I went to Joee's for our Chinese New Year feast - and what a feast it was!
Joee documented it much better than I can - click here to see what we did and, more importantly - what we ate!
Thanks for the good time!
(and for getting me addicted to new shows!)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Happy Year of the Ox!
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year!
Even though Joee and I weren't in China for the New Year Celebration, it's always a time when we get together to eat some good Chinese food (thanks Mrs. Gong - we really should have had her show us what she was doing with all that oil!) and reminisce about our Chinese livin' days.
Joee asked me to come to China with her in the spring of 2005. She'd been the year before with her mom, and Joee wanted to go again, not so much her mom! Joee was willing to go herself, but thought she'd see if I wanted to come. Of course! My parents got excited too - and it must be safe if Joee's parents were letting her go again... right? Right!
I had grad classes in May and June and wrote and turned in my last paper the day before we left! (Good thing I took all those breaks to pack!) Joee and I shopped for stuff we wouldn't need two of, and looked through papers and lesson plans and game ideas and other teacher stuff. Joee gave me lessons in Chinese culture, and did her best to prepare me for culture shock.
Here are some highlights and memories...
Gambe, my friend! Happy Chinese New Year!
Even though Joee and I weren't in China for the New Year Celebration, it's always a time when we get together to eat some good Chinese food (thanks Mrs. Gong - we really should have had her show us what she was doing with all that oil!) and reminisce about our Chinese livin' days.
Joee asked me to come to China with her in the spring of 2005. She'd been the year before with her mom, and Joee wanted to go again, not so much her mom! Joee was willing to go herself, but thought she'd see if I wanted to come. Of course! My parents got excited too - and it must be safe if Joee's parents were letting her go again... right? Right!
I had grad classes in May and June and wrote and turned in my last paper the day before we left! (Good thing I took all those breaks to pack!) Joee and I shopped for stuff we wouldn't need two of, and looked through papers and lesson plans and game ideas and other teacher stuff. Joee gave me lessons in Chinese culture, and did her best to prepare me for culture shock.
Here are some highlights and memories...
- "I took a bus, I took a plane, to Beijing city!"
- "One time I hired a monkey..."
- Ice cream!
- Peking duck
- Bottles and bottles of bottled water - and Coke, too!
- "I'm a big, big girl, in a big, big world..."
- Getting voted off of the bus!
- Willage after willage after willage...
- Bus troubles, airline troubles - it's not our fault we're teachers with lots of stuff!
- McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut!
- Chinese doctors - I'm the sick one? Really? Do they know who they're talking to?
- Instant messaging
- Sending emails while 'drunk' - not a good idea... but very entertaining for Lee!
- The Great Freaking Wall of China - and we get to spend 45 minutes there? Really? Don't they know we're at the Great Freaking Wall of China?! How often do you go there? And we have to be up and back in 45 minutes? Really? Really!
- Hair! No water shampoos, massages (and laughing through it, so they massage more!), and straight, straight, straight!
- Karaoke bar - microwave popcorn, Coke, and the best skewered fish I've ever had... yum! Thanks bus driver and Zeng!
- Taxi rides
- Shampoo is heavy! Whoever had it in her luggage always had the heavier bag, no matter what else was in it!
- When people speak Chinese to you, and you don't know what they are saying, it doesn't help for them to speak louder and slower, nor does it help for them to write it out for you!
- Bargain, always look for a bargain! Talk 'em down! Promise to bring all your 'good American friends' with you the next time you come to this part of China to do their shopping and you will get the very best deal on all the 'real silk'!
Gambe, my friend! Happy Chinese New Year!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
8 Things...
8 Things I'm Passionate About:
1. My family
2. The gospel
3. Teaching school
4. Scrapbooking
5. Crocheting
6. Blogging
7. Leaving school on time (do I make it? not usually... but sometimes...!)
8. The Utes, baby!
8 Books I've Read and Enjoyed Recently:
1. Candy Shop Wars (still reading it to my students... we've been working on it for a long time, but well worth it!)
2. Ranger's Apprentice series
3. The Last Lecture
4. No Talking
5. The Calder Game
6. Freshman for President
7. Bend in the Road
8. Hacking Harvard
8 Words or Phrases I Say:
1. "I need your attention in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." (said to my students... often!)
2. "Let's line up for _____!" (fill in the blank: library, PE, computers, art, music, the assembly, dance practice, or my favorites - lunch and recess!)
3. "D'ya know what I mean?" (well, do ya?)
4. "Huh?" (lots of intonations and meanings to this one)
5. "Oh my heck!" (cut me some slack, I am from Utah, after all!)
6. "Umm..."
7. "Are you kidding me?"
8. "Uh-huh..."
8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Visit all 50 states (19 to go!)
2. Visit all 7 continents (4 left!)
3. Buy a house
4. Learn how to drive a stick shift
5. Go to Euro Disney
6. Teach in China for a year
7. Retire from teaching (another 40 years to go? yikes!)
8. Have season tickets to the Jazz
8 Things I Have Learned (Or Remembered Again) This Past Year:
1. I love the Hill Cumorah Pageant!
2. It's 6000 kilometers from the surface of the earth to the center
3. I love prepping to teach and teaching itself (it's the grading of papers that I get bogged down in...)
4. How to crochet... I find it much more enjoyable now than I used to
5. A group of turkeys is called a 'rafter'
6. I love my Cricut!
7. Putting my money in the stock market is equivalent to taking it to Vegas, but a lot less fun...
8. Kids are smart
8 TV Shows I Enjoy:
1. American Idol
2. Ugly Betty
3. CSI
4. Psych
5. Ace of Cakes
6. Jazz games
7. Knit & Crochet Today
8. The Sugar Bowl!
8 Games I Like to Play:
1. Apples to Apples
2. Bananagrams
3. Basketball
4. Volleyball
5. Skip-Bo
6. Phase 10
7. Screwy Louie
8. Dating games (hah!)
8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. I went to school
2. I had "Popular" and "Hope of America" stuck on my head - what a combination!
3. Rain - but not enough to have inside recess! Hoorah for clean air and the out-of-doors!
4. Driving in the fog - where's my nose?
5. I used my gift card to Cabella's (and got new slippers and shoes!)
6. I watched a movie
7. I worked on my crocheting 'homework'
8. I got lots of sleep!
Your turn!
1. My family
2. The gospel
3. Teaching school
4. Scrapbooking
5. Crocheting
6. Blogging
7. Leaving school on time (do I make it? not usually... but sometimes...!)
8. The Utes, baby!
8 Books I've Read and Enjoyed Recently:
1. Candy Shop Wars (still reading it to my students... we've been working on it for a long time, but well worth it!)
2. Ranger's Apprentice series
3. The Last Lecture
4. No Talking
5. The Calder Game
6. Freshman for President
7. Bend in the Road
8. Hacking Harvard
8 Words or Phrases I Say:
1. "I need your attention in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." (said to my students... often!)
2. "Let's line up for _____!" (fill in the blank: library, PE, computers, art, music, the assembly, dance practice, or my favorites - lunch and recess!)
3. "D'ya know what I mean?" (well, do ya?)
4. "Huh?" (lots of intonations and meanings to this one)
5. "Oh my heck!" (cut me some slack, I am from Utah, after all!)
6. "Umm..."
7. "Are you kidding me?"
8. "Uh-huh..."
8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Visit all 50 states (19 to go!)
2. Visit all 7 continents (4 left!)
3. Buy a house
4. Learn how to drive a stick shift
5. Go to Euro Disney
6. Teach in China for a year
7. Retire from teaching (another 40 years to go? yikes!)
8. Have season tickets to the Jazz
8 Things I Have Learned (Or Remembered Again) This Past Year:
1. I love the Hill Cumorah Pageant!
2. It's 6000 kilometers from the surface of the earth to the center
3. I love prepping to teach and teaching itself (it's the grading of papers that I get bogged down in...)
4. How to crochet... I find it much more enjoyable now than I used to
5. A group of turkeys is called a 'rafter'
6. I love my Cricut!
7. Putting my money in the stock market is equivalent to taking it to Vegas, but a lot less fun...
8. Kids are smart
8 TV Shows I Enjoy:
1. American Idol
2. Ugly Betty
3. CSI
4. Psych
5. Ace of Cakes
6. Jazz games
7. Knit & Crochet Today
8. The Sugar Bowl!
8 Games I Like to Play:
1. Apples to Apples
2. Bananagrams
3. Basketball
4. Volleyball
5. Skip-Bo
6. Phase 10
7. Screwy Louie
8. Dating games (hah!)
8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. I went to school
2. I had "Popular" and "Hope of America" stuck on my head - what a combination!
3. Rain - but not enough to have inside recess! Hoorah for clean air and the out-of-doors!
4. Driving in the fog - where's my nose?
5. I used my gift card to Cabella's (and got new slippers and shoes!)
6. I watched a movie
7. I worked on my crocheting 'homework'
8. I got lots of sleep!
Your turn!
Monday, January 19, 2009
The only book you'll ever need to read... kind of...
Four teachers teachers at school and I are part of a reading and study group at school. We picked three different books that we'd like to study, and spend an evening a month discussing what we've read. One of the books has seriously changed my life and how I plan to parent my children (in 10 to 15 years - the principles will be the same then!). That book is The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.
I've known the power that early reading has in the life of a child. I've written papers about the need for a child to have 1000 hours of reading experience under their belt by the time they reach kindergarten. I know that kids who have been read to have larger vocabularies, are more likely to enjoy reading as they grow up, and are on track for success in school and in life. This book has put all these things together in very practical application. It gives so many examples of why reading aloud to children is important, ways to put this practice into your life, books to read, and more.
The message of the book is this: start early in reading aloud to your child (even before they're born!), continue reading to them as they grow up (who doesn't enjoy being read to?), and enjoy the relationship you and your child build as you read books together.
This is the only book you need to read... until you start reading with your children!
I've known the power that early reading has in the life of a child. I've written papers about the need for a child to have 1000 hours of reading experience under their belt by the time they reach kindergarten. I know that kids who have been read to have larger vocabularies, are more likely to enjoy reading as they grow up, and are on track for success in school and in life. This book has put all these things together in very practical application. It gives so many examples of why reading aloud to children is important, ways to put this practice into your life, books to read, and more.
The message of the book is this: start early in reading aloud to your child (even before they're born!), continue reading to them as they grow up (who doesn't enjoy being read to?), and enjoy the relationship you and your child build as you read books together.
This is the only book you need to read... until you start reading with your children!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
January... blah!
So I realized that it's been a while since I blogged last... I don't even have a good reason for not blogging! It's not that I've been too busy having a life that I didn't have time to blog about it... I haven't done much of anything, really... so what is there to blog about? I'm working on a novel about Christmas break that is back-dated, so in the meantime, here's a few tidbits about January 2009 so far...
Our first week back to school was the longest week ever! The kids were used to sleeping in, being lazy, and getting to play all the time! Not to mention their teacher! It was tough, getting them (and me) back in the routine, but I think we're there... almost!
There were only a few storms that first week back that make the
commute treacherous. The school parking lot has been a sheet of ice for the past two weeks - I've gotten great at ice skating across!
Recess duty has been a blast! We've only been inside once, which is okay with me! The kids don't really mind being out in the snow and cold. I have one student who moved to Utah from Arizona this fall, and it's his first winter with snow and all... he's pretty stoked about the snow, and could spend all his time looking at it, playing in it, and talking about it. When the kids get all excited about it snowing outside and try to gather at the windows, I always tell them, "You've seen snow before! Now sit down!" (always using a nicely controlled teacher-voice, of course!), and someone inevitably says, "But he hasn't!" Maybe by May we'll be done with looking at the snow...
My class has earned a few extra recesses for being good for substitutes (finally - it only took until January!), and the boys love playing King of the Hill on one of the mounds of snow on the playground. They don't play at regular recess time, because, as they tell me, they like that they know the people in our class aren't playing and pushing and shoving to be mean... they are comfortable in assuming that boys in our class are playing for fun... and they really have taken pretty good care of each other while playing. Personally, I'll be glad when the mound is melted and they're back to playing football on the field or playing soccer against the girls.
Thank goodness for Martin Luther King! I've always admired the man
and the kind of leadership that he showed during the Civil Rights movement... and I'm also grateful that Congress decided we needed the day off to celebrate his memory!
Our first week back to school was the longest week ever! The kids were used to sleeping in, being lazy, and getting to play all the time! Not to mention their teacher! It was tough, getting them (and me) back in the routine, but I think we're there... almost!
There were only a few storms that first week back that make the
commute treacherous. The school parking lot has been a sheet of ice for the past two weeks - I've gotten great at ice skating across!Recess duty has been a blast! We've only been inside once, which is okay with me! The kids don't really mind being out in the snow and cold. I have one student who moved to Utah from Arizona this fall, and it's his first winter with snow and all... he's pretty stoked about the snow, and could spend all his time looking at it, playing in it, and talking about it. When the kids get all excited about it snowing outside and try to gather at the windows, I always tell them, "You've seen snow before! Now sit down!" (always using a nicely controlled teacher-voice, of course!), and someone inevitably says, "But he hasn't!" Maybe by May we'll be done with looking at the snow...
My class has earned a few extra recesses for being good for substitutes (finally - it only took until January!), and the boys love playing King of the Hill on one of the mounds of snow on the playground. They don't play at regular recess time, because, as they tell me, they like that they know the people in our class aren't playing and pushing and shoving to be mean... they are comfortable in assuming that boys in our class are playing for fun... and they really have taken pretty good care of each other while playing. Personally, I'll be glad when the mound is melted and they're back to playing football on the field or playing soccer against the girls.
Thank goodness for Martin Luther King! I've always admired the man
and the kind of leadership that he showed during the Civil Rights movement... and I'm also grateful that Congress decided we needed the day off to celebrate his memory!
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