Who Am I?

Hello! My given name is Radostina. It actually means "Happy" My first language is Bulgarian. I was born in Bulgaria, I grew up there. When I was 13 years old, I came to USA. I didn’t understand or spoke any English so, I learned Russian.

I am white. My nationality is Bulgarian. My culture is rich in nature, as well as its many traditions. It is important for all those tradition to be kept, we for example celebration called a "Name Day" It’s one specific day that everyone has heard of and it is celebrated with people who care about you, but guests cannot be invited. They have to come, only if they wish to show their love towards you. 

My family is what matters to me, since my husband, my mom and I left Bulgaria, all of our family is back there and we are here with no one but ourselves, and I have come to truly appreciate how important my family is to me. I believe teachers need to provide lessons to children but in a childish way. Teachers should always use examples that are related to children's life for their better understanding. In my experience, teachers should speak children’s language when it comes to explanation.  Hands movement, gestures and a slow simple explanation is the best way to teach a child.

I am very outgoing person who only wants to help people. I have always wanted to be the one who people can rely on. I used to be extremely shy, but I learned that I cannot make friends that way. I define myself as "Christina to the rescue"! I come from a small family, I lost my father as a baby and I never knew him. I grew up with my mom and my grandparents in Bulgaria. When I was 13 I moved in USA with my mom and left all my friends and family in Bulgaria. I often go back and visit because I truly miss them. I never expected to come to USA. To me it was a big difference, I didn't want to leave all my family and come to a place where I knew nothing about. There was of course the issue of me not speaking English. In time, I realized that all I was afraid of was not a big deal. If I only knew not to worry as much, my life would have been easier. I hate living my life with phrases such as: "I should have done this or that" so I do not think about the past, I look forward to what life has to offer and I am using every opportunity life gives me. I have no children on my own now. I recently got married, and I hope children would come to us later on. My mom's parents are well and live in Bulgaria with my mom's brother. My father's parents are also in Bulgaria and live alone. I often visit them because they have no other kids but me. I have no brothers or sisters and neither does my husband. I have to admit I always disliked being alone in my life. My mom, I and my husband recently bought a house and we are enjoying living there, we were painting and fixing the new house the entire summer. 

I work with children at After School Program as a Para Educator. I work with kindergarteners through 2nd grade and I also work with 2nd through 6th grade. I truly enjoy both age groups and am happy I get to work with them. My job requires me to help children with their school work, create activities for them such as: Basketball club, Crafting club, Community Service club (which was my idea) as well as Drama club. Supervision is always enforced, as well as educating children about their safety, group discussions, and behaving themselves. Learning about Culture and Diversity could be useful for me in the future because I plan on working with children and since everyone is so different, I think it's important for me to be able to understand different cultures and diversity. In my free time I enjoy looking up different projects for children, since my job requires me to be creative; I always enjoy looking up helpful links and advices. I also enjoy writing poems but I do not do that as often as I would like to. I always create something new in the kitchen. I like creating my own recipe and looking up recipe online. I like surprising my family with new dishes; therefore this is my favorite thing to do. I do not get out much, I like staying home, but when I do go out in the nature, I enjoy walking. My husband and I  like going to a Coffee House, with our lap tops and do homework, every once in a while we share something to one another and continue on with homework or projects we work on. Most of my life is simple. It’s always school and work and when possible visiting new towns, exploring nature more and enjoying time with my husband.