We're down to 6 days until departure! It's really weird to think about it being so close when in my head it's always been months or weeks. There's still so much to do and a lot of things to organize so I'll give all of you the less insane/crazed version of what's going on in my head at the moment.
I have SO much to buy still. From teaching supplies (crafts, foods) to host family gifts- everything is just chaos in this area. I have a shopping list that I've been carrying around with me and I just keep adding things that come to mind whenever I have time to think about it. Since the organization is non-profit, all of the supplies for teaching are donated either by the volunteers themselves or from people donating to the volunteers. Long story short: I need to go shopping.
Speaking of shopping.. I've been stocking up on long sleeved shirts, sweaters, and socks. A lot of socks. It's pretty easy finding warm clothes in Wisconsin this time of year so I've been pretty lucky. Especially with all of the after Christmas and Holiday sales. Score. Currently all of my clothes are sitting out in the middle of the living room on card tables. I brought out my two HUGE suitcases today and hopefully by Sunday I'll be officially living out of my suitcases! This is a good step, I promise. For the past few days I've been washing all of my clothes and organizing them into two piles: 'Going' and 'Not Going.' I have a feeling that after the next shopping trip, the 'Not Going' pile is going to be getting bigger.
There are still a few aspects of my trip that are still uncertain. I don't know where I'm staying yet. It's definitely with a host family, but who they are, I have no idea. I guess I'll find out in approximately, oh, 6 days? The running story is that we don't find out who we're living with until we ring the doorbell. Yay..? Another part of the unknown is which grade level I'll be teaching. I originally signed up for a Pre-k level, but I'm actually hoping for the Elementary level which is more into correcting mistakes and teaching grammar rules. And they would be old enough to be able to sit in their seats without me having to pack multiple rolls of duct tape :)
At this point, I would really love to know all of the answers to my questions because I'm getting kind of antsy. If I'm teaching Pre-K I want to start creating lessons and learning about that part of the program. If I'm teaching Primary or Elementary then I want to start finding books and things that they would be interested in learning about.
The difficult part of this program is that we have to create lessons that don't entirely matter. The point is to get the kids talking about what they're doing, not just to have them do it. Does that make sense? An example would be that we're teaching them math, but it doesn't even matter if they get the math right, we just want them to talk and work through the math using English. The lessons will have to be completely different for each age area so even if I start working on something now and I end up teaching another level, it will be a total waste of time. I don't have too much time to waste at the moment.
I'm a little nervous about leaving right now, but I know it'll be amazing and everything will work out within the next few weeks. I'm spending my last few days indulging in snuggling with my pets, eating french fries for breakfast, drinking hot chocolate 24/7, having nonstop internet at my fingertips, and having access to my car. I'm quite aware how much I'll miss these things, but that doesn't stop me from looking forward to drinking my body weight in tea, exploring grocery stores, meeting new people, and going anywhere I want to by train. Oh Europe, I've missed you!
6 more days!
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