Cruising on the Ryndam Part 1

On 1/26/14 we took a 14 day cruise on the Holland America Ryndam. I kept a journal about each day and learned something new every day. I will share my notes over 3 parts so I don’t bore you too much with the details. At the end of each post, I will list some of the things that I have learned for that part. If you are interested in seeing all the pictures, here are the links to them.

• 1/26/14 Embarkation
• 1/27/14 Key West
• 1/28/14 – 1/29/14 At Sea
• 1/30/14 San Juan

1/26/14 Sunday
Shuttle from Hampton Inn on Waters St. to port took an hour because the driver stopped at the airport first. The embarkation was fast and easy. All security were friendly and happy. We went to the Lido deck and ate lunch. While we were eating, they announced our cabins were ready.

Our cabin safe doesn’t work; I called the front desk and she asked me to call back in about 30 min. We stopped an hour later and the girl from the front desk came to our room to check it and said the battery was probably dead. She said that they were having an issue with door locks so it might take a while so she suggested we get a safety deposit box at the front desk.

When we went to unpack, we found out that our TV remote didn’t work. Eventually Don found the cabin steward and asked for a new remote.

We walked through the spa and the staff there were rude. It was open house and I was taking pictures of the empty rooms when one girl said that she didn’t think we were allowed to take pictures. She didn’t say she knew and was quite mean about it.

The life boat drill went well. Joma, a wine steward, was at our lifeboat station. Later he was our bar waiter on the lido deck while we waited for the ship to leave. We got a bucket of 5 beers for $21 plus tax and tips.
Dinner was tortuously slow! We sat at a table for 2 and the dining room was really cold. It seemed that the wait staff was understaffed. We only were given water to drink and I didn’t notice anyone with iced tea. After dinner we went to the show which was packed. They gave a sample of all the music entertainment around the ship.

1/27/14 Monday – Key West
I slept well even though the outside lights on the walking deck was right outside our porthole. I was up at 4:30am and went to the internet café where I used the internet. I bought a package deal of 1000 minutes for $250 and was given an additional 100 minutes. After 45 minutes of that, I went to the gym to walk on the treadmill. I still thought the staff there were rude. One couple opened the shades in front of their treadmills and a girl rushed over to tell them they had to close them. It was pitch black outside and you couldn’t see anything so I don’t know why it mattered. At 7am, she walked around and opened all the shades herself.
After that I went to the Lido deck to wait for Don to wake up. He came up for breakfast around 8am. We stopped by the front desk to ask for someone to fix our safe which still didn’t work. Then we went to a free computer class at 9:30 about Windows 8.1. That was a wonderful class.

At 10:30, we went back to the room to find out that our safe still had not been fixed. So we went to the front desk to complain and get money out of our safety deposit box for our trip off the ship.

At 11am, we went to the Lido deck to have an early lunch and then we got off the ship around 11:45. We had a lovely day walking around Key West. The weather was absolutely beautiful! We stopped at one bar near the water and had 2 draft beers for $2.75 each which came out in small plastic cups. Then we found a CVS where I bought a 12 pack of diet Pepsi and some chocolate which we took back to the ship. Then we went back out to walk around and found another bar – Two Friends Bar which wasn’t too far from the ship and got a beer for $2 which was served in an ice cold glass.

When we got back to the ship we stopped at the grill and got a sandwich, fries, and some dessert. Then we watched the ship prepare to leave the port. At about 4:45pm, we watch them load an elderly man from our ship into an ambulance. Some crew members took the family’s luggage to a van which was going to take the family to the hospital.

When we prepared for dinner, I found out that I didn’t know how to work the shower! The knobs were not hot and cold! I had to get the cabin steward to show me that the temperature is controlled by the right knob and the on/off was the left knob. We did find out that the drain plug didn’t work and he had to report it to the plumber. After my shower, I found out that the outlet for the hair dryer didn’t work. I had to hold the dryer plug in by stacking some things up to hold it in the outlet.

We found out that we were moved to a table for 8 at dinner. There are 4 people from the UK (Kymberly, her husband Chas, her mom and dad – Maureen and Mike), and 2 people from FL (David and Linda). They are a fun group! Chaz asked us trivia questions from the trivia game he went to and we tried to come up with the right answers.

1/28/14 Tuesday – At Sea
At breakfast I met Ann and Wade Stevenson from Manchester, TN. They had a leak in their cabin from the kitchen above them. AT 5am, they had to move to another cabin until the leak could be fixed. In the evening when we went to dinner, it still hadn’t been fixed and someone told them that their cabin door was standing wide open!

We went to 2 computer classes on photo editing which was wonderful! I will have to upgrade to Windows 8.1 and get the newest version of Photo Gallery when I get home.

Formal night was tonight and dinner options included beef wellington and lobster tails.

We went to the show Droom which was great! I thought the costumes, singing, and dancing was excellent.
After dinner, we went to the 10pm movie Enough Said with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini. I didn’t think it was very good.

1/29/14 Wednesday – At Sea
We went to 2 more computer classes and we are truly enjoying them!

Went to the movie theater and saw Before Midnight with Ethan Hawke and it stunk! 2 couples got in an argument about the seats because one couple who got there early wouldn’t move over a seat (because it was broken!)

Got a lot of exercise on the treadmill in the morning and walking around the exercise deck with Don later in the day.

1/30/14 Thursday –San Juan
We had a lovely day in Puerto Rico yesterday. Our friends (Yolanda and Mike) picked us up and took us out to lunch at their favorite restaurant. Don had some kind of bbq pot roast and I had a stuffed Cornish hen with black rice and plantains. We had a wonderful visit with them! Before they came though, we were invited by the Captain to take a photo with the crew and others under the 12^th man flag to cheer on the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. They hoped to show the photo in the super bowl and in the Seattle Times. After they dropped us off, we walked around town.

Things I Learned:
1. It is better to be the first group to be taken to the port because if the shuttle gets backed up, you won’t leave until later than you planned.
2. Check the safe and outlets as soon as you arrive at your cabin to make sure everything works.
3. Make sure you know how to work the shower.
4. You can always learn something new in a class, even if you think you know the information.
5. Plantains are sweet when they are ripe and cooked. The green plantains that are fried are not as sweet but tasty too.

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 2/7/14

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels: E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Estimation 180 – daily challenges to build number sense. (L:G; SA:M)

Would You Rather – “asking students to choose their own path and justify it.” (L:H; SA:A)

Random Name Picker – download the program and input your students names. Then it will randomly pick names as you need them. (L:T; SA:A)

Exam Time – “ExamTime is changing the way students learn by providing free study tools for students and teachers. ExamTime has been developed to help students make studying more than just a mind exercise. It can be a “do” activity.” (L:G; SA:A)

Kahoot – “a game based classroom response system” (L:G; SA:A)

Original Image: Tools by Pat Hensley

Day 7 Classroom Management Tip

On the Free Technology for Teachers Facebook, the twenty day blogging challenge created by Kelly Hines was mentioned and I decided to give it a shot. So here is the challenge for today:

“Share a classroom management tip. What is one thing that you do that works for you? How could it be adapted by others?”

The best thing that has worked for me was calling home regularly. When I call home, I try to find something to brag about that the student has done. Too many times, parents expect trouble when a teacher calls and I want a better relationship with the families. I don’t want to be the negative call that they hate to get. I want us working as a team to help the student be the most successful.

The best way to do this is to call and find positive things to say about the student. Then when I do have a problem that we need to work out, the parents are more receptive to trying to find a solution rather than being on the defensive. They are more open minded to what I’m saying rather than thinking that I’m attacking their little baby.

I also ask the parents to let the student know that I was bragging on them. Since this is unusual for them, they are surprised and flattered. They come back to my classroom and try harder to do well so that I will have more to brag about the next time I call. I feel like this breaks the negative cycle that they are used to. Sometimes I won’t call home if the student is being annoying and they notice. The student will ask me why I haven’t called their home and we discuss the behavior that I am seeing. Then I promise that if I see an improvement, I will make the call which I do either at the end of the class or at the end of the day.

I know this has been successful for me because I rarely have any office referrals for misbehavior. The parents are supportive and the students respond so well to this. It works for any age student so could easily be done by any teacher.

What classroom management tip works for you? Please share!

Image: 'My iPhone 2G 2008 8Gb' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21061013@N03/3158929044
Found on flickrcc.net

Day 6 Being Better

On the Free Technology for Teachers Facebook, the twenty day blogging challenge created by Kelly Hines was mentioned and I decided to give it a shot. So here is the challenge for today:

“What is ONE thing you wish you were better at? Just one! Why? What could you do about it?”

I wish I was more creative and could think outside the box. When I was growing up and in school, I was taught that there was one way to do things, the right way. My teachers wanted things done their way which in their minds were the only way. I wasn’t encouraged to find my own way that works best for me. It was important that everyone conforms to the same way. Even when my mother tried to teach me to knit, she wanted me to hold the yarn and needles exactly like her. For some reason, I think I have a mental block with thinking of different ways of doing things.

Now that I’m older, I’m trying to be more open minded and looking for alternate ways of doing things. I’m trying to remember that others might know of other ways that may even be better than I know. I think the more I try to look at different ways, the easier it is getting for me. I still struggle and may be a lifetime challenge but I’m trying to get better at it.

In my classes, I like to throw out a problem and seeing ways that my students would solve the problem. It amazes me every time at how easily they solve the problem and that the solution is so easy and simple yet I didn’t see it. Sometimes I feel foolish but my students love that not only were they able to help me but that I was so willing to listen to their input.

What is something you wish you could better? Please share.

Image: 'Snow White - Now you can't see+me.' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48447300@N02/10066127874
Found on flickrcc.net

Monthly Review of Goals from January

Now that January is done, I want to see how I’m doing with my goals to this point. All of my goals can be found here.

Yearly goals:

1. Try at least 12 new recipes (one per month). – I made Quick Quinoa Meatballs.
2. Reach my target weight by the end of the year. – I lost 2 lbs. in January.
3. Knit a Fair Isle vest. (not started yet)
4. Learn to chain ply some handspun yarn. (not started yet)
5. Dye yarn and fiber. (not started yet)
6. Spin my camel, yak, and cashmere fiber. - finished my camel/merino/silk blend fiber.

Daily/Weekly/Monthly goals:

1. Daily - Read the bible and keep a log so I can tell how I am doing. – I’ve read it every day in January.
2. Daily - Do strength exercises for 30 minutes each day. – I have done this every day.
3. Weekly - Walk at least 10,000 steps for 4 days every week. – I’ve done this and sometimes managed to do it more than 4 days each week.
4. Weekly - Keep a journal and write down 5 things that I’m thankful for. – Every Sunday I take time to jot down the 5 things.
5. Monthly - Read one non-fiction book every month. – I read Life in Stitches by Rachel Herron.

I’m pretty happy with how this month has gone. I’ve accomplished the smaller daily/weekly/monthly goals without any problems. The yearly goals are coming along fine also.

Image: 'Goals' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68131855@N00/739519564
Found on flickrcc.net