LA trick

i attached the last email just in case some of you didn't get it.

oh to describe the last couple of weeks....

to put it shortly: I am living life and have never felt so good doing it.

Business: my address is

1130 3rd Avenue Apartment#308
oakland, ca 94606

To begin I will start off with the make up of the apartment and oakland. I live in a 17 story apartment complex with a ton of young professionals and families. About 7 of us live here from TFA and we have been moving in quite slowly. There are about 5 of us here now! I started out sleeping on the floor and now share a bed with who ever will take me in. Oakland is an up and coming city. According to some random man on the BART (public transportation) it has been up and coming since the 1940s. His comedic timing was effortless and perfect. Tangent: The best part of west coast has been the random conversations I have be in. Example: I was wearing my Providence College grey T and some random man stopped me on the streets of SF. Our circular conversation rolled around east living and providence and then finally shot out to what we were doing on the west coast. he had a one-man street puppetry show that he was taking up to Seattle and then cross country to RISD (rhode island school of design) in Providence. It was only then I realized he looked as if he hadn't showered in a good couple of weeks (day 5 OBX style). We parted ways and I immediatley found myself in another conversation with a young blonde woman about the BART patterns whcih lead into who i was and who she was. Sadly our delightful encouter ended abruptly when I completely forgot what I was doing and my body nearly sliced in two by the closing subway doors.
So oakland, up and coming... right... I live right on Lake Merritt which is a nice place in Oakland. We have already found ourselves at a movie theatre in an old opera house and a hip chic wine bar(where we received comp. glass of champagne and a "welcome to the neighborhood discount"). To be perfectly transparent, there are extremely dangerous parts of Oakland and you have to be careful in certain areas. As long as we use our heads and curb the wanderings to a minimum we should be fine. This may be more difficult for some (me) but I will be paying extra attention to my local activities.
Another nice feature of the location of my apt is the hop-skip-and-a-jump it takes to get into the city ("into the city" is SF). It takes abotu a 10 minute walk to ta BART and a 12 minute ride on the BART into the city. It took me a good 10 minutes to figure out how to buy a ticket (to which I managed to make a complete fool of myself in fron tof several people). In this week alone I have been to the city 4 or 5 times for leisurely strolls, Scooter appointments (yes I am in negotiations with Jaun to purchase his 2008 scooter), to all out crazy nights swapping spit with the mexican mafia (i am almost positiive I will be receiving a phone call this week asking me to fly down to mexico--a good kiss goes a long way).
I also have a friend who has a house in Healdsburg, CA in sonoma county. For those of you who are not wine enthusiasts, Sonoma country is a huge producer of wine. I found myself tanked about midday on friday galavanting around the wineries and vineyards, dirnking wine in caves, stopping the car by a grape wine and ripping the fresh grapes off. My friends house is a million dollar ranch overlooking the valley with a gorgeous in ground pool, zen den and a built in hot tub. We forgot our camera that night so no evidence of this place as of now but I will be back. we are planning on heading back to go to the crystal clear lake and camp with the wild boar and dear next week. speaking of pictures, hopefulyl will be loading them soon. features include: san deigo zoo, pictures of the new apt and a model shoot on the beaches of santa barbara (where i want to retire).
To conclude on the non-teaching aspects of life, CA has been everything I have been looking for and more. every day proves itself to be a new adventure.

On teaching, summer school was an absolute blast aside from the constant stress. It wasn't hard. I just needed five more hours in the day to complete everything I needed to do. Anywho, I survived and have never learned so much in a short period of time. My kids were amazing. Constantly testing and pushing the boundaries. we are there to pass their tests. they need us to pass their tests. for more inspiration on teaching, go here: he is a def jam poet. REAL cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpog1_NFd2Q
I taught 8th grade physical science (mostly basic conceptual physics). My kids did everythigng from "sex"ting (sending nude/half nude pics of themselves to others (sylvia, i need a funny text... what do you say..)). it caused huge drama yadda yadda i loved it. its kind of hilarious.

It would have been funny if this happened:
me: What is your favorite holiday?
student: 4/20
me: oh man I got so high last 4/20. iate pot brownies and melted into my seat. it was HILARIOUS. baller times
student: Mr. O lets hit after class


What actually happened:
me: what is your favorite holiday?
student: 4/20 haha
me: I know what that is. thats inappropriate
student: how do u know what that is?
me: i wasn't born yesterday. answer it again.

While playing a game i call the "speed dating game" where I have one group of students moving around completing problems on one side of the desk and another rotating on the opposite inner circle a male student (chad) , when sitting opposite me (yes I play the game as well to check their work) questions: you call this is speed dating game right? answer: yes statement: well mister, no offense but your not really my type. recall: laughter.

It has been an absolute blast teachign summer school, learning a ltitle bit about teaching and the new challenges each day brought.

oh, so i think i am going to start a blog. it will be so much more easy to do then continuously e-mail people over and over again. i will keep you all updated.

Love and miss you all!!! Please come visit!!! we have space in the apartment and Jacob wants as many visitors as possible. Just let me know when your coming so i don't plan on camping or some random adventure that weekend or week (or maybe you'll just have to brave the woods with me (miss mitchell I think this would be a ton of fun for you).

Dan