Interning

The ExplorSchool program under Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth (MITY) organization just finished it's first of two weeks yesterday. I have had SO much fun interning there! I have spent mornings walking to local shops and playgrounds and such with the Aerobic Newspaper class; it is a fun way to get really good exercise and learn the history of places in St. Paul. Yesterday I joined Crimes and Clues class on their trip to the Mall of America where they toured the CSI Exhibit and solved murder mysteries. It was awesome. Oh, and I went to the Pavek Museum with the Aerobic Newspaper class on Thursday morning; the Pavek is a museum that features broadcasting. There were old radios, transmitters and record players, and the students got to see the tour guide send out an SOS signal via a transmitter that was from the same year that the Titanic sunk - 1912! It was SO cool. I learned a few cool things from the tour guide: the gemstone Amber is made from fossilized tree sap, and the first record was designed by Thomas Edison in 1877 and was made of tinfoil! I also watched the students host their very own radio shows! One student from each group made a Breaking News! story, one ran the music/sound controls, two were hosts, and the others were reporters. It was awesome.
Yesterday, on the way back from the CSI exhibit, the teacher of the Crimes and Clues class and I learned that one boy wrote a 28-page story that was fiction, but had to sound real (i.e; it couldn't be about rainbows and unicorns). His was about a criminal foreigner who escaped to the United States and planned to break into the Federal Reserve. This main character was planning with other foreigners about how and when to do it, when he was overheard by two elementary school students. The students went to the police with the information, and after a long chase, the police officers caught the foreigner when he jumped out the window. There was a lot more detail to the story than what I have just written, but I cannot remember it all. It took the MITY student the entire bus ride to tell his teacher and I about his story because he told us ALL of it. It was super interesting; the best part was when he said "I tried to get a floor plan or layout of the Federal Reserve from the internet, but then realized that that was kind of impossible because all the pictures I found had huge X's through them or said 'Classified'."
I think that my favorite part of the day is running the group games after lunch, because it's just me and the students; no curriculum or things that need to be done. It's just a fun break, and the students get to decide what to do.
So yeah, I am having a lot of fun with ExplorSchool. I am really glad that I decided to sign up for it this year, and I am definitely going to again next summer! In other news, I got an email from some Adjunct Action organization; I guess I got on their email list when I signed a petition for Hamline Adjuncts to have their own union. The email I was sent said that they succeeded at forming a union on Friday. I am so happy for them. One of my professors last semester was an adjunct faculty member, as was the professor who led the theatre troupe that I joined towards the end of the year. I was really angry when I heard that they worked just as hard as other professors but were not paid the same. I have to confess that I do not know very much about what it means to be an adjunct, and that I have forgotten a lot of what my professor told me about it, but I am glad that they were able to make a union. They got a lot of resistance from other faculty at Hamline when they proposed this, but I am glad it worked out for them!
That is all for now. Bye until next time!

We're ONLY Halfway Through June?

Oh my goodness. This month has barely started and I am already feeling worn out. I had about a four day break after school ended before I began nanny-ing for my former high school teachers. It is harder work that it seems; kids like to run around ALL day, and it the job of the nanny to make sure they clean up after themselves, don't run off, eat healthy food before eating not-so-healthy food, etc. It makes me wonder what is harder: being a nanny, or being a parent. I don't really know anything about being a parent, obviously, but being a nanny has difficulties that parenting does not. For instance, the children you are watching do not know you or how you operate (if you are lenient or not), so they test you and push your limits to see how far they can go. Which is probably the same for parents.
Anyway, that was kind of a tangent, but I do that from 6:45am to 3 or 4pm. That has been going on for a week and a half, and sometimes my job is right afterward. So then I am up at 5:30/5:45 and don't get home until 10ish, and get to bed around 10:45, which means that quite a few times, I have been operating 17 hour days on 7 hours of sleep. Yuck.
I am super excited for next week when I begin interning at a MN Institute for Talented Youth (MITY) program called ExplorSchool. Then I can wake up at 7am instead of 5:30am! That is whole extra 1.5 hours of sleep!!! YAY!
Besides nanny-ing and working, not much has happened except the trip that I just got back from yesterday. That was a much-needed break, and super fun. I don't think I have ever been to the cabin with everyone on my mom's side of the family before, and definitely not all at one time. But it was super fun! The occasion was my Grandma and Grandpa's 50th Anniversary!!!!! I am so happy for them! I love you guys, and congratulations! The weekend was a lot of fun and super relaxed; I think that everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves. We had professional photos taken of all of us outside of a great restaurant; it was fun to see the pictures a few days later - there were two of my youngest cousin and many of the entire family that were phenomenal.
Apart from celebrating with my Grandparents and the family, my favorite parts of the weekend were when my other two cousins and I played a variety of card games: garbage, kings in the corners, speed, and my favorite: perpetual commotion. Those were times I had a lot of fun. I don't see them very often because they live in a different state, so I like to spend lots of time with them when they visit. They are coming back soon for the youngest cousin's birthday, and we are planning a Valley Fair trip because they have NEVER been. I was appalled when I heard that, and I want to tag along when they go for the first time!
That's about it for now; I will post again soon!