OTBF

Warning: Long post ahead. But pictures included, so keep reading!

TFA-speak is ridden with acronyms. Pretty much anything that can be shortened, is. My favorite acronym is one that my TTLs (transition team leaders--see?) taught us in our "Institute Survival" session during Induction: OTBF = Opportunity to be flexible. TFA stresses the importance of flexibility from the very beginning, especially in regards to the school in which you will ultimately be placed. Funny thing is, if you had told me two years ago that after college I would be working for an organization whose buzz word is "flexible", I would tell you you're crazy.

I'm the girl with the plan. I distinctly remember filling out a survey in Confirmation class when I was 15 years old, with the question, "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" My answer: A school teacher, married to a loving husband with 2 kids, ages 1 and 3 (my precision was astounding, but my accuracy--not so much. I would have to be married with baby #1 by next year--oh my). Twenty-five seemed so old then. Or maybe 10 years just felt so far away. Either way, I had a plan, and I was sticking to it.

If there's one thing I've learned a lot about these past few years, it's trusting God and being flexible. My dream school was Wake Forest, and I never imagined I would up anywhere else. Well, we know the end to that story. All through college my goal was to move to France after graduation. And we DEFINITELY all know that Mississippi does not equal France (my first math lesson this week is on equalities--can you tell?). But I will tell you that learning to be flexible (and I'm not all the way there yet) has led to so many blessings and so many opportunities to see God's hand in my life.

I can imagine many of you are wondering why I chose TFA over France. Many of you have wondered this out loud, to me. Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have an answer that will likely satisfy you. I spent hours and days thinking, discussing, and praying about the two options, and one night, it was just all of a sudden so clear: Teach for America was where I wanted to be right now. I wouldn't necessarily say it was God's voice, since I'm not exactly sure what that means. But I would say it was His grace that finally gave me peace about making a decision, and I knew what to do. And I have known this was the right choice since Day 1 at Induction. Not right in the sense that France would have been wrong. Just simply, right. And right for right now. I know I will go back to France at some point, I'm not worried about that. What I'm worried about right now is loving my students and being the best teacher I can be for them. And I've already been blessed with a great community with my ENC Corps Members--something I was desperately seeking after 4 less-than-thrilling years at RMC.

Speaking of that community, ENC's first weekend at Institute was fantastic. I have a rule: no work after 5pm Friday to 10 am Sunday, another gem of wisdom bestowed upon me by my TTLs. Friday was one big day of OTBFs...they've decided to move all the 6th grade students from our school over to the high school, so any CMs who were teaching 6th grade have now been placed in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade classrooms--3 days before the first day of school. We've been emailing those CMs our lesson plans since they have nothing for the appropriate grade levels. This was actually a great thing for my team, though, because it means we now have 4 people on a team rather than 2, so half as many lesson plans as before. We spent the rest of the day making posters and getting supplies for our classrooms.

Friday night, Delta State University (where we are staying) hosted a Catfish Cookout in honor of TFA--fried catfish, games, music, and free beer: that's a sign that they really DO love TFA here, since DSU is a dry campus. It was a fun way to start the night and just have an opportunity to socialize after a long, busy week.

That evening, ENC had some bonding time--a throwdown that started in our hallway and eventually moved to the laundry room. We therefore dubbed it "Club Laundry". This picture is 3 of the girls I spend a lot of time with--Krista and Emily are at my school site, and Lauren (right) is my suite mate. Andrew jumped in last minute.

Saturday a group of about 15 of us went on a "hike". I say "hike" because it was more like a nature trail in a park. There are no hills in Mississippi, which may disappoint the adventurer, but I must say I was happy. Below is a picture I took from the hike.

On the way home, someone spotted a tiny bright pink building that was spray painted with a picture of an ice cream cone and the words, "Lester's Fast Food", so we stopped to get a snack. Little did we know we were stopping at Mrs. Lester's house, where she sells ice cream and usually makes food for anyone who comes by, but didn't happen to have anything that day. She was so excited to meet people from "the program" (TFA) that she invited us back over to her house/restaurant for some soul food next Friday night--how fun! That's just a small picture of the hospitality we've experienced since we've been here.

Last night 30 or so of us went out to a local Mexican restaurant for margaritas and dinner--in that order. Another fun night with our group! We are so fortunate to have such a small corps.

Today will be a long day of lesson planning, refining, preparing, meeting with groups, etc. TOMORROW I will walk into a classroom as Ms. Hiltunen--oh. my. goodness.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And Dad, I know you always do, so thanks and Happy Father's Day :) Love you!