hokey pete

http://www.tennis.com/backcourt/general/backcourt.aspx?id=123890

andy roddick is engaged... engaged! i had no idea he was even dating anyone.
engaged means getting married.
andy is getting married?! so wierd
i think i'll manage to get over the heartbreak soon.
cause i really thought i had a chance.
and it ain't an april fools, cause its the 31st!

we had some wonderful rain today. i wore my rain boots and splashed around a bit.
temps are rising slowly but surely.

homework
ciao

random

matt nathanson is my recent music discovery... amazing. i love his albums. i particularly like the cover and title of this one, so i thought i would put a pic of it up. still waiting for spring. oh so accurate.

hmmm. i ain't got much else to say, so i shall leave it at that.

wheaton

that's where i am right now... the tennis team had two matches in wheaton this weekend: one yesterday against wheaton college (the team lost) and one today against olivet nazerene college. so we're just in the hotel right now, waiting to check out. did i ever mention that the team played at notre dame a couple of days ago? rudy, rudy, rudy. pretty cool.
is anyone else shocked at how fast march has come and gone??? i mean, it's almost april fool's day! i've got the perfect prank that me and some friends are gonna pull... but i can't tell y'all yet. it's gonna be great though.
did i mention that it full on snowed on thursday night? and it stuck! ok, i love the snow and all, but i am kind of excited to put my flip flops back on and hang out outdoors a little more... i wanna ride my unicycle!
anyway, i guess i better be off... i want a quick little nap before we check out.

lost teeth, fist fights, and fourth graders

so today was the day i taught 4th graders volleyball.
what do i have to say about it? well, to quote my doctor a couple of days ago: "oh wow."
it was quite hilarious. the moment i started the first activity, my lesson plan was out the window and i just struggled to maintain some bit of control.
a couple of the things that happened:
-a girl comes up to me. "miss stavro... my mouth won't stop bleeding." so i asked to take a look. and sure enough, the source of the bleeding was a lost tooth. "seems to me that your tooth fell out." so i sent her to the actual teacher to let him know. she then went on to search the gym for her tooth. it was never found, so somewhere in that gym is a fourth grader's tooth.
-two girls got upset over something and started fighting... throwing punches and all. so i had to step in and take care of that. tiny fists of fury, if i may say so myself.
-the class consisted of 20 girls and 5 boys. two of the boys decided that it would be fun to tease some of the girls, leading the girls to come to me and complain, leading to me needing to separating the boys.
-one girl purely just did not want to participate and sat in the corner the entire time. i tried to figure it out, but there was just too much going on.
-the only way the kids knew how to hit a volleyball was to hit it as hard as they could. so: 25 kids running around screaming, 13 volleyballs flying in every which direction. insanity.
-one thing that made it all worth it. one girl was sitting down while her group was messing around, and she looked a little bummed. so i went and talked to her and asked why she wasn't hitting with her group. she explained that she just couldn't figure out how to bump... she said she kept trying but couldn't do it. so i pulled her aside and had my helper toss her the ball as i walked her through it. she hit 5 good bumps in a row, and as i gave her a high-5, she had a super big smile. it was totally worth all the chaos that consumed about 99% of the class period.

so all in all, fantastic learning experience. it was pretty sweet to get to do that. i'm pretty sure i'll always remember it. and if i ever begin to forget it, i've got it all on tape :)

ciao

"oh wow"

not exactly the words you want to hear a doctor say when they are using one of their fancy medical tools to look in your ear. "doesn't get much worse than that." another thing you don't want to hear. she then proceeds to look in the other ear. "i lied. this is worse."
so yup, i've got a pretty gnarly ear infection. what tipped me off that i might need to see a doctor?
well, with about 30 minutes to go on my flight from vegas to chicago, it felt like someone had taken 3 inch nails and hammered them into my eardrums. i guess the pressurized cabins do that to an ear infection. i couldn't hear anything for the rest of the flight, and then once we landed and i got out, it felt like i was wearing ear plugs. it was so bad that i refused to get on my connecting flight to GR, and waited another two hours on stand by to get on a later one. in those two hours i wrote a research paper for english. after a quick flight to GR, i then proceeded to skip the rest of my classes that day. and luckily, the tennis match for that day was canceled.
but now i am on some meds, and all is good.
back in michigan where it SNOWed today. crazy. i hope it starts getting a tad bit warmer soon though, cause i want to play tennis outside in the nice fresh air.
i've got quite the bit of homework tonight, so i should get on that.
ciao for now

surprise

this first picture is at grand rap airport... if you haven't found out yet, i made a surprise visit home. i left michigan thursday afternoon, making it in to LAX thursday night. i spent friday in bellflower, and then we left saturday morning to go to palm desert to surprise my grampa. so that's what all these pictures are. this pic with the fire trucks and cops is from thursday night when i got home. 5 cop cars, a firetruck, and an ambulance... some kids across the street were getting busted.
so then the rest of the pics:
i got to see allison and tessa on friday... good times. the weather was AMAZING, and we walked over to golden spoon (i've got one last trip to make to g-spoon... good thing there is one in palm desert). anyway, so i got to see them, and then when i went to old navy, i ran into rachel, malachi, and abram! so that was fun. then that night, my bros and ally came over. more fun. did i mention my dog is the most adorable thing ever. so much fun to see him too. so now i am in palm desert (you should have seen my grampa's face... i called him on the cell, and then as i was talking to him, i walked into the backyard where he was... hilarious). 90 degrees, not a cloud in sight, and awesome tennis. plus jenny is here, so that's fun.
so i leave from ontario airport at 10pm tonight, and i arrive in grand rap (after a couple of layovers) at 9:30 am tomorrow. sounds super fun... except i am super sick with a cold, and i've got a paper to write. should be interesting.
enjoy the pics.

really quick

update coming soon... i promise.
fantastic day today. i'll go in to more detail when i have the time tomorrow, and i'll also post some pics.
but for now, i must go.
did i mention it's snowing in g-rap? well, it is.
ciao

jump right in

so i was informed by my pe 204 teacher today that next week, we begin the teaching unit... where we each lead an entire pe class (ranging anywhere from k-8) for an entire class period. i was assigned to teach volleyball to a fourth grade class next thursday... as in one week from tomorrow. i have to have my lesson plan ready by monday. i've got mixed reactions: first--sweet, this is gonna be fun, and this is really cool. second--crap, this is kind of crazy. and i just laugh that of all things that i could have been teaching, i was assigned volleyball for my first lesson ever. for those of you who don't know, me and volleyball have some issues when it comes to that little skill called 'setting.' on top of that, we are being video taped and mic-ed (? how do you spell that... as in, wearing a microphone). should be fun. especially cause my prof assures us that most do horribly and lose control.

so tomorrow marks the beginning of a wonderful class schedule. Now that i am done with education and creative dance, i only have two classes on tuesday (done at 11:20) and one class on thursday (done at 9:50 am). sweet? i think so.

not much else going on... we've got friday off, so i'll just be hanging around... i have an english paper due monday. i hate monday papers.
speaking of english, i have to go meet with my english prof right now.
so i best be off.
ciao for now, friends.

my bed gave me a boo-boo

so i was getting out of bed, and my foot slipped, and my chin was attacked by my bed. :( ouch

in other news, check this out:
http://www.itatennis.com/Div3Rankings/d3women_central_3_18_08.htm
enjoy.

and this video: hilarious.

from tourist town to amish town

okay, so here is the much anticipated post. starting off with florida:
well, i didn't take many pictures... mainly just pictures at the water park and in the pool, due to the waterproof nature of my camera. but these first three: the villas at seven dwarfs lane... this is where we stayed. then the shadow pic is me and abbie making eye balls. then a team pic. the rest are from wet 'n' wild...enjoy. after the sunset pics are my pics from middlebury, IN and shipshewana, IN... two major amish towns! so yes, the indiana pics begin with the buggy: common sight! i love going to these new places, and my friend sarah did an awesome job at givin me the tour of the towns. we had a blast driving around, going to these awesome little shops, eating an amazing soft pretzel, and even conversing with an amish guy that makes wonderful doughnuts!!! good times. enjoy the pics!

past due

i know, i know... y'all want to know what has been up.
i haven't taken too many pictures, but i will soon put some up... just not now because of horrible internet connection.
it's been a good week... the team won all but one of our matches... so 4-1 for the week.
lots of sunny goodness... i am multiple shades tanner, and glad about that since it'll have to last me a bit, seeing how grand rap is still in the 40s.
so, stories and pictures to come... maybe tomorrow... i'll try... but i'll be staying in indiana with my friend... and appearantly she lives in a bit of an amish area. sweet times. so to hold you til then, here's our team pic underwater.

florida

well, we've made it to florida.
to be quite honest, first impression isn't that great (at least in orlando). all the random souvenier shops, tons of neon lights, and massive amounts of traffic make me think of vegas, and i don't like vegas. it could just be that it's night time and i am sleepy. i did enjoy the orlando airport though... i've got a baggage claim story, but i am saving it for later.
i look forward to getting out in the sunshine and playing some tennis... so i will make sure to keep y'all udated. k? k.
gotta go eat.
ciao

another discovery

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide...
...Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find
You and I collide

howie day... thanks to pandora, i've discovered another fantastic album. y'all should listen to it sometime, cause it is amazing.
i'm in the process of writing my final term paper for education... one that says why i want to be a teacher, what goes in to being a teacher, and all that curriculum and learning theory stuff.
speaking of curriculum, i had a HUGE PE204 test today. one of the parts required me to write out a lesson plan... how cool is that. plus, i now have the 6 signs of a physically educated person by heart, word for word... its pretty intense.
there was something else i wanted to share, but it currently slips my mind...
oh ya, final choreography project for thursday... and then creative dance is done. such a good time. i feel bad though, cause in my group you've got this one dance major, and then three of us PE majors... she's intense, and we're just like, uh, we have no idea how to do anything. so it's pretty interesting.
did i mention that we're in the basement, eating pizza and chocolate while we "do our homework?"
good times.
that's all for now... almost spring break!!!!!!!!

good times

so i made it through 4 classes today and then got to hang out with some of my friends from back home. so much fun to walk around calvin with these little guys... and they've both grown so much since i last saw them. so much fun.
so here is a picture... they all got to experience the infamous futon. i'm telling ya... whoever comes out here must experience the futon. it's amazing.
well, i best be off and get started on some homework... 4 more days til spring break. hello tan lines! (i look forward to tan lines, cause i am so white that i have lost all my tan lines!)

que sera, sera

If love is an ocean wide // We’ll swim in the tears we cry // They’ll see us through to the other side // We’re gonna make it // When love is a raging sea // You can hold on to me // We’ll find a way tonight // Love is an ocean wide

fantastic song by "The Afters" on their new album. Another highly recommended band.
What a weekend, i must say. It's been a weekend where I've realized the importance of context. Context changes a lot of things... so make sure you always know the context of the situation.

And so the week begins... I am excited for this week for a couple of reasons. first, of course, last week til spring break. also, i get to visit with the verwys family who is out here right now.

I spent some time today looking back at posts from this time last year.... some fun stuff going on. lots of talk about chick-fil-a, senioritis, and wondering when my time for calvin will ever come. there was also a mention of a countdown til my first day of college. looking back at my anticipation and excitement for the time that i currently find myself in, i am reminded to soak it all in. I looked forward to all this for so long, and now i am here. it's time to take my time and enjoy it all. and, in case any of you were wondering, i still get those giddy moments :)

have a wonderful weekend y'all.
much love.

march? already???

(deleted scene from march of the penguins)

anyone else surprised by the fact that it is march?
and by the fact that a week from today i leave for florida for spring break?
speaking of the word spring, i think it is on its way. currently, the sun is shining, and it is beautiful outside... beautiful of course meaning just above 30 degrees. but there is no wind, so it is very pleasant.
march? really? wow. all i have to say is after march is april, and after april is may... which brings not even a month of classes, a couple of weeks home, and then my departure for colorado. crazy? indeed.
so this coming week... last week of creative dance and my education class. meaning less classes next half of the semester. so looking forward to that.
i had to run some errands real quick today. did i ever mention that one of my favorite things about solo driving is that you can sing (to the lyrics and instrumental parts) as loud as you want without a care in the world. good times.
i better get back to the homework.
ciao ciao