The August Break Day 24: Memory

24.8.14
Kristen says...

I have a good memory in some instances.

For example...if you come to my house and move certain of my possessions around (especially my books and knick-knacks) I'll probably be able to tell you what you moved and where it used to be...also where I got it or who gave it to me, and some sort of random fact or funny anecdote associated with it. (Names, however, not so much...makes for an interesting time when trying to introduce new people to colleagues I don't regularly interact with. :/ )

As much as we move around and travel, I have thousands of pictures of memories, and it's hard to decide on which one(s) are best to use for this photo prompt.

I had to leave Pip in Iowa when I went home this summer to try to make sure he can get into Australia with as little pain as possible, so right now we are missing him terribly (Skyping with a dog is decidedly unsatisfying--they can't really talk back and you just feel bad when they look around for you and you're thousands of miles away...)

Tonight I went back through some old photos and found the first picture I ever took of him, way back in June of 2006, when Chris and I adopted after we had been married just 9 days!

Cute, right!?

I have so many fun memories of Pip as a puppy...he was so small when we got him, and had so much less hair!!

So small!!

So sleepy!

Smiling for the camera

What, I wasn't going to do anything to your camera, mom!

Yep, I miss that hairy little beast, but I have tons of memories and know I'll see him in just a few months...and seriously, I know he is having the time of his life with my parents in Iowa!! :)

See you soon!!

KF

A Trip to Thailand (Part 2)

8.II.14
Kristen says...

Happy Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics!!

Chris and I had a really interesting experience today--we went to a friend's house to watch the Opening Ceremonies but due to a technical glitch ended up watching not the NBC "American" version, but the local Russian version...which of course showed the same thing, but with all commentary in Russian...

Luckily, Chris had DVRed the NBC version, so this afternoon I re-watched the entire thing with Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira...and was glad I did, because I got a lot more out of it actually understanding the history and reasoning behind the symbolism (instead of guessing, which is what we did this morning). :)

---------------------------------------------------

But you wanted to know about the last part of our Trip to Thailand...

If you remember, we spent our first day in Thailand visiting the Reclining Buddha and the Monastery of Wat Pho, as well as the Grand Palace and the Wat Arun.

Something I failed to fully discuss were my thoughts on the Grand Palace...it was really, really huge, and gorgeous, and really, really Thai. However, and this is not at all a bad thing, it did not meet my expectations of what a Grand Palace should be.

To me, a Grand Palace is Versailles, or Schönbrunn Palace, or I suppose even Monticello, in a way...what I expected was a house that you could go through and see how the monarchs lived, see some of their clothing or dinnerware or something personal...

What the Grand Palace in Bangkok was, was Buddhist temples.

European palaces (and American estates) are all about the people who lived there. The Grand Palace in Bangkok was all about Buddha.

Which, in a way, makes total sense, since most of the people there (94.6 %!) are Buddhist, but in a way makes no sense at all since the monarchy is still alive and well and totally beloved...so it surprised me that there was no place where the common people (and visitors) could go and see how the monarchy lives (I mean, you can tour Buckingham and Kensington Palaces in London!)

Anyway, not a bad thing, just not what I expected.

So, at the end of our first day we were pretty tired and a little footsore (the first day in sandals always gives me blisters between my toes), so we went out for a quick dinner at a German restaurant (AMAZING, I had the cheese spätzle, yum!) and then went to bed.

Day 2 was pretty boring, we had to work. Ho hum.

Dinner that night was much less boring, we went out to a burger place and Chris fully enjoyed this:

Huge burger, fries, good times

and I fully enjoyed this:

Thai Tea--very similar to Hong Kong tea, except that it's served cold rather than hot, and uses sweetened condensed milk rather than evaporated milk. Not too bad at all.

 Next we went to a neat restaurant with an outdoor terrace on the top of a downtown building for drinks and an amazing view:

On our way back to our friend's house we saw some other fun Bangkok nightlife, including a number of mobile bars:

I'

 Oh, and protesters:

Yep, I'm not sure if you've been following the news in Thailand, but there have been large protests in Bangkok over the past weeks, and we arrived within a week or so of their beginning.

I've never spent a lot of time around protesters or protests, but I have seen footage on the news and I have to say these seemed like very peaceful and controlled protests to me. I asked the taxi driver who took me to the airport about the protesters and he reminded me that Thailand is a Buddhist country, and the teachings of Buddha promote peace...thus the low-key protests.

Our third and final day started early again, this time with a trip to the amazingly huge Chatuchak (JJ) Weekend market:

Needless to say, the market was also amazingly overwhelming, but we didn't get lost and we didn't get ripped off (as far as we could tell) so it ended up pretty well! :)

Walking around the market. Photo by Tim Kase, used with permission (Thank you!!)

 I have been to a few markets around the world (most notably the night market in Hong Kong and the big market in Guatemala) and this was by far my favorite market experience. As opposed to Hong Kong, this one had a much greater variety and was full of things I actually wanted, and opposed to Guatemala, the sellers were SO nice! Instead of high pressure sales/following you around trying to sell you things, they just said hello and smiled at you. Lovely.

More market offerings. Photo by Tim Kase, used with permission (Thank you!!)

One of the funniest things about this market was this amazing sign:

 Yes, squat toilets can be found in Thailand, too, but often they are interspersed with "regular" toilets, too...and this sign showed how to use the regular toilets for those who needed to know. Thailand definitely wins the prize for best signage!

After about two hours at the market we were tired and hungry, so we headed back to our friend's apartment and got some food, then spent a few hours by the pool. Then I took a little nap because my plane back to Vlad was going to leave at 1:00 AM (ridiculous time for a flight) and I was tired! :)

Before the sun went down on our last day, though, we took advantage of the fact that our friend lives in a really, really tall building...with a helipad on top.

 So, we went up to the top of the world!




 We went up first via elevator, and then had to walk up some fire stairs.

Notice anything interesting? Level AA takes the place of floor 13, because floor 13 doesn't exist...it's a superstition thing. :)

Anyway, here's the view from the helipad:

Beautiful Bangkok

On Top of the World. Photo by Tim Kase, used with permission (Thank you!!)

Helipad

Chris :)

The photographer. Photo by Tim Kase, used with permission (Thank you!!)

 After our trip to the top, Chris and I ran one more Thailand errand:

Chris had a fitting for his new suit and blazer!

Yes, like so many before him (Obama and both George Bushes included) Chris visited a tailor in Bangkok to take advantage of the low prices and excellent craftsmanship to get a custom-made suit. Snazzy. :)

After that, it was a waiting game until 10:30 when the taxi came to take me to the airport for my 1:00 AM flight (again, that is a ridiculous time for a flight!) Notice I am talking about just myself, Chris actually stayed in Thailand for another week for training, so I came back by myself.

It was a smooth flight, and due to the early hour I actually managed to sleep for about 5 of the 5.5 hrs of the first flight, hoorah! In fact, I slept so long that I had this cute little note on the seat in front of me when I woke up just in time for the descent:

After a short two-hour layover in Seoul (where I allowed myself to enjoy a delicious frozen treat unavailable to me in Vladivostok)...yummy!!!!

 It was back on the plane for the 2.5 hr flight to Russia!

Something interesting that those who haven't traveled internationally lately (or at least haven't traveled in Southeast Asia lately) and who understand World Geography might be wondering is, why does it take 2.5 hours to fly from Seoul, South Korea to Vladivostok, Russia, two cities located just under 500 miles apart (think Omaha, NE, to Chicago, IL)?

 Check out that flight path!

 That is why. International airspace issues are really, really interesting!

So, long flights aside, I made it back to Vlad no problems. I had planned to take the airport train back home, but found it wasn't running for another two hours after I arrived, so I took a bus instead.

Good times. There was a movie and everything! :)

And, so, even though it was almost 70 degrees colder in Vladivostok than it was in Bangkok, there were some definite advantages to coming back...first of all, of course, was the adorable puppy waiting to welcome me home, and the second was this, the city welcoming me back:

I never get tired of this view. Beautiful!

KF

Super Bowl Sunday

4.II.14
Kristen says...

I love Super Bowl Sunday.

It's the best.

Really, what's not to like?! There's football, friends, food...awesome!

When I was a kid I always looked forward to Super Bowl Sunday because almost always my family was either invited over to someone's house, or, as we got older and our TV got larger, my parents would invite other people to our house to watch the big game.

I've always really liked my parents' friends, so this was a big treat for me--in fact, I don't ever remember going to one of my friends' houses for the game because I always liked going with my parents...weird, I know. :) But they have a lot of fun, giving prizes for those who guess the scores and who wins, etc. Who wouldn't want to be there?!

Of course, doing what we do, now we end up being out of the country most Super Bowl Sundays (the past 4 years, in fact)...four years ago I was watching a former teammate of my brothers playing for the title from Honduras when we got the call that my Grandmother was quite ill; that was the saddest Super Bowl I remember, but last year was a lot of fun when I got to Skype with my parents and their friends at their yearly event.

This year, however, was particularly interesting. This year I watched the Super Bowl with members of an actual American Football team...in Russia.

Yep, believe it or not, there is an American Football team here in Vladivostok!

And, for lots of fun, they joined us at the Consulate to watch the big game and tell us about their team on Sunday. You can see photos of the event on our Consulate Facebook Page.

Watching arguably one of the most American events with a group of Russians who are passionate about a wholly American game was really interesting...even though most of them didn't speak a lot of Russian, they were really into the game and enjoyed it (even though it was something of a total blowout...).

It also brought into sharp relief the importance of the much discussed (and maligned) Coca Cola ad with "America the Beautiful" sung in many languages:

Sitting there watching the Super Bowl with a group of people whose first language was not English and then hearing one of the songs that best represents our country being sung in a variety of tongues was really poignant for me. And then I got home, and read all the ridiculous backlash.

My Russian is really not great. I studied, yes, but my Russian grammar is abominable and my vocabulary is less than that of a kindergartner...I don't understand the majority of the words that are spoken to me on a daily basis here. Yet, I have lived in this country for over a year and not one time have I been lambasted by a citizen of this country for not "really" speaking Russian. On the contrary, I have received nothing but patience and attempts to communicate on almost every front.

It seems unfair to me to assume that every person in a given country will speak the "mother tongue" of that country...I know people who were born in the US, have lived in the US for their entire lives, and speak with far less English proficiency than some who have recently moved in from other countries. To be so closed minded as to be upset that a song praising the US is sung in different languages is to me, totally and absolutely unforgivable, and against everything the US has stood for.

I love that a major (and worldwide) company would want to create an ad that would include all those who call America home. I thought the ad was a wonderful tribute to the amazing melting pot that the US is. I don't even like Coca Cola (I'm a total Pepsi girl!) and I thought the ad was amazing!

Frankly, I thought this ad was way more offensive:


But that might be because I was watching with a bunch of Russians?

KF

One Year and Counting!

18.1.14
Kristen says...

I can't even believe it, but today is the one year anniversary of our arrival in Vladivostok.

As in, one year ago right now we were here (and one year ago this time yesterday, we had never been here before...)

Huh. Crazy. :)

Overall it's been a really good year. Speaking for myself, I've learned A LOT over the past year, both about Russia and the State Department. There have been some really, really good times, and a few major bummers, but overall much more positive than negative, for sure. :)

Some highlights?
Well, there was the whole arrival in Vlad and getting to know the city and local culture thing, that was fun.
And then there was visiting John the Artist's amazing home and hanging out with Amy Ballard when she came to town.
Then the weather started getting warmer and we started participating in some local events like the Grillmaster event and the Dragon Boat race, which was really fun!
And then I got to start volunteer teaching!
Oh, and all the travel! Iowa, China, Germany/Austria/Slovakia and Iowa again...

...and we have another trip planned later this month, so the fun continues in year 2!

Of course, the weird thing about year 2 will be that, for the last 10 months we will know where we're going next...

But for now, it's all-Vlad all the time, and we still have a lot of really fun things to look forward to in the next 365+/- days! :)

Hooray!

Thanks for traveling along with us the past year...I hope you all stick around for the next year! :)

A (Teaching) Win + Pretty Pictures

26.9.13
Kristen says...

Ok, so I know this blog isn't about my "career" as a teacher (can you count it as a career when I haven't done it for a year and a half(!) and am only now volunteering for two half-days a week with a total of 6 students??)...maybe vocation is a better word?

Anyway, I know that isn't the point of this blog but I had a good teaching day, and since I don't have any close colleagues to chat with, I'll post it here instead. If you don't want to read "school stuff", feel free to skip down to the pretty pictures below!

You see, most of the actual "work" of teaching isn't done in the classroom with students present. The getting up in front of the class and giving the assignments, reading the chapters, or delivering the lecture is probably the easiest part of the job (providing the kids are behaving and nobody interrupts you...) Most of our work is done on nights and weekends and during planning periods...which is all fine with me.

What is frustrating is when your plans have to change...especially when it's your own fault.

I have a class comprised of 5 fourth graders...a grade I never hoped to teach (and honestly, will be happy to never teach again--I prefer students with 2-4 years more maturity), all students for whom English is a second language, all with varying grasps of the tongue...

The school I volunteer at doesn't officially admit 4th graders, so there is no curriculum and are no textbooks or other materials specifically geared toward this age of students...so I'm basically making this up as I go along.

I've decided to start the year off with the beginnings of geography--continents, oceans, maps, globes, etc...I actually think the kids know some of this information, but in Russian and Korean, not in English, so it's really like working with a blank slate...something I'm not quite used to...my students usually come to me at least knowing the difference between the Americas, the oceans, and what north and south mean...

So, it's been fun.

I've seen the kids now for a total of six 40-minute classes, so we've just barely covered anything. So far we've labeled a map, made visual vocabulary cards, and used one of the better impulse purchases I've made in my life to practice labeling the 7 continents and 5 oceans:

Thank you Discovery Channel...and Walgreens, for the 75% discount! :) In a classroom with not a map in sight, this is a lifesaver! :)

 I had given the students paper outlines of the continents last week, and their homework was to label each outline for class today.

The plan was to make balloon globes using those cutouts...the problem is, 20 minutes before class began, I realized...I forgot the darn balloons!!!

It is impossible to make balloon globes without balloons.

Darn.

So. Like any good teacher, I gave myself 2 minutes of self-pity and then, with the imminent arrival of five 4th graders looming, I made something up...

Which, of course, ended up working out so much better than the balloon globes would have.

When the students arrived I had them take out their homework, and then we discussed what the equator was and about the northern and southern hemispheres. I had them point them out on the fabric map above when it became clear that my writing the word and definition on the board just wasn't getting the concept through.

Then they colored each of the continents a different color and cut them out...

This was all part of the original plan, which was to have been followed by attaching the cut-out continents to the balloon.

Without the balloon, I decided to capitalize on desk space instead.

We had been discussing the difference between a map and a globe (flat vs. round, etc) and I decided that the placement of the continents on the globe (balloon) might be better facilitated if the students were a little more familiar with the alignment of the continents on the map (where they can see all the continents at the same time)...

So in the minutes between classes (I had a double-period with my 6th grader in the hours before) I quickly made pieces of index card with the names of the five oceans (colored blue for a visual) and the northern and southern hemisphere, and cut up some tatting thread I just happened to have with me (thank goodness!) for use as the Equator...

And then I had the kids practice laying out the map on their desk:

That worked for about 5 minutes, until they caught on and could easily reproduce the map. With 25 minutes left of an 80-minute double-block I needed something else (like balloons, which I had left at home!!)

As one after another said, "Teacher, I am done" I wracked my brain to think what I could have them do that would fill 25 minutes and be educationally defensible...and then I had it...friendly competition.

Initially I thought to do a timed race of who could put the map together fastest, but each student finished the coloring and cutting phase at a different time, so that didn't really work...

Instead, I got the bright idea to turn the map into a kind of puzzle. Working in pairs, the students would take turns "stealing" elements of the the "puzzle" while their partner put the jumbled pieces in their correct places. For example, Student A might take Australia from a jumbled pile of map pieces. Then Student B would have to put the map together, at some point realizing which piece was missing, which they would then have to ask Student A for it and put it in it's proper place in the map. Then the students would switch roles. After both had done this, they would repeat the process, only the second time taking two pieces, the third round taking three, and so on.

One student hides the missing "piece" while the other ponders what is missing

This served a triple purpose. 1) They were reinforcing the placement of the different elements of the map, the chief purpose of the exercise. 2) They had to be able to identify and list by name the missing element(s), which may not sound hard to you, but it's remarkably hard for a 4th grader from Korea to remember, for example. the difference between the Arctic and Atlantic, and especially to pronounce them when asking for the missing piece. 3) It was fun! (I know this for a fact, because they were all smiling, giggling, and even said it was fun when I told them class was over. YES!) It's a proven fact (somewhere, I'm sure) that students learn more when they are having fun. Or at least, that has been my experience as a teacher.

After correctly realizing the Atlantic Ocean is missing, the student moves to put the missing "piece" in its place (and hopefully double-check the placement of South America...)

And, the nice thing is I'll see them next Wednesday and we can make our balloon globes then...but I might make a couple sets of this game over the weekend so we can play it again as a review game before our quiz! :)

Good times! I love it when classes go much better than you expect.

--

Are you still with me?

So, the weather here is getting colder (I've been assured that there will be snow on the ground before the end of October) but it is still sunny most days (it feels like fall in Iowa, which is something I missed in Honduras). I have actually been refusing to wear "real shoes", hoping to stave off that eventuality until October dawns, but my toes have been awfully cold in the 45° mornings...

Anyway, even though it's been getting colder there are still plenty of beautiful flowers around (I just can't get over the gorgeous gardens here!) and I snapped some pics of them today:

You don't usually see butterflies and bees sharing a flower

I love it when you catch bugs with their tongues out!

So fuzzy

 So, that's what's happening here! Busy September rolls on...and it's Tiger Day this weekend! :)

KF

Impressions

Chris says...

Long, long time since my last post. But here I am with a few things to say...

First impressions a month or so in (in no particular order):

Traveling with a dog is a pain.
-It is unreal how anxious/nervous traveling with a pet in cargo is. I wouldn't have it any other way (most days), but the airlines would do all pet owners a real service if they provided some kind of update on your pet throughout long flights. Better yet, someone needs to invent the thing from Star Trek that beams you someplace in an instant.

Language, language, language.
-I'm in the familiar position (unfortunately) of being in a foreign country without a great knowledge of the language. Lesson learned from Honduras is to get a tutor early, and stick to it...and we're doing just that.

Sun!
-One of my favorite things about Vladivostok so far! It is beautiful outside, bright and sunny! I've been told this will change in the spring/summer as fog will become more common. But, for now loving the sun!

It is furry around here.
-I don't think I've ever seen so much animal fur. Its shocking when you walk around the city and see all these women with beautiful fur coats on. Young women, old women - it doesn't matter. Very different from Iowa...and the US in general I think. I'm sure we'll have pictures sometime soon...

I'm not the only gringo.
-I'm not the only tall caucasian around. I don't know if I blogged about this in Honduras - but I was regularly one of the tallest people in any social gathering with locals. That didn't bother me in Honduras, its just something I noticed. Here, I don't stick out because of my height or complexion - but my language ability and American style of dress.

Opportunities abound...
-On the work subject, there is much good work to be done. Plenty of opportunities for Kristen and I to grow personally and professionally. I'm happy we made the decision we did. I'm still getting my feet wet at work, hopefully I'll be swimming laps in another couple months!

Traveling is great, but its even better when you have a loved one to enjoy the experience with you.
-I really don't know where I would be or what I'd be doing if Kristen wasn't with me to enjoy this experience (life). Words don't and can't do it justice...I am the best me when I am around her, and I'm glad we're experiencing all this together.

End of August Musings

8/26/12
Kristen says...

Chris and I finally admitted it the other day...we miss Honduras.

We have talked about how we miss the weather, the food, the apartment, the people... (but not the traffic). For myself, I really miss my school...

And while we really love DCland too, I am finding myself at a loss lately to know what I should be doing with my time.

I am currently in the middle of reading no less than 5 books; 1 on my Kindle, one on my iPod, and three paperbacks. I have another book that I probably should be reading as it is due back to the library soon.

I baked bread and cookies last week, but haven't made a real meal since our first week in DC.

Our house is unusually orderly (although probably still more cluttered than yours) and I have run both the dishwasher and the clothes washer this weekend, something I would normally put off until it became an essential in the middle of the week.


I can't seem to settle into tatting, watching a movie, or even blogging without making a plan and thinking about it for way too long a time. These are three things that I traditionally really enjoy doing.

I think my problem is that, with the exception of the past two years when I started work on Aug 1, for the 22 years before that, school started when the Fair ended. This year...

I Miss Teaching.

I miss planning. I miss posting to my school blog and turning in my lesson plans. I miss checking papers (really). I miss the intellectual stimulation of knowing that I need to 1) organize my curriculum 2) review what I know about the subject 3) learn more about it and then 4) figure out how best to enable my students to learn part or all of what I know or have learned. I (almost) miss having to get up in the morning at a certain time, and I really miss my daily interactions with other teachers and my students.

That's not to say I am unhappy. I have Chris and my puppy, I am exercising at least three times a week (yoga!), I can WALK AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD and the city, I can go to museums and the library, I eat fantastic food, I am seeing friends and family...

But I think I am a little bored. And I miss teaching...boo hoo, right? Silly me, complaining about not having to work...

At least Russian lessons start next week...for sure once those start I will at least be intellectually stimulated again, which is something my brain is craving. Hopefully I will be able to throw myself into that enough that I will have "mental direction" again...

I'll let you know how it goes... :)
KF

Sentimental?

Chris says...

I think sentimental is the correct adjective to describe my emotion tonight. On the whole, Honduras has been a very rewarding - though sometimes frustrating experience.  708 days - that's how long we have been here....amazing. Just shy of 2 years by the time we jet back to the States. I continue to say, if we had to do it all over again - I think we'd make the same decision. I'm happy to be going home (if only briefly), but sad to be leaving the place we've called our home for the past 2 years.

At some point, I will be anxious to come back and see how things have changed, or stayed the same. Possibilities for Honduras' future are enormous and so are the challenges. It strikes me the same could likely be said about any country in the world - at any time in history. As cliche as this may sound, Honduras' future will be what Hondurans make of it. I'm hopeful Hondurans make the most of it. This is a beautiful country.

An exciting new adventure...

Chris says...

We're about to undertake an exciting new adventure! I recently accepted an Information Management Specialist (IMS) position with the United States Department of State.

How did this happen?

One short answer could be, "I applied". Another might be, "With patience".

A longer-ish answer is (take a deep breath): August 2011 I applied for the position after having a number of conversations with myself, Kristen, and many, many others. By January 2012, I had been asked to go to Washington D.C. for an interview. By May, I had passed all clearances (what a process). Finally, this past week I received and accepted an official offer to join the State Department.

Why did this happen?

"Because we're nuts!"

It is true, we're nuts - but that's not why we're doing this. The easy answer is: the same it was last time.

The longer answer for me is: we still have a desire to live abroad, and I've learned something about how I want to work.

The Principal Financial Group has been a wonderful place for us. I have had so many great opportunities and have had the privilege of working for and with some of the most talented, hardworking and humble people I have ever met. I cannot say enough about the company and the people - it truly is a great place to work. That being said, this Honduran experience brought about some questioning of the status quo (and that's putting it lightly). One of the things I started asking myself was about what I wanted out of my job/career. After having quite a long internal conversation and many, many discussions with Kristen and others - I figured out that right now, for me, I know that I can be successful working remotely...but working remotely is not something I want to continue to do for any length of time. I've learned that, for me - there is some intangible about being in an office setting that cannot be replicated, no matter how good your video conference or communication capabilities might be. I know now that how I want to work includes some interaction with my team beyond phone calls, emails or video conferences.

Many, many other reasons exist that answer the question, "Why we are doing this?", but the explanation above hopefully provides some insight into the personal reflection process that this initial experience has triggered. It's been a great learning/growing opportunity - and I can't wait to start the next phase!

One closing note - thanks to all the family and friends that have been been supportive throughout this process. It's been a long time coming...hope you can all come see us wherever we start this next chapter!

Randomly Random

4/9/11
Kristen says...

Hello Everybody! Thanks for any silent support you may have thrown my way for my Spanish quiz on Thursday...I am happy to report I did quite well:
Chris was in Washington D.C. all last week for a work conference (lucky duck!) so I stuck my 110% quiz on the new fridge so he could ooh and ahh when he got home today...
It was a long week without him, even though a colleague did come stay with me to keep me company, and Princess came to stay with Pip. Apparently Pip is not excited about being left behind all the time, and wants to come with us on our next trip:

No, we did not put him in the suitcase: he did that all on his own :)

Is my dog not the cutest thing in the world?! Anyway, he and Chris are now in the bedroom catching up on lost sleep and Princess is snuggling here with me on the couch...

Even though Chris was gone all week, so theoretically I should have had a lot of free time on my hands, I really didn't get much done in the way of tatting...I started on a new doily, but not much else...I'm only halfway through my 25 motif goal for the 25 Motif Challenge...I'd better get on that soon!

That's not to say I haven't been thinking about tatting lately, though. Quite the opposite, really. I was doing some tatting pdf searches the other day and came across an absolute gem: The Antique Pattern Library is AMAZING. If you are a tatter and haven't checked it out yet, I would go there right now! The only problem I'm having is that I can't seem to see them on my Mac, but they show up just fine on the PCs at school...I think I am going to take the pdfs to a printer and see how much it would cost me to have them printed...I'm guessing a lot?

I've also been doing a good amount of reading. Although I still prefer REAL books, owning a Kindle does have some positives...one of which is all the free classic books you get. While you could expect to pay anywhere from $3-$10+ for the classics at any bookstore (or have to return them after 2-3 weeks at any library,) with the Kindle I can download free, readable (albeit sometimes badly formatted) copies of almost any book you can think of whose original copyright has expired.

This has been awesome for me, the person who loves books but does crazy things like moves to Honduras and therefore doesn't have a lot of space for them...I think on my one Kindle I have over 500 books, which is how many I have on the groaning shelves in my childhood bedroom at home...

So I've been partaking in the classics (imagine Adam Sandler's voice from the movie"Bedtime Stories") for freeeee...ok, or better yet, just watch it yourself. (YouTube is amazing)

Anyway, I read "The Shuttle" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (author of "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden") a week or two ago... (by the way, who even knew that she wrote other books besides "Princess" and "Garden"? I didn't! I was pleasantly surprised, because "The Shuttle" was really awesome, and has inspired me to continue branching out into other classics by favorite authors!) Awesome book! So, so good! Read it! Now! What are you waiting for, it's freeeee for your Kindle/iPad/Nook/Kobe/other e-reader.

Yesterday I finished the "8 Cousins" and "Rose in Bloom" duo by Louisa May Alcott, and am contemplating moving on to "Little Women" or abandoning female authors for a while (I also read Wharton's "The Age of Innocence" on the way back from Iowa) and re-reading "Robinson Crusoe" or "The Swiss Family Robinson" (which, by the way, has a sequel, written by none other than Johanna Spyri, the author of "Heidi"...it's like 6 degrees of separation, classic literature style!) Or maybe I'll read a classic I've not read before, like "A Damsel in Distress" by P.G. Wodehouse or "The Book of Snobs" by William Makepeace Tackeray, or...

Where was I going with this again? Oh yes, I am an old person. I go to bed relatively early. I watch CBS Sunday Morning...and like it! I enjoy wearing crocheted vests purchased at the $1 store. (Seriously, a vest for a dollar. I'm in!) I tat, something which I am told by basically anyone who knows I do it that it's a "dying art," and now I'm revisiting the classics, which is affecting my speech patterns (I told Chris the other day that one of my students "wasn't best pleased" about something. He didn't believe it was a real phrase until I showed him in a book.) I enjoy having pictures like this in my bedroom:
I think the only thing that saves me from being a true old person (besides my age, which is 28 next month) is that I am doing some of these things digitally...I have been downloading tatting books and reading the classics on my Kindle, a sure sign I am at home in 2011, even if I don't totally belong (I get jealous of the women in the long flowing dresses of my "period" movies...I want every dress in Jo March's wardrobe, even the one with the burn in the back.)

Regardless (not irregardless, which I'm told my my friend the English teacher isn't real word), I am happy to live in a world of iPods and computers and the Internet and YouTube and Skype...I just wish we'd bring back 3-piece suits and fedoras for men and cloche hats and button-up boots for women (ok maybe not the button-up boots, I really enjoy wearing sandals 11 months out of the year!)

Well, I am going to quit wandering aimlessly through this blog post...and maybe go wake my husband up so I can spend some time with him :)

Hope you've had a great weekend, and are looking forward to a nice short week, those of you in the US (don't worry, I'm not jealous; we get a 5-day weekend next week due to Honduran Independence Day!!!)

KF

Where's Waldo???? or Chris...

Image courtesy of findwaldo.com

Yes, Chris is still here and alive.

No excuses for not blogging. But, I did think of the image above this morning when I decided I was actually going to write today. Hope you can find Waldo...

I can't even remember what I was up to the last time I wrote on this blog....but here's some random stuff that I've done or thought about since October....yeah, its been almost 6 months since I've blogged.

Thanksgiving was sweet. Highlights: Awesome people! We had awesome people invite us over for the event. People at the event were awesome...mix of cultures - very cool! Setting - I think it was in the 70s (F)....and we ate outside. This was pretty cool for an Iowa kid who is used at least needing a long sleeve shirt during November. Banana trees....really? Yes, Banana trees at Thanksgiving dinner...again, kind of a surreal experience. Uh....last but definitely not least, at some point in the dinner there were 3 different conversations going on in 3 different languages: English, German, and Spanish. I thought to myself, this is (at least) part of what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about. Multiple people/cultures/backgrounds coming together to celebrate all that we are/were thankful for.

Month of December = home for the holidays, etc - Good to be back. Below are some of the highlights in no particular order.

Baby Bock is born - awesome, first time I'm an uncle :)

Chris gets back to work (physically) at PFG. Sees all his friends/coworkers and visits the Royal Mile a number of times. Ahh, the British really know how to make some good beer!

See all the family - both Kristen's and mine. Good to be able to hug and shake hands.

I turn 27... weird part for me is that I can remember thinking when I was like 15 or so, "When I'm 25, I'll be a grown-up". I'm 2 years after that point now and I can definitely say - I'm not a grown-up yet...whatever that means.

 Jesus has a birthday.

Don't think I can top the last item there, so I'll move on to January-now...

January - Now:

Lots of reflection/thinking in addition to trips to Amapala and taking care of Princess the Schitzu.

More on reflection, etc to come later (it will prompt me for another blog post - I've got some catching up to do with the number of Kristen's blogs)...

adios...

100th Post!

23/2/2011
Kristen says...

I'm not going to lie...I am surprised and excited that, just over a year after starting, we have reached our 100th post!

When we started the blog I really hoped we'd keep it up, but I wasn't sure...as evidenced by (for example) our Rosetta Stone "progress" (slow) and how "often" we work out (almost never), we are very busy and don't always do the things we WANT to do, because we're so busy doing work and other things that we HAVE to do...

Either way, if you've been with us for all 100 or are joining us for the first time today, thanks for reading!! Blogs are fun, but it's way more fun knowing people actually read it!!

Please keep reading and keep commenting, we love to know you're out there!

Thanks!
Chris and Kristen

Hm, sorry about that...

11/2/11
Kristen says...

Wow, my apologies for the severe lack of bloggage lately.

Let's see, what do I need to catch up on? Um, Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Rabbit!

Thanks, Maricarmen, for the cool Año del Conejo bling for my BB!

The past few weeks have been busy for us...but there's also been quite a bit of couch time too. After I finished my curtains posting a few weeks ago we went over to the home of a friend, and within an hour of that I was back home not feeling well. It wasn't anything major, just a little virus, I think. I never ran a fever, got sick to my stomache or anything like that, just a general feeling of crappiness, a bit of an ache in the limbs, and a headache.

I basically lived on the couch that weekend, and called in for my first sick day in Honduras. That Monday I slept and slept and tatted and tatted. I'm down to about 35-40 minutes/motif now, and I'm almost 1/3 done with the first placemat! I decided to make them a little smaller, because our table now is pretty small, and I can always add to them later. Rather than 12x8 I'm making them 9x6, and I have 2 rows of 9 done. I also did one center motif, just to give you an idea what it looks like:

I think it's coming along nicely...slowly, but nicely

I headed back to school on Tuesday, but it's amazing how missing just one day really throws off your week...

That week was different, anyway, because Discovery hosted the ABSH Spelling Bee last Saturday (the 5th), with students from 28 schools in attendance. This was one of 2 required Saturdays for us (something not unusual in the overseas teaching world, but still a bit of a bummer) and was a very interesting experience. This spelling bee was a little different than the one you are probably thinking of. Instead of standing up in front of a huge crowd of people, each level of spellers were sequestered in a room with just their competition, a caller, a judge, a scribe, another person, and a Discovery School host teacher. No parents, no crowd, just a bunch of kids and a few adults.

In my room, the 27 participating 5th graders were made to stand in a big circle for the entire competition. When it was their turn to spell they walked out of their place in the circle to the judge's table, were read the word, a sentence, and the word again, and then had the opportunity to ask for any number of helpful information, including but not limited to word root, word language/country of origin, definition, another sentence, even for another person to pronounce the word if they didn't like the way the caller said it. They had 10 seconds from the end of their last question (if they had any) to begin spelling, or they would be eliminated. They had to say the word, spell it, then say the word again to show they were finished. If they were correct, they went back to the circle. If they were incorrect, they sat down...and then got up and asked to go to the bathroom, or to go get some food, or to play, or a million other things 5th graders feel they must do. The competitors who were still in the competition had to continue standing until they too, were out.

It took FOREVER, and I'm sure you can imagine how well 27 fifth graders behaved being cooped up in a small classroom, being made to stand for 2-3 hours (or sit quietly after they had been eliminated.) Needless to say, I was glad when it was over...the experience really made me appreciate 1) how awesome our Discovery kids are, and 2) how much I like NOT having to teach 5th graders! I know there's not much age difference between 5th and 6th, but there is a behavior difference, I assure you!

Because we had a judges' meeting last Friday night at 5:00, and had to be at the competition by 7:30 Saturday morning, one of the teachers who lives an hour away and his son stayed with us Friday night. We hadn't had visitors for a while, and I like cooking for other people, so I decided to make home-made spaghetti sauce and my grandma's delicious fudge brownies. I am happy to report my bad luck in the kitchen is officially gone!

(I also made Oreo Balls (haha) in honor of our guests...but Chris and I devoured them before they ever even got there...oops!)

Not only are they super-delicious, Oreo Balls (haha) are about the easiest thing ever to make, but they can get a little messy:

My suggestion is to skip the towel and just make them on the wax paper on the cookie sheet, then pop them straight in to the fridge or freezer so they set up as quickly as possible. (You can also eat them more quickly that way!!) Here's the link for the recipe, if you're interested).

So we had a one-day weekend, but still managed to have fun. In honor of the Super Bowl, some of the gringos of the area decided to get together for a pickup football (the REAL kind, not soccer) game, and invited Chris along. It occurs to me now that I should have been taking pictures during this game, but he basically wore his uniform from when he played in the states:

(They were the Jackalopes, if you're wondering what is on the front of his jersey)

Needless to say, after 2 games of football (and he'd spent his time during the Spelling Bee the day before teaching a group of Honduran kids to play, too), Chris was very tired, so we spent the rest of the day vegging in front of the TV, watching the Super Bowl Pregame, the actual game, and the back of our eyelids as we went to bed about 2 minutes after it ended. :)

This week has gone fairly quickly, and we've actually gotten quite a bit done. The car went to the shop for a tune-up (I can use the air conditioning again!!!!) and Pip has a vet appointment to get an allergy shot...nothing too exciting or Honduran happening in our lives right now.

It's amazing how quickly your daily lives and routines can feel so similar to what you grew up with even in an other country. I suppose that's because we've made it that way...I still drive to school, I still teach, I still cook things like meatloaf and spaghetti, I still watch TV from the US, I still live in a city with McDonald's and Applebees (even if I don't eat there)...sometimes the only way I remember I live in Honduras is when I walk downstairs and try to talk to Wilmer...and remember that I have to speak Spanish, not English. (This whole not feeling like I'm in Honduras thing, by the way, is killing my Spanish...I'm learning at a snail's pace..sigh).

Anyway, that's about all. I have some other (kind of funny) pictures to share, but they're on the camera at home...so that will just give me more of a push to blog again more quickly than the last time!! :)

Have a great weekend! Happy Valentine's Day on Monday!

KF