My where has time gone. It seems like, I dunno, 3 months since I’ve posted to my blog. Hey look at that, it’s been 3 months.
It has been 3 months since our lovely little daughter was born and we’ve started to wonder: What has happened to our lives? Did I even have a life before that? some of my relatives are asking. All that ‘free time’ (whenever that is) has been absorbed by a host of tasks designed to keep this little organism going – changing diapers, feeding, getting her to sleep. Heck, half of my baby time is spent just holding her. We have become adept at passing off the baby just before one of us has to go the bathroom.
Not that I am complaining, mind you. Holding my daughter is my new addiction. I can’t wait to get home just to pick her up and look into those blue, wandering eyes and pretend she is communicating with me. Her favorite spot is the changing table – it’s like magic. We put her on it and she becomes active & alert. Juliet and I do lots of ‘talking’ there. The moment I pick her up, she goes back into ‘the zone’ – staring off at whatever space has absorbed her short attention span.
I loved my life before kids. We were so active and had so much freedom (as evidenced by our many travel posts). Now that we have a child, we’re not as ‘active’ in the same sense, but she has become our new activity. Different pleasures. I love my life with kids, too.
As for Juliet, she couldn’t be better. I think we got spoiled on this one. All looks, very few cries, and generally a good temper. The girl likes to get her diaper changed and can spend at least an hour in the car seat without much fuss. She only occasionally needs the pacifier. I can see why some people stop after one – the next one can only be trouble.
OK, here it is: my trip to China. Where do I begin? How about a list of our activities:
Tai Chi with two masters at the Temple of Heaven
Forbidden City/ Tiananmen square
Ping Pong lesson with the coach of several Olympians
Hutongs (the old small alleys of Beijing)– riding rickshaws, cooking our own lunch in Mongolian hotpots (yummmmmm), learning calligraphy & Feng Shui with local families in their houses
cooking class with a top chef at Du Wong restaurant
Bird’s Nest & Water Cube Olympic venues
toured an old factory town turned into a collection of art galleries
camped at Gubekoi village (fan dancing, serious karaoke, dinner in a ‘Mongolian yert’)
hiked about 10K of the Great Wall
explored emperor’s Summer palace, little Buddah temple
Longmen’s Grotto
Shaolin Tagou Martial Art School & Temple – taught history of kung fu by the head monk
Little Dragon Kung Fu school
Morning prayer/silent breakfast/sweeping courtyard with straw brooms/ tour Pagoda forest
Grand Musical Zen Performance – a nighttime show in an outdoor theater at the base of a canyon – dance, Kung Fu, music, drums
Kung Fu routine
This seriously was two weeks packed with activities. What was my favorite part? I would have to say hiking the Great Wall was truly spectacular. It was surreal being able to touch history with our hands. We hiked (and I mean a real hike) about 10K of a section of the Wall that fewer than 5,000 people (including Chinese) have ever been on. We needed permits, and Communist hats which our guides provided so we appear friendly to the soldiers who patrol the restricted military zone we passed through. The landscape was beautiful and shrouded in a fog that set the mystique of the wall’s ancient past. It was exhilarating.
This trip was also full of unique experiences. Like attending morning prayer with the Buddhist monks at the Shaolin temple and joining them after in silent breakfast (they eat this way everyday). In Beijing, we got to visit the houses of local families in the Hutongs: old, small alleys that remain from the ancient city. I think if I lived in Beijing, this is where I would want to live – kind of a cool, courtyard design and you’re right in the city, yet it was quiet in the alleys – no cars can go through. One woman showed us how her house was designed around principles of Feng Shui. It’s basically a courtyard with several rooms around it and about 10 of their relatives live in various rooms. As many as 4 families may share one property. In another house, a gentleman who practices calligraphy spent about an hour teaching us how to write on rice paper with traditional ink brushes (which he gave to us as gifts). You couldn’t get this kind of experience on a regular vacation.
Kung Fu school was also incredible. I thought I was in shape before got a serious workout from these hardcore 17yr-olds who taught us a routine. It was the kind of thing where we felt completely like foreigners trying out this exercise we weren’t built for. The routine we learned was basic hand & arm moves and kicks; they told us it was you first learn if you know nothing about kung fu – yeah, that was us. One day they let us try learning a weapon routine. I was excited to be divided up into the sword group. They make it look so much easier than it is. I wish we had more time with it but it was fun even for just a half hour. Maybe Megan will get me a sword for Christmas.
Videos: in Facebook, search Discovery Student Adventures
Our experience truly was an amazing adventure. The students totally engaged in every activity and were curious to learn and experience everything. I loved traveling with them and was really proud of the way they represented our school. Here they are talking about their experiences:
Details (why I did this):
Discovery Student Adventures is a new partnership between Discovery and Ambassadors Group student travel. They are launching trips right now where teachers gather a group of interested students to explore other countries. Typically, about 5-6 students pay for a trip and a teacher chaperons for free.
As DSA is new, they wanted to host some pilot trips – where both teachers & students traveled free. I was fortunate enough to be one of nine teachers they selected from 170 members of the Discovery Educator Network who applied. Of the eight destinations they offer, the pilot trips included Australia, South Africa and China. On each pilot trip, three teachers brought four students each (3 teachers, 12 student). On our trip, I, along with my four students, met up with a group from Wisconsin and one from New Jersey. We also had 4 other adults from DSA and a photographer and videographer.
Two years ago our district started a ban on cellular phones and ‘electronic devices’ in the classroom. This is a frustration felt by many teachers nationwide who see the potential value of cell phones in the classroom. Now add to that refrigerators. Our district is now executing a ban on all personal refrigerators on all campuses. Apparently the two biggest concerns of our district board are that we can call people and that we can keep our drinks cold.
One thought that came up in my mind was what if a teacher has a medical condition requiring medicine to be kept cold and close by, such as insulin injections. The nearest community fridge (which are allowed in limited numbers) may be on another floor or worse, in another building. And when the teacher asks for an exception to the policy, will they be pressured to reveal confidential health information?
Supposedly this policy was put into effect to reduce costs related to electricity usage. Yet they provided no clear, long-term energy plan or any type of data-driven estimation of how much they will save by making this move.
This is one more jab in the side by the ‘energy czar’ as the staff has dubbed. This is a district employee who’s role is to reduce energy usage using the most diminuitive means possible including driving to various schools sites, opening classrooms and turning off/unplugging everything in sight. This includes turning off pet lamps, unplugging USB cables, shutting off power to the main server on campus and yes, unplugging refrigerators. Ironically, these uneducated choices (who does that??) have cost the district thousands of $$ in lost server time (reentering attendance data), damaged camera film for photography classes, and replacements for dissection specimens in science labs.
One day while working late on creating an assignment, I walked down the hall to make some photo copies. While I was out, the energy czar struck like an overly-eager, under-giving tooth fairy! When I returned to my class, the computer was off, my USB port was unplugged (b/c of the little LED lights), and the monitor button was pushed in. Apparently, the czar had urgent business elsewhere, because she (oops, did I say that?) made no attempt to save my current documents. I sent her a polite email the next day explaining that she caused me to keep those machines running for another hour to recreate an assignment I had almost finished before she pulled the plugs.
I guess this answers my general frustration with why we are not moving towards 21st century education by equipping our students with access to computers – they don’t want to pay the electrical bill. Hey board members, let’s make a trade; it won’t cost you a dime to let students use their cellphones at school.
