obca87 (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} obca87) wrote,@ 2008-05-16 18:43:00 |
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COS Conference recap
Sunday was a party at a friend's house (the high schooler got confirmed into the church), followed by my first night of the Close of Service Conference. That ran till Wednesday night when I came home and slept, and slept.
It was the last time that everyone who is left from my training class is all going to be together. A definite cause for reflection. Even though many of the group dynamics were the same, or at least similar to Pre Service Training, I felt that I was different, more chill, more mature. It was definitely a nice feeling. Plus it made me realize how insane PST was: here we were for only 4 days together, in hotels with gloriously hot and pressure-ful showers, knowing the language and the culture, and yet by the end I was ready to leave. It was really nice to see people, really nice to catch up. I've made some really good friends there and can't wait to see how the friendships will develop once we are Stateside.
My two proudest/happiest moments from the conference are as follows:
1) When one of the training staff, during informal time when some of us were hanging out, getting a little bit of work done, well she commented on how much I've grown, and how she could see that. A pat on the back is always appreciated, plus it was a nice confirmation of what I already knew.
2) When I gave an impromptu 5 minute English class to preschoolers. I was walking back from the market, after hunting for my lunch, and I saw a preschool with a teacher and a couple students, sitting on the stoop. I said hello, and they invited me in. The kids were all sitting down for story time, so I introduced myself, and together, we counted to five a few times in English and Portuguese. It don't know why it left me with such a good feeling, but I can guess: 1) I like preschoolers; 2)it showed me how far I'd come with my language skills, being able to talk with them in their language and the such, and 3) along similar lines as 2, just having the confidence, and not being nervous in front of a large group, improvising something, to me these are tools/skills that I really gained/developed here.
Oh and I also discovered schwarmas (like the CV version of a California burrito) and mint ponche (which tastes like slightly alcoholic melted mint ice cream...it's quite good), both of which I'll have to have more of before I leave.
Okay, now it's time to stop procrastinating and grade the 200 tests I gave last week.
Sunday was a party at a friend's house (the high schooler got confirmed into the church), followed by my first night of the Close of Service Conference. That ran till Wednesday night when I came home and slept, and slept.
It was the last time that everyone who is left from my training class is all going to be together. A definite cause for reflection. Even though many of the group dynamics were the same, or at least similar to Pre Service Training, I felt that I was different, more chill, more mature. It was definitely a nice feeling. Plus it made me realize how insane PST was: here we were for only 4 days together, in hotels with gloriously hot and pressure-ful showers, knowing the language and the culture, and yet by the end I was ready to leave. It was really nice to see people, really nice to catch up. I've made some really good friends there and can't wait to see how the friendships will develop once we are Stateside.
My two proudest/happiest moments from the conference are as follows:
1) When one of the training staff, during informal time when some of us were hanging out, getting a little bit of work done, well she commented on how much I've grown, and how she could see that. A pat on the back is always appreciated, plus it was a nice confirmation of what I already knew.
2) When I gave an impromptu 5 minute English class to preschoolers. I was walking back from the market, after hunting for my lunch, and I saw a preschool with a teacher and a couple students, sitting on the stoop. I said hello, and they invited me in. The kids were all sitting down for story time, so I introduced myself, and together, we counted to five a few times in English and Portuguese. It don't know why it left me with such a good feeling, but I can guess: 1) I like preschoolers; 2)it showed me how far I'd come with my language skills, being able to talk with them in their language and the such, and 3) along similar lines as 2, just having the confidence, and not being nervous in front of a large group, improvising something, to me these are tools/skills that I really gained/developed here.
Oh and I also discovered schwarmas (like the CV version of a California burrito) and mint ponche (which tastes like slightly alcoholic melted mint ice cream...it's quite good), both of which I'll have to have more of before I leave.
Okay, now it's time to stop procrastinating and grade the 200 tests I gave last week.
