Yesterday was HS graduation at ICS and it got me thinking about my own students who are graduating this year. One of my 8th grade classes from BAICA will walk across the stage soon, as will my last group of 6th graders from Lincoln (the rest of my Lincoln students are already college aged, and hopefully IN college, which ummm, doesn't make feel old at all). At a large high school like Pioneer, graduation is just two hours of torture, but at a small school it is kind of sweet, and every time I have to go to one it makes me want to stick around somewhere long enough to see my own students graduate. I am already setting aside mental space and money to be in Buenos Aires when the class of 2016 graduates, especially if one particular kid is still there.
It would be nice to see the kids that I have poured into make that move from childhood to adulthood. I look at my 8th graders and I look at the Seniors and I marvel at how quickly they grow and change in those four years. What I can't quite imagine is being one of their parents. I love watching the parents during the ceremony. They are looking at their 18 year old, but all they are seeing is the toothless baby grin, the kindergarten Mother's Day card, the awkward preteen enthusiasm, and the tears of teenage drama. For international Seniors, graduation often means moving to another country, another continent, and can mean living thousands of miles away from family- no wonder their moms are crying!
So maybe someday I will get to see my students, my kids, complete that milestone. I want to see the boys who wrote sixth grade poems full of poop jokes and girls who burst into tears when they forgot their PE clothes, the ones who loved reading Geronimo Stilton or struggled to line up their decimals. I want to see them look back and get all sentimental and then walk forward into all that life has for them.
Also, couldn't write this post without congratulating all my graduating cousins this year! Three from high school: Robin, Anna, and Will; one from undergrad: Carolyn; and one who just added an MD to her name: Rachel. Wish I had made it home in time for all the celebrations.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Crumpled papers
If you haven't read the blog long enough to know about Nak Suu, where I teach English in Saturdays, this will give you a bit of background. Today at Nak Suu I was reminded about how/why love never gives up, because some days it would be really easy to give up.
Some weeks the lesson I teach goes well, and I feel like the kids get something out of it, and some weeks I feel like I am talking to myself the whole time. There's a group of boys who come who live in a boys home. They have it rough. They are the kind of kids that Nak Suu is designed for, but I admit that sometimes on the weeks they can't come I breath a sigh of relief. Some of them are great, but collectively they are a whole lot of work, and at times a whole lot of naughty. And yet we love them, because God loves them. We love them because they are in many ways, just products of their environment and upbringing and since they don't see a hope and a future we have to see it for them.
Recently in my lessons I have been trying to incorporate literacy and just expose the kids to more language, using picture books to help them understand it. So this week we made little books for them to read and practice at home. As it, I put them together and the kids colored them. Being a bit dense, I didn't start putting the books together until Friday night, so some friends helped me finish since it was going to take me hours. The entire time I was working on them, in the back of my mind I knew, they were just going to end up on the ground or in the trash, but I wanted to believe that maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time we would make something and they would actually take it with them. And I do think that maybe a few kids did take them home, but I sure picked up a lot of them at the end of the day. When I handed them back to the kids at the end of the morning, before they left, a few laughed and gave them back, telling me they didn't want them.
How often we do that to God. How often does he prepare something for us, something that will benefit us, and we crumple it on the ground? But he keeps giving, keeps loving, keeps hoping on our behalf for the day when we will see that it is good, and see that it has value, and see it as a gift.
And so it is at Nak Suu. We prepare crafts and projects and lessons. We cut fruit and run drills and serve lunch. And we pray that one day it will start to stick in their minds and hearts, even if we never see it.
Some weeks the lesson I teach goes well, and I feel like the kids get something out of it, and some weeks I feel like I am talking to myself the whole time. There's a group of boys who come who live in a boys home. They have it rough. They are the kind of kids that Nak Suu is designed for, but I admit that sometimes on the weeks they can't come I breath a sigh of relief. Some of them are great, but collectively they are a whole lot of work, and at times a whole lot of naughty. And yet we love them, because God loves them. We love them because they are in many ways, just products of their environment and upbringing and since they don't see a hope and a future we have to see it for them.
Recently in my lessons I have been trying to incorporate literacy and just expose the kids to more language, using picture books to help them understand it. So this week we made little books for them to read and practice at home. As it, I put them together and the kids colored them. Being a bit dense, I didn't start putting the books together until Friday night, so some friends helped me finish since it was going to take me hours. The entire time I was working on them, in the back of my mind I knew, they were just going to end up on the ground or in the trash, but I wanted to believe that maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time we would make something and they would actually take it with them. And I do think that maybe a few kids did take them home, but I sure picked up a lot of them at the end of the day. When I handed them back to the kids at the end of the morning, before they left, a few laughed and gave them back, telling me they didn't want them.
How often we do that to God. How often does he prepare something for us, something that will benefit us, and we crumple it on the ground? But he keeps giving, keeps loving, keeps hoping on our behalf for the day when we will see that it is good, and see that it has value, and see it as a gift.
And so it is at Nak Suu. We prepare crafts and projects and lessons. We cut fruit and run drills and serve lunch. And we pray that one day it will start to stick in their minds and hearts, even if we never see it.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Countdown
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the teacher is probably counting down longer and harder than any of the students...
15 alarm clocks and 14.5 days, just so you know. And back in Michigan in 23. Where hopefully it won't be high 90's with crazy humidity.
I know I can't really complain about the weather because its not snowing, and believe me, I am grateful for that, but the last week or so has been unbelievably hot. Hotter than hot. Unbearable. So I will be happy for a few weeks of Great Lakes State summer. Until then I shall do my best not to melt.
The last weeks of school are crazy at any school, and that only gets magnified at an international school where there are a multitude of events associated with The Great Turnover. And at ICS, always a host of bridal showers for that year's crop of summer brides as well. It's grat fun if I pace myself. Tomorrow is the big collective garage sale after school, in the school cafeteria, where everyone who is leaving tries to sell all their stuff. Perhaps there will be some sanity for sale to carry me through :)
Actually though, year two has gone remarkably well. I have had good kids and great colleagues, serveral of whom are leaving and will be dearly missed. It's the never ending story of the expat life!
15 alarm clocks and 14.5 days, just so you know. And back in Michigan in 23. Where hopefully it won't be high 90's with crazy humidity.
I know I can't really complain about the weather because its not snowing, and believe me, I am grateful for that, but the last week or so has been unbelievably hot. Hotter than hot. Unbearable. So I will be happy for a few weeks of Great Lakes State summer. Until then I shall do my best not to melt.
The last weeks of school are crazy at any school, and that only gets magnified at an international school where there are a multitude of events associated with The Great Turnover. And at ICS, always a host of bridal showers for that year's crop of summer brides as well. It's grat fun if I pace myself. Tomorrow is the big collective garage sale after school, in the school cafeteria, where everyone who is leaving tries to sell all their stuff. Perhaps there will be some sanity for sale to carry me through :)
Actually though, year two has gone remarkably well. I have had good kids and great colleagues, serveral of whom are leaving and will be dearly missed. It's the never ending story of the expat life!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Symbiosis: Life in our community
Symbiosis. A word we all learned in Bio class. A word that has come to mean so much to me lately.
Last September my friends had twins. I used to think third-child babies were awesome (their mamas are alwasy so willing to hand them over to me) but twins are even better: there is always someone to hold. I've always loved babies. I remember having my arm propped up on a pilliow in the house on Thayler to learn how to feed a baby a bottle. And we moved from there when I was 6.
So when the twins, O-man and E-girl, were born, I was so excited. What's even better is the symbiotic relationship that has developed over the past 7 months of their little lives.
When you're living away from your family- be it across the state or across the world- it's always nice to have a home away from home, a place where you can go anytime, where you are fully comfortable and able to be yourself. In college I always had my Aunt Mo's house. In Buenos Aires I had my friend Jeannette. But nothing in Bangkok had really filled that- a place to be and 'do nothing' and be with people, not home alone. For me, it's a critical component to feeling settled and at home in a place. So as wonderful as our community is here, I was still lacking that.
I needed a safe place, where I didn't have to be "on" in any way. They needed an extra set of hands for the twinks. It's been a match made in heaven. I love the time I get to spend talking with their mom and dad, watching some Downton Abbey or March Madness too. I love that they don't feel any need to clean the place up before I come over, and I once went over practically in my pajamas. I love that I wear the same old t-shirts anytime I go over- the probability of being drooled/spit/puked on is 100%. And perhaps most of all, I love that I can be useful, that my being there not only benefits me, but their family as well. It's really blossomed into a beautiful symbiotic relationship, and certainly blesses me abundantly.
I would be remiss if I did not also point out that I benefit from my friend's amazing cooking as well. I don't cook a lot here- teaching full time just does not afford me much time or energy for groceries and cooking. My grocery delivery came two days late this week and one night I ate frozen peas and Pringles for dinner. It's that bad. So while I certainly don't go just for the food, it sure is an added bonus that baby bedtime coincides with dinner.
These two little people have stolen my heart. Nothing cures a stressful day quicker than a grin from E or a belly laugh from O. I love watching their personalities emerge and getting to be part of their first days and months of life. Seriously, nothing beats a bedtime snuggle from O!
(sorry- have some issues with blogger and it won't size the pictures right, but that's okay since they are so darn cute!)
Last September my friends had twins. I used to think third-child babies were awesome (their mamas are alwasy so willing to hand them over to me) but twins are even better: there is always someone to hold. I've always loved babies. I remember having my arm propped up on a pilliow in the house on Thayler to learn how to feed a baby a bottle. And we moved from there when I was 6.
So when the twins, O-man and E-girl, were born, I was so excited. What's even better is the symbiotic relationship that has developed over the past 7 months of their little lives.
When you're living away from your family- be it across the state or across the world- it's always nice to have a home away from home, a place where you can go anytime, where you are fully comfortable and able to be yourself. In college I always had my Aunt Mo's house. In Buenos Aires I had my friend Jeannette. But nothing in Bangkok had really filled that- a place to be and 'do nothing' and be with people, not home alone. For me, it's a critical component to feeling settled and at home in a place. So as wonderful as our community is here, I was still lacking that.
I needed a safe place, where I didn't have to be "on" in any way. They needed an extra set of hands for the twinks. It's been a match made in heaven. I love the time I get to spend talking with their mom and dad, watching some Downton Abbey or March Madness too. I love that they don't feel any need to clean the place up before I come over, and I once went over practically in my pajamas. I love that I wear the same old t-shirts anytime I go over- the probability of being drooled/spit/puked on is 100%. And perhaps most of all, I love that I can be useful, that my being there not only benefits me, but their family as well. It's really blossomed into a beautiful symbiotic relationship, and certainly blesses me abundantly.
I would be remiss if I did not also point out that I benefit from my friend's amazing cooking as well. I don't cook a lot here- teaching full time just does not afford me much time or energy for groceries and cooking. My grocery delivery came two days late this week and one night I ate frozen peas and Pringles for dinner. It's that bad. So while I certainly don't go just for the food, it sure is an added bonus that baby bedtime coincides with dinner.
These two little people have stolen my heart. Nothing cures a stressful day quicker than a grin from E or a belly laugh from O. I love watching their personalities emerge and getting to be part of their first days and months of life. Seriously, nothing beats a bedtime snuggle from O!
(sorry- have some issues with blogger and it won't size the pictures right, but that's okay since they are so darn cute!)
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| O and E's early days. |
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| We took this when I was over one day and the toy pile around them was just ridiculous. |
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| She is going to die of extreme cuteness. |
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| Such a happy, content baby! |
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Great Wall
Sometimes you go to popular tourist sites only to find out that they are a bit disappointing. Not so with China's Great Wall. The scenery is stunning and the wall itself lives up to its billing. We took a 3 hour bus ride from Beijing in order to get to Jinshanling, a section of the wall that is gorgeous, less visited than the closer sites, and much less reconstructed/touristed. There were still a few hawkers, but much less than Angkor Wat or other such attractions. It was well worth the drive. The beginning of the wall had been rebuilt around 1980, but most of what we walked on was the Real Deal. And once we got away a bit, there weren't many people at all.
It was a glorious day to spend in the mountain sunshine and a great ending to our time in China.
It was a glorious day to spend in the mountain sunshine and a great ending to our time in China.
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