AH! What will it be like?

What is it like there? What will you have? Will you have a shower? What about water? 

Gosh, everyone I talk to cannot keep from asking me a million questions, that honestly I only know about 25% of the answers! I just had a friend stop by to drop something off at my house and he was asking me about it there and I remember the video I saw! Well during out official exposure to the program before applying, Maggie (our advisor) showed us this video. Check it out!

Gosh... I have watched it like 3 times in the pass half hour! I am so excited to finally get to know the answers to everyone's questions and even to the answer to things I haven't even questioned yet! This is going to be such an amazing experience and I cannot wait to embark on it! I have officially got everything I need for my trip (well picking up the prescriptions Monday and need peanut butter) and have it packed!

Also looking pass my next two months, I started applying for part time jobs to do during student teaching! I hope I have a good chance that them! I know student teaching will be time consuming, but I think I will go crazy if I don't have something else to do! I have been working since I was 14 multiple jobs or with clubs and such... I need to find something to do! Dennis does want me to try out Karate, which I definitely think I can make that happen. This constant doing things of mine also is making me ponder about what it will be like to be in a country that I knew very few people and is very different than my own. I cannot wait to search out possible cultural events to explore and to reach out to others in the community, but will it be hard to do so? I am not quite sure yet... I hope I really can make a connection with something other than the school in the community. Not only do I think this will guide me to have a more well rounded experience, but also allow me to better understand culture, the people, and where I am..... Experience is everything :)


Also feel free to comment on my posts... it will make me feel more connected to home as I am away... and that someone is actually reading it :)

My boyfriend also just sent me this:
http://9gag.com/gag/aeNYY6B

I am not a vacation, but I am excited for the scenery and environmental aspects of Uganda.

Final days at Camp Y-Koda

Well this is it, tonight is my very last sleepover at Camp Y-Koda! I cannot believe it is finally here. Although we have one more week of camp, I ask my friend Alex to sleepover in my place to spend time with my family and boyfriend after camp activities next Thursday night. Camp has forever been my home and a place of reassurance in my love for building upon experiences and working with children. I am sad to see it come to an end. Right now I am sitting in my office before anyone else arrives. It is peaceful and a bit sad.

 I have seen this place since I was 8 years old go through so many changes. I have seen 4-5 directors go through, i have been a camper, a volunteer, a junior counselors, a senior counselor, and the summer camp director. When I started here as a counselor the teenager campers where 4 and 5! Now they are 13 and have siblings that were born when I was a counselor. I have honestly seen so many of these campers grow up here at camp and I wish them all the best knowing that many of them will pass on their love for camp in the next few years as volunteers or employees. I know I have been a difference here and it is bitter sweet to be leaving this place. I know I am ready for a new path in life yet it is hard to say good bye. So lots to do to finish up camp and getting ready for my trip all at once.... and a lot of emotion. Here is a few pictures from summer camp (I can't actually put pictures of the kids on here, so random others):

Adventure Trip on the Wisconsin River.... a bunch of cows cooling off in 100 degree weather!

Trust Falls as I led staff training

Summer Staff 2012

13 Days!

Wow... yep its official I started packing today! I haven't got too much done yet, but something in my first suitcase is better than none! Everyday someone asks me if I am excited and I totally am! Especially packing now it seems so real! So list to do before I head out on September 2nd...

The beginning of packing! 

1. Finish Packing
2. Make sure my parents don't cry too much by spending a good amount of time with them
3. Buy stickers
4. Get gifts for the people helping us when we get there (any ideas?)
5. Get something to knock me out on the plane, so I don't have to remember anything but sitting down in my seat.
6. Pick up my prescriptions
7. Organize my important documents and make copies of them for my family
8. Buy a few skirts that will be long enough to cover my knees
9. Get a purse that I can keep under my armpit and that zips

AH! Now that I wrote all of that down it seems like there is so much to do! I'll get it done. As of other things about this semester, I met with my cooperating teacher, Nancy, to discuss my return home. It was weird thinking that in 2 months and 2 weeks I'll be right back to Madison and working in her classroom. We were looking at the students and discussing content, it feels so far away yet. It is hard to know where they will be at when I return. Each class is a new one! But I got to find out the daily schedule and some of the things I might get to teach when I get back! I know it may be strange to be stoked about knowing when the students will have math versus specials, but it totally is! Everything is starting to feel so real! Now only if they had ceilings at Hawthorne yet... (They are apparently going through some hefty construction!).

My boyfriend and I in our apartment!

So with meeting with Nancy, I said my goodbyes to Madison. I got to see the apartment I will be living in for the first time when I return. It looks great and has about 1/3 of my stuff put in it, but I cannot wait to be living with Dennis! I also did some ALPs work when I was in Madison with UW Marching Band! Those students definitely know how to rock in more than one way! ALPs always reminds me of who I want to be as an educator. I want to mix the idea of learning with one another through be actively engaged with a task and reflection. When I first got interview to go to Uganda they told me it will be hard to put a full experiential education twist on what I need to teach there, but I promising myself I will try my hardest. I need to make sure I stay true to who I am as educator as well as be able to adapt to new situations. This will be true both when I move to Uganda and upon my return to Nancy's class.

One of the workshops I facilitated! Using EE to develop commitment to the group!
Can't wait to try this as a classroom contract someday! 

Well off to bed today...stay tuned I am sure I will have many pre-trip thoughts that I will want to write down!

Three Weeks

Three Weeks from today I leave for my journey to Uganda......

Honestly I hate transitioning to new things.... it is probably the most stressful thing in the world to me. So last week I was in the Apostle Islands and had no internet and no cell phone service and I started to panic a bit.... I couldn't call my mom or my boyfriend when I needed/wanted to. This I feel foreshadows a small hardship that will be quite more difficult in Uganda. As I got home, my webcam on my computer isn't loading onto other peoples' Skypes.... but I at least can see them. This is one of two things I need to really figure out before I go... On the other hand my ipod screen died, thus is still plays music but I can't start or change the song (I tested it on my ipod dock)... I am not doing an 8 hour flight without my ipod from Middle School. Also I have given up on trying to figure out how to use an USB on ipad, bought and adapter and it didn't even work.....

So that is my short rant for the morning about things that are on my mind..... It is continually getting harder knowing that soon I will be there and don't get to get a hug by my boyfriend for two months. Speaking of  my man, we went to a turkish wedding this weekend and learned some turkish wedding traditions! This was inspiring to what I want to learn in Uganda! I can't wait to see what I might learn there!