Recap part II

Once I arrived at the training I was able to figure out , a little more ,what my year of service was going to be like.  Being the social and emotional "coach" (one might say) for 3-5 year old and getting them ready for kindergarten  is no simple task. Each child come with their own personal history, experiences they've gone through, moments that have shape them as individual.... And while they are trying to figure out who they are.. What their likes and dislikes are... What their favorite color is... whether or not they are going to be this way or that way...  I'm suppose to be the hand that guides them in the "right" direction. Teaching them compassion and empathy .. teaching them that its okay to have emotions and that sometimes its best to  acknowledge them and just let themselves feel. (So long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process).  Sometimes this sounds way easier said then done. Because surprise surprise ... 4 year old don't often know the words to let you know how they feel and why..  And most times I don't have all the answers. I feel like most of life lessons are learn via experience...

Here are some picture of the camp where we training for three days strait.

And a sneak peak of my classroom environment, I can't really show you guys a whole lot because I don't have permission to reveal the identities of my kids without their parents consent. But I can tell you a bit about what I've been doing. More to come in future posts.

Recap of the first few months here _ part I

Thanks to facebook and instagram I've already posted some of whats been happening. Thus here's a recap. Just a week before I was suppose to drive out here with my future roommate and co-worker, she decided to quit the program... This complicated a few things for me ... one of which was that I needed to take a 2.5 day trip here from the east coast .. on a bus with everything I could carry, rather than drive out with her. Another was that I needed to find a roommate ASAP, because I couldn't afford the rent in my new apartment in my own. Within a few weeks, everything worked itself out. Cleo decided to move out here to help me out and join me on my adventure. The day that she got here.. was also the day that we met my future roommate, Rasheed. Rasheed is a freshman at MNSU ( the state university in town), he's an international student from Yemen which I think is pretty awesome.

Living with him has allowed me to have various cultural conversation which have broaden my horizon. I love it. We're from totally different sections of this world... and yet our values aren't all that different from one another... The world never ceases to amaze me. Here are some pictures of the road on the way here

Last picture before leaving Connecticut.

Quick stop in Cleveland, Ohio

Cornfields and Cornfield and more Cornfields is all I saw for most of the trip

Arriving in Chicago , IL

Catching the sun rinsing in St. Paul on my 2 day being on a bus... I had to wait that the terminal in St.Paul for over 5 hours before I could catch my last transfer to 'Kato

Living in the Mid-West.

I know I said I would start a blog as soon as I came out here ... but honestly at first the move was rough and I didn't have much to say about it that wasn't ranting or complaining. Once things settle ... my next excuse was that well there isn't that much happening here in my life...especially since I can't post much about my kids due to the confidentiality agreement with Americorps. The latter is still true, but I figured if I wanted a nicely documented memory of my experiences in life I needed to start blogging again. Who knows maybe in few years I'll make this one into a book too. So maybe I should blog at least once a week... as a reflection piece. Today is the 11th of January, I just finished doing my reflection post for Americorps. I'm just about half way through my commitment with Americorps. We're all getting to a point where yes, we are suppose to start seeing results ... and yes, we are suppose to be making moves that ultimately should alter the course of our little ones... but at the same time... It's January and thus everyone is thinking of their new years resolutions.. and what they want to accomplish in 2015 ... especially what's going to happen in their lives after Americorps.. AHHHH so much that's still unknown. It's a but overwhelming! But at the same time I wouldn't want it any other way. There's just so much opportunities ahead of me. A blank page for me to create my next adventure, with of course a few characters and a pre-face that's not to be altered.