National Anthems

In the morning as I walk across the school courtyard and listen to my students recite the Pledge of Allegiance (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. . .) my mind goes back to waking up at my friend's apartment in Ekamai and listening to the Thai national anthem being sung at the school across the street.

Now my mornings are filled with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner. But I'm hearing these "old" things in a new way. For example, I overheard the principal talking with a student today about why she refused to stand for the Star Spangled Banner. As I listened to their conversation, I realized that I heard what the principal was saying through the framework of how we might respect Thai royalty. I tried to imagine this same student not standing for the Thai royal anthem. Unimaginable.

Finally Gratefully Gainfully Employed

First things first: I'm now gainfully employed. On Friday, my contact person from Florida called me and offered me a teaching job at an allied health college in Orlando. Yahoo!

When I left Thailand, I knew that it would be a long ride before I found full time employment,and I also knew that I could end up anywhere in the world. I remember constantly wondering where that anywhere in the world would be. I would have never never guessed Florida.

California, Oregon, Washington, but Florida? Not that it's a bad place (well, it is really really flat), but it it is not necessarily on my list of places that I'm dying to live. Florida is not on the bucket list.

But the job is good and despite my complaints about the flatness of the state--I look forward to being near the beach.

I still have some big hurdles: finding a place to live and finding a car are at the top of my hurdle list, but I'm grateful for the small piece of security that having a full time job entails. And while I know very little about what life holds for me in the coming months, I do know one thing--I know where my office is!

Fall

If you have ever lost track of something you love (a picture, a letter, a CD) and then find it again years later, there's a certain pleasure in rediscovering it. You can enjoy both the sense of history the item brings and the first pleasure you had in it. This is how I feel about fall this year. It has been almost seven years since I experienced fall and I'm relishing it. I love the colors (yellows, oranges, bright reds), smells (wood smoke), and sounds (children playing outdoors, people walking their dogs) of fall. I love the cold air and the pumpkins in the store. I love the sense of time moving as the trees darken every day. I even love the rain storms and the and battles I've fought with the wind over my umbrella.

I wanted to capture a little bit of fall in the pictures, but I didn't pull it off. What I could not pull off is the sheer ubiquitousness of the colors. Everywhere I drive there are different shades of orange and red. My favorite place to drive is the road right before my house. You can look down the red-leafed tree lined road and look up to see Mt.Shasta covered in snow.

Why My Grandma Is Cool

Another Brilliant Moment

I had to sub 6th grade today. During the 6th grader's recess, a really sweet girl came up to me and asked if she could warm up her cocoa in the microwave. It's another cold/wet gray day here so I assented to her request. Hot cocoa on a cold day--what could be more perfect? A few minutes later I smelled something terrible. I went to the microwave and I saw something terrible--SMOKE. Ahh! The microwave is on fire! What should I do? I had quick panicky thoughts of fire alarms going off, or having to get my sixth graders somewhere far from a fire and then I looked a little closer and discovered--the microwave was not on fire. Nope, it was just a little bit of smoke coming from the top of the plastic/metal mug my student had heated her cocoa in. Her parents had sent her cocoa in a metal mug with a plastic covering. As a general rule, microwaving metal is a bad idea. Microwaving metal with a plastic covering is an even worse idea. The metal heats up and melts the plastic. Voila! Plastic hot chocolate. The student who had thus heated her chocolate milk had conveniently disappeared while this was all occurring. I found her and told her that the prognosis was bad; her hot cocoa was inoperable.* We tossed the mug and the only dire consequence was a really nasty plastic smell and a glob of melted and then coagulated plastic in the microwave.

Yes, it was just that--another brilliant moment in my life.

*Technically the hot cocoa survived, but both the girl and I agreed that maybe drinking it was not the best idea.

Native Speaker Blah

In Thailand, often the employment ads for English teachers call for native speakers of English. I'm currently surrounded by a lot of native speakers, and well, lets just say we don't always do our language justice.

Just the other day, I heard someone say the following: "We need to get through all that rigor mortem." I think she meant rigmarole. I had to chuckle to myself. I imagine that rigmarole might make us experience rigor mortis.

Lest I sound language righteous. I will confess my English sins. I say, "sawl" over "saw". I say, "foilage" instead of "foliage". I haphazardly pronounce words I have no business saying (words that come by reading instead of listening--anyone else have a book vocabulary?).

While in Asia it's nice to be a "native speaker" because this classification can get us a job, I hope we "native speakers" don't take ourselves too seriously. Yeah for language and all the ways we can flub it up!

I'm here

I'm in my motel room in Orlando. It's 7:50 pm in Cali and 10:50 in Florida. What to do? I have my first of nine interviews at 9:00 am. Ahh..that's 6:00 am my time! My dad says, "God and adrenaline can help you get through the tiredness."

So prayers are much appreciated!

On the plane today I had a lot of time to stare at the ceiling since I got stuck between two men who were not created for economy class. There was just no room for me between them. They weren't fat, just long legged and broad shouldered (yes, yes, Doris...'the well built' sort). This ceiling staring gave me time to reflect on how immense my world feels right now and how small I feel in it.

Blogging While Packing

Yes, I'm packing for my trip to Florida. Okay, I'm taking a moment from my packing to blog. Mostly, because I just looked at my tentative schedule for the next two days and I discovered I have nine interviews. Nine interviews? Well, they are interviews with different people, but couldn't they have gotten it all over with at once? Sigh. I haven't slept for days (nights!). Every morning at unearthly hours (4 am etc.) I wake up thinking either about the interview ahead, the possibility of moving to the east coast, or my current students who I have no earthly idea how to help. There is just a steady hum of nervous energy in my life.

The Kind of Good I Want

"Ill that God blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill;
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be His sweet will."

Hudson Taylor quoted in To China With Love

Father, let all that is good in my life come from you!

On Being Grown Up

I don't feel very grown up so when something "adult-like" happens to me I find it surprising.

My surprise is that a school is paying for me to come interview with them (flight, motel, car rental etc.). I have to resist asking, "You're really going to pay my way for me to come interview with you?" Adults are paid to come for interviews. Adults rent cars (I've never rented one). Adults meet presidents of college's (gulp).

I'm grateful and amused. I'm scared too. I don't want to let them down and I want a job!

I need your prayers. I'll be flying out for this job interview on October 7.

What Love Can Do

Today in class we were discussing family. One of my 8th graders said, "my grandparents really love each other." That's it. Those are the words I want to cling to tonight. I want to dwell on love's legacy.

I look at this student and I see her: happy, intelligent, and confident. I look at her and wonder how much of what is good in life comes from someone else's love? How much of her stability comes from that simple statement: "my grandparents really love each other."

What legacy did her grandparents give her parents? What legacy do they give her?