ENY dancers!

Watch this!! I couldn't figure out how to post it as a video, but its pretty much amazing - they are the 2nd and 3rd graders at the school I work at - AFENY!

big blogging time.

I should start by saying that it has been an absolutely crazy past three weeks, this blog will surely not do it justice, but in attempts to do so, it shall be long, so brace yourself for three weeks packed with joy, stress, inconvenience, love for the NY and happiness overall.

I will not have any cool pics to show some awesome action shots going on for this particular blog, because my computer is broken, but Google images will certainly fill in those visual aid gaps. Once I get settled in to life a little more I will add real life visual images. :)

And when I say long... I mean long. Here we go!!!

Well, two weeks ago I finished my institute experience. I think I had it pretty lucky - during all of institute, I had no breakdowns, I worked well with my colab, my adviser was great, and I grew a lot as a teacher. And most importantly, my students impacted my lives even more than I impacted theirs. Post-institute, I sometimes find myself missing the little things... bagels and coffee every morning with roommates, setting up the classroom to music, making posters, making fun of the lingo, the terrible food/bathrooms/beds haha. And the people. Institute was good to me... but I'm also glad its over. :)

No... I did not see the musical (yet) BUT I did move there! haha The day after institute ended I moved to Washington Heights in Manhattan. It was kind of crazy... I hate moving haha. But I love moving out of St. Johns! haha Washington Heights is very nice place. We can see the GW Bridge from our street, there are tons of bars, restaurant, and overall difference in culture that I enjoy. And the sublet is fully furnished (with a Wii!!) haha. Its super nice having a place thats "home-y" to come to home to! And sooo much better/easier to be close to Midtown! I will only be here for a few more weeks, before I move into my new apartment in Brooklyn Heights! :) I'm very excited for that as well! (and I keep thinking... "would you like to come to my apartment?!" hahahaha, inside joke on the blog... sorry.)

And the very next day, I started my masters at this lovely "castle" on the Upper East Side.
The first week was... long. haha And I/we have discovered that keeping up with our masters work while settling into life in NYC, and beginning our career in education will be a difficult balance. But, do-able indeed.

Then! To my surprise! In the mere matter of 24 hours, my financial outlook changed drastically because I...
Officially became employed as a teacher!!! :) I will discuss this in more detail later in the blog... so there's some incentive to keep reading, eh?! I'm very excited for my new job! And the night that I found out, some friends came over we had some celebratory kosher champagne (haha, that was interestingly delicious). I tell you what too, kind of separate but also related - I absolutely love my NYC friends :)

Oh... speaking of amazing friends. Remember my guru?
This is why (well one reason) Emilie Jones is AMAZING:

Wicked! (bum) Wicked! (bum) WIIIICCCKKKEEEDD!

Emilie won lottery tickets to Wicked (hardest one to win on Broadway!! - she got a button for her hard work) BUT because she and Lindsey had already seen it a few times she let me and Abby go!!!! It was basically AMAZING!!! In case you don't know, lottery means you get to sit on the front row for really cheap. So... basically the coolest thing ever! The music was AMAZING! The stage set was perfection! I'm not even sure how to fully describe how wonderful it was! It ...defied gravity?! haha (that was for sure my favorite part of the show!!)

Additionally, in the past three weeks...

This is a wallet. Mine was stolen.This is a computer. Mine broke. (But work gave me a new one - so thats good!)
This is my phone. I lost it on the way to CT (tell you about that soon). and the Lost and Found hours are 8-5... inconveniently when I work! and I need to have a new phone shipped to me... but my sublet does not allow me to receive mail. So hopefully, by Wednesday a new phone for me will arrive at a friend's mailbox.

Those three things made life very increasingly difficult over the past week, especially. But, happily, its all working out :)

So why was I going to CT?
For new staff training for my new job!!! I was hired to work for a school system called Achievement First. I invite you to check out their website to find out more about them. They are an amazing organization of people truly dedicated to closing the achievement and ensuring that all students, regardless of class or race, receive top quality education with equal opportunities.

We stayed in New Haven, and it was really lovely! :) I got to know many of my colleagues and I look forward to working with them in the following years.

What exactly am I teaching? Its hard to say. I think 1st or 2nd... I will know more details during this week of training.

My school is in East New York (a neighborhood of Brooklyn). I can't wait to start teaching!! :)

I will leave you with this.I am going to miss OU football sooooooo much!

But more importantly, to all my friends and family who are far away, especially OUPS, I miss you dearly. I love you.

Oh, and have I made clear how much I love Central Park?!?!
slash how amazing it is that I live in New York?!?!!

Love.