what a day...

just a few (okay 40) new photos!

"what's up, my homies?"

i have been teaching some of my students slang and i really love it when they talk like FOB gangstas. 

new photos are from my birthday party, although the whole day was really a party.

the whole day was a blessing. i was a bit disappointed that it was raining, but i had so much to do that it didn't really end up being a big deal. and at one point i actually had to run in the rain while wearing a dress...and it was wonderful.

my students blessed me in countless ways.

three different classes got me a total of three cakes during the day. luckily, high schoolers are equally as good at devouring said cakes as they are of providing them. the best presents were letters from students. their words, although limited in their english expression, mean so much.

i definitely wasn't going to do regular classes on my birthday, so i instead presented them with a challenge - make a list of 100 things they want to do before they die. try it. it is actually much more difficult than you might expect. to help inspire them, i showed a power point of my own list in each class. one of my favorites, noah, came up to me really excited and said she could help me complete some of them. [okay, okay, so i shouldn't have favorites. i have about seventy. it's a problem.] however, noah is a special girl and i'm really, really sad that her last day was on friday. she is leaving to pursue music...she is incredibly talented at violin and piano.

so the whole day was fun (and i made every class no-bake cookies which they devoured) and such a whirlwind. some highlights include sammy teacher bringing all of 10-1 into the teacher's office to sing happy birthday and my homeroom throwing a little party after school, complete with balloons and cake and candles. the second cake, given by my homeroom, they wouldn't eat any of and they made me take the whole thing home. on top of that, i had a box of letters from them, two unopened box-gifts, and stacked on top of all of these was a party hat from my homeroom. just imagine what it must have looked like to see me walking home down the street with this stack...in the rain. wearing a dress.

the after-school party (as in the photos) was almost the entire 9-2 class in my apartment. it was hilarious how crowded and chaotic those few hours were, but it was indescribably wonderful to be surrounded by so much joy with such wonderful people. i make the whole-wheat pizza crust the day before, but the students brought toppings, drinks, ice cream and cake and then actually only about 5 of them did all of the preparation, cooking, AND clean-up, which was completely unexpected. i hardly had to clean up at all after all 15 or so of them left! we played games, took a ton of photos (one of the funniest things - they all took pictures of my room when they first came in), ate a lot, sang, and made a gross drink concoction as punishment for losing a game...i would say it was a successful evening.

blessings came from home as well in the form of packages and cards.

as i told my students, i fully expected to be homesick on my birthday, but i honestly didn't even have time to think about such things.

needless to say, i am so torn about leaving them come september. there are so many things that drive me crazy about the school itself, but these students are definitely not part of it. pray for direction!

what a day.