Road trip

Today I took a drive out to pennsylvania to see some amish. Tip: amish observe good friday so don't expect to see many. Plus the shops are mostly closed, like this pretzel shop whose name sounded funny to me. I think it's dutch german or something. I did find a quality t-shirt for sale. I wanted it but knew i'd be too chicken to wear it. My backseat buddy really likes all her fingers. We think it's an omen of over achievement.

Black cars

Winding through the amish country side we discovered a whole fleet of black cars. They were parked around a brick structure with a small cemetery next door. The best we could figure was that the cars are used for funeral processions. They came in all styles from camrys to suvs. We noticed individualized hanging things from the rear view mirrors. Very odd to us tourists.

Gas

In lancaster county the gas station is called turkey hill. Prices are about 30 cents more than utah but about the same as maryland. I like the homes out here - brick and beautiful.

WWII memorial

On our way to the cherry blossoms it occurred to me I hadn't seen the newest memorial. I called the brother to ask him where it was. As I voiced my question I looked out the car window and there it was. Ha! Pretty cool place. It reminded me of the one i've seen in the philippines. There were ducks in the water. I took a photo of the niece playing with them. I like how the quote acknowledges others in the world. It was truly a world effort fighting for peace and freedom. I think despite so many monuments and movies and speeches we undervalue the sacrifices made for freedom. I think we undervalue freedom period. I liked how you could see washington monument above this one.

More monuments

I was surprised to discover i'd never before seen the korean memorial. Very graphic and humbling to see life sized action figure style soldiers.

I was surprised to find a neglected memorial for residents of dc that fought in the world war. You know - THE one. Apparently it was dedicated on armistice day with a live band playing the NEW national anthem conducted by none other than john philip sousa himself!

I was also surprised to see jfk has his own hockey field. Odd. Really.

After our adventures I took a nap on the couch. I was surprised to wake up to the sensation of my niece stuffing a raisin in my mouth. I wonder if I had been snoring or something!

Muddy hike

We tramped through the mud to see lincoln. On the way we saw more ducks. And what I believe is their poo. Here's the view both directions. Also lincoln up close and the niece julia. She was a happy tourist. She mostly slept. It was sort of a women of the world whirl wind tour since my sister had never driven to dc by herself and neither had I. We were super successful, of course!

Blossoms

The goal this morning was to see cherry blossoms. We did. It was windy. There were waves on the water. My niece loved the water.

winning essay

i want to go to africa. i entered an essay contest in hopes of getting to go with a renowned ny times columnist for free. here it is. tell me i'll win! i'll find out june 1. read on!

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in college is to never take a two hour class on a summer afternoon. I missed a good deal of my Sub-Saharan African geography class due to heavy eyelids. I quickly discovered that if I gave in to the eyelids around 1:30 they'd be open again before 2:00, allowing me to at least learn something. What I learned has never left me.

I considered myself a world traveler, sensitive to international issues and aware of challenges faced by third-world countries; after all, I spent my high school years in Mexico City. As a junior, I wrote a paper about the Masai, but all I retained is that they are cattle herders. I grew up singing along to "We Are the World," and when my little brother pushed out his belly we called him an Ethiopian. In that BYU class in the summer of '93, though, my stomach dropped and my heart broke when I was introduced to the unique and serious conditions of so many people in Africa. The years of history classes I took educated me in the principles of imperialism and Western exploitation, but never had I seen the perspective of the people who were exploited. It wasn't until I faced the challenge of filling 12 pages comparing two African countries that I began to see how naïve I was. My glimpse of the complexities of just those two countries left me baffled about what it meant to be an African.

Now I teach world literature to 15 year-olds living in the aptly named city of Bountiful, Utah. The pieces we read are as new to me as they are to them. Beginning with the oldest known epic hero, Gilgamesh, we've discovered major epic heroes from all over, including Mali's Sundiata. For each piece, we ask, "How are they like us?” and “What can we learn from them?" Our goal is to recognize that no matter the time or place, all literature comes from the souls of human beings who have the same values, fears, desires, and struggles, whether Mesopotamian, African, or Utahan.

While the realities of geography prevent people from experiencing many other cultures, reading the world’s stories is the most accessible approach to understanding others. Hearing, seeing and interacting, though, enables one to share in those stories and become one with them. Ever since waking up in Sub-Saharan African geography class, I've craved the opportunity to become one of their storytellers.

So far

Today I woke up to the smell of fried eggs. My brother in law was cooking breakfast. He likes to make pancakes festive by putting sprinkles in the mix. I took a photo of my pancake with the gravy baot of syrup next to it. After eating I got to take him to the metro stop because my sister was still in her robe and blind. I got to drive their new minivan in the rain. I did pretty good! Which was lucky since I failed to take my driver's licence with me. I took a photo of the steering wheel while I sat at a light. After getting ready for the day I went with my sister and nieces to the pediatrician's office. Julia, the youngest, needed shots. Here's a photo of lanelle holding her doll. Julia is in the car seat. It was a pretty sparse dr's office. one kid size table but no toys. A few jungle animals were painted on the walls. They had separate waiting rooms for sick patients from well patients. I wish i'd taken a photo of the little laminated rainbow colored signs. Now my sister is putting the girls down. I think i'll nap.

To DC

I'm somewhere over kansas I believe. Hey julie - I could be in your hood! The view is a pure carpet of white with a perfect blue horizon. I wish my camera were better. You'll have to do some imagining. Luckily I made it to the library yesterday to pick up a copy of this month's book club selection, "guns germs and steel." very enjoyable so far. I think the bit on back says you'll be hooked after 2 pages. I'm somewhere in the thirties. Plus I managed to write an essay on why I should go on a trip to report on a third world country. It's for a contest. If I win I get to go to africa with some ny times reporter - what a dream! I decided to enter the day I responded to dainon's "getting to know your friends 2007" survey where I said something about never having gone to africa. That same day (or near by) I read about this contest. I'll have to blog my winning essay. :) oh, the photo is of the horizon, the other is of my tray table filled with book and beverages. I generally get tomato juice and water whenever I fly because I don't ever drink it at home. The juice, I mean, not water. The girl next to me is doing an activity book filled with quizes to take that reveal the "real you" - think cosmo for preteens. I took one myself, over her shoulder to discover i'm a chocolate chip cookie rather than ginger or sugar. She was sugar. If her life were a movie she'd be a goofball comedy. I don't about myself - the first question stumped me - it had to do with the sign i'd have on my bedroom door. I LOVE flying!
p.s. I don't think the girl next to me likes me very much. I made the mistake of sneaking a bite of my cabbage I brought for lunch. She and her sister made faces at each other. I think it may have smelled funny.

Hard work

I spent the first day of spring break working in the yard. I needed to rip out a bunch of miniature chestnut trees. I have a massive chestnut tree in my parkstrip that is the bane of my existence. Every season it has to drop something and the nut casings are the worst - sharp pokey things. But the nuts are like rocks - dangerous in their own right. Well I had a pile of debris that decided the sprout. There must have been close to 50 little trees I ripped up. A few came out intact. I took a photo for your enjoyment. I also took a photo of the naked budding tree. Did I tell you it was a lot of work? I broke two nails. No photo of that, though, sorry.

Flag pole

I don't think you can see it, but it's there, perfectly framed by the huge trees. This is the walk ed took while listening to his sales pitch getting him pumped up be a powerful salesperson continually climbing higher and higher up the ladder of success. It's one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. I love that I live so close and can reenact it whenever I want.

sadness

the other day a kid and i had a class in class - at the beginning. he was drinking pop (against the rules) and i told him to throw it away. he chucked it across the room and when i called him on it he retorted with, "throw was the operative word." snot head. so he went to the office. anyway, he came by this morning to apologize. he's overall a good kid and one i like. i'd checked with the office the other day and the vp explained some personal issues he's dealing with. when i offered him my sympathy and fogiveness today he said his sister will probably be dead in the next few months. she's anorexic and his family can't afford the institutional care she needs. apparently she eats a 300 calorie "cookie" a day. i know what it's like to anticipate the death of a loved one. it's hard. kids deal with tough things. why oh why.

accents

i've gotten in the habit of reading my friends' friends blogs - facilitates procrastination. i discovered a fun self quiz on one and you know how hard those are to resist, so here are my results:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

i certainly wasn't surprised.

niece does yoga

this is her favorite pose. it cracks me up. it looks just like down dog but with no hands. i don't think i could do it. i have a hard enough time with regular down dog.

Brats

Is that spelled right? I mean the delicious sausages eaten on a spring ski day in the parking lot right off the grill - good times. The first photo is of dona audrey and danielle ready to go schlecking. Then there's ed and josh doing some grilling. There's also a photo of vanya lynn leanne dona and danielle hanging while the food digests. I also got a photo of ed and mark cleaning up where the peppers spilled. The last shot is of me and audrey sitting in the snow. Mark got two shots of me stuck in the snow while schlecking but they're still on his camera. Maybe i'll get copies eventually. What a perfectly gorgeous day it was. Much love all around.

Thumb

Look at me -I have a green thumb! I planted flowers and a lilac bush last year. It worked - they grew - hooray for spring!

fabulous!

this is an assignment i had turned in today by my resident artist. she often comes to class with some sort of drawing on her face. today she was decorated like a clown. lately she's been wearing a baby food jar filled with dead leaves (i think) around her neck on a string. anyway, she's terribly creative and interesting. i just had to share what type of work i get to grade sometimes. i think the essay part (what i'm grading) is actually on the back, these are just her class notes. i hope the cool details show up in the picture.

is it just me?

okay, i'm going to tell a story about a guy who asked me out. i can do this because no guy i ever date ever reads my blog - it's just all of you and some random people that accidentally stumble on me. i only say this because the story is not the most flattering. but maybe one of the guys that reads this will think twice before he asks out a girl.

it all started three weeks ago. sunday night my sunday school teacher (a boring one i have to say) called and chatted for a bit before asking if he could take me out sometime after he returns from argentina. i said sure. i figured it was worth the date - you never know - he was friendly enough. well he got back some time last week. he called me on sunday and did the small talk again, you knowm, asked about my week. in sunday school i'd made a comment about what a challenging week it had been so he asked for some details. then he asked me how this week looked. i told him it should be better. then he said, "okay, well i guess i'll call you some time next week to see if we can find a time to go out." i responded with, "well i'm free this weekend." he seemed pleased and said he'd call me on wednesday to set a date after he'd looked around to see what was going on. so last night he called. i told him saturday was already out (yes, believe it or not some other random guy who is not my type is taking me to dinner on saturday). he was cool with it. apparently there was nothing going on that he could find on either night so he said we could just go to dinner. i told him about a free concert on friday night that sounded interesting. he said, "okay, then we could just go to subway and get a quick meal and catch the concert. or if you want we could just go to sizzler." now i don't know about other people, but to me, sizzler is not the sort of place i want a date to take me for a nice meal. in my mind it's like chuck-a-rama without the "all you can eat" part. i laughed hard on the inside and we agreed we'd make the decision on friday when he picked me up. this morning i decided sizzler wouldn't be so bad. i really like steak and am not too picky about quality or ambiance. at least i'll have a good laugh on the inside.

am i too picky? you don't have to answer. mostly i wanted to give you a chance to laugh on the inside too.

laffy taffy

i've resorted to snacking on the students' "prizes" - pretty sad, i know. anyway, today's laffy taffy had a joke for dainon. let's see if you can get it dainon!

"what is green and sings?"

don't look yet.

guess.

keep thinking.

think of dainon.

ready?

all right, i'll give the answer.

soon.

next line.

elivs parsley

Look what I found!

On my walk home from work I found a million dollars! The back side gave it away as a fake, unfortunately. But fortunately it was a message about christ and reminded me to pray and read the scriptures. Which is a relevant message and I was happy I could make a connection to this week's rs lesson!

Ducks

Can you see them? Maybe they're geese - yeah, I think they are. I guess that's what happens at liberty park - the fowl find refuge in the gated pool area where the water hasn't been touched in months.

more student news

i stayed late today helping one of my poor non-english speaking students write a full page single spaced essay on why speed limits exist for his driver's ed class. it was not so fun. then i found out one of my english students isn't coming back to school for a few weeks because he has encephalitis. another one of my english students had a brain tumor when he was young and since then he's suffered from anxiety and only gets a couple hours of sleep each night. miserable.

on a funnier note - one of my students was given the first name "lestat." i guess his father was a big fan of the books. and even worse is his last name - "vile." i can never keep straight which is his first or last name. i usually just call him one or the other and figure he'll respond. poor poor poor guy.

famous

okay - i have to brag! i have a student in my 7th period that is famous. or nearly. he was missing from class today and his friend said it was because they were filming "high school musical 2." then it hit me - he was in "high school musical" - the hit disney show from last year. i even saw it myself. it was filmed at east high school. i can totally picture my student - he played the snobby preppy side kick to the snobby preppy girl. he basically played a louder more obnoxious version of himself. i think they're brother and sister on the show. in real life his cousin is also in my class and i know they do dance competitions together. how weird!

huntsman center

it seems i spend a lot of time off and on visiting my folks when dad is inpatient at the huntsman center. he was just there last week for a couple nights. while visiting, my brother took a photo of the parents. i think it's worth sharing since it's a big part of my life. doesn't dad look happy? he generally likes to make faces when being photographed.

Skirt

Look at my new pretty skirt - it's better in person - a bit shiney! Mother made it for me. I'm very pleased about it.

Your president

Jon, this is for you. It's a christmas card on my parents' fridge. It makes me happy. It's from my brother's past ward member.

Return of the hair

Plewe requested another hair shot - what a friend. So while stuck in downtown traffic last night I tried to capture the true essence of the new 'do. Here are some of the real treasures that I think not only reflect the natural flip of the hair but also the pain of sitting in traffic. And truthfully, I deleted the most painful ones. I'll just say that the smile is not totally natural.

quotes

"I used to think that the human brain was the most fascinating part of the body. Then I thought, `What part of my body is telling me that?'" - Emo Phillips

and now one from a student:
"read my poem dude." it was a poem about his car. i had the kids try to write sonnets, or if they couldn't do that, at least write a poem. i laughed out loud to hear him walk into my class and say that first thing to his friend. that's what an english teacher dreams of.

Here it is!

I know you were like all just dying to see the new cut. Well it's here! I can't say I love it. Too bowlish or something. I'm sure it'll grow on me and i'll learn to deal with it. I think the more expensive it is the less I like it. sorry for the shadows - camera phone in the car at dusk.

haircut

okay, in about 15 minutes i head out to get my hair cut. the top picture is how it looks now - just plain shaggy and ueseless. the bottom picture is how it looks on my school website - how long it was last fall. i miss the length, but i hate this in between stage so i think i'll go short again. it will at least make my mother happy. we shall see! hopefully i'll remember to post a photo of the new look tomorrow. (or tonight)

Logs

I made some tasty logs last night and am reaping the benefits tonight! Chocolate chocolate chip. This is what I call a food storage.

pops

so i'm on a roll and have another photo of a family member. this one is of pops. he's painting a vase. my friend at work had this vase as a gift from a student. workers installing new a/c in our building knocked it over breaking it into a good 20 different pieces. father glued them back together and painted it to look as good as new. he's a miracle worker i say. he has the patience of job. this is living proof. keep in mind his favorite position these days is asleep in his recliner - his cancer leaves him little energy for much else. but mother is a whip cracker and encouraged him to keep at this project. it paid off. he completed it in two weeks.

no-man

okay, i finally got around to pulling a photo of my niece from the sister's email. it was just too cute! i had a tough time narrowing it down to just one photo. i guess her grandp (who has been visiting) helped her make a snow man. it's small and on a plate so she can keep it in the fridge. only she calls it "no-man." she's showing it off to someone in this photo.

pearl s. buck

okay, so i'm posting again. i guess i start and i keep going. first, apologies for being a failure blogger and not knowing how to make that link in the last blog be a real link. anyway, pearl is one of my favorite authors ever. she got me through high school - added major depth to my shallow life. here's what she has to say about my job - love that pearl!

"Only the brave should teach; only the men and women whose integrity cannot be shaken, whose minds are enlightened enough to understand the high calling of the teacher and whose hearts are unshakably loyal to the young." Pearl S. Buck

music

okay, i'm not being much of a blogger these days. can't think of much to say. i did enjoy some yummy sushi on friday - raw steak - sooooo good! then saturday i skied my heart out - even broke a piece off my ski - got to take it to the shop. my sister sent some great photos of my niece this week. and the brother sent a good photo of pops. but i didn't bother to save the photos to post. i'm a lazy bum. so instead i'll share a link to a site i visit every day ever since my new buddy blair introduced me to it. it's like a song a day! only some of the songs are a bit painful.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/365_days_project/index.html
but i don't complain. i like odd stuff. i just like being entertained i guess.

now to prepare my lesson for the day - sonnets! last week we studied dante's inferno. the kids wrote their own inferno pieces - i look forward to reading them!