Lots of singing and dancing for the last week at Marymount!

My last week at Marymount was very bittersweet. It was filled with days of the kids coming up to me saying "please don't go Ms. McCarty" or "Can't you stay just one more week?" and even "can you come back next year and be in fifth grade with us?" They were all so sweet. But the whole week was dedicated to preparing for the students' big diversity concert; which so perfectly happened on Thursday (my last day there!) The concert included the students singing songs from different countries (my favorite of course was Waka Waka) and they spoke in different languages (chinese, arabic, french, portuguese, and italian) about how they accept diversity, and they performed dances from different countries. Some boys did a Russian dance and the kids in my class were assigned to American theme. It was very funny! The girls did a New York jazz routine and the boys did a break dance. It just made me chuckle what things they chose to symbolize America. So the whole week consisted of them practicing for the concert. On Monday, they practiced in the morning from 9-11 and then it was time for lunch and then they practiced again after lunch! I felt bad for them because I could tell that they were really exhausted. Then on Tuesday, I was not at school because I went to the audience with the pope! Although it was very hot out, it was needless to say amazing. The pope rode right past me in the pope mobile (he was standing up and waving) and he looked me right in the eye! It was so crazy!! That evening, Logan (who was with the other fourth grade teacher) and I went out to dinner with our teachers as a thank you to them. It was so fun being out with our teachers in a normal setting! It was fun talking about our students and learning more about our teachers. Then on Wednesday, they again had practice from 9-11. So, my last week there was not much teaching going on. But I was glad I got to experience that because I know as a teacher, there are going to be times when you are going to want to get things done but other "school activities" take priority. I saw how hard that was to deal with as a teacher because you kind of have to take a backseat which must be so difficult when all you can think about is how much more curriculum you want and need to get covered. Thursday was the day of the big performance!! The students performed it once in the morning for the entire elementary school; this was more of a dress rehearsal in that they were still figuring out the lighting and curtains and sounds. Then the students had lunch and then it was time to perform for the parents. The students did an excellent job! I was so proud of them! :) Oh, and before the performance for the parents my students and teacher had a going away party for me. My teacher had me sit outside the classroom after I brought them in from recess. Then when I was told I could come into the classroom, they all shouted "we are going to miss you Ms. McCarty" it was so adorable. Then on the side table there was a huge card that said "Ms. McCarty you are..." and then in the inside each student wrote a different adjective in different languages. Then also inside there were small little cards written by each student saying thank you and why they are going to miss me. They were so cute! And we also had cupcakes which were more like chocolate and vanilla muffins but they were delicious! I got a special one that was the shape of a heart! It was a wonderful last day! I loved every moment at Marymount and I am definitely going to miss all my students and my teacher!

Here I am with the students and my practicum teacher! 

Here they are at their performance!

And this is the adorable table they had set up for me. With muffins, water, and an adorable card. 

A few clouds and sun in Elba!

Greetings after a weekend in the wonderful island of Elba! It was a very beautiful island and it really actually reminded me of Kiwa. Due to the mountains and then beaches. We left Friday morning at six and we arrived in Elba at 12. We basically took every form of transportation. First we took a train, then a bus, then a boat, and finally a car! The train ride was a scary experience. Laura, Kelly, Kelsey, and I were all sitting in a car separate from everyone else (but I could see some of our girl's bags from the window from my tram). But any who the car smelled BEYOND terrible. It was a combination of smoke, dirt, throw-up and gasoline. The guy sitting with us had two face piercing. One above his lip and one below his lip then he had ripped up and torn up jeans and his one pant leg had gunk on it that looked like throw up. Then I glance down by my feet and see a little pile of something that looked a lot like throw-up. So needless to say, I was not able to sleep until that mysterious man left. The ride took about two hours. Then we hopped on a bus to head to the ferry station (named Moby...I thought that was very ironic) and then we took the ferry to the island. Once we got to the island, Steve and Kyle rented cars for us to drive to the resort. We got to the resort and it was beautiful! It looked like a Greek island to me! The color scheme was orange and white! So nautical and I loved it! So we all changed into our bathing suits and then went downstairs to eat lunch! We had a delicious lunch and then headed to a beach! (our place wasn't exactly on the beach) and boy oh boy was that an experience! We saw many naked babies, topless women, and men in speedos. It was quite the experience! We had trouble controlling our giggles, but I just had to keep reminding myself that it is part of the culture. We all fell asleep on the beach because of our long day, and when we woke up the beach had cleared out and it was time to head back to our places for shower and dinner. We figured out after we were in the shower that all of our water heaters were connected, so we all took freezing showers! Then we headed down to the main area and had a wonderful dinner. (all of our meals included veggies and bread as appertivo,  then we had pasta, then we had our meat/seafood, and then we had dessert. After dinner (which was at 8-9) we finished and then headed to bed! We were exhausted!

 Look at how beautiful it was! 

 Here we are the "Rockets" 

We woke up the next morning at around 7:30 to get ready for a day full of the beach. The resort had a wonderful breakfast ready for us. And we actually got eggs!!! The first time in a long time! Then we all packed into the cars and headed to the beach! When we finally got there (it involved a drive full of razorback turns up and down the mountain) it was not as populated as the beach the previous day! So we claimed our spot and right where we were all laying there were tons of boulders. So Laura, Dana, Katie, Alissa, and I decided to climb them! It was such an adventure! We were all climbing barefoot and I told them that we were being very "true to ourselves" haha! We got to this one perfect spot and it basically like in the Lion King at Pride Rock! It was so fun!! It was wonderful listening to the waves crash against the rocks! It really was a blast!! Then we headed back to the beach and decided to get drinks at the bar since it really wasn't that sunny! :( It was so relaxing! After a while the sun finally came out!! So we all got warm and decided to jump into the water!! Who else can say they have been in they Tyranian Sea!! How cool!? And there were these slides stationed in the water that we got to climb up on and slide into the water! After our full day at the beach, we headed back to the hotel to get showered and ready for dinner! Before dinner, we drove to this restaurant down the street for apertivo (a yummy pizza) and spritz (which was not very good!). Then we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner and then we packed up a drove to a little village! Man was it a happening place at 11! There were tons of people out and there were DJ's on the street and vendors! It was so cool, but you know how the sun really drains you so I was kinda ready to head back to the hotel at around 12! We got back to the hotel and I hit the hay likidysplit!
We woke up the next morning at around 8 and we leisurly got up and changed and headed to breakfast. Then we laid around the pool all day. It was very relaxing but it was still kinda cloudy and cold but we did all get some color. It was funny to look around at everyone laying in our lounge chairs wrapped up in our beach towels (which we bought there...mine was of a topless hippo! haha) Anything to catch a few rays of sun! So typical! Then we had to pack up and get ready to catch the ferry back to the main island. We had a long commute back. And we arrived in Rome at around 9:15!
We are about to enter our last week at Marymount! It is hard to believe that it is already time for that!! Time is just flying by!