Proud Wife

My husband, who I call Sparky (he calls me Skippy), just finished his first college class since he went back to get a math degree. His final was last week. He knows about this blog and when I was talking about some posts with a friend this weekend, he asked, "Did you write about my grade?" He's very happy . . . and so am I! He got a straight A!!!! One of the only A's in the class, in fact! He thinks there were only 2 or 3. It was a hard class, a lot of students never even finished. But he stuck it out and aced it! I'm VERY proud of my hubby! Way to go, babe! I saw how hard he worked and he deserved it! So here's for you, Sparky! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Ok--I know that cinco de mayo was yesterday and it's now seis de mayo! Oh well! I love cinco de mayo, probably because I love the Mexican and latino cultures. I especially love it when I ask my ESL students who are from Mexico what cinco de mayo celebrates and they don't know. Ok, I'll be nice, half did and half didn't. I guess there are some Americans who don't know their history, though, too! But it that REALLY bugs me since I'm such a history buff.

We had a little cinco de mayo party in our ESL class yesterday (well, the girls did, the boys just sat there and wouldn't even eat the great food the girls made). I made horchata, a yummy traditional drink of rice and cinnamon (the boys did drink my horchata, though).

I really love how different cultures here in the U.S. are trying to keep their cultural identities in tact. Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case. For example, many years ago, when a Mexican family immigrated to the U.S. and their children were born here, those children never learned to speak their parents language, Spanish in this case. They were completely assimilated into this culture, forgetting their traditions, only speaking English, etc. The same was happening with many Native American cultures, as well. But now these different groups are keeping their traditions and languages alive in their children and their children's children, for which I say, BRAVO!! I mean, what an asset to speak two languages and to know why you do! We are suppose to be a melting pot, so, I feel we need to embrace all the cultures that are here and try to respect their traditions. We definitely enjoy them--look at how many non-hispanic Americans have embraced and celebrate cinco de mayo!

Sick of being sick!

I'm sick of being sick! Yes, my ear infection that I had a couple of weeks ago went away but last week, something else sprung up--or I just never got over what I had before and it's back! I have a sore, scratchy throat and a cough, all of which I had right before the ear infection. I also just found out that mono is going around the school where I work--could that be it? There are also bad allergens in the air and we are in the process of building a new school behind the old one so, the construction dust is bad. So, am I really sick or is it just a mixture of allergies and dust? If anyone out there has any ideas, please share! I'm sick if being sick!!!!!!!!

Good--no, GREAT news!!!

I'm keeping my job for next school year!!! YEAAHH!!! I just found out Tuesday evening when I was at the school to translate for parent-teacher conferences. Our principle just happened to be there so I asked him when we would know about our jobs and he said, "Do you want the good news?" Well, DUH!?! (I didn't say that, of course) He said they had just decided that very day to keep the ESL aids--WOW! But, we had lost our jobs before Tuesday--fortunately for me and the rest of us in the district, they found some funding to be able to keep us!!! SO, to whoever found the funding and to whoever fought for our jobs and to whoever is responsible . . . THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!

Spring Break

I'm back to school today after our too short Spring Break. Unfortunately for me, I was sick to entire time--I had a bad cold that wouldn't go away. Finally, my husband made me go to the doctor after my ear started hurting so bad I couldn't sleep, and guess what? I have an ear infection! Don't small children just get those? I guess not--lucky me! My mom said she couldn't remember me ever getting one when I was a child. Even the doctor made some comment about how he usually only sees ear infections in children. But, this is just typical for me. I didn't get chicken pox until I was 26 and I still haven't had my tonsils out. Oh no, I hope that's not next!!! YIKES!!!!

Luckily I was on antibiotics by Easter, so I felt good enough to go to my sister-in-law's for Easter dinner with my husband's family. We had good food and a fun Easter egg hunt. It was a beautiful spring day and a nice time was had by all! Sparky (my husband) helped our youngest niece (she's almost 2) find her eggs and he was SO CUTE holding her little hand and walking around the yard with her. It made me a little sad thinking that we could have been doing that if the baby we lost would have been born. I know I shouldn't think of the "what ifs" but sometimes I can't help it! Enough of feeling sorry for myself! It was a good holiday with family--that's the most important!

Scared!

The school district that I work in was just informed that it has to cut 5 million dollars from the budget for next year. That means my job is in trouble--especially for me because I have the lowest seniority of all the ESL aides in the district. They said if they cut jobs, they will look at need then seniority. They are looking at a lot of other options so there is hope I won't loose my job but I'm still very nervous. Especially because I carry the health insurance for me and my husband. We should hear something by next week. Hopefully it will be good news! I would much rather they cut our pay across the board or raise our insurance cost then loose my job!

Yeah--it's finally over!!!

We had our second and final performance of our Multicultural Assembly this past Friday. It was fun and we all had a great time but, it was also a little stressful so, like the title says, yeah, it's finally over (and I'm SO glad about that)! This performance was shorter and much easier, though. We performed for a local elementary school and those kids are always our best audience. It was shorter so we only had 4 performances this time. AND . . . the best news of all . . . I finally figured out how to post pictures so instead of my rambling on more about it, you can see some of the performances from both assemblies. Didn't the Mexican skirts turn out beautiful?