UPDATE 2005
Well, it is that time of year again. It is officially time for my first update of 2005! I can’t believe that 2004 has been left behind and that 2005 has waltzed in so quickly! It seems like only yesterday I was dunking my ring, graduating from A&M and starting my first teaching job. That was over a year ago that I dunked my room, almost a year since I graduated and 6 months since my first day of school….WOW! Well, here is your update on me!
ME
Well I’m doing just great. I love teaching and everything that is going on. I’ve managed to keep myself busy. I just moved from my parents’ house to a new apartment (behind McAllister’s off University) and I absolutely love it! I have room for all my stuff, it is quiet and I just love it! You should stop by anytime! I had a great Christmas. I got some great stuff… an iPod, lots of stuff for my kids, gift cards, a scarf and gloves, games, and some cooking stuff. It was so fun. For Christmas day we went to the DeWalds (some friends of ours) because there family was gone for Christmas. We had a great time eating and playing games. It was fun, fun, fun, fun!
FAMILY
My family is doing well. Dad is working as the medical director/doctor at the hospital in Mexia. He only has to be out there for about 3 or 4 times a month. He has to do 24 hour shifts. He is tired when he gets back. Mom has been busy with weddings. A couple of weekends ago my cousin got married and she helped out with that…. Now she has moved on to helping out with a friend’s wedding that comes up in May. She has a big role in this one. She enjoys it and she’s really good at it. Suzy has just finished her first set of high school finals. She said some were pretty easy, but her Biology was pretty tough. She is also back in band playing the clarinet. Maggie and Buster are doing well, too.
FRIENDS
Jay is doing well. He will be moving at the end of the semester to go to Waco. He is going to pursue music in college. I’m very excited for him, but will be sad to see him go. Jennifer (Bealio) is doing great at her job in Temple. She is teaching preschool kids and loving it. She has some very interesting kids but she is doing great with them. She has been sick off and on, but luckily nothing too bad that she has to miss school. Lisa Day is teaching 1st grade and really liking it. No one would have thought that from the first week of school. She is doing a great job. Gje just got back from a long vacation in New Jersey. She is very glad to be back. She is working as a planner for parties/events (at least that’s how I understand it). Victoria is doing well. She is still teaching in Humble, but is thinking about moving to Georgetown to be closer to Blake… her boyfriend. Tiffany and Zoe (the dog) got back from Oklahoma the other day. Tiffany is one semester away from graduating… but it is going to be a hard one! Liz Dickey is back in town. She just got a new job doing pretty tough work for a business group here in town. Yeah!
SCHOOL
School is wonderful. I can’t tell you how much I love teaching. I won’t lie, it is very hard sometimes, but it all pays off in the end. The first day of school I had only 1 child reading. I have over half of the class being able to read simple texts and one who has taken off and is reading everything in sight! I have enjoyed all my little pictures and all the hugs that I get on a daily basis. For me, a person whose love language is physical touch and words of affirmation (in written form), this is the perfect job for me. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t know if I am loved. I did loose one of my girls over the Christmas break. She moved to Houston… so now I have only 19 kids. I have so many funny stories from my precious kiddos….
1. I had an observation the second day we got back from school. I made it through the lesson and I really thought it went well (which I found out later it did). Right as the lady who observed me was leaving, one of my little girls came up to me looking confused but serious at the same time. She came up and asked me… “Ms. Saylak… if you marry your brother…. Does your baby come out with 3 eyes?” She was completely serious! I giggled a little and the only thing that came to my mind to say was “I guess it is possible…. I don’t know… I’ve never married my brother.” It may not have been the best answer, but it was good enough for her because she walked away completely content with my answer.
2. I have one little boy who loves the color green. He never finishes his work and it is a daily battle to get him to sit down, finish his work, do it without complaining, and do it well. I constantly hear “I can’t do this. It’s too hard” (we are coloring or writing our name on the top of the paper), “You just hate me because you make it so I can’t finish (we are cutting out a traced pig), “I’ll just never give you a hug again unless you let me go play” (about 5 things are in his undone folder), and “I just can’t do this hard work” (we are doing a hidden picture page). This is just something I deal with everyday and eventually he gets past it, but it does happen everyday. I talk all the time with his mom and she gets the same thing at home. The other day one of our aids came by and asked if he needed to be on anti-depressants because he just seemed to have a horrible negative attitude about life. I just told her, welcome to my world.
3. One of my parents was in my room cutting out some laminating and she came and talked to me after I was done with my lesson. She asked me “How do you do it? Do you just go home in a white walled room and just sit in silence?” I told her pretty close to it.
4. I found out that my kids were much smarter than I ever gave them credit for. The other day there was water on our windows in the classroom. The kids asked about it and I told them “There is always some water in the air and sometimes it will stick to windows.” One of my girls goes “OH!.... You mean that’s condensation!” I nearly fell off the table I was sitting on…. “YES!”. Another little boy said “Oh, you mean like the water that is on the outside of a cup with ice in it?” I nearly died.
5. I had the kids write a fairy tale of there own last week. One of my kids told read me his story about a flying pizza that went to Las Vegas…. I just sat there thinking…. Wow. I don’t even know what I thought. I just smiled and told him very good!
The other thing that I am doing is that in a few weeks I am starting an after school club with 1st through 4th grade kids. Remember the thing that I went to in New Hampshire this past summer? Well, that is what I am going to do with them…. I’m so excited! I know of 2 kids that have signed up… and that’s with having the note out for only 1 day! It is really cool to see all the excitement that it has brought about. I finally get to share my excitement for it with some kids!
CHURCH
I am still doing choir at Grace every Sunday morning. I really like it. I finally get to sing! After high school I really missed singing but now I have a perfect outlet for my voice. I just really love it. I love the people I sing with as well. They are all so wonderful. They truly care and are a praying machine! I am so blessed to have these people in my life. I am still doing growth groups (Bible study) this semester. This will be the last semester I do this. I enjoy it, but I think that God is calling me to somewhere else. I think that there are going to be other opportunities for me, and I just need to follow that lead.
Well, I hope that does enough justice to what’s been going on in my life. It has been crazy, but school is just what I do! So… I would love to hear back from you. I know that I am sending this address from my jograndady account, but I check my email through school which is dsaylak@csisd.org. So you are more than welcome to get back to me that way. I hope that all of you are doing well. Just drop me a note and say howdy! Talk to you soon!
