Each day at school gets a little better. I am starting to know where I am suppose to be and when. It is nice to have some organization to the madness. It can be difficult to have to work with so many teachers and grade levels, I cannot keep any names straight. I have been doing a lot of small group work, which is really nice. I am able to somewhat get to know the students and not have as much pressure of multiple students at once.
Usually when they work with me, I play Go Fish with them, or play on my iPad. I found so many good education apps that they love. I have really good math apps and some phonics and sight words ones too! I am trying to get them to speak as much English as possible. It's so difficult with the young students though because they can understand me as well as they can speak it...barely at all. But I am getting by so far and I am finally feeling more like a teacher :)
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| There is some English up there! |
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Each Thursday, the first and second grade classes go on a trip somewhere. It's kind of like a mini hike! I think it's really cool how important getting out in nature is here. Students love to be outside and don't require toys to find things to do and play. Students love being creative and hanging out outside, they all seem so adventurous! I am excited to see where we will go each week! This week we went to a forestry area near the Barony!
Maggie, Gabby, and myself had the opportunity to attend a gathering called Cafe. This is where people from Slovenia come and hangout in the area and at the schools. It is a program to bridge the gap between elders and young people. It is suppose to help them learn how to live and learn from one another. Students prepared songs and poems and played instruments for them. They also baked lots of goodies too, including waffles, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, and banana bars. I thought it was very cool how a lot of the work was done by the students. I could tell they put in lots of time, they did a great job!
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| Waffle and cinnamon roll.. |
We got to enjoy some treats with coffee, which everyone loves here.
People drink their coffee black, and drink lots of it. Waffles and
pancakes are also usually desserts here, they put sour cream and jam on
them and eat with their hands, folding it in half. I decided to be
adventurous and try everything, but really didn't like the sour cream.
It was way to sour and mixing it with the jam made it worse. It looked
really good, but the taste was completely different. I guess it wasn't
sugary enough for me like in America.
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| Gabby and myself hanging with the elderly Slovenians. |
Rosendal is such a small village, so there is not much to do here. It is now Friday and I am looking forward to a pretty relaxing weekend. I think a lot of the people who live here travel on weekends. For example, one teacher told me they are going to drive up to a mountain about 3 hours away to go skiing all weekend. There seems to be a lot of differences here at school and in the community. Here are some of them..
- Students don't wear their shoes inside the school, only when they go outside.
- People often repeat outfits multiple days in a row. It's not considered gross, but more so perfectly normal. There also is no dress code for teachers. Wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts is totally okay.
- Life is simple here. People don't thrive off material things like we do in America. People dress, eat, and live very simply. The necessitates are whats important.
- Students call teachers by their first name, rather than Ms. Olds, I am just Erica here.
- Students eat lunch in their classrooms. Each student gets milk which they pay for and fruit provided by the school.
- Everyone here LOVES Justin Beiber. Seriously so obsessed. and not just the students, teachers too!
- Soccer is a huge deal here. Everyone is very good at it, and most students play on organized teams after school.
- Independence at school is huge. Students seem to "get away" with a lot more here. They talk and mess with each other and its okay. In America we are so strict compared to here.
- The teachers lounge is not such a scary, bad place here. It is a nice community where everyone eats lunch and gathers. There doesn't seem to be much drama here, everyone gets along and works well together.
- The fruit and water here are phenomenial. Tap water comes out ice cold in a matter of seconds. I love it, and the fruit is so yummy.
- I am slowly learning that all the typical foods I like taste completely different here, some good, some not so good. Such as chips, bread, salsa, pears, ground beef, yogurt, and crackers. They have different textures and tastes in general. Most of them seem to have more flavor or spice to the taste than in America.
Well I hope everyone has a great weekend, I know I will spend most of it relaxing and watching Netflix, oh yeah and hiking in the mountains too :)
