I have student who loves to use exclamation points in his writing. Usually he uses them after his name, (i.e, K!) but today he wrote on his quiz: April 28, 2009!
I had to laugh. Maybe he has something right about the world. Maybe just for a moment we can be excited that today is April 28, 2009!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Bread and Cheese
Today I ate rice for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for supper. Then I watched an Oprah show about the best sandwich shops in the states. This was all very very cruel.
Friday, April 24, 2009
10 Mini-blog Entries in One
These are all little blog entries combined.
1. Last night I dreamt there was a storm so wild that I was blown by the wind into the air and I "flew" until I found a tree to hang onto.
2. The smell of rotting mangoes on the walk to the cafeteria makes me happy. It is the smell I remember from living one month in Hawaii when I was six.
3. I killed all of my house mate's fish yesterday. I was pretty upset when I came home to find their bloated bodies floating on top of the fish tank. I had turned off their oxygen supply and forgot to turn it back on.
4. This week I learned that ruthless used to have an opposite--ruth. So you can be full of ruth! (Full of mercy.)
5. I'm thankful for journals. I woke up Thursday morning feeling discouraged. I went through my journals and read the entries for the last year. I was reminded that God has been with me through all my ups and downs and He is still with me!
6. I laid awake last night thinking about how much I hate the weather in Thailand in April. Miserable. My air con does work, but the sound of it keeps me awake.
7. My favorite place to think is on my floor. I spread a blanket on the floor at the end of my bed and think there.
8. I have the following written on my desk at work, "Anij yokwe yuk". (The last work is not pronounced yuck, but yuke.) It's Marshallese for "God loves you." I don't know. I scribbled it there a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I just needed the reminder.
9. My student wrote the following sentence today that puzzled and amused me. He wrote, "Stop going down cheeseless tunnels." I wonder why.
10. I'm so grateful that the school year is wrapping up and yet I'm in complete denial that I'm going home.
1. Last night I dreamt there was a storm so wild that I was blown by the wind into the air and I "flew" until I found a tree to hang onto.
2. The smell of rotting mangoes on the walk to the cafeteria makes me happy. It is the smell I remember from living one month in Hawaii when I was six.
3. I killed all of my house mate's fish yesterday. I was pretty upset when I came home to find their bloated bodies floating on top of the fish tank. I had turned off their oxygen supply and forgot to turn it back on.
4. This week I learned that ruthless used to have an opposite--ruth. So you can be full of ruth! (Full of mercy.)
5. I'm thankful for journals. I woke up Thursday morning feeling discouraged. I went through my journals and read the entries for the last year. I was reminded that God has been with me through all my ups and downs and He is still with me!
6. I laid awake last night thinking about how much I hate the weather in Thailand in April. Miserable. My air con does work, but the sound of it keeps me awake.
7. My favorite place to think is on my floor. I spread a blanket on the floor at the end of my bed and think there.
8. I have the following written on my desk at work, "Anij yokwe yuk". (The last work is not pronounced yuck, but yuke.) It's Marshallese for "God loves you." I don't know. I scribbled it there a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I just needed the reminder.
9. My student wrote the following sentence today that puzzled and amused me. He wrote, "Stop going down cheeseless tunnels." I wonder why.
10. I'm so grateful that the school year is wrapping up and yet I'm in complete denial that I'm going home.
Monday, April 6, 2009
A Teacher's Life
I've been grading papers for two days. I figured out that I have graded around 108 pages worth of papers (3 different sets of papers). I've read some pretty interesting stories and some heart breaking stories as well. (I always struggle to know what to do with the the heart breaking stories.) Grading, more than almost anything I do as a teacher, takes the most of out of me. I can plan for class when I'm sleepy, but it is almost impossible for me to grade when I'm tired so I save days like Sundays and holidays to just grade and grade some more.
So this is how I'm spending my Chakri Day--grading!
The funny thing is is my department is hopping with activity. I keep asking myself--is this really a holiday? There are five other teachers here and a handful of students. At least I can't feel too sorry for myself. Misery loves company and so here we are (almost) the whole department working on a holiday.
So this is how I'm spending my Chakri Day--grading!
The funny thing is is my department is hopping with activity. I keep asking myself--is this really a holiday? There are five other teachers here and a handful of students. At least I can't feel too sorry for myself. Misery loves company and so here we are (almost) the whole department working on a holiday.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Jehosophat
Today for vespers one of the students, Matthew, spoke about how when Judah was surrounded by its enemies, God commanded his people to meet their enemies singing. As I was listening to him I thought 'that's how I want to meet the things that scare me in life.' I want to meet my battles singing.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Textbook Advice
Wisdom can be found in the most interesting places. I found this quote the other day from a book I've been using for my Advanced Composition class.
"Many people, especially young people, think that variety of sensation is what gives spice to life. They want to do everything, go everywhere, meet everybody and drink from every bottle. It can't be done. Whoever you are, your energies and your opportunities are limited. Of course you want to try several alternatives in order to find out what suits you, but I hope that ten years from today you will agree with me that the good life is not lived widely, but deeply. It is not doing things, but understanding what what you do, that brings real excitement and lasting pleasure.
You should start now. It is dangerously easy to get into a pattern of life, and if you live shallowly until you are thirty, it will not be easy to begin living deeply. . . . How are you to avoid [the fate of shallowness]? I can tell you, but it is not a magic secret which will transform your life. It is very, very difficult. What you must do is to spend twenty-three hours of every day of your life doing whatever fall in your way, whether it be duty or pleasure or necessary for your health and physical well-being. But--and this the difficult thing--you must set aside one hour of your life every day for yourself, in which you attempt to understand what you are doing."
From "What Every Girl Should Know" in Model Voices: Finding a Writing Voice p. 515
"Many people, especially young people, think that variety of sensation is what gives spice to life. They want to do everything, go everywhere, meet everybody and drink from every bottle. It can't be done. Whoever you are, your energies and your opportunities are limited. Of course you want to try several alternatives in order to find out what suits you, but I hope that ten years from today you will agree with me that the good life is not lived widely, but deeply. It is not doing things, but understanding what what you do, that brings real excitement and lasting pleasure.
You should start now. It is dangerously easy to get into a pattern of life, and if you live shallowly until you are thirty, it will not be easy to begin living deeply. . . . How are you to avoid [the fate of shallowness]? I can tell you, but it is not a magic secret which will transform your life. It is very, very difficult. What you must do is to spend twenty-three hours of every day of your life doing whatever fall in your way, whether it be duty or pleasure or necessary for your health and physical well-being. But--and this the difficult thing--you must set aside one hour of your life every day for yourself, in which you attempt to understand what you are doing."
From "What Every Girl Should Know" in Model Voices: Finding a Writing Voice p. 515
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Coupon, Use at Your Own Risk
This post is a risk-coupon. A risk coupon is a coupon you redeem when you are willing to take a risk. This risk is not some game you play. It is not imaginary. If you use this coupon you might just fall down. You might go broke. You might lose face. You might embarrass yourself highly, but if you are spending this coupon you have come to realize that staying in your nice comfortable security of a well-paying job or going along with what everyone else is doing (when you don't really agree) is far worse than just jumping and seeing where you land.
This doesn't mean that you won't plan your jump. This is not a coupon for rash sudden movements, but it is a coupon for making a decision that what you really value in life is worth taking the risk to get.
So here's your coupon. Use it at your own risk.
This doesn't mean that you won't plan your jump. This is not a coupon for rash sudden movements, but it is a coupon for making a decision that what you really value in life is worth taking the risk to get.
So here's your coupon. Use it at your own risk.
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