Get ready to rumble...

Here's the pile... I have successfully piled all of it in the car and am now down at Amy's. Ahhh a BIG TV and two couches :) Today is the big party so I'll be sure to take some pics.

Random Thoughts

I found the best exercise plan... sell your couch and TV. I've been wandering around the house, going for long walks and just generally avoiding being at home.

My staff party is right now and well, I'm done with that school. I'm ready to move forward as I am sure they are. Time to put my sights forward.

I am going to miss home brewed beer. I am a beer snob, have been for a while. Love malty, thick, dark delights. There is a brewery around every corner in Denver. How am I going to get used to crappy asian beer?

I have to stop swearing so much. I just like the shock factor. Really does the F word freak you out? It does my mother. In the past two days she has mentioned cleaning up my language at least 4 times.

I've left D-town twice in the past 12 years. A friend joked about me always having one foot in this state. This time could be for real.

What do you really say to a person you will probably never see again for the rest of your life?

A coworker says to me today... "Lisa I have one more wish for you... may you meet a kind, caring man... with big feet"

Need I say more?

Today was the 8th grade continuation ceremony at my school. So I'm there and we're in the cafeteria for some cake and I look over and see one of my students from Cole! I had him in my very first year for 7th and then in 8th grade. I recognized him right away and his name came spewing out (even though I haven't seen him in 4 years)! So remember the stat of only 38 of those Cole kids graduating, well he is one!!! He is done with high school and is planning on the Army. Years of crappy pay and disrespect from society cannot diminish this moment. I am so proud.

Time

Friday while Amy and I were on our spa day, my principal gave presents to those of us who are leaving the school. This year she gave a gift based on how long we've been at the school. All of us that have been there three years got a starfish plaque. Apparently the starfish story is very popular (I had never heard of it). A nice equitable gesture.

I'm at 6 days and counting until I drive out of Denver... My house, as you can see, is empty. I didn't sell the little antique nurses table so I'm using it to prop my computer on. I've scrounged a lawn chair from the neighbor and I'm all set! One of my coworkers is buying my bed so she will pick it up on Friday. I'm staying at Amy's house for the weekend and then the big drive happens Monday. Whew. A lot is going on each day so no time to dwell. My aunt posted some beach pics on her blog and boy am I ready to take a walk on the beach, especially after the cold rainy day we had here.

Only 1 1/2 more days of school! Nope that's not me you hear wishing the time away...

Graduation Day

We are so proud of her!

Daisey's mom, dad and five sisters!

Daisey walking across the stage!

OK so out of the 126 8th graders at Cole in 2004, 38 earned a high school diploma, 4 earned a GED and the rest, well I can only imagine between pregnancy, incarceration, and dropping out to work... Four years ago I grabbed on to three girls to "mentor". Out of the three I am proud to announce that Daisey has made it and earned her high school diploma from South High School! Yeah for her! She has fought against incredible odds to beat the system that she lives in. She says she is not ready for college yet, but talks about going in the spring of next year. I'll have a tough time keeping in touch from Burma, but this girl is destined for greatness.

Happy Birthday AJ

After the graduation ceremony (oh why do we continue such BORING traditions???), we decided to meet at Maloney's. Apparently AJ had been there before so we headed over. We took the train downtown so we wouldn't have to worry about driving/parking/etc. We were by far three of the oldest people in the place... Of course we are all so young at heart that we could pull it off, but it was interesting to watch the other people. Put the three of us together and you'll have a chat fest, so chat away we did... I am glad to have spent the day with AJ!

P.S. Our pedicures, massage and facials were great. If you are ever in Denver and have the money to splurge on a spa day you should go to the Woodhouse Spa. It is in an old historic house near downtown and is beautiful.

Celebration

Today is a day of celebration. It is Amy's birthday and I have taken the day off (I figured since I have 504 days accrued and I get NOTHING for them, I should take a day before I move). We are going to get a pedicure, lunch and then to the spa for a massage and facial... ahhh. This evening we will be attending Daisey's high school graduation downtown! Yahoo Daisey. Then out for a night of dancing, beverages and fun... I'm taking my camera so if I can get myself to take pics I'll post them tomorrow.

Teaching kicks ass

Today was the last day of "real" school. No school tomorrow or Monday and next week is 2 1/2 days of field day, and celebrations, then summer break. So every end of the year I plan something totally cool for the kids to do to keep them engaged as long as possible. For my 7th graders taking life science it was dissection of pregnant rats. This has evolved over many years and hundreds of dissections. Ask any adult what they remember about middle school science and they'll say, "ooh, we dissected _____ (fill in the blank with frogs, worms, sheep eyes, pig heart)". Well me always wanting to take it up a notch went for pregnant rats. So today I spent 5 hours dissecting pregnant rats. Let me tell you that the coolness does wear off and then it just becomes gross, but to watch every 7th grader talk about it and oooh and aaah is priceless. This week we had close to perfect attendance for our 7th graders and if you only knew what our attendance usually is you would be thoroughly impressed. For the first time ever in six years of dissecting I actually had a student throw up. He was so great and tried so hard. He would leave, barf, and then come back for more, barf and return. What a champ!

p.s. the sausage looking thing in the rat is uterus with the babies!

Closure

I had my last hypnotherapy appt today... It is not an exaggeration to say that my therapist has saved my life, literally. I was a total mess two years ago when I mustered up the courage to call him and make an appt. Here I am, now, a different person. Yes, I am still sarcastic and bitchy, but I have taken my power back and I will not let it go again. I've learned so many things about myself. Today we worked on closure and letting go. I've had to deal with a lot of that lately. I have given more hugs in the past two weeks than my entire life combined.

As we were working on letting go, Winnie came up. I miss her terribly. I have been thinking about her a lot lately and, seriously, have you seen a cuter face in your life? I have this picture hanging up at work and today I was putting stuff away for the move and thought, damn I miss that dog. Here she is at Ft. Fisher. I am planning on spreading her ashes there when I get back to NC.

So in my usual fashion of making a long story longer, I just wanted to share that it is possible to change your life. Yes at times it sucks and it would be easier to resort to the old ways, but I can't even express to you how worth it, it is. So with this move we have discovered that I am not running from anything, but quite the opposite, I am moving to a place to discover, grow and evolve. This quite unlike my 14 moves in the past 12 years... A new leaf, thank you universe, thank you Jim and thank you ME!

Detox is a killer

Like a junkie I was up at 3 am looking for a fix... I figured out how to watch the season finale of Bones on my computer and finally at 4 I could settle down enough to go back to sleep just in time for my alarm to go off at 5:30. Let's pray that day 3 is a little better...

No TV Day 2

What am I supposed to think about if there if I don't have a TV to turn on and have someone else do the thinking for me? Is this kind of like detox, the first few days are the hardest? And then I thought, do I use the TV to avoid thinking? Is the TV making me stupid? Is my mind turning to mush and I don't even realize it? Why do my kids who receive free lunch at school have a bigger TV than IQ? Why are we obsessed with watching other peoples lives than living our own? Why do I feel like I am part of Samantha Who's life? I've been living vicariously through a sitcom. But I just want to come home and chill right? Who am I supposed to eat dinner with if I can't turn on reruns of Seinfeld? Looks like I'll find another way to chill for now... at least until I get to NC...

Yahoo for the Yard Sale!

My Move to Burma Sale was a huge success! Amy came over at 7 am to get started (I'd been up since 5:30), I could not have done this without her. Not only did I get to sell EVERYTHING, but I got to see a bunch of friends, hang out, sip bloody mary's and bask in the 80 degree sun! A BIG thank you to both Amys, Daisey and her family, Amairani, Allyson, Nikki, Josie, Lisa, Darla (esp for taking care of my plants and couch), Nicole, Kim and her mom, JoseJuan and his dad, Dahlia, Xenia (my realtor not the warrior princess) and all the people that bought my stuff! Unfortunately the day was so crazy that I didn't take many pictures... bummer. A coworker is buying my bed so I can sleep on it until I have to move out... We'll see how long I last without a TV or DVD player...

Thank god for vaccines...

In general I hate Kaiser, with ONE EXCEPTION... their travel clinic. My travel adviser spent a half hour on the phone with me today thoroughly explaining the risks of my move. For a few years now I've been leaving the country for impoverished places where infectious diseases are a threat to my lily white blood... So today I called about my trip to Burma... Last year I got shot up with Hep A, yellow fever and polio... this year I get to add rabies, the new tetanus with pertussis and yes, japanese encephalitis! All for the price of a copay (at a travel clinic it would be hundreds of dollars)! It seems that malaria is not a problem in the city, but anywhere outside the city it is, so I'll be taking along malaria meds for when I travel. Damn mosquitoes. Oh and some yummy super strength antibiotics for diarrhea :) We really don't realize how fortunate we here are in the US do we?

Oh prosperous life

I have good news! I have, 10 months later, paid off my Africa trip! My CC bill came today and I paid in full! YAHOO! Happy, happy prosperity :)

Tattoo

I'm headed off to my last tattoo appt... Just adding more color to my sleeve, and touching up my finger... I'll fill you in later.

FU Snow, part 5

As I sit in my classroom and gaze out my westward facing window I shiver at the sight of snowflakes. This time the flakes are heavy and wet as they make their way to the delighted ground. Snow in May... ironically it was in the 70's yesterday. I am sending warm, dry weather thoughts to the Universe for my yard sale this weekend. Brrr...

You know it's over when...

Ssssh, don't tell him but my ex-ex had a birthday this weekend and he wanted me to come to his BBQ on Saturday, and well, I'm trying to grow out my hair so that when I'm in Burma I can just pull it back in a pony tail... well, my hair is very dry and prone to split ends, so when I grow it out, it mostly looks like straw. I cut it all off when I got back from Tanzania and have been really trying to take care of it by not washing it every day. So last Thursday was a washing day so I went Friday without washing and Saturday came and I was looking greasy but kept thinking if I could go one more day the oils would really help my hair. So you see when my ex-ex called to see if I wanted to go to the BBQ I thought, hmmm, go in public looking like a grease ball, or skip the party to continue hydrating my hair, or god forbid wash my hair... My hair care won and I skipped the party :)

Mutha's day

Other than wishing my mother a happy day, mother's day has little impact on a person that doesn't want children... Well, I thought so until I picked Daisey up so we could work on her literary analysis for her LAST class so she can graduate. I'm waiting at the door and she shows up with a white rose and says "Happy Mother's Day!" She goes back in to get her stuff and comes out with a hand made ceramic plaque and when I say hand made, I mean by her hands in her art class at school. She explained that she knew I couldn't take it to Burma, but that I could leave it at Jane's house and she will take care of it while I'm away. So, it seems that I have earned a mother's day gift without pushing one out my vagina.

Pack it up

So after procrastinating all day with a friend, I decided it was time to start thinking about packing... My "Everything must go" sale is a week from today and well as an expert procrastinator I have done nothing to prepare. So I started in the garage, luckily my landlord has an old junk car and parts in there, so I only put my rubbermaid bins in there. Well I opened the garage and there they sat 16 empty bins. WTF I have 16 bins... yes and 7 more in the house with "stuff" in them... Oui vey. So then I started thinking about what an expert mover I am and I am such a frequent mover that cardboard boxes no longer do the trick. I calculated my moves in the past 12 years and it has landed at 14 moves. I have lived in 14 different places in 12 years. Yes, math head, that is on average more than one per year. Hummm, it got me thinking... how many of those bins do you think will fit in my mazda?

Tick Tick

Three weeks and counting... I am really trying to enjoy each day and not wish the days away, but as you know the time before a trip is spent thinking about the trip instead of the day you are currently in. I had dinner with a teacher here that is going to teach in Yangon with me in the fall. It was nice to see her and talk about our fears and excitement.

So like I told you... in the past, before a move I would pull away from my friends, cause drama and conflict and use the avoidance strategy. Well, now the tables have turned because even though I'm the one moving a friend is doing that to me. Remember my post that I will NOT feel other peoples stuff, well that is where I'm trying to be. I can only control my own emotions, so instead of trying to figure out anyone else, I've been focusing on how I feel and trying to stay positive. I am really lucky to have a friend here that cares for me no matter what, even if I am moving to a politically hellish country. My parents have been incredibly supportive, which is wonderful. I am looking forward to spending the summer at home with Jane and Larry :)

Now enjoying the moment translates into "get packin'!" I'm actually energized by the thought of all my material possessions fitting into my mazda...

check THIS out

To be a teacher you have to do hours of observations at schools before your student teaching. Well our school is a host for such a thing. (p.s. my student decided to quit the program and not be a teacher after all!) Well one of my colleagues was telling a student teacher that he was showing the kids information about the cyclone for a social studies class. The student teacher (I can't remember his name) said, hey, I've been to Burma... so of course he was introduced to me. Well he spend 24 days in Burma with his friend who was on a 438 day journey around the world (hmmm trust fund maybe). He kept a blog and I have to say the writing and photos are amazing. Here is the blog link to the Burma section...

I keep reading...

This picture helped put things in perspective for me. My school is in Yangon and now it is clearer why they are somewhat cleaned up... the delta slowed things down, sound familiar?

Here is a link to Andrew Kirkwood's blog. He is the Burma director for Save the Children. It is interesting to get his perspective.

Keep um coming

Overnight I received more emails from my school. It seems that internet access is up again in Yangon (at least for the school). The board members are meeting today to see if they need to end school early or not. The fuel shortages are still an issue. Most of the main roads in the city have been cleared. I suppose that most of the images we are seeing are of areas outside the city in the lower lying delta areas. The Inya Lake Hotel (my future home) received considerable damage to the grounds (trees down etc...) but the building itself is intact and expected to be ship shape by the time we arrive. The school staff has been amazing about keeping us informed and anticipating questions. It is a relief to know that these caring people will become my family.

P.S. I know people in Burma don't live like you do, or would if given the chance, however if you are interested in helping here are some links:

World Vision

Save the Children

Plans

Over and over people keep asking me... "How can you still go?" My reply, "How can I not go." After hours of video, slews of pictures and article after article I feel a connection to the place I'm about to call home. The faces. It may be more of a struggle to get a visa, but the plan still remains. I leave July 29. I may be a little naive but I can't imagine a life without risks and pushing myself to my personal limits.

Update

We just got word from the directors at the school in Burma... the school just received minor damage (I assume comparatively speaking it is fairly well constructed), just a few windows broken. The main problem at this point is no electricity or fuel to run the generator, so the school is closing now. All the teachers are doing well and plan to fly out of the country. The director was at the embassy using their internet access... hmmm Whew.

Death toll reaches 22,000...

Perspective

The Burmese cyclone is approaching and expected to surpass 10,000 casualties... Here is some perspective from other storms:

• Hurricane Katrina, US, 2005 - at least 1,836 dead
• Orissa Cyclone, 1999, Northern India - at least 10,000 dead
• Hurricane Mitch, 1998, Central America - at least 11,000 dead
• Typhoon Thelma, 1991, Philippines - 6,000 dead
• Bangladesh cyclone, 1991 - about 138,000 dead
• Bhola cyclone, 1970 - at least 300,000 dead

The BBC news online has reported that 75-80% of Rangoon has been destroyed. The school is in Rangoon. As of now it's just a waiting game to see what the status is...

Cyclone hits Burma!

Check out the BBC or CNN report on the cyclone! Rangoon is the same as Yangon, which is where I'll be.

Yeah Team (and I don't mean the Rockies)

Tonight I took some kids to the Rockies game... the baseball people give schools free tickets, so I grabbed some and rounded the kids up for the big game. I'm not sure how people make it through an entire baseball game... we made it to the 7th inning stretch. If you ask me the game should be 7 innings anyway. Oui my kids are growing up! Daisey is on her way to graduating! Dahlia will be 18 (she's been working for a while to help her parents out since her sister had a brain tumor), Amairani is finishing up her freshman year, and Osiel is our new recruit and will start high school next year. Yes, we've let a boy infiltrate our girls nights!

Sayonara Bitches

Friday was a teacher workday and my principal called an all staff meeting to give us the run down for the rest of the year. At the end of the meeting in the "other" section of the agenda a colleague stood up and weepingly told the staff she was leaving. Then another colleague stood up and did the same with even a little more tears in her eyes. Then my principal was like, anyone else have something? The whole staff looked at me and I just sat there staring and asked my table... What does she want me to say??? "Sayonara bitches...

Here's some pics from our staff celebration for my going away!

Happy Birthday Demi!

So one of my favorite people had a birthday today! She is a 10th grader that I have know since my Cole days. We get along especially well, because like me she is super bitchy and totally misunderstood! We have a great friendship and yes, get on each others nerves sometimes, but at the end of the day we are always friends.

So, for months now she has been looking forward to going to dinner with me for her bday. Long story, short her favorite restaurant was closed so we decided to go to PF Changs. We invited one of my other favorite people... so JoseJuan, Demi and I went out for an early birthday dinner! We thought we had all our bases covered since Demi is half black, half Japanese, and Jose Juan is Mexican and well, as my kids like to say "Ms. You act SO white". I will really miss these kids, but like I told them, they can take me out when I'm old and they have great jobs :) I can't wait to see where they pick for college!

FU snow, part 4

You may have noticed that I skipped "FU snow, part 3". Well, a few days ago we got a little flurry, didn't last but 20 minutes, so I found myself censoring you from a post. Well, this morning after an 80 degree day yesterday, we had a few hours of snow and not just wimpy flurries, but big, fat flakes floating around before landing in the welcoming dry grass. As I was teaching my 7th graders I stared at the floating flakes and when the bell rang I ran down to take a few pics. Unfortunately the camera did not do any justice to how fat and fluffy the flakes really were. You'll have to use your imagination here...