Mixed Bag

The bad news: the bus's engine blew. (Rather spectacularly, according to Robb).
The good news: The entire vehicle is a collector's item, so we can still get something for it.
Also, Robb's six week break starts Friday, so it makes only having one car a little easier.
Oh, the joys of vehicle shopping - we meet again!

The Wonder of Technology

Last Friday we went on a field trip to Patchen Christmas Tree farm. It's a 14 year tradition at this point, where we meet up with dozens of Colliers International (commercial real estate company) employees, who take groups of kids off to cut down Christmas trees. This year one of the Collier's guys decided to put his iPhone to work and make this video of my students. I love it!

Patchen Field Trip

Field Trip

"Teacher! When the bus goes over a bump it feels like giggles!"

Osvaldo

Smarty Pants, or why I sometimes enjoy my job

Every year I have a few delightful students who manage to wriggle their way into my heart despite their annoying characteristics. One of this year's candidates is Oscar - a leading member of my ADHD contingent. This means he is more often than not NOT paying attention - or at least not appearing to pay attention, playing with stuff in his desk, or thinking about/working on various other projects that are more mentally stimulating than whatever the current academic task may be. Another of my charming munchkins is Zaira, because she's so inherently nice. It's amazing and endearing.

Last week we were working on multiplying a three digit number by a one digit number (i.e. 346 x 5). Oscar, who despite his distractability is very intelligent and particularly good at math, was having difficulty getting down to work. (Surprise!) As he was singing a song of his own creation (and irritating most everyone around him), Zaira looked at me and said "Maestra, I think Oscar is very creative." (Do you see why I love this girl? That's certainly not how I would have phrased it, so she succeeded in inspiring me to be better.)

Once Oscar got down to work and blasted his way (100% correctly, I might add) through various math problems, I told him I was very proud of his hard work and all the effort he was putting in. He said "I'm a smarty RIPPING pants!!!" I must have made a confused (or amused) face, because he said "You know, smarty because I'm smart and ripping because I'm ripping." Um...okay. Zaira, seated nearby, said "See maestra? I told you he was creative!"

Today a similar situation unfolded. After checking Oscar's work I smilingly thanked him again for his effort and told him he was being a smarty ripping pants again. He gave me a very confused look, to which I responded, "You know, like you told me last week? You said you were a smarty ripping pants?" He said "Oh no. Now I'm a smarty PUTTING pants." (???)

Oscar, my little fauxhawk-haired friend, Zaira was right: you ARE creative. :-)

Blessings

Today, as I'm lying in bed with a serious head cold, I'm trying to be positive and reflect on the many blessings I enjoy. Such as:

Robb

My awesome parents, siblings, and nieces/nephews

Shaine

Kevin

Tiffany

all my former roommates (and current friends!) from LBC, Provo, and Spain

Blogs, so I can keep up with said friends

Telephones (for the same reason, and)

Facebook (even though it's often a pain)

Prayer (because otherwise I'd go crazy)

Music

Books!

My generally-good health

Health insurance (for sure)

My job...even though it DEFINITELY drives me crazy

Hilda and Liz, who keep me sane at work

My students, because they make me laugh

Craigslist (without it, where would I live and what furniture would I have?) ;-)

Computers

The Internet

Cars that run well

My home

And today in particular, cough drops and cough syrup. And tea with honey.

Which makes me think of Honey the cat, which makes me think of Maggie the dog.

And so much more!!!

My new dream bike

So when I was growing up we had a few elderly couples living on our street, and they all had those adult tricycles with a basket between the back wheels. I thought those were the COOLEST bikes and I've wanted one ever since. That is, I wanted one until I read my friend's blog and saw THIS:

I've got a golden ticket

Okay, not really, but the next best thing. I just got a letter from the school district saying I've been moved from probationary to permanent status. Hooray!!!

Coming up for air

This is the fifth week of school - how did that happen??? What with the fire, recreating/rebuilding my classroom in the three days before school opened, my combination class, and a completely FULL roster of 30 students, I am feeling run ragged almost constantly. I don't have anything fantastic to say, just hello and yes, I'm still alive. Who could have guessed that week of furlough days in October would be such a welcome relief?

How Good is It?

The school cafeteria served corn dogs today, and most of the munchkins were very excited. When I asked them if it was good, my favorite response came from Fernando: "It's so good, it's ROCK STAR good!" Followed by some air guitar on his half-eaten corn dog. My guess is "Rock Star Good" is pretty amazingly good, indeed.

Misnomer

I was helping to create a spreadsheet today at school and, as I went through the class rosters I discovered we have a student enrolled whose name is Maybe. Now, I'm sure her parents/family pronounces it MY-bay (which is how you'd say it in Spanish), but still.....maybe that wasn't the best idea. ;-)

Fire Update 2

Highlights:

• SJFD has determined the fire was deliberately set and are conducting an active arson investigation.
• Other than the foundation and concrete pillars, the old building is completely demolished and the rubble has been cleared.
• The majority of the portable classrooms (all 1st and 2nd grade classes, a library, and a cafeteria) will be across the street, on Hoover Middle School's field.
• Three portables (for 3rd grade) will be on the Trace site, along with the resource room, ELD coach room, RSP room, speech room, and another library.
• Construction started last week to prepare space for the portables. We are guaranteed to be in by August 14 (though here's hoping it's sooner, since two days before school starts is NOT much!)
• Insurance will cover/reimburse "everything". When that actually happens, and whether or not everything actually means EVERYthing, we still don't know. Making the list for the insurance agency is HARD. Every time I work on it I remember more things I held dear and have now lost. Sigh.....I know it will be better in the future, but it's still difficult at present.

Some GOOD news:

• One of my former students contacted me and donated 20 or 30 of her own books to help rebuild my classroom library.
• Shaine's sister-in-law, Jen, used to teach and gave me a box full of really good teacher books - hooray!
• My mother-in-law and husband found a garage sale with a bunch of children's books in Spanish (and they bought all of them, of course.) ;-) Plus, Diane found some sweet book-related fabric and is making a pillow cover for my class.
• The Friends of the Library is holding a book sale to raise money for the school, and they let us come through and pick out any books we wanted before the sale.
• Various friends have what and how to donate, including Shaine making me into a service project for her former single's ward. Sweeeeet.

And so it goes - onward and upward. Thank you for all of your help and support, and happy rebuilding!

School Fire Update

I should probably call this "Update #1", as I'm sure there will be more information forthcoming. For the moment, however, this is what I've got for you:

The school is still in the Fire Department's possession and is a crime scene. The FD should complete their investigation within the next two days, at which point the school will be turned over to SJUSD. Once the district is allowed to access the campus, salvage crews will go in to save what they can (most likely nothing), as well as to mitigate any smoke damage in the remaining buildings. We're told the rest of the school - even the six classrooms twenty feet away from the main building - have only very minor smoke and water damage.

At this point I have to interject with a giant HOORAY! for the San Jose Fire Department. They were on-site within five minutes of the first call, and at the peak of the action 30 of the city's 35 engines and 100 firefighters were working to safely put out Building A and keep the surrounding buildings, trees, and homes from burning. They did an amazing job - as you can see, the trees right outside my classroom door are still alive, and this was a six-alarm fire that completely destroyed the 25,000 square foot building and which is, in fact, still smoldering 36 hours after the fire started. Thank you, SJFD, for your efforts on behalf of the Trace/Rose Garden community!

Returning to the timeline as it now stands: after the district's salvage crew goes in we will decide (rapidly, as we only have SIX WEEKS until school starts), the footprint and location of the new building. Once that is determined portable classrooms will be installed. We (the teachers) are all hoping against hope the portables will be in place at least a week before school starts. The school district is dedicated to keeping us on-site, so we'll see where they squeeze 16-20 portable rooms.

We were informed today that insurance will cover furniture, materials, and some of our education-related personal purchases. This means that eventually (hopefully by August 12!) we will have replacement desks, tables, chairs, computers, projectors, document cameras, paper, pencils, etcetera. We may or may not have the money to replace the items we've purchased on our own (classroom library books, literacy kits, science and social studies realia, etc.)

Fortunately, the community is already asking how they can help us, many teachers throughout the district are offering materials and time, and at least one school has volunteered to adopt a classroom. I'm doing okay at the moment, but I know my stress level will go up and up at least until I have a classroom. Once I have a room and an insurance reimbursement I can start to get back on my feet. It should be interesting, going back to how things were when I first started teaching.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE OFFERED TO HELP, you can:

a) wait until I find out exactly what I need (six weeks or so), and pitch in then,
b) watch for Donor's Choose posts to go up and then donate online,
c) send Target or Amazon gift cards, and/or
d) any combination of the above.

If you go for option C, you can mail things to our home address or to Robb's work address:

Robb Thurmond

Trace Donations

46269 Warm Springs Blvd.

Fremont, CA 94539

Thank you all for your support. You can't imagine how helpful it is to know you care and are ready and willing to help.

Playtime's Over...

So I had a fantastic time in Spain and then at the Santa Cruz beach house with the Klima/Davis clan. We tore ourselves away rather reluctantly, and arrived home around 3:00 pm. After ten days away from my laptop and cell phone I settled down to check my school e-mail and listen to my voice mails.

The first message I saw in my school inbox was titled "Trace Fire". My initial thought was there had been a room fire or something of that nature. The reality, however, is that half of my school burned to the ground early this morning. My classroom, along with fifteen others, our school library, four resource rooms, and a mobile laptop classroom (30 laptops) went up in flames.

I didn't have a large collection of personal items in my classroom, but as I try and list what I lost it becomes more and more real to me. Things will be rebuilt and replaced, and in the meantime I'll do my best to remind myself to be grateful most of what was lost can be restored.

Utah has Some Freakish(ly AWESOME) Billboards

Apparently this was a local newscaster who always enjoyed good health but who was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer and only had a few weeks to live.

Sad, right?

But if you aren't from the area, the giant

COLONOSCOPY

is a tad...random, to say the least.

This one's the real winner, though.

And I'll leave it at that.

WOOHOO!

Crazy Hair Day

One of the perks of working at an elementary school!

A Perfectly Proportioned Piece of Paradise

Did you know actual scientific studies have been conducted on the topic of chocolate and depression? Now, no one had to convince me of a link (I mean, the only thing that made me feel good every day [pre-meds] was - you guessed it - CHOCOLATE), but there's always the guilt factor canceling out a bit of the bliss. Unless, of course, you're like me, and you search for a recipe that can be cut down to guiltless proportions. That's right, folks. I found a triple chocolate brownie recipe that was easily quartered. It takes 20 minutes to make and bake and fits in a loaf pan. (Cue the Hallelujah Chorus.) Here it is:

1/4 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. sugar, rounded (i.e. heaping)

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. baking powder

1 t. vanilla

1 egg

1/3 c. flour, rounded

1/2 c. chocolate chips

(I use mostly semi-sweet with some milk chocolate thrown in for good measure).

Optional: 1/4 c. chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a loaf pan.

1) In a microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter.

2) Add the sugar, stirring to combine. Remove from heat.

3) Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla.

4) Whisk in the egg, stirring until smooth.

5) Add the flour, chips, and optional nuts, again stirring until smooth.

6) Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

7) Bake the brownies for 15 - 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and barely set in the center. (I bake mine for 15 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave them in there for another 5). Excellent with milk and/or cream cheese frosting. (Cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar.) Enjoy!!! Original recipe: King Arthur Flour Brownie Bites

Yosemite!

Last Thursday night we got a call from Shaine and Kevin, inviting us to join them at a campsite in Yosemite. After much seesawing (Athey/Klimas: we apologize for the drama) we ended up going for it. Five hours later we arrived at Hodgdon Meadows. (And I have to say, I finally get at least one reason for the corkboard up by the campsite entrance, and I'm VERY grateful for it! S&K, thank you for the note/directions.) We had a great time lounging around the campfire, headed to bed around midnight, and slept soundly (ha!) in the freezing temperatures.

Saturday morning chef Kevin supplie

d a delicious breakfast, and we all rolled out to the valley. Having never been to Yosemite, may I just say "WOW."

A glimpse of Yosemite Valley:

Everybody marveling at Yosemite Falls:

Yosemite Falls

(and curious onlookers staring at Robb as he lay on the ground for this shot):

Awwwwww.....aren't they cute??? ;-)

El Capitan...

...and the bus.

(Bottom left corner.)

All in all, a fun, relaxing day of sightseeing, "hiking" (aka walking), and wondering at the masses of people in attendance.

Looking Back: Robb Becomes a Proud Papa

I mean...owner...of a 1975 VW Bus. A Westfalia, or "Westie", complete with pop-top camper, two fold out beds, a sink, a stove, and an icebox/fridge, he/she/it (a name has yet to be chosen) sleeps four comfortably and puts some major sparkle in the proud papa's eyes. We flew out to Phoenix this past Valentine's weekend, and spent three days driving it back to San Jose. The Grand Canyon was gorgeous (Robb's first visit), Hoover Dam at midnight was movie-set surreal (a first for both of us), and Death Valley was interesting (my first time there).

Miraculously enough, we made it home safely, and I have to say that, while I may not love the bus unequivocally, I do think it's pretty freaking awesome. If Robb hangs onto it long enough to be able to fix it up entirely (we're talking YEARS, mostly because it'll take that long to save the money for the minor body work and major paint job that need to be done), it will be absolutely amazing. For now, I'll just squint and pretend to be able to ignore the green-faded-to-blue curtains clashing with the orange-black-green plaid. :-)

Shaine and Kevin's Wedding

Yesterday the one and only Shaine Klima married Kevin Athey. It was a beautiful day at the Oakland Temple, and fun times both before and after the ceremony with friends from Long Beach and beyond. All in all, a fantastic time to reconnect with a lot of excellent friends.

And Shaine and Kevin, we all hope you're having a FABULOUS honeymoon.

:-)

The radiantly beautiful bride:

The happy couple:

The happier couple:

The shoes that inspired the outfit:

And the only picture I have of the LB/OC/DC crew.

(Patty and Carrie, I'm trusting you have much better pictures!)

A few more Ecuador pictures

How to keep Ecuadoran drivers from using a lane under construction:

fill it with rocks and branches.

A couple (out of hundreds) of the orchids in Loja's orchid garden.

Robb's favorite purchase:

a "cabeza del diablo" mask for his brother.

The best thing about Ecuador!

Ecuador, Part 3

After Christmas Eve in Quito we flew to Loja. (Ahem...well, after a LONG wait in the Quito airport. HINT: If you're ever waiting for a domestic flight in Quito, head over to the International terminal. Waaaaaaaaaay nicer.) It was truly wonderful to see my parents and have the opportunity to see first hand all the things they've told us about.

We went to Parque Jipiro (the coolest city park I've been to in a while - full of replicas of famous buildings in which we had fun playing around), an orchid garden, the city zoo (though we're told it's really not worth it anymore since the giraffe died - random!), and both ends of Parque Nacional Podocarpus - the high altitude end (ridgeline/cloud forest) near Loja and the rainforest-esque low altitude end (near the city of Zamora).

We ate frogs legs and guinea pig and Ecuadoran corn cakes, and we saw a lot of interesting (and random) sights, such as sections of road covered in rocks and small trees, to keep people from driving on them until construction is done. (Driving in Ecuador is only for the fearless. It doesn't matter how many lanes there appear to be - there's always only one lane: the one going your direction. My favorite memory? Passing another car on the left while being passed on the left. Oncoming traffic, schmoncoming traffic!)

After five days with my parents we had to head out, so we took a bus north to Cuenca. The city is full of beautiful colonial-era buildings, most noticeably the "new" cathedral (1800s), which has three blue-tiled domes. We saw some real (and really eerie) shrunken heads at a local museum, bought some cool handicrafts, and listened to some great ethnic music. On December 31 we passed numerous sidewalk stands selling yellow women's underwear (brings good luck if worn on New Year's Eve), and made our way to the airport. It was a fantastic trip!

Me, coming down a cement slide on the miniature Kremlin at Parque Jipiro.

Parks outside the US are so fantastically, dangerously fun! :-)

My mom, with her half-guinea pig (cuy).

Visiting the Sotomayor family with my parents.

The new cathedral in Cuenca.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Ecuador, Part 2: Shall we dance?

After 4 days in the Amazon we went back to Quito. We spent the night in our hostel and went up to Otavalo and Cotacachi the next day. Otavalo is the site of the longest-running and largest indigenous market in South America (it's been in existence since the Incan era), and Cotacachi is famous for its leather goods. (As we drove up to the town the air smelled like leather - it was pretty cool!)

We spent another night in Quito and found a few cool spots on La Ronda - a colonial era (1600s) street full of shops, galleries, and cafes. My favorite memory from our time in Quito was from our second to last night there. Robb and I were starving and tired (so I was rather grumpy), and we were walking up and down La Ronda, looking for a good place to eat. As it was the 23rd, there was a LOT of loud celebrating (and karaoke, oddly enough) going on. I was not in the mood for a noisy crowd.

We finally settled on a VERY small cafe on a side street (mostly because their sidewalk sign said they had pizza.) ;-) We sat down and ordered, and as we waited for our food the cafe owner very kindly changed the radio to American Christmas music. We started up a conversation with the lady and her husband, drank her amazing, out-of-this-world-delicious hot chocolate, ate our pizza, and talked some more.

Robb had been drumming on the table as we ate (a common occurrence) and we talked about rhythm and then dancing. When the owners found out Robb didn't know how to do any Latin dances they decided to change that. He, of course, protested, but they shoved the other two tables out of the way, cranked up the music, and the señora pulled him out of his seat and started teaching him how to cumbia. All in all, we had a fabulous time dancing with this older couple in their little 10x10 cafe. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences from the trip.

Long-overdue Ecuador Recap

Okay, so for Christmas break Robb and I went to Ecuador, ostensibly to visit my parents, who are currently serving as full-time missionaries in the Ecuador Guayaquil (South?) Mission.

Part 1

We started off our trip in Quito, where we found a hostel, crashed into bed (it was a LONG day of flying), and promptly got up the next morning for a 5:30 bus into El Oriente - the Amazon rainforest. We drove to Tena, and ended up in the Shangri La Lodge, above the Anzu River. We stayed there for four days and were able to go hiking through the jungle, white water rafting on the Jatunyacu river, as well as getting to know people from all over the world when the guests came together for dinner each night. We saw bats, river otters, parrots, snakes, and WAY more bugs (particularly ENORMOUS spiders) than I ever wanted - or want - to see. We also saw hundreds of amazingly beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs, and ate a variety of bananas, plantain, and yucca. Here are some jungle pictures:

Chonta palm - VERY spiky!

The Anzu River

Leaf cutter ants

Pedro, our guide, painting Robb with achiote

Jungle fashion baby - HOT.

PS: I also got the WORST sunburn of my life while rafting. I'm pretty sure it was a serious 2nd degree burn, edging into 3rd degree territory. Thanks to my Mom and her tub of Watson's burn cream, I'm okay - though my legs may have a permanent tan line from the knees down!

Resolutions

This is a great talk by Elder Joe J. Christensen. I read it every year at New Year's and thought it might be helpful to pass it along. Check it out - it's good!

"Resolutions"

Untimely

A little girl from my school passed away on Sunday. She was a student in the grade I teach. Last year her teacher noticed she couldn't hold a pencil and was having difficulty with other motor skills - both fine and gross. The teacher brought this to the parents' attention, and when they took her into the doctor they discovered a brain tumor. She had surgery and chemotherapy, and continued to keep in touch with her class. (The teacher looped with her students, so they all stayed together for another year.) This little girl joined us on Halloween for our costume parade, and came to school the last Friday before Christmas break to decorate Christmas cookies with her classmates. Then, on Sunday, she died.

Our principal requested that each teacher discuss her death in class today. It was exceptionally odd to have a discussion regarding death without the framework of faith to support comprehension. How do you answer questions like: "How did she get cancer?"; "WHY did she get cancer?"; "Can I get cancer?" and "Where is she now?"

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the knowledge it gives me of who I am, where I came from, why I'm here, and, especially today, what happens to me when I die.

Alma 40:11-14

11 Now, concerning the ^astate of the soul between ^bdeath and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are ^ctaken ^dhome to that God who gave them life.

12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of ^ahappiness, which is called ^bparadise, a state of rest, a state of ^cpeace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

13 And then shall it come to pass, that the ^aspirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the ^bdevil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer^cdarkness; there shall be ^dweeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.