Who you gonna call?

I'm sorry United States of America, I love you, but I'm a bad citizen. I'm the type of person that takes all the benefits I can from you, but gives nothing in return. For example, I know that you've been working hard on trying to figure out how to improve the health care in your country, but honestly I don't really care. Ok, so that's not entirely true. I do care about you and what happens, but seriously why does everything have to be so complicated? When I lived there I made such little money that my puny taxes probably didn't really help much, and now I'm living outside the US and well, not paying taxes at all. My income is still very small and I still love you very much, but I'm not willing to share anymore.

I'm sitting in a little town called Sucre in the eastern Andes of Bolivia. It is very quaint. The more I travel there are many things I miss about you, one of which is your insistence on controlling every aspect of your citizens' lives. As I ventured out into the streets tonight I was overcome by the auto exhaust spewing out of every motorized vehicle on the roads. Disgusting. My lungs rebelled and my brain instantly ached. I joked about emissions tests and remembered what a pain in the ass it was to wait in that line and get my car hooked up to a tube and then pay out the butt, but well, thanks for that.

As I travel around I get a lot of shit for being from Estados Unidos (did you know that was your name in Spanish?), BUT I always defend you! My first response is, yes, we have our flaws, but seriously people - WHO you gonna call when you need something? I know our military is ridiculous and needs a serious overhaul, but so does every government thing you have. Don't get me started on education. You think I'm ever going to return to you and teach 37 kids in on class? You smoking some of that crack that you've been importing for years.

I have some big decisions coming up in the next few years. Do I stay or do I go? I have to say that I'm leaning towards staying gone. I'll still love you, but you can't have any more of my measly salary... Maybe you can borrow some more from China...

I LOOOVE THAT BOOK!

I’ve been having some sleeping issues. I fall asleep within 10 seconds of my head hitting the pillow, but around 3:30 am I am wide awake. Tossing and turning for at least an hour. Needless to say I’ve had lots of time to think. Probably the reason I've been feeling more compassionate than usual - I'm sleep deprived. At those sleepless times I think about my students and what comes to mind is what interesting, unique people they are and how far they’ve come in only a few months. I’ve even got them sitting in groups of four and they are talking about science! The geek that I am gets super psyched about hearing my students talk about the subject J

My other recent event is that I’ve become enthralled in a new book, The Help. I am so wrapped into these characters that sometimes I sit and wonder why I'm so sucked in; what has the author done so skillfully to make me care about these fictional, non-existent people?

So today I’m sitting at a table group with some of my 10^th graders. We are having good science discussions and of course the topic of “I hate THAT teacher” comes up. There is this one teacher I work with this year that I’m not connecting with at all. She is really stand-offish and I don’t know anything about her. The students really dislike her and I usually hear about it at least once a day. I know that my students can be super emotional teenagers so I always defend this person. I say things like, “well if you knew her better you might not feel that way.”

The response today was – “Miss, she doesn’t even know how to deal with kids! She’s too inexperienced to know what to do!”

I replied, “What, last year she had a very important role at her school. She’s been teaching for several years now.”

“Whhhattt? No way!” The disbelief in their voice is disheartening.

“Yes, seriously. You mean you don’t know that about her? You mean that she has never told you where she worked or what she did? You mean you’ve been in this teacher’s classroom for 8 months now and you don’t even know that?” I’m astonished.

“Noooo” they whined.

Then it hit me. No wonder they don’t like this person. No wonder they keep complaining about her. This teacher has done nothing to develop her character. No one connects with a book or story where there is no character development. Well, damn. This makes total sense. In fact, no wonder I don't like her. She really is kind of boring. Not much to say or contribute to a conversation. And I got to thinking… a good teacher develops her character. She chooses what information to share and when and how to share it. She doesn’t share inappropriate information. She carefully, but authentically selects the information about herself that is essential. She creates a novel in her classroom where the students have a role, an important role. There is investment in that story. Where will the novel go? What will happen next, to us, to our teacher? She helps the students develop their own character. She models what it is like to work collaboratively. It is not an us and her situation anymore, it’s just us. She’s with us.

That damn grass was supposed to be greener over here!

I've lived in 38 different houses in 38 years. Of course some of those houses were in the same town, but I've lived in four different countries (including the US) and five different States. I've been around. And every place I've lived I can look back and think of something that I miss about that place. Something that I enjoyed and when I think about it I take a deep breath and think - ahhhh - that was nice.

So I was lying in my bed for the 20th hour on Sunday - I've had an intestine thing and couldn't move too much - and I got to thinking... hummm, I really miss those Sunsets from Inya Lake. Damn living in Yangon was hard, but man those sunsets. Oh, and I really miss seeing Buddha everyday. All trillion of them. Wow, I didn't realize a year ago while I was sitting on my foam couch in my converted hotel room that I would be sitting here today - fondly remembering Inya Lake. Ok, so maybe as I sit in this twin sized foam (see a trend here) bed for hours I've come to a revelation - figure out what you really enjoy where you are right this second and, well, enjoy it. Really enjoy it. Like say to yourself: "Damn, I really enjoy this _________!"

So I sat and sat, and hours went by, and now even 3 days later I have no clue what I'm going to miss about this place. Of course the people. People don't count. You would miss your friends no matter where you were, so, no, people don't count. So I really have been racking my brain. What in the hell am I going to miss about Santa Cruz de la Sierra? Seriously, what?

I'll let you know if I think of something.

Back to the Future

I'm sorry David, I just don't like your show. You know, the show you produce and star in... the one set in California. I gave it the good ole' college try, but I've abandoned ship - even though I have the second season all nice and bootlegged sitting right in front of me. It's just too predictable, and I am not sure why my colleagues think it's so funny, but I'm not laughing that much. I really did want to like it. I'm not offended, just bored. I've seen this all before... sure wish it was better though, since I have the discs and all...

On the other hand - I now have a crush on Tony Soprano. You know that I'm a late bloomer, right? I've been telling people that for a while. I'll get to all that modern stuff ya'll have been doing for years, I'm just a bit behind. All those movies and shows you've already seen, well they are on my list. In the past month I've managed to finally watch the first season of the Sopranos. Now that is a cleaver show. I'm must have been a bad ass criminal in my past life because I just connect with those characters. I was hooked on Oz a few months ago. Yeah, yeah I know it came out like 10 year ago. Told you - late bloomer.

Mafia and prison life, now them are some good themes.

Sometimes being stuck in a third world country with no TV has it's advantages. Of course I have no idea what is currently happening, I suppose I'll catch up on 2010 sometime in 2020.

Who needs a bucket list? Just do it NOW!

I was doing a little searching around the internet and what do I run across? A blog about Bangkok Street Dogs. It seems that someone has been going around Bangkok and photographing the dogs and then writing little stories about them, and it seems that they've been doing it since 2005. Huh.

I did get a bit of feedback about my idea of writing a book. Right now I'm too busy trying to figure out what I'm going to do this summer. Since November I was signed up to volunteer at an animal conservation center in Ecuador, but I just got an email that the center is closing. Huh. So instead of being bummed I thought - hey - I can start looking for another opportunity. I get so jazzed about finding the adventure. Sometimes I have to watch myself or I'll have the next few months planned out, but not know what I'm doing tomorrow.

For example... spring break is coming and I talked about going to the Galapagos, but honestly it felt too rushed. So guess what? I've applied to VOLUNTEER on San Cristobal (an island in the Galapagos) for 7 weeks! I KNOW, isn't that freaking cool? Seven weeks on an island with blue footed boobies, seals, marine iguanas, turtles... well, actually I'll be volunteering in the highlands of the island and working on a sustainability project. The organization, Hacienda Tranquila, is working toward helping the local community make good choices about what to plant and how to conserve this amazing resource. I will spend most of my time in the garden and working with people. I initially wanted to work with animals and looked into a program working with turtles, but they needed a 12 week commitment and I only have 8 weeks off. I have created quite an extensive list of places that would be fantastic to volunteer, so I'll keep that list handy whenever I have the urge to plan an adventure.

As far as spring break goes... my roommate and I have decided to head to Sucre, a town in the mountains of Bolivia, and take some Spanish lessons. We'll be there for the week, exploring and practicing. In April I'm supposed to be chaperoning a trip there for the 10th graders at my school, so it will also be good for me to check it out.

My life is exactly how I want it right now. I know I should have a husband, mortgage and some kids by now, but let me tell you - that is not for me. You go ahead and enjoy that for me - I'm going to plan my next trip!