I may be Valentine-less but I can still be happy

With all of the Valentine hooplah, it's easy to feel down if you don't have a significant other to celebrate with. The lack of candy or flowers or a homemade pillow may not disappoint you but the lack of sheer companionship can be hard to swallow. Honestly, I haven't thought too much about it until this week. Who reminded me of Valentine's Day?? My students, of all people. They bombarded me with a million questions, "Ms. Baer, do you have a valentine this weekend?" "Ms. Baer, what are your plans for Valentine's Day?" "What, you don't have a date? Well, I'll go out with you." Ummm...no thanks, that would be illegal.

Anyway, all of this hype over Valentine's Day has reminded me of a very important lesson I have learned this last year. It's one my mother has taught me time and time again. It's simple: Be happy where you're planted. It's not an easy task by any means. But I have learned that I have the choice to be happy in whatever circumstance I'm in. So as a singleton, I can love and thrive in my environment. I can enjoy each moment that single life brings me. Even when I do have a valentine (miracle of miracles), it will not automatically equate into blissful and eternal happiness. Once I do find that person, life will still be hard and I will still have to make the effort to be happy in a relationship or in my marriage.

So if you're like me and you are alone on this Valentine's Day, don't fret. Do something fun today. Be with people who love and appreciate you. Or just ignore it and pretend it's any other day. But most of all, choose to be happy.

And take comfort in the fact that students won't be bugging you at school next week, asking you what you did this past weekend with your valentine. (Diane, you may be the only exception to that!)

Lastly, if it helps and it should...the Lord loves you and He will forever be your valentine.

Your eyes are so big you could swim in them.

Thanks, Luis, for that compliment. I'm glad that my students recognize my beauty (though their comments are a bit on the sketchy side at times).

P.S. Doesn't my hair look awesome?

Remember that one time when I went to NY on the China Bus and we got a flat tire on the way there AND on the way back??

Yah, well that was this past weekend. We all decided to take a quick rendezvous up to New York City to have a break from DC life.

My time in New York was fabulous! It was just the trip up there and back that proved trying for my impatient soul. We decided to take the China Bus because it was a whopping $35 round trip ticket. Can't get any better than that, right? Well, you get what you pay for I suppose. On Friday night we left for NY at 4pm. An hour or so outside of Baltimore we hear a "thunk" and lo and behold...a flat tire. The bus driver pulled us over somewhere in Delaware or whatever forsaken land it was and we sit there for 2 hours while the bus driver (who can barely speak a lick of English) reassures us that the tire will be changed in a half hour to an hour. WRONG. Think again, it took 2 hours.

In the meantime we got restless so we all hopped off the bus and started running around to get some wiggles out.

Here's a picture of all of us in front of MVP bus. The ironic thing is that this bus service is definitely NOT the Most Valuable Player of any kind. Kristen, Meggie, Me, Amber, and Carolyn.


I think everyone thought we were some crazies on something...but I assure you that the only thing that could make us act like that is a few pieces of chocolate and a restless body that wanted to scream out in frustration.

We even had a race to pass the time. You can barely see us but we did race. I lost.



Anyway, the rest of New York was wonderful! Once we got to NYC, I immediately hopped off the bus, hailed a taxi, shared the Gospel with the taxi driver, and caught the 11:45 train to Tuckahoe within 20 minutes. I am so proud of my city-savvy skills. Pat on the back.

Kathryn graciously picked me up around midnight. The next morning, I helped out with Matty's B-day party, caught up with Kim and Gavin, then headed over to the city to see my friend, Greg, who currently lives there. We went out to a Belgian restaurant, an indoor flea market, and walked the Brooklyn Bridge.

Here we are on the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. Notice the Statue of Liberty in the background. Dang, I look short in this picture (if you thought I was going to say, "Dang I look hot in this picture" you can insert that sentiment too).

Kathryn then met up with me at Grand Central. We walked around Times Square and thought about buying Wicked tickets from a scalper but after we walked after him we realized that they were very possibly fake so we bagged the idea.

Here I am in Times Square in my usual attire. I didn't even take a picture with Kath! Sorry Kath!

Sunday was spent going to church with the Newmans and seeing Mark play Bishop. I had a wonderful time seeing them and it was oh so short! Sammy asked me (with a mouthful of M&M's) if I was going to visit again and I reassured him that I would. Thanks for hosting me!

Oh...and of course, the China Bus once again; it did not fail us in getting yet another flat tire an hour outside of Baltimore. I swear, these things must be planned or something. Luckily this time we were actually at a rest stop where toilet paper actually existed in the bathrooms. You gotta see the silver lining in all things. Oh...but the scary thing was not the sketchy bus driver this time, no. The scary thing is that we never got the flat fixed so we drove for 2 hours on a bus with a flat tire back to DC. I said many prayers that night. I blasted my ipod with Enya in hopes that I could ignore the raucous. It worked.

Bottom Line: NYC was incredibly fun and I had a glorious time with friends and family. However, China Bus...not so fabulous. I will never require your services again, thank you...I will not come again.

For the record...

I hate cats.

I hate how they smell. I hate that they shed. I hate that they jump on me when I sleep. I hate that they lick me. I hate that their feces reeks in the kitty litter. I hate how they make me sneeze.

I think God should have rethought His creation of cats. Blasphemous? Maybe so.

I just had to get that off my chest.

The adventures continue...don't you fret.

So the weeks are getting busier and busier as student teaching is becoming more and more demanding. This means that my blog posts are getting fewer and my thought processes more scatterbrained. I feel like all my creativity is getting sucked into my lesson plans.

Here are some things I've done in the last couple of weeks. WARNING: This is very informational, not so much hysterical.

PHILADELPHIA

We spent a day in Philly with the whole gang. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed), Ben Franklin's print shop, and visited The Constitution Center (basically a big museum about the Constitution). It was a fun-filled day with a lot of historical sites to be seen. We even grabbed a philly cheesteak which was not my favorite.

Here are some highlights:

Me and my cheesesteak. Can you tell that I'm not that impressed? Definitely a forced excitement on my part. P.S. I feel bored just looking at this picture.

Ben Franklin and I. Did you know he was a womanizer?? Yah, that's what I learned in Philadelphia.All of us with the founding fathers at The Constitution Center. We look beautiful in comparison.

The teacher crew in front of Independence Hall...you can barely see us but we're there.


And the adventure then continued when I hooked up with Sarah J. once again a few days ago. Oh the fun. We went to the National Portrait Gallery and look what we found!

A donut? Too bad it's not edible.


LBJ and I...I am getting tight with these presidents. He held a book in his hand so I decided to hold my own, The Book of Mormon (to find out more go to www.mormon.org).

I was then briefly transported back to Europe...ok, far from Europe but they had this piazza place in between the two wings of the museum. I thought it was cool, so ta-da...here I am!

And then Sarah took more pictures that I did not get so the adventure ends here. This looks like a Susie adventure but I can promise that I did have Sarah with me. Care to testify, Sarah?

The honeymoon is over.

Not with DC itself. No, I love this place.

When I first entered into my school situation, I thought that the situation could not get any better. I was in a trance; surrounded by a wonderful mentor, teachers to help aplenty, and students who seemed to think I was pretty cool (they still do by the way). Sure, I knew that inner city school life would be difficult, but compared to what I imagined, this place has been heaven. In my naive eyes, the school was a place aimed to give every student the chance to succeed. The unity of the administration was impeccable, the standards explained, skills taught and implemented, and the students actively engaged in learning.

Oh how naive I was...

Not that the school does not contain any semblance of these things, its just that this week has uncovered some hidden truths. I have just realized that every situation has its downfalls. People are human and they have weaknesses. Teachers are not perfect nor is the administration. The procedures and the focus of Bell Multicultural is not the best way of doing things; it's just the way they choose to do things.

Needless to say the honeymoon is over. The reality of the imperfections contained in my school have been manifested. The situation is still great; I am still learning a ton. But the facade has been uncovered.

Let real teaching life begin.

In my own personal dictionary "crimesters" is a legit word.

Today while teaching AP History, I was lecturing about urbanization during the early 20th century. As I approached the topic of crime, I couldn't find the word for people who do crimes. So as I tried to spit out that word I came up with a new one...

"Crimesters."

I looked around at my students who wore blank faces and froze. "Wait...that's not right."

Immediately a boy named Corey looked at me with exasperation and said, "you mean criminals?"

I pointed to him with agreement, "yah, that's the one." I started to laugh and the students laughed too.

As a teacher, you just gotta be willing to laugh at your mistakes or your own stupidity; either one.

Thanks Corey. Next time I will leave out "crimesters" from my own personal dictionary.