First Day of School

Ok, so it was two weeks ago, but it feels like forever, so much has happened in two weeks...
Trick for me was not thinking too much about my "first day" as a teacher. I told myself all sorts of lies and went in completely convinced that I could get through the day, and it rolled pretty easy. Kids listened well (b/c it was the first day); the biggest problem I had was not getting kids to talk at all...seriously, a few of the girls hid their faces behind their hands...we've had a couple weeks to get to know each other since then, and I think (hope) we've improved since then...The picnic we had was a great bit of fun, lots of hot dogs and burgers, and the fish was incredible. I've never enjoyed fish so much in my life. Gavin loved running around and playing, he fit right in with his kindergarten class and is having a blast. I talked to several of the Venetie locals at the picnic (check out the picture), and everyone was very welcoming, even if it was a little hard to understand some of them...(getting better at that, too!) Some of them were very outgoing and talkative, while others just kind of stood by you and conversed every once and a while...I think that the idea of a conversation "ending" once there's a long silence is a Western concept. Along with that, EVERYTHING here is very laid-back and relaxing, even if school is a lot of work. Macy and Molly were up to their usual antics, Macy spilled kool-aid all over her white jacket and molly would not stop climbing up some sharp metal steps :-) We had to take the students back inside for the rest of the day, but we ended with P.E., which is where I was supervising 5-12th grades!!! Lots of fun though, we played a game like dodgeball but instead of hitting each other you try to knock down the opponents pins on their side of the gym. All in all, a good day, especially for teaching day #1 (out of 5,000). Now the second day was another story...;-)