Big City Life

I'm really enjoying the city!  People are everywhere!  Men and women are focused on getting to work quickly and there is no time to stop.  I'm usually distracted by those I'm passing.  I feel quite plain amongst all these beautiful people.  Their style has the New York signature fashion.  Most commuters have their ear buds in and shades on...whether in sunlight or on the subway.  It's just a different kind of world and I like it!

The weather has been delightful here this week.  Yesterday was probably the best!  It was about 85 degrees and sunny with a breeze.  Perfect. After class, I visited the New York Public Library and walked through Bryant Park.  

I'm really enjoying my class and making new friends!  We will begin teaching next week and I'm nervous.  My partner, Isabella, and we will be preparing lessons for a level 4 class and also a class for an ESL student's children.  I'm happy about that because I will have a chance to experience what it is like to teach young learners with limited or no English.  Gisela is going over parts of speech, methodology, grammar, and phonology.  It seems to be one my forte.  At the end of class today, we played Jeopardy.  The team captain picked me first to be on their team (I don't think I've ever been picked for anything first) and I got most of our team's points.  I got a lot of compliments from my classmates.  It made me feel really good.

I stopped to grab a bite to eat this evening and got hit on by my waiter.  He gave me his number and told him to call me if I wanted to hang out.  Don't freak out (not my type), I'm not going to call him but it was flattering.    Well, I suppose I will do a little studying and then off to bed.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.  Anyone have suggestions on where I could go this weekend?  Keep in mind I've already done a lot of tourist attractions.

In front of the New York Public Library

The statue of the lion Patience.

and this one is Fortitude.

The Teacher Becomes the Student

I started class at the TEFL Institute, yesterday.  My instructor's name is Gisela.  She is from Germany so I thought it was a bit strange that she was teaching this class on how to speak English.  She has an accent so it helps me focus on what she is teaching.  She told us that she was going to teach us a foreign language so that we would know what a student learning another language would feel like.  She decided to teach us Russian.  I have to say I was pretty stressed and found it difficult to remember phrases and words or get the correct pronunciation right.  Some of my classmates caught on well, but learning a second language doesn't seem to be my forte.  I had lunch with my classmate Ashley.  She's really nice and from Venezuela.  I thought she was probably my age, but she is actually 36 with a husband and 2 kids!  She does not look 36.  After lunch, we continued with learning a foreign language but she had those that could speak another language go up and teach the class.  I couldn't tell you anything I learned it was that confusing.

Today, we went over things like classroom management and grammar.  That was more up my alley, of course.  I felt a little more confident than the first day.  Gisela taught us some more Russian but she wrote the words on the board and told us how to sound out the words.  Being able to visualize it was helpful.  I had pizza with a few of my classmates at a pizza place.  It was really good, but can you believe most places here do not serve Dr. Pepper.  It's mostly Coke or Pepsi...but seriously. lol! We went over parts of speech, which was a good refresher for me and then had to take this insanely long grammar test but it was easy (although do not feel free to correct me on any grammatical mistakes as I'm sure there are many).  I took the subway home and grabbed some dinner and now about to go to bed.

The residence is great! I have a nice room and facilities.  Everyone is really nice and accommodating and its a great part of town.  I like that it is just a few blocks from the park.  You wouldn't believe how many people are there just laying out and resting in the grass...something you don't see much here.

Sweet sleep!

Unexpected Travels

Wow friends!  You won't believe what has happened thus far!  I'll start Friday morning at 2:00 AM.  I woke up and got ready to catch my flight leaving at 5:55 to Chicago O'Hare airport.  Things went pretty smoothly from OKC to Chicago.  Our next flight, leaving to Newark was to take off at 9:00 arriving at 12:55.  We waited awhile and they told us our plane was having mechanical issues...something with the rutter.  That seems pretty important so I was a little nervous.  It reminded me of the scene in friends when Rachel is going to Ross and Emily's wedding.  Phoebe tries to persuade Rachel to get off the plane by telling her something is wrong with the "left filangy." lol:) Soon after our flight was cancelled, everyone bolted to customer service to rebook another flight.  I managed to get a flight leaving at 5:20.  Andrea and Barbara would be flying out at 7:40.  So here we are at in the airport waiting for 7 hours.  We found out that there was an electrical fire in an air traffic control tower which left many flights delayed or cancelled.  There was even planes that got to NY but had to turn around and come back to Chicago.  All I could keep thinking was that so many things have gone wrong and it was just my luck that this would happen.  I seriously started to doubt if this was what God wanted me to do.  My 5:20 flight got delayed to 5:40, then 6:15, 6:30, and then I finally boarded at around 6:45.  I landed in Newark at 10:15 and decided to wait for Andrea and Barbara.  I went to claim my baggage but it had not reached there.  They told me it would be up to 3 hours before I could get it.  So I decided to have them send it to the residence I was staying in.  I could not contact the residence because it was after hours so I stayed at the hotel with my friends.  All I had was my carry-on so I had to wash my clothes in the sink and sleep in the robe provided by the hotel.  I woke up this morning at about 8:00.  My clothes were still sopping wet so I had to sit with a blow dryer for nearly 45 minutes to get them damp.  I headed out after getting ready to check in at St. Mary's.  It took me a little bit to figure out the subway.  From the moment I woke up in my bed in Oklahoma to sitting on my bed at the residence in NYC took me 32 hours!  It was a very exhausting day for me and it was hard to stay positive but God shared something with me earlier that morning from the devotional "Jesus Calling."


"I have prepared this day for you with the most tender concern and attention to detail.  Instead of approaching the day as a blank page that you need to fill up, try living it in a responsive mode: being on the lookout for all that I am doing.  This sounds easy, but it requires a deep level of trust, based on the knowledge that MY way is perfect."  


I know that I can get so frustrated when things don't go my way according to my plan.  But even though the day seemed absolutely dreadful to me, I have to trust God that He was paying extreme detail to every event that happened.  I believe that he protected me yesterday.  And all that other things that have gone wrong just may be His way to remind me that I can't control anything!  I can either fight him on that or let go.  I'm so happy I am here now and I am waiting for my friend Mariah so we can have lunch and walk the Brooklyn Bridge today!

One Week!

One week from today, I will be leaving for the Big Apple!  It's a bit surreal for me to imagine waking up in New York City each day.  There are lots of emotions running through me...excitement, stress, worry, curiosity.   I'm very thankful for this opportunity and can't wait to see what God teaches me through it!  He deserves the credit for everything that has come into place to ready me for this adventure.  I knew it would cost quite a bit to go and would require an intense amount of frugality on my part.  Saving is one thing that is a struggle for me.  I worked a lot of extra hours at Golden Corral and am teaching summer school all because He provided those jobs.  I also received a generous donation in the mail the week that I had damage to my car.  Two weeks ago was when I began to panic about where I would stay.  The residence I applied for had not contacted me with an available room and I was 18 on the list.  After hours and hours of searching for an apartment room to rent in a stranger's place, I got nowhere and had more stress.  The following Monday I called the residence to see how far up I was on the list. She told me that I was #1 on the list for a room!  Praise God! Initially, I tried to reason it in my head how I could be first. God revealed to me that he doesn't fit into this formula I try to create in my head.  He is capable of doing so much more than I give him credit for.  I am one who struggles with grace.  It is hard for me to wrap my head around this God that even when I don't deserve something, He loves me so much that he freely gives me things because he loves me.   I talked with my good friend Julie about how I didn't deserve for God to have taken care of that for me because I hadn't been a "good girl."  She was passionate about explaining that God loves me and that I need to say I'm sorry, repent and keeping moving forward. She quoted from Angela Thomas that "God is always plotting for our joy." I am fighting against the legalistic mindset that thinks I can earn God's favor and love by doing good works.  This is not truth!  

Titus 3:4-7  says

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

This week will be a very busy week of preparation and wrapping up summer school.  I'm still figuring out a way to get my luggage to weigh no more than 50 lbs. I am not a light packer and this is for 4 weeks so I'm open to any suggestions.  I will be blogging more frequently to keep all of you following me up to date.  Thanks for those that are encouraging me and celebrating with me in this new chapter!  See you soon!