What I Did With 72 Hours in India

Most people do not make whirlwind three-day trips to other continents. And of those who do, I would guess that most of them do not make these trips to get married. I did just that - went to India for what felt like one very long day to get married. I was slightly busy, so not many BlackBerry photos on this trip, but here are a few of (in order) - my beautiful friend from Mexico who lives in London yet somehow made it to my India wedding getting her henna, my hand and foot post-henna, some awesome sign I took a picture of because it reminded me of a friend from work, and the champagne KLM gave us even though we were in the cheap seats (I guess the flight attendants on the Delhi-Amsterdam flight are pretty aware at this point of how recent Indian brides and grooms are decorated):

Orange Fever

Ever visited a country when the national soccer/football team is about to play for a spot in the World Cup Final?

You see things like this everywhere (yes, I know the photo is sideways. But you get the idea. ORANGE FEVER):

Then after said team wins this game, people go crazy and party in the streets. I took this poor-quality photo from up in my hotel room, because I was alone, and somewhat afraid to be by myself in a bar with a bunch of drunk Dutchmen just in case the team lost. I really wish I had video here - the noise was just unreal:

Timing on this trip was impeccable. I was heading to India the next day for my wedding, and husband and I would be coming right back to Amsterdam on our way back to the US, just in time for my birthday, which ALSO happened to be the day of the final World Cup match against Spain.

Delta = Devil

Wow. Delta managed to screw my booking up so badly that it caused a KLM agent to actually curse me, then make me cry (Delta jerks had actually cancelled my booking on the flight to India) then fix everything and waive some fees she wanted to charge me. Dealing with other airlines makes me realize how much I truly love Southwest Airlines. Heck, Delta has even made American Airlines seem appealing!

Now just killing time here at the airport. Lots of orange shirts today...Hup Holland!

Sent from my BlackBerry

Back to India

On the second leg of the long journey. Made it to Minneapolis, now on to Holland. Awkward seat but nice neighbors. Here's to sleeping the whole flight!

Sent from my BlackBerry

Arizona Week

Spent much of this week in Arizona, for a work conference, but the true incentive to be there was getting the chance to tour Taliesin West and the Arizona Biltmore (FLW was a consulting architect here, and his influence is pretty obvious, at least to me). My slight obsession with Frank Lloyd Wright has now grown into a full affliction. Sure, he was a cad and perhaps not the nicest guy, but with that much genius crammed into his brain, there couldn't have been much room left for morals. Below are some BlackBerry photos from the trip.

Taliesin West, Scottsdale, AZ

  

 

 

 

 

Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, AZ

Airplane party that never ends

I am going to create a diagram of my flight paths from the past 36 months or so. That will be one nasty spiderweb of lines.

Just so tired, but yet can't sleep. The plight of the business traveler (or, at least this one).

Breathing in New Delhi

Is not the easiest thing to do! Imagine a very, very old car. Now put your face into the exhaust pipe. Breathe. This is what it felt like.

Like most people would probably say, India is a land of massive contrasts, great beauty and great sorrow, and really - the food? Amazing.

Heading back to Texas on Sunday - I'm already kind of looking forward to coming back (though nervous, of course, too, since the next trip will be for my wedding).

Here are some miscellaneous BlackBerry photos from my time in India (Bombay, Ahmedabad, New Delhi).



Incredible India

Just like the ads say, only better. Will post more as and when I can, but for now...laying in bed in the Taj Palace and Tower - in the tower as palace is still under repair from the terror attacks.

Bombay is it. Such an amazing city, bustling and bursting at the seams. It feels like the entire population is balanced on a thin thread - cars shift just so, a motorbike moves to the right, and a crash is avoided. Multiply by 19 million and that's how Bombay traffic feels, yet, I feel totally safe in the hands of these expert drivers.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Amsterdam

..Is awesome! I had a great time in spite of the cold weather. Here are a few BlackBerry photos.

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Vacation!

I am leaving today for a two-week vacation to Holland and India. I'll try to post pictures from various places. So excited!!!

I still have posts from five more years to add here. I seem to never have time.

Going to try (again) to figure out how to make posts directly from my BlackBerry. Again, never had time/got around to that...

Time to get the final few errands done before time to leave for the airport. Hooray!

Frequent Flyer

I would like to take a moment to wrap my head around December and January's travel schedule.

December: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Washington DC, Columbia, MD, Tulsa and Lawton, OK, Various Small Texas Towns for Christmas, Los Angeles.

January: Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Amsterdam (!!!), Bombay (!!!!!), Ahmedabad, New Delhi.

Now time to try experimenting with uploading images here - and how to do this from my BlackBerry so I can post from all of these random places.

San Fransisco - interesting poodle sculpture at the SFMOMA (October).

What I Did During 2006 - Mexico

I traveled to Mexico to attend the fifteenth birthday party of Cristina's little sister, Mayra. The birthday girl would return the favor five years later by coming to my wedding in India. Fifteenth birthdays are a big deal in Mexico, and this one was no exception.

After spending some time in the girls' hometown on the east coast of Mexico (including Cristina's dad surprising us with a trip to a classic car show - Cristina and I both love old cars), I headed back to one of my favorite cities, Monterey, and attended a real deal Lucha Libre (wrestling match) with some other friends.

What I Did During 2006 - New Orleans

This trip was for work, and just a few months after Hurricane Katrina and the floods (you can still see that quite a lot of the buildings were still boarded up at this point). The city was so different from how I remembered it from my last trip. What a place...

What I Did During 2006 - Puerto Rico

During 2006, I worked and I traveled. That's really about it. I'll post some photos from various trips, starting with Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico - visited the main island, Culebra, and Vieques with an old friend from my teaching days. Swimming in the Bioluminescent Bay in Vieques is likely the coolest thing I have ever done in my life.

First picture is some cool art in Vieques. Next, no lie, a Cock Fighting arena. Can't believe that this is legal. PR is, after all, part of the US, right? Clearly I was not the only surprised by this unique...family business in the third photo. Look at the people craning their heads around on the right. Next picture is of a fabulous beach in Culebra. Finally, the sodas building - I always love good graphic design.

Countdown ON

I'm down to counting the hours. Currently, there are 49 hours left in the school year.

My friend, in his infinite generosity, decided to lend me his spare flat screen TV to take to school. This combined with the extra DVD player I have under my bed means that all my problems at school are solved. I have about ten hours worth of history films at school, and the Back to the Future trilogy that I also borrowed from my friend. The children will be quiet at last!

All I think about all the time is getting out of here. I have three months left on my lease, and to be honest I still haven't decided what I'll do once it's up. I really need to stay here until the end of October, because I'm in my friend's wedding. Still need to buy that dress, too.

It's really interesting how I keep meeting people who are opening my eyes to all that's out there to see. Until about five years ago, I never thought about traveling outside of North America and Europe. Small-minded, sure, but when you grow up in a small town in Texas, you just don't really think you'll ever get that far away. It doesn't help, either, to be raised in a family that just doesn't travel much. I come from a Texas ranching family that's been here for a long time. Work is valued above everything else, and travel is a luxury that my family just doesn't think about. That all changed a few years ago though, when my mom and step dad got married. He has really taught us how to travel and made us want to see more of the world. 

--

I really can't believe my teaching career is almost over. Ninety percent of the people that I know today I either met through my job or only know me as a teacher. I've never really thought of myself as a teacher, and knew it wouldn't be a career for me, so it's strange to think of people seeing me that way. This website has been mainly about my teaching job for the last three years. I kept trying to write about something else, but when the problems as big as those in an inner city school occupy your mind, there's not room for much else. Besides, I certainly needed to get all of that out.

Honestly much of this year I haven't wanted to document. Some highlights:

1) Having a conversation with four 12 and 13-year-old girls that began with, "Miss, you know how there's two different kinds of head on a boy?"

2) Being yelled at and cursed in three languages by teenagers.

3) Knowing that you're being looked at in a nasty way by students...they're way obvious about it and it's so gross.

4) Finding one of your books with such vulgarity about yourself written on it that you don't care to post the details on your website.

5) Catching six boys throwing rocks at your car, and trying to break into it so they can steal/destroy the soccer ball hanging from your rear view mirror, because they don't like that team.

6) Having a student go to jail for throwing a skateboard through a windshield, and having this same student make jokes about how you're going to get a broken window in your car...

7) Um...yeah...every day was awful times a thousand and all the highlights are the same. There were a few sweet kids who made it almost tolerable. I'll never forget the amazing group of kids who would help me out even when everyone else was being awful to me.

It's not just me either...everyone else from my grade level has quit as well...the administration drove us all away with their lack of support and disregard for the problems that come with teaching this age group.

But hey, it's almost over, right? Then it's off to play at the beach in the Bahamas, then back here to figure out the next couple of years.

Belize and Guatemala

I went to Belize and Guatemala for spring break. The trip was fun. I liked Guatemala a lot more than Belize, especially now that I'm back.

We saw a ton of Mayan ruins at Tikal in Guatemala. It was so exciting. I have never seen anything that old! Taking a 'chicken bus' was also quite an experience. I met some really interesting people and ended up continuing the travel into Belize with some of them. None of us really had any set plans, so we headed to the town of Hopkins, Belize. It was really awesome. The cab (well, guy with a truck who would drive us) driver took us to this hippie woman's house/commune place on the  beach where we all proceeded to stay for several days. She had an Aussie girl living there - she'd been there for six months or more - told us she got there and just didn't want to leave - who baked fresh bread twice a day. And the food! They prepared fresh vegetarian meals for breakfast and dinner. Amazing. I loved this place and hope I can go back someday.

However, while at the beach in Belize, I got attacked by these awful sand flies. I look and feel like I have the chicken pox again. It's HORRIBLE. It drives me crazy all day long. And I have to go back to work tomorrow. Not quite sure how I'm going to deal with it at work.

Speaking of work, things are cool there - it's cool, right, when two months before school is over, the principal decides to change the schedule and the subjects we teach. I lucked out on this one, though -  I get to teach only History and Geography for the rest of the year. No more teaching to the TAKS Reading test (since the TAKS season is over). This, coupled with the dwindling number of days left in the year, leads me to believe I just might make it.

Year Three

I took the summer off. Should have spent some time writing, but it's funny how the allure of beaches, sand and relaxation will keep one away from the computer.

Today was the first day back at school for the teachers. It's out of character for me to say this, but I feel really good about this year. I like the people I work with in my grade level. It's an easygoing group, but serious about making sure the kids are ready for middle school when we close the doors at the end of this year.

Oh, yeah, I moved up to sixth grade. It's a big change from second grade. I'm very pleased with my decision to move up; I think a large part of my frustration with my job over the last two years has been dealing with little, tiny children on a daily basis. They're adorable and quite charming sometimes, but they are just so needy! I'm ready to work with people who are a little more capable of taking care of themselves. Just the little stuff - tying shoelaces, knowing their birthday - simple things like that really got to me with the second graders.

I'm no fool - I realize that a room full of 11-13 year olds is no place to be. I collected a wardrobe of conservative attire and plan to try to make myself look older. My position is a dream - I'm only teaching Science. I absolutely love Science and can't wait to share how interesting it is with my students. I know some will think it's boring, but I'm going to change their minds. I have so many ideas - so many MORE ideas than I've ever had before - about projects and thematic units I want to plan. Science offers so many opportunities for fun. We've got a garden at school that is quite neglected; it will be fun to have the kids grow vegetables and flowers out there. We'll go to the IMAX and we'll have pets, maybe some fish or turtles. No hamsters, though - warm-blooded animals are too much trouble.

I'm actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow. This is so weird.

My Fun Trip to Mexico

The Texas-Mexico Border in Laredo

The two hours I spent in Mexico were great. I called one of my students to express my excitement about being in Mexico, went to some stores, ate lunch and walked around. Yeah, so it wasn't really a trip to Mexico, but more of a trip to South Texas, which sounds bad but really wasn't. There are, contrary to what people will tell you, some kind of pretty beaches in this state. I really liked Mustang Island, where I had my first lesson on how to drive a standard transmission automobile. 

Since my vow to not talk about work on this site anymore, I've been pretty silent. It's not that I've got nothing to say, it's just that any time I start talking about anything interesting, like politics, current events, etc. it always comes back to my job and the frustrations surrounding it. So...

I don't know how I do this - I get near the computer and suddenly time lapses and I'm up past when I need to be in bed. Only one more week and I'm on vacation...35 more hours in that building....but I'm not talking about work, so goodnight.

Tour de America

I spent the last couple of weeks on one of the best vacations I'll ever take: a 3,500 mile, eight state tour of the Southwest. I went from Texas to California through New Mexico and Arizona, and then back through Nevada, Utah and Oklahoma.

I took some pretty pictures; parts of this country are so much more beautiful than I ever knew. Little places I'd never even heard of before - Moab, Utah and Morro Bay, California - turned out to be some of my favorites. Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway was insane. I've never seen so many places that look like they'd come out of a dream.

Costa Rica

During Spring Break, I traveled to Costa Rica. A backpack, rental car, and not that much money was all that was needed to see a huge part of this amazing land.