MISSISSIPPI IPPISSISSIM DELTA!

I have officially been in Mississippi for one week.  It feels like it's been a month.  Despite the craziness of TFA, I think that I will really like it here in Mississippi.  I loove the small town life.  I love how friendly everyone is.  I love the community that is set up in these small towns.  I found out that I like catfish =)
I'll try to give you a fast recap of my week:

   ~Thursday: I arrived in Cleveland Mississippi at 3 am, slept for a couple of hours, and that was joyfully and tearfully greeted by the beautiful Becca and Rachel (what a comfort!)

They showed me around and then sent me off to the hiring fair where I had 2 good interviews for jr high math but realized that I REALLY want to teach special education.  But anyway...the rest of the day was just filled with sessions...lots of new info and vision casting!

  ~Friday: sessions, sessions, sessions. This completed the induction part of our training and we ended the night by going to a neighborhood home, a beautiful, richly decorated, warm and inviting home with delicious food, good people, and such a welcoming environment. 

  ~Saturday: I took my Special Ed Praxis test! (I'll find out in a few weeks how I did!) And then that evening I went to my first ever catfish fry where I ate dinner and rode the carousel with my new friends!

                                                           Mississippi Family =)

Then we went to a BB king concert! It was awesome to see BB King in his home town, but the man is 85 and is no longer the performer he is known to be.  To make a long story short, about an hour of the concert was watching his attempt at having a 10 year old dance party on stage where he destroyed children's confidences.  (ask me about the full story sometime!)

                                          This is how happy we were before the concert started!

                                                                good ole' BB King
 

  ~Sunday:  the best part of Sunday is that we found the Mississippi version of Starbucks: McDonald's.  (no, I'm not kidding).  They have pretty good coffee, a fairly large work space, and free internet.  I'm sure we will soon become regulars.

  ~Monday:  this was the day that the real work began.  The bulk of institute goes like this: we are all enrolled in 3 graduate level classes.  We are required to go to sessions and learn everything there is to know about being a teacher, and we are also in charge of teaching students at summer school for 4 weeks.  I will be working at Clarksdale High School (not for forever, but just for the summer!), and I will be teaching one hour of 6 grade math every day starting on Monday!  This week is a preparation week, and man is there a lot to prepare for!  This was my schedule: 4:45am wake up, go to breakfast, get on the bus to drive for an hour to my school site, sit in sessions until 4:30pm, get back on the bus, have dinner, and then we had a welcoming ceremony from 7-830.  crazy!  The worst part is, that wasn't our only long day.

Tuesday: This is the day when I realized that waking up before 5 is only something you should do on a travel day; it should never become your daily routine. yuck! I did, however, get a small break in the day to go to a coffee shop with Becca called Mississippi Grounds, and I fell in love with it.  The chai is better than Classic Coffee! (I know that sounds blasphemous, but you will just have to come visit and find out for yourself!). I know that I am not here for the community aspect of it, but that is really the part that is keeping me sane.  I have made some really great friends.  It's weird for me to observe the rest of the TFA culture because I realize that the group we have is very rare; everyone else is completely focused on the task in hand and socialize with other people out of necessity.  I have a true community here, and I know that it has everything to do with my learning experiences at APU, especially in RezLife.  So, my favorite part of Tuesday is that we had our first girls' prayer group with Becca and Rachel and our new amazing friends Janie and Laura.  They are such gifts to me here!

Wed: veryveryvery long day.  too much information and work. not enough time to complete it.  I also found out that I possibly have a job placement.  It's not for sure yet, but it's looking likely that I might be teaching high school math/SpEd in Leland Ms.  I'm not thinking about it too much yet because there's still a good chance that it could fall through; I'll keep you posted.

Today: exhausted.


I will try to update more often and hopefully I'll have pictures posted of my 6th grade classroom soon!

And thank you for praying, I think it's the only reason I haven't completely broken down this week and have felt illogical joy and peace.

Thank you,
Em