Thursday, February 18, 2010

back at it....

well, it has been almost a week or so back at work. it sure has been a long one. upon return, i found out that my lovely students were not so lovely while i was away. we had a deep & meaningful talk on tuesday, but it does not seem to have taken hold. today we began presentations of their home inquiry projects and some of the kids were being so rude to the classmate presenting. they were really wound up and after many attempts to being them back, it was hopeless. i passed out the three memos they needed and they went home.

after they left i sat there reflecting what to do. how do i instill kindness in them? how do i teach them not to be rude? it literally breaks my heart to think about them and how they are behaving. i am at a loss. i am not sure what to do. it makes me sad. i want them to want to be better people.

god, please help me love on them and treat them the way i want to be treated.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

more memorable moments....

--waiter at taco mamasita saying that paul's mexican street corn is "black belt goodness"

--beginning today at bongo java with good ol' oatmeal and a "warm & fuzzy" coffee and then just hanging out with my computer.

--going to calypso for lunch and eating amazing loaded black bean nachos.

--going back to ugly mugs for coffee and more hanging out.

--we (paul, jason and i) are driving to return the rental car and we pass a RV park. i said, "wouldn't it be cool to buy one and travel around america in one of those?" paul replies, "i don't like cars you can pee in." jason chimes in, "i have to disagree with you on that one." paul asks, "why? are you peeing right now?" jason comes back with, "well, it is a rental." i proceed to laugh until i cry.

--driving down the road there are over passes and underneath there are rocks that have been cut through to make the road (sedimentary rock). there has been water leaking from some of the rock and it has frozen make icicles. jason called it "frozen rock sweat" or after more thought on the phenomenon he decided he liked "frozen milky mountain discharge" better. either way, i laughed again and it was awesome.

--returning our rental car to the opryland hotel which is like disney world in a hotel. this place is nuts.

--walking around and shopping at the opry mills mall.

--watching jason attempt to take photos of the "frozen rock sweat" as we drove by which was not that successful, but worth the laugh for sure.

our next adventure...

i have accepted a new job that will begin on july 26th. the exciting part is that in july we will be moving to phnom penh, cambodia. yes, that is right. we are moving to an amazing country in SE asia and are thrilled about this new adventure. at the moment it is not quite for sure what grade i will be teaching, but possibly 4th, 5th, or 2nd all of which i am ok with. from the skype talks we have had with the head of school, i think this is a great place to work and be a part of.

paul has already done some research on places to eat and things to do. the interesting part is that we will live downtown with the locals. i will have to commute to school which is about 15-20 minutes via tuk tuk (a motorbike with a two seat space in the rear). we have read blogs, talked to our friends in seoul that lived and taught there for four years, and asked lots of questions. all in all, we feel like God opened unexpected doors and made it clear to us that we were to move to cambodia.

we are looking forward to a new adventure which includes new food, hot weather, wearing sandals all the time, being able to connect and have relationships with locals, serving people and loving on folks.

we are going in march for my spring break holiday to check things out. we want to see what is available, what is not, tour the school, look for apartments, and have a look around. it should be fun, exciting and also give us a good idea of just what kind of adventure we will be having.

cambodia, here we come!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

memorable moments of the day

  • eating amazing thai food at a place called the smiling elephant......the best outside of thailand
  • seeing alice cooper having lunch with people in sam and zoe's coffee shop
  • hanging out and touring don chaffer's studio
  • having a great laugh with a barista at sam and zoe's with lyndsay, jason, paul and i
barista: so do you all work together?
me: they do, but i am married to the one in the tan shirt (pointing to paul)
barista: awww, that is so sweet
us: (laughing out loud)
  • hearing erin mccarley play live at the bluebird cafe--WOW!
  • meeting her and having her sign her CD
  • going to 3rd and lindsley to hear the wooten brothers
  • guy at bar saying to paul, "dude, it's fidel castro" we laughed

it was awesome.
i love these moments.


making a difference......

one of my favorite quotes is by mahatma gandhi--"be the change you want to see in world."

so true. things don't just happen. there is action. people need to take notice and do something. little or simple, big or grandiose--it does not matter. people taking action makes things happen. did you know that you can make a difference in far reaching parts of the world?

last night i saw a film that spoke to me. it moved me and softened my heart. it also made me frustrated. it has moved me to take part in a movement of people and actions to put an end to malaria in africa by 2015.

did you know that the US had its own issues with malaria in the early part of the 20th century? i did not, until last night. i was born in the latter part of the century, after the end of malaria in the US, i have never had to worry about getting malaria. i grew up in houston where there are plenty of mosquitoes, but never feared them. yes, i was annoyed by them and have had many rounds of "skeeter" bites that needed some TLC from mom. never once did she fear for my life because of them though. moms, dads, families in africa fear mosquitoes. today, in the year 2010, millions of people are dying from a disease that was eradicated from the US before my life began. how is it that this is happening? the news made a huge fuss about swine flu and H1N1, but no word of the absolutely disturbing amounts of people dying every 30 seconds in africa. they are dying from a preventable disease that can and should be treated and STOPPED.

they need help. they need your help. be a part of something bigger than yourself. be a part of putting an end to malaria by 2015.

learn more..........

be the change.


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

east nashville...

i have fallen in love. east nashville is an amazing place. we have only been here about 12 hours or so, and i am already in love. the place we are staying and the hosts are great. we feel like family. it is close to all the cool stuff we want to be near and all things are accessible.

today we have worked at a coffee shop called ugly mugs and ate lunch at rose pepper across the street. good, yummy, warm mexican food. after lunch, we met with a realtor to explore what buying a house here in east nashville looks like and what needs to happen. it was good.

the next step in that process is to contact the bank (lenders) and determine how much money we can borrow to buy a house. well, sadly, it turns out that since it is an investment and not our own house that it is not as easy. we would need a whole lot of money in the bank and then they will consider this idea. what a bummer! it is a total derail of our thoughts and thinking. i know there must be a reason, but right now it does not seem logical to me. it sucks.

i still heart east nashville though.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Big Day in Boston

we spent the day out and about on friday exploring "beantown". we had fun. we started the day with lunch at a place called miracle of science. the menu there is on an adapted periodic table of elements. it was cool. the food was good....we had burgers. then we made our way around the corner to the MIT museum where things are all geeky and cool. it was neat place. my favorite would have to be the kinesthetic sculptures made of metal and such.

after the museum and a quick trip into the MIT coop, we walked across the main street bridge into the city of boston. we walked through the beacon hill area---imagine small house, cobble stone streets and all things boston-like--to the public garden. this is where the make way for ducklings statue is from the book written by robert mccloskey. a true treasure to children's literature. it was awesome.

then we made our way to the samuel adams brewery on the subway. it was great and free. we got tasting glasses at the end and got to try four different flavors of their brew. i also learned more about beer which is always interesting to me. there are only four ingredients in beer---water, malted barley, hops and yeast. it is hard to believe that from the four ingredients there a huge selection of beers with multitudes of tastes and flavors. i also learned that there are two groups of beer---lagers and ales. the only difference between the two is the length of fermentation and temperature. a dark, stout beer can be an ale and a really light ale can be like a lager. interesting to say the least!

after the brewery, we rode the train back into the city into the downtown area. i got to walk around a massive borders. it was fun and i got a few books. then we went to the union oyster house which is iconic here in town. paul had oysters and i had lazy man's lobster which was like a casserole with lobster meat and bread crumbs. it was good. we walked through quincy market before we went back to cambridge where we are staying and went to bed early. the long day out, the chilly temps and heaps of walking we did wore us out.

all in all, it was a great day!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Jet Lag is a total Drag!

As much I love sleeping, I am not doing as much of it as I would like. It really is a bummer. I felt so tired last night. I thought for sure that it was fixed, but it was not. I laid down about 9pm and awoke at midnight. I could not sleep, so I got up checked email, read blogs I follow, and piddled. Then I thought about 1:30ish I would be able to go back to sleep. Paul woke up about 2am and worked. I just laid there. I closed my eyes, but never felt like I was sleeping. Ugh! I wanted so badly to sleep. I finally got up about 5:30ish, maybe 6am. I had a headache, was warm, and wanted to be alseep. Paul said we should just start the day. It was a great idea, but I really wanted to be sleeping. I love to sleep. I love to be warm under the covers. This is what I really wanted to be doing. Instead, I got up, took a shower, we packed up and were about to leave when our hostess made us breakfast. We hung out, chatted, and sipped coffee. Now we are out sitting in a coffee shop in Cambridge. It's 9:45am and I am starting to feel tired which sucks. If I take a nap it will only make things worse.

Jet lag is a total drag!

we are in boston....

finally arrived to boston after what seemed like the longest ever of travel times. it took 24 hours to get here (seoul time to approx seoul time). we were so tired.

after a great night's rest, some amazing breakfast by our hostess, we went out to roam around this area. loving it! we walked down to harvard square near the harvard campus. it was great. we found the one and only peet's coffee. paul and i set up our computers and he went to work while i piddled. then i went to the urban outfitters around the corner to get some new fun, non black/gray graphic t-shirts. i also got a fun pair of gloves. we had lunch at bartley's burgers which is famous. i had the tom brady burger which was yummy with sweet potato fries. YUM!

after lunch, we walked back to the house where we are staying. we rested and regrouped before going out to the north end of boston for some seafood at a place called the daily catch. it has been there for 37 years, small, and quite the little restaurant. paul got clam and calamari combo linguine with white sauce. i got fish and chips. our hostess recommended it. we walked parts of the freedom trail on the way there which was kind of cool.

we took the subway back to our neighborhood for coffees before dropping in a fun used book store called rodney's. then we came home. we are still pretty tired and trying to stay awake until at least 9:30....we have about another hour and a half but i don't think we are going to make it.

i heart boston! more fun plans for tomorrow......