New York!

This past weekend I got to go to New York to visit my brother.  I love NYC, but I've been several times in the last few years so we decided to spend some time outside the city and rented an Airbnb in the Catskills for two nights.  I got some time in lower Manhattan on Friday before while Matt worked and then we drove north with his girlfriend, his dog, and his roommate's dog.  It was a crowded car, but it worked.  Like any good up north trip, our activities primarily consisted of hiking and discussing, planning, preparing, and eating great meals.  Our cabin was next to a pond near the small town of Walden, NY.  Almost like being at Walden Pond, almost.  The cabin had a screened in porch overlooking the pond that we found was the perfect breakfast spot. And appetizer spot. And dinner spot. 

Saturday was cold and a bit wet so our hike got cut a bit short and we had a nice big lunch in town before heading back and going for a long walk in the woods behind the cabin.  On Sunday afternoon we hiked in Harriman State Park on our way back to the city.  It was a beautiful day, gorgeous hike in the hills, and perfect ending to the trip.  On Monday I got my city fix with a visit to the Tenement Museum, Central Park, the MET, and a cafe while Matt worked and then a great evening with dinner and drinks in the Lower East Side.  Tuesday I got time in Matt's neighborhood, Ridgewood, which I really enjoy, before flying back to Detroit.  I can't wait to go back next year!  

Saturday hike to the waterfall in Minnewaska State Park 

Wildflowers and woods behind the cabin. 

Start of the Sunday hike in Harriman State Park 

Lunch in Central Park 

Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago this week I went on a "once in a lifetime" trip to Argentina to visit my brother at the end of his study abroad semester.  Over the course of the two weeks I was there I fell in love with the country and rekindled the love of travel that I had discovered on my own study abroad semester a few years earlier in Aberdeen, Scotland. Those two weeks I spent in Argentina drastically changed the last decade of my life, leading me to move to Buenos Aires myself two years later, and then on to Bangkok a few years after that.  I never could have imagined this international teacher life- that someone would pay me to teach in a Christian school in a foreign country where the perks include introducing students to Christ and traveling on weekends.  I never imagined as I struggled with caring about high school and college German classes because "when would I ever use a foreign language?!" that years later I would speak Spanish and even a little bit of Thai (and spend a week in Austria during college really wishing I'd paid attention in German class!).  

My life in Bangkok comes with a great many sacrifices, but it also comes with much joy, great adventure, and a daily life that feel amazingly normal to me now.  The more I travel and live, the more I leave pieces of my heart scattered around the globe.  The more people and cutlures that I encounter the more beauty and suffering I see in the rainbow of faces around me.  I love being a part of this global community, love living as an ambassador for Jesus in a land where his name is barely known.  I hate the unknowns, the how longs, the what nexts.  But I love the present, the todays.  I love summers in Michigan and around the US, connecting with friends and family around the world.  

In the ten years since I stepped off that flight at Ezeiza airport (to a baggage handlers strike and a swarm of angry Argentines, I might add) I have changed in ways I never could have predicted, shaped into something new by both the beauty of it all and the pain that accompanies.  So the next ten years? I don't think I can even begin to imagine.  

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...

I've spent most of my teaching career in a middle school classroom, despite my dual certification in elementary and middle.  From Lincoln to BAICA to Derby to ICS, I've found a home within the strange structure and nuances of the middle grades.  So it not without sadness that I pack up my boxes and move them to K4.  But even as I say good-bye to my 120+ students this week, I still know it's the right choice.  I'll miss my older students. I'll miss their ability to do things on their own. I'll miss their humor.  I'll miss solving equations with them. I'll miss that they instantly know what The Look means and why they are receiving it. But, I am ready.   

I spent my morning sorting and organizing in my new classroom and beginning to envision more concretely what my coming year will look like.  It's fun and exciting to think about the joy and delight in four year olds as they discover and experience the world around them.  Even when that joy gives way to fatigue and tears, I love the honesty of kids that age. They are who they are, even when you might not want them to be :)  I love watching them learn, seeing them master new skills, and the sense of accomplishment they feel when they do that.  I love the small class, and really getting to know each student and family. I love that I get to exercise a muscle I haven't used in a number of years and put to use the full range of training I got at Hope and The Discovery Center.  

I am thankful that ICS has given me this opportunity. I'm thankful that I could change teaching positions and do something new without changing jobs.  In a field that has very few opportunities for professional growth (though the personal growth is unending), making lateral moves keeps things fresh and interesting.  And I am thankful that I have six weeks in the States to see people (and buy classroom stuff!) before the transition is official.  Two and a half more days middle school!