The Megatrons and Me

Sorry, my last post may have been a tad grouchy. It's that darn inversion. It gets me every year. However, I am here to tell you that dreams do come true. I was awakened last week to a text at 5am. It stated that the whole district was delayed 2hrs. 2 wonderful, delightful, marvelous hours. It would seem that nothing could top that, and yet the beautiful sun has also been shinning in and out of storms. That has meant snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Yeah! I even got to take my students cross country skiing. Who wouldn't love skiing and plucking kids out of the snow? It is a delight and afterwards, those little darlings said things like, "Our teacher was the only person out there who did not fall. She is a superstar." Gosh, I love those kids.
And so it was with these happy thoughts I headed down to Bryce Canyon to cross country ski with friends. Little did I know it would be different, much different. Saturday morning as we ate breakfast at the lodge, I was lost in my own thoughts about how good life was with the clean air, beautiful sun, and my health returning. Suddenly, my ears perked up to the end of the conversation that had been taking place. "Ok, so who is doing the triathlon?" When those words were said and I saw the faces around the table begin to shake yes, I knew I was in trouble, big trouble. My head began to spin, and I frantically searched every face at the table and realized to my horror that everyone there was a . . . . . "Megatron." This bit of information might fill you with panic too, if you knew what a Megatron was. Basically, it is someone who does everything with megatronical force. (The spell checker is going crazy with these great words.) However, Megatrons don't know they are Megatrons. They think they are regular people. They say they are taking things easy and just having fun, which may be the case for them, but normal people like myself, who are gasping for air, have a hard time believing this. I like the Megatrons and do things with them, however, usually in outdoor activities, I like to make sure the paparazzi are there. The paparazzi are the friends who take pictures of everything and anything. Paparazzi make it possible to pretend like you are interested in their pictures, while really you are simply trying to breathe. However, on this trip I had failed to confirm that the paparazzi were coming. Big mistake.
We got on the trail and I optimistically tried to remember my superstar skiing status. However, these people were like machines. Up the hills, around the bends, through the trees. Push, push, push. I found myself falling behind, and so in my haste I tried to speed up and fell. Which shouldn't have been a problem. Except, we were skiing in the pre-made ski tracks and when I tried to help myself up by pushing my pole into the ground outside of the ruts, it sank down, all the way down, and so did the other pole, my hand, my head, my body, everything. You might say that the snow was pretty deep there. At this point I just started laughing because have you ever tried to get up on skis after falling down without using anything to push off of? It can be a bit of a problem, especially because I knew the Megatrons were so far ahead. However, where there is a will, there is a way, and later, quite a bit later, I got up. Victory!!!! However, this was just a small indication of what was to befall me that day. You might say it was a little bit of a rough day for me. However, in the end I just let the Megatrons go ahead, because the sun was shinning, and the canyon was beautiful and I really was having a wonderful time. And even though I'm not a Megatron, that is ok, because I have been told I am a superstar.

Bad, Bad News

I really am not a complainer, and I hesitate to post this tirade, but I just received news that has sent me over the edge. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and you know what that means. Six more weeks of winter are on the horizon. When I shared this news with my roommate, she said, "Yeah, I love winter." For goodness sake, that is what everyone around here says. I am not a hater of winter, truly I love skiing, snowshoeing, and the snow. But enough is enough. This winter has sent storm after vicious storm from gray, inversion skies. This winter instead of roads, we have ice rinks. At least they appear that way. They are all white, and all you do is slide on them. Which wouldn't be so bad if they ever closed things down and you could stay at home, but no. The weather forecaster will say, "Visibility will be nonexistent at times during the morning commute " and so I turn on my little radio with hope in my heart, but alas school is not canceled, nor will it ever be according to my optimistic principal. And so I make the trek which doubles or triples its usual time, and I enjoy my talk radio, as I watch people slide across the freeway, or as I stay in the same spot for an hour waiting for an accident to clear. Once at school, I spend the morning bus duty scooping children out of snowbanks and off of the slick sidewalks where they have fallen. I numbly go into my class where I am greeted with the announcement that it will be an inside day. That means me and the kids all day, no breaks. I really do love them, but they run back from lunch before I come back from getting papers in my box. Then they converge around my desk, eyes peering at every bite I take. Then they comment, "Yum, I love carrots, can I have a carrot? What kind of soup is that? Can I have a taste?" Next they watch like a hawk to see if I have a treat that they can sweet talk me out of. I haven't been able to sneak a treat in a month. If that isn't a good reason for winter to be through, I don't know what is. I also love the wonderful winter sounds in my classroom which go something like this, "Cough, cough, sniffle, cough, sniffle, sniffle, cough." Which inevitably makes me go, Cough, cough, sniffle, cough, sniffle, sniffle, cough. It is a tragedy. I drive home and the turn onto the street before our apartment known as "Suicide turn." Then onto the ice rink of terror where there are no parking spots, only mounds of snow. You just gun it and plow through. Unfortunately, getting out is much more difficult. However, I did see the sun yesterday and it made me cry. Okay, it might have been the fact that I was running in the freezing cold air, but I know spring will be coming sometime and this year I really, really will appreciate it. (Mom, don't worry the roads really aren't as bad as I said, I may have embellished a tad to get my point across.)

The Dog

I tend to have problems with dogs. I think they can sense my fear. I however, have never had a problem with them at church, that is until today. Simply put, I stepped on a seeing eye dog twice today at church. Honestly, this girl's dog is so good and quiet you hardly know that he is there. That is kind of the problem, I just forgot about him, and bam my foot came down on his paw. (Which was a little worse because of my pointy heels.) Needless to say he wasn't so quiet then. Everyone around me soon knew he was there. I mumbled a sorry. The dog did not look happy. I was quite watchful of him for a while, but church is a good bit of time and soon I forgot about him again. Seriously, this dog is silent, and I really think he silently snuck farther under me, because the next thing I know I uncross my leg, bring it down, and bam the dog has been hit again. He jumped up, and that normally calm, loving dog is staring me down. It kind of made me a little nervous. Anyway the last hour of church, I slid completely away from him and his owner. It may have seemed a little anti-social to both of them, but a girls got to do what a girls got to do. Afterward his owner asked me if I was allergic to him. "Oh, no." I replied. "I just have a cold and wanted to lean my head against the wall." Which was true. I however, did not mention the fact that if I hit her dog one more time, I was afraid he would attack me. And although that would have made a better story, bite marks are not very becoming.

Lock Down

I never posted this because I was too crazy that week, but I edited it and so without further ado here is the harrowing and dramatic tale of "The Lock Down." It was a normal, chaotic day at school. It was lunch and I was busily grading papers and trying to finish up Christmas presents for the students. Then the intercom came on calling all students in for an inside recess. My first thought was "Great Scott, it is not that cold." (The wind chill often sends the kids in from recess.) Then I breathed a very dramatic sigh, because I knew my well crafted work time would turn into entertaining fidgeting children. However, the secretary came back on the intercom and this time she said the most dreaded of all words at a school, "Lock down." Two words and I was struck with fear. I knew this was not a drill, and so I ran outside to usher in the kids. Then came the task of closing all blinds, turning off the lights, and locking the doors. Keep them out of sight, out of mind. I knew nothing else about the situation, and my students began to get jumpy. "What's going on?" they wanted to know and I had no answer. We talked about precautions, keeping ourselves safe, and how fear and jumping to conclusions help nothing, and so we tried to be as normal as possible. We quietly read a funny story to get their minds off the situation, and then I learned why we were in lock down. A member of the safety team brought the news that a citizen had reported a suspicious looking man with a shotgun in the neighborhood next to the school. Needless to say, I gave a word of caution about staying away from windows and doors, but acted as if nothing new was going on. I calmly continued the story, but inside my head I was going crazy. As I was reading, this horrifying thought kept reoccurring: What if he tried to get in OUR room. What would I do? Just like when I was little and would figure out where I would hide if a robber came in, I tried to engineer some other plan of safety. The scariest thought was I was in charge of all of them, my actions affected their lives. I had followed the safety guidelines, but there had to be more I could do. I suddenly wished I had taken more kickboxing classes, lifted more weights, and blast where was our baseball bat? I'm not sure how any of that would really help, but I still thought of it. It's pretty amazing what the brain can do. There I was reading aloud, while I thought processed how to kung fu the killer, and continued to pray. Prayer kind of battles out fear, and soon I was okay. I knew that I would be able to handle whatever I needed to. The lock down ended about an hour later. They never found the guy, there not even sure if there ever was a guy. They cleared the area, my students and I had a talk about what had happened, then we finished the day and sent them home. I personally left school right after the students. Even though, they said the area was clear, I didn't want to be hanging around after dark with the shot gun man, you never know. This experience did help our school learn what we needed to change in our plan and what had went well. I personally decided that even if we aren't playing softball in the winter, I'm still going to have a bat in my closet, just in case. But more importantly, I'll always have a prayer in my heart.

CHINA

China was pretty much, well amazing. What I learned:
-It is possible to fly for almost 14 hours straight and live.
-The Chinese are still working on some of their translations of English. (See picture)
-The palaces are amazing. In the Forbidden City they built thresholds on every door because they believed that the
ghosts couldn't jump over them.
-There is no such thing as personal space, and I mean none.
-When you see the animal's head on the plate, it is time to stop eating.
-I am normal height in China.
-Pretty much any sign somehow stands for good luck.
-Crossing the street is a form of bravery.
-When a man can balance his body on a spear, lay on a bed of nails, and have a block broken on his stomach, you know
you are at a real Kung Fu show.
-If you want compliments go to the markets, all you will hear is “Pretty lady, pretty lady come look."
-Bargaining is an art, and you know you have made it when you give your final price, walk down the hall, around the
corner and they run to find you and concede defeat.
-At every palace or tomb everything stands for something, the color, the design, the animals. It all has some
special meaning.
-There is no singing, dancing, or signs allowed on Tiananmen Square, period. (If you want to try it, ask our tour guide
about the Texas dancers, not an amusing experience.)
-Pretty much everything is about Feng shui
-Looking out on The Great Wall of China is unbelievable. (If I don't have your address, email it to me, because you are not going to want to miss me and my acrobatic Great Wall christmas card)
-The Great Wall is about 3,700 miles, I did 1,785 steps to the ninth guard tower and let me tell you, whoo, it is not as
easy as it looks, all of the steps are different sizes.
-The word Olympics and Beijing are on every street corner, and wait till you see the Olympic buildings, amazing.
-Toilets are different in China, and you hope for a toilet that is “western style.” the other option is not pretty.
-The history of emperors and revolutions is fascinating.
-My laminated traveling companion Flat Stanley, given to me by a third grader for educational pictures, was a hit with
the locals.
-Cooked veggies, rice, noodles and meats should not be breakfast items or on the same table as breakfast items.
-Fruit is the favorite and only dessert served after a meal.
-Ballroom dancing, fan dancing, tai chi, singing, sword fighting, jazzercise, dominoes, and cards all come together
every morning at the local park.
-Being sick on a plane over the ocean for 10 hours is probably one of the worst forms of punishment for any person.
-Jet lag can help you accomplish much in the middle of the night, but it makes for a very tired morning.
-An open mind is important
-“There are always two sides to every story.” David ( our Chinese tour guide speaking of the Western world’s view of
China’s past.)
-The world is a big place.
-China is amazing
-We are blessed to live in America.
If I see you at Christmas or before I'll show you my pictures. They are super cool.

The Race That Was Not Meant To Be

I've had several people ask when I'm running Richmond. Alas, it was not to be. The race was actually run Saturday, sadly without me. The story of this tragedy is kind of like A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, I'm hoping for a happy ending. Things were going along just great in my training, until one day I came home with a stabbing pain in my heel. Now normally an ice pack is my best remedy. Unfortunately, the pain in my heel did not go away, and when you feel like someone is pushing a rusty knife in your heel day after day you tend to worry. Thus, I went to the podiatrist. I have to hand it to him, he didn't mince words. He had me walk down this long, cheerless hall as he scrutinized my every step and then proceeded to tell me I had a deformity, I collapse my arch each time I walk, and that if I wasn't careful I might rupture my achilles. Feeling full of joy I went with him to get my feet taped, x-rayed, and started my 9 a day Advil regimen. Then I emptied my piggy bank out for state of the art orthotics. However, these state of the art orthotics haven't been so state of the art for me, but we are tweaking them, trying to avoid surgery. It's been a tad discouraging, but I am optimistic that it will all get figured out, and I'll be back in action soon. In fact my friend and I are starting a new goal: 800 miles in 2008. That is the happy ending I'm looking for.

Halloween

Halloween at an elementary school is a pretty big deal. I had third graders stopping by my classroom daily to hear what costume I had decided on, and I must admit I had nothing. I had looked and looked but nothing seemed right, until one night while I was searching through costumes on the internet and inspiration hit. I saw that brainy, yet lovable Velma from Scooby Doo. Right away I knew this was the costume for me, and so I set about making this magic happen. Unfortunately, I didn't figure this out until Monday which made for a little bit of stress, especially finding orange knee highs. Who knew how hard orange knee highs were to find? Luckily, I found one pair of orange tights hidden away at a costume shop. Bless orange tights.
The elementary school day started with a fun filled Halloween parade through the school and then into the gym for all the parents to see. No pressure, only hundreds of eyes watching your every move and snapping up pictures that will be pasted in scrapbooks to remember you by forever. Unfortunately, I walked by my tall kids. (Nothing more needs to be said) Then we went back in the classroom for delightful Halloween games, stories and jokes. (I have a ton of them. Hilarity at its best.) As much fun as this was the highlight of my day came when the PTA brought in the sugar cookies. Never in the history of my teaching has the PTA ever messed up on their cookie count. Translated: They only bring in enough cookies for the kids. I don't know if they know about my love for those soft, sugary cookies and that gooey icing they bring to decorate, but I am disappointed every year. However, the heavens smiled down on me this Halloween, for after my students went out to recess there on the tray were FOUR delicious sugar cookies. FOUR! I did not mind that the frosting was gone, oh those cookies. I will happily admit I ate all four cookies for lunch, it was the best lunch I've had all year. As I was happily munching away on the cookies in came two gossiping little sixth graders with a story to tell. And this is the tale they told: Ryan broke up with Katey, and then Emily asked out Bradien, who said no because Ryan told him to, and Cindy who was really only going out with Bradien to get to Ryan paid Zack 10 dollars to ask out Katey as a joke, and then Cindy told Amber to bring it and Amber said she was going to kick Cindy's bleep, and. . . . . (Do you see why I have a hard time keeping track of my own stuff now?) Basically, this meant girls were bawling, rumors were flying and the sixth grade was in an uproar. But have no fear the fences were mended, the tears were dried and everyone was ready for more spooky Halloween fun to end the day. Simply put Halloween at elementary school is a pretty big deal.