cherrylee & pesto pizza...

Yesterday I subbed a 6th grade class at Cherrylee. It was my first time at this school, and I was a little nervous. At subbing orientation, I heard not so good things about this one, and its always a little different going into a new environment. I didn't know what the administration would be like, or the principle, or other teachers, the classroom, etc. So during my commute, I prayed a lot for the students I would be with that day, and just for the school. It was a great way to spend the 45 minutes in morning LA traffic :)

I found the school with no problem, and found my way to the office (you wouldn't believe how complicated some schools are, and hunting for the office isn't always easy! The secretary was extremely nice and helpful, and I met the principle right away, which is amazing, because most aren't around. She even said a nice and thoughtful welcome. I had a wonderful experience, and LOVED being with these 6th graders. It was such a nice relaxed day, even though there were 32 of them on a Friday. The schedule was great, and it provided me some time to talk to the students in smaller groups. We got everything on the lesson plan accomplished, and still I was able to really get to know the students. Even though there were a few behavioral problems (a boy "flinching" at another, 2 boys drawing swasticas on their notebooks, and one boy sneaking to the computers to change the screen saver to googled pictures of the devil....) there were no major crises, and we all had a wonderful day. One girl asked me if I was a social worker, because she said I looked easy to talk to, and wanted to talk to me about her foster home. Another opened up to me about some trouble with her family, her parents being divorced and disliking her mom's boyfriend because he is abusive to her mom. There was just a lot of pain and problems in this 6th grade class, and my heart just went out to each one of them. They said I was the best sub they ever had :), and a few told me I looked and acted like the girl on Enchanted....haha, right! Anyways, it was a great day of subbing, and I can't wait to be a school counselor, having time to talk to these students really affirmed my choice in career.

Last night was another adventure. Lena & I made pesto pizza! Some of our friends, Danny & Colleen are really into making pesto pizza, and we got homemade pesto from our friends Samar & Linda that moved a few weeks ago to NorCal. We bought some crust, and put pesto sauce, spinach, chicken, olives, red peppers, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, feta, and parmasean on it, and it was amazing! Some of my favorite ingredients in one dish....it was amazing! That, with some wine Lena got a few months ago from work, made a delicious Italian meal :). We ate, watched the Office and Leatherheads. It was a great way to end the week!