teacher.....but thank you!"..... haha his little comment gave me a boost of confidence. And some of the girls see me as a good friend now. I mostly work with them one-on-one practicing their counting to 100 or their rhyming. There are 26 students in that Kindergarten class and I almost have all their names memorized. Miss Garcia was telling the class on Monday how they will be part of a End-of-the-Year performance for their parents where they will sing some songs and have some snacks I guess although she didn't say it...it will be their Kindergarten graduation ceremony. I hope I get Invited!! :D

Today Miss Garcia had me be in charge of her class's first painting activity of the year. She has been so busy getting the students ready for testing she has not had the opportunity to do one all year she also had me correct the students math work. It was sure a juggling act making sure the kids were getting the hang of watercolors and how to properly paint a rainbow and at the same time correct the class's papers. All in all a fun day.

So as for my laptop I called Tigerdirect to check on the status of my trace investigation and they said that it was concluded and well I highly doubt they found out anything about the whereabouts of the lost Laptop, but they said that they will send me a replacement right away. I expect it (this time I hope) to arrive to me by next week.

I also received an e-mail from my school with my Visa Issuance Number! I can now begin the visa application process.

Today I started my first day of in-class job shadowing experience at Pinedale Elementary. I had a nice first day at first I was a little intimidated by the little Kindergartners they were just staring at me. I thought they were thinking "Why is she here?" But they were all very nice though. Their teacher, Miss. Garcia was very nice she was just going through the motions of the morning. The kids started their morning reading, each one has their own box of books they try to read through as much as they can for 10 minutes. Then after that Miss. Garcia then tells the students what the menu choices for lunch were that day. She then put them on the board and took a headcount of who wanted what. After that it was story time for the whole class and that was where she introduced me to her kids. I sat behind the kids on the floor Indian-style just like them, taking notes as Miss. Garcia was giving me tips and information on how she runs her class. As I was sitting there I noticed my feet kept falling asleep as I was sitting Indian-style. I thought man I haven't realized that it gets tougher to sit like this as you get older, I don't remember as a Kid having to to keep adjusting my legs hahaha. Miss Garcia gave me some quick tips on how to discipline her kids. She had a chart called a Behavior Key and had the colors of a stoplight Green, Yellow, Red. Each student starts off green but if they lose focus they go to yellow if they demonstrate good behavior they can go back to green but if they mess up again they go to red and there is no going back to yellow or green from red. If the students go to red they go to a time-out area that she calls the "Thinkery" where they are supposed to think about what they did. If they have to go to the thinkery more than once they are not allowed to participate in the fun activities held on Fridays. This kind of practice sounded like something I think I would like to use in my classes.

The students then had a recess period of about 15 minutes, then after recess they had writing time where they had to write a short story of something they did recently that had to have a Beginning, Middle, and an End. While they were writing their stories Miss Garcia was testing her students individually on their math skills. She told me the states' requirements for Kindergartners standards had recently changed they before they had to know how to count to 30 and that's it now they are required to know how to count to 100! That's good and all but she says that the tougher requirements have cut into arts and crafts time. Sometimes she has to save those fun type of projects for her Fun Friday Activities only . I was helping some of the students on their math packets, it was fun helping them review how to add and subtract. I was so into it with one student, that she or I had not realized that Miss Garcia and the rest of the class were all ready to leave for lunch. That was my cue to scram. Overall I had a nice first day, but I gotta come up with some good questions for her...I always have a tough time coming up with questions to ask.

Also this past weekend I went with a great group of people up to Yosemite National Park, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and just an hour and a half drive from Fresno. I took a short hike up to Vernal Falls the lowest (in elevation) waterfall in the park and let me tell you it was HARD for me at least I am sooo out of shape :/ But it was a beautiful sight although I couldn't quite make it to the top of the falls. It was still just so nice being there surrounded by so much natural beauty that I felt blessed to live so close to a place that people come from far and wide to see.

See photos from the trip here ===>Yosemite Trip Slideshow

This is just a quick update on what has happened since I shipped of all my documents to Korea. The whole process was crazy fast actually. Early Monday morning I received an e-mail from the school with my official contract attached. I then had all my documents shipped via Fedex International Economy Service that same afternoon. It arrived at my school not 2 days later on Wednesday afternoon (their Thursday) wow talk about fast! I'm glad my paperwork got in their hands safely and quickly.

I can't say that about my Laptop though. I ordered it last week on Tigerdirect.com It was being shipped to me via UPS and was supposed to be delivered to me Wednesday. I checked the tracking on it several times that day and saw that it was still in transit. I then decided to take a shower around noon. Afterwards I went to my computer to check the tracking again and saw that it was delivered and thought Okay! Maybe it was left outside my door. So I go to check and there are no packages in sight I look all around the perimeter of my unit nothing. I live in a duplex so I check my neighbors...they're gone and no package. I go back to the computer to double check the delivery confirmation and it said that the package was left with a woman..... the thing is that woman was definitely not me.

I was so mad I was feeling a headache coming on in the back of my head. I called UPS right away and told them my situation they said they couldn't do anything about it and to contact the shipper (tigerdirect) to initiate an investigation or what they call a trace. I didn't call that same day since I was still holding out hope that my package would show up. Needless to say I was pissed.

This morning I called tigerdirect's customer service line and had a trace of my package initiated. They told me if they come up with nothing in 8-10 days I can get a full refund or get the product replaced. So I'm hoping this company can follow through with the investigation and their promise. Man it's just that it makes me mad that the UPS delivery man just drops it off with someone without good verification of the who the person is. I'm sure it happens more often than we think. Someone out there is enjoying my laptop for free.....bastards.

Also today I contacted a good friend of mine from the neighborhood who I've known since I moved here over 12 years ago and asked about possibly doing a job shadow of one of the teachers at my local elementary school. I wanted to do this at my brother's suggestion. That way I get a sense of what I'm getting into once I go to Korea. I got a response that there is a Kindergarten teacher at the school needing help. I am so excited and I hope this experience will give me more confidence in the classroom and some great lesson plan ideas. We'll see how it goes

I wan't my laptop man! Karma is gonna get the person who took it knowing it doesn't belong to them.