Elephant Extraveganza

The highlight of my time in Phuket was going on an elephant safari! An hour drive into the mountains brought us to a remote yet thriving nature tour. It was a four-hour tour which was spent riding an elephant, feeding elephants, watching elephants paint, and learning the "old-fashioned-way" of producing things native to Thailand.

Ready or not, here we go!

My view from atop the elephant. It was rather bumpy.

The peach freckles on her trunk are like beauty marks or wrinkles. The age of an elephant can be estimated by the presence of these spots.

Feeding my elephant bananas and pineapples. I could not get them out of the basket quick enough!

Ever see an elephant paint? One of the many "tricks" they teach elephants is how to paint. 

Say, "CHEESE!"

Phuket, Thailand

This past weekend I had the chance to travel to Phuket, Thailand for Fall Break. Phuket is an island off the western coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. Slightly smaller than Singapore, Phuket offers diverse opportunities; ranging from, relaxing on the beach to hiking in lush tropical jungles. Taking less than two hours by plane, this was the perfect destination for a long weekend escape.

A view of the reflecting pond which over looks the sea. 

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L

Walking along the boardwalk

Notice the red flag on the left side - during my entire stay the flag was red. This informed us that the surf was extremely rough and no swimming in the ocean was allowed. 

A beautiful lookout 

Just a couple of snapshots of the resort. It was beautifully decorated; with cool yet welcoming colors.

Day at the River Safari

Yesterday, Saturday, I ventured off to the north part of the island to explore the new River Safari with some friends. It was a beautiful day spent seeing the creativity of our God. The highlight of my day was seeing the pandas! Last year, China gifted two pandas (Kai Kai and Jia Jia) to Singapore; an extremely important gesture. Since then, the pandas have been the main attraction and being that I had never seen a panda before, it was very exciting.

The first stop was the Mighty Mississippi River. The River Safari showcases various species from the biggest rivers in the world. I was very proud that the good ole USA was showcased! It felt like I was back on the farm.

Now, the exhibits were not simply caged animals but rather a recreated environment which allows the animals to be in the most natural of habitats. The above picture is the Singaporean view of the Mid-West. Apparently we all live in log cabins, wear over-alls and still use flannel table cloths. Nonetheless, I am sure the beavers felt very at home.

The grand entrance into the pandas.

I'm posing with Jia Jia and Kia Kia :)

Kia Kia was lounging in a tree. He was extremely playful and never paused long enough for a good snapshot. He was much bigger than I was expecting. Isn't he just the cutest?!?

In a separate "cage", I was only able to catch a glimpse of Jia Jia. Once she poked her head out, the crowd, in perfect harmony, said, "awwww...", which startled her. I was never able to get a picture of the beauty.

A quick stop for lunch lead us to the discovery of "Panda Paus". Pronounced "pow", this dumpling/doughnut/red-bean-filled-pastry, was specially created for promoting the famous pandas. 

Sneak peek into my classroom

First week of school...CHECK!

Meet with the teacher area.

Miss Jorgenson's corner

A front view of 2nd Grade

Our math corner

The Bible verse for the school year

Philippians 1:17

Our classroom map - I have students from United States, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines and Australia 

Our library

View of the classroom from the door

Bulletin boards outside our room

And so it begins

When I was in elementary school, I loved going "back to school" shopping. My mom would take Tyler, Baihley and I to Target or Walmart and load up on school supplies; carefully consulting our official school shopping list. I always knew who my next teacher was going to be since I attended a small school in which there was one class per grade. My only other memory of "back to school" time is posing for the infamous "First Day of School" picture. In fact, below is a picture from my first day of kindergarten.

Fast forward eighteen years later, and here I am. Beginning my second year of teaching. Monday is open house/meet the teacher and Tuesday is the first day of school. As I look ahead to the next ten months, I am ready and willing. Just as 2 Corinthians 5:5 tells us,

  "He who has prepared us for this very things is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee." 

Although my "to-do" list is never-ending and there are days that I feel like giving up, I am reminded of a verse in Esther. 

"And who knows whether you have no come to ICS for such a time as this."

End of the year sights

The school year has ended and I am back in the USA. It was a great last day of school - bittersweet. My students and their parents lavished me with love and precious gifts. I will spend the summer in Minnesota, with my family, and I will head back to Singapore the end of July. The day after school ended my good friend Cora arrived in Singapore. We spent two weeks touring Singapore. At the end of her time in Singapore, we hopped on a ferry and spent three days in Bintan, Indonesia. 

A look at the hotel. Lush and green.

Part of the pool had a swim-up  bar. There were stools in the water so that one could sit in the water and enjoy a smoothie, sandwich or dessert. 

My feet in the Southern China Sea.

Cora and I on a tour boat.

While in Little India Cora and I stopped at a salon and got Henna tattoos. Henna tattoo is a temporary that is used primarily in India.

Another one of our adventures was the Fish Spa. The fish nibble the dead skin off one's feet, leaving the feet rather smooth.

The nibbling fish felt like flies tickling my skin :)

Miss J's B-day

This past Monday was my birthday. To begin the day, I was pleasantly greeted by eighteen little farmers. Each of my students had dressed up as farmers in honor of me being raised on a farm. The day ended with a party that included a choreographed dance by my students, eighteen hand made cards, and a farm cake. This cake was the most detailed cake I have ever had; everything on the cake was edible! The moms of my students worked so hard to make me feel loved and special.

Enjoy a glimpse of my fun day!

End of the year is in sight

After studying a unit on farming, I introduced my students to the Peterson Farm Brothers. These brothers have made two music videos of farming parodies of current pop songs. My students fell in love with the music videos. At the beginning of the 2013, we wrote the brothers fan mail and sent it off. After waiting almost three months, we received a reply. Not only did we receive a letter but an autographed poster. The poster is now on display in our classroom.

With only seventeen days of school left, the students are very ready for the year to be over. I saw an idea on the internet and brought it into our classroom. Being there are eighteen students in my class, we began a countdown - "The Last 18 Days of School." I blew up eighteen balloons and put a special activity inside each. Each day, a different student pops a balloon and reads the special activity. The first activity was a paper airplane competition. The kids had a blast making and testing their airplanes. It seems chaotic, but I would not have it any other way. 

Life as I know it

I took last Friday off from school; it was a great day. I slept in (at least until 7), I talked to family and friends from back home, I organized my room, and I made a new friend. As I was organizing my room, I heard some noise outside my window. My window faces the outside walkway that leads from the car park (garage) to the stairs going to the front door. At first I thought it was Kristin, my aunt; the noise from coming from where she stores the broom. After it did not stop I thought I should check out the situation. Was I in for a BIG surprise. The first thing I saw was a long tail. Thinking it was a snake, I quickly ran back inside, collected myself and grabbed my camera. 

A monitor lizard had made its afternoon napping locale on my window sill. Although it seemed to be a baby, he was at least 2.5 feet long! I have only ever seen these lizards near water. Being that our house is no where near a body of water, we do not know where he came from. Sandy, the name my five year old cousin gave the lizard, stayed for the weekend. We checked on him periodically and even tried giving him some leftovers from dinner. Broccoli and chicken are not a lizard's choice dinner. After spending about two days with us, the lizard disappeared and has not been seen since.

Bintan, Indonesia

With less than a month left of school, three friends and myself hopped on a ferry and spent the weekend laying on the beach. Bintan, a small island south of Singapore, was our destination. Only forty-five minutes on the ferry and we were in paradise! Although it was a rainy day in Singapore, the beaches of Bintan greeted us with clear skies and lots of sun. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed the day soaking in the sun. 

I found a hermit crab in the water. He poked his head out a few times and even tried to grab my finger.

Ahhhh....

Tranquility.

Angela, Kara, Laura, and myself - all teachers at ICS

It was such a great opportunity to get to know these great ladies.

Easter in 2nd Grade

What better reason than Easter to have a party! We began the day with the reading of the Easter story. My students always amaze me with their insight and curiosity about Christ. They truly have an understanding of who Christ is and why He came to this earth. 

To remember Christ's death, both the horror and beauty of it, we made stain glass crosses. Using contact paper and tissue paper, my students created beautiful crosses that are now on display in our classroom.

Students first created an outline of the cross.

Once the outline was created, students took shredded tissue paper and decorated their cross.

In order to allow the crosses to stick to the windows, we left about an inch of contact paper around the entire cross. Since contact paper is sticky, the crosses stuck perfectly on the windows.

Some of the crosses on display.

One of the wonderful room moms planned a beautiful Easter party. Instead of eating candy and playing games, we recreated the Passover Seder. This is a Jewish ritual that retells the liberation of the Israelites from slavery.

One of the center pieces. 

Three crosses and a rock; the rock is to represent the tomb.

Part of the ceremony requires the recitation of the ten plagues  As each plague is being recounted, we dipped our fingers into grape juice and dropped it into another cup.

Our beautiful table.