still no pictures

but I will hopefully have them soon. This week also went well at school. I am trying really hard to get what every student needs to succeed. Its a challenging job and I like it. I see no point in lazy teachers. I get my first full paycheck tomorrow....Yay! It will be enough to pay rent, bills, and hopefully pay my mom back the rest of my rent from last month. Since I am just starting to get paid I am still struggling a little bit but after 6 months I think I will be doing fine and supporting my self 100%.

This weekend Peter, my roomie Kati and I went to see "Burn After Reading." We went to a really late showing and I kept falling asleep but it was good. Like he said on his blog we saw Josh from Drake and Josh in the parking lot so that was cool. I'm guessing he probably lives near me. Peter and I also spent the day at Venice beach yesterday which is always nice. I'm always the happiest at the beach. Today we went to church, the gym, and then hung out by the pool. I'm glad Peter and I still get to see each other even though we are both working so much.

This week I started to really feel homesick. I'm getting fully adjusted to living here, going to work everyday, etc. I wish Mom and Grandma were with me in Venice to go to all of the shops
and I wish Elisa and Zoe were at the beach with me to play in the sand. I also really miss watching football and lounging at home. Yesterday I saw a tree that had fall leaves on it and I was excited. I'm going to miss the trees on 5th street with the varying fall colors. All is well but I will never love a place like MD.

Finally

i'm blogging again. It has been 3+ weeks since I last blogged and I have been very very busy.

School has been going great. I'm getting used to the early mornings and I haven't had to stay too long after school. I end up staying at least an hour each day after the kids leave and one or two days a week I stay really late to plan, prep, etc. I really enjoy that the whole first grade team splits up the prep work - it makes it a lot easier. I've had parent/teacher meetings aka TEAM meetings and more professional development things. I really feel like I am a part of the faculty and that I'm not just a noob. I'm making friends at school and I am having a lot of fun.

Last week I got a flat tire on my way home from work which really sucked but I was so close to my apt that I kept driving on it until I parked in my garage. Luckily Geico came and changed the spare for me. What really sucked was that I had just received my first paycheck two days before and I had to spend it on two new front tires among other things. I'm all set now though so thats good.

Friday night I went out with some of my coworkers and we got pedicures then another group of us went out for dinner/drinks. It was fun and I was happy to get to know them and visa versa outside of the school setting. The rest of the weekend I did a bunch of errands/chores and Peter and I chilled out the rest. All day today we just watched movies. I didn't even change out of my pjs at all.

I was really missing home today. I can't watch the Skins game out here which really blows and I miss being at home with my fam watching the game. Its been a part of my life ever since I was born (seriously) and I never thought I would miss it so much. It'll be just a little over 2 months until I'm back home again and that makes me happy. I'm enjoying my time here but like they say, There's No Place Like Home.

Next week will go by quickly just like every other. I have school all week and I'm picking up a sideview mirror for my car on Tuesday which got broken. I want to go to the beach next weekend. I also need to set up various doctors appointments for checkups, a TB test and other random stuff and I plan on doing that this week too.

Things are going well and hopefully since I am getting settled into a routine I'll be able to blog at least weekly. I'm also going to take some updated pics of my classroom and bedroom and have them up soon. Love you!!