long week

right so i went to rhode island last night with anthony perry (wm '05) to go to st. georges because we had the day off today (yay for día de la raza). we had opening day, and i have pictures of that as well, but the photo to the right is a building from the st. george's campus.

opening day was incredible. there was so much energy in fanueil hall that it was ok that i didn't get any sleep in the days leading up to opening day because of step and all of our other commitments. but it was great. the rush was so fabulous. it was the first day that we were all in full uniform almost (except for a few people, like 2). our step was amazing, we got rave reviews, our PT crew was on point, fanueil hall's bottom floor was packed and i was smiling the ENTIRE time. my team repped a lot, since i was in the step routine and matt received the hammer of service from his brother and then we were clearly the BEST TEAM EVER. our team sponsor representative came from upromise came and i got to hang out with him at the champions reception before the opening day ceremony. good times were had by all.

my parents came out to the service day. my dad has a thing about bugs and etc, but my mom came out to the service site all the way to the place where we were painting railings. we had the best service site, the view was incredible and it was really gorgeous.

so overall, opening day was great, really tiring. we had a party to celebrate opening day that next night after i got back from being in springfield, mass with my parents and that was also really tiring.

then we had our first full week of service. i was not prepared. at all. for the terror of fifth grade. i looked forward to the field trip we had this week (apple picking somewhere in massachusetts that reminded me of the outskirts of where i live) because it meant i wouldn't be holed up in a classroom with them. as crazy as my kids are, they really are my kids, and that realization truly hit me this week when i was helping brian with long division afterschool on wednesday. brian is a fifth grader in my class at the trotter. he has very neat handwriting and he knows a lot about sports history. he claims that he forgets things easily, but i did so many practice long division problems with him that i hope he doesn't. my hope is that i have a few starfish this year. starfish are like stories that demonstrate lots of progress in a life. i'll have to come up with a better explanation than that but for right now that's all i got. alright, so i am working on translating some starfish corps documents for the starfish working group, so i better get back to that.

starfish corps- our afterschool program for second through fifth graders that runs mid-october through the beginning of june and focuses on developing literacy and civic values through hands-on service projects and building community awareness.

boston children's choir

alright. so last night was dr. carol johnson's swearing in as the new superintendent of the boston public schools at trinity church. and of course, the boston CY corps was there in full-uniform (we looked good) and in full-force. it was basically a night of really fabulous music. and the boston children's chorus doing some fabulous a capella. and i can't let that moment go unnoticed. so while it was ridiculously hot in there and we were there an hour early, and i sat next to sara and matt, (my teammates) who is basically like a CY celebrity because both of his brothers did CY here and they all look alike so the board members are like, you look really familiar, we met some ladies behind us and one in front of us. we fanned ourselves a lot with the programs and then at the end everyone sang this little light of mine. a third grader spoke very eloquently, but also, a parent from the william monroe trotter elementary school spoke and we were very excited, because that is our service partner!

and today was the last day of training. tomorrow is our red jacket dedication ceremony. and friday is city year boston opening day. my parents are coming up, which i think is really fabulous and they are going to come to service on friday after the ceremony which is nice of them and then i am going out to springfield with them, which is not so fab, but i would like to get to spend time with them. its incredible to think that its already been a month. and also, rent is due on monday...