Meghan은 간다, Meghan ya no esta aqui

Spilling and Overflowing

2010-08-16T20:37:00.004-07:00

I've loved rock and roll for a long time. I grew up on Amy Grant and choral music, but I fell in love with rock and roll when my cool older brother took a big liking to it. In college I discovered a band called mewithoutYou that changed how I thought about music. The first time I saw them play I was standing at a music festival in Illinois in 90 degree heat (plus humidity), in a crowded tent. They took the stage in sweaters and peacoats, posturing as maritime men. They threw themselves around on stage and I didn't hear much besides noise. I blew them off. A little while later, I tried again and found myself a fan. Their music is not for everyone, but the lyrics are self-effacing, honest, and seeking. They ask good questions. They tell good stories. I have often been challenged by their words. They make me think.

And on one occasion, I thought about one particular line from a song. In a wordy, jumbled song where the writer compares himself to an animal on the prowl, comes the line: "a glass can only spill what it contains" and it sticks in my head.

I half-heartedly explained
but gave up peacefully ashamed
a glass can only spill what it contains

Because eventually we will spill. A glass full of liquid spills two ways - there's too much of the contents, and it overflows, or it gets knocked over. Either we are so full of something that it eventually tumbles out of our mouths or flows out in our actions. It wiggles its way into our minds, into our relationships, into our very beings. What we possess inside will somehow find its way out.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." - Colossians 2:6-7

A cup can spill because it overflows. It has so much that it just can't contain it anymore. You know how else the liquid spills? It gets knocked over. An accident, sudden movement, change, push, shove, grief, heartbreak, and on and on. What tumbles out when this happens? What do we contain that, when knocked over, spills everywhere? What are our reactions, our words, our actions? What do they reflect?

What are we full of that we will eventually spill? A glass of water cannot spill orange juice, and likewise we cannot spill the Word of God if we are not continuously putting it into our lives.

A glass can only spill what it contains

Tourin' the South Part 4! Days 13-16

2010-07-28T16:46:00.004-07:00

Day 13 - Sunday, July 11th - Asheville, NC
I really wanted to see the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was coneniently celebrating its 75th anniversary. As part of FDR's work corps program, the Blue Ridge Parkway was built as a scenic route through Virginia and North Carolina's sections of the Appalachian mountains. It is a really nice drive - windy, slow, scenic. We also stopped at the Folk Art Center, which was really neat - a celebration of Art from the Appalachias. There we saw a guy out front with an interesting instrument that looked like a little harp or autoharp, but was played with a bow.

But, we got our fill of that, and went and got lunch. Later on we ventured down the parkway to the "Cradle of Forestry" center, to catch a bluegrass concert. It was a nice, comfortable, down home sort of thing - you could tell most of the people were local - only about 100 in the crowd. It was a nice way to relax, until it started raining. On the way home we drove through downtown Asheville, just to look around, and tried to drive to see Biltmore Castle, but at 55 dollars a pop, I think we decided it wasn't worth it. 55 dollars to see a house! No thanks. That's almost as much as Disneyland!

Day 14 - Monday, July 12th - Asheville, NC to Kodak, TN
We woke up to a rainy morning in Asheville, and hit the road to head over the Smoky Mountains to Tennessee. We stopped at a few little places along the way - a shop to buy some snacks, a homemade museum to look around, a store in the Cherokee Indian Reservation, and so forth. It was sort of a gloomy morning, but it made those Smoky Mountain extra smoky, and it was a beautiful drive anyway.

As we headed into Tennessee, we got into Pigeon Forge and consumer mania took over as the whole main street is just packed with tourists. Pigeon Forge is home to Dollywood and as many kinds of musical dinner theater establishments as you can think of. We walked around a little bit. I found a craft store, of course, and a jewelry store. We got some candy. We headed back up the road to find our hotel - through the insane amount of traffic in Pigeon Forge. Wow!

That night we had a wonderful dinner at the Chop House, a steak house right there. It was really, really good.

Day 15 - Tuesday, July 13th - Kodak, TN to Nashville, TN
I can't believe we made it this far in the trip without Mom stopping at a thrift store, but you knew it was going to happen some time, and Kodak is where it happened. We started off our day with a trip to the thrift store. It was right across the street from our hotel, so she couldn't miss it.

We drove up to Clinton, TN, north of Knoxville to visit the Museum of Appalachia, a work of heart from a local man who began to compile artifacts, treasures, and stories of the people and neighbors in his community. The museum itself would have been enough - it was jam packed with all sorts of information, but it included a barn, various outbuildings (cabins, sheds, church, school), and pastures. And peacocks. It was a very informative and interesting stop. At one house, on the porch, there was a guitar player who we talked with and played and sang some gospel songs for us. We began talking, and I talked about how I wanted to learn the banjo, and he mentioned that he teaches banjo and has lessons online. Nice guy.

We drove on, after our visit, to our hotel in Nashville, and the Cracker Barrel.

Day 16 - Wednesday, July 14th - Nashville, TN
Our last day!! We headed over to the Hermitage - Andrew Jackson's home, which has been carefully preserved. In fact, you hear so many stories of old plantation houses being sold to different families in the first half of the twentieth century, but a preservation society actually bought Andrew Jackson's house in the late 19th century! We had a tour of the home, the grounds, and the outbuildings. It really was a warm day in Nashville.

One more stop before the airport - we made it back to Franklin to the Daily Dish to once again have their delicious food. I had to have the Greek salad again, and it was just as good as the first time. After stuffing ourselves, we hopped in the car, got gas, and headed to the airport, ready to fly back to San Diego.

Touring the South Part 3! (Days 10-12)

2010-07-17T16:45:00.002-07:00

Day 10 - Thursday, July 8th - Savannah, GA
As I stated before, Savannah was absolutely gorgeous. A wonderful downtown that has been preserved (or restored) and is in wonderful shape. It's a cute town for walking around, lots of history, wonderful stories. I think I said a few times "I think I could live there".

Nevermind that it was 100 degrees on the day that we were there. We'll skip that part.

We took a trolley tour around the historical district, which was informative and a nice way to see the town. The city is split into sort of quadrants with a square (park) in the middle of each area. For lunch we were told time and again to go to Ms. Wilke's Boarding House for her family style meal, and we stood outside for an hour and 15 minutes (remember - we are skipping the part about the heat), and finally sat down to a delicious meal of fried chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, lima beans, creamed corn, greens, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad and more that I can't even remember what else. Ohhh it was good. So that was a highlight :)

We went over to the river and took a riverboat cruise, but I'll be honest and say that the Savannah riverfront is... not very exciting. We were pretty exhausted so we rested a while in the AC at the hotel, and then got some ice cream at the marketplace.

Day 11 - Friday, July 9th - Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC
We still had some tickets to go see the Savannah history museum, so we set off for that in the morning. It was nice... small, but nice. I'm sure my mom would also like to point out that I forgot my sandals at the hotel, so we went back for those before heading out of town. It was another hot day (skip that part!!) but we got to Charleston, checked into our hotel (which was crummy and not worth mentioning), and headed to downtown Charleston. It was nice to see Savannah and Charleston back to back to see the similarities and differences. Charleston seems a much more hodge podge city, and so we were glad to take a carriage ride around to get the lay of the land.

The carriage ride was entertaining - our guide did a good job of casually showing us around, but giving good information. Unfortunately, we found that because you're being led by a slow horse, the carriages have to take different routes around town and so you don't really see all of it. BUT, like I said - our guide was good, and our horse, Kevin, had a funny personality. It was good.

We walked around Charleston a bit, down by Battery Park, and it was nice evening for checking out the homes in the area. I was mostly amazed at these OLD, OLD homes surrounded by palm trees!! Something new to me.

Day 12 - Saturday, July 10th - Charleston, SC to Asheville, NC
We woke up, ready to leave Charleston behind, but we didn't travel far - we headed to Boone Hall Plantation, which we really enjoyed. The plantation is hundreds of years old, and supplied most of the brick that was used to build Charleston. In fact, the brick making was such a profitable business for them that they made the slave cabins of the house workers out of brick, and they are still standing! They were built from 1790-1810. That was really amazing, to stand in original slave cabins.

The best part of that visit was the presentation by Joe, about the Gullah culture, the African American culture that sprang up in that area as a result of learning English, and combining African traditions with American ways of life. It was entertaining, fun, and informative.

We drove from Boone Hall all the way to Asheville, NC. We were going to stay somewhere south of there, but decided to just go for it. They call the Charleston area the "low country", and once you get up into the Appalachias, it becomes the "high country". Makes sense, doesn't it? The weather cooled off, and the skies got cloudier, and the green hills were wonderful to see :) We settled down in Asheville for the night.

Touring the South Part 2! (Days 6-9)

2010-07-12T16:39:00.004-07:00

Wow - I waited to long to make another blog, so here is some more about our trip (just for you, Amanda!)

Day 6 - Sunday, July 4th - Montgomery, AL
We had stayed in Selma, Alabama, and decided to drive into Montgomery to see what we could see. Two points against us - it was a national holiday AND a Sunday, so the chances of seeing very much were slim. However, we did some research online and found a Church of God in Montgomery, and off we went to the Rosa L Parks Avenue Church of God. It was a great time. It was a small congregation, but they were so welcoming and warm to us. The pastor's wife invited us to sit in front with her, and it was really just a great time. We left feeling very blessed. We ate lunch at a place called O'Charleys, much like an Applebee's or Chili's.

We wandered into Montgomery, still a little unsure of what we were doing. We found the church that Martin Luther King, Jr. pastored, which is right across the street from the capitol building, with its confederate flag still waving, and a statue of Jefferson Davis (elected President of the confederacy).

Since the Civil Rights Memorial wasn't open, we decided to drive around and found the riverfront walk, where they were setting up for the Fourth of July bash. You know what? We found a patch of grass in the shade and sat for hours - people watching, listening to music, eating treats, and watching fireworks. It was a really nice time.

Day 7 - Monday, July 5th - Selma to Monroeville, AL
We had stayed overnight in Selma again, and took off in the morning to find the site of old Cahawba, one of the first (the first?) capital of Alabama. It was settled, flooded a lot, and so the capital soon moved, but business remained there for quite some time, until after the Civil War. The businesses started to leave, and later in the mid-twentieth century became abandoned. Homeowners sold off their bricks, so really there are no buildings left standing. There were some columns left, from a mansion, but they were left because the shape of the bricks was too hard to sell. And the cemetery is still there. Definitely CREEPY, especially considering we were 2 of about 6 people wandering all over about 20 acres.... and there were little run down old houses (that were newer) scattered here and there. Super creepy.

We left Cahawba and headed to Monroeville, Alabama, a town I definitely needed to see. I couldn't imagine visiting Alabama without getting a chance to see the town where Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird) grew up. Unfortunately, being the national holiday, nothing was open. We killed an afternoon and evening in our hotel room, watching hours of TLC :) We stopped at the Winn-Dixie for snacks, since the only things open were fast food.

Day 8 - Tuesday, July 6th - Monroeville, AL to Auburn, AL
What a day! We woke up early to get to the City courthouse in Monroeville, site of the historical museum and gift shop. Whew. What a time for both of us. Harper Lee grew up in this town, her father was a lawyer, and if you know the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, you know the story is about a lawyer fighting for justice in a small Alabama town. While her story is made up of composite sketches of characters, it's all based around her own small town experiences. Harper Lee grew up around the courthouse, her father being a lawyer, and when they made the movie of To Kill a Mockingbird, the set designer came to Monroeville and went back to Hollywood and duplicated the courthouse almost exactly. It was a real moment to stand in that courtroom. Don't worry - I have my kleenex handy for whenever I think about it. This year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first printing of the book.

(By the way - I met a really nice lady in the gift shop who was from around there, who said, upon finding out that we were from so far away, "Well I wish I would've known y'all were comin', I would've had my house ready!").

In the afternoon we made it to Tuskegee, Alabama (which I continue to have difficulty saying), and the Tuskegee Institute - the university that Booker T. Washington started. I was mostly taken with George Washington Carver. I had never really known anything about him, but as a scientist and naturalist, he continued to experiment and teach his entire life. That night we stayed in Auburn, Alabama.

Day 9 - Wednesday, July 7th - Auburn, AL to Savannah, GA
We skedaddled out of town, on our way to Georgia. We were beginning to think we kinda liked Alabama- we were there so long! Our next stop was Plains, Georgia, home of Jimmy Carter. We visited his old school, which they've turned into a little museum. What a breath of fresh air Jimmy Carter is! A homegrown boy from tiny little Plains, Georgia, who goes on to become President of the United States, and when he retires: moves right back to Plains! He and his wife live right there in town, and he still teaches Sunday School at their church. My kinda guy.

We continued on through Georgia and made it to Savannah! What a gorgeous city. So beautiful, so well kept. In fact, Savannah was (and is) so beautiful, that Sherman decided to spare it during the Civil War. I learned during fifth grade social studies this year that during the Civil War they used the "total war" tactic - basically destroying what they came across, so having a whole city spared was quite uncommon. Sherman then gave Savannah as a Christmas present to President Lincoln :) Lincoln should have been overjoyed because Savannah is gorgeous.

And hot. Incredibly hot. But we'll talk about that tomorrow. We settled in at our great hotel right in downtown Savannah, on the river, excited about the next day.

Touring the South Part 1! (Days 1-5)

2010-07-03T18:17:00.005-07:00

Mom and I have been planning this trip since last Fall, and by "planning" I mean buying plane tickets, draw an imaginary circle, and mentally taking notes of places we'd like to visit. I've never been to the South, and Mom has been to one or two of these states, so this seemed like a great opportunity. Both of us love history and this of course is a great place to study. We only had a few certain things on our itinerary. Instead, we are winging most of this trip!

Day 1 - Tuesday, June 29th - Our town to San Diego
Mom doesn't want to consider this part of our trip, but since it involved getting up early and traveling, I will consider it. We stopped at David's Bridal in San Diego so I could order a bridesmaid's dress for a September wedding, and made a couple of stops at some stores (where I found shoes for the wedding for $15!), and picked up Nick and Linda at the airport and went out to dinner.

Day 2 - Wednesday, June 30th - San Diego to Nashville, TN
Nick and Linda got up early to take us to the airport. After dropping us off they headed back to Mexico to be the wonderful people they are and help hold down the fort while Mom is away with me :) Our flight was from San Diego to Denver, then Denver to Nashville. It was nice because each flight was only about 2 1/2 hours, and our layover was only an hour. I'm so used to flying Alaska, that it was a little weird to fly a different airline (Frontier), but of course it was fine.

We arrived in Nashville and got our rental car and were on the road by about 6:30. Our hotel was south of town, but flipping through a tour guide for the month of June showed that they were showing "The Wizard of Oz" at a park in Nashville for free, so we headed over there, thinking it started at 7pm. Well, it didn't start at 7, but waiting around for the movie gave us enough time to get some popcorn, strawberry lemonade, and cupcakes bought from a bus. We didn't end up staying for the movie, but we got in plenty of people watching. For me, it was so nice to sit outside on a warm summer evening and not be cold! Mexico can be warm during the day, but at night it gets so chilly - I never sit outside at night without a big sweatshirt and jeans!

We made our way to the hotel, and settled in.

Day 3 - Thursday, July 1st - Nashville, TN
We had scoped out our day to include plantations and music. We stopped first at the Belle Meade Plantation, a plantation built around their thoroughbred horses, one of which is the ancestor of many champion racing horses in America. A beautiful place, we were the first ones there and got our own tour guide through the mansion.

After that we headed into downtown to visit Jack's BBQ on Broadway. We seemed to hit the restaurant just as the Presbyterian convention liberated its people for lunch, so we had to wait a while. When you are waiting for something like this, you always wonder if it's worth the wait. It was. I had a pork shoulder plate with green beans and mac and cheese. Delicious. One thing I enjoyed was the ability to choose your own side of bbq sauce. The highlight of the meal was when Mom got up the courage to pass her cards to a group of Presbyterian pastors. Networking!

Jack's was a recommendation from a friend, as was Hatch Show Print, the famous printing house known for its distinct style. Still in business, Hatch Show Print creates many show posters and announcements that you continue to see around town. They had fun posters to see, and fun souvenirs.

We headed over to the Ryman Auditorium, home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 - 1974. We took the tour, which was a nice precursor to the show we were going to see later on in the evening. I knew the Ryman was an important building, but gaining all of the information about the start of country music and the community it influenced was great. They had a small, special exhibit about Johnny and June at the Ryman. It was amazing to know that this was the very stage where so many influential country stars got their start.

After the tour, we meandered around downtown, looking at boots, checking out the river, getting some ice cream.

We were scheduled to see a concert at the Ryman, so we walked back over and were surprised to find that there was a pre-concert concert on the plaza in front of the auditorium. It was a great distraction while we waiting for the doors to open. At 7:30 we got to see Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder, a wonderful show included in their Bluegrass Grass Nights at the Ryman series. Seriously, wonderful musicians. It was such a fun show, a great environment, and very inspiring. Ricky's band were so talented, it was just amazing to watch, it (mostly) distracted me from those hard wooden pews!

Day 4 - Friday, July 2nd - Franklin, TN - Decatur, AL
We slept in and started down to Franklin, south of Nashville. They have a really cute downtown, and we walked around the shops for a while. After that we went to tour the Carnton Plantation, a private home that was turned into a field hospital during the Civil War's Battle of Franklin. After the war, they donated part of their land for a Confederate cemetery, where all of the soldiers' graves remain to this day. Even more haunting were the blood stains in the upstairs bedrooms where the surgeons did their work for six months.

Mom had bought a Groupon for a restaurant in Franklin called the Daily Dish. In this restaurant I ate the best Greek Salad of my life. End of story.

We decided to continue South to Alabama, where we sought out a hotel room for the night, and ate at Five Guys, a burger joint that I've heard all sorts of things about. It lived up to its reputation.

Day 5 - Saturday, July 3rd - Decatur, AL - Selma, AL
We planned to head down the Interstate to Selma, to take in some of the Civil Rights points of interest. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we ran into some serious traffic, and got off the interstate and got to figure out some back county roads. Before this we had managed to avoid the interstate anyway, so we had already been enjoying great scenery, especially of rolling hills and wonderful houses.

On our way to Selma we stopped for lunch at the Brierfield Cafe. Of course this place has no website, because ... you know.. it's the kind of place your teenager next door works after school. The place was empty, but I enjoyed my sandwich AND the fried green tomatoes we tried out. We're going for broke with trying Southern food. This probably should be "eating our way to through the South" instead. I'd never had fried green tomatoes before, and I really liked them. Yum.

We finally found Selma, and the tourist welcome center, where two nice ladies gave us all sorts of pamphlets and pointed us in the right direction. It was much warmer this afternoon, and after we started walking away from the tourist center, the lady followed us outside to make sure we weren't walking to the starting point of the tour. We reassured her that we were just stepping away to figure things out. They also told us where we could get some good dinner :)

We decided to do a driving tour of Selma, which focused on architectural influences of important landmarks and houses. Right up my alley. The most interesting fact to us was that many old houses were moved from nearby Cahawba, AL. Looking online, we see that Cahawba was the state's first capital, from 1820-1826, but was abandoned after the Civil War. We're thinking about visiting there later on. At the end of the tour we came to Brown A.M.E Church, site of many speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965.

So on the recommendation of the ladies at the welcome center, we headed to Lannie's BBQ (again, no website, of course). While we felt a little out of place, the food was worth it. Oh. My. Word. I got fried chicken, mac and cheese, and collared greens. Now, I've never had collared greens before, so I didn't quite enjoy them, but the mac and cheese and fried chicken were WONDERFUL. I'm on my way to gaining ten pounds.

So here we are, in Selma, and going to visit Montgomery tomorrow!

Strange Days

2010-06-01T17:42:00.003-07:00

The days have arrived wherein I am icing muscles after running, trying to improve my pace, drinking chocolate milk for its protein after long runs, running more than 20 miles a week, and thinking about food in terms of whether or not it will help my running. I just got back from an interval run at the gym (running really fast, then jogging, running really fast, then jogging), and my quads are yelling at me. I just got up to go get a bag of vegetables from the freezer and I thought to myself "Really? ME? Icing muscles? Even thinking the words I better ice these quads". Who IS that? These are definitely strange days.

Speaking of strange - there are only 3 and a half weeks left until the end of school, and 4 weeks exactly until my vacation with mom. I'm about to start reading The Giver with my fifth graders. It's one of my favorite books, and I'm excited to share it with them. It warmed my heart to see my fifth graders pumped up over their state reports. In fact, one girl came to me to say she was going to be gone for a week (and gone the day of the presentations) and could I please let her still do it because she was so excited about it. Made my day.

Saturday we went up to San Diego (long story), but ended up spending the afternoon on Coronado Island. What a nice break those few hours were. Usually we run around San Diego trying to get stuff done (things bought, things mailed, money deposited), so it was nice to have a short to-do list. We got to relax and enjoy the utopia that is Coronado Island.

The days are warmer, the school days seem shorter. The end is in sight.

Warm Weather

2010-05-20T17:43:00.002-07:00

My town has a fairly mild climate. It's on the Pacific Ocean, it's in the Northern part of the country... it's mild. Very. In fact, even though it's sunny most days, I wear my school jacket most of the day.

Not this week. The past few days have been really warm (around 80), and while it sounds nice in theory, doing every day things in this weather isn't so great. Trying to teach dense Social Studies to 30 fifth graders in a crowded, hot room at 12:30pm is not ideal. They get super sleepy. Going to the gym is sweatier than normal because there's no air conditioning - just windows. Luckily we DO get ocean breezes.

Looking forward to those highs of 60s coming up!

Firulais

2010-05-14T22:25:00.004-07:00

A stray dog wandered into school the other day. Most stray dogs here are gross, matted, infected, etc, and I've been taught to stay away from them. I tell others to stay away from them. Amazingly enough, the staff at our school took him to get taken care of, gave him a collar, and he now calls our school home. We are usually the first teachers to get to school in the morning, and this morning he greeted me by running around my feet happily as I entered my fifth grade classroom. It's been a long time without a cute dog around, happy to greet me. I'll admit it. I liked it.

He's been named Firulais, which apparently is the Spanish equivalent of "Fido". Although some people didn't want to name him that, our older custodian (Don Jose) took him to the vet and when the administration went to pick him up, that was the name on his tag. And the cutest thing is that when Don Jose whistles, Firelais runs after him like any good dog would. Aw. It's cute.

I wonder where he sleeps at night. Under the modular? In the children's bathroom? Under the jungle gym? In a corner somewhere?

WE'LL NEVER KNOW!

Cañon

2010-05-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

Is it crazy that the one thing I'm looking forward to today is a 5 mile run in a canyon? No? I didn't think so. Thanks for your input.

10k

2010-05-10T15:49:00.006-07:00

After our race in March, Stephanie and I were inspired to sign up for a big race in San Diego. We chose a race from the "Iron Girl" series for women. I chose to run the 10k, and she chose to run the 5k. A 10k is 6.2 miles, which is a distance I have been running at least once a week, so I knew it was feasible, but I wanted a good time. I found a training plan to follow, and was dedicated to it for the last 6 weeks. While I run 3-5 times a week on my own, the training plans gives different types of runs to do so that you can improve time.

We left school a little early on Friday, and Mom picked us up at our house. We had a super quick crossing at the border, and drove straight up to Del Mar, California (North side of San Diego) to where the race was happening at the racetrack and fairgrounds. We picked up our bibs (numbers), and a bunch of free goodies, checked into our hotel, and got dinner.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home, so we had to pick up a one-use camera to use. This means there were no re-takes on photos, no deleting of photos, and we had to wait until Sunday to see what they looked like. Keep that in mind while you look at the photos.

We arrived at the race Saturday, at 7am:
We stood around for a while, and then did some stretching:
I headed to the starting line, where the 10k race began at 7:30:
Mass of humanity:
58:50 minutes later I finished the 10k:
I get all red when I run:
We headed back to the hotel and posed in front of a statue:
Posing with our team mom, outside our hotel:

I was very, very happy about the race. I was able to control my speed well, and my legs sprang into action when I knew I needed to go faster. I achieved my goal time that I set for myself (a 9:30) mile, and out of the 779 women who raced I was better than average both in time and finishing place. And most of all - I had a really great time. I also got to eat some delicious pancakes on Sunday.

3 Thoughts For the Day

2010-05-06T19:08:00.002-07:00

Because good things come in threes. Well, and celebrity deaths come in threes as well, but let's not think about that.

#1 - I've been craving pancakes lately. Last week the cravings got so bad that I had to make some pancakes. This is strange, because I'm not usually a pancake person. I've never wanted pancakes before like I wanted pancakes last week. I made the pancakes and while they satisfied me, they weren't as fluffy, delicious, airy, and melt-in-your-mouth as I had longed for. Tonight I realized why I'm craving pancakes. Wheel of Fortune is sponsored by IHOP. Those commercials!!! They flop those pancakes down on the stack of pancakes like nobody's business! And yes, I watch that much Wheel of Fortune. In fact, I just put two and two together with the craving of pancakes because I was just watching Wheel of Fortune.

#2 - We have a bike horn on our front gate. You know, the bike horn with the actual horn on the end and the black bulb on the other end, and it really does say "honk!" when you squeeze it. Our gate is far from our front door, and we got it for when visitors stop by. We tend to have more "drive bys" than actual visitors: passersby who choose to honk the horn as they go on their way. Well, the black rubber bulb was coming away from the metal part, and you can't get a good honk out of it unless you hold the two pieces together. We came home from school today to find someone had taped the bulb back together to the horn. My roommate poses a good question: Was this so that they could continue annoying us with their drive by honks, or was it done simply out of the kindness of their heart? It's weird to think that someone passes by our house enough and takes the time to notice that our horn was broken. Now if they'd just stop and fix our jungle of a yard...

#3 - Why are tortillas SO good?

Otra Vez

2010-04-18T15:01:00.003-07:00

He wasn't that old this time, but I'll bunch him in with the others...

I went to a beach town to meet up with Mom, Dad, the staff from the daycare, and people from the boards of directors. We stayed in a gated community, and as I entered, the guard had to sign me in and check my car information. I knew that this guard probably spoke English, and so this was a good time to practice speaking in Spanish, knowing that if all else failed, I could go back to English.

I told him I was here with a certain group, and he asked if I knew what house we were in. I told him, the number of the house, and that my mom had told me that number. He instructed me to put my name on the first line of a page full of boxes, and asked me when I was planning on leaving the compound. I responded, and immediately his next question was "and where did you learn your Spanish?", as if it were next on a standard list of questions. I responded, "here", and he clarified that "here" meant Mexico. I said yes. He said "Eres Americana?" and I smiled and said, "yes, I am American".

:)

Every learner needs affirmation of their efforts.

why i run

2010-04-08T11:28:00.006-07:00

I recently ran my first race. Before that, I swore I would never run a race. Most people didn't know how much I ran, or that I had been running for a while now (3 years, seriously). People seemed surprised, and when I admit that I'm used to running, I often receive a look or response of disgust/shock/pity. It's hard to describe to someone who doesn't run, what running feels like. I know how ridiculous this sounds, because if you had told me this 8 or 10 years ago, I would have had the same response. But I have found, in my short 3 years of running, some major reasons why I run. It seems like the list continues to grow all the time. Here we go - in no particular order.

*It makes me feel strong and healthy. I can't say that I do too many other things that make me feel this way, and I never felt this way while I was growing up. I started running to lose weight. That didn't happen. Instead, I gained a new appreciation for health and taking care of myself.

*Because I can. God gave me this fully-functioning body, and sometimes the thought smacks me across the face that not everybody can do this. I should put it to good use, take care of it, and enjoy the motion.

*Our bodies are amazing. You can train your body to do incredible things. I never wanted to run. Now I can run 7 or 8 miles without thinking about it. I shared with my mom one day about how strange it feels to be able to get up, run 7 miles, not be panting at the end, and not feel sore afterward. I have trained my body to do that. It's almost beyond my comprehension.

*Feeling free. Running is a free time. I get to be by myself, I get to focus on my goals. I get to move freely. I run when I'm angry (those are the long runs), I run when I'm happy, I run when I'm stressed.

*Setting goals. I get to set my own goals and achieve them -- and guess what? Nobody else has to know about them!

*Great legs. I mean... I don't want to brag or anything...

*Good hobby. Sometimes, I don't use my time wisely. In fact, I think I don't use my time wisely most of the time. But running is wise, and a good hobby.

*A morning run. There is something about it. A sunrise, the dew, the breeze, the quietness, the birds, the rush, the adrenaline. Starting off a day with a run is wonderful. Especially in Mexico.

*I have my famous cookies to eat.

Viejos

2010-04-08T11:19:00.002-07:00

Old Mexican men are my new favorites. It seems that if I ever have the chance to strike up a conversation with an older gentlemen, he will inevitably ask me where I learned my great Spanish. I attribute this to the surprise factor of me actually speaking Spanish, and perhaps this generation of Mexicans is not used to Americans taking the time to learn Spanish. Whatever the case, I can't help but smile and feel great for the opportunity to answer that question! While I am often frustrated that I didn't learn more grammatical correctness from school and books, I'm still a little proud that I've picked up my Spanish from conversations, from friends, from the people. However, I am often too embarrassed to speak in Spanish, especially in front of certain people. A lot of times I have to prevent myself from deferring to someone who is bilingual, or someone who speaks better Spanish. And too often I have to remind myself not to give up, that I actually can speak a good amount of Spanish. So to have some people understand me completely, ask where I learned my Spanish so well, and genuinely be kind about my Spanish - big deal for me.

Not to mention my favorite taco stand owner, who is always interested in my latest running habits, tells me how great I look lately, and asks me, "But, you're so skinny! How do you not have a boyfriend?"

Maybe I just need to wait around to be vieja. :)

Easter

2010-04-03T20:43:00.003-07:00

"For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement
that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53:2-5

carrera

2010-03-29T17:28:00.001-07:00

I ran my first race (8k)

I liked it

I found a race to run in May (10k)

I found a training program that last six weeks

My race is in six weeks

I'm getting a tax return and you know what I want to buy? Running clothes

I have become a little obsessed

Maybe I should stop eating these chocolates

:)

mmm mmm food

2010-03-24T15:51:00.003-07:00

I've been in Mexico a lot. Before this school year I spent a really good chunk of time here, but still I'm always learning. And I'm not talking about my Spanish, but of cultural things. I have actually found, this year, that there are more cultural things that I thought were just my friends in at the daycare rather than Mexico or Baja California as a whole. Then I came and lived here - and guess what? The food Cande prepares at the daycare kitchen is like the food my kids eat at their houses! Go figure.

I love Mexican food. This is no surprise. It's good. This year I've discovered some new things that I love.

Tortas
My dad used to always get tortas when we were visiting Mexico. A lot of times tortas are served with ham. I don't like ham. And really - why would I get, what appears to be a ham sandwich when I'm in Mexico? Taco, please! This year I was converted. We went to a recommended torta stand here in town and now I'm hooked. They even sell tortas at our school's tiendita, or little store. Bad news. I have to stay away. Now I'm on the hunt, looking for the best torta. Trust me, I still love a great taco, and I almost prefer them... but MAN a carne asada torta hits the spot.

Bolis
I first saw bolis being waved around by vendors at the border. You know, you're waiting in line for up to an hour and who wouldn't love a popsicle while you're waiting in your car? Yeah. I found out about these this year. And you know what? They don't just sell them at the border. Yeah. Bad news, again. Vanilla (as seen above) are wonderful. In fact, so wonderful that I can't seem to waste a boli eating opportunity on another flavor. If you come and visit, I will convince you to get another flavor of boli, and I will try it. Okay? Okay. Deal.

These are just two examples. I'm going to think of more.

And you people wonder why I run so much.

Where Amazing Happens

2010-03-21T10:55:00.004-07:00

"Where Amazing Happens" - You know, the slogan for the NBA at the moment. Their commercials cut to very short clips of star players dunking, amazing jump shots at the buzzer, or great blocks. They say that that the NBA is where amazing happens. Which, you know, is kinda true. Professional athletes score big, and do feats that 99.9% of us can only dream of. And, well, watching men play basketball is ... fun :)

While professional athletes seem amazing, and they can be, they ARE paid millions of dollars, have been coached since they were kids, and have had great opportunities handed to them. I'm fairly certain amazing happens other places as well.

In most aspects, what happened today wasn't AMAZING, but for me, personally, it was. I ran my first race.

For thousands, maybe millions of people, running races is not a big deal. They schedule their lives around trainings, short races, local races, marathons, etc. They know the language, they know what to expect, racing is their life.

I was never athletic growing up. I cringe when I think of most of my P.E. classes (except that game, in elementary school, where you got to roll around on those scooter seats - remember that? Best day in P.E.!). But, three years ago, I took up running seriously. Well, not seriously, but something to commit to. And while one fall I was just lazy and didn't do it, and one fall I broke my foot (NOT while running), it has been in my life for the past three years. The last year I have actually been fairly committed about it - keeping a log, trying to improve times, trying to improve endurance, etc.

But I said I had no desire to run a race. All of those awful memories from P.E. classes do not exactly make me want to PAY to have people watch me run. And while I think I put in a decent mile time for a beginner, it's nothing great.

But today, in Ensenada, there was a small race, and my roommates wanted to do it, so we went for it. Today I completed an 8k (5mile) race. In my mind this seemed more than feasible - I've been putting in 7 mile runs on Sundays, but 5 miles on a course is different than 5 miles of MY choosing. It was more of a trail run, with two small hills, lots of rocks, and a fairly constant incline for quite a while - and I didn't stop once (even though my steps on that last hill were more like tiptoe prances). I gave a decent time (50:50), and I can't believe I did it. I actually didn't even tell people I was doing it, for fear that I would chicken out, or bail out of the race halfway through - but I didn't do either one of those things.

My bib number is going on my wall - for everything it represents.

Wise

2010-03-20T10:54:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, as we waited for names to be called, a few of my fifth grade girls quizzed me on the status of my gray hair. We talked about all of the different options. Renata specifically wanted to know why I hadn't taken the problems into my own hands...

Renata: Why do you not... you not... (motioning with her hands)...
Me: Pull it out? ALL of this gray hair?
Renata: Yes! Yes - you pull....
Me: Because then I would be bald, Renata.

We talked about dyeing hair, and I told them how I had dyed the ends of my long hair blue, then green, then red, when I was a teenager. They asked why I had done something so crazy. Now that my hair is longer, and I can pull it back, the kids have often commented on my multiple earrings. I had the pleasure of explaining to my two tutor students that I used to have a long bar in my ear. They were repulsed.

The gray hair, the colored hair, the piercings.. it doesn't seem that different to me, but it is VERY different to these students. And while I'm more conservative now, and they still seem weirded out by my different choices, it is somewhat reassuring to me to show them that a very normal, sane, average person can make choices that go against the flow. I'm not advocating that my students get piercings or dye their hair (oh please, no!), but there is something to be said for allowing my students (especially my girls) to see that the possibility of choosing to go a little bit against the norm can be perfectly normal and okay. In a world of the latest brands, mall stores, popular music, and gadgets, I know I can at least show them that there are ways to be your own person. It's a small way of saying "Hey! Look at me! I'm not so weird, yet there are certain things I believe, and it's okay."

1 Peter 5:10

2010-03-19T06:33:00.001-07:00

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:10

A running partner

2010-03-16T20:41:00.001-07:00

Meghan wants a Vizsla!

2010-03-16T06:35:00.002-07:00

"Everything I have I count as loss.
Everythig I have is stripped away.
Before I started building, I counted up these costs
There's nothing left for you to take away.....

Hello hurricane, you're not enough
Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love"

The Most Difficult Thing

2010-03-14T21:19:00.003-07:00

I believe I have found that the most difficult thing is actually, really, wholeheartedly giving your life to God. Being willing to sacrifice your dreams, your desires, and your own will.

I am still working....

mmmmm

2010-03-10T20:21:00.001-08:00

I should have figured this out sooner. Washing down a 4 mile run with carne asada tacos is... just perfect.

hurry hurry hurry

2010-03-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I've been running around like a maniac all day. Wait - I knew i was running around like a maniac all day. It just became really apparent when I rushed home, and soon found myself eating my snack so fast that I could hardly keep up with myself.

Oye veh.

Cooking Weekend!

2010-03-07T17:45:00.002-08:00

Yep. It's about time I got to cookin'.

Cinnamon rolls from scratch on Friday night:

Stephanie and I made stuffed chiles on Saturday:
Tilapia and yams on Sunday:
(Yams just might be my new favorite)

Harmony

2010-03-07T13:42:00.002-08:00

"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." - Romans 15:5-7

Sleep

2010-03-07T06:59:00.001-08:00

Mexican house parties start at 1am, apparently. And rain on bedroom skylights is noisy. I didn't get much sleep last night.

Rain does, however, shut down a house party.

Saturday

2010-03-06T13:10:00.002-08:00

Saturday afternoon:
Watching NCAA basketball on T.V. (UCLA vs Arizona St.), grading Social Studies workbooks, making homework for my students for next week, admiring how long my hair is, about to cook some stuffed chiles, planning my first running race in a few weeks, chatting with mom, planning on seeing "Alice in Wonderland" tonight.

Try....

2010-03-02T17:19:00.002-08:00

"So come over just be patient and don't worry
So come over just be patient and don't worry

So come over just be patient and don't worry

And don't worry…

Try...

No I don't want to battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't want to follow death and all of his friends"
Coldplay

Endurance

2010-03-01T19:15:00.001-08:00

A good end to a bad day: outlasting all the guys on the treadmills at the gym. Mmmm... it feels good to be a gangsta.

Sunday

2010-02-28T14:50:00.004-08:00

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. At Costco yesterday I picked up some ciabatta rolls, just like old times in Korea. I ran 6.5 miles this morning at the gym, and later I had to eat something to replenish my energy. Lo and behold, I make an awesome sandwich:
And yes, if you're wondering, that roll is toasted.

I keep cleaning off the table in my room, meaning to throw things away, and every time I do, I can't throw away a little treasure I got a few weeks ago. At the end of the day I stand in the doorway of my fifth grade classroom, waiting for my students' names to be called so they can leave with their parents. One afternoon a few of my third grade girls ran up to me, "Miss Meghan! Miss Meghan!! You win a prize!! Miss Meghan! Come!" I had no idea what they were talking about, and although I protested, they grabbed my arms and led me to the third grade classroom.

I had, indeed, won a raffle. A raffle of one of my students. As in, she drew my name or my name came up in her cootie catcher or SOMETHING, and I got to pick a prize off her table. The prizes? Drawings and sketches and little knick knacks. I choose for myself a little tiny book she had made, entitled "Marta, the Spider", and I'd like to share it with you:

The cover: "Marta the Spider"
"Marta the spider wanted to have house" -- "And she proposed to make a house and she made it."
"But it was destroyed" -- "And she began to cry."
"A spider that she knew told her not to cry now, again" -- "She made it again, and she got it, and she had a house". By Frida, 3rd grade.

Miracles

2010-02-27T11:48:00.002-08:00

Yesterday we had Mass at school, with a visiting Padre. The padre talked about miracles, and told the students that it's a miracle that they have families and homes and food, that it was a miracle to have a blue sky, that it was a miracle to be able to learn Math, History, and English.

Standing at Mass at 12:00 in the afternoon (as opposed to our normal 8am Mass), means I got a little sunburned, and even got a tan from my boat necklace.

Cheerful Giving

2010-02-26T17:56:00.003-08:00

God loves a cheerful giver, and I've heard it a million times. Usually the first few verses are shared right before offering is taking, or a plea for money is given. If I read the whole passage through, I can think of money, and what money can do.

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly, will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,

'He has distributed freely, he has given
to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.'

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

By their approval of this service they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for this inexpressible gift!"

Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 6 through 14.

But, while reading this the other day, I began to think not of money, but of my very life. What is more important to God than our lives lived in service to Him and others? Read the above verses again with your very life in mind.

If I give generously with my life, I will reap generously. If God supplies seed to me, the sower, he will multiply it. My life will be enriched in every way so that I can be generous, in every way - with my life! And because of my submission, as an outpouring of my confession of the gospel of Christ, they will glorify God. Giving my life to Christ is a continual, acknowledged act that is easily said, but never easily done. It is a daily struggle, but a struggle that is infinitely worth the mess and tears and clamoring and the fight.

Thanks be to God for this inexpressible gift.

Banda!!

2010-01-16T20:10:00.002-08:00

Six o'clock. Saturday evening. What do I hear? A tuba warming up. A live tuba. 15 minutes later - the whole band kicks in. My roommate and I took a walk around the corner to find a small, private party of older couples dancing in a garage with the band playing their classic music. Oh, hello Mexico!

Two posts in one day!

2010-01-10T18:08:00.003-08:00

While I was at home, I took the opportunity to use my grandma's sewing machine. I did a few small sewing projects this summer at my parents' place, but the machines frustrated me, and I only got through making stuff for other people - not myself, like I had planned.

So, off to Gram's house I went, armed with some pretty cotton lining I received as a gift for my birthday, and some fine red corduroy I bought at Fabric Depot. And voila! I made myself a new purse. This was fun because it's a different style than I've done before. After the fact I looked up how to do pleats, so my next one will be even better. I even made it official by making (and keeping!) the pattern to the bag. I'm making strides!

In more exciting news - my cousin in Toronto called to say that she really wanted to ship an old sewing machine of hers out to me! It was a hand-me-down to her, and she never uses it, so I get it! I should have it at the end of the month. I'm beyond excited!!

As I said before - we went on a bus tour on Wednesday - here are a couple shots of that.

January Sunshine

2010-01-10T10:40:00.003-08:00

Well, I know I don't keep up with this, so we'll what information I can give that can correctly sum up the last few months. Obviously, I kept really busy with school stuff. We had our first and second bimesters fly by. I got into a smoother routine with my third graders, and my fifth graders were actually starting to wear on me. I had to figure out some classroom management techniques just to make sure the kids were actually listening to me. I think we've got it straightened out for the most part. Days pass by really fast - teaching, tutoring, gym, correcting papers, making worksheets, etc. Sometimes the days just run together.

I went "home" to Portland for a couple weeks, which was a really, really nice break. This was the first time in, I think, 8 years that I haven't had to work over a Christmas vacation. Every other year I've been nannying (sometimes even on New Year's Eve), and trying to schedule making money to pay the bills, and times with family and friends isn't always fun. So, it was especially nice to have 2 1/2 weeks to just do whatever I wanted. And yes, it was cold and rainy in Portland, but YES we had heat in the house and I didn't have to sleep in a sweatshirt, under 5 blankets! AND I've decided that the most luxurious item ever is the clothes dryer. My clothes hadn't been in a dryer since June, so getting fresh laundry out of a dryer is just... spectacular.

So we're back in town and the weather is gorgeous. It's sunny, in the 70s, and clear every day. Wednesday we took the open air bus tour around town and made buddies with the driver and assistant guys. Yesterday I did my lesson planning out in the sun on our patio. Today we're headed to a cafe to do work. It's not such a bad life :) I'm happy to be back with my kids. Sometimes they drive me nuts, but I have to admit that hearing "Miss Meeeeeeghan what are we doing today?" or "Miss Meeeeeeeeeghan why did you write that?" makes me happy.

Que tal?

2009-10-04T19:17:00.002-07:00

Yeah. It's been a long time since I've written here. Just for an update: I am teaching at a private bilingual school here in Baja, in Ensenada. I teach third grade in the mornings and fifth grade in the afternoon. This last month has been incredibly busy and I've been learning a lot. There are five American English teachers, and I live with two of them. One of them is Stephanie, who I went to Korea with, and who I've now known for 7 (7!!!!) years.

Now life is mostly the daily grind. Teaching is exhausting, but we are finding time to go to San Diego and bum around Ensenada for fun. I've been "home", to Mom and Dad's twice and will be back soon. My 91-year-old grandma is coming to visit!

I guess I can share that the best thing that has happened thus far happened just this last Friday. My fifth graders have been studying weather in Science. We've been talking about the distinguishing features of clouds. Friday, before school started, I had about 6 fifth graders run up to me and tell me about the clouds they saw in the sky. We then proceeded to check out all the clouds and try to name them, identifying different characteristics. My heart was very warm at that moment and I decided right then that maybe this teaching thing will work out. :)

La Fruta

2009-08-13T10:18:00.002-07:00

Here at the daycare we have a cook named Cande. She reminds me every day of what it means to be loving and kind, to work hard and provide for others. I can tell through her actions that what she does, she does out of a heart that loves. Cande cooks delicious meals and makes sure everyone is happy and satisfied. She always has a smile on her face in the morning, and will tell you that your Spanish is good, even when it's not.

Cande has a small whiteboard in the kitchen on which she writes various scripture. It used to get changed more often, but it has been the fruits of the spirit for a long time now. Whenever I walk in the kitchen, I see Galations 5:22-23 staring me down (in Spanish, of course).

"But the fruit of the spirit is
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
self-control;
against such things there is no law."

My women's bible study at home studied the fruits of the spirit this Spring. We took it slow - talking about one virtue at each meeting, committing to thinking about and looking for these virtues (or lackthereof) in our lives over the following two weeks. It was hard, but mostly interesting to hear where others saw these fruits displayed (or not displayed) in their lives. While I have always equated patience with certain areas of my life, it was renewing to see it through someone else's eyes.

So when Cande put the fruits of the spirit up in the kitchen weeks ago, I decided to make it a mantra. At least, to re-memorize them, and say them over and over to myself as I try to find the areas of my life that need these virtues the most. To see where I am lacking, and where I can apply them. To understand that as a follower of Christ it is my duty, and my joy to put these into practice. What would my life look like if I more plainly and willingly lived out the fruit of the spirit?

Love, without conditions
Joy, when things don't go my way
Peace, when I feel like arguing
Patience, when I want instant answers
Kindness, when I would rather think of myself
Goodness, when I desire the things of this world
Faithfulness, to my commitments
Gentleness, instead of harsh words
Self-Control, in my actions

Paul wrote about these virtues after he talked about the things we shouldn't be doing (verses 19 through 21). Instead of shooting off a list of things that are forbidden, and leaving it at that, he gives us the tools to live as children of God, set apart from the world. Our innate desire is to be like the world, but we do things differently, because our God is different, and it is He who we desire to be like. As we become imitators of Christ, through living by the Spirit, the fruits begin to manifest in our daily lives.

"And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" - Galatians 5:24

Becoming Accustomed

2009-07-27T10:45:00.003-07:00

I was thinking this morning about how some things never change. For instance, the shower in my apartment has stunk forever. It stunk 3 years ago, and it still stinks exactly the same stink. I tried everything to get that stink to go away, and it never did.

That thought led to thinking about becoming accustomed to living in Mexico. In the early days (years ago), coming to Mexico meant packing special things, preparing for the worst, worrying about what could happen, and being nervous the entire trip. Fortunately, that's waned over the years, and I've been thinking about how one becomes used to the every day way of life here in this town, and yet how different it is from living in Portland.

After a while you get used to having to go to three grocery stores to find what you're looking for. You get used to nobody having the brand of milk you're looking for, because obviously the Jersey truck is still due for a trip into town. You're used to the incredibly bumpy, dirt roads that ruin cars, and the incessant dust that covers a newly washed car. You're not quite used to thinking in pesos, but you're getting there. You get used to the trash, and the newly paved highway that's already falling apart. You're used to the warm hospitality of the people, the ocean breeze, the smiles of the children, the really wonderful food.

It's sometimes hard to think about what it must be like for someone coming for their first, second, third trip to Mexico. It's still so foreign, so different, and scary sometimes. They pack baby wipes and hand sanitizer and medicines galore. They pack lots of snacks (in case they can't find any food). They have to write and call home every day. I forget what I felt the first time I stayed here for 10 weeks. Now this place has become home and when I get here I usually breathe a sigh of relief. It's so comfortable.

AND I'm getting used to living in a small town. THAT'S the weird part. When you drive around town and see who's shopping at what store, or you find out who knows who. It's hard to wrap my Portland brain around that.

What a day

2009-07-23T11:35:00.002-07:00

You may be wondering what we do on a normal day around here. During the summer we either have a work group building a house during the week, or we are prepping a house for the next week. And by "we" I mean the guys. Although I have shoveled gravel two mornings while I've been here (and felt the pain the next day), I'm mostly at home. The every day business of running a daycare happens day in and day out, and Heidi and I help in the kitchen and help mom with errands.

This week we have a dental team in. They are incredibly hard workers and have been putting in long days. They examined our children and staff on Monday, had a public dental clinic on Tuesday, went to a retirement home yesterday, and are continuing public dental care today and tomorrow.

This morning dad and I started off the morning by driving down to a migrant camp to look for a boy we've met before. He's 12 and has teeth growing out of the inside of the top of his mouth. After talking with an older gentleman from the community, and on the advice of the crowd of children, we found Raul off playing with his brother and friends. After showing them the temporary tattoo I had on my arm (they were quite interested, I tell you!) I arranged with him to get picked up tomorrow morning so he could come and see the dentist.

I got back and organized some clothes with Heidi for a camp visit we are doing tomorrow, where we will distribute clothes (left from last week's group), and shoes (that this dental team brought).

Amidst all of this, the dental team that is here (one dentist, two assistants, one hygienist) was running out of anesthetic. We were really worried about this because we have a line of people waiting outside, and a list of names of people to see. Mom called at the orphanage clinic across town to see if we could borrow some, promising that the dentist we have now will repay them. Well, it turns out that they are having their biggest clinic of the year next week, and would need the anesthetic to be repaid this weekend. How could this happen if our dentist was not leaving until Saturday?

God works. Mom called the youth pastor of the group that is coming this next week. They will be stopping in California, and can stop by this dentist's office, where one of his workers will give him anesthetic to bring down on Saturday. Through this, the clinic can be repaid by the dentist that is here this week. How amazing is that? We could have been having a team from San Diego or L.A. coming and we would miss this opportunity, and possible miss the ability to treat all of this people who are waiting for the dentist. But no, God works, and instead our next group is driving (not flying, like a lot of groups do!), and driving straight through this dentist's town on their way to Mexico. God is good.

And hey - all that happened, and it's not even lunchtime yet! And I just got reminded by mom that the dental assistants need help pumping up soccer balls for their soccer outreach this afternoon. I'm OFF!

Quickly

2009-07-09T11:27:00.002-07:00

I don't have much to say, but I have some pictures to share.

On the 27th Stephanie came down from Ensenada and we went to the quinceñera of a friend. A quinceñera is a celebration when a girl turns 15. A small ceremony and party. We got dressed up and wore dresses and that was a special occasion in itself... quite the momentous day.

The birthday girl, Arely, and her parents:

We're just pretty normal here - day to day operations. We had a group last week from San Diego, and we have a group this week from New Hope church in Portland. Everything's going really smoothly and we've had some really big answers to prayer as far as finances go. We are thanking the Lord for those.

I can't help but post this picture, because it's adorable. Josiah is one of the interns, and Obed, in his arms, is really, really fond of him.
One day we went out to a neighborhood and helped with bible study/food distribution. I made a friend, Lesny, who buzzed around me and asked questions, and hung on my arm for the afternoon.
Lesny also wanted to use my camera, and she took this great picture of Mom and me.

La vida

2009-06-24T21:19:00.003-07:00

I don't pay much attention to my watch these days. There are certain things that happen at appointed times: devotions at 7am, breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 12:30, church at 5 or 6, but for most of the morning and most of the afternoon, time doesn't matter. It is a welcome sigh of relief after a lot of rushing around at home. Be at this school at this time, and on the other side of the city in an hour. Scurrying from a sub job to school, or a sub job to a nanny job, and carrying extra clothes and food in my car and in my bags. Leaving the house at 7am and getting home at 10pm or later on busy days. Even at subbing it's having to be getting the students ready for lunch at 11:13am or making sure the room is cleaned up by 2:22pm. Life is slower here, not because it's Mexico, because surely the students and workers and businesses here operate on a certain time schedule, but because our work gets done when it gets done. No need for a rush. Not having to be at a certain place by a certain time. Watches are useful, but they do not run our lives.

I went out to a work site with Dad yesterday morning and this morning. This actually isn't usual for me, because I'm not needed, but Dad needed some extra hands, especially yesterday. I spent a couple of hours shoveling gravel into the cement mixer and woke up incredibly sore this morning. Yesterday the sun didn't come out all morning, and I was fine, but this morning I didn't put on sunscreen and I'm feeling the effects right about now.

We were laying the foundation and floor for a house being built not far up in the hills, but far enough that it felt like a little drive. This is actually only about a mile from the freeway, and as all roads off the freeway here are dirt and rocks, it was bumpy and feeling a little treacherous.

So we head up off the highway, into the neighborhood:
And we pass by a school that was built to provide schooling for Oaxacan children (complete with ocean view):
And after we've reached the top of a small hill, we go back down into a little tiny valley in front of the big hill:
And we reach the lot where we're building the house. In the above picture, you can see the existing house which is mostly made of plywood and tarps and other various building materials.

Yesterday arrived a group of five guys from California, so they helped out this morning, pouring the floor for this house, and we got it done really quickly.

And all I can think of is my Educational Psychology class and how our minds categorize information. I thought about how my mind has no categorized everything I've learned over the past couple of days: where this house is, who lives here, how the cement mixing process goes, the formula (2 1/2 buckets of water + one bag cement + shovels of gravel until it looks good). How Colores, our construction man, moves and shapes the floor, how he moves the 2x4 over the entire floor to smooth it out, and how he uses a stamper to push the rocks to the bottom and bring the water to the top. And the finishing touch of the smoother.

Among other things, I tried to make a new dish. My friend Nina made it for a church potluck. Our theme was international food, and she brought an Indian dish called Chicken Saag. I think this was the most intensive cooking experience I've ever had. Mom helped with the whole thing, and it was pretty delicious.

Our "compound" is right next to a small baseball stadium and Sunday we were "blessed" with a concert that started at 9pm and went until 2:30am. Needless to say we were tired on Monday. I have some video that I might try to post later.

Home home home

2009-06-18T14:46:00.005-07:00

Earlier this month Mom and I made a trip to the Southern part of Oregon to visit my sister-in-law and nieces. My brother is unfortunately stationed in Idaho, and so he missed out on our visit. We had a fun couple of days together. We took some fun and silly pictures using the PhotoBooth feature on my Mac.
One fun part of our visit was watching the poppies together. These poppies are right outside of their house and we happened to be coming home one day (or leaving?) and someone noticed that one poppy was about to pop! It had already lost half of its outer shell and was on its way to blooming. As we stood and watched, the bottom half of the shell dropped off. It was pretty exciting and the girls were happy.

One poppy already in bloom, you can see how none others are blooming:
Then later on:

Mom and I left Southern Oregon and drove North, and took hwy 22 West from Salem, out to the coast. I've never been this way before, and although it was a little slow-going due to the windy roads, it was beautiful and a nice scenic tour through the Oregon countryside.

And you Oregonians know a drive through Tillamook needs a stop at the factory. Does this picture make you hungry?
We left last Friday for Mexico. We stopped once in Madera, California and stayed the night, then drove to San Diego, met up with my dad, and stayed the night again. Sunday we headed in to Ensenada Sunday at lunch time where met Stephanie at her house. Stephanie is one of my best friends from college and she's been teaching in Ensenada for the past year. Mom, Dad, and Heidi, who had driven with us, took off for home, and I stayed two nights in Ensenada.

Stephanie and I spent some time down at the boardwalk in Ensenada, and visited a friends' cafe and saw a movie there. We ran around town, basically. Monday I went to Stephanie to the school and sat through her classes. The kids are incredibly cute and I'm exciting about teaching there next year. I got to meet the directors and other staff at the school, which was nice. Stephanie's third graders were super excited to meet me and had prepared questions beforehand to ask me. So, I got to stand up in front of the class and answer questions about my siblings, my favorite color, where I live, etc.

Monday after school Kelly, who is Stephanie's roommate and also teaches at the school, and her boyfriend Gilberto, took us to an empanada place to eat, and to get juices from the place down the street. Later on Stephanie, Kelly, and I went to a cool coffee place with an upper balcony under a tree. Basically we just ate the whole time I was there.

So... this is the only decent picture, wherein Kelly is doing something funny with her face, and Gilberto is obviously trying to tell us something.
View from the school:
View from the hill above Stephanie's house:
Gilberto gave Kelly a baby duck. Yeah. He gave her a baby duck. You read that right.
Tuesday morning I left Ensenada for the drive South. The drive home. Unfortunately there was a bit of a detour that made me question my decision to bring my car to Mexico. It wasn't too long, but it did take a while, since the terrain was so rough.
But, I drove home, through these wonderful mountains, and my car survived, and I arrived "home". Home, home, home.

Mexico

2009-06-10T09:36:00.002-07:00

I slept horribly last night, due to my allergies (hay fever). They seem especially bad this year. I don't remember being kept awake at night last year. This is just one more tiny reason why I'm ready to leave on Friday for Mexico. They don't have pollens in Mexico! :) At least, I've never experienced allergies in MY part of Mexico.

I leave on Friday, the 12th, and I'm trying to tie up all loose ends here. I've made multiple trips to the Salvation Army, to my friends' place to store things, and more than a handful of trips to the garbage and recycling bins outside my house. I've put plenty of things in storage, but said goodbye to my comfortable reading chair (fairly ugly, but so comfy!), our family's old record player, and plenty of old clothes. I have to pat myself on the back for being able to fit all of my clothes in two suitcases. My room is currently very scattered looking and it's taking just about all of my gumption to try and sort it out. Small pieces here and there are the worst thing about moving.

I had planned to spend the summer helping out mom and dad, and all-around hanging around in Vicente, but I also signed a teaching contract for next school year in Ensenada. My job starts in August, and I'll be teaching at a private bilingual school, 6th, 7th, and possibly eighth grade. Yes, I will teach in English. Most people assume that I can speak fairly good Spanish, but I can't, and so any attempt for me to teach in Spanish would be fairly chaotic.

Mom and I had a good trip to Klamath Falls to visit Rinda, Hannah, and Dana. We drove from there up to Long Beach, WA, to visit my cousins. On our trip we decided to take an unfamiliar road, hwy 22 out west of Salem, to the coast, and headed North. Hwy 22 was gorgeous and I'm glad we decided to take the detour. It was like tour de Oregon... one last rich, green hurrah before I live in the desert-y coastal towns of Baja California.

Wolverine and being a mommy

2009-05-04T22:27:00.002-07:00

Two fun conversations in the past week.

Last Friday I babysat a boy and girl. This was the second time I've had them in two weeks. The mom flies down to Sacramento for the day to look at houses. I pick up the kids at daycare at 5pm, take them home, make dinner, play, put them to bed. Friday I was extremely late (an hour) because of a wreck on I-5. Fun times. Anyway, as I packed them into my car, the 4 year old boy asks if I have kids.

Me: No, I don't have any kids.
Boy: Did they die?
Me: No, they did not die. I've never had kids. I think I might want kids someday. Do you think I could do that? Do you think I could be an okay mommy?
6 year old girl: well, you need to know things to be a mommy.
Me: Really? Like what do I need to know?
Girl: Well, you need to know what to feed them.
Me: Do you mean what is healthy for them, or what food they like?
Girl: What is healthy for them.

It was just a really cute conversation.

Today I had a very squirrely, chatty group of 2nd graders. I can't recall one single moment of silence throughout the day. Just as I would think I had everyone's attention, I would have one student at my left side, asking me a question, and while I asked him to wait, the other kids would start talking. Vicious cycle!

All that to say that I had one boy who, during writing, could not stop putting colored pencils between his knuckles, like Wolverine. I repeatedly asked him to put the pencils down and start working on his writing. He would, and then pick them up again. Finally, I just had to say "_____, becoming Wolverine is not one of your options today. It is writing time. Get to work." Sometimes I just have to give myself a laugh, just to make it through the day. Mostly because Ms. Scott used her angry teacher voice a lot today.

Craft day

2009-04-22T14:36:00.006-07:00

Well, being without sub jobs this week so far led me to do something crafty. I had been planning to make a bag out of some old corduroys for a while, and I had all the supplies, so today I made it happen. It actually went fairly quick for having made a bag with quite a few elements that I have not attempted before. I turned out really great. Here's the finished project:

And for anyone interested in how it was done, I took some pictures of the process and I will write a few simple instructions. It was really much easier than I anticipated.

Step 1) I cut down one seam on both of the pant legs, and cut them off around the knee. My pants were semi-wideleg, so I ended up with more material than needed. I also cut out the back pockets (keeping the back of the pocket attached, just cutting around the pocket). I thought I might use the waistband, so I cut that as well, but I didn't end up using it.

Step 2) I cut the two sides of the legs (wrong sides together) in the shape I wanted. I always tend to leave much more than I need, which is good because it allows that the bag will never be too small. I can always cut more or sew a bigger seam (which I did this time).

I also placed the pockets where I wanted them and sewed them onto one side piece. I just sewed along the top (where the flap and pocket came together) and along the outside of the bottom part of the pocket.

Step 3) I arranged the lining fabric on each outside piece, wrong sides together, and cut the lining to match.

Step 4) Folding the top long edge of the two outside pieces AND the two lining pieces in about 1/2 inch, I ironed them flat, pinned them together, and sewed together.

Step 5) Sewing the two sides (with lining attached along long top side) together. Put right sides of outside fabric together, pinned, and sewed a seam, following the pre-cut shape. I made a huge hem because I could tell that the bag was bigger than I wanted. I sewed another line, just to reinforce it, and cut off the excess, leaving about a 1/4 inch.
Turned right side out, it now looks like this, at this stage. All that's left is finishing touches.
Step 6) Taking a cue from a purse I already own, I attached the zipper to two pieces of corduroy (already turned and ironed that there are clean edges).
Once the two sides are attached to the zipper, you can sew the other sides to the actual bag, on the inside of the top hem.

Step 7) Only thing left is the strap. I had to cut two pieces from the corduroy and attach them together to make the strap long enough. Again, I folded in the sides to make the size of strap I wanted, then ironed the edges. I did the same for the lining fabric, pinned them together, and sewed it all together, leaving raw edges on each end. I don't have pictures of this.

Step 8) I made small squares of corduroy, folding, ironing, sewing all edges, and attached them to the ends of the bags, with the D-rings inside.
Step 9) I simply folded the ends of the straps twice over (to create a clean look), and sewed them.
Tada! Much easier than I originally thought it was going to be. It went pretty smoothly. I probably spent about 3 hours on it. Next time it will be less, as this time I still had to figure out logistics of how it all went together.

A few things: I realized how hard corduroy is to work with. Those darn straight lines make things difficult, but still worth it. Also- I used the bottoms of the legs of some pants, and these corduroys had a very good, sturdy hem at the bottom that I think helped out my bag. I have no reinforcements on the bottom of the bag, but the very bottom of it has double (or triple?) corduroy, which makes it seem stronger.

Supplies:
Old pants
1/2 yard lining fabric
2 D-rings
1 metal zipper (my bag used a 12-inch zipper)
thread

Oh yeah

2009-04-11T14:03:00.003-07:00

I realized that I've forgotten about this blog. This is probably because nothing much has happened, and I don't have much to talk about. Or who reads this? Mom, Dad, Renee? :) At any rate, since the last time I posted I went to Mexico and started grad school at Portland State. Mexico was wonderful, as it always is, and I really had a hard time coming home. It does help to know that I'll be back in June, but right now that seems very far away.

I helped lead a group of 19 college students to Welcome Home. It was a really good trip, and the students were great. They always plan 10 day trips which seem so much more productive AND relaxing than other week long trips I've been on.

When I'm in Mexico so much it seems pointless to keep taking pictures of the same things, so although I took my camera, I never got it out of my bag. The only proof I have of this trip is this picture that a group member, Kjerstin, took. The group hosted a pool day for the daycare kids. this is Obed, who is actually the son of Saidel, the cleaning lady at the daycare, and a friend. He looks scared.
That's about it!

The two weeks after the trip have been a blur and exhausting. On the 30th, we woke up at 4:30am and we drove back to the States, I being one of the drivers. We flew to Seattle, I flew from Seattle to Portland, and I got back to my house at 11:30pm. I got up at 5:30 the next morning to teach fourth graders, and started a two week stint covering for somebody I know. It was a tough group of fourth graders, they tired me out, and right now I'm basking in the fact that although I may sub for them again, it won't be for two weeks.

The Thursday after I got back I started taking classes for my Master's at Portland State. I have two classes on Thursday nights from now until June. This is from 4:00-9:20pm, so needless to say after a day of dealing with those fourth graders, it was a little hard to stay awake in class.

I've done some nannying at nights since I've been back, but not as many as I would normally attempt, due to the full time sub job and the homework now expected of me. I'm now realizing that it will be back to a varying schedule as I hope and pray for sub and nannying jobs. I'm looking forward to June :)

Flashbacks and Follies

2009-03-08T17:37:00.002-08:00

A couple weeks ago I had a flashback involving a fourth grade student who happened to be a child I had taken care of in a daycare setting 8-9 years ago.

This last week I subbed in a class of fourth graders and I discovered one of the students had the same Russian last name as my elementary school best friend. I quizzed the girl about this person, thinking that perhaps she was related. Turns out, she is. She seemed confused at first, but then told me information that sounded like it could actually be her. My former best friend turned out to be this girl's aunt. I reiterated to this girl that I had wanted to get in touch with her aunt for a long time, but couldn't find any information on her. Now I know she still lives in this other state, is married, and has a daughter.

Friday night I walked into a babysitting night that was a bit of chaos. Dad taking the 4 year old to a class, leaving me with the 1 year old, Mom arriving home from traveling, and the parents taking two hours to get ready and leave the house. I sat in the living room waiting for them to finish their preparations and eat their dinner. It was... awkward. Of course it was only made more awkward by the mom talking down to me. I have no problem cleaning up the kitchen, or helping a mom figure out what has been happening when she's been gone, but I absolutely loathe when they treat me like the 14 year old girl from down the street. All I can think in my mind is that I've taken care of children longer than they've had children.... Oh, well.

Of course, what really puts me off is the eight year old kid at another house that I've seen 4-5 times in the last two months. He's an obstinate kid and our personalities do NOT mesh. When I explain consequences to him (you can't have any ice cream unless you eat a piece of pizza) or directions, he does not communicate that he's heard or understood what I'm saying, and I repeat it. He hates it when I repeat these things, and insists that I'm "bothering" him. Then he mutters under his breath "idiot". Well... I kinda lost it.

I had to give him a stern talking to. Any eight year old knows better than to call an adult, or any person, an idiot, and I refuse to take it. I also told had to tell him that I don't like talking to, or being friends, with people who call me an idiot. And I'm not sure my actions were correct or not, but I ignored him when a few minutes later he brushed it off and tried to make friendly conversation with him. Finally I said "I don't enjoy having conversations with people who are going to call me an idiot".

He finished his pizza, and then moved on to something else. A minute or two later, I simply said to him "______, I really don't appreciate it when you call me an idiot. Okay?" He said okay.

I have a heard time with this. I can deal with screaming babies for hours on end. I can deal with 4 year olds who refuse to follow directions. I am horrible with eight year olds who are rude. Aye yi yi.

2009-02-27T08:40:00.003-08:00

I had an enlightening day yesterday.

I subbed the afternoon for a 5th grade class and the one real lesson I did with them was an introduction to comparing and contrasting. They split into partners and the first exercise had them answering 7 questions about themselves and about their partner. Hair color, hobbies, favorites, etc. One boy didn't have a partner, so I teamed up with him. We got to the last question, which was about favorite food. He hemmed and hawed for a while and then said "Salsa from the Taco House".

Hm.

Now, if you know my family or me, you would know this is a big deal. I freaked out a little. I said "REALLY? I love that place!" And since I was at a Gresham school, I said "You know they closed the one out here, right?" and he responded "I KNOW! I went there one day with my family and it was closed!" and I said "ME TOO!!" And pretty soon the kids around us were laughing at us.

It was funny.

Compliments

2009-02-21T14:21:00.003-08:00

Compliments can make a person's day. As I stood reading a bulletin board at a school on Thursday, some students were passing by as they headed to lunch. I heard "Cool hair". I assumed, of course, that it was not directed at me. These kids don't know me, and they could only see the side of my head. She repeated it, "Cool hair", and I turned around to find a 3rd or 4th grader looking directly at me as she approached, to pass behind me. "Oh, thanks!" I said. "I like yours, too!"

There are times at a job when I completely space out and forget where I am. Whether I'm at a random nanny job, or at a subbing job. I go through a lot of normal motions. At a nanny job I greet the parents, become a friend to the kid, make dinner, play games or color, and put the kid to bed. After I've been sitting for a while, I realize that I'm at a stranger's house, and I have to physically place where I am. I look around the house, picture my drive to the house, and finally realize where I am. I guess this is what happens when you're in different places all the time, because I do the same thing at sub jobs. When the kids are gone (to specials or lunch) I sit in a chair and think "Now, where am I again?" When it takes a while to process, to figure it out, it gets kind of eerie.

I started a Read-The-Bible-In-A-Year program. It's about time, eh?

Serenity NOW!

2009-02-15T08:15:00.003-08:00

I had a great week subbing. The week before had been crazy, with kids I felt like I couldn't control. This last week was a complete turnaround. I was in three classes I had been in before. I am realizing more and more how much easier the job is for the substitute when the teacher regularly has the class in line. When students already know their expectations, it is easier to be the replacement.

Thursday was great - I had been in the class before and knew they were good, but they were exceptionally good. They quieted down when I simply opened my mouth. They followed directions. They were eager to please. At the end of the day they lined up in their pod's common area to go to the music room and while I was tying up loose ends in the classroom (prodding along slowpokes), they were SILENT. It was amazing and it even garnered a compliment, a glowing one, from another teacher. Needless to say, I was proud, and left feeling good. The teachers of the class (it's a job share), came in at the end of the day and said they had heard great things about how I handled the class. How AWESOME does that make me feel? Pretty awesome.

I had one "oh, that was weird" moment when I had a familiar class on Wednesday. The fourth graders all trade around for reading classes, so I gained new kids from other classes. This girl walked in and I stopped her and said... "you look really familiar, what's your name"? She told me, and it was the answer I suspected. Finally, I had to go over to her and say "you look SO familiar, just like a girl I used to take care of at a daycare". She said "pixie?" and I said "YES!". Strangely enough, this girl was in the toddler class at the daycare center I worked at in high school. WHAT? I think she wasn't even two at the time, and here she was, in fourth grade, being all old and stuff. That makes ME feel old and stuff. Wow.

Haha

2009-02-07T12:30:00.003-08:00

God has a sense of humor. He really does, and I felt it this last week. Last weekend I was bemoaning my financial situation and He heard my cries. He responded with glee, I believe, and he gave me one crazy week of subbing and nannying. Sub all day, nanny at night. Sub all day, nanny at night. Sub all day, go to Spanish class, and meet out of town friends for dinner. Sub all day, nanny at night. Friday I didn't have a sub job, though I certainly wouldn't have turned one down, and my weekend is normal, having two nanny jobs at night.

It was good. It was really good. It was a chance to say "this is crazy, but I'm making money and God is providing", and that was the humor. The humor in the fact that I absolutely hated subbing this week, I questioned my ability to teach and my love of teaching. I questioned why I even liked kids. Luckily, I think I am able to chalk it up to experience and move forward.

But I'll admit it. I cried once this week. After a long day with fifth graders, wherein the next door teacher came in to tell them they were being too loud (how embarrassing for me), I spend the evening nannying a cute boy and girl. They were absolutely fine until bedtime. In fact, I thought we had had a great evening. But when I announced bedtime the 5 year old boy turned on me, became defiant and rude. He told me I was annoying that he didn't want me coming back. That didn't rattle me, as at that point HE was becoming annoying and I certainly understand if I might annoy a little kid. I told them that was fine, I would tell his mom, and I probably wouldn't come back. But then we had an argument over a pen, and he called me a jerk. And that did it. I cried. Because a 5 year old called me a jerk. OHHHHHHH. Frustration.

But it's over. And on Monday I get to go to a class where I have been before and I at least understand the dynamics, how the classroom is run, etc.

In the meantime, I have to laugh off the last week and try to reassure myself that when the time comes when I (hopefully) have my own classroom, I will have made my own classroom procedures and will have full reign over it all. I won't have to question my own authority or the rules, what's normal behavior and what's abnormal behavior. I am looking forward to that day.

Books and movies

2009-01-22T15:40:00.004-08:00

Yesterday I had a full day job at a school that shall go unnamed. They release their kids early on Wednesdays (teacher planning and meetings, I'm guessing), and with their lunch schedules, my fourth graders left 10 minutes after they got back from lunch! Needless to say, it was an easy day.

They have assemblies on Wednesdays, like most of the schools in this district do, and yesterday was their assembly honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I know this is corny, but it was actually very moving. A number of things happened, the best thing being that the fifth graders all stood up around the gym to read, sentence by sentence, the "I Have a Dream" sentence. I have heard the most famous lines of that speech, like we all have, so many times. But, what I was struck by the most was the line, "This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."

So I had a good day and I had so much extra time on my hands. With a full lunch break, the kids leaving early, and my official clocking out time a couple of hours after they left, I had reading time. I had brought Coraline with me, a new copy I had picked up. I read this book, by Neil Gaiman, a few years ago with my fifth graders. It has just the right amount of creepiness for fifth graders (and me), and I loved it. When I found out, a year ago, it was being made into a movie, I was super excited. Seeing the trailer has wet my appetite, because having it directed by the man who did A Nightmare Before Christmas seems absolutely perfect.

I spent this morning in an ELL class, which is always enjoyable, as I'm considering an ELL endorsement when getting my Masters. I was going to go running this afternoon, but I just got my hair did.

Oh, First Graders

2009-01-14T15:37:00.003-08:00

In trying to explain to my family yesterday about my difficulties at my subbing job, I think I came to a conclusion. First graders puzzle me. I feel as if they should act older, be able to accomplish more things, need less direction. With kindergarteners, I feel a sense of empathy toward them because it's their first year of school and they're still getting the hang of things. Even the word "kindergarten" makes me think of very small children. Yet, first graders, I expect to have a better grasp on things. Not so, and I need to get used to that. First graders still need an immense amount of direction and comforting. I don't think I was made to teach first grade.

My favorite conversation yesterday was right after I told the students about the goody bag I had brought. I announced I had a secret and had forgot to tell them that I had a goody bag for the table group who was doing their best work, paying attention, and getting their work done. They lit up. Then came the barrage of questions as to what might be in my goody bag. After a lot of guesses I finally said "It probably isn't what you think it is"

Girl: "Is the same things you give your kids?" (random!)
Me: "uhhh no. I don't have kids"
Boy: "So you're a kidless person."
Me: "uhhhh haha. Yeah. I guess I am. I am a kidless person".

I thought that was cute.

I scored majorly today when I hit up Target and found a bunch of great pencils, stamps, and stickers in the Dollar Spot section, perfect for my goody bag. I got so excited I'm sure my mom would have pronounced me a nerd, had she been there.

Snowbound!

2009-01-06T11:07:00.003-08:00

Well, Portland was hit with a snowstorm of monster proportions. We had a week of off and on snow and ice, which was a small amount, but enough to close most school districts for the whole week, or the majority of the week. That means I didn't work at all. Then there were two weeks of vacation in which I didn't work, one week being almost snowbound and watching lots of movies and reading and wasting time online. Fun!

I had to wait until after Christmas to post pictures of things I crafted for presents. I started this summer (!!) on my mom's cross-stitch. Designed by yours truly.

And I made a bunch of stand up little tote bags for friends and my sister in law. They went over fairly well. They are reversible.

Well, after all that work, I feel like I should have made more stuff. As in, I can't believe I only have two things to show. Oh well!

Bonus Points

2008-12-12T17:05:00.002-08:00

At subbing yesterday I learned a whole new way to cut out snowflakes. Bonus points. Add that to my list of lifeskills. I should put it on my resume.

Boooooks

2008-12-10T12:16:00.005-08:00

You know you really are a teacher when you get yourself up early on a Saturday and spend 5 hours walking around and shelving items in exchange for free children's books. I did just that last Saturday, deciding it was worth the opportunity to work at the Scholastic Book Fair Warehouse Sale in order to get free books. I mean, I can't afford to buy them, so I might as work for them, right?

I walked away with $50 worth of books, which was actually more than $100 worth of books considering all the books in the warehouse were at least half off. Grand total of 22 chapter books, and 2 picture books. Awesome!

Now I just need a classroom. It's weird to buy books for a classroom and students you don't have. My mom says that taking pictures of my bounty and telling people all about it qualifies me as a nerd. No, Mom, I think that might have been the old accordion music you bought for me yesterday at the thrift store :)

Monday my patience was pushed to the limit by a sweet looking boy who colored his nose red ("I'm Rudolph!") with a marker during morning free time. He was stepped on later in the day because he was trying to get through the crowd at the paper station and decided lying on the floor, crawling through legs was the quickest route. He got in trouble at recess for spitting.

It's amazing to me, but when he asked me if he could go to the bathroom toward the end of the day, and I replied with, "I don't know, with everything that's gone on today I'm not sure I can trust you to go to the bathroom", he looked at me with his big innocent eyes as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

Unfortunately, this was not a kindergartener. He was in fourth grade. OH SIGH.

Some Good, Some Bad

2008-12-05T10:00:00.003-08:00

It has to happen sometime, I guess. Most days I happen to sub, I leave at the end of the day thinking that it was all pretty good and that I'm really getting a hang of this subbing business. Then there are days like yesterday. Maybe it all just has to even out somehow. The law of averages? Sure.

Wednesday I had a full day sub job for a teacher who had been gone the two previous days. Her poor kids had already had two different subs, and I was the third to come along. They missed their teacher, and they weren't afraid to say so. They didn't proclaim this in a mean way toward me, but as a general statement that they missed their teacher. They were a great class, and I had no big problems with them. A good day.

I was called back to the same school yesterday, except in a third grade classroom. I only did the afternoon, so I met the teacher midday, who gave me instructions, introduced me to the class, and the led the kids to the lunchroom. When they had come in from their PE class, they had done so orderly, quietly, and very respectfully. I thought it was going to be a good afternoon. Wrong.

I don't know how it moved so quickly into chaos, but it did. We did a brainstorming session on winter/Christmas themes and words, and I could not get them to stop chatting. It was just utter disrespect and although I was using the reward/consequence system that the teacher had in place, the kids were not responding to it.

The most difficult thing for me was that I had an older teacher (an assistant of some sort) who was in the classroom during this time. It is just about the most embarrassing thing that can happen to me, in or out of the classroom, to have another, older teacher watch me completely fumble and lose a class's attention.

Needless to say, I was happy when the kids left. I probably just have to have one of these days every once in a while to remind me to be thankful for the good ones.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T20:11:00.002-08:00

In my mind a Thanksgiving day should be a relaxing time, and my Thanksgiving was exactly that. Major props to my mom for cooking the meal, and being an all-around awesome hostess. We had a nice, quiet time together as a family.

Joel and Rinda and I played Scrabble, while I tried to explain the whole thing to my 5-year-old niece, Hannah. With my tiles in front of me, she picked out "H" and "A" and decided I needed to have a "T" so I could spell H-A-T. Then I had to explain the trouble with Scrabble, and that is that you have to work with what is on the board. After I explained this, she still decided I needed a "T", so that I could also spell C-A-T.

Well, I told the little missy to cross her fingers while I drew my next letters. Apparently little missy has never crossed her fingers before for luck, because as soon as I told her to cross her fingers, she extended both of her index fingers and put one over the top of the other, like a cross. CLOSE, but no cigar. We got to teacher how to really cross her fingers for good luck.

I had to work a really long nanny day on Friday, so I missed out on Black Friday Scott family style. I heard the day included an extremely awesome estate sale in Lake Oswego (where many prize posessions were to be found, including 5 dollars in the pocket of jeans that Rinda bought), and 50% off day at Salvation Army. Ah well.

It's always so good to see them all, and my nieces are wonderful. I mean, who doesn't just love a 5 year old who makes up stories about daisies who can talk, and an almost three year old who sings "kwinkle kwinkle little stahhh"?

Kinders

2008-11-24T21:33:00.002-08:00

I was back at the kindergarten school today, not with my normal class, but with the classroom next door. It was incredibly cute, however, that I walked in during reading time where some of the kids from my normal class were in with this teacher. I walked in mid-day (it was just an afternoon sub job) and a few of the kids in a small group lit up and waved and said hi because they knew me :)

It was an easy afternoon, and it was just made brighter by the fact that I saw my "regulars" in the cafeteria. I told them I missed them, they returned the thought, and I told them to tell the teacher what they thought, which in essence, that they would rather have me in their classroom. It was pretty cute.

Accordionly

2008-11-18T12:23:00.002-08:00

I got a birthday card from my parents that said "It's your birthday, please act accordionly". Ohhh that makes me giggle.

Anyway, I was playing my accordion today and thinking about how I've been stuck on the same book for quite some time. I decided that when I get a real job I should take accordion lessons. Then I remembered that I liked look up accordions on craigslist, and I found this guy in Sandy who repairs old accordions, and I enjoyed looking at his pages of pictures of accordions he's owned or worked on. I also found the website for the Hagan studio, in Northeast Portland, that I've heard about online and through talking shop with another accordion player (the ONLY time that's ever happened to me), and I think it's a new website.

The last time I picked up my accordion (the one I always play), I found that my C# and one other note that I can't remember, are loose and make clicking sounds. Well, I have no money to get it checked out, or to have it looked at, so I will have to keep my ears open in case I'm totally ruining my instrument.

In October I received a very awesome hand-me-down in a vintage lady's size accordion. Apparently it was custom made for a friend of this couple I know. She died, and the accordion had been sitting in their garage for a while. It's a gorgeous accordion, but is somewhat out of tune and has quite a few bad notes. Physically, though, it's in excellent shape. I've tried to do some research, but haven't come up with much so far.

How I Know I'm Old

2008-11-15T13:04:00.002-08:00

Let it begin! This is how I know I'm old.

Clue #1
I cannot stay away from the craft stores. Fabric, yarn, crafts, whatever. I have lots of ideas and a million different directions I'm going with crafts. That means a run to the store on Monday, and perhaps another run to the store today. I texted a friend to say "I'm off to the fabric store again... I need help!!" When I was young I spent a lot of time at the craft stores with my grandma, who lived with my family. She was patient and nurturing, although I was a chronic non-finisher on projects. She taught me to crochet, how to sew, and tried to teach me to paint, although I never quite got into it. I grew up going to Benjamin Franklin (which for some reason was a craft store and not like... a science or literature or patriotic store of some sort), which later turned into Craft Warehouse.

My grandma had a mug that said "Whoever dies with the most fabric wins!" and I thought she was crazy. I think it is now myself that has turned crazy.

Clue #2
I went to bed at 1:30am last night. I nannied late, and didn't get home until 12:30, but I stupidly wasted my time on the internetz instead of going to bed. I kept telling myself to go to bed, but I just could not stop. But how does that make me old? It makes me old because although I was in bed at 1:30, I woke up at 7:30. My body has no ability to sleep in anymore. I have a friend who can sleep in until 11am. I think the last time I did that, I was wearing braces. What's the deal?? I laid there, trying to go back to sleep, fading in and out, for another two hours before I just gave up.

Why do I think this makes me old? Because my parents do it! It always annoyed me as a kid that my parents were up at 6am on Saturdays, already cleaning the house and making lots of noise. Now, here I am, laying in bed at 7:30, wondering if I should get up and just clean the bathroom. I'm old.

Kindergarten Repeat

2008-11-14T12:08:00.003-08:00

Yesterday I was back at the Kindergarten that so eloquently became the best story of my sub life so far. I really do adore this class, and I'm excited that their teacher keeps requesting me back. She's had two other subs so far this year, I know, and for some reason she keeps requesting me instead. Somehow I'm at the top of the list!

There was no throwing up yesterday in class, but two girls did go home at lunch time due to upset stomachs. The staff is being almost over diligent about the stomach sickness just because of what happened last time. I'm taking my Emergen-C and hoping for the best. Apparently the case of our epidemic-infested school was all over the news, but seeing as how very rarely watch TV, I didn't get to see it.

The kids were back in good spirits little chatty cathies all morning long. It's hard to blame them, but it's getting to the point where they should know how to behave. All in all, though, I look forward to going to their classroom because I am so well versed in their routine and procedures. Besides, if I don't get it right I know that there will be 10 of the students who will tell me how to do it right. Kindergarten go-to phrase is "I know Ms._____ normally does it that way, but I'm here today, so we're going to do it differently. Okay? Okay!" Phew.

Last night I nannied for a family 5 kids. FIVE. And not mixed ages, but almost all kinda bunched together in age. It's a blended family and the night was basically a whirlwind, but I got out alive.

Today I had third graders for the morning, who were mostly a great class, in a very diverse school. I hope to someday teach out in this area, so it was interesting to see how their school worked. I had a couple kids in class today who were just adorable. Third graders are funny because they're not little anymore, but they're not quite big kids. Limbo.

Subbing frenzy

2008-11-08T10:26:00.003-08:00

It was a good week, job wise. I had three sub jobs, and an all day nanny job on Wednesday for cute 11-month-old twin boys. Not only were they cute and very good all day, I got paid a lot.

Yesterday I ended up back the kindergarten class that I have been in before. Now, I can't remember the entire play-by-play, so many things happened, but I'll try to recall it as best as I can. The drama started when one boy walked in (we'll call him A) and was tired and laid his head down on his desk. Normally the students are finishing their "morning work" which is leftover, unfinished work from the days prior. He said he didn't want to do anything. Next walks in a little girl (B) who has tears in her eyes. I ask her what's wrong and she says she feels sick, but her mom made her come to school. I figured it was one of those false "I don't feel good" issues, and I usually agree with sending kids to school anyway.

Well, even still in morning work time, the assistant saw child B and decided she really didn't look good, so she began to take her down the hall when B promptly puked. I looked over at the attendance chart and saw about 5 or 6 kids' names who had not shown up to school that day.

At morning circle time, just during the "greet your neighbor song", child A puked. It was a good way to start off the morning, eh? Not to mention that during morning work several students said "I threw up last night..." Great. This was the beginning of a very chaotic day.

Well, after A threw up on the carpet, you can imagine the reaction of a class full of kindergarteners, and I got to have a fun little talk with them about a) how many of you have been sick before and b) can you control it when you have to throw up and c) to stay away from things and d) not to make the sick friend feel bad for being sick.

Throughout the rest of the day, we lost more students to illness. Because of all the sickness that was obviously going around, whenever a student said their stomach hurt, I sent them to the office. We did have one girl completely out in left field tell me that her ears hurt, and she consistently told me so throughout the morning. When I decided that she was too uncomfortable to be at school, I tried to send her to the office, but she had to wait because the chairs were all full. Finally her mom did come to get her and I got the pleasure of talking to her in Spanish because she didn't understand my English. That was THE highlight of my day.

Because, really, it was all downhill from morning work. There was disinfecting and a lot of handwashing and paranoia and the works. By lunchtime I had 12 (!!!) students, out of a class that I think is normally 26. Good times! After lunch the ESL kids leave, and I had 5 (!!!) non-ESL kids to read aloud to, and model the math assignment.

At the end of the day the students had to wait to leave because the office was preparing a paper to be sent home to the students. What did the paper say? That there is no school on Monday or Tuesday (Veteran's Day anyway), due to 60(!!!) students being gone from school due to illness. Who mandated that? The wonderful health department officials who came to inspect the school during the day.

By the end of the day, it felt like one of those apocalyptic movies wherein everyone gets sick and dies from some mysterious disease. It was a miracle I didn't run to my car in the parking lot.

The day ended on a much brighter note because I went to see one of my favorite bands, Copeland, play a show last night. I usually feel old at concerts just because I'm, you know, surrounded by high schoolers, but last night I felt old because my feet and back hurt by the end of the night (12:30am).

More birthday

2008-11-03T19:29:00.004-08:00

Sooo my birthday was on Saturday and I had a great day. Most of my close friends are into crafts like I am, and so we spent the afternoon hitting up a bunch of small craft stores in the Portland area. We went gaga over yarn and fabric and and oohed and ahhhed and awwwed over many things.

We first stopped at Knittn' Kitten, on NE 75th and Glisan. The store basically has the feel of a refined garage sale, in that they sell anything and everything, all gleaned, obviously from garage/estate/rummage sales. There were some cool things, and I will keep it in mind in the future for needs.

Next up was Bolt. I had heard a lot about this place, and it was exactly like I thought it would be: very cute, hip fabric in a fun little shop. One of my friends' birthday presents to me was to buy me something that I saw in a store while we were out, but I couldn't make up my mind! Too many cool fabrics, so few ideas.

And unplanned stop was Close Knit, which happened to be right next door to Bolt. It was also a fun little shop, that felt homey and comfortable. But, it was Saturday afternoon and the cramped quarter felt just that - cramped. There were a lot of beautiful hand-knit sweaters though, and I kept telling the knitters in the group that they needed make me a sweater, stat. They laughed at me.

After Alberta St. we cruised over to Twisted, another yarn store. Again, more yarn, a little fresher atmosphere (it being more open, and less people), but we went through fairly quickly considering we had just been at another yarn store. As a fun anecdote, Twisted's slogan, printed on t-shirts and bags, is "Keep Portland Twisted", which is a fun play on the "Keep Portland Weird" campaign.

While I crochet, I'm more of a fabric girl right now, so I was happy to head over to Cool Cottons on Hawthorne, and I pretty much fell in love. What's not to love about fun fabric, in a fun old house, with super helpful ladies? AND A PUNCH CARD! I will be back! I found fabric here that Elizabeth bought for me as a present, and I'll probably make another skirt out of it. I just loved this store, and I'm sure it will be a regular stopping place for me in the future.

Our last stop of the day (phew!) was at Yarnia, a really awesome DIY (Do-It-Yourself) yarn store, and that's the reality. You pick and choose what kind of different threads you want in your yarn, and they spin it onto a cone for you! You have to check out their website to see what I mean. I will be back to this place!

It was a crafty afternoon as the same group of us also spent Sunday afternoon together at a coffee shop crocheting. We schemed up our plan to have a table at a bazaar in the holiday season of 2009.

After all of our shopping, we went to Cha! Cha! Cha! for yummy, cheap burritos.

And how did we cap off the night? By roller skating, of course. And since most of us hadn't skated in a long time (or ever), we were pretty okay with coasting around the rink. Fun!

Pretty good birthday, I'd say!

I also received two accordion birthday cards, both of which played music when opened.

And in closing I'd like to state that I subbed in a first grade class today and I made a little boy cry. I held the famous "goody bag" over their heads all day in hopes of bribing them, and at the end of the day I picked the quietest, most well-behaved group, which happened to be the blue table. Well, the little mister didn't sit at the blue table, and was upset because apparently the blue table always wins. I told him he should tell his table to get their act together (in fewer words), and then offered to let him hold my hand as we walked the whole class to the front door to go home. And he accepted. And I think we parted as friends.

Birthdays and Beaches

2008-10-31T12:16:00.005-08:00

It's been busy last couple of weeks around here, mostly in the social calendar. We had my grandma's 90th birthday party, which was very well attended and was fun for the whole family to be together.

The next night was Amanda's birthday, and of course we went off to the Noraebang (Korean-style karaoke). Here's a picture I took of the whole group singing Bohemian Rhapsody:

After that hubbub, my parents had my nieces for a week, and toward the end of the week we all went up to Long Beach to see my aunt, uncle, cousins and their families. This worked out great because my cousins have kids who are all young and the second cousins (cousins once removed?) all had a great time playing with each other, especially in the pool. We stayed in a great place, with condos, all right next to each other.
On Saturday we drove up northeast of Seattle to Remlinger Farm. One of the family members has visited Mom and Dad in Mexico on short term trips and invited us to come and visit the farm. It has rides and animals, and even a train and the girls had a great afternoon.
We spent a lot of time in the car, as the next morning we drove to a small town north of Seattle where Mom and Dad gave a short presentation to the church about what they do at Welcome Home. After that we drove back to Portland. Even with all of the excitement, and then the downtime of driving, the girls were excellent. Toward the end of our trip, I crocheted some scarves for Hannah's Kanga and Roo.
During the trip I also had the pleasure of reading one of my favorite kids' books aloud to Hannah, The Tale of Despereaux. She enjoyed it, and it was good for passing time in the car.

I had absolutely zero sub jobs this week, so things are looking grim. I'm trying to find things to entertain myself that are free, which isn't fun or easy. I did have a few nanny jobs this week. And as the 2 1/2 year old girl told me last night "I like your boat", it reminded me of Hannah's insistence that I remember her by the shell she gave me to put on my necklace. As if I could forget her! The boat is a gift from a friend of mine in Korea, who bought it for me "because you go so many places, where God moves you". Hannah thought the shell was fitting for the sea theme. She gave me the shell in early September, and on this trip reminded me to remember her still. Hardly a nanny job that involves a toddler or baby goes by without them commenting on my necklace, or trying to put it in their mouth.

As a last tidbit, I nannied for a sick 10 year old who was home from school, who spent most of his afternoon playing Madden football on his Wii. Fine by me. Except, he get some homework in and found it highly appropriate at that time to try on his halloween costume for me. You might think (as I did) that a fifth grade male would choose a super hero, a scary character, or simply something realistic (such as being a girl or a bum or something). No. He was an apple. I said "you are really being an apple for Halloween?" and he cheerfully replied "Yep!" I had to ask "Why?" and his response gave me hope for all childkind: "because it's the best fruit!"

Let it be

2008-10-21T17:34:00.004-07:00

Let it be known that I have figured out my haircut. When I say this, I mean that I have figured out its lookalikes. I realized that my hair is either a 40 year old mom's hair OR a fifth grade boy.

When nannying a few weeks ago I noticed that the little boy and I had almost the same haircut.

Charming, right?

I had fourth graders today. They were excellent, excluding the tossing of carrots in a baggie, leftover from someone's lunch. Lovely. Free write time was filled with stories of pirates and mean classmates. But lo! A story about me! A young lass wrote a story of the mean substitute (not me) and how I came the next day to save them with parties and candy and general super niceness. Wishful thinking.

At the end of the day when I presented the winning table group with my bag of "goodies", as promised the whole day through, I was greeted with "I thought it was candy!", to which I replied "you let your imagination get the best of you, my friend". I don't give kids candy. I just can't do it. So instead I live vicariously through my students and buy them super cute pencils, erasers, and sharpeners at the dollar tree.

A thought to ponder: What is up with fifth grade boys wearing skin tight jeans nowadays? I know that makes me old to say that, but it's so funny to see. I just giggle to myself.

2008-10-13T08:48:00.002-07:00

So that lady I mentioned last time? The one who was really adament about me telling her who spilled her bags out? I get to go over there again tonight!

Siiiighhhh the things I do for money.

Hmph

2008-10-12T13:20:00.002-07:00

I would just like to say that I don't enjoy it when a mother accuses me of not watching her children.

I arrived at a home last night where things were already in good disarray. I've been at the home before so this didn't surprise me. It also didn't surprise me after the Dad went upstairs to talk to his wife and the kids began to gargle the milk in their mouths, bump glasses so hard that milk spilled out of them, and got up from the table to run around the house like maniacs.

The mom came home later and found a couple of her bags/purses under the kitchen table with the contents spilled out. I hadn't noticed the bags. She asked me if I knew what happened with her bags. I said simply no, I didn't, and that the kids had eaten their dinner, and gotten up to play. They weren't in the kitchen the rest of the evening.

She walked away and began picking up all those things that had been on the floor when I got there and asked, more directly, "So you don't know who got out my purses and dumped all of these things on the floor." I replied "No... I think it was like that when I got here." In other words, your kids did THAT lovely activity on YOUR time, lady, not mine. I didn't pay attention to it and had figured it was just little kid stuff on the floor.

I felt accused of being irresponsible, and wrongly accused at that. She was so unfriendly in her tone and demeanor that I was more than happy to get out of there. I felt I needed to clear my name so began to tell her (although I shouldn't have had to), that the two youngest were running around and playing dress up. They had gotten into their own clothes, and when I went to investigate, found them pulling apart the nightgown drawers of their mother's dresser. I demanded that it be cleaned up and put back, and to stay out of their parents' room. She at least thanked me for that.

The little ones

2008-10-10T16:09:00.003-07:00

Well, if fifth graders are ego killers then Kindergarteners are the exact opposite. I tried to keep a running tally of my Kindergarten day on Wednesday. Keep in mind that I had an assistant in the classroom all day. With her help, the day went swimmingly and she probably tied more shoes than me.

1: number of times my hand got held.
2: pairs of shoes I tied.
3: number of times I heard "I have to go to the bathroom!" (they actually are trying to teach the kids to use the sign language sign for bathroom, which is such a relief).
1: number of requests for a "paper" for a runny nose.
8: songs sung throughout the day.
2: lying children who told me, during sharing time that it was their birthday.
2: number of children in the class who I am pretty sure spoke NO English.
2: number of times a kid told me they liked my "hairdo".
1: number of times I got complimented on my glasses (by a kid).
1: number of "I love you"s.
13+: number of hugs I received.
2: number of children who cried for no apparent reason, and could not articulate, in English, their issue.

All in all it went pretty well. I wouldn't mind going back.

Of course, Wednesday was followed by Thursday which saw me back in the fifth grade classroom with a student who just doesn't quit. I was exhausted Thursday afternoon and glad there was no school today state-wide. I spent the morning with a love 18-month-old in story time at the library. When we got home she pretended to feed me out of her play kitchen.

My parents are heading North and it's an exciting time. We have a lot of family time coming up and I am extremely excited. Parties and small trips, both to the beach and a farm, and I am trying to busy myself by making Christmas gifts.

Kids are blunt

2008-10-07T22:41:00.003-07:00

Kids are blunt, you know? They say whatever, whether it's going to hurt someone's feelings or not. Not that my feelings were hurt. Don't jump to conclusions. But kids are funny and they often say things before thinking about them. I sometimes seem to revert back to my pre-adolescent (or, I guess, adolescent... or even college..) self and get embarrassed, but I've mostly gotten past the time where a comment about my appearance would make me angry. I mean, who can blame a four year old for asking about spots on your teeth or face?

But fifth grade boys, you know? They'll do that to you. Although, fifth grade boys do it behind your back. And that is why, when at an all school assembly, I immediately turned around when I heard two boys whisper "gray hair". I know it's my hair. Oh well. I've never minded before.

Fifth graders seem to be preoccupied with my gray hair. They know something's not right. They understand the concept that if my face is young, and I act young, and I dress young... but my hair is gray, then there's something wrong. So, as seems to be par for the course in my life, I fielded yet another question from another fifth grader, from an entirely different class. "Did you dye that part of your hair?"

As I've learned to cope with copious amounts of this question, I quickly replied "No, it's natural, and I started getting gray hair in high school." That quickly freaks out children and I wonder if in their minds they are thinking "what if that will happen to me?"

So far I've substituted in 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade. Tomorrow I have kindergarteners. I've never taught kindergarten before, and I think that idea scares me more than meeting a new room full of sixth graders, who are often as tall as I am. I've babysat many 5 year olds. I've never taught a room full of them. We'll see how it goes. I predict the verdict will be one of two choices: complete chaos, or not complete chaos. I'll get back to you. I'll also tell you how many times I had to tie shoes, wipe a nose, or how many times someone had to go pee-pee.

And The Sun Again

2008-09-28T15:51:00.004-07:00

The sun is not giving up. It wants to keep on while I'm ready for it to just quit. I'm ready for fall, but my weather predictor says it will be 90 degrees on Tuesday. Doesn't that old sun know it's officially fall? And that Tuesday is the first day of October!?

I had a sub job on Thursday that came in randomly from the system, so it's good to know that that is working. I had a extremely good class of fourth graders who enjoyed guessing my age. One girl actually guessed that I was in my forties and I said "what? Umm. No, and now since you think I'm in my forties, you get to answer the next math question." The day went great and left me with an even greater feeling about subbing. If I can even do okay at it when I don't know the teacher, then I might just able to swing this! I kept having people check on me ("how are you doing?") and I felt totally in control. Awesome!

I've been watching too much Freaks and Geeks lately, in these days where I haven't been working. For those of you not in the know, Freaks and Geeks is probably my favorite tv show, if not one of my favorites. It was only on for a season when I was in high school and then was released later on dvd. Hilarious show. Set in 1980, and the soundtrack is just great. Because of all this Freaks and Geeks watching I've had a craving for some classic rock. So I went over to Everday Music to pick up some classics, such as Cream's "Disraeli Gears", Boston's self-titled debut, and The Who's "Who's Next". Luckily, Everyday Music deals in a lot of used CDs, so i was able to pick them up for cheap. Cheap classic rock.

Thursday was the season premiere of The Office and in Tabor House (and co.) fashion we had dinner and dessert while watching. What a great show. I was going to make cookies, except then I worked and didn't have the time. So I whipped up a special ice cream pie ala My Tiny Kingdom. It was a hit.

Things haven't been to exciting these days, although yesterday was a personal best for me when I ran over 7 miles. I was beyond excited and took it easy this morning with 4 miles. To be able to state that I did "an easy 4" is a miracle in and of itself.

I finished Dana's crocheted blanket and am sad that I have to wait until December to give it to her.

Autumn

2008-09-23T13:14:00.003-07:00

Well, the last hint of autumn was just that: a little hint. A teaser. Or.. an appe-teaser for you Office fans. It got hot again. I moved at the beginning of the month, into the new home of a couple I know, and their toddler daughter. Things have been good. I actually am renting the master bedroom/bath/big closet, so that's been really cool. I'm nearly done putting away/organizing stuff and that is always a huge relief. I moved in, was in the house for a few days, then jetted off to Klamath Falls for more fun with my nieces (and brother and sister in law!).

It was great to just relax and hang out and do some fun things with the family. Joel had been on assignment in Australia and came back while I was there visiting. I enjoyed early morning runs out on their back roads and learning from Hannah about the hens they keep in their yard. The morning I headed back to Portland the girls and I went to feed the ducks, geese and pigeons down at the lake.

I've had a couple of sub jobs, both for friends who have requested me through the sub systems. My first job was just a Friday afternoon, and was actually a great introduction to the subbing life, since it was my first sub experience ever. It was sixth graders, and they were really great. I had a couple kids grate on my nerves ("what's your name? what's your name? what do I call you? what's your name?"), with one who started cleaning out his desk in study hall even after I had given him his list of appropriate options. Fun! I then subbed a full day last week with 5th graders and it turned out to be a really great day. They were a bit talkative, but things went fairly smoothly.

Otherwise I've been trying to keep myself busy with other things as the jobs haven't really picked up yet. I've had and have lot a lot of craft projects on my plate. I made curtains for my new bathroom, which was actually a work of staggering genius considering I had seen the window once and never measured it... and the curtains fit. I'm currently crocheting a blanket for Dana's birthday. As I was going through things to get rid of, I couldn't bear to part with a bunch of old band t-shirts that I have, and so I've decided to try and make a quilt out of them. This will be my first quilting project, which scares me. But... I'm up for the challenge.

This summer I undertook my biggest project to date, and that was making a skirt from a pattern. Now that might not seem like a big deal to most, but I have trouble with patterns. Mostly because I don't know how to use them. I took a sewing class in high school where we were required to use patterns, but that knowledge had flown the coop because I've always been more into designing my own things... which can turn out good or bad. So I spent a good deal of time at Grandma's, using her sewing machine, asking her advice, and there were times I was so frustrated I wanted to scream. Luckily Grams and I didn't bite each others' heads off (although we were probably close at some moments), and the skirt was finished beautifully. I might even try it again someday.

My latest crafty business was making this sign for my room, Hope. I had seen the cool scrapbook paper at the store and finally thought of something I could do with it.

So here's to autumn. Some friends and I went out for a birthday last night to McMenamin's Edgefield for dinner and a movie. We saw "Get Smart" which was actually MUCH funnier than anticipated and we all laughed through the whole thing. Then we walked outside and it was incredibly cold. I'm excited.

It's that time of year!

2008-08-30T08:03:00.002-07:00

I love this time of year. It seems the weather has turned early into fall. Usually in Portland it's hot all through August with very little rain and the warm weather continues through September. I have memories as a child of sitting in very, very warm classrooms when school started. And a lot of times the warm, sunny weather will continue through the first part of October. But, guaranteed, it will most likely rain on Halloween.

Well, a week or so ago we had a lot of rain, and even a thunderstorm, which is unusual in Portland. And ever since, even when it's been warm, the air feels different. Even yesterday it was pretty warm, but there was a cool breeze in the air. That crisp air of autumn is already on us.

In other news, I babysat for someone semi-famous last night. Famous enough that when he introduced himself at the door I knew exactly he who was. I had had his wife's name and didn't think anything of it, but when I met him it immediately clicked in my head. Much more settling than the time I babysat for another famous person and I could just TELL she was a musician but I couldn't place who she was and I had to look it up when I got home.

Why not?

2008-08-17T09:43:00.003-07:00

I figure I might as well write some stuff on here, although I'm thinking maybe about 2 people will read it. We'll see :) I start substitute teaching in the fall, and i realized there might be some really funny material in that. I'm nervous about doing it, but excited to get back into schools, and into the classroom to brush up on my ability to herd children. Because essentially isn't that what subbing is about? Herding? Well, we'll all know soon.

Along with that I'll most likely be doing some nanny jobs at night or on the weekends to bring in more money. Hopefully that works out. I've been doing the nanny gig this summer and trying to work like mad so it seems this summer can be titled "Summer 'O Work 2008" or "Summer Have No Life 2008" or "Summer Drive-A-Lot 2008". But it's not ALL bad. Friday night a 4 year old girl said to me "See those round things on the counter, sitting there?" I replied, "Yes, those are nectarines". But she offered more insight, "They look like butts". And there you have it people, nectarines look like butts and the amount of intelligent conversation I've had this summer could probably be represented in that exchange.

Everyone's crazy about the Olympics and while I'm interested, the timing of airing the events seems odd to me. While I understand that the East Coast is getting the feed live, I'm not quite sure why NBC has decided that the West Coast can't handle the events until THREE HOURS LATER. Oh well. That means I've missed most of the first week of events, though I usually tend to get a recap and catch all the important things like how Michael Phelps is the only athlete at the games this year. Just kidding... kinda. Last night was probably the most fun to watch, as the women's marathon was intriguing to watch, Usain Bolt is insane, and Phelps won his eighth medal. I almost did tear up for that last one. I admit it.

In a couple of weeks I'm moving into a house with a married couple and their toddler. I'm sure this will also provide material for this blog, as Ella, the daughter, is about a year and a half and cute as a button. They mentioned me speaking Spanish to her. I can do that. And Ella will grow up knowing bad grammar in Spanish. But, that's cool. The room I will rent is nice, has its own bathroom, etc. Probably the best part is that the house is walking/ biking distance to both the library AND the fabric store I love. Double score.

The job I had Friday night and last night severely screwed up my sleep schedule. So getting up this morning to go running... I planned on going back to sleep afterward but it didn't take. So I'm not operating on very much sleep. In other good news, the alarm on my car is having problems and I need to take it in this morning so I can have a functioning vehicle. Good times!

more photos

2008-06-15T14:29:00.005-07:00

Let's start this off with a bang!! Here are some of my mom's pictures from California a few weeks ago. At our New Orleans-esque restaurant at Disneyland there was no place for this little number, so I wore it for a bit. I won't go into detail about me wearing this and skipping in Disneyland with my niece. That's too much for public consumption.
And here I am teaching Dana how to bother her Opa, at the San Diego zoo:

This last Friday was an eventful day. The circus was in town and so the teachers took the kids over just to look at the animals outside. They were little bundles of excitement (kids, not animals).

In fact, the animals were a bit boring. Oh well.
Then Mom and I headed over to the work site. They completed the house and had a house dedication. The mom, Julia, made us birria, the first time I've ever had it. YUM.
And just for a point of interest, the house build was 3 miles south of where we live, had a view of the ocean, with a sparsely populated neighborhood. There are two neighborhood schools. This is the smaller one:

Here we are again

2008-05-27T10:09:00.020-07:00

We're just going to do pictures. I don't want to tell you every single detail about the trip.

Disneyland
Hannah and Dana (my nieces) with their new mouse ears:
In Toon Town

Oma, Rinda, and Dana on the train
Hannah and Opa on the train

mmmm mickey mouse ice cream
Waiting for the parade
Pirate girl (?)
Pirate girl version 2.0
Joel and Hannah
Waiting for the parade
San Diego Zoo
I didn't take my camera to the Zoo. I don't know why. I don't like zoos much anyway and I wasn't that impressed with the SD zoo. Highlights- Some flirting peacock, a skyview tram ride, it rained, we ate ice cream, and on and on. Also our tour guide on the bus tour was pretty funny.

Mexico
Ah. Home again, home again, jiggity jig. For more information about what happens in Mexico: http://www.welcomehomeoutreach.org

Can you find Hannah? She loved being with the kids. She wanted us to leave her alone. Nevermind a language barrier, the girl absolutely loved it.

Dana with Teacher Geno.

In the classroom.
Dad, Dustin (the current intern at Welcome Home), and I went to see part of the Baja 500, a (mostly) off-road race for dirt bikes, quads, and cars that look like the one below. It's a big deal. It starts in Ensenada where they have a couple days of partying and goes east to San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez, then south west toward us, then over to San Vicente, which is an hour north of where we are in the Baja. We went to sit and watch some of them pass by this part. You can see the ocean behind this car. Oh! And the helicopter. Some of the cars have their own helicopters that follow them.

Our friend Angel insisted we stop this vaquero and ask if I could sit and pose on his horse.Free time activities: sewing.
Fresh strawberries. The daycare's cleaning lady, Saidel, her family picks or packs strawberries and she brought in a bunch of fresh ones for the daycare, and gave a pack to our family. Fresh from the source!
The view on the south side of town, looking south.

We have a small group here this week, building a house 3 miles south of town. The family we are building for is not around (they rent in another part of town), but the neighborhood kids have been around. This guy followed me around the first morning and insisted that I hold him a lot. He became my little friend and came to hold my hand as soon as I got out of the truck this morning. I like him :)
more to come someday?

The end!

2007-08-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

I forgot to wrap this up! These couple of pictures a friend took when we were at the beach toward the beginning of July. This is Pastor Pedro's family, and a family that I consider as kind of my Mexican family. Their door is always open and I love hanging out with them. They're wonderful.

The night before I left Mexico we got together "the gang" from church, went to the beach, played futbol, ate food, and just talked and hung out.

I left Mexico on July 27th, and left San Diego on July 28th. I drove from this:

to this:
And saw these cuties in between:
In L.A. I got to stay in a super swanky hotel, courtesy of a friend's brother who works at the hotel. Awesome!

And now I'm home in Oregon! And I'm here for good, which feels really weird to say. So I don't know about this blog, because I'm not gone anymore!

(yes, Renee, I got a new camera- it's cute!)

Cumpleanos Feliz!

2007-07-26T11:09:00.001-07:00

Breakfast time in the cafeteria is always busy.

Wednesday morning the kids were surprised when the visiting Tulare group walked in with birthday party things and singing "Cumpleanos Feliz!" It was Jeff Davisson's birthday, and had been Jerry Davisson's birthday the week before. It was fun for the kids because the Tulare church group brought them fun things, too!

Tourism!

2007-07-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

My parents and I went to San Diego again, and had more time this weekend to get out and see something. So, we went on a harbor cruise with a narrated guide. It was really informative and neat to see everything that's on the harbor. We went to the south end of the harbor for the first hour which had a lot of big naval ships like cruisers and destroyers.

Underneath the Coronado Bridge, which was to be designed to look like mission bells.

A couple of the historic ships docked in the harbor:

The clouds were out, but the sun peeked through at times.

View of the San Diego skyline from the west side of the harbor.

Border Crossings

2007-07-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we're all getting pretty used to the routine of crossing the U.S./Mexican border in Tijuana. We were there last weekend, and then Mom and I left early on Tuesday morning to pick up our new intern at the airport in San Diego. We left our town, Vicente G., at 6am, and got to the border at 9:50. I was really surprised by how many cars were there at mid-morning on a weekday. This picture is right after we got in line. Luckily for us, the policewoman didn't close these lanes until AFTER we were in line. For us, that means we don't have to try to navigate Tijuana to find the other border crossing. We were really happy.
So that was us in line. This picture is from the same place, but you can see (just a little) where the road goes and curves around.
After you go around that curve, you see this, and you're at the top of an overpass. There are a lot of vendors that walk around selling things, and this particular guy was selling Mexican wrestling masks.
After go over this overpass, you back down toward the actual gates. There are some lanes behind some shops that most people don't use, so we tend to go there. Once you pass by the shops, though, you end up stopping again. And this is where you sit for a long time.
Mom and I were lucky. We got in line at 9:50am, and were across the border at 10:40am. The last two times we've gone with groups, early in the afternoon, we've waited an hour and a half or so. But, our wait this time was a lot shorter. Usually the border inspection officer just looks at our identification, asks about what we're bringing back from Mexico, etc. There are drug sniffing dogs and other officers who stroll through the car. On Tuesday we saw someone get their car confiscated, a border officer drove it to secondary inspection, with a dog running behind it. Uh oh. But hey, that never happens to us. Then once we're through the border, it's onto the Five!
After picking up Peter, our intern, we turned around and headed back to Mexico (where there's really no wait at the border), and just drove south. We stopped at El Mirador, north of Ensenada, an abandoned (or not yet used) rest area with a lookout point.

San Diego Otra Vez

2007-07-15T18:41:00.001-07:00

Mom and I were up to San Diego again this weekend. We had a group to deliver to the airport on Saturday afternoon, and someone to pick up Sunday morning at the airport. San Diego is starting to become VERY familiar. In fact, I get a feeling of deja vu every time we drive from the border to the airport and back. So here are some pictures from our trip.

Heading North from Vicente Guerrero, on Saturday morning, we saw the fog laying low around the mountains. This is around the town San Vicente, an hour north of our town.

South of Ensenada, the main highway turns into a two-lane road as it drives through valleys and winds around mountains.

Our beautiful (cough) late-80s 12 passenger van got a little nick from a rock a few weeks ago:

We stopped at La Bufadora, an attraction southwest of Ensenada. The main attraction is 'la bufadora' or 'the blowhole', which is at the end of a street with lots of shops and restaurants.
It wasn't spouting very much when we were there.

Also, we were there pretty early, so it was not crowded, which was a definite plus:
Up after Ensenada, the road goes out more towards the ocean, and as it winds around the mountains you get a great view of the Pacific. Of course it was overcast and foggy when we were there.

We made it to San Diego and dropped off the group at the airport. Afterward Mom and I enjoyed a nice walk along the harbor and dinner there. They have a great display of different ships, and sometime I'd love to go and tour all of them. But, here's what resembles a pirate ship. It was built in 1863!

The government building across the street is in a great art deco style. I love art deco stuff, so I had to take a picture.

You see these around town, apparently contraptions you can ride and they go into the water. They just look so funny driving around town.

The Santa Fe train station.

We're always trying to find signs to I-5!

I think this is the Coronado bridge?

The San Diego airport! Destination of all great travelers. (by the way, this is Terminal 2 in case you were wondering).

We picked up our guest and headed straight back into Mexico this morning. This is my favorite sign between Tijuana and Ensenada. This exit is on a windy part of the highway right on some cliffs that look really dangerous. "Salsipuedes" translates to mean "Exit if you can".

This is the tourist part of town, a few blocks deep of restaurants and shops.
And, then there's the other side of Ensenada, less than a mile away.

Mom and I are headed back to San Diego on Tuesday! I hope to take some pictures at the border, in case you are wondering what that insanity looks like.

For Katie

2007-07-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

Katie wanted to know what WHO is about. Now, I could just direct you over to WHO's website (which gives a lot of detailed information), but here's a quick rundown.

WHO stands for "Welcome Home Outreach", and it was actually started more than 20 years ago by two biological sisters who saw the need here in the San Quintin Valley in the Baja. They started out of a camper trailer, then a tent, then bought the property which we are on today, which has many buildings and has been built onto over the years. It was originally an orphanage, but changed over to a daycare a few years ago. Now WHO's main mission is to provide a Christian daycare for the children of migrant farm workers, specifically focusing on the children of single mothers, who must work in the fields to care for their families. We have 2-6 year olds in our care, and if they weren't with us during the day, it's safe to say that they would be watched over only by siblings a few years older than them.

Abel, one of the co-directors, goes out at about 6am every morning and picks up the kids from their homes. They get cleaned up when they arrive, eat breakfast, and then go to their classrooms for a morning of play and learning. The kids eat lunch, take naps, and then are taken home about 3:30.

Out of the daycare grows other ministries. We have a clothing donation room, sometimes give out food, and build houses, especially for the mothers of our kids. Groups who come down and visit do a number of different things like hand out food and/or clothing in migrant camps, visit two drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, or build those houses. It's really busy around here, especially in the summer months. Every week from the beginning of June to the end of August is booked with one or two visiting groups.

So there you have it! That's Welcome Home in a nutshell. And.. of course, here are some pictures.

This is Manuel. He is one of our "walk-ins" (meaning his Mom brings him in in the morning). He usually brings some sort stuffed animal with him in the morning, but yesterday he showed up with this lovely thing on his head:

Manuel and Moises have a conversation over lunch:

Manuelito wanted his picture taken, and posed like this:

Then Dulce wanted her picture taken, with the same sort of pose:

Brigida (one of our teachers), Denysse, and Manuel:

Moises and Noemi:

Gael:

Mitzy:

Enoc, one of our "babies". He asked to have his picture taken:

Brigida corralling the kids after breakfast:

We found an coke bottle in one of Mom's planters (who was it that left it there? Was it YOU?), and I've decided to see if I can make something grow out of it. So here it is, July 11th: the planting.

Donaciones and kids

2007-07-09T10:03:00.001-07:00

Well, Mom and I just spent some time going through a bunch of donated clothes. It's funny some of the things we find, and what people decide to donate to Mexico. First of all, I would like to say that I'm quite appalled that anyone would donate this shirt. I got this shirt made 6 years ago for a benefit concert I put together for my senior project in high school. (6 years ago!!!) Whoever you are, I can't believe that you wouldn't treasure it always. Just joking around:
Mom says "yo quiero Taco House":

We were trying to figure out why someone would give this, and even what it is. It reminded me of the book I'm reading (Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, you should read it) where he remembers the time that someone gave a huge box of microwave popcorn to the homeless people. What?
Berta, our cleaning lady, also tried to help us finding the meaning for this... thing:
It was an interesting morning.

Speaking of this morning, here are some random shots from breakfast time. Osvaldo didn't want his picture taken:
Jesus and Nayeli DID want their pictures taken:
And Diego just sat nicely. Look at slick hair!
The big kids at their table:

For Stephanie and Natalie

2007-07-09T10:00:00.001-07:00

My hands are bananas! Mis manos son platanos! And if you don't know what that means, watch this video:

San Diego

2007-07-08T08:50:00.001-07:00

Friday Mom, Dad, myself, and a bunch of other people headed to San Diego in three vans. I won't go into all the details, but Mom left earlier with one group, and Dad and I followed a few hours later with another group. We made it to the border fine, at about 12:45. Once we were situated in line at the border I said "okay... I guess 2:05", meaning that that would be the time when we crossed the border. An hour and twenty minutes at the border is pretty typical, if not kind of short for the middle of the day. Guess what time we got to the actual border, where we talked to the guard? Ohh, about 2:07. I'm pretty good :)

One hilarious thing happened at the border. My dad is really into networking and giving out his business card like there's no tomorrow. He keeps a stash in his wallet for the prime opportunities of telling people about Welcome Home. When we got into line at the border I noticed a couple of big white vans with lots of people in them. These types of vans are well-known for being church groups doing missions trips in Mexico. I half-jokingly said to Dad "you should give them a card!" and that's just what he did. They were in the lane next to us, so dad motioned for the lady to roll down her window. When they couldn't quite reach across to hand over the card, Dad commissioned a Mexican lady (who was walking between cars to sell her goods) to pass the card along.

But of course, that was just the beginning. My wonderful idea grew, and while we were really sitting much closer to the border, Dad got out, I took over the driver's seat, and he walked around to the big white vans he saw, handing out cards, while those of us in the van laughed. It paid off, though.

After the border, driving north on I-5, our tire lost a good amount of tread, and Dad decided to pull off at the next exit and change it. What was at the next exit? Nothing less than an In-n-Out restaurant. That's what I call divine interference. So Dad changed the tire, then came in to eat, and a man approached our table. He said "Hi, my name is _____, and you handed us a card at the border. We were just at.... " and began a conversation. Dad was able to tell him about what they do at Welcome Home, and it was really nice. They were a group from Grand Rapids, Michigan (!!). Then Dad started scouting out other groups at the busy In-n-Out and introduced himself to a group from Virginia (!!) who were heading into our area this week and were really quite interested. So all in all, it was really cool and great for Dad to be doing this networking. Hopefully it will pay off in the future.

We dropped all of our people off at their needed destinations and then we hit the town. Dad to get a new tire and tools, Mom and I to shop for various things for ourselves, for Welcome Home, for other people in Mexico. It felt almost like we were trying to beat the clock. We spent the night at the Vagabond Inn, which I loved because it felt so retro and vintage Southern California, with its building design, and the huge palm trees onsite:

We were doing all of our errands around the Chula Vista area (holla, Bob!), and the weather was kinda funky:

Saturday early afternoon we arrived at the San Diego airport to pick up our new group. Driving to the San Diego airport is nice because you pass right by the harbor with all of the boats. As we did that trip (driving to the airport) a few times in 24 hours, I became familiar with the drive:

It was fun spending this time in San Diego. I joked with Mom and Dad that Chula Vista (a suburb south of San Diego) has now become their "retirement town", they know it so well. Mom and I will be back next weekend, and hopefully we will be able to spend some more time down at the harbor.

Life is good here.

Unpredictable

2007-06-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Living in a smaller town in Mexico means a completely different lifestyle than the one I am used to in Portland, or in Korea. The Korean lifestyle means staying up late and getting up a little later in the morning. My schedule in Korea meant going to bed about 1am, getting up about 9am, going running, and then working 4pm-10pm. Here in Mexico, however, I am now in bed most nights by 10pm and up at 5:30 or 6:30, depending on if I'm running or not.

The different lifestyle also includes people dropping by, and the unpredictability about what might happen in a day. This morning my parents left for San Diego to pick up two groups (which was planned), and will be gone today and tomorrow. This means I'm the boss (jefe!). We have one group that left this morning, one that is here until tomorrow, and a new one arriving today. Aye! This morning I tried to oversee breakfast, and afterward said goodbye to one of our groups. Leonel, a friend of Welcome Home, was here to say goodbye to the group he had worked with during the week. David, another friend, then stopped by to try to see the other directors, who are also gone. Both boys ended up staying- David helped Cande (our cook) with some chores, they ate breakfast, and Leonel and I spent a good part of the morning looking up music videos on the internet. I hadn't planned to spend my morning this way, but it was a welcome visit because I actually don't have much to do. They just left, and it's almost lunchtime!

I was also going to have my friends over tonight (hey, the parents are gone!), but those plans fell through, and that sort of thing just happens, which is fine. I'll probably watch Rabbit-proof Fence tonight, a movie my mom has and recommended. That, and some reading, and I'm good! Mom and Dad and bringing back these two groups, one of which is from my home church. It will be good to spend the week with them, since I only saw them once when I was back in Portland.

My camera has decided to have a lens error, and so I have no pictures :( I'm hoping it also just decides to fix itself. And soon.

Los Ninos

2007-06-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

I figured it was about time to show off some of these adorable kids that are at Welcome Home. This goes out to Stephanie, who will recognize our Diegito. Isn't he big now?

Nayeli and Diego:
Carlito:
I mean, really, could they get any cuter?

Denise adorned my mom with an extra earring:
Cande (our wonderful cook), and Dulce:

Dulce took a picture of me with my camera and it turned out like this:

Mas Mexico

2007-06-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have much news from Mexico, but I do have pictures! Last week we had the group from New Hope, in Portland, who left on Saturday morning, but Saturday afternoon Manny (a WHO board member) brought down a few guys to check out different ministries in the area. Last night another group from the same church came in and they are doing a VBS this week, together with the teachers here, in one of the camps.

It was a busy weekend with lots of plans. Andy, the current intern, is leaving tomorrow and so the youth from the church have been having some get-togethers. We went to the beach Saturday night, and to a church member's house after church last night. Saturday afternoon we went to a quinceanera, the celebration for a girl's fifteenth birthday. It was for Tony's daughter. It was the first quinceanera that I'd been to, and I'm glad I went.

Pictures from the beach, including this wrong-side-up stingray we found on the sand:

Don't get too jealous- the beach here is COLD.

Sunday afternoon we went over to the teachers' house to watch the United States and Mexico play for the Gold Cup. Friday morning, when we found out about it, we all started teasing each other about who was going to win. Quien gano? Who won? Los Estados Unidos, that's who. The four of us also decided it would be great to show up with painted faces.

Today starts a new week in the crazy life of Welcome Home. The Kindergarteners are graduating today, so I'll probably have pictures of that. For more information about Welcome Home (for those who have been living under a rock), go to their official website.

And for a parting shot, I got to hang up my first load of Mexican laundry. What a beautiful blue sky.

This post is dedicated to Renee, who told me she reads my blog during her workday. Hi Renee!!

2007-06-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here you go, Eddy! Your favorite restaurant! And here I was, in Redding, sitting at your favorite restaurant, eating a hamburger that you are no doubt craving. Sorry, Eddy!
Being here in Mexico this time around is quite a different experience. The first time I came here (winter/spring of 2005) I knew no one and had no car. I spent a lot of time by myself, but also a lot of time with the teachers and their friends from church. Last year Stephanie and I came together, which was a little more entertaining because we were together and had a car! So we did more things and went out more. We also had a couple groups in, which spiced things up a little bit. My parents moved down here at the end of that stay and were still in transition when I left.

But NOW!! Now my parents facilitate groups who come through and do ministries in the community. My dad helps direct groups to build houses, my mom organizes everything, and they both help with odds and ends of different projects. It's such a different atmosphere here, now. For the few years I've considered this a place I love, but having my parents here really makes it feel like a second home, and I'm grateful for that. I have all sorts of luxuries here that I didn't have before! My parents have pop in their refrigerator and I'm baking cookies, and they have the internet in their apartment, which I get to use! Life is good. Haha.

It's also fun seeing my parents interact with people they've lived and worked with for a year now, people that I have known for a while. They know the kids and their stories, the interworkings of everything. You can't explain those things to people (even though I might have tried when they moved down here), you have to learn it first hand. It's so fun to be able to tell the kids that Steve and Jackie are my parents!

Speaking of my parents and the kids: My dad put on his cowboy outfit and walked into the cafeteria for breakfast and all of the kids started yelling "Vaquero! Vaquero!!", which means cowboy. Here's dad in his outfit!

One thing I have been amazed at is my Spanish! I assumed that my time in Korea had erased a lot of my memory of Spanish. Stephanie and I would occasionally say something to each other in Spanish, but only small things. Well, it seems not much of it has gone away, and even when I have forgotten words on my own, I have heard words that I didn't know I remembered, but I knew the meaning of them! I know a lot of words, but I suffer when I try to make my own sentences. But, last night I went to church and listened to a whole sermon and caught most of it! I was so surprised, I couldn't believe it. It has reiterated the idea that I've had that I need to really study and learn more Spanish, because I might actually be good at this!

Life in Mexico is busy, but it's really, really good.

Mexico, Mexico

2007-06-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well, Mexico is the fifth country I am visiting, and luckily for me I get to stay here for an extended period. After traveling for basically 3 weeks, it feels good to be somewhere for a while. Today I even started putting away clothes in a dresser! That feels like some progress.

Friday I left Portland with my friends Natalie, Brendan, and Amanda. We drove in Brendan's car. We left late Friday morning and drove and drove and drove. We drove through the night and into the next morning and finally arrived in Los Angeles, and then San Diego. For those of you from other places, Portland, Oregon to San Diego is about 1,080 miles! Fun! We were pretty tired throughout the night, but I love taking road trips and I guess I must take after my father. We got into L.A. early on Saturday morning and we drove around Hollywood and Bel Air, which is always a reality check. Hollywood is NOT a nice area, no matter how much it's talked up in the media.

Here are some pictures from our trip southward. This is Mt. Shasta in Northern California, although I believe I took the picture in Southern Oregon:

A closer picture of Mt. Shasta:
Lake Shasta?

We met my parents in San Diego late Saturday afternoon. I was anxious and so excited to see them after being away in Korea. We had a nice night of relaxation, and then woke up Sunday morning to meet a group from New Hope church (for you Portland people), to drive into Mexico.

Here's the huge, Mexican flag in Ensenada:

Driving out to La Bufadora (The Blowhole), along the Pacific Ocean:

So here we are in Mexico! The group from New Hope is here, building a house. Here are some pictures of the house they are building, and the pictures include my parents, for those of you who know them:

And this picture includes Tony, the construction foreman who oversees our housing projects:
Here is the view from the house they are building, facing out to the Pacific Ocean:

Jiggety Jig

2007-06-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well, being home certainly feels normal and so writing in this blog has not been on the list of priorities, mostly for the fact that being at home doesn't feel exciting or new. But, I forget that some of my friends (of the Korean persuasion) don't know much about my home life and so I do want to share some of that with them.

Being at home (home = portland) mostly means relaxing and seeing friends and family for the time being. It means shopping at Target and eating at favorite restaurants, hanging out with my friends, and enjoy the greenery. That has been most of the extent of what has happened since I've returned to the States. Not that exciting! However, being at home feels somewhat different because I am entirely dependent on my friends and family to help me, and that feels strange since I was not this dependent before I went to Korea. I have no car or cell phone and I am sleeping on my friends' couch :)

Last Thursday I got on the train to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces in Southern Oregon. The train ride is kind of long (about 7 1/2 hours), but relaxing. The train is almost ALWAYS late, as it was both times I rode it. But, the scenery is spectacular. I didn't take any pictures from the train because I'm too embarrassed to do so. But, it's mountains and forests, etc. etc.

I had a really great visit with my family. My brother and sister-in-law just purchased a new home, which as we say a "fixer-upper", meaning it needs a lot of work. But, they are right for the job! It was fun seeing their new place, my brother taught me how to drive a stick shift, and I got to hang out with these cuties:

They had moved out of town and have a bit of land. Here is the beautiful view from their front door:

A few posts ago I did a "Facts about Korea", and now I'm going to entertain the other half of my readers with a "Facts about Oregon"!

Oregon is yes, the state above California. It is pronounced "Ore-eh-gun". It is almost divided in half by the Cascade Mountains. The western half is lush and green and ends at the Pacific Ocean. The eastern half is like a desert with pine trees and ends at Idaho. Because of this major difference, climate differs throughout the state. Its population is somewhere around 3.5 million, with 2.1 million living in the Portland metro area. Oregon became a state on Valentine's Day, 1859, and Portland got its name from a coin toss (if the other person won it would've been called Boston). More fun facts about Oregon (like how the state beverage is milk! I knew I was an Oregonian!!) visit wikipedia.

And for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture of a place I love, the Columbia River Gorge:

I leave for Mexico on Friday and we're driving there. I'll try to take lots of pictures and write about our trip :)

For Eddy

2007-06-02T17:21:00.001-07:00

Okay, Eddy. You said something about me taking a picture of my first American meal. Well, I'm too ashamed of my first meal on American soil to even tell you about it, and I forgot about taking pictures at other meals (such as a bbq last night). But, today I visited what is probably my favorite restaurant, and I remembered. This is a Portland restaurant called the Taco House. It's not really authentic Mexican (they call it Southern California style), but I have basically grown up on their food. So here it is, Eddy Choo. Eat your heart out.

By the way- I had to go to the bank today because on the two occasions where I've tried to use my debit card, all of the pin numbers I have tried to use have failed. I couldn't remember what it was. So, I began talking to the bank teller about how I couldn't remember because I've been out of the country. She wanted to know where I had been, and I told her. She proceeded to tell me about how she loves watching Korean dramas! She mentioned her favorite- something with a title about a Prince. Do you know what she's talking about? She mentioned 81 episodes. Whew!

Anyway, I decided that I should try to see some Korean dramas now since I would be able to find them with English subtitles :)

Tokyo and home!

2007-06-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I have finally made it home. It was a long trip and frankly kind of exhausting. Including the bus ride to the airport and all of the sitting-around time at airports, I was traveling for about 24 hours. I was really, really ready to be done with my huge suitcases and thinking about where to go next.

But, first: here are some pictures from Tokyo! I stayed with Alina, a friend from college. She has been living in Tokyo for about 9 months now. She came and met me at the airport and we set out to explore Tokyo. First we went to a Buddhist temple. We came around the backside of the temple and saw this:
Inside the temple:
Outside the temple:

A small alley by the temple:

I have a friend (hey Candice!) who lived in Japan for a year before moving to Seoul, and I remember her saying "you will definitely notice the differences between Japan and Korea right away". I didn't think it would be that big of a difference, but I was wrong. This is a very obvious difference, but I had to get used to seeing a whole different language all over everything. Even though I don't understand or speak Korean, I got VERY used to knowing the alphabet and sounding out things when I wanted to. Reading Korean became something that I just did while I was on the subway or otherwise just out in town. Well... I can't even sound out this stuff:
The subway system seems a thousand times more confusing than the Seoul system. For all of you in Korea- be thankful for the simplicity and ease of the Korean subway system. Tokyo has a ton of different lines, which are run by different companies. This means that when you transfer lines you sometimes have to leave the turnstiles and buy a completely different ticket. How confusing! Not to mention that there are different speeds of trains (local, rapid, express), so you have to know what train you are getting on. AND it's expensive. Alina has lived there for almost a year and we had to guess about a few things, or it took us a while to figure out what line to get. Wow!

Well, I've never eaten sushi before and I decided the best place to try it would be Japan, of course. Alina always eats sushi when she is with her friends, and doesn't get it at restaurants, so we decided the best thing to do was to buy some at the grocery store, and take it home to try it out in the privacy of her apartment. This turned out to be a great idea because I didn't end up liking it. Here's the spread- the two dishes on each side are the sushis, while the other things are just miscellaneous sides:
Eyeing the food:
This was the sushi topped with octopus. Alina took the picture and had perfect timing because right after this it came out of my mouth and promptly landed on the plate.
This is the one I didn't eat, those orange balls being fish eggs and me not exactly wanting to eat that:
The sushi that resembled gimbap (the Korean style sushi that has no fish, but it is a roll) wasn't bad, and had raw fish in it and was covered in sesame seeds.

So that was my sushi adventure. It was short-lived and not that fondly remembered.

Alina's neighborhood is SO cute. One thing I noticed about Japan (at least her part of Tokyo) was how green it was. The planning of her little town was done with lots of greenery in mind and it was so nice.

Cute motorcycle in front of the post office:
Tuesday night we went into Shibuya for a concert. I had planned to go to Tokyo to see one of my favorite bands play on their Japan tour. The concert was wonderful, and probably made even better by the fact that I hadn't seen a concert in 8 months. Both bands were great and it was exciting to see them play in a different environment. Anberlin opened, and Copeland was the band I really went to see. Alina and I were able to talk a little bit to James afterward, which was nice.

Shibuya is a very popular area of Tokyo. Lots of clubs and nightlife. Alina told me that the Shibuya crossing is often shown in movies when it is placed in Tokyo. I didn't end up taking a picture of the crossing, but I found this one online:
This is a picture I took of a side street in Shibuya:
One night Alina and I were just out looking around and went to a thrift store. Japan seems really big on the vintage thing, and so there were hundreds of old t-shirts in this store. I kept seeing shirts that reminded me of random people.

Like my dad:
Or my extended family, the Kellys:
Or my friend Will, in Korea:

One of Alina's co-workers is a Thai woman who is married to a Japanese man. Her mother-in-law is Japanese and also works at one of Alina's schools. They invited us over to a real Thai meal, which was very cool:
It was so much fun to be with Alina in Tokyo. I loved visiting her classes. For those of you that know Alina, you should SEE her with her kids- it's SO cute. Her kids absolutely love her, and it was really sweet to watch her interact with them. That was one of the highlights of being in Tokyo with Alina.

I had a GREAT time in Tokyo.

Thank you Alina!
Thank you James!

Well, after a lot of traveling, and a lot of sitting around, and a lot of being mad at my huge suitcases, I finally made it home to Portland. I think I probably stunk, and I needed to brush my teeth, and I was tired and hungry, but I made it! My aunt picked me up at the airport. This is the kind of picture I wanted to show my friends in Korea. This is Mt. Hood, which you can see from Portland on a clear day. I actually took this picture while we were driving out of the parking garage at the airport.
I even stepped out of the parking garage elevator and said loudly: "It SMELLS like Oregon!"

It's warm here (in the 80s), and I'm off today to go shopping!

Meghan World Tour 2007!!

2007-05-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

I figured it out that I'll be in five countries within the space of 5 weeks, which is pretty exciting. North Korea-->South Korea-->Japan--->America--->Mexico.

I'm currently in Tokyo, Japan. I'm staying with a friend from college, Alina. She has been so wonderful to me, showing me around and taking me places. It's been a great little vacation on the way back from Korea. I feel like a tourist!

So far we've been to a Buddhist shrine, walked around an area with a lot of young people (some of them being very interesting to look at), Alina's English classes, a popular shopping area, a concert in Shibuya, etc. Tomorrow I get on the bus to go to the airport.

I don't want to write all about Tokyo without pictures, and so I'll do it when I get home. It has been really fun and I can't wait to talk all about it.

This blog was originally for people at home to inform them of what I was up to while I was out of town. When leaving Korea, I realized that my friends in Korea might want to keep up to date with where I am at and what I am up to. So, for you friends at home, the pictures I post in the next couple weeks might not be very exciting, but I want to share them with those that I know in Korea. So be prepared!

Amazing Race- Seoul!

2007-05-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

As mentioned before we had a little race from church to our farewell party. Our team took it pretty seriously. Stephanie was the camerawoman and did all of the editing and making of the video. She did SUCH an awesome job.

Here it is! I hope you enjoy it! (Check out my crazy elbow at the end):

Facts about Korea!

2007-05-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a little Korean trivia for you. I, for one, did not know much about Korea until I came here. In fact, I think I had even look to make sure I knew where it was on a map!

1. The official language for Korea is... (tada!) Korean, which is "Hanguk mal", I believe, in Korean. The language is made up of its own letters, created by a King long ago, who was tired of using Chinese characters for his people to use their own Korean expressions. Smart man! I think Korean is one of the most logical languages in the world- its characters are meant to express the shape the mouth makes while making the sound. For example- the "m" sound is represented by the ㅁ, which really does look like what your mouth does!

2- "Korea" is called "Hangook", or 한국" in Korea. "gook" means land. America is "meegook" or "미국"

3. Korea is only about the size of Indiana. It takes about 5 hours to travel from the top of South Korea to the bottom by car, or a little over 2 hours on the KTX (express) train.

4. The size of the country is small, but its population is big, at about 49 million. Seoul, the capital and biggest city in South Korea. The estimates of its population range anywhere from 10 million to 22 million depending on which parts of the suburbs you include in its estimate.

5. Okay, so this isn't a fact, but the public transportation in Seoul is awesome. The only thing I would change would be to have it be 24 hours, but.. eh, it's really pretty good.

6. Korea is officially called the Republic of Korea, which means its initials are RoK, which gets people calling it "the ROK". ie "How long have you been on the ROK?"

If I can think of more fun Korea facts, I'll write them here!

Busy Weekend

2007-05-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went down to Suwon, to visit the Korean Folk Village. It was really nice. We've been to some stuff before that was kind of disappointing, but this had a lot of displays and performances, and I really enjoyed it. We had to go through kind of quickly, but it was really nice to see all of it.

Korean wedding performance:
Me standing in front of.. uhh.. some things....

Horse riding performance:

Will and Stephanie try the traditional teeter-totter? They didn't quite get it down, but they had fun trying.

Our friend, Kendall, is also leaving soon- going back to the States to get married! She had a wedding shower in the afternoon, and then we headed over to our friend Mark's performance. He is in a show called "Girls and BBoys", which is a super modern re-telling of Guys and Dolls, complete with a LOT of dance numbers. Mark was the cop, and was doing tricks on his inline skates! He wowed us. Here's Kendall, Stephanie, Mark, and Rebecca.

Sunday after church Candice and Brian planned an awesome farewell party for Kendall, our friend Carolina, and myself. We are all heading back to the States in the next few weeks. It was such a great time with friends, relaxing and talking and having fun. We left from the church and tried to do Amazing Race from the church to Brian's place. Of course, our team (consisting of Stephanie, Will, Erin, and myself) won, and Stephanie is going to piece together our videos of that. Unfortunately, although I'm pretty sure we won because we were better, the other teams weren't quite into it. But, we did win.

Anyway- it was a really bittersweet night, with lots of pictures being taken. Me, Candice, Steph, Yunsun:

Eddy and me:

Brian (trying to act cool), me, and Candice:

awwww....

Differences

2007-05-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

I use a whiteboard in my classroom and I personally like to choose the blue and black markers. Well, my black markers were running out of ink, but when I went to replace them, there were only red markers left. So, I had to take the red marker.

I was having a lot of fun with my young, advanced class, and after break time we were doing a sentence activity on the board. I said "okay! I have a new pen!!" The entire class actually said "ooooohhh". I said "who wants to use the new pen!" and quite a few raised their hands. I said "Okay- Jaina! Your turn, come work on our sentence on the board!" Ha! She didn't realize she was actually going to have to do the sentence. It was quite funny.

There is some sort of "rule" or law of living here in Korea that you do not write peoples' names in red. I asked my students about this. I said "So, it would be bad if I wrote your name on the board in red?" and they all agreed "yes, yes!". I asked "why?". They all kind of looked deep in thought for a minute, and then Louise said "I think... blood." But, Hannah disagreed and said she wasn't sure. Someone mentioned Japan (seems to be Japan's color), and even Jaina said that it was a North Korean color, which makes sense.

In my next class I started the same discussion and jokingly (I'm bad) wrote someone's name on the board. The kids said "oh!", but I quickly erased it. Then I wrote my name on the board in red. I said "it's okay. I'm American... I don't care." Andy said "Why?" And I replied "umm. In America this is not bad." A few of the kids looked puzzled. It is always fun and interesting to get kids thinking about how different countries and cultures believe different things.

I moved the conversation along by saying "in America we also never do this..." and I bowed. Minsu said "what is..that?" and I bowed again, saying "Annyeong haseyo" (hello). Andy asked "why!?" and I said "umm. I don't know. why DO you bow?" and of course I got no answer :)

Andy quickly asked "what about... father?" He was asking what about when I meet my father? I don't bow? I asked "You BOW when you meet your father?" the kids responded "YES!! YES YES YES!!". I said "wow.... that's so nice. Remember- in America no bowing. So when I see my dad I say "HI DAD!"" and I waved my hands.

They were some fun conversations.