This update may be rather long since I've been here for nearly 2 weeks now & haven't really talked much about it other than my "Week In Photos" posts. After this one I'll try to figure out when to update. Daily? Weekly? Randomly? So because this one covers nearly 2 weeks I'm sorry but it's going to be list-y. Who am I kidding...they probably all will be...
Wed. Jan 4: I finally arrived in Houston around 3 pm. Kevin (roommate) showed up about an hour later to get the apartment stuff all set up. We hung out for awhile but spent most of that evening getting our rooms set up & unpacking. Later Darin (roommate) & his friend Cam came over for awhile and we just drank & talked.
Thur. Jan 5: Kathy (roommate) finally showed up to move in later in the afternoon. Kevin & I spent most of the day not doing anything waiting around for the other two to show up. Kathy's mom came down with her so after she got settled in we went to Walmart & then out to eat at a place called Willie's. It was a lot of fun. They had a sand box with toys for kids to play in & an ice chest full of different beers that you grabbed yourself before ordering. The food there was amazing & the ranch was awesome. I will judge a resturant on it's ranch. Darin & Cam came over later that night & we all played Apples to Apples.
Fri. Jan 6: I started working out on Friday. I woke up that morning & everyone else was still sleeping so I decided to go get my workout on. That day we didn't do a whole lot. Kathy & her mom hung out and got some things done. Darin brought his friend Cam to the airport. Other than that we just hung around not doing much of anything until the roommates & Kathy's mom went out to a place called Wolfie's. The food was alright but we had a lot of fun. The next day Kathy's mom was going to leave so she stayed with her so that she could bring her to the airport. The boys & I went back home to drink & watch Easy A.
Sat. Jan 7: After Kathy got home we all headed down to Reliant Stadium in hopes of tailgating for the Texans/Bengals game. What we didn't know that was down here you have to have passes to park in certain lots by the stadium & to even get into them you have to have tickets to the game, which we didn't. Back home, for those of you that may be thinking "uhh yeah that's pretty standard," you just pay to get into a lot. You don't even have to be attending the game. If you pay the fee to park there then so be it. So we snuck into a lot right before the game started, walked around, & then headed to a hotel bar to watch the game. We met a really nice cop who BS'd with us for a little while during his traffic duty.
Sun. Jan 8: Sunday was another day of not doing much. We all had to start teaching the next morning so we didn't do anything too crazy that night either. We just had a chill day at the apartment & an early bedtime.
Mon. Jan 9: I started my first day student teaching. When I got to the school the first thing I saw was metal detectors, bag checks, & see through backpacks. I walked into my assigned teacher's room only to find out that I more than likely would not be staying. So I spent the first class 5 periods just sitting in the classroom watching the students fill out a reading guide. 6th & 7th hour I spent in the teacher's lounge because I had to talk to the assistant principal about where I would be placed & then when I was done with her my teacher was at a meeting and then leaves 7th hour but I was waiting around to find out where I would be placed the next day...I never did find out that day.
Tue. Jan 10: I spent first hour waiting on the AP again. She was dealing with a fight that happened before first period so she wasn't able to get to me until it was almost the beginning of 2nd hour. I finally got my new & permanent placement though. I spent that day just observing him teach the class.
Wed. Jan 11: I spent the day observing him teach again but this time I actually got to interact with the class while they were working on their assignment. The kids were so respectful. I loved it.
Thur. Jan 12: I got to teach for the first time. I went over their warm-ups with them and then explained their assignment. While they were working I just walked around and helped the students out. It was also casual day for the social studies department because they got the highest passing rate on some test, 97%. Impressive. I was surprised by how comfortable I felt in front of them right away considering I didn't know I'd be teaching that day, I just met them, & it took me awhile to be comfortable teaching my 6th graders.
Fri. Jan 13: It was a day full of shortened classes because there was a pep rally 7th hour to raise money for FFA...which still kills me that there is FFA in inner city Houston, the 4th largest city in the country. I got to teach again though. That night my roommates & I went to Fast Eddies. It's a pool bar. We played some free pool for a few hours. It was a lot of fun but we probably won't be going there all that often. Even though it is less than a block away, the drinks were so weak, the food wasn't good, & the service sucked. There were also creepers there. But it was fun while we were there & now we know.
Sat. Jan 14: My roommates & I, and another kid who is down here student teaching, Matt, headed into Houston to check out the Olympic running trials. Unfortunately we got there after they were over so we just walked around where they had stuff set up. We checked out Minute Maid Park, at my request ha no one else was all that psyched, & got some pizza from a street cart. After the pizza was gone we decided to head to a dueling piano bar called Howl At The Moon. However, we go there too early so we went to a bar next door, Celtic Gardens. It was cool looking but it wasn't all that exciting. Finally we headed over to HATM where we got in free thanks to a lady who was having a birthday & told us to say we were with her. Once inside we also got a ticket for a $1 drink because we were "with" her. They even bought us a $25 bucket drink & let us hang out around their table which was right up front. It was so much fun. We just danced & jammed the night away. I would definitely go again. However, next time I would park somewhere else BECAUSE I got my car towed. Luckily the 5 of us split the cost because it cost $220 to get it out of some sketchy ass impound lot. And then, and then...we get home to find that someone is in my paid for parking spot. The boys went upstairs to pass out while Kathy & I slept in the parking lot for an hour waiting for a tow truck that never showed....
Sun. Jan 15: We did absolutely nothing. I literally did not climb out of my bed until 1:30 in the afternoon, worthless. I hate doing that . I don't even like being in bed until 10 am. Matt came over that evening & we all watched Limitless. Besides that we were all completely lazy all day as we didn't get home until 3 am.
Mon. Jan 16: We had the day off from student teaching because of MLK day. Kevin had a dr. appointment so Kathy, Darin, Matt, & I went back to downtown Houston to check some more stuff out. We went to the Waterwall which was super cool. We also went to the Galleria, a mall, which was not super cool. Others were impressed because it's one of the largest, 7th?, in the world at 3 floors. First of all, a mall is a mall & therefore unimpressing to me since I'm not much of a shopper. Second of all, I'm from MN where we have Mall of America which is the 1st, maybe 2nd now?, largest mall in world. The only impressive thing about the mall was that there was a skating rink in the food court. We also checked out a sculpture garden. We tried to check out a couple of art museums but they were closed so we just headed back home.
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