Alba and I joined a local gym about 40 minutes away by walking, 10ish minutes by car. It’s a far cry from what I’m used to at Notre Dame. Only two treadmills, three elipticals, two bikes, and a few weights. Alba and I decided to take a few fitness classes and it’s either you think you’re going to have a heart attack and die OR you don’t sweat at all. All of the classes are done in the dark with disco lights on. It’s really fun! We push each other to go to the gym, and it’s nice to be able to exercise without being so reliant on the weather. The membership is really expensive, but we go almost every day, so it’s worth it!
I had a wonderful two weeks doing Valentine's Day things with my students. When I was in school, I loved holiday themes lessons, so I try to do that with my kids, too! We started out by explaining how Valentine's Day is celebrated in France (only for couples), and then I explained how it is in the United States (how people exchange valentines in school, etc). They were especially thrilled to learn about the whole candy grams and flower grams that happen in high school (followed by a personal narrative explaining how I, a super nerd in high school, never got a flower gram...whereas my sister a "pom pom girl" got so many. They ALL wish they had lockers like "High School Musical," complete with mirrors and selfies. We also ate conversation hearts that I brought back from the States, and had each person read their little message and have them guess what it means from "U R Cute" to "Sweet Stuff." We also made valentines for each other, where each person has to write one anonymous compliment about each person. Here are some they wrote about me: (MORE LESSON PLAN DETAILS ON LESSON PLAN TAB) I'm so lucky and blessed to have so many special students! I love each one of them!
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