End of the Year

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Well, we’re winding down the school year here. My IB seniors have taken all three of their math tests (they have 2-3 IB tests per subject, and they have 6 subjects, so the month of May is pretty much all tests for them). They said that they thought they did pretty well, so we’ll see when we get their scores in July!

It’s been really crazy lately because of all of the end of the year stuff, and I’ve been sick a few times…



First, being sick in the Philippines… Mid-April I had a really bad cold, nothing too major, but just a horrible cold, so I had to miss a couple days of school. I got over that within a few days (just lots of sleep and water), and then like four days later, I felt sick again. But not just a cold. I had a really bad fever (like 101, I think… The thermometer was in Celcius, which, by the way, I’m getting pretty good at now!) and could barely walk and my stomach hurt really bad. The on campus nurse just thought I had the flu, so she told me to rest. Then, the next day, I had really mad intestinal problems (we’ll just call it that), and the nurse said I needed to go to the doctor. After my first experience at a doctor’s office here, I was less than thrilled. However, she said that I should just go to the ER because I’ll get really good care there and our insurance has full coverage (even if it didn’t, I think a full priced trip to the ER here is about $50). So I went. As soon as I got there, I had like 5 nurses and 2 doctors surrounding me and taking my vitals. They had to give me a really gross rehydration drink, because I had lost so many fluids. Then they did a bunch of tests and diagnosed me with amoebiasis. Apparently it’s really common here for foreigners to get. So anyways, I got some antibiotics and went home. I still didn’t go to school the next day, and didn’t feel 100% better until about a week later, but I recovered. And I was pleasantly surprised with the care and professionalism at the hospital.



So, back to the end of the year stuff. This whole semester, the school has been working on a self-study to get accredited by CIS (Council of International Schools). Essentially, all departments need to do a thorough evaluation and analysis of the curriculum and practices in and out of the classroom and see what’s good and what needs work. And then come up with proposals of what can be done for the things that need work. We’ve been meeting with our respective groups (I’m the leader of the math one) at least once a week for the semester, so we’re finally winding down on that. I think our group is in pretty good shape. I should be ready to turn in the report next week. However, the leaders have had very little guidance on how to run it, so it’s been interesting leading a group to a final product, without clear directions on how to get there. So hopefully when I turn it in next week, it will be just fine! Next year, we have to do more of this, but instead of department groups, they are groups by school (elementary, middle, and high) so that we can work on horizontal (across the department) alignment. I recently found out that I was elected to be the leader of the high school teacher group, so I have a feeling that will be a lot of work next year. But I’m glad that the administration is putting so much confidence in me to lead another group. I must be doing something right 😊



It’s also been busy just doing all the normal end of the year things. Finishing up the topics in the classes, having the student do final projects, creating and grading finals, end of the year paperwork, etc. So it’s been a pretty hectic last couple weeks, and I’m sure these last two will be too. We have four days of actual class left, then three of finals, one in-service day, and two assembly days, and then it’s graduation! So we’re definitely coming down the home-stretch.





I can’t believe we’ve been here almost ten months. I mean, I can because it definitely feels like home, but still, that’s almost a year. It’s going to be weird going back to the states, now that everything here feels normal. It’s going to be weird to go into public without having everyone stare and say hello (I stick out so much here because I’m blonde and Filipinos are so friendly). It’s going to be weird/awesome going to stores like Target, where there’s tons of everything and aisles are huge and it’s not crowded at all. Whenever we move back to the States, Black Friday shopping will be a breeze for us, since every day here at the mall is that busy. It’s definitely going to be weird to drive again. I kinda miss it. It’s definitely going to hurt to pay $10 for a (cheap) dinner out and I’m going to have to go two months without a massage or mani/pedi, because I just can’t afford them in the States. Here, I get one of each every week. I am very excited to have a good piece of chicken (or maybe just chicken strips!) and a good glass of skim milk. I know they seem trivial, but the chicken here is so fatty and full of bones, and most milk here is boxed (not fresh) or the fresh stuff is whole, and that’s disgusting. I really can’t think of anything else right now that I’m really excited for (besides seeing friends and family, of course) or not excited for or that will be really weird. I guess it’s just that the Philippines have become a home to me these last ten months, and it’s hard for me to compare the differences, because I haven’t been in the States for so long. I’m sure I’ll have many more observations come summer in a couple weeks when we’re back.



Recently, I have been trying to work out our summer plans. And boy are we going to be busy! I recently found out that I got accepted for a job making math tutorial videos for a website called learnzillion.com. It’s a job that I can do from my house (they’ll lend me the technology to do it) and hopefully won’t take up too much time, so it will be perfect for summer. I will have to go to Atlanta for a convention this summer to do the training for it, so that will be fun. Finding that part out complicated our schedule a little more, but I think we’ve figured it out! We’ll be flying back to San Francisco on June 4^th and spending a few days with my aunt and uncle, then going to Brandon’s parents’ in MN for about 24 hours until we take off for Chicago with them for almost a week. Straight from there, we’re going to go to Orlando to go to Disney and Harry Potter World (yay!) and then Brandon has IB theater training in Tampa immediately after that. I then have the convention in Atlanta and then Brandon’s going to join me in Atlanta for a couple days and then finally back to MN the end of June. So June’s going to be crazy. But that’s ok. We will hopefully get to do some pretty great things in five different cities across the States in a month.



I’m just looking back on my pictures I have since Thailand to think of what else we have done recently….

A few weekends ago we had a faculty outing. That was pretty fun, although it would have been better if we had done it towards the beginning of the year to get to know each other better and see more of Baguio. So the day started with a scavenger hunt throughout Baguio. There were certain things that we had to get (like a receipt dated yesterday, a paperclip, etc. lots of random stuff) and then there were tasks that we had to do at certain places throughout Baguio. Like go to the park and take a picture with one of the statues. We ended at the Baguio Country Club and then bowled and ate dinner. Overall, it was a pretty fun day. Hopefully something like that gets coordinated for next year too.

There are also some pictures of a couple different things that Brandon and I did in our classes.



Yesterday, Brandon held an ultimate Frisbee tournament with his Frisbee club from this semester. Overall, it went pretty well. I was the official timer and picture-taker for the games 😉 I think the kids really had a fun time. It started raining towards the end, but the kids still wanted to keep going, so they finished the tournament! Not too much to say about that, but I have some pictures from it, so I thought I would give a brief overview.



I really can’t think of anything else. Next time I write, I’ll hopefully be back on American soil!

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Photos

'Picture in front of a "slow down" sign'
Faculty scavenger hunt

6th grade skits
Brandon's 6th grade English class doing skits on "The Phantom Toll Booth"