Some big news!

This semester is FLYING by. There are only SIX more weeks (including finals)! I only have six more weeks as a student! Six more weeks until... until what, you ask?

So you might recall that I said I have no idea what I'm doing next year. Well, that has finally changed! I HAVE NEWS!

So, I refrained from posting about this in case it didn't work out, but it has, so I can finally post!

After a lot of thinking last summer, I decided to apply for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. I decided to apply to Spain because it is my favorite place in the world. So I wrote essays and filled out a lengthy application and asked for recommendations and then I had an interview with a panel of professors from HPU. And then I turned it all in by mid-October and I settled in for the longest wait of my entire life. (I didn't even wait that long to find out about college or grad school!) Lalala. No stress...

Except EXTREME STRESS the day the Spain decisions came out and... I didn't have an email! Nothing! Not in my Spam folder, not hidden among other emails, not a thing. Everyone seemed to have heard but me. Being in Hawaii and 6 hours behind the East Coast, I discovered all of this at 6 AM on a Monday, which is not a good time to discover anything. I called the Fulbright office and told the lady that I hadn't gotten my email and she just said that some of them had bounced back, and she couldn't tell me my results over the phone (WHY?!), but she would try resending them later that day. Of course, I panicked and called my mother. 

She calmed me down a little bit, but I was about ready to throw up from nerves. AND I was set to be videotaped teaching that morning. What a day! Anyway, while we were on the phone, I got an email with the subject "Fulbright Application Andorra." Which is not Spain, so I was confused. Did they know who I was? I didn't apply to Andorra! Surely there had been another mistake.

I opened it (hyperventilating slightly) and found out that they could not offer me a spot in Spain, but there were extra spots in Andorra, and would I like to go there instead? I wasn't 100% sure this was a thing that could happen, and I was not sure from the wording of the email if I definitely got Andorra or if I'd have to wait even more. I replied saying that yes, I was interested, and I got an email back shortly confirming that I was indeed being offered a Fulbright to teach in Andorra!

It was so surreal. I was excited but so surprised! Here I'd been planning to either stay in Hawaii or be in Madrid, and now I was going to Andorra! Most people, when I told them this, said "Andorra? You mean Pandora? Is that even a real country?" Some people said, "Is that a part of Spain?" To which I obviously replied:

But anyway, for those of you who don't know (which is most people, I guess): Andorra is a teeny tiny little country in the Pyrenees between Spain and France. Yes, it's a real country. The official language is Catalan, the area is 181 square miles, and there are about 80,000 residents. The main things to do there are hiking, skiing, and duty-free shopping. And in September, I'm going to be living there teaching 12-16 year-olds English for a year! WOO HOO!

The Andorran flag. I think it's pretty!

This is Andorra! So tiny!!!!!!

But soooo beautiful. Guess I'd better work on my skiing...

Seriously, doesn't it look like it's straight out of a fairytale?

So there you have it! My big news! That's about it for now... I'll post soon with some pictures of fun Oahu things that we've been doing and an update on school.

Camping, WHALES, Thai food, more WHALES.

School life has been a bit busy lately, but not too busy to have some Hawaii fun! 

A few weeks ago, Devin and I went camping. We went to Bellows, and stayed on the military side of the campgrounds. The military side has some awesome amenities like actual showers (although not truly hot water), picnic tables, a mini golf course (I would like to put out there that I beat Devin!), and even a little bar that we went to one night for live music. And they even have quiet hours after 10 PM that they actually enforce! We have stayed on the civilian side at Bellows several times and been kept up by huge groups of people being rowdy until 4 AM (no joke), so that was what made us try the military side. And... we are never going back. 

Anyway, Bellows (both sides) are on the eastern shore of the island, by Waimanalo. That side of the island, in my opinion, has the best beaches. Soft sand, perfect blue water... what more could you want? So while everyone back home was complaining about a giant snow storm, we were here:

What snow?

Not too shabby, right? We had a great weekend there, and then on Sunday was went on a whale watch cruise before heading home! We had a Groupon for it, and it was such a cool experience! We got to see lots of whales, and I learned a lot about them, too! Whale watching was on my Hawaii bucket list, and I'm so glad we got to do it! My phone was dead, but the tour included a CD of the photos they took, so here are some of the coolest shots, courtesy of Island Divers: 

Breaching! So, so cool. They look smaller in the photos than they were in real life.

We kept seeing them just swimming along at the surface. We saw a couple pairs, usually a mother and calf.

Look, there are two of them!

I feel like whales have so much fun. Doesn't that look fun?

At the very end, two of them swam RIGHT BY our boat. I felt like I could have reached out and touched them.

They were so close!

When they do this with their tails, it means they're about to dive deep and you probably won't see them for a while.

It's like they're waving goodbye!

Seriously, HOW COOL ARE WHALES? If you don't think whales are cool, you are wrong. So, if you are in Hawaii over the "winter," go on a whale watch!! The peak season is December to March, and then they head back up north to Alaska. (One day, I want to go kayaking with whales in Alaska. That's my other whale-related bucket list item. Well, that and having a pet whale.)

After that adventure-filled weekend, Devin went into the field for two weeks. That gave me more time to watch Netflix focus on my homework, so I got a lot done! And since the whole brigade (I think?) was in the field, my friends were all in the same boat, so to speak, so we hung out without our men, which led to some really nice girls nights! 

On one of the girls nights, my friend Kait and I went up to Haleiwa and ate dinner at Opal Thai, which was amazing. I'd never been there before, but I do like Thai food. (I'm no connoisseur, but I enjoy it!) The restaurant used to just be a food truck, and it was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network, and for good reason! They have their own space now, and the guy who owns it, Opel, will give you a menu and then takes it away and asks you what you like. He listed a whole bunch of ingredients and then he asked if I like all of them. I said yes, so he walked off and I was (very quickly!) brought this totally unique dish made just for me! Talk about royal treatment! It was delicious (so spicy!) and I am definitely going back there again!

Now, it's spring break, which has been relaxing! I haven't had any real plans at all and it has been great! We went for a short hike on Sunday on the North Shore and had dinner at the food trucks there before heading over to meet our friends' brand new baby. And I've finally had time to clean our house! And this weekend I'm seeing Cinderella with a friend, and then we're having a St. Patrick's Day party and a beach day!


Hard to believe there are only 8 more weeks of school, isn't it? On that note, I'd better go do some homework...

How is it Spring Break already?!?!

Oops... It's been a while, hasn't it? Things have gotten pretty busy the last few weeks! I can't believe we are already halfway through the semester! (Or halfway through Spring Break... how sad, right?)

School has been really busy, with our first History of English exam, some writing assignments, more student teaching, another AL Talk, and another portfolio deadline. Work has gotten busy too, since tutoring is always busy when school is! 

Sara and I (yes we have the same name) at our AL Talk on February 27th.

I've officially switched over to student teaching in WRI 1100, which is a very different experience from SPAN 1100! In Spanish, I was teaching things like "Hello, my name is..." But in writing it's more like "What is a counterargument?" It's cool to get both experiences! I have to say, having a mother who's a teacher is immensely helpful. It's so nice knowing I can call her anytime with questions or even just to say "Mom, it gets easier, right?" after a lesson that doesn't go perfectly. (She says it does, sort of.) 

I've learned about all sorts of things that can make a lesson not go perfectly... which I suppose is the point, right? Now I know, for example, that if you have an activity that is based on groups passing something to other groups, you had better set up an official passing route, or chaos will ensue... Oops. I've also learned that the Weasley family isn't the best option for teaching family relationships because there are too many of them. Duly noted... And I'm still working on how to time my lessons well. I always seem to end up with too many activities, but I suppose that's better than too few, right? 

All TESOL students have the same favorite color.

I've turned in a draft of almost all of my portfolio at this point, with the exception of my Practicum II materials and my holistic reflection. It's quite the feeling of accomplishment! It's hard to believe I only have 7 more weeks of class, EVER. (Unless I decide to do my PhD some day down the road!) Although I guess as a teacher, you're never really finished with class, are you?

Being a last semester student, lots of people are starting to ask me, "What's next?" Well, trust me everyone, the second I know what's next, I'll tell you! For now, the answer is a big "I don't know." It's like senior year of college all over again...

The closer I get to the end of the program, the more I realize that a) I'm super excited and b) I'm also a bit sad! I've made some really awesome friends here, and we have a truly wonderful group of professors. I'll miss everyone after I graduate! I'm a bit of a nerd, I guess, and I've always loved school, so I'll even miss my classes! (Although not homework...)

Well this has gotten a bit long, so I think I'll make a separate post now about things I've been doing outside of school... Stay tuned for some pictures of WHALES up close and personal!