1/2 Marathon and Christmas Picture!

We finished the half marathon yay!! My time was 2 hrs and 3 mins! I was aiming for like 2:10, so I'm really happy with my time:) They put up some pictures on the Internet of me running....I copied them, but not going to order them so that's why they say "PROOF" on them haha. It was a great race! Supposedly downhill, but it felt flat most of the time until the end when there were a couple small hills. But they came at the worst time (like mile 12!) so I was exhausted. My other goal for the race was to run the whole time without walking, and when I saw those hills I was like "oh crap.." but I did it! I ran them! Even though I was going about walking pace, I still did it:) yay. Jen and her friend Alicia also ran the half marathon with really good times! After the race we all got free massages and then headed to a cupcake place. My cupcake was cinnamon-y like a snickerdoodle. DElicious !!!

Jen and I now are thinking of running a FULL marathon! Crazy right? ;) We've both never done a full, but there is an awesome one (Rock n Roll) in San Diego in June that we are considering. And it ends in Sea World! Sooo that's what we're lookin at...

Yesterday, we had our support people (Ann and Cece) over for a little Christmas party. It was fun! We did white elephant gifts (I got mine at Goodwill for $1) and had some cookies, chocolate, wine, you know the usual;) We also took our Christmas picture which we are going to send out! Here it is:

Casa Nacho Christmas!!!! I'm holding Alejandro, our new prickly pear cactus, Erin has antlers, Jen is holding a wreath (REAL!) that Jeff's parents sent us, and Jeff is holding a pretty stocking that Ann let us borrow! That wreath smells awesome btw.

So, that's us! All ready for Christmas! I'm leaving this Saturday for Guatemala! 3 more days!!!

Holidays!

It is time for the holidays!! For Thanksgiving I drove over to Palm Desert to hang out with Mom, Dad, Sean, Grandma and Grandpa! That was really fun :) Except then we went to Vegas for Sean's 21st bday and in the course of one night I lost my purse which had my phone, credit card, camera, and license in it....AND on the drive home I accidentally locked my keys in my car when I was 3 hours from Tucson. Soooooo I decided that I just fall apart when I leave Tucson hahha.
It was really nice to get back to Tucson and see my community members again and sleep in my bed! (not that couches aren't awesome;) I had only been gone for 5 days but it felt like a long time to be gone! For Christmas we are going to Guatemala for 2 weeks...that's gonna feel like forever I bet!!

In our house we are celebrating the Christmas season by handmaking cards and watching holiday romantic comedies:) the bestest! Jen and I have been making cards from construction paper, ribbon, and glue. I'm making cards for my co-workers with little peppermint chocolates on them~ we watched Love Actually and The Holiday. good stuff! We might decorate a little bit, but no Christmas tree for the house :( (too expensive!) But Erin and Jeff planted some things in our garden so that's exciting!!!

Work is going pretty well. For the 7th and 8th graders, I'm having them each research Christmas traditions in a different country. We're making Word documents with pictures, citing our sources, and hopefully printing them out when they are done...I'm low on color ink...but anyway....oh the 6th graders are making Christmas cards in Word. The younger kids (2nd-5th grade) all have blogs now and they are really excited about them! They love to comment on each other's blogs (usually things like "nice!" and "cool!" haha) And then the really little kids (pre-k thru 1st) are just mostly playing educational games that I find online for them. And doing some typing practice. So that's fun...

On Friday I got to be a chaperone for the first time in my life! We went to a high school with 17 K-4th graders to a Christmas party. It was held for those kids whose families are the most in need. They each got presents from Santa and got to pick out a present for someone in their family as well. It was really cute! The high schoolers also did crafts and played sports with the kids, sang choir songs and put on a few skits, as well as had a dance party with the kids! They were sooo excited when Santa finally came out to give them their presents! It was great too since there were so many high schoolers I really didn't have to do much. The kids were a little rowdy on the bus, but I decided to just play I-Spy with the 2nd graders sitting next to me instead of "shh-ing" them every two seconds. As long as they were sitting down, I just let the kids be kids.

I think the only real problem I'm having is that I'm a little too nice sometimes. I don't really want to punish the kids or be mean to them, so when they don't follow directions or chat with each other I just tell them to stop, but don't really do anything like yell or take their computers away. I think if I did take the computers away, they would just talk anyway. Soooo besides that, work is going well! They eventually listen to me :)

Only a week and a half left until I leave for Guatemala! Exciting!!!

Breathing Peace

Hello there again! Well last week was a short work week! Veteran's Day we all got off from work, so we decided to work on our garden! We borrowed a pick-up truck from Cece's dad and went around to different spots we found on craigslist for dirt, pots, and pallets for the compost. We also stopped by Ace Hardware to get potting soil, top soil and manure (we kept saying "that's horse shit!") haha. We constructed a compost that's right under our kitchen window, so we can just open the window and throw compost out into it. That's right, we're that bad-ass! We tied the pallets together with old plastic shopping bags. Doing the REUSE part!

(<---me+compost) On Saturday, we had some more time to work on our garden. When we went to actually dig it though, it proved to be more difficult that expected! The ground here is close to rock hard so it has to be pick-axed first, then dug up. It was very taxing on the pick-axers (I stuck to the shovel most the time, because I learned that I suck at using the pick-ax!) After digging, mixing in soil and manure and covering, we ended up with a garden that is about the size of a grave (it kinda looks like one too....oh well!)

<--Me, Jeff, Jen, and Erin with our garden (compost is behind me, kitchen window right above!)


Saturday night, to get ready for Sunday, we went to a gathering at Southside Presbyterian church (where the Sanctuary movement started!). And that is where I saw Father Matt! It was good to see him again and we talked a bit! He got to meet my community members as well! They had a free lasagna dinner and then a get together that included singing, prayer, reading and tai chi! I really liked the tai chi. Never having done it before, I didn't know what to expect, but I really liked the whole "breathing peace" idea. Coolness. So, what we were preparing for was Sunday when we drove to Fort Huachuca to protest torture and war. It was my first protest in a while, and definitely the biggest I had been to. There were about 100 of us protesting together in song and prayers for peace. Very awesome.

On the other side, there were counter-protesters who were very rude! They swore to us, told us to leave the USA and move to Afghanistan or Iraq. They kept telling us "torture works!" and shouting "USA! Support the Troops!" I don't think that promoting peace is anti-American, but they seemed to think so! Anyway, it was a very interesting experience to say the least!
Now, I'm on my last full week before Thanksgiving break. Next week I'm working Mon-Wed with a half day Wednesday and then driving 6 hrs to Palm Desert for a family Thanksgiving! woo! This week so far has been a good teaching week. I had a great class with the 2nd graders, teaching them computer terms and they had to search for them in an online picture search. Overall, things are going pretty well!! :)

Halloween/Dia de Los Muertos!

Heeeyyyy! So our Halloween weekend here was really fun! On Friday night we went over to the Mennonite volunteers' house in costumes! I was a unicorn (child's costume), Erin was Bob the Builder, Jen was a cow and Jeff was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (yes he wore a blue dress!!) Unfortunately, Jen has all the pictures from that night and hasn't posted them on Facebook so I don't have them, but they are on her blog if you want to see (here) Saturday and Sunday of that weekend were pretty lazy days. We slept over at the Mennonite house Friday night and ended up staying a lot of Saturday just hanging out and watching movies (Anchorman!)

This weekend was the Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) parade. One of the two houses from Phoenix came down to stay the weekend and that was really fun! There are 5 of them and they all really cool people (and funny!) On Saturday we went on a hike in Sabino Canyon to 7 falls (more like little ponds, but that's ok!) I took like one picture of it on my phone -- wow I need to get better with pictures here! Anyway, um that hike was really great! I love nature, it's so nice to get out of the city! Even though Tucson isn't a big city, it's still concrete and cars I like to get away from!

On Sunday was the parade! People dress up as skeletons and parade down 4th ave. through downtown. We actually didn't dress up, but some of our friends did. Even though we weren't dressed up, we still walked in most of the parade! At the end there is a huge show/concert/acrobatic thing. It was hard to see so we went to a nearby parking garage to watch from there. There was a giant paper urn that they burnt and a big crane with a jellyfish type thing and people hanging off...craziness! I got a couple pics of that on my phone too so I'll upload those soonish! The people we were marching with for a bit (Casa Mariposa) made a video of the parade (here)
So, yeah it was great. They made a big thing with butterflies on it-one for each person who died crossing the US-Mexico border this year.

So, those were the last two weekends. Other stuff that's going on-Nora, our site coordinator, is visiting us for a week from Santa Clara. She meets with each of us and our supervisors, then we have a retreat day on Friday. Also, Veteran's Day is Thursday, so I've got a three day work week!
And, our house has started to play this awesome board game called Settlers of Catan. It sounds kinda silly, collecting resources like sheep and wheat, then creating settlements and cities. It's kind of a cross between Risk and Monopoly, but it's really cool!

Yeppp that's my life right now! I've been running to train for the half marathon, but I fell on our hike on Saturday and when I ran today my leg still hurt :( but hopefully it feels better soon and I can run more than 2.5 miles like I did today! haha. It's also actually getting cold in Tucson! The high today was like 69! crazzyyy

End of October!?!

October is coming to an end--Halloween is on Sunday!!! Looking back on the month, I have definitely done a lot and at times it felt really slow moving, but now that the month is basically over, I'm thinking, where did the time go? Last weekend on Saturday I was walking back home after a concert at Plush with Jen and I was thinking--wow I don't want this year to end! It needs to go slower!!! But then there are those days that you just want to end--like any time I have to teach the 3rd graders *shudder*

I also still wish I knew my housemates better than I do. We did start having a good convo during Spirituality night on Sunday. But it feels the opposite of Freshman year in college where I felt like I knew everyone so well after a month. I do feel like I know my community pretty well, but sometimes I think--wow I really don't know that much about them. We have only known each other since August. I should probably make more of an effort, but sometimes after work it's nice to just hang out and talk or read a book. (I finished the Dragon Tattoo books btw!! very good~!!!)

So anyway, life goes on. Saturday we tailgated the U of A vs Washington game with some ACE people, which was an interesting expeience. I'm definitely glad I didn't go to a huge state school. It's kinda fun for the whole football atmosphere but I think that would get old really fast.I've also found (from what I've seen) that a lot of the U of A girls are a lil skanky. Jen was joking about wearing a red dress to the tailgate and when we got there we not only saw girls in short red dresses, but also girls in booty shorts and cut up t-shirts and so on. I mean, every school has got some girls like that, but this school seems to have more...?

Oh and I've decided to run the Tucson Half Marathon in December! I'm out of shape, but slowly getting back into it. My roommates think I'm a natural runner because I can run 4 miles without training. But that's completely opposite to how I think because I compare myself to my mama and sista who are super good at running--and me--not so much! haha. I did make it 4 miles yesterday with average pace at 9:48 so that was pretty good after only running once in the last week! I'm starting to run after work now which is nice (and the temperature has cooled off enough that I can actually do that!)

Oh some pictures from JVC orientation are up on Flickr at this link (Click)
This one is of the Santa Clara University group!
This is the whole group! I'm in the back mid/left
This is our CASA!

So, yeah. Oh and I got an aweessommmee package from the parentals yesterday that included candy, cookies and bike lights which are key because we can now ride in the dark~!!! (still need a 4th bike, but will hopefully get one soon!)

Peace Out

Meghan's Visit! and Reading!

Meghan and Michelle came to visit me two weekends ago! It was really fun! There were here from Thursday to Sunday (Oct 7th-10)! Michelle got two huge flower tattoos on her shoulder--so Tucson! Meghan took a test at U of A on Friday and then we had the rest of the weekend for fun! We went to Tucson Meet Yourself, which is a festival of food and music (mostly food!) from around the world! I had Thai food and churros the first day we went and Somalian food the second time! There were lots of foods but some didn't have vegetarian options so I had to be a lil picky!! It was great having them both visit, but also a bit strange! Meghan has known me for so much longer than my roommates (4 years, but still...haha) and she's a friend from the real world, not this new JVC world. But when the two worlds collided I think we still had a good time :)

Now---my life is consumed by these addicting books! I got The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from the library because I had heard it was good. Well, IT IS!!! I wanted to get the second one, but all copies were checked out! Luckily, Erin's Mom is a fan of the books and sent all three to her daughter! Which meant when Erin was reading the first one, I could read the second! Now, I'm reading the third and final installment (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) and Erin is on the 2nd book. WE ARE OBSESSED!! I'm reading it during my lunch break, after school, before I go to bed....all the time! And the books are long too--it's kinda like my obsessions with Harry Potter and Twilight, but Harry Potter is the best of all of them (duh)!

Annyywaayy when I'm not reading I'm teaching and tutoring! I've had a good time mostly with tutoring. I especially like tutoring the two 1st grade girls, Julie and Katarina. Katarina is such a cutie I just want to take her home with me! (Oops--that's a joke...I'm not into kidnapping I swear;) And Mya, the 5th grader I tutor in math is doing really well also. I'm teaching her how to do long division. She's new to the school (like me!) and didn't learn division at her other school. She's very bright and learns quickly, which is a good change of pace from most of the kids I'm tutoring who need extra help for other reasons. I changed my time of tutoring the two 4th graders, Kristofer and Selena, to right before computers. But now they have to miss recess to be tutored, which is kinda good because they aren't missing out on class, but I also feel bad that I'm making them miss recess! Oh well!

We've also been missing the Internet at school for a couple weeks now. The router broke, and I'm trying to come up with creative ways for the kids to use Word and Paint. This week, the middle schoolers are doing something called Musical Computers that I found online. They start a story all the same then add to it, rotate computers, fix what the other person wrote, write some more, rotate again and so on. I had them start with "When I left school yesterday, I saw an alien in the parking lot." The kids had a good time writing and sharing their stories. I heard from both 7th and 8th grade that they had fun and would like to do this again sometime. It also was a good practice for typing skills and learning how to correct spelling and grammar on Word, so it worked out well! It's harder to find something for the younger kids to do without the Internet. They get bored of typing pretty fast. I am having them draw and also use a program I downloaded called Tux Typing. It's a typing game where a penguin eats fish with letters falling from the sky!

So, things are going pretty well here. We're getting to know our other volunteer friends better which is nice as well! Yay friends! And my roommates are super cool people so that's good too! It's great to have people to come home to and talk about my day if I've had a particularly hard time teaching or something! Sharing is caring! It can be fun! ;)

Birthday Fun and Tutoring!

Heyyooo! So my birthday was yesterday! It was pretty cool. My day started out with the morning prayer at school. Each day we all line up by class (ok I'm not a teacher of a specific class so I just stand on the side) and the kids/teachers say the Pledge of Allegiance in English and then Spanish. After that, they do a prayer. At the beginning of each week, they do a prayer for the students whose birthdays are that week. Only this time, they included me too! So, I stood up there with a 1st grader and 6th grader and the rest of the school (all 200 of them) said a prayer for us! It was nice. Then of course all the kids knew it was my birthday so they would shout out "Happy Birthday Miss Devlin!" throughout the day and a few kids even came up to give me hugs! :) Aw, so cute!

I went to go teach the Pre-K in the morning and after the class was over they all sang happy birthday to me! To take the computers over to the building where the Pre-K is, I have to take two trips so on my way back, when I walked in they were having a dance party! It was so funny to see these little 4 yr olds dancing to pop music all together hahaha!

I also got some spontaneous singing from a few of the grades. I felt bad in the 4th grade because I went in to just get the two kids I am tutoring, but the whole class stopped the lesson to sing me happy birthday (and then a round of "may the good Lord bless you!") But the teacher was singing along, so it was all right! But when they started to do the "cha cha cha"s, she stopped them!

When I took the computers to the 7th grade after lunch, a few of the girls decided to write "Happy Birthday Miss Devlin" on the board in markers and draw balloons and streamers. Then 3 of the girls sang me a birthday song on the spot. It was funny! For the lesson that day, I had the kids make a party invitation in Microsoft Word to their own birthday parties. It went really well! It's sometimes hard with the middle schoolers to get them to focus, but they were mostly in tune to the assignment yesterday. Maybe they were just being good because it was my birthday?

I also started tutoring this week. I'm tutoring 5th-8th grade in Math, 4th in reading, a few 3rd graders in Math and a couple 1st graders in reading. I had to brush up on my elementary math, but it's a lot easier than I remember it being in school. When the kids ask me "Are you good at Math?" I have to remember to say "Yes!" instead of my usual "No..." because I must be good if I'm tutoring them right??? Well I've got up to 8th grade math down anyway, so to them, I'm good at Math!

At the end of the day yesterday, since it was also the Feast of St. Francis, the kids all got popsicles and pencils! I was the one handing out the pencils (all sparkly!) and there was always a crowd trying to figure out the best pencil for them. One of the 7th grade girls was joking around with me about how important it is to get the right pencil and she said "If you get the wrong one, it might write French!" haha I thought that was hilarious!

The kids crack me up most of the time! Last week, one of the 4th graders (Angelica) asked me "Are you a Judas?" haha. She meant a Jesuit I think because Mr. Chavez was telling his class that I'm a Jesuit Volunteer! Also, this one little preschooler, I pretty much see her every morning and she always goes "Hi computer teacher!" So cute! And another one of the 4th graders (Tiffany) gave me a note with a heart in it the 2nd week and later on told me she cut her hair like mine! (which was funny because it looks nothing like mine) And then there is the 1st grade girl that likes to say "Yum Yum!" to me and point to my tummy hahaha. They are just so funny!

I'm really enjoying teaching more than I thought I would! Especially with the one-on-one tutoring, I feel like I am imparting knowledge and making a difference!