Recap of Mardi Gras (or at least what i can remember)

Friday
1. Zulu Ball
2. Amazing Mardi Gras Indian Goddesses
3. Spilling a whole drink (while sober) on my beautiful dress and not being able to see it
4. Dancing the night till the point of complete and utter exhaustion
5. Falling asleep at the table as a result of #4.

Saturday
1. Woke up to at least 17 Jesuit Volunteers at my house
2. Served Mamosas for a half an hour
3. Biked with Julie to get our stipends while having a beer
4. Put on one of 5 ridiculous outfits of the weekends
5. heard a torrential rain and tornado warning on the radio.
6. went to the bus stop for about 20 minutes
7. Turned back and started to plan a party at my house
8. played A. Slap that cup B. Musical Flip Cup C. Yell at unsuspecting neighbors
9. Told Jesuit Volunteers that i would meet them at the parade
10. Got a ride from Marissa with Cara to a parade on the other side of town
11. Went to a party at a house that could have been in a magazine
12. Borrowed a sweatshirt from the sweetest person in the world
13. Had an in depth conversation about educating in inner cities
14. Went to Endymenon and caught beaucoup beads
15. Sat on the porch of Leading Educators
16. Tried to find a small boy named Frankie :(
17. Got in a friends car driven by a heaven sent sober man
18. Talked to Luigi in a Scooby Doo voice for about a half an hour with Cara
19. Went to a house party hosted by some Irish men who were all in matching outfits where they had a full keg of Abita, and a Daiquiri machine in their garage. DELECTABLE food which consisted of the best chickpeas I've ever eaten and bbq chicken.
20. Got back in the car where Luigi puked out the window and alllllllll over my friends car.
22. Took Marissa home (past her bed time)
23. Went to Frenchman and saw the world most kick ass trombone player chick
24. Heaven sent sober man, Cara and I decided at 1:30 that it was time to go home.
25. Walk approximately 5 miles in downtown New Orleans trying to find a taxi
26. Ate McDonalds
27. Called a cab that never came
28. ran 2 blocks after the bus
29. Saw a Tulane Law student do cocaine on the bus
30. Met a girl who knew a college boyfriend from Oregon
31. MADE IT HOME

Sunday
1. Went to church (YAY GOD)
2. Covered my entire face with beaucoup glitter
3. Caitlin and I met up with some teachers with a keg
4. Wobbled in the street with 20 other strangers
5. Played football with 6 or 7 black children for a half an hour
6. threw out my back lifting kids on my back to catch beads on the floats
7. Went to Magazine st.
8. Went to Frenchman st. to dance
9. Balcony....
10. Slept for about 4 hours

Monday
1. Walked for 2 miles
2. Went to lunch with Marissa (YAY sustenance)
3. Planned to go home, never worked out.
4. Found out Cara was going to the hospital and freaked out trying to find a taxi that never came
5. Painted a masterpiece on Marissa's and my face.
6. Put on an original 70's jumpsuit
7. met up with the teachers again
8. Found Jesuit Volunteers wandering the streets and brought them to our spot
9. Bent over trying to catch a cup and ripped the vintage jump suit
10. Made a makeshift tale to cover my butt
11. Julie saved my life by coming with me to McDonalds to feed me muuuuuuch needed food
12. SECOND WIND
13. went into a strangers house and stole underwear
14. Salsa danced to Shakira
15. Walked to Marissa's house to change into a metallic mini skirt
16. Went to balcony bar where i took an Irish car bomb with ZZ-top
17. Met a professional Aussie rules rugby player
18. Met a documentary film maker from England
19. Went to see Rebirth Brass band with said film maker and heaven sent sober man
29. Went back to McDonalds where we got in a strangers car through the drive-threw because they wouldnt let us walk through
30. Slept for about another 4 hours

MARDI GRAS DAY
1. Woke up feeling like death at 7 AM
2. Chugged coffee and water
3. ate what I could
4. Ran into teachers again
5. Got a coconut from a limo
6. Got another coconut
7. sat down on a strangers chair where I caught beaucoup throws including A. a stuffed tiger B. an umbrella (a gift) C. 3 frisbees D. beads
8. Napped
9. Found home after 3 days
10. Slept for 15 hours



After all is said and done. I kicked Mardi Gras' butt, and all it took from me was my voice and a green fedora.

Hey Cara! Remember when we drank sangria last night?

So yesterday was the first big parade of the season and I don't know where to begin to explain the awesomeness. We started off getting our costumes together (I was peter pan) then headed down the street to get daiquiris. As we are walking, it starts to drizzle and when it rains in New Orleans you know you only have a few seconds to take cover before God decides to dump massive buckets of water on your head and you need to start building an Ark. We ran into Rite Aid and got ponchos then killed time until we could walk without drowning. As we are walking we run into some friends who we met one time at a bar and they offer us a ride to downtown, so they drive us to the daiquiri stand then we go to a Mexican restaurant where we meet up with some former Jesuit volunteers who just so happened to be there, we eat all their chips and get onto a bus towards the parade. On the bus we are bombarded by a bunch of New Yorkers who Cara (one of 5 roommates) quickly bonded with then we were off. We stopped by one of my coworkers house then proceeded, ponchos in tow, to the parade. When we get there we find a very tall man in a very small speedo giving out sangria which i quickly spilled all over myself by running to the approaching parade, but it was delicious either way. At the parade we run into more Jesuit Volunteers, past and present and our 50 year old neighbor who was decked out head to toe in Mardi Gras garb. From there we walked to Frenchman and dance the night away. This morning i wake up to find 2 strings of beautiful glass mardi gras beads around my neck and red wine stains on my bandaid. all in all it was a very successful evening.

benchmark tests again???

so this week at my school they were doing benchmark testing which is a test that most new Orleans charter schools take in order to get ready for their Leap or iLeap which are standardized tests that determine if you will move on to the next grade. This is their third time this year taking these tests so they are pretty used to them by now, and luckily our amazing and wonderful special ed director gave me kids that i have been working with since august instead of the group from hell from benchmark 1. This time it went much smoother, thank goodness, but it also meant that i couldn't have my regular 5th grade reading groups which was a bummer. i had also finished all my grading and paper work on Monday so Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday i was useless.... so i read this amazing book called Run by Ann Patchet (also wrote Bel Canto), so that helped me get through the grueling week of testing. I am so happy they are over and done with so i can get back to my nonstop schedule and get to see all my kiddos again. i think part of the reason that my week was so long is because the first parade of mardi gras is on Saturday and the anticipation is killing me!

I will have to update the inter-web on that topic later....if i remember.

love
the testing queen

6 months in? what?!

So epic fail on keeping up my blog. sorry about that. I have been through so much since i last posted anything but it would take me days to catch up so i will just tell you about whats going on lately. I was surprised with a drama class (have I ever done drama or acting in my whole life? no...) which I love with all my heart. It makes me wish I would have done it when i was growing up because I can see how beneficial it is for these kids. They had a performance where they wrote 5 small plays and performed them all on their own. I was a proud mama when I saw them perform, it just filled my heart with joy.
    I have been working on an event for school called Donuts with Dads which hopefully will help fathers be more involved in he school and in their kid's lives. I have had 10 dozens donuts donated from shops around New Orleans and also 3 dinners donated which will be raffled off during the event.
   Last week my community and I went to Leaky, Texas (aka Leaky Butt, Texas) for Re-Orientation which was a 5 day lecture heavy retreat. It was really nice to see all the JV's from the south again, and get come nature time in. One of the main draw backs of living in New Orleans would have to be not having nature easily accessible, which in L.A. and Eugene, that was never the case. well I think thats all I've got today, but I will be posting more regularly from now on..

In the beginning

So where do I start?? I spend 5 days in Houston orienting and retreating while an already amazing relationship with my communitymates (Anne, Cara, Cait, Kate, and lauren) and yes i just put them in alphabetical order, this teaching gig is already influencing my daily life. The first day we got into New Orleans we had a big bbq with former jesuit volunteers and some other people who are involved with the jesuits. the next two days we toured the city going to where everyone is going to work (9 different places) so that gave us a pretty good sense of what is around the city. the next couple of days were pretty much a blur. I started on Wednesday at Success Preparatory Academy as a 4th and 5th grade teacher's assistant for 5 different teachers. This can mean many different things. For example today i made enough copies to fill an entire filing cabinet but today i was also trained as a reading assessment proctor. what a reading assessment proctor does is give the students words, sentences and stories to read while we are scoring them to see where they are according to the benchmark. Other than work I have gone out a couple times. A handful of us went to bourbon st. where we vowed to never return. the next day I went with a few girls to an amazing blues show at a bar near our house that was soooo amazing. I would tell you about all the food but im afraid i will get fatter just typing it.

love
Ms. Roca
aka ana

whimsical week of wine with a wonderful woman

This week has been so relaxing and amazing that I have to tell everyone about it. It started off by a day of shopping in Camarillo at the outlets, so that I can look like a classy teacher and not like a bum right out of college. After lunch at In-N-Out my mom drove us the rest of the way to San Luis Obispo. That same day I went on a great hike with my brother and his girlfriend Giana where we walked under buzzing electrical lines and passed through beautiful landscape. Then we all went out for drinks and visited the farmers market in downtown San Luis Obispo where I ate an amazing tri-tip sandwich. The weekend was spent watching the Tour de France and eating my mom's delicious food.
On Monday my mom and I went to Tolosa winery and had a very lovely picnic on the back patio while wine tasting.

The next day we grabbed sandwiches at Sextant winery (chicken, brie and fig! yes please!!) and since they have a silly rule that you can drink outside we decided to go to Baileyana winery which has always been my favorite in slo since it is built out of an old school house. While we were there we listened in to a very interesting conversation that a group of women were having. They were talking all about their mothers' sex lives and it almost made me vomit up my delicious sandwich. This is when I realized two things 1. I am so lucky to have a wonderful beautiful mother who loves my dad. and 2. I realized why my mom always told me to never talk about her private life, even to my closest friend (I never have and I never will mami!). After a few tastes we decided to get to gettin' away from those crazy ladies. 

I have been soaking all of this up since i know that in a matter of weeks I will be working full time with amazing people. I have been spoiled by mom this whole summer and I am not taking it for granted.
Also this week i found out who I will be living with an where I will be living. It is insane how these little details makes everything so real and so close. I am getting closer and closer to a life changing experience and I'm freaking out! but I know that it will all be fine in the end.....I hope

sitting waiting wishing

Even though I feel like a bum, I am enjoying my summer so much it is ridiculous. I don't remember the last summer that I have gone to the beach more. So far I have been to the dog beach in huntington twice. The first time I took my sister's dog Who Dat (go saints!) and everything was fine and relaxed, if not boring, then I took my dog Emilio, who proceeded to pee on two strangers' beach chairs, and pooped in the water while some little kids watched. I have also been to my favorite beach, crescent bay in laguna, with my dear old dad once, and then again with my cousin veronica. yesterday my dad, vero, her girlfriend bailey and I went to crystal cove where we had a wonderful day being tossed around in the big waves. This is where I had flashbacks to my childhood when my dad would take me into the water and I thought I was going to have a heart attack while being taken under by the huge tsunamis coming towards me.

Other than going to beach, what feels like every other day, I have also visited the phenomenal LACMA in downtown los angeles where my cousin vero, bailey and I saw the Tim Burton exhibit. We soon realized that we were in the exhibit for three hours. i dont think i have ever spent so much time in one exhibit. there was everything from napkin sketches, movie costumes, short films, oil paintings, to Polaroids and installations. whenever I go downtown I am reminded of how lucky I am to live in a city with so many amazing things to do. there is no way to be bored in los Angeles.

 My favorite part of this summer has definitely been the Grease sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl. One of the last times my grandfather was visiting us we went to The Sound of Music sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl and ever since we have been looking to go again. When I saw the Grease sing a long I knew that we needed to go. So my sister and I got all decked out in our 50's get-ups and we were off. After a few glasses of wine, i was singing like an angel and dancing like John Travolta.
All in all the summer isn't even over and it has been one of my favorites in a very long time. I have been preparing mentally and spiritually for New Orleans and relaxing with my family is the best way to do that.