Inspiration

I want to start my week off right. I want to go to bed with a smile on my face and wake up with a warm heart. I'm going to drink so tea and cozy up to a movie I haven't seen in years. I'll let you know how it went  after the movie is over.

Oi gente,

This life I am living now is becoming pretty routine. The first week felt like an intense teaching boot camp the second week and being thrown headfirst into a classroom didn't feel any less intense than the first week. If anything it was 10x worse. I love it though. I love my kids so much that the lack of sleep, exhaustion, and stress is nothing to me. It's paying off so far. The kids love my class and I love my second graders. It's kind of sad that I'm at the halfway point with them. Summer school will be ending in two weeks and then i head back to new Orleans for some intense training at KIPP. Back to more lesson planning then I'm heading to bed at 10PM on the dot. Point. Blank. Period.

Knowledge is Power.

Lesson Plans, lesson plans and more lesson planning. I hope I don't burn out by the end of this week. i do not remember the last time I had this much work to do on a daily basis.

Final Destination

So I spent one week in New Orleans apartment hunting with a fellow corps member and getting to know the area. I met a lot of people in the GNO corps. I was also surprised and also a bit disappointed that 85% of New Orleans corps members are white and there is only a little sprinkling of black corps members even though the majority of the students we will be teaching are black. TFA needs a new recruitment strategy because all of these white girls act and talk exactly the same and the vast majority of my peers act like they have never seen or talked to a black person in their entire sheltered lives. If another  white girl/boy tells me about what they read about black people in the lone African American Experience class at Cornell University I am going to lose it.

 Now I'm at my temporary residence in Atlanta. I will be staying on campus at Georgia Tech for exactly one month while I engage it what some have said will be the hardest most intense five week training I will ever endure in my lifetime. OK. I'm pretty sure these people haven't run collegiate track and field but I'll take their word for it. I start training tomorrow and so far my schedule is looking pretty intense. They did not give me the details but I have to be on a school bus at 6:30 AM in order to get to the elementary school site I will be teaching at for the summer.

Bring on Institute training. 

Halfway Point

We made it to Chattanooga Tennessee in one piece. We will be making the second half of the trip to New Orleans tomorrow morning. Even though I reduced all of my things to approximately 100 items I still feel heavy as I travel. My bag is stuffed to capacity and my suitcase is still overflowing. I think my problem was grouping things together. I grouped my socks, books and electronics together so now that is creating a problem. I also realized that my iPad charger charges my iPhone as well so now I have a duplicate charger. I don't have much stuff right now but I feel heavy and my goal was to feel lighter. This got me thinking about another challenge I want to start when I arrive to my destination and for the future. I'm going to create my own Five a Day challenge where I will be throwing or donating 5 items a day for one full month. This challenge will continue to reduce unnecessary clutter. Alright I'm off to meditate and rest up for tomorrow,

100 Items Challenge

Miscellaneous

1.     Bible

2.     Important documents: Passport/ Credit card/ Drivers license/ Social Security card

3.     Check book

4.     Teach for America Pre Institute Work

5.     Planner

6.     Notepad

7.     Keys

8.     Camera

Electronics

9.     iPad

10. Laptop + Charger

11. Phone + Charger

12. Headphones

13.  External Hard drive, Flash drive

Shoes

14. Brown boots

15. Black flats

16. Sandals

17. Shower flip flops

18. Running shoes

19. Toms

20. Pumps

Clothing Items

21.  Casual black dress (can be dressed up or down)

22.  Casual floral Print dress

23. Floral print dress

24. Dress

25.  Blue jeans

26. Black slacks

27. Blue Slacks

28. Kaki Pants

29. Casual black pants

30. Blue shorts

31. Kaki shorts

32. Dress suit

33. Socks

34. Underwear

35. Pink T-shirt

36. Striped T-shirt

37. Blue T-shirt

38. Beige T-shirt

39. White shirt

40. Vest

41. Navy blue button down shirt

42. White button down shirt

43. Navy Blue Cardigan

44. Beige Cardigan

45. PJ shorts and shirt

46. PJ shorts and shirt

47. Sweat pants

48. Sweatshirt

49. Rain jacket

50. Track shirt

51. Track shirt

52. Running shorts

53. Running spandex

54. Running spandex

55. Black backpack

56. Shoulder bag

57. Brown purse

58. Black purse

59. Sunglasses

Bed/Bathroom items

60. Body Towel

61. Washcloth

62. Soap Bar

63. Conditioner

64. Spray bottle

65. Shea Butter mix

66. Contact solution + Case

67. Toothbrush + toothpaste

68.  Glasses + Case

69.  Brush/ Wide tooth Comb

70. Lotion

71. Satin Scarf

72. Twin sized bed sheets

73. Blanket

74. Pillow

75. Iron

Kitchen/Bedding ( to put in storage)

76. Lamp

77. Sheets

78. Comforter

79. Pillow

80. Pan

81. Large pot

82. Small pot

83. Knife/fork/ spoon

84. Bowl

85. Plate

86. Water filter

87.  Stereo

88. Baking pan

89. Cooking Utensils ( measuring cup, spatula, spoon)

90. Coffee mug

Organizing the Process of De-Cluttering

I move to New Orleans in less than 24 hours.

I spent all day yesterday doing laundry, sorting clothes and deciding what exactly I want to pack. I’m at a roadblock right now and I have absolutely no idea where to pick up. Do I start with clothes? What about the other items? What do I do with books? I have decided that the only books I will take with me will be the Pre-Institute workbooks I need for Teach for America, planner and one or two notebooks. All other books will be bought and read on my iPad (graduation gift) from now on. Now, what am I going to do with the hair supplies? Should I group them into one “thing” or do I separate? My goal for today is to reduce, reduce and reduce! I refuse to burden myself with more useless crap. Inspired by the minimal student, I decided to make a list of 100 items separated by category. Then discard or store anything else. I realized that the best way to attack so much stuff is to list the things you want to keep and discard the rest. As I go through my things I begin to second guess myself more and more until I’m left with the same amount of stuff I started out with.  

Things to consider: I will need professional/ business casual attire for training in Atlanta during the summer. I will also need casual clothing items for weekends. Luckily, since the weather in New Orleans is generally warm year round I do not have to drag my hunkin’ NorthFace coat down there. Whew. 

Lessons Learned: 

1. Start at the end and work your way backwards. In other words, don't try to attack everything all at once. Make a list of what you want to ultimately end up with and then bag the rest of the stuff to store, donate or throw away later.