PAVEing a Blog

I love the keynote speech given by Shannon McClintock, teacher, librarian, and Media Specialist, on the first day of the K-12 Pre-conference Key Note – and so excited to hear her amazing points just coming off the Tri-Association Conference we hosted here at ASF!  What is even more exciting is the details behind this post I made,

“Want to see what librarians, among others, can do to give students a voice? Check out Technology Specialist, Librarian, and Teacher Shannon Miller’s key note speech kicking off the opening K12 pre Conference video, where our own Repentino. students are a part of on Thursday, October 24th’s) morning here to see!

http://k12onlineconference.org/?page_id=1415     ”

Seeing a elementary student, Meredin, who started showing others how to do a blog, transposes to Daniela, one of our own students, whose video is featured on this Thursday’s Video Conference Day,  (October 24th) so please check it out, we are so proud of her! – (My name, but Daniela is the brain behind this video on Thursday)

Skip to the students Casandra, Fiona, So Yeon, Lucia, Alice, and many more taking the initiative, and creating awesome PR material, slideshows, interviews, videos, and more that do much more from Repentino., yes a magazine at first, representing ASF, then artists all around the world, then ultimately a social movement that will allow our ASF students to reach into social issues around the world, through artistic expression.  EXCITING!  What Shannon did in her keynote reaching and asking students what THEY want to get from THEIR own education, then implementing these suggestions to students is another example of what we can do daily to activate our students to a higher level.  Just so happens Shannon, as the librarian, shows what a librarian really does, excited, creates, and motivates!

On this day where our ASF went to visit the Dalai Lama, (even though Mexico’s President balked under controversy), be assured, while it has been a long time since I have posted, there has been so many events worth mentioning that I will trace, reflect on, leading you back to the last post dropoff, which was the new student retreat! (SO much has happened in the in between).  At the same time, you will definitely want to check out the new books on the scene (as well as stop by the ASF Wednesday coffee event (7:00 AM – 1:00 PM) to see our new items in the library, and grab a speciality drink, complimentary of the library! – as well as my blog on amazing awesome books and reviews – and a renewal of visits to amazing new restaurants in the area (updated by the end of the week).

So much to cover, so much worth reflecting on, and where is the time?  It is ironic that the time I find to catch up, is when I am in bed recovering from some strange stomach craziness, but excitement in what my students have been achieving trumps sickness any day…get ready for some amazing posts covering some amazing individuals, accomplishing amazing feats!

It is early in the AM, Wednesday morning, I find myself revisiting one of my favorite all time films clips from Vanilla Sky, and realize – I know finally what I think makes a TRUE educator (and not just a teacher…) at least part of the recipe…being able to let go.  When you have the ability to let go of the young minds that you have tried to shape, influence, and guide (NOT BRAINWASH, lol), and find yourself letting them go out into the world, yet it hurts deeply because you have enjoyed the ride so much along the way, I think you have made it to being an educator.

I look back on the recent, not so recent, and even beginning years of my teaching, and realize, the hardest thing was not going through those years trying to make my way though it seemed THAT was the hardest at the time!) – but detaching myself from teaching these very important people that I encountered all the things I hoped they would carry with them.

I find myself drawn to films like Meet Joe Black, Vanilla Sky, and other that escape me now, that carry this similar theme, the pursuit of more than just the average, almost surreal sometimes.  Then I realize, I think I might have had that all along thanks to the amazing students that have come, and thenI let go to prove themselves….:)  Bittersweet as expressed in yes, in one of my favorite movies, Vanilla Sky…:)

Already it is August 28th, a Tuesday, and before you know it, moments that define you slip away and honestly, at least for myself, the chance to talk, discuss, reflect and celebrate those moments is too important to let go.  I am sure every one has had those moments where they wished they would have written down or recorded their first moment of a cataclysmic event – for me it helps understand how I become the person I am, thanks to the people around me, so no further ado, let’s start from last Sunday…

…Fresh from surgery Kinah was not her usual Sunday self- laying listlessly after her surgery Saturday despot the familiar rattling of leashes indicating the ultimate walking experience outside on a weekend, yet, we trekked on after hugging Kinah, just the pups and I.  Funny it was not the same without Kinah and the puppies felt the same disappointment as we walked what we had to, and no more. Coming back after the walk and meeting Sandra and Susan at Parque Rio de Janeiro for Market 100, we all delved into the amazing richness of what we found, from blueberry crumb cakes, to vegan and vegetarian supplements discovered, to the fresh vegetables that were just being placed, it was exciting to see a general collaboration of farmers as a unified Mercado, endearing ourselves to Rio de Janeiro even more.

After filling our bags halfway, we decided to try the even larger and amazing market, Mercado Sobre Ruedas – and it was all that and more.  After Susan broke down and purchased a cart to carry her stash, and after making our way through countless vegetables, chicken, fruit and more we realized we had enough produce for barely three of us to make it back OUT of the market, yet we did.  I have to say, on the way through the market, I realized how nice  Sunday it was thanks to the fresh produce, the ease of going from booth to booth, an taking in the smells of vegetables, meat, and fruit just for the taking – and as much time as we wanted we could spend, as well as money!

On the way back, Sandra found an artisan who could specialize in specific tables and end tables she needed, then we trekked to the truck and dropped Susan with her stash to her apartment, then Sandra, and then we decided, why not!  Let’s try and extend the Sunday adventure further, by trying to find a strip of furniture stores on the Periferico as advised by Isabella.  I have to say, I had NO IDEA where I was going, at all – yet – thanks to Sandra’s advice, and the Mountaineer being larger than most vehicles on the road, we saw first signs for San Joacquin, then Queretaro, then 1 Cinqo de Mayo, and ohmygosh!  HOME DEPOT!  We stopped there, and I had to grab the Grape Icee!   (It has been ages!) – then – we made our way through many many outlet stores with TONS of furniture!  This was placed in my blog under Lingo and Things to Know since this was a GREAT place for furniture to note!  Thanks Isabel Duque for this information.

I have to admit, that night, after coming back – the day and being able to soak it in was exhausting and I passed out until MONDAY!

Out first full week of school!   Mondays are always hard, and I could tell I was tired, as I headed the wrong way on the Metro, and found myself in Balderas, having to turn around and make my way back to Observatorio – and amid crunches of arms, legs, and elbows, I MADE IT!   (Monday’s are not traditionally my favorite).

I found myself spending the beginning of the week collecting the Staff of Repentino. together, getting them ready for New York with permission slips, deposits, and also getting staff together on Trello – I have to say, the positive energy and excitement we are gathering already makes me ITCH for the year to start, and I know this was the general feeling flowing through returning and new staff as well.  Wow – Wednesday – what a day – At 11:30ish we received an email and then an announcement – we were being released early due to the manifestation, otherwise a HUGE protest that was going to be happening this afternoon, and I am assuming the potential of being in the middle of a violent protest, WE WERE GOING HOME EARLY…..so what to do on a day early – well glad you asked —  !!!

Wild woman Camila Dever, Upper School Counselor, Lucind Wiser, Sandra Shannon, all skipped town in a cab to COSTCO – and well, we made it in pretty good time! – where we began to explore the need to grab a membership – something happens when I step out with these staff, I spend money in areas that I do not expect – but it always seems to be things that will benefit me later than I do not know – so it is all good – I think   J.  Camila, Sandra, and myself ending up being on one membership, which I am sure will benefit us much later … Or open toe door for more spending…

My main job was finding dog food before I left for the new student retreat, but walked out with storage food containers that I split with Sandra, then I moved onto lunch meat to last me for the next three weeks, add Philadelphia cheese, bagels, bread and we have a little more than we expected – but it should last awhile and secretly I will be saving money.

After the shopping marathon, we realized we were STARVING, so we hit the food court, and another pleasant unexpected event – I have to say we started to discuss what motivated us, what made us happy, and before I realized it, we had shared aspects about ourselves that slipped out as easily as water under a bridge, and before we knew it, we realized the things that made up problems of our past, were just that, bridges of friendship of bad days gone by, and sharing these moments with each other effortlessly.  This is the thing I noticed, when around the right people, and when you feel perfectly at ease, problems are just that, be it the need to be a problem solver, have humor dictate the situation, or be someone that takes you away into new adventures, as well as being young no matter the situations that are dealt to you on a daily basis – when in the right company, anything seems possible.  I am lucky to be surrounded my current and an amazing group of new staff and they make me feel renewed every day – so with the occurrence of early dismissals due to protests, earthquake drills, an incidents of egg tossing (long story) on the first day of school – I realized I could not be experiencing anything and everything with a better bunch of family – and whether they realized it or not, we were becoming a part of the ASF family!  It is impossible to separate family from students as well in some cases, and seriously, HOW LUCKY AM I to have students that feel like family, as well as the new staff, as well as the familiar staff coming back that are there to always get your back?  Luck was the largest understatement of the year!

Yet, the day was not over!  After going two different ways in two different cabs, one to Polanco and the other to Roma Norte, we unpacked out collection of good, did the things we needed to do, and being movie buffs at heart, wanted to take in a film following the norm of dog walking, unpacking Costco good, etc, we began to see the possibilities – Heli, Snow White, Red 2, El Conjuro, what?

Sandra met me with Susan at the theatre, and I just had this inclination to see En Conjuro, a scary film yet something I often did not take in, but I found myself losing SUSAN – she was “tired” (I BELIEVED HER BUT….)…but I am afraid we lost her to the scary film aspect, so we made her promise to come Sunday night to a movie!  (She PROMISED!) – we bought the deal you can get at the theatre that gives you gives free refills, deals to special promotions, as well as other thigns and well because I was with Sandra, and it seems it needed to happen, we both got one, Sandra assuring me that when everyone settles in it will not seem as so many things are going to be purchased, right?

I passed out Wednesday night, got packed, in the AM for the new student retreat and here I am on the bus to Queterao, with the new ASF students!  To be continued!

Walking through the Park Rio de Janeiro – and seeing the free clinic for getting cats and dogs sterilized, I was skeptical.  Yet, official vets, official experts, within one hour I found myself with Kinah, phone my friends Sandra and Susan, asking them if they could detour to the Plaza Rio, to help me with getting Kinah and one of my little ones fixed, and yes, NERVOUS.  First I was a public place, and spur of the moment.

Despite the nervousness, Kinah a day later is amazing and even though Sandra and I carried her still asleep down the street back home, and Susan manhandled the two pups back it turned out GREAT!

We made our way to City Market, stopping at a restaurant named Madrilena  (DELICIOUS!) then City Market, then Sandra was able to get back to get her internet and cable hooked up, yeah!, then onto the film The Illusionists, and back and Kinah was exhausted but faring well!

More details of the above to come, but an overview of how much you can see and do in Mexico never ceases to amaze me!

That’s right, I asked you what your favorite book was, and yes, some of you gave me a motherload, so that is fine  (Always skirting the directions, love it!) If you do not know these, time to check them out (figuratively and literally!)  Thank you for participating!

Book Lover’s Day Responses – (August 9^th)

To Kill a MockingBird  – Harper Lee

Tuesdays with Morrie  – Mitch Albom

Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest  – Ken Kesey

Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

The Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy

Rachel & Her Children – Jonathan Kozel

El Cuaderno de maya –  Isabel Allende.

Winnie the Pooh –  A.A. Milne

The Witches – Roald Dahl

Chronic City –  Jonathan Lethem

Better Angels of our Nature – Steven Pinker

The Wealth of Nations – Adam Smith

The Prophet –  Kahil Gibran

Centennial – James Michener

East of Eden – John Steinbeck

The Boxcar Children  Gertrude Chandler Warner

Eat, Pray Love  – Elizabeth Gilbert

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare

Tartuffe – Moliere (Richard Wilbur translation)

Collected Plays of Samuel Beckett

The Cantos – Ezra Pound

Selected Poems – Robinson Jeffers

The Gift, Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property – Lewis Hyde

Taoteching – Lao-Tzu (translated by Red Pine)

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon

Gun, With Occasional Music – Jonathan Lethem

Middlemarch – George Eliot

Black Beauty  – Anna Sewell

Angela’s Ashes  – Frank McCourt

Animal Farm  – George Orwell

Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Three Musketeers  – Alexandre Dumas

Angels and Demons –  Dan Brown

As teachers and others are designing curriculum, I am attaching a calendar of events in September that are worth recognizing!  🙂

September 2013 Calendar events of outside school

Day 2 of In Service, as we learn to dance and plan, and ready for a new year!  🙂

Ah….the word itself, Harry means as referenced: (if you click below it will take you to the link too!)

harry (v.) Old English hergian “make war, lay waste, ravage, plunder,” the word used in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” for what the Vikings did to England, from Proto-Germanic verb *harohan (cf. Old Frisian urheria “lay waste, ravage, plunder,” Old Norse herja “to make a raid, to plunder,” Old Saxon and Old High German herion, German verheeren “to destroy, lay waste, devastate”), from *harjaz “an armed force” (cf. Old English here, Old Norse herr “crowd, great number; army, troop,” Old Saxon and Old Frisian heri, Dutch heir, Old High Germanhar, German Heer “host, army,” Gothic harjis), from PIE root *koro- “war” (cf. Lithuanian karas “war, quarrel,” karias “host, army;” Old Church Slavonic kara “strife;” Middle Irish cuire “troop;” Old Persian kara “host, people, army;” Greek koiranos “ruler, leader, commander”). Weakened sense of “worry, goad, harass” is from c.1400. Related: Harried; harrying.

Sometimes the day harries you, sometimes you get harried…:)

And yes, harried, speaking of that version let me let you inside today’s event…

Feeding and then walk the dogs at 5:30 AM, (before I get them out the door I pick up the papers for their bathroom area mop that while they are eating and drinking, and manage to clean the cat litter and feed them, and water their bowls and we are out the door…

Quiet, letting the dog run, tackle each other in Parque Rio, do their bathroom thing since it has been 30 minutes about after they ate, we walk, chill until 6:15  -head back, fill their water bowls, shower, skip breakfast, dress, out the door, (after covering up all possible items ready for puppy damage) –

walking to work through Roma, bump into the new teachers (Beebe family) and Mr Wilson, hitch an awesome ride with them to ASF, get there early! YEAH! – ope up library, water plants, print out my schedule for Mansfield FINAL semester and expectations for my degree and GRADUATE in December, make my way to the upstairs to hide to get things done today – make the expense report for the Finance Department from my Chicago ALA trip – calculate, receipts organized, take to Ms Lechuga for approval from Mr DeJesus, come back work on months of January to June of signup sheets for the library, check to make sure I received a first transfer of funds from my Mexico Bank to U.S. Bank, it is there!  Yeah! – eat some muffins left over from the New teacher meeting, receive email from Ms Lechuga, finance report ready for pickup and signed!  –  check email of expectations for a mentor from the library for my final semester – take that finance report mentioned earlier to Caja to turn in,  Caja is too full, go out of school to check at the Bodega to see if my Valle card is usable today, (EARLY) for groceries, on the way, deposit money for Moct at Bancomer, go to Bodega, get a cranberry juice drink, check out, yep, money on my Valle!  (breath) –

back to ASF – on way back Mr Maas asks if I can stop over and eat lunch at the Baptist Church, do so, then back and go to Caja to turn in finance report, have to go to accounting to get it signed there, have to bring in tomorrow US Cash for the money I did not use, then will get a refund of the taxi I paid for, good to go, go back to library, on the way there question about Larry Tharp’s furniture and the place on Sonora to but and have furniture made, make it to the library, check out books to Ms Ramone and Josh ( and checking books in), contact Ms Dixie and Ms Wiser about going to Costco, talk to the printer for a quote (second one) on the Repentino publishing – will send info for a quote from 2nd printer, (thanks Moct for calling him even though we found out he speaks English)  (Breathe)

create calendar to set up events of library and literary importance from 2013 to year 2014, check again on the deposits for a second transfer to U.S. from Bancomer, not done yet, (waiting for that to pay my tuition), find out with I will go home and walk the dogs, come back, grab Lucinda, and head to Costco, so head out saying hello and bye to Dr. Lawrence, make it home at 3:17 – briskly walk the dogs, they do their doo doo outside and are actually good minus the magazine and assorted items they chewed while I was gone, out the door asking Osseily to call Lucinda and let her know I am on my way, make it to ASF again (leaving at 3:57) – make it at 4:35 – we see Susan (new teacher) drop her at the ABC Bus, Lucinda and I try to find out out to get to Costco – get stopped by police asking for id, license, saved by the Montes sisters who make sure the police do not rip me off (first time they let me go, Montes sisters, you ROCK! -make it to the Perifico, headed right for a bit, then lost, circle to the right, then back in a circle, under an overpass, headed to what we think is right, she grabs her navigating coordinates, we make it through some side streets, get into a sidelot that is NOT for Costco but new cars without license plates, laugh, celebrate because we SEE Costo’s, get out of that lot, into Costco’s garage, INTO COSTCO!  Take out time (first time of the day) – get dog food, cat food, fruit, dried fruit, chocolate blueberries, WAFFLES! – bread, lots of cat litter, assorted foods, out of there – get to the bottom of Costco, overspend my Valle for the first time on what seems not many groceries but I did buy double, so (how long will this last me?) forget to get parking validated, go back, VALIDATED! – in truck, out of Costco, to Polanco, some highway/expressway travel, miss side road before we know it Masaryk! – to Lucinda’s unload her groceries, see her roominess and new apartment!  – GOSH! I need to use the bathroom! – head out, find way home, oops, wrong way on Reforma, past Auditorio (the WRONG WAY!) – through a cool park, find way BACK, towards Reforma, to Sevilla – to Insurgentes, to my apartment, 8:15 – unload all groceries, whew!  5 minutes before parking meeting from our building, afraid people will be mad I have a large vehicle (breathe!)

in the garage with all the apartment residents, watching a cool verbal fight between the amazingly good looking resident next to me (gosh I like her) – and another female resident (thinking, throw a baby poll, jello, and mud, I could make a fortune) have my friend Osseily beside me translating some amazing fast Spanish for me amid the conversations) find that no one cares about me in the garage, just want me to ask when I need out, WHEW! – Oseeily fuming about the “badness” of his last edit of his movie that will be submitted to Sundance, ranting from Osseily, but me also ranting because the repairman for the cabinet door did NOT put the door back and fix it, and left open, being an open invitation for my wonderful tame puppies and mama dog to tear the oatmeal all over the floor from the open cabinet, mixed with some plastic spoons on the floor, and Osseily’s laptop, and his jump drive (yet all are in tact) minus the oatmeal, dogs looking innocent but not, we are exasperated and say we need beer!, we go to the corner grab 2 beers a piece (thanks to Osseily) and snacks from the house come back, GREAT!  just newspaper shredded by the puppies! – we head to the roof,

D R I N K,  S N A C K,  A D M I R E the night as we slow things down, what a day for both of us! we exclaim, falling slowly into our chairs and reflect on what “harried” means….

Happy Tuesday  🙂

Whew.  Minutes, hours, weeks, then months!   Alot has happened since the end of July and yet, needs and wants of what makes a content, satisfying life sometimes become clearer as those same minutes, hours, weeks, and months go by.

Let’s try to go back to the pie baking dream of RHUBARB. Thanks to the patience and know how of Tracy Miller, Deb Lawrence and I settled down to create a Rhubarb-pie that over the next week, (sorry, it couldn’t and didn’t last long) melted in your mouth.  That afternoon was just a great afternoon to be yourself, let down all “have to be somewhere” and relax, and enjoy the day.  The ice cream and pie for the next week was not quite bad either.  I remember days of old where I had picked fresh rhubarb with a girlfriend and we made pies that would just hook me for well, now years later.  City Market? Rhubarb supplier of Mexico and beyond!  I took two slices to the couple that works beside me at the bookstore, added some ice cream, and they absolutely loved it.  Shared some with my friend Osseily, divine.  Overall, success and now I look to make more, lol.  Thanks Tracy and Deb!

From that point on, alot of rushing and cramming, yet, receiving, meeting, and socializing with an amazing group of new teachers to ASF since July 24, 2013, has been amazing – the new staff, their children and the simple experiences of just trying to be an information supplier has been fun and rewarding, and the smiles and freshness of Mexico through their eyes and questions has made it all worth the while.

At some point, you realize how do you get energized?  It is at the very moments you spend with a group of people that make you feel energized, so yes, sometimes, it is a 8-9 hour sleep early (which I have done over the last few days) – or, it is just walking, talking, and reflecting amongst each other, and often that does the trick as well with the right people.  I have to say, one of the most enriching experiences is and has been the fact that I am trusted to give information and provide assistance to one of the best new groups of staff I have ever met and seen.  This start to the new year enhances the way you perceive the new year, at least for me.  I am excited of a year of making sure I respect and appreciate the little things that make the larger problems seem somewhat insignificant.

For example, waking up after a post-Mexican midnight rain – nothing like it.

Do it early enough, and you see the freshness of the streets, the air, the emptiness of the streets and you realize, this is pretty much as amazing as I could possibly imagine, and you are smack dab in the middle of it!  And even moreso, if you choose, you are surrounded by people that make that experience of the culture, the air, the freshness even more clear.  Clarity…I have fund so much in the last few days with an amazing group of people, animals that always are there to remind you that when it comes down to basics, the simple things of being there for another, making tons of time to play, and tons of time to just sit back and enjoy,

making the sense of clarity a reality every day.

That’s right, Book Lover’s Day!  Please send me from now until the 9th your favorite books and I will post them here for all to see!  🙂  Thanks!  I am starting this off with one of my all time favorites, Beach Music by Pat Conroy – still one of my favorites!  What is yours?