Eek!

This is part of a mural at the San Diego Zoo. There was a whole wall of the cutest and funniest pictures of pandas and this was one of my favourite segments :) I'm looking for lots of smiles today as I am incredibly anxious about next week!!

Here's what happened: I found out earlier this week that International House (where I was doing the ESL teacher training) had hired me to teach. I was supposed to come in on Friday to find out the details. Somehow, I'd thought that I would be eased into the whole thing gradually as I pretty much have zero real experience. Instead, I was handed over a full time schedule, pointed in the direction of some useful resources, given a photocopy code, and that was pretty much it. So I'll be teaching four classes starting on Monday, from 9-3.45, and I don't really know what I'm doing. Hence the high anxiety level, agh!

It's funny, because when I was observing classes I was thinking, 'Wow, I really hope I have the opportunity to teach here, it's fantastic blah blah blah and I can totally do this" but now that I actually have to start teaching for real I'm scared. I'm hoping that after the first week I'll get into the swing of things and feel like I know what I'm doing. Anything brand new that you've never tried before is outside the comfort zone and takes time getting used to I guess, I just wish I wasn't quite this nervous :)

So this weekend will be all about lesson planning and trying to get well prepared. As prepared as possible :) Eek.

Have you ever felt anxious about jumping outside of your comfort zone?

Have a fantabulous weekend!

More ESL Fun!

This week is going by sooo quickly! Today was my fourth day in class, and it included my second attempt at teaching a proper lesson. I was a bit more nervous before this one as it included some tricky-ish vocabulary and, really, I didn't know what to expect! The lovely students we're teaching are full of surprises, and at this point it's hard to predict what they already know and what they have not learned yet. Thankfully, the lesson went very well and I think everybody had a fun time, including me :) It's so great to work together as a group and experience something collectively even though everyone's native language is different.

In other news, the sun has been peeking out lately and the view of the mountains has been absolutely gorgeous - so crisp and grand :) I've been spending pretty much all of my time indoors, but I am loving the view :)

This photo is of a ship that I saw when visiting San Diego Bay. It's part of the Marine Museum or something like that. I love old ships like this one, they're so romantic and Old-World-y :)

And now it's time for dinner - tonight it's rice and beans with onion, red bell peppers, and some tomato & portobello mushroom sauce...after soup of course - I am head over heels in love with soup :)

Cheerio!

Downtown San Diego - Sights and Sounds

Well, not too many sights to be seen as I still don't have access to my camera-laptop cord thingy, but I can describe them and leave all the work to ye olde imagination! After a fantastic hour and a half of tennis in the sun, I took the bus and two trolleys to get to gorgeous San Diego Bay. The weather was perfect - clear skies, lots of rays, and a cool breeze. There were many people out and about and it felt as though everyone was on vacation...ah, the good life :)

After getting a good glimpse of the blue, sparkling ocean, I headed to the Gaslamp Quarter for the first time. I absolutely adore old architecture and anything from the nineteenth century, so it was lovely to see those old, atmospheric buildings. Most of them are now restaurants, but I put my olde imagination to work :)

The convention centre is right next to the Gaslamp Quarter, so I saw seemingly hundreds of physiotherapists congregating in the area. I chatted with one very nice lady while waiting in line for tea. Everyday I'm reminded of how friendly people are here!

Oh, as for the sounds, there was some great live music by the Bay. Guitar music, hooray!

On the way home, I had some delicious gelato. My favourite flavour is stracciatella and that's what I had today - yummy!

Cheerio!