Friday, April 29, 2011

bouncy ball



jaina loves being sung to while bip-bopping on the bouncy ball. i believe i was singing michael jackson's "man in the mirror" to her when this was taken. as of right now, she's not particularly picky when it comes to musical selection, but i think she'll always have a connection with enya. (wink, wink, jin!)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

soup love.



i love soup. it's (usually) hearty, nutritious, delicious, and fabulously satisfying. i came across this italian saying and wholeheartedly agree!

sette cose fa la zuppa--soup does seven things.

1. relieves your hunger
2. quenches your thirst
3. fill your stomach
4. cleans your teeth
5. makes you sleep
6. helps you digest
7. colors your cheeks

to soup! SOUP!

Friday, April 22, 2011

completely unexpected

*originally written 12/06/2010. revised and completed, today.*

as a teacher, i try to come up with new ways to illuminate the same subject. there's nothing worse than a stale activity to disengage students from wanting to learn more. for as long as i can remember, i've loved words. i am what you would call a logophile. in this final month of teaching, i wanted to emphasize more of the fun aspect and less of the burdensome of learning and using vocabulary words. to demonstrate the fun, i created a quiz game like atmosphere by having teams of two work together to see which duo can accurately state the most vocabulary words in one minute.

to add to the suspense, the teams were also chosen randomly and with everyone's cell phones' timers set to 60 seconds, my students were transformed from vocabulary dissidents to word nerd competitors. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

i knew the activity would be engaging, but i was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was spot on, on other levels. 1) my students were motivated to remember the words more solidly. 2) they were reviewing the words as they were in game mode. 3) they themselves knew whether they had studied well enough or not. in sum: accountability and responsibility.

the activity also brought about some unexpected emotions. after the game, i had my students play another game--a test, in fact!--with higher stakes. using the same vocabulary cards, i held them in my hand like a deck of cards. each student had to choose a vocabulary word and state the definition. if it was correct, (for the first word) they received 100%. if they got the second word correct, they received 90%, so on and so forth. in my second saturday class, only one student, brian received a 90%. now, let me tell you, brian is not a dumb kid. he's incredibly fluent and funny, but to be honest, he is a bit of a slacker. he's one of those kids that doesn't apply himself to the best of his ability but is confident regardless.

after he received his 90%, he begged me to try again, to try for a 100%. i refused, stating that rules are rules and once you waver for one person, impartiality is jeopardized. truthfully, his average vocabulary score is usually in the 80's so, knowing this, i thought that he would be pleased with a 90%! to my astonishment, he took this very seriously. maybe a bit TOO seriously and he began to cry. WHOA. I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING FROM A MILE AWAY...and neither did any of the other students. we were all puzzled and stunned to see the class clown, break down, unashamedly in front of everyone.

to alleviate his stress, i took him outside the classroom (i instructed the other students to continue studying their vocabulary words) and into a smaller consultation room so we could talk it out. he told me in between deep breaths that he felt really embarrassed and ashamed that he was the only student in the class that didn't get 100%. i reassured him that while i understood wanting to be like everyone else, he still received a good score and that even though vocabulary scores are important, they're not as important as actually knowing and using the words correctly, which he did during the activity. i also told him that luck is not always in our favor and that in unlucky times, what we can do is remember that instances like these are not nearly as important as they seem. after a few more deep breaths, he calmed down and class resumed without any more calamities.

i learned a couple of valuable lessons that day. i realized my own prejudice with a student who i didn't think would demonstrate such visceral emotions and then, once he did, was really touched that he felt that comfortable and safe in our classroom to expose his vulnerabilities. perhaps, i am reading too much into the situation, but, it made me realize yet again, how much we expect the same thing from each other on a daily basis and how that sense of expectancy is so limiting and completely unrealistic. it is good to challenge our own ideas of who people are and then, be surprised by the depths and capabilities to feel and understand.

it's okay.

i've noticed recently, that all too often, family members (myself included) tend to be too short, curt, rude, and impatient with each other--get this!--when they don't have to be. our habitual reactions to our family members--those who love us when we are less than our ideal selves, or perhaps more accurately, those who love and support us completely, and accept and excuse us, especially when we are exposing the ruthless honest layers of ourselves--are deeply rooted in annoyance, restlessness, and greed. it's okay to have moments of recklessness, but, it's not okay to be mean.

being in washington dc has provided me with a colorful variety of situations in which to observe and cultivate awareness--both internal and social. whether i'm walking through columbia heights, adams morgan or mt pleasant, to riding public transportation and simply waiting in lines at grocery stores, there is no shortage of opportunities for greater learning and appreciation.

just yesterday, i rode the green/yellow line from archives/navy memorial to columbia heights. at some point along the ride, i noticed a family of five, (father, mother, 3 sons) look at the map and then get off at a particular stop, and only seconds later, return on the train and resume the space they had just previously occupied. they inspected the metro stop guide map again and realized that they were going in the wrong direction. instead of blaming one another for going the wrong way, the oldest son said, "it's okay, dad." i deduced that 1. the father had made the directional mistake. 2. that particular family is okay with mistakes, admitting to them, and then easily fixing them. baddabingbaddaboom. EZ.

what struck me about this particular observation was their calm and collected--dare i say CIVIL--demeanor. there was no screaming, no yelling, no blaming, no pointing fingers, no rolling of eyes, or tsk tsking of the tongue, no passive aggressive snide comments, no "i told you's" or vexation. it was a simple mistake--something even locals do!--and the fix was just as simple.

it was a fabulous illustration of how small choices--choosing to be peaceful, choosing to recognize that a small mistake is not worth getting all worked up or angry over--have deeply profound impacts. it was a lovely reminder for me to continue making such consciously peaceful and compassionate--NICE!--choices. i am grateful for the kindness of that little boy's remark. "it's okay..." exactly. it. is. okay.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

j-j-j-jaina!

my birthday this past january was momentous for two very important reasons. first, i was on vacation, traveling throughout the landscapes of vietnam and feeling very carefree, genuinely happy, and ALIVE. on my actual birthday, my friends jennifer, kathleen and i were on a motorbike tour where we zipped around the curvaceous dalat highland hillsides on scooters surrounded by the lush greenery of spring on the ground and the expansive clear blue sky above. it was my birthday, a day that my mom recalled to me with laughter in her voice, the day that my paternal grandmother cut my umbilical cord and fashioned my current belly button. it was my birthday and i was thankful for my life.

on that same day, my sister asked me to be attend the birth of her daughter, her first child, sometime near her expected day of arrival: march 31, 2011. she said that she'd welcome my "positive and reassuring support." i was honored to be invited to my sister's labor and delivery and until i arrived home, didn't think too much about what the actual labor and delivery would entail.

on april 5, 2011, jaina raejin taylor was born at 3:30pm, on the dot. i have never, in my life, witnessed or been a part of anything so profoundly AWESOME, intense, intimate, and fascinating. my beautiful niece has the most badass labor warrior of a mother and the nurturing unwavering support of her father.

witnessing the delivery of a baby and the post labor fatigue has instilled in me the most incredible appreciation for my mother, my grandmothers, my sister, my friends who are mothers--ALL MOTHERS!!!--and their tenacious spirit in enduring 9 months of hormonal shifts, tender parts, and a phenomenal amount of stretching.

welcome sweet jaina to our world. i already love you so much!