Rendezvous, shmendezvous...

Okay, well, updates: Kinders are great but I swear, they have ADD up the waz. No matter how entertaining I am, doing acrobatics and impersonations to the nth degree, they still have the attention span of a fruit fly. Good news: We did mid-institute assessments this week, and our kids went from a 41st average percentage to a 76th average percentage score in JUST SEVEN DAYS OF TEACHING. Which is phenomenal and super empowering, by the way. Some kids acheived a growth of 50% mastery in just those 7 days, which is uber ridic. (TFA loves their stats and data by the way, so warning: i may become a bit of a blubbering horse here) It feels awesome we're making strides, but I'm also getting that 'teacher's frustration' that we're still leaving a few kids in the dust. we're taking up monumental speed in the classroom here, but there are still a few kids who can barely count to 20. and it's like heartbreaking to see kids perform such low scores, time and time again. NEwayz. I'm getting a ton of practice and training out here, so come this fall, i'll be read to kick some nanchuck munchkin ass.

last night i went to this place called "dos gringos trailer park". 50 cent coronas after 9 pm, guys! literally, i go up to the counter and the guy plunks down 2 coronas in front of me and goes, $1 please. I'm like whattt??? $1 cover, $1 service fee, which the fuck is it!? no, for my ENTIRE order, biatches. yeah, it's ridic. the spot is super campy and a bit kitsch but it makes fun of the whole trailer park theme. open roof (all u see is the arizonian sky), tons of dance floor, a great circular bar serving up heaps of good mexican thoroughfare and an awesome live band. i went with a few friends and we got our dance and our drink on. it was pretty fun. came back and had heaps of rich, nefariously decadent lemon-chocolate cake (oh go ahead, ladies, drool) to celebrate our friend Em's birthday...and then i got into this amazingly intense 2 hour conversation with Em's 27 year old roommate, aaliyah, who happens to be like one of the coolest people i've ever met. (God just has a way of dropping these love bombs on me when i need it most) She's this rad, brilliant, fast-talking chick who abandoned her dreams of becoming a lawyer in favor of teacherdom. she's done it all, worked at the dept. of justice, done non-profit consulting, played the yuppie bit in D.C.... alla that good stuff. but yeah, she's here, and we just VIBE (radio dial tuned into each others stations)... going through our common battles, questioning of self, etc. etc. In a time when I needed real spit, I got it...

so i'm satiated. for now. but hungry for what's next, what's to come... thrilled about the experiences that are waiting to be had, the continents waiting to be conquered and the people waiting to be loved...all by little ol' ...ME.

j9