Christmas Break 2013

This is the first break... ever (I think) that I am not traveling. Instead, my parents have come up here and we are doing Christmas in DC. 

So far I have gone hiking in SugarLoaf and then...

My mom, sister and I went with Cailyn to the National Cathedral for carols by candleight. It was more of a Service than we were expecting but it was still pretty cool to be in the Cathedral.

Yesterday, we went shopping and everyone got new iphones. Technology lessons will continue throughout the week.

Then, today, we went to the Botanic Gardens and saw some pretty trees and even some snow!

 Tonight, we braved the cold and went to see the Christmas lights at the Meadowlark Botanic Gardens. It was an awesome display of lights.

 Even as a ninja, Cailyn enjoyed the lights. With her visual impairments, lights and the contrast of flashing and changing colors is really good for her!

Its been a good break so far. Tomorrow is Christmas, we will do breakfast and presents at my sister's house and then later dinner with mashed potatoes for sure.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Tis the Season...

I always love this time of year...

 White House Christmas tree lighting Friday night and then the Jingle Bell Jog the next morning.... I do love the Holiday Season.

Then, today was the first snow of the year! I drove in the snow/ice for the first time today. It was nerve raking and my knuckles are a little too while....but I survived. Slow and steady. We are patiently waiting with hopeful hearts that the announcement will be made for us to have a SNOWDAY tomorrow! Fingers Crossed!

One of the big things they don't teach you in Teacher School...

How to go to the funeral of your student's father.

Last week one of my student's father had a heart attack at home. One of the women we work with lives down the street from them and called me when she saw the ambulance leaving their house. The next day, the boy's aunt emailed me to tell me what had happened. Tuesday afternoon, another teacher and I went over to the house with cards and things the kids in his class had made for him. Wednesday he came back to school.
They don't teach us how to do this....I have read countless articles and websites about teaching kids to cope with death. I have reached out to our school counselors and other teachers who have had their kids' parents die. No one really has any answers and I know there isn't a magic formula of "If A happens then you do B"..... but woah!
Part of the hardest thing with him is that he is SUCH A HAPPY KID and his ADHD is so pronounced that he can be happy and excited one minute (ie: the Halloween Parade) and then instantly it flips back to... "I miss my dad." Its tough.
The funeral was Monday and another teacher and I went for most of it. When he got out of the limo he was so excited to see all of his aunts and uncles and he was so jazzed about showing off his suit he almost forgot why he was there and then the instant he walked into the church, he was a totally different kid. We felt a bit awkward being there and we shuffled off with the over flow crowd into the basement of the church where we could hear the service but could not see anything happening. It was a very somber experience. It was also very powerful for my colleague and I to be there and hear all of the remembrances of his father... certainly made me realize and remember "The Parents of my kids are not always The Enemy." He was a really great man who coached the DC Divas (Women's Pro Football team) and was very involved with his church. He played football in high school and was in the marching band. To me, before this, he was just that dad who fell asleep in one of my meetings (I can't really blame him, some of the are Really long!) It has truly made me think.
It was great to see the amount of support the family has and it is very enlightening to know that I am a big part of that support system.
The next few weeks are going to be really hard and I'm sure even into the next few months and years.
Death is not something you can prepare for in any complicity.

Army Ten Miler

Several months back, my friend Mary asked me if I would run with her. Several months back, I was in a crazy mood and said yes. This morning we let the house at 5:45 and made our way to the Pentagon with the other 35,000 people. The metro was PACKED and the lines for the pottys were nuts! But we made it just in time for our wave and we were off. The first two miles kinda sucked. Frozen muscles and joints took a while to warm up. Getting to Mile 3 was when we crossed over the Memorial Bridge. I wish I could have taken a picture of the sea of people running in front of us. The way the hills worked you could only see bodies flowing over the bridge. It was probably my favorite part of the race (pretty cool to be part of something so big.) Miles 4, 5 and 6 were pretty uneventful, water stops and marching bands. Then Mile 7 was over by the Smithsonian Castle. The amount of spectators was significantly higher over there so it was much more entertaining. It is pretty cool to have perfect strangers cheering you on and shouting words of encouragement. When we got to Mile 8 though... things got dicey. Not only did we have to go uphill to get onto the 14th street bridge but the bridge was windy, boring and LONG. To top all of that off...Mile 8 was when the "Runner's cramps" started happening. Not even just cramps... this was like "HOLY HELL, I AM GOING TO SHIT MY PANTS RIGHT NOW!!" problems. Having to poop on runs is a thing that many people deal with and there really isn't anything you can do about it, but Dear Lord....it was awful!! The more I ran, the more it was a problem... but if i walked... it made getting to the bathroom that much further away. Needless to say, my mental mantra for the last 2 miles of this thing was "You're almost done, don't shit your pants, You're almost done, don't shit your pants." Luckily, I made it!  I did not shit my pants! AND I finished faster than I thought I would.

I can't say right now if I will do a 10-miler again but for right now... I am just glad I did it and its done.

Thai trekking

I'm sure I will need to revise this post when I get back home but for now here is a quick summary of the past few days.

We went to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand and did a two day trek.it started with our group picking us up at our hotel... It was me, Erin and 4 Germans. I was super excited that they were German, as I have a better chance at being able to understand and talk with them...

The trek continued with a stop at the local market where our guide (Don... The coolest old Thai guy you've ever met) showed us what they have at the market and bought what we would need to eat for the next two days. 

After the market we drove up to the elephant camp and ride the elephants. We named ours' Pablo, Pablo the pooping pachyderm! (You can guess why he got that name). 

Then we went rafting. Picture Huck Finn and Captain Jack Sparrow combined. 

Note: Most of my pictures are on my real camera so an update to this post will be needed when I get home. 

After the rafting started the hiking. Up the mountain into the jungle to the small village of refugees from Burma where we would spend the night. The hike was about 3 hours and it was HOT. but it was really pretty (again, pics coming soon)  

The village was awesome. Bamboo huts. No electricity. The villagers did a show for us around the camp fire. More stars than I've seen in a long long time. 

Only complaint... Apparently it was a holiday for the villagers so after our show ended around midnight their celebrations continued with drums and dancing until at least 4 am!!! Woah. We did not get much sleep. 

In the morning we hiked back out of the jungle and went to a temple cave. (No pics from the cave on my phone)

After the cave we stopped at the butterfly and orchid farm. 

Then we went back to our hotels for the BEST AND MOST NEEDED shower ever!!

Overall.,.,It was a very cool Thai-adventure. 

* I will update this post when I get home *

Marketing Mayhem

Yesterday before we left Bangkok we went to one of the biggest markets. It was big. They had everything you could ever not know you needed. Tshirts, jeans, spices, bags, suits, puppies, eggs, veggies, bunnies in little outfits, sunglasses, budah statues and more. The market has its on metro stop and was PACKED! Now, I am the girl who needs to take a Xanax to go Christmas shopping at Pentagon City Mall so you can imagine I was a bit overwhelmed. We didn't take any pictures because it was too crowded to even get to my camera. I'm glad we experienced it but I don't really feel the need to go back. 

That being said, after Bangkok we flew to Chiang Mai and promptly went to the Night Market. This was also huge but not quiet as crowded. You are suppose to bargain for stuff and its better to buy more than one thing so we tried to do that but who knows??? There has been a lot if guessing and uncertainty here. 

For two people who don't like to shop at all.. We didn't do too badly we got some art, a dress, some bags, and paper flower decorations. Not too shabby especially since we don't really need anything either. 

Bangkok Day One

We went the the Grand Palace . It was grand. They have an "emerald budah" that is really made of jade (why it's not called the jade budah... I don't know). 

To get there we had quite the adventure. We have decided there is no way we would win "the amazing race" but so far we aren't loosing either. We can do things. We are just not quick or efficient at them. We had to walk from the apartment to the BTS (above ground equivalent to the metro) and then buy tickets, ride, transfer and then get to the Water Taxis and ride a boat down the river to the market by the palace. It's tiring. Lots of brain power is needed. I am very very glad Erin and I have each other.

Once we got to the market we stopped for lunch and a coconut drink!

They literally use the hatchet to crack open the top and stick the straws in. 

Then we went in to the palace. You can't wear shorts or a tank top into the palace... We had on both. So there are genius little street men renting wraps and things outside the gate. We paid about 30cents and wore some "highly fashionable" clothes. Then we went in. 

You are not allowed to take pictures of the "emerald budah" (sorry)

After we saw some stuff it was time to make our way home. The water taxis are not very efficient and we missed one because we didn't know which dock to be on. Once we figured that out we continued on our journey back to the metro to transfer and walk back up the way we came to get back to the apartment just in time for the rain. Much like Florida it happens every afternoon from 4:00-5:00 and so that's a great nap time.

After naps we went out to the market for dinner and drinks with Chelsea and her friends. It was a fun day. 

On the schedule for today... Shopping market in Bangkok and then flight to Chaing Mai!!

Thai-adventures

I have never used the app on my phone to update my blog so let's see how this goes. 

I'm currently in Bangkok. Erin and I came to Thailand to visit her friend and ride some elephants. I started my journey with a quick trip to Portland to see Liz and her new husband! 

Then I met Erin in San Fran and we started out time traveling adventure. 

I think in reality we were in the air for 16 hours but we left on Wednesday and got here on Friday?! It will be even better when we go home... We land 30 minutes before we leave????? Crazy!!

We got to Bangkok last night at 1am so we haven't done much yet. It's stupid hot so sitting in front of the fan has been a good idea. We will go explore Old Town later and see the grand palace and some temples. I will keep you posted as we go as I can. 

Back again...Berlin 2013

Back again....I just can't seem to say "no" to working GYLC. Every summer... This year was the first year we took the GYLC crew to Berlin. Sadly, they traded Budapest for Berlin... people with a much higher pay scale than me made that decision... (ie: they actually get paid.. I do not) Anywho, to be sure we were ready for bringing 5 buses and 250 high school students from 63 different countries around the world to Berlin, Scott and I went early and scouted things out. We spent two very cold and very rainy days wondering around town seeing the places we would be taking the kids and figuring out where the nearest StarBucks, pharmacies and ATMs would be. It was very helpful to see everything before the kids came. 

We checked off all of the sites we needed to see for the program and then we had some time to see things we would not be able to do with everyone, like dinner at the top of the TV Tower. It was a fun rotating restaurant with great views of the city, even with the gloomy rain.

By the time we came back to Berlin (a week later) with the whole group, the weather had changed drastically. No more rain, no more gloom. Now it was sunny and hot!

Awesome Ops team with Scott and Jimmy!

We visited the Reichstag building (Parliament) and took a tour of the dome on the roof. Getting everyone through security and making sure we didn't leave anyone inside took a long time but overall, was a success.

Then we started our walking tour of Berlin passing by the Holocaust Memorial (designed to look like a Jewish cemetery) and the few parts of The Wall that still stand in tribute. 

We went to Check Point Charlie (the best known passageway through The Wall and into the American Sector and allowing passage from East to West during the Cold War) and then we went on to lunch.

 Throughout Berlin there is a line of bricks placed side by side to indicate where the wall was. Its kinda crazy to be driving down the street and see where East and West Berlin were split.

On our last day in Berlin we went to the Brandenburg Gate. The Brandenburg Gate is one of Berlin’s most important monuments – a landmark and symbol all in one with over two hundred years of history. A former symbol of the divided city, it drew visitors who used to climb an observation platform in order to get a glimpse of the world behind the Iron Curtain, on the other side of the barren “death-strip” which separated east from west Berlin, geographically and politically. It was here that on June 12, 1987, Ronald Regan issued his stern command to his cold war adversary admonishing him with the words: “Mr. Gorbachov – tear down this wall!”. The speech delivered to West Berliners was also audible on the east side of the Gate and echoed President von Weizsacker’s words which translate as: “The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed.”

Berlin is a fun city with a lot to do and see but mainly a lot to think about as you can physically see how different things were in the not-so distant past. The fall of the wall is one of the big historical events that has happened while I was alive. It is very cool to see the changes that have taken place in the world in the past and it is exciting to think of what more can change in the future.

Lake Break!

The first weekend of June was a great weekend to escape from the grind for a little while and catch up with some great old friends.

Andrea and I met up in Milwaukee... took a swing by Lake Michigan and rented a fun little punch buggy to drive down to "Ringaland!"

Scout likes the boat too!

RJ, Andrew and Colleen (some of the coolest people I know) live in Lake Villa, Illinois on Long Lake (a very beautiful place.) A few years ago, I went to visit them in January when the lake was frozen over. This time, it was a much different experience. Last time there was a lot of beer drinking and hockey playing... this time there was a lot of beer drinking and boat riding.

We did some cruises on the pontoon boat and spent some time with RJ's super cute little clones.

Maceo and Lincoln

On Saturday we went to the GraysLake Beer Festival. There were hundreds of different beers from all over....it was a lot of fun. Hanging out, drinking beers all day reminded me a lot of the first time I met these great folks. Glad to know, not too much has changed.  

Beer Fest 2013

Tatra Mountains 2006

The sense of community and lake culture is very strong at Long Lake. The Ringa family has lived at the lake for many generations and are highly involved in the neighborhood. RJ is the president of the Yacht Club and helps to regulate environmental factors as well as maintenance and upkeep of the facilities. Their dad has been sailing there forever and still races with one of his best friends from childhood.  On Sundays throughout the summer they compete in a sailing race. I was almost recruited to help in Sunday's race (they needed more weight in the boat due to the choppy water and I had made the mistake of telling them I had learned to sailed in Girl Scout camp many many years ago)...luckily, a neighbor with actual experience stepped in and I was able to watch from the pontoon boat instead.

Late Sunday, fun time was over and we returned to the airport. Milwaukee is the only place I have ever seen a Recombobulation area...very helpful after you get all discombobulated or uncombobulated by going through security. The Midwest is a very pleasant place to visit. I hope we get to take another getaway to see great friends soon!