I went to visit friemds and family in California. It was a great trip. I rented a car, not wanting to put more miles on my truck. I am very proud of myself and drove it all by myself. Kelsie was in the car but I think she slept for most of the drive down and she couldn't help since you have to be 25 to drive a rental car. On the way down I left a lot later then I had planned so I stoppped in Auburn, CA and got a hotel and slept for a few hours.
The next morning we got up and drove the rest of the way to Merced. I went to see my friends Shawn & Cassie. It was so good to see them. The first night their daughter Rieli was having her birthday slumber party so I was helping with the cooking and what I was needed to do. The only hiccup was that in the afternoon after I got to their house I laid down for a nap. When I woke up I found I had been bitten by a spider or something and had a major allergic reaction. My lip got huge like 3 or 4 times it's normal size and I had a huge spot on my shoulder that had got big and hard to the touch. So I probably wasn't a ton of help. The next day the swelling hadn't gotten better and the one on my shoulder was quit a bit bigger and it was very warm to the touch. I tried going to Urgent Care so I went back to the house ate breakfast took some Benadryl and went to bed. The swelling finally started to go down and by Sunday I was looking pretty normal. It was so nice to just relaxe for a few days.
Monday night I headed over the hill to Hollister. I stayed with Nick & Brandi. Monday night we had Super T for dinner, they make the best burritos ever!!!!!!!! Tuesday Brandi had to work so I went to the beach with my friend Monica and a friend of Kelsie's went with us. I truly believe that the beach is a small slice of Heaven on Earth. It was overcast and so there weren't a lot of people. It was overcast for about an hour and then the sun came out. We were able to sit and visit, and just listen to the waves. It was GREAT!
Tuesday after noon I was able to visit my cousin Aaron and his wife Allison and their 2 kids. It was a short visit but so nice to see them.
Wednesday I went and got a pedicure. I love them and don't get them very often, for lunch we went to In-n-out Kelsie's FAVORITE. Then did a little shopping. Really just a relaxing no rush day.
Thursday was time to say bye to Nick and Brandi and headed to Las Banos to see my friend Sheri. We had a great but short visit. I went back over to Shawn & Cassie's, spent the night and left first thing Friday morning to start the drive back to Idaho.
To me that is pretty close to a perfect vacation: friends and family, no rush to get somewhere and doing things as I feel.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
My background check: I found out that the FBI can't do anything for me, they are 12 to 14 weeks out & there is nothing to try & hurry things along. I found out that I can use an FBI channeler. So on the 8th I went and got my finger prints done again and got them sent overnight to a place in Oregan. On Tuesday I got a call that I can not have it delivered to a third party. (I was thinking no one will be home and it has robe signed for). So I filled out the paper again and this time I sent it 2 day to save a little money. Late Thursday I got another call you can't have white out on the paper. I didn't know this. The overnight service was all ready out for Thursday, so I got the paper filled out again and took it in to overnight so it would go out Friday. So, I'm crossing my fingers that I will not get anymore phone calls. Once they have all of my correct paperwork it will take 2 weeks to complete my background check. So now I wait, then I'll start the authentication process.
Friday, June 5, 2015
WOW! It's been a long time since I have updated. It really has been slow until the last few weeks, then it seemed like everything happened at once.
So backing up a bit. I got a couple more emails from AIS. More curriculum information, the hardest thing for me has been to not start looking over it too much. Also, there is so much to take in that I haven't done a lot. I have been using the blog the school as set up for new teachers to ask current teachers questions and I was told not to worry too much about it to look over a couple of things but that I would get full training when I was in Kuwait.
ABC Countdown, started on April 29th.I love doing an ABC Countdown. I have refined it over the years but I like to have activities that have little for parents to do and are easy to do and don't take a lot of extra work. Things like Awesome Art Day & I pull out all my different art supplies and they make whatever. I do do a few that do require extra work and time.
This year the main one I did was on K day (May 13th) we learned about Kuwait. This came about because the news was getting out that I would be leaving at the end of the year and the students were asking questions. I hadn't said a whole lot about what I was doing but I would answer direct questions honestly.I made a power point and had asked a few teachers in Kuwait for ideas for pictures videos etc.The power point showed a little about what it looked like in Kuwait, some of the animals they have, I showed them what some of the people wear (the people who dress in the more traditional clothing), that they speak & write Arabic. My students loved learning about Kuwait and they were so excited to see that the soccer field is on the roof of the school. Thanks to a teacher in Kuwait named Abby who teaches Grade 1, my students wrote questions they had and Abby had her students in Kuwait answer them for us. My students loved it and I loved that they got to learn about a country that is very different from ours but the kids have the some of the same things and some of the same likes.
May 20th
I got my flight itinerary.
I leave Idaho Falls on August 12th at 1:30pm get to St. Paul MN at 4:45pm Central
Leave MS at 7:30pm Central and land in Amsterdam at 10:40am on the 13th
Leave Amsterdam at 2:30pm and arrive in Kuwait at 8:30pm
Very excited to get this information and know what the travel will be (other than exhausting).
I had a yard sale on May 23rd. I was so not ready for it. I had a few friends help me set it up. I did pretty good not as good as I would have liked (but you never do at yard sales). So mom and I will have another one this summer. The day was pretty good, originally the weather had predicted rain all day, it held of until a little after 1:00 but then it really came down. So we just threw everything in the house, which made it even messier. Since I did sell Kelsie & I's bed we started sleeping at my mom's house. I had to be out of the house by the 30th. I ended up having to take off the 28th & 29th to get it done. I spent all day on the 28th packing and moving everything to mom's (unfortunately it is all in her garage and I need to go through all of it still). The 29th I cleaned (I never knew that it would take so long to clean such a little house), I had a few ladies from my ward come in and help. I did make a couple of decisions after that weekend:
1. I hate moving
2. I hate deep cleaning
3. I am going to hire a maid while in Kuwait and one that cooks too.
June 1st I have been waiting for June 1st and took it off. This is the day to start my VISA stuff to go to Kuwait. I went and got my finger prints done and after confusion finally figured out what to do with them. The only concern the FBI is 12 to 14 weeks out on getting Criminal Background checks done. BIG concern since I am suppose to be leaving in 10 (at the time) weeks. Of course this all happened about 3:30pm so everything back East is closed. So on my lunch on Tuesday the 2nd I called and talked to this nice lady who listened to my plight and said get the finger prints there, call back and they'd see what they could do. So my friend Katie came to my rescue and took the prints in to be mailed overnight. I waited until Friday and called again. This time I got a mean and horrible woman who spoke to me with an attitude from the moment she picked up the phone. She even started yelling at me. I asked her to please stop being rude and yelling and of course for a minute she got worst. I finally said, "Look I am asking these questions based on what I was told on Tuesday when I called." She calmed down and told me to find out if Kuwait would take a background check that was done through and FBI approved channeler. So I sent an email and will wait to hear back. I did start looking at where the channelers are most are back East but there are a couple that don't say where but before I contact them I want to find out if they even will be accepted or what they want me to do.
Today June 5th! The last day of school.
This was a very bitter sweet day for me. I actually cried. I have never cried on the last day of school before. I think that may be because I always new I'd still get to see my students the next year and I have a couple of really good friends that I am really going to miss.
The day went way too fast. It seemed almost like my students got there and then it was time to send them home. I even had a couple of my boy students ask for hugs. One asked for a group hug and that was absolutely wonderful. I finished cleaning my room we had a great staff potluck and am now and my grandparents watching grandpa for the weekend. I was given some very thoughtful and fun gifts, I especially loved the gifts that the students wrote the notes to me. I am really going to miss this group of kids.
So backing up a bit. I got a couple more emails from AIS. More curriculum information, the hardest thing for me has been to not start looking over it too much. Also, there is so much to take in that I haven't done a lot. I have been using the blog the school as set up for new teachers to ask current teachers questions and I was told not to worry too much about it to look over a couple of things but that I would get full training when I was in Kuwait.
ABC Countdown, started on April 29th.I love doing an ABC Countdown. I have refined it over the years but I like to have activities that have little for parents to do and are easy to do and don't take a lot of extra work. Things like Awesome Art Day & I pull out all my different art supplies and they make whatever. I do do a few that do require extra work and time.
This year the main one I did was on K day (May 13th) we learned about Kuwait. This came about because the news was getting out that I would be leaving at the end of the year and the students were asking questions. I hadn't said a whole lot about what I was doing but I would answer direct questions honestly.I made a power point and had asked a few teachers in Kuwait for ideas for pictures videos etc.The power point showed a little about what it looked like in Kuwait, some of the animals they have, I showed them what some of the people wear (the people who dress in the more traditional clothing), that they speak & write Arabic. My students loved learning about Kuwait and they were so excited to see that the soccer field is on the roof of the school. Thanks to a teacher in Kuwait named Abby who teaches Grade 1, my students wrote questions they had and Abby had her students in Kuwait answer them for us. My students loved it and I loved that they got to learn about a country that is very different from ours but the kids have the some of the same things and some of the same likes.
May 20th
I got my flight itinerary.
I leave Idaho Falls on August 12th at 1:30pm get to St. Paul MN at 4:45pm Central
Leave MS at 7:30pm Central and land in Amsterdam at 10:40am on the 13th
Leave Amsterdam at 2:30pm and arrive in Kuwait at 8:30pm
Very excited to get this information and know what the travel will be (other than exhausting).
I had a yard sale on May 23rd. I was so not ready for it. I had a few friends help me set it up. I did pretty good not as good as I would have liked (but you never do at yard sales). So mom and I will have another one this summer. The day was pretty good, originally the weather had predicted rain all day, it held of until a little after 1:00 but then it really came down. So we just threw everything in the house, which made it even messier. Since I did sell Kelsie & I's bed we started sleeping at my mom's house. I had to be out of the house by the 30th. I ended up having to take off the 28th & 29th to get it done. I spent all day on the 28th packing and moving everything to mom's (unfortunately it is all in her garage and I need to go through all of it still). The 29th I cleaned (I never knew that it would take so long to clean such a little house), I had a few ladies from my ward come in and help. I did make a couple of decisions after that weekend:
1. I hate moving
2. I hate deep cleaning
3. I am going to hire a maid while in Kuwait and one that cooks too.
June 1st I have been waiting for June 1st and took it off. This is the day to start my VISA stuff to go to Kuwait. I went and got my finger prints done and after confusion finally figured out what to do with them. The only concern the FBI is 12 to 14 weeks out on getting Criminal Background checks done. BIG concern since I am suppose to be leaving in 10 (at the time) weeks. Of course this all happened about 3:30pm so everything back East is closed. So on my lunch on Tuesday the 2nd I called and talked to this nice lady who listened to my plight and said get the finger prints there, call back and they'd see what they could do. So my friend Katie came to my rescue and took the prints in to be mailed overnight. I waited until Friday and called again. This time I got a mean and horrible woman who spoke to me with an attitude from the moment she picked up the phone. She even started yelling at me. I asked her to please stop being rude and yelling and of course for a minute she got worst. I finally said, "Look I am asking these questions based on what I was told on Tuesday when I called." She calmed down and told me to find out if Kuwait would take a background check that was done through and FBI approved channeler. So I sent an email and will wait to hear back. I did start looking at where the channelers are most are back East but there are a couple that don't say where but before I contact them I want to find out if they even will be accepted or what they want me to do.
Today June 5th! The last day of school.
This was a very bitter sweet day for me. I actually cried. I have never cried on the last day of school before. I think that may be because I always new I'd still get to see my students the next year and I have a couple of really good friends that I am really going to miss.
The day went way too fast. It seemed almost like my students got there and then it was time to send them home. I even had a couple of my boy students ask for hugs. One asked for a group hug and that was absolutely wonderful. I finished cleaning my room we had a great staff potluck and am now and my grandparents watching grandpa for the weekend. I was given some very thoughtful and fun gifts, I especially loved the gifts that the students wrote the notes to me. I am really going to miss this group of kids.
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