Um...yes!

I am most likely going to follow THE MORMON BACHELORETTE!  Ha!  A friend from work showed me the blog and I can't resist but looking at the updates.  Clean, fun AND funny entertainment!  Right!  I think it it!  Enjoy! (don't pretend like you are not going to go look at it...just do it!)

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY!!!

To me!  Yup, I am now officially closer to 30 than 20...so weird to say and think about!  All in all it was a good day.  I slept in, watched the Testemant, got ready for church, worshiped at church and forgot a lot of the time that it was my birthday.  Ha! Ha!  I really don't like birthday's on Sunday...but today was actually really great.  After church I went and had our family dinner.  My family spoiled me by making homemade Chinese food...YUM!  And of course, Dad's famous cheesecake!  I had to be home by 9 for a very important date!  I got to see DEVIN!  One of my good friends from BYU-Idaho who just got back from his mission to Germany and Austria...I tried to get him to yoddle but he wouldn't!  ;)  It made my birthday so fun...Crystal made a yummy cake and she and Devin sang Happy Birthday to me.  So cute!  So...enjoy the end of the night picture...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me and WELCOME HOME Devin!!!

P.S. This is a little snipit of my new condo...well, not mine but the place I am renting.  I love it!

Day 1: Cebu 2010

I left the US on Wednesday May 26, 2010 (Happy Anniversary Landon & Haley!) bound for Cebu, Philippines.  I was worried since I was traveling by myself...but I was blessed and was kept safe the whole trip.  I missed May 27th and arrived in Cebu on Friday May 28th.  All in all, about a 24 hour trip...yes it seems like it was longer...thank you international dateline!  It was long and I was tired but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sit still when I arrived.  It was an emotional experience flying back into Cebu, it really was a dream come true.  I looked for the temple as I flew in (luckily I was on the right side of the plane) and when I saw it I knew that this was a different place than I had left it.  It truly is a blessed place and I am so grateful that I was able to serve my mission there.  My Ate (pronounced a-tay) Beneth and her father Benjamin Montera were there to greet me at the airport.  I flew from SLC to LAX to Manila then to Cebu.  Because I was coming from Manila, I would naturally be in the domestic pick-up area.  However, my luggage was coming all the way from SLC (THANK HEAVENS!!!) so I ended up in the International pick-up area.  I was the last one there waiting for my ride...and I was getting nervous.  I couldn't see any pay phones so I asked a guard if there was one around, he chuckled and said no but that I could use his cell phone.  What a kind young man...I was SO glad that I could speak their language AND being an American helped a bit cause I didn't even have to pay him!  YEAH!  Thanks mom for my "white" skin! :)  Well, it turns out that Ate Beneth and her dad were waiting in the domestic area...of course!  So they quickly came and picked me up and off we were.  It was sureal driving through 2 of my areas to get to their home.  WOW!!!  Here is a picture when I first arrived on our way to the Montera home...    

A new chapter...

Well, I finally finished my student teaching...yesterday.  If you are confused, you should be!  I was scheduled to finish in Las Vegas on March 26th and I did just that.  But a couple week prior to my finishing, BYU-Idaho decided to tell me that my special education placement did not count and that I would have to do 3 more weeks of student teaching.  Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper!  Anyway, so I finally finished my teaching yesterday at Highland Elementary.  Although it may not seem like a very long time, these past 3 weeks have DRAGGED terribly on!  I must say, it was a good experience and the people that I worked with were fab!  Well, on a brighter side I got a job!  Now, this is not just any teaching job this is a job that I have wanted for a while now...so...without any further ado, I am going to be a Developmental Specialist with KOTM!

Kids on the Move is located in Orem by the Orem Community hospital, just off of 400 West.  I will be working with children 0-3 yrs. who have developmental delays, so pretty much I just get to play with a bunch of adorable little kids!  Oh, I am absolutley thrilled and the best part is that I start on MONDAY!  Did you read that?  MONDAY!  Holy smokes, it's been a whirlwind getting to this point but I've finally achieved it!  I am excited for this new chapter of my life and can't wait for it to begin.  Now the question is, where should I move to?

Just in case you were wondering...

This is what my new-to-me car looks like...just that color too.  I love it and I have thought momentarily about giving it a name...so if something sounds really good then leave your ideas in a comment.  The whole story will come in a later post...it was long and exhausting to actually get to the point of having this car.  Come back later for details, it's a pretty exciting story!

3 years...

I have officially been home from my mission to the Philippines for 3 years!  Wow, how time flies...watch for an upcoming post but for now I guess I need to go write lesson plans! 

"Miss Castillo, can I use the bathroom?'

SERIOUSLY!!  Those are the most used words in my 2nd grade classroom...and it got REALLY old REALLY fast!  When I took over the classroom these children were used to going to the bathroom all the time and everytime they asked, the teacher.  Mr. Fruitcake is what we will lovingly call my cooperating teacher.  Mr. Fruitcake would even let several children go to the bathroom at a time.  Honestly, when I was a student and could meet my friends in the bathroom...I totally would!  So pretty much my SECOND GRADERS were having PARTIES in the bathroom.  Sounds awesome, right?  YEAH, up until Miss Castillo became the teacher full-time!  I have had to really lay down the law with bathroom useage (and many other things...it's been interesting!).  So, there is a discipline system that the whole school uses (except for Mr. Fruitcake...of course!  Always the exception to the rule!) and I have brought it back from the dead.  So, it is like a stoplight...green is good, yellow is a warning and red is a note home.  So, I decided that everytime someone needed to use the bathroom they could go...as long as they put their card on yellow.  Oh yeah, they have to move the card to the particular color...it's more meaningful, right?  Anyway, Yellowbear approached me and asked is she could use the bathroom.  I told her OF COURSE...please move the card to yellow...but we would be going on a bathroom break in 10 minutes so she could hold it if she could.  Her choice.  Well, little Yellowbear returned to her seat only to return to me one minute later.  Here is the conversation that took place:

YB: "Um...Miss Castillo, I think I just wet my pants."
Me: "What?"
YB:"Um...I think I just wet my pants...just a little bit though, I am ok."
Me: "Wait, sweetheart, you just peed your pants?"
YB: "Yeah, I think so."
Me: "Um...ok..." (I am in complete shock and did not know what to do at this point!)
YB: "Yeah, but I think it is just a little bit, so it is ok."  
Me: "Well, go to the bathroom so you can check if it is only a little."
YB: "OK!"

Yellowbear waddles out the door!  OH MY GOSH!!   I could not believe that this was happening.  By this time I told the rest of the students to line up to take a bathroom break.  For some reason these breaks are SO exciting!  Anyway, we get to the bathroom and I had not seen Yellowbear...I sent in Smalls to get her.  Here is the 2nd conversation:

Me: "Sweetheart, are you ok?"
YB: "Yeah, I am fine, it is really only a little bit."
Me: "Really, are you sure?"
YB: "Yeah!" (With wide eyes...poor girl, trying to make everything ok)
Me: "Ok, turn around, let's see...(I touched the bottom portion of her pants...near her knees...SOAKING, just a little bit, right?  I felt EVEN worse by now!)  "Oh wow!  OK!  Don't worry, we will take care of this, but what happened?"
YB: "Well, I didn't want to have to move my card to yellow."

That is when we had the chat about the difference between being in TROUBLE and moving your card to yellow!  HOLY CRAP!  What a day and what a story to tell! 

If this happened to you, how would you have handled the situation?