My roommate is Indian but grew up in England. She has her hilariously British moments:
P: I had a moderately awkward interaction with a fellow Weyburn resident today. He was short. and we were heading up the stairs towards the gate and he mumbled something. At first i couldn't hear what he said so i asked him to repeat himself. And then after he repeated himself, i said "thanks" but then I realized he said "stop following me godammit." How odd! He must not know how to handle himself around girls!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Counting Down
mood: blarrrrrggghhhhh
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THANKSGIVING BREAK.
I can't wait until i can see my family and hang out and gamble (thanksgiving tradition!).
I can't wait until i can inhale an entire turkey and two cans of cranberry sauce.
I can't wait to shop with my scholarship monies (that should actually be put to good use by paying housing and stuff)
I can't wait to sprawl my fat ass out on a couch and give no care in the world
and above all....
I can't wait to not be critically thinking about pedagogy and classroom management, and periodic assessments and discourse strategies. Only a few more days......
To be honest, my program is not difficult in terms of work load. But the emotional and mental demand everyday requires is exhausting. I can't believe I'm already 4 months into my program. The other day I was driving back to my apartment and I actually freaked out that I was at UCLA. The initial shock of realizing I'm a bruin still hasn't worn off. Not even aver 4 months.
I'm delving deeper and deeper into education theories in my classes. As this happens, the reality of what's actually happening in the field becomes more and more shocking. Today at our professional development, I saw the dejected attitudes of the teachers whose students were behind in the curriculum (pretty much every class). And when I saw this, I feared that in a year, that was going to be me.
Tomorrow, I have a IEP meeting for one of my students. In the meeting, the student, the parent(s), the teacher, the IEP teacher, and an administrator will sit down and discuss the achievements, concerns and action plan for the student in question. I am nervous and dreading what will happen.
We're speeding through the material trying to catch up to what the standards demand and I'm trying to turn a blind eye to the fact that a little over half of my students are failing. This really really sucks. But according to my mentor, this is also the norm.
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THANKSGIVING BREAK.
I can't wait until i can see my family and hang out and gamble (thanksgiving tradition!).
I can't wait until i can inhale an entire turkey and two cans of cranberry sauce.
I can't wait to shop with my scholarship monies (that should actually be put to good use by paying housing and stuff)
I can't wait to sprawl my fat ass out on a couch and give no care in the world
and above all....
I can't wait to not be critically thinking about pedagogy and classroom management, and periodic assessments and discourse strategies. Only a few more days......
To be honest, my program is not difficult in terms of work load. But the emotional and mental demand everyday requires is exhausting. I can't believe I'm already 4 months into my program. The other day I was driving back to my apartment and I actually freaked out that I was at UCLA. The initial shock of realizing I'm a bruin still hasn't worn off. Not even aver 4 months.
I'm delving deeper and deeper into education theories in my classes. As this happens, the reality of what's actually happening in the field becomes more and more shocking. Today at our professional development, I saw the dejected attitudes of the teachers whose students were behind in the curriculum (pretty much every class). And when I saw this, I feared that in a year, that was going to be me.
Tomorrow, I have a IEP meeting for one of my students. In the meeting, the student, the parent(s), the teacher, the IEP teacher, and an administrator will sit down and discuss the achievements, concerns and action plan for the student in question. I am nervous and dreading what will happen.
We're speeding through the material trying to catch up to what the standards demand and I'm trying to turn a blind eye to the fact that a little over half of my students are failing. This really really sucks. But according to my mentor, this is also the norm.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Whining
Mood: Bored, lonely
What an exciting past week/weeks. Firstly, yay and congrats to Rie and John for getting married! I journeyed up to Fresno in a car full of old friends to attend the merry event. It was a fabulous break but it made me miss my friends soooo much. There's nothing like bonding with a few girls on a long and smelly (Bakersfield) car ride.
When I got back to LA from Irvine (after Fresno), this place never seemed less inviting. Fortunately I had my TV shows to look forward to. har dee har har. I feel like my life here is so busy with school work that when things actually slow down, like on weekends, it actually becomes really lonely. There is no time in a normal day to build bonds with potential new friends and so when those rare free moments occur, there's no one to hang out with. ): I am friendless and alone. whine whine whine!!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Mantras and Smart Asians
Mood: tired
I've been exhausted lately. After a week packed with up hills and down hills, I almost feel relieved its the weekend. Almost because I know how much work I have to do.
Fridays are days actually spent on the UCLA campus. Today I made an incredibly arduous trek around the entire campus while carrying a million things. This was all in pursuit of signing up and attending a yoga class. But in the end, i suppose it was all worth it. I feel slightly less tense.
During methods, one of the people in my cohort did a presentation on time management. It was fantastic! We did an activity where while being time, we write the words "multitasking is worse than a lie" and then we write 1,2,3,...all the way until 27. Then we were to do the same task again except this time we had to alternate between ever letter and number we wrote. so something like this: m1u2l3t4i5t6a7....etc. We figured out that multitasking is actually in most cases incredibly ineffective. It took almost twice as long to do the second task and mistakes were more easily made. What an interesting and true theory!
He then talked about gathering points: places where information is gathered for example planners, calenders, voicemail, e-mail. I think the thing that struck home the most for me is that my brain should NOT be used as a gathering point. That's what I do too much. I wonder if perhaps this is why I unknowingly stress too much. I tend to think about things over and over again during the day like: "i gotta finish this this and this today, i gotta finish this this and this today" or "today i must go to the gym, today i must go to the gym, today i must go...." or "don't get sick don't get sick don't get sick." This never ending mantra of tasks repeating endlessly in my brain could be the source of all my problems! No wonder I'm getting sick all the time. Vicky's brain! Calm Down.
blargh.
The other class I had today has a very emo atmosphere about it. It's an identity class where loaded questions are constantly unpacked. Today was no exception. We did an activity where we discussed some of our own high school experiences. It helped me (as well as many others in my cohort) remember what it was like in high school. I remembered the good stuff, but probably more so the bad stuff.
I had mainly two groups of friends in high school. One group is the group i still keep in touch today. I call them my circle friends because we like to stand in a circle whenever we congregate. More importantly, they were the group I became close with, ate lunch with, and enjoyed spending time with. The other group is my friends from in my classes. I call them the Smart Asian group because well....it consists of smart Asians. I never connected deeply with this group and consequently, our relationship was not long-lasting. But they were my friends nonetheless.
In 10th grade, I blindly mimicked my Asian counterparts and signed up for 3 AP classes. I think 10th grade was a very defining year of my life. I fought the most with my parents then. I struggled in school the most then and I was still recuperating from my brother's death. So one story I shared today with some people in my cohort was the way I felt a lot of times in one of my three AP classes.
Mr. Halander taught AP Chemistry and he had just finished lecturing about the days notes. Sadly, all of the content he spewed had gone completely over my head. He let us loose and said that it was our time now to finish our lab and do our homework. All of my friends immediately began getting to work. I sat around trying to look busy but was really just scribbling some numbers around.
I felt inferior, out of place and above all, stupid.
Why was it that everyone else understood everything so clearly and got the material so fast? Why could I not learn like they did? Similar to the the mantras that are wrapped tightly around me today, I had this one playing in my head that entire year: "inferior! stupid! inferior! stupid!" The worst part was that I was embarrassed in front of my Smart Asian friends and embarrassed in front of the teacher. I remember taking the exams and fearing the day Mr. Halander finished grading and passed the tests back. I remember seeing slash marks throughout my entire paper and a dismal failing grade sprawled across the top of the page. And then I remember calmly folding the paper in half strategically so that the grade wouldn't show and then stowing it away into my bag. The questions from the Smart Asians would soon follow. "How did you do on the test?" "You at least passed right?" I so badly wanted to show off just a passing grade. Instead I shook my head, plastered on a comical sad face and said "it was no good."
I don't think I've ever felt lower than that year in that class. I actually believed that I could have possibly had a learning disability. All these things resurfaced today in class. I suddenly remembered the emotions and the instability I went through when I was in high school. Then I realized that my student right now are going through the same.
Mr. Halander was not a terrible teacher. Many students really liked him. It's unfortunate that I felt so insecure about myself in an AP class. It might also sound snobby that I felt incapable of achievement in such a notoriously difficult class. But the feeling and effects were very real and something I still remember today. I can only imagine how some of my Algebra 1 students feel. It's hard to reflect on all of these things but it's a work in progress.
As I'm discovering my own teacher identity right now, I'm finally understanding the dilemmas teachers go through. I was not stupid or disabled in 10th grade. I simply sucked at paying attention to lectures (still do), which was how Mr. Halander always conducted his classes. I didn't learn the way he taught but then again, not everyone did. Mr. H taught his class in a way that reached MOST of the students in the class. But students like me were left behind in the dust. I don't blame him. Now that I'm in the teacher shoes, I sometimes feel like doing that myself. It's difficult and a lot of work to differentiate lessons to address all the different learning habits, backgrounds and achievement levels in the class. But at the end of the day, I hope that I will still try my best to reach every students learning need in my classroom.
I've been exhausted lately. After a week packed with up hills and down hills, I almost feel relieved its the weekend. Almost because I know how much work I have to do.
Fridays are days actually spent on the UCLA campus. Today I made an incredibly arduous trek around the entire campus while carrying a million things. This was all in pursuit of signing up and attending a yoga class. But in the end, i suppose it was all worth it. I feel slightly less tense.
During methods, one of the people in my cohort did a presentation on time management. It was fantastic! We did an activity where while being time, we write the words "multitasking is worse than a lie" and then we write 1,2,3,...all the way until 27. Then we were to do the same task again except this time we had to alternate between ever letter and number we wrote. so something like this: m1u2l3t4i5t6a7....etc. We figured out that multitasking is actually in most cases incredibly ineffective. It took almost twice as long to do the second task and mistakes were more easily made. What an interesting and true theory!
He then talked about gathering points: places where information is gathered for example planners, calenders, voicemail, e-mail. I think the thing that struck home the most for me is that my brain should NOT be used as a gathering point. That's what I do too much. I wonder if perhaps this is why I unknowingly stress too much. I tend to think about things over and over again during the day like: "i gotta finish this this and this today, i gotta finish this this and this today" or "today i must go to the gym, today i must go to the gym, today i must go...." or "don't get sick don't get sick don't get sick." This never ending mantra of tasks repeating endlessly in my brain could be the source of all my problems! No wonder I'm getting sick all the time. Vicky's brain! Calm Down.
blargh.
The other class I had today has a very emo atmosphere about it. It's an identity class where loaded questions are constantly unpacked. Today was no exception. We did an activity where we discussed some of our own high school experiences. It helped me (as well as many others in my cohort) remember what it was like in high school. I remembered the good stuff, but probably more so the bad stuff.
I had mainly two groups of friends in high school. One group is the group i still keep in touch today. I call them my circle friends because we like to stand in a circle whenever we congregate. More importantly, they were the group I became close with, ate lunch with, and enjoyed spending time with. The other group is my friends from in my classes. I call them the Smart Asian group because well....it consists of smart Asians. I never connected deeply with this group and consequently, our relationship was not long-lasting. But they were my friends nonetheless.
In 10th grade, I blindly mimicked my Asian counterparts and signed up for 3 AP classes. I think 10th grade was a very defining year of my life. I fought the most with my parents then. I struggled in school the most then and I was still recuperating from my brother's death. So one story I shared today with some people in my cohort was the way I felt a lot of times in one of my three AP classes.
Mr. Halander taught AP Chemistry and he had just finished lecturing about the days notes. Sadly, all of the content he spewed had gone completely over my head. He let us loose and said that it was our time now to finish our lab and do our homework. All of my friends immediately began getting to work. I sat around trying to look busy but was really just scribbling some numbers around.
I felt inferior, out of place and above all, stupid.
Why was it that everyone else understood everything so clearly and got the material so fast? Why could I not learn like they did? Similar to the the mantras that are wrapped tightly around me today, I had this one playing in my head that entire year: "inferior! stupid! inferior! stupid!" The worst part was that I was embarrassed in front of my Smart Asian friends and embarrassed in front of the teacher. I remember taking the exams and fearing the day Mr. Halander finished grading and passed the tests back. I remember seeing slash marks throughout my entire paper and a dismal failing grade sprawled across the top of the page. And then I remember calmly folding the paper in half strategically so that the grade wouldn't show and then stowing it away into my bag. The questions from the Smart Asians would soon follow. "How did you do on the test?" "You at least passed right?" I so badly wanted to show off just a passing grade. Instead I shook my head, plastered on a comical sad face and said "it was no good."
I don't think I've ever felt lower than that year in that class. I actually believed that I could have possibly had a learning disability. All these things resurfaced today in class. I suddenly remembered the emotions and the instability I went through when I was in high school. Then I realized that my student right now are going through the same.
Mr. Halander was not a terrible teacher. Many students really liked him. It's unfortunate that I felt so insecure about myself in an AP class. It might also sound snobby that I felt incapable of achievement in such a notoriously difficult class. But the feeling and effects were very real and something I still remember today. I can only imagine how some of my Algebra 1 students feel. It's hard to reflect on all of these things but it's a work in progress.
As I'm discovering my own teacher identity right now, I'm finally understanding the dilemmas teachers go through. I was not stupid or disabled in 10th grade. I simply sucked at paying attention to lectures (still do), which was how Mr. Halander always conducted his classes. I didn't learn the way he taught but then again, not everyone did. Mr. H taught his class in a way that reached MOST of the students in the class. But students like me were left behind in the dust. I don't blame him. Now that I'm in the teacher shoes, I sometimes feel like doing that myself. It's difficult and a lot of work to differentiate lessons to address all the different learning habits, backgrounds and achievement levels in the class. But at the end of the day, I hope that I will still try my best to reach every students learning need in my classroom.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Just Another Typical Day
sixth period begins...
*B (one of my students who is a male and over six feet tall) bursts into the classroom*
B: Ms! THE BOYS BATHROOM IS LOCKED SO I NEED YOU TO COME SUPERVISE ME AND GUARD THE DOOR WHILE I USE THE GIRLS BATHROOM.
Me and Liz: what?!
B: I REALLY NEED TO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
M (another male student who's almost under 5 feet tall) walks in...
M: you CANT use the girls bathroom. You'll be caught for sexual harassment.
A (a female student): really?
the class is trickling in....
M: yea dude. man that is effing messed up! such a double standard. if i go in to the little girls bathroom, some girl can REPORT me. so dumb.
A: interesting...
M: yea. it sucks. Like...a girl can hit a guy and no problem. we just tell him to suck it up. but if a guy hits a GIRLL....then we call him a HUGE. DOUCHE.
B: That's so messed up man. We all gotta live in an EQUAL place.
A: so you're saying its okay to hit girls??
girls of the classroom erupt.
chaos ensues...
*B (one of my students who is a male and over six feet tall) bursts into the classroom*
B: Ms! THE BOYS BATHROOM IS LOCKED SO I NEED YOU TO COME SUPERVISE ME AND GUARD THE DOOR WHILE I USE THE GIRLS BATHROOM.
Me and Liz: what?!
B: I REALLY NEED TO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
M (another male student who's almost under 5 feet tall) walks in...
M: you CANT use the girls bathroom. You'll be caught for sexual harassment.
A (a female student): really?
the class is trickling in....
M: yea dude. man that is effing messed up! such a double standard. if i go in to the little girls bathroom, some girl can REPORT me. so dumb.
A: interesting...
M: yea. it sucks. Like...a girl can hit a guy and no problem. we just tell him to suck it up. but if a guy hits a GIRLL....then we call him a HUGE. DOUCHE.
B: That's so messed up man. We all gotta live in an EQUAL place.
A: so you're saying its okay to hit girls??
girls of the classroom erupt.
chaos ensues...
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Yet Again
mood: mrah
ugh ugh guhg
I feel SOOOO lazy. All I want to do is sit in front of the TV and let my brain rot away. I had a wonderfully unproductive weekend. Last week was incredibly long. Thursdays we have tutoring after school and they are suppose to last until 4:30. This past Thursday, Liz (my mentor) and I didn't leave school until 5:30. We were exhausted and spent. That night I drove straight to San Diego and left all my school thoughts behind.
I feel so alive when I'm busy. Today when I got back to my apartment I got straight to cleaning my whole apartment. It felt wonderful. This weekend, I had begged and begged my parents to let me take our mini vacuum cleaner up to LA and they agreed to let me have it for the week. Next week they will come up to whisk it away. I also went to the gym, cut up and ate fruit and sprawled across my couch to watch my Sunday TV shows. But the whole time I had this annoying nagging in the back of my mind. I feel like I should be busy with school work.
Unfortunately for me, I don't realize when i am stressed. My only way of knowing is when my physical well being begins to deteriorate. For example, throughout my second year and third year of undergrad, I kept getting sick with all sorts of things. My doctor must've been sick of seeing me. (I actually am really curious to know what my doctors think every time they see me. "oh this girl again") I had migraines, dizzy spells, flu, stomach indigestion, and oh yes...an irregular period. I remember going months and months without any sign of red on my underpants. I think I went 4 months without it once. Yikes! I also had that weird episode of breaking out in hives around my joints. Hives on my elbows, hives on my knuckles, hives on my knees. Thank God that's over.
All of last year, I ate well, I didn't get sick that often, and twice I even correctly predicted the exact day my period was going to come (something I had never done or been able to do before). My body had finally caught up to me. And then I started school again. No matter how hard I tried to eat right and get enough sleep, the unmistakable signs of stress had taken its toll on my body once again. I caught bronchitis somehow that rendered me incapable of speaking. And then this past week I caught some nasty virus that brought back the coughing. On top of that, I had a migraine last week, something I haven't had since 2 years ago. And yes, werido period. It never ends ):
Whenever Darius spent the weekend, I had complained over and over that I felt nauseous or bloated. Either out of annoyance or genuine worry, he told me to tell the doc that I had been having stomach problems. So two days ago, I went to see the doc (yet again) with little hope that the doc would have anything helpful to say. Unsurprisingly, the doctor said that all my problems stemmed from stress, patted me on the back, told me to calm down, prescribed an over the counter drug and sent me along my way. Another 20 dollar co-pay down the drain. phooey.
Anyways, I have come to realize how important and precious my weekends are...The week is usually not too horrible but Sunday nights for me are usually spent watching TV and dreading the week to come.
ugh ugh guhg
I feel SOOOO lazy. All I want to do is sit in front of the TV and let my brain rot away. I had a wonderfully unproductive weekend. Last week was incredibly long. Thursdays we have tutoring after school and they are suppose to last until 4:30. This past Thursday, Liz (my mentor) and I didn't leave school until 5:30. We were exhausted and spent. That night I drove straight to San Diego and left all my school thoughts behind.
I feel so alive when I'm busy. Today when I got back to my apartment I got straight to cleaning my whole apartment. It felt wonderful. This weekend, I had begged and begged my parents to let me take our mini vacuum cleaner up to LA and they agreed to let me have it for the week. Next week they will come up to whisk it away. I also went to the gym, cut up and ate fruit and sprawled across my couch to watch my Sunday TV shows. But the whole time I had this annoying nagging in the back of my mind. I feel like I should be busy with school work.
Unfortunately for me, I don't realize when i am stressed. My only way of knowing is when my physical well being begins to deteriorate. For example, throughout my second year and third year of undergrad, I kept getting sick with all sorts of things. My doctor must've been sick of seeing me. (I actually am really curious to know what my doctors think every time they see me. "oh this girl again") I had migraines, dizzy spells, flu, stomach indigestion, and oh yes...an irregular period. I remember going months and months without any sign of red on my underpants. I think I went 4 months without it once. Yikes! I also had that weird episode of breaking out in hives around my joints. Hives on my elbows, hives on my knuckles, hives on my knees. Thank God that's over.
All of last year, I ate well, I didn't get sick that often, and twice I even correctly predicted the exact day my period was going to come (something I had never done or been able to do before). My body had finally caught up to me. And then I started school again. No matter how hard I tried to eat right and get enough sleep, the unmistakable signs of stress had taken its toll on my body once again. I caught bronchitis somehow that rendered me incapable of speaking. And then this past week I caught some nasty virus that brought back the coughing. On top of that, I had a migraine last week, something I haven't had since 2 years ago. And yes, werido period. It never ends ):
Whenever Darius spent the weekend, I had complained over and over that I felt nauseous or bloated. Either out of annoyance or genuine worry, he told me to tell the doc that I had been having stomach problems. So two days ago, I went to see the doc (yet again) with little hope that the doc would have anything helpful to say. Unsurprisingly, the doctor said that all my problems stemmed from stress, patted me on the back, told me to calm down, prescribed an over the counter drug and sent me along my way. Another 20 dollar co-pay down the drain. phooey.
Anyways, I have come to realize how important and precious my weekends are...The week is usually not too horrible but Sunday nights for me are usually spent watching TV and dreading the week to come.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sneaky
Mood: mischievous
Last week after school: Student named K comes up to me. (Ms. Wong is my mentor)
K: Hey Ms. Lieu. (sneaky grin)
Me: Hi K! How are you doing?
K: I'm okay. You know. (: (:
K (whispering): So Ms. Lieu. How does Ms. Wong treat you?
Me: haha. She treats me alright.
K (still whispering): You know if she treats you bad you can rePORT her!
Me: oh really now...
K: yes. Yes you can.
minute later. I over hear K...
K: Hey Ms. Wong! Ms. Wong!
Ms. W: Hi K...
K: So Ms. Wong....How does Ms. Lieu treat you?
GOSH THESE KIDS ARE SUCH TROLLS. I love them.
Last week after school: Student named K comes up to me. (Ms. Wong is my mentor)
K: Hey Ms. Lieu. (sneaky grin)
Me: Hi K! How are you doing?
K: I'm okay. You know. (: (:
K (whispering): So Ms. Lieu. How does Ms. Wong treat you?
Me: haha. She treats me alright.
K (still whispering): You know if she treats you bad you can rePORT her!
Me: oh really now...
K: yes. Yes you can.
minute later. I over hear K...
K: Hey Ms. Wong! Ms. Wong!
Ms. W: Hi K...
K: So Ms. Wong....How does Ms. Lieu treat you?
GOSH THESE KIDS ARE SUCH TROLLS. I love them.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Calm Before the Storm
Mood: Calm
One tooth brush, one toothpaste, one shopping bag, one laundry bag, one toilet paper roll, 8 pens, 2 pencils, 4 high lighters, one tea bag, one fork, one lollipop, one biscotti, two giant paper clips, 6 button pins, three bruin tattoos, one chapstick 6 sticky note pads.
I am in heaven!
Also, there are so many perks to being a grad student! the best of which is the 250 free copies I get in the grad resource center. At the orientation we ate and drank wine like kings and queens. Tomorrow is orientation for the teacher ed program. I'm looking forward to more free things!
Life is great right now. I don't have to teach for a week and i have no work to do because summer session just ended and we ave orientation all week. (And by no work i mean, no real work. I still make worksheets and stuff for class, but no lesson planning! and no homework!) All weekend I lied around in bed, went to malls and eateries with Darius and watched movies. Right now it is midnight and I am leisurely blogging and watching Amelie while sipping soymilk. I feel like this is the calm before the storm. But who says i can't enjoy it??
All across California, freshmen and returning college students are streaming into their universities. It feels weird because I've already been in full swing school mode for 2 months but the start of the school year always excites me. Brand new school things, fresh motivation not to mention the anticipation of the holiday season are a few of my favorite things!
currently obsessed with Zedd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEp9MCQlAa4
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Impact
Thank you for waiting so patiently! I apologize I've been so busy! But things are looking alright. I'm cautiously balancing my life between going into the field, going to class, collaborating, going to professional development and staff meetings, gym-ing, shopping!, money spending, article reading, assignment completing, having a life (more on that later), eating, teeth brushing, driving and oh yes...lesson planning after lesson planning.
So as many of you may know, I have moved to and settled into my apartment in L.A. It was an exhausting day of running back and forth between getting parking, getting my room keys, filing forms and of course moving in all of my STUFF. Between now and my move in, I've had my brain crammed with all sorts of deadlines, acronyms, social injustice information and teacher things.
Last week was the first day of school at the high school I'll be teaching at. For the rest of the year I will be considered part of the staff at Roybal Learning Center. My awesome mentor Liz lost no time at all prepping me for the big first day. We have six periods in the following order: Algebra1, Algebra 1, Conference, Honors Algebra 2, Statistics, Statistics. I will be immediately taking over period two Algebra 1 completely, and slowly easing into taking over period 5 statistics later.
I was to be introduced as not merely the student teacher there to observe and occasionally teach at Roybal, but as the co-teacher with equal responsibility in the student's achievement, equal say in lesson plans and grades and almost equal amount of time standing in front of the classroom. Needless to say, with this co-teaching goal in mind, I was fully immersed into my classrooms day 1. Yes I was nervous and yes, I occasionally thought to myself "what did i get myself into??" But day 1 actually wasn't too bad. Neither was day two. And then the thing I dreaded would happen, happened on day 3.
Prior to beginning this program, I had heard horror stories about teachers teaching in title one districts. The students are disrespectful. They will talk back and challenge your authority. They will start fights. They come from gangs. Need I say more?? So after hearing all of this, naturally I expected the worst. To my surprise, the kids were nothing like what I had heard. The joked around, they were polite and some were shy, some were class clowns, some loved to talk and some were really sweet.
Except for period 1
Well no. I'm being melodramatic. But period 1 did have an interesting vibe to it. Perhaps it was the first period on the first day of school.
Two things surprised me Thursday morning. An assignment was assigned on Tuesday and it required students bring in a few objects that represented them inside a paper bag to share to the rest of the class. They could've taken a blue marker from the classroom plopped it in and told the class their favorite color was blue. But here's how things went. Firstly the back-up plan was to have the students share their traffic goals which they created yesterday if the did not do the assignment. Naturally, about 4 students out of the 20 actually did it. I asked for volunteers to go first. One student likely pressured by the silence reluctantly stood up and presented. The next 5 students I had to force pick on them. It was excruciating as each student stood up, announced that they did not bring the bag and that their goal was to "come to school." And here's when it happened. The thing i feared. Attitude form my students. I said "how about J next?" The student I called on glared at me, and started uttering a string of swear words stating that he "didn't want to fucking do this and that this was fucking stupid." on and on he went until i involuntarily glanced at my mentor teacher. I think that was her cue to take control.
First thing that surprised me: That it actually happened, and that it happened so soon. My first awkward experience! Second thing that surprised me: How easy it was to bounce back. Yes, I definitely did not handle the situation well at the moment. But the rest of the day continued excellently. And this incident soon became my first teacher story I rambled on about with my cohort friends.
Sadly, I chose to take over period 2 rather than period 1 not because of fear! but simply because of my eagerness to perform well on the ever distantly looming (P.A.C.T the thing i have to do in order to be allowed to receive a preliminary credential). And admittedly, it would be easier to perform well with period 2 than period 1.
):
I hope I don't become a teacher who prefers they "easy route."
Anyways, on a lighter note. I went to my first gay bar ever! The first friend I made was a gay guy in my cohort named David. We bonded over the inefficiency of our apartment complex and gossiped about our first impressions of the others in our cohort. Speaking of which, our cohort is awesome! Everyone is great and unique in their own little way. For example, we have one guy getting married to his bff of 10 years in something like 93 days. We have another guy who is white and who can speak Chinese fluently (perhaps even better than me). But in general we all get along really well which I love. Math people are so uncomplicated and practical. My favorite! On the other hand there are some interesting characters in science.....
So last Friday, the second friend I made in our cohort, Erica and I walked all over Westwood, drank beer in Oharas and gabbed about everything. (we bonded over attending the same undergrad school UCI! anteaters represent!! woot woot!) We decided to take up David's offer of joining him for the night in West Hollywood. At first I was very guarded. I told myself "OKAY remember what Darius said! There may be straight guys just pretending to be gay so that can prey on people like me!" And so we went to our first bar. Immediately I noticed everyone was REALLY friendly. Davids friend Fabian introduced us to HIS "black friend" a complete Diva with a capital D who cracked us up all night with all his sass and attitude. There was never actually a moment when he was in an expressionless state. Every moment everyone else was just standing, he was posing. And not just any posing either. Fierce posing.
After about an hour of dancing with everyone, I was having SOO much fun!! and then it hit me why! NOT ONE single person tried anything gross, and nobody was hitting on me or giving me gross looks! (or any girl for the matter) it was THE BEST. There was even a moment when Fabian spotted a creeper guy who was going around humping everyone regardless of sex, and he actually steered Erica and me out of the guys path saying something along the lines of "OKAY GIRLS LETS TURN, lets get you away from that guy." So sweet (:
Lastly, final thing of the night that i love love loved...There was not a lot of pressure to drink. In fact, I felt like there was no pressure at all! Poor David and Fabian sacrificed themselves and drank a bunch of drinks for me but I was never forced. We pre-gamed of course and on my own will, I had about half a shot total. The rest of the night I sipped drinks just to taste them and was encouraged to "drink more" but when i said "nono that's enough for me" no one pushed it. And that my friends, is priceless to me.
Anyways...enough for tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long, brutal day. I will be at Roybal all day long since it is back to school night. I'm nervous but things always seem to end up alright. Until next time!!
Except for period 1
Well no. I'm being melodramatic. But period 1 did have an interesting vibe to it. Perhaps it was the first period on the first day of school.
Two things surprised me Thursday morning. An assignment was assigned on Tuesday and it required students bring in a few objects that represented them inside a paper bag to share to the rest of the class. They could've taken a blue marker from the classroom plopped it in and told the class their favorite color was blue. But here's how things went. Firstly the back-up plan was to have the students share their traffic goals which they created yesterday if the did not do the assignment. Naturally, about 4 students out of the 20 actually did it. I asked for volunteers to go first. One student likely pressured by the silence reluctantly stood up and presented. The next 5 students I had to force pick on them. It was excruciating as each student stood up, announced that they did not bring the bag and that their goal was to "come to school." And here's when it happened. The thing i feared. Attitude form my students. I said "how about J next?" The student I called on glared at me, and started uttering a string of swear words stating that he "didn't want to fucking do this and that this was fucking stupid." on and on he went until i involuntarily glanced at my mentor teacher. I think that was her cue to take control.
First thing that surprised me: That it actually happened, and that it happened so soon. My first awkward experience! Second thing that surprised me: How easy it was to bounce back. Yes, I definitely did not handle the situation well at the moment. But the rest of the day continued excellently. And this incident soon became my first teacher story I rambled on about with my cohort friends.
Sadly, I chose to take over period 2 rather than period 1 not because of fear! but simply because of my eagerness to perform well on the ever distantly looming (P.A.C.T the thing i have to do in order to be allowed to receive a preliminary credential). And admittedly, it would be easier to perform well with period 2 than period 1.
):
I hope I don't become a teacher who prefers they "easy route."
Anyways, on a lighter note. I went to my first gay bar ever! The first friend I made was a gay guy in my cohort named David. We bonded over the inefficiency of our apartment complex and gossiped about our first impressions of the others in our cohort. Speaking of which, our cohort is awesome! Everyone is great and unique in their own little way. For example, we have one guy getting married to his bff of 10 years in something like 93 days. We have another guy who is white and who can speak Chinese fluently (perhaps even better than me). But in general we all get along really well which I love. Math people are so uncomplicated and practical. My favorite! On the other hand there are some interesting characters in science.....
So last Friday, the second friend I made in our cohort, Erica and I walked all over Westwood, drank beer in Oharas and gabbed about everything. (we bonded over attending the same undergrad school UCI! anteaters represent!! woot woot!) We decided to take up David's offer of joining him for the night in West Hollywood. At first I was very guarded. I told myself "OKAY remember what Darius said! There may be straight guys just pretending to be gay so that can prey on people like me!" And so we went to our first bar. Immediately I noticed everyone was REALLY friendly. Davids friend Fabian introduced us to HIS "black friend" a complete Diva with a capital D who cracked us up all night with all his sass and attitude. There was never actually a moment when he was in an expressionless state. Every moment everyone else was just standing, he was posing. And not just any posing either. Fierce posing.
After about an hour of dancing with everyone, I was having SOO much fun!! and then it hit me why! NOT ONE single person tried anything gross, and nobody was hitting on me or giving me gross looks! (or any girl for the matter) it was THE BEST. There was even a moment when Fabian spotted a creeper guy who was going around humping everyone regardless of sex, and he actually steered Erica and me out of the guys path saying something along the lines of "OKAY GIRLS LETS TURN, lets get you away from that guy." So sweet (:
Lastly, final thing of the night that i love love loved...There was not a lot of pressure to drink. In fact, I felt like there was no pressure at all! Poor David and Fabian sacrificed themselves and drank a bunch of drinks for me but I was never forced. We pre-gamed of course and on my own will, I had about half a shot total. The rest of the night I sipped drinks just to taste them and was encouraged to "drink more" but when i said "nono that's enough for me" no one pushed it. And that my friends, is priceless to me.
Anyways...enough for tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long, brutal day. I will be at Roybal all day long since it is back to school night. I'm nervous but things always seem to end up alright. Until next time!!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Yet Another Close
Yay for Darius!! Graduations is so bittersweet. Congrats to all of my friends who walked the ever so daunting stages of various university. I'm excited and curious to see where life will lead everyone.
A few days ago, I went on an exciting journey through Pottermore, JK Rowlings site for die-hard Harry Potter fans like me. Unfortunately my sad journey ended at book one when I miserably discovered book two hadn't come out yet. No more revelations of exclusively released details from the author until another time for me I guess. I was sorted into Ravenclaw which took me not too much by surprise. We are described as at times odd and eccentric, eager to learn and never prone to turn down intellectual challenges. I suppose that could be me.
In the last Harry Potter book, requested in Dumbledore's will, Harry receives a golden snitch, a game object that recognizes the touch of the first flesh to come in contact with it. Dumbledore enchants the snitch so that it displays this message upon Harry's touch:
"I open at the close"
Interesting words. An upon that cryptic note...
"...many places you would like to see are just off the map and many thing you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today for no reason at all will help you discover the wonderful secrets of tomorrow." -Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
A few days ago, I went on an exciting journey through Pottermore, JK Rowlings site for die-hard Harry Potter fans like me. Unfortunately my sad journey ended at book one when I miserably discovered book two hadn't come out yet. No more revelations of exclusively released details from the author until another time for me I guess. I was sorted into Ravenclaw which took me not too much by surprise. We are described as at times odd and eccentric, eager to learn and never prone to turn down intellectual challenges. I suppose that could be me.
In the last Harry Potter book, requested in Dumbledore's will, Harry receives a golden snitch, a game object that recognizes the touch of the first flesh to come in contact with it. Dumbledore enchants the snitch so that it displays this message upon Harry's touch:
"I open at the close"
Interesting words. An upon that cryptic note...
"...many places you would like to see are just off the map and many thing you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today for no reason at all will help you discover the wonderful secrets of tomorrow." -Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
Monday, June 4, 2012
Feels Good
Recently I finally became owner of two new electronic products.
1) Smartphone
Yes I have crossed over to the darkside. An incredibly enticing, socially ruining and addicting dark side. Within a week I had already transferred the entire contents of my life into this 5.5 X 2.5 handheld device. Its an HTC One S by T-mobile and I fell absolutely in love with it the moment I began to customize all of the settings, homescreens and features to accommodate my oh-so-busy life. Already I had been accused by D-dawg of becoming One Of Those incredibly rude, nose-cemented-to-phone snobs who have better things to do than pay attention to their present company because of facebook's more enticing notifications. ): Of course that is that LAST thing I want to be. I will never forget one sunny day inside yogurt world when all three people I was there with sat wordlessly texting, words-for-friendsing and instagramming while I stared uselessly and smartphone-lessly into my diminishing yogurt cup.
2) MY BEAUTIFUL SAMSUNG SERIES 9 NOTEBOOK
...costing me and arm and a leg but still gleaming like a gem under my furiously typeing fingers this very moment. There's nothing particularly special about it in terms of the actual inside of the computer. But....oh it's so pretty!!!
Prior to my decision of purchasing an ultrabook, I had debated long and hard about getting a macbook pro. I finally decided with fluctuating reluctance in April that yes, I will drop some serious $cha-ching$ and convert from windows to mac when (if) I receive an acceptance letter from any grad school. Well, three acceptance letters came and went but I still didn't have enough balls to purchase the macbook pro. Then on one no so particularly special day, I met with some fellow math friends in UCLA (on a weekend when I visited Darius) and the convinced me within half an hour, that I was meant all along to own an ultrabook. I had seen and heard of ultrabooks since they are fast becoming the next overpriced eye-candy electronic. But I had never actually considered getting one for myself. So the moment I talked about them to someone else (more like let them persuade me), I knew instantly, this was it: the answer to all of my first world problems. Now I don't have to betray my PC loyalty.
My dad of course blanched at the site of the receipt i presented him when i spontaneously came home from the microsoft store in Costa Mesa grinning from ear to ear. He then went on to complain about all of this laptops shortcomings. He asked why i couldn't just something cheaper with equally decent if not better interior features. I tried to argue that i plan to use this laptop for different things than he uses his laptop for. But I stopped realizing that the things i hope to use this laptop for are things he and to be frank most people don't care for.
First and foremost, I hope to use this laptop to write and stimulate intellectual thought. I intend for this laptop to undergo lots and LOTS of typing. This includes the millions of papers I will mostly certainly have to write at UCLA and of course, blogging. Secondly I wanted something light and portable but with a large screen for my worsening far-sighted eyes. This 2.88 pound machine is exactly that. I do have a 200 dollar netbook that has served its purpose, but I absolutely detest its tiny screen and shrunken keyboard. UCLA will undoubtedly require several presentations from us. Plus, isn't it most known that intellectual thought is often stimulated in a coffeeshop? Can't let that be stifled by a bulky 10 pound monstrosity of a laptop. Portability is a necessity. It's time for an expensive change.
Lastly, something surprised me more than anything else but is a pleasantly added perk to my new ownership of this laptop. Ever since I began using this laptop, I haven't spent an unhealthy amount of time streaming TV show after TV show and wasting away hours of potential productivity. This I'm sure will prove to be helpful and needed when I begin my studies at UCLA. Admittedly, this behavior came mostly from my fear of plaguing my new laptop with unwanted malware and bugs that likely debilitated my previous laptop. But it has proven useful. Within a week I've ventured to the beach, signed up and attended yoga classes everyday, probably developed a cavity from eating too many homemade ghiradelli dark chocolate covered strawberries, read 3 new books (working on that new years resolution!), gave myself a pedicure (feet scrubbing for hours and all), researched med schools (for darius), and many many more electronic void things.
Now, one would question: Okay. So why must you buy the most expensive ultrabook out there?? Unfortunately I have no good answer for this. This was the second ultrabook I ever laid my eyes on. The first one was my cousins Dell. She told me hers was a little buggy which was immediately a nono. My last laptop was very gimmicky and it drove me completely insane. When I saw the samsung series 9, no other ultrabook felt satisfying enough. This is how they get you I'm sure. After comparing all of the different ultrabooks, I knew that I would not come to love any other laptop but this one. How could I feel comfortable owning a laptop knowing that the one I really wanted was within my reach but not in my possession?
(: bottom line...I am satisfied with these things which I believe were well worth every cent I paid. and it feels DARN good.
1) Smartphone
Yes I have crossed over to the darkside. An incredibly enticing, socially ruining and addicting dark side. Within a week I had already transferred the entire contents of my life into this 5.5 X 2.5 handheld device. Its an HTC One S by T-mobile and I fell absolutely in love with it the moment I began to customize all of the settings, homescreens and features to accommodate my oh-so-busy life. Already I had been accused by D-dawg of becoming One Of Those incredibly rude, nose-cemented-to-phone snobs who have better things to do than pay attention to their present company because of facebook's more enticing notifications. ): Of course that is that LAST thing I want to be. I will never forget one sunny day inside yogurt world when all three people I was there with sat wordlessly texting, words-for-friendsing and instagramming while I stared uselessly and smartphone-lessly into my diminishing yogurt cup.
2) MY BEAUTIFUL SAMSUNG SERIES 9 NOTEBOOK
...costing me and arm and a leg but still gleaming like a gem under my furiously typeing fingers this very moment. There's nothing particularly special about it in terms of the actual inside of the computer. But....oh it's so pretty!!!
Prior to my decision of purchasing an ultrabook, I had debated long and hard about getting a macbook pro. I finally decided with fluctuating reluctance in April that yes, I will drop some serious $cha-ching$ and convert from windows to mac when (if) I receive an acceptance letter from any grad school. Well, three acceptance letters came and went but I still didn't have enough balls to purchase the macbook pro. Then on one no so particularly special day, I met with some fellow math friends in UCLA (on a weekend when I visited Darius) and the convinced me within half an hour, that I was meant all along to own an ultrabook. I had seen and heard of ultrabooks since they are fast becoming the next overpriced eye-candy electronic. But I had never actually considered getting one for myself. So the moment I talked about them to someone else (more like let them persuade me), I knew instantly, this was it: the answer to all of my first world problems. Now I don't have to betray my PC loyalty.
My dad of course blanched at the site of the receipt i presented him when i spontaneously came home from the microsoft store in Costa Mesa grinning from ear to ear. He then went on to complain about all of this laptops shortcomings. He asked why i couldn't just something cheaper with equally decent if not better interior features. I tried to argue that i plan to use this laptop for different things than he uses his laptop for. But I stopped realizing that the things i hope to use this laptop for are things he and to be frank most people don't care for.
First and foremost, I hope to use this laptop to write and stimulate intellectual thought. I intend for this laptop to undergo lots and LOTS of typing. This includes the millions of papers I will mostly certainly have to write at UCLA and of course, blogging. Secondly I wanted something light and portable but with a large screen for my worsening far-sighted eyes. This 2.88 pound machine is exactly that. I do have a 200 dollar netbook that has served its purpose, but I absolutely detest its tiny screen and shrunken keyboard. UCLA will undoubtedly require several presentations from us. Plus, isn't it most known that intellectual thought is often stimulated in a coffeeshop? Can't let that be stifled by a bulky 10 pound monstrosity of a laptop. Portability is a necessity. It's time for an expensive change.
Lastly, something surprised me more than anything else but is a pleasantly added perk to my new ownership of this laptop. Ever since I began using this laptop, I haven't spent an unhealthy amount of time streaming TV show after TV show and wasting away hours of potential productivity. This I'm sure will prove to be helpful and needed when I begin my studies at UCLA. Admittedly, this behavior came mostly from my fear of plaguing my new laptop with unwanted malware and bugs that likely debilitated my previous laptop. But it has proven useful. Within a week I've ventured to the beach, signed up and attended yoga classes everyday, probably developed a cavity from eating too many homemade ghiradelli dark chocolate covered strawberries, read 3 new books (working on that new years resolution!), gave myself a pedicure (feet scrubbing for hours and all), researched med schools (for darius), and many many more electronic void things.
Now, one would question: Okay. So why must you buy the most expensive ultrabook out there?? Unfortunately I have no good answer for this. This was the second ultrabook I ever laid my eyes on. The first one was my cousins Dell. She told me hers was a little buggy which was immediately a nono. My last laptop was very gimmicky and it drove me completely insane. When I saw the samsung series 9, no other ultrabook felt satisfying enough. This is how they get you I'm sure. After comparing all of the different ultrabooks, I knew that I would not come to love any other laptop but this one. How could I feel comfortable owning a laptop knowing that the one I really wanted was within my reach but not in my possession?
(: bottom line...I am satisfied with these things which I believe were well worth every cent I paid. and it feels DARN good.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
I am very pleased to inform you...
(oops! i thought i had posted this before but here it is....)
4/3/2012
When I got home from teaching, I noticed no one was home yet. So I walked to my mailbox, opened it, flipped through the mail inside and found one envelope addressed to me with my full name in bold letters. I looked at the return address and felt every nerve in my body tingling. As quickly as I could, I stumbled into my house with the million things I was carrying, closed the garage, dropped everything, rushed inside and ripped open the letter. I read the first sentence twice.
"I am very pleased to inform you that the Department of Education of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS) has recommended your admission to the Graduate Division for study leading to a preliminary teaching credential and Master of Education degree."
I spent the next 5 minutes running around my house screaming. Thankfully no one could see or hear me...
I will never forget today. EVER.
My hopes of pursuing a teaching career is being put into full-swing action by my TOP CHOICE SCHOOL. Today UCLA's teacher education program accepted me as a masters student. YEAAAA-YUHH. changing the world vicky! woot woooooot!!!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Getting Back Up
I AM SO BORED.
So bored in fact that I have decided to put up a post. This is not a usual factor that spurs my urge to blog. Usually blogging couples with stress or anger or happiness but today it is simply boredom.
Today was a horrible day. Firstly, I spent close to $100 getting fingerprinting done for my second choice school. Another hundred dollars out of the other several hundred dollars I've closed my eyes to and flushed away for purposes of enhancing my education and credentialing myself to teach.
Well after teaching today, I figure I'm going to need this higher education anyways. After about a half an hour of explaining how order of operations work, I had begun doing practice problems with the younger students while the older students set to work on a worksheet. We had gotten through the third practice problem without too much drama when out of nowhere, Adam explodes into a million pieces. He's crying, throwing things around and crumpling things up. I am so bewildered but after pulling myself together I said sternly to him to "pick that up." He did... but after he picked up whatever piece of paper that had fallen victim across his furious rampage he would rebelliously throw something else across the room. Next I waited patiently for him to calm down so that I could talk to him like a civil human being. I wanted to explain that it was alright for him to get a problem wrong or to not understand what was happening. But what was not ok was his behavior and attitude. When I sensed he was beginning to settle down I would open my mouth and he would throw a fit again. Another vicious cycle. At one point, I wanted to burst out laughing because of how ridiculous he looked.
The aftermath of this incident:
I came home wondering what on earth went wrong. Perhaps he got angry because his friend had moved on to being allowed to independently work on a worksheet. Or perhaps he was just really mad that he wasn't getting it. Or maybe he just didn't want to be doing math at an afterschool program on a Friday because lets face it...who would? If it were me, I'd be freaking pissed too.
Anyways, more importantly I came home determined that I was going to make Adam try harder at what he did. He has a bad habit of giving up when he actually has to work harder or when things don't come easily. He also tends to refuse to continue if he gets something wrong.
This got me thinking about myself. I thought about all the times I've failed in my life and all the ways I will probably fail in the future. If I were to give up after anyone of those times, where would I be now? Definitely a college drop-out. I certainly wouldn't have a math degree. I certainly wouldn't have graduated in 3 years (still a stupid mistake) I also certainly wouldn't still want to be a teacher. My academic high school and college memories are marked with sleepless nights, endless preparing, stress induced sickness and disappointing exam papers. How on earth did I cope? How on earth will Adam cope?
I tend to have vivid childhood memories. Here's one of them:
This memory took in sixth grade, Mrs. VanderVorst's class. I walked into history feeling a little apprehensive about a test taken the previous day. It was time to pass out the graded test papers and I sat there chatting away with my friends not knowing what was about to hit me. One by one everyone looked at their test score and then exclaimed something witty about how well they did or how they wished they did better. The teacher approached me, gave me a questionable look, handed me the paper, and walked away. I stared and slowly took in the big fat red F sprawled across the top of the page. My heart skipped a beat, the blood rushed to my head and my fingers suddenly felt clammy. I shoved away my paper into the deepest cranny in my backpack, and was determined never to dig it up again. At the end of class, Mrs. VanderVorst called us up one by one so that we could check what our grades in the class were. I had a D. That night I had a nightmare engraving this traumatizing event into the deepest folds of my conscious. This marked the first of many failures to come. After that day, I worked my sixth grade ass off to get a passing grade in the class and did I pass? yup.
This is what I'm going to make Adam learn.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Hello again!
IMMMMM AAAALLLIIIIIIVEEEEE!!!!
and have temporarily (or maybe permanently) reverted back to blogger. I have forgotten my password to tumblr. BUT the more important point is that I did not try too hard to retrieve that password back. Tumblr was fun. But I just can't get use to it. I wish also to remain loyal to Google to which I have as a matter a fact surrendered my life.
Anyways, an update of my life would have to include:
*I have submitted 4 out of 5 (or 6? or 7??) graduate/credential applications including UCLA, UCI, UCSD, and NYU
*My new years resolutions:
-read 25 new books
-eat lots of chocolate (variety is key)
-get into grad school (please please please...)
So far I've been pretty good about staying on top of all three resolutions. I read all three hunger games (in my opinion quite comparable to but not quite as wretched as the twilight series in horrible writing style but addicting plot) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (disturbingly heinous but amazing). I already know which book I'm itching to start next. Don't worry this reading novels turned movie trend ends now.
As far as eating lots of chocolate, I have slowly picked my way through 3 outrageously priced bars. My first chocolate bar of the year was Godiva's 50% dark chocolate and sea salt. I have since had one Black Salt Caramel bar (black Hawaiian sea salt, burnt sugar caramel and 70% dark chocolate), one Ginger bread Toffee bar (gingerbread spiced toffee and 65% dark chocolate) both of these the Vosges brand. I did not use to like dark chocolate but I'm loving it more and more. This is good mostly because darker chocolate means I won't feel as much of a fatty fat. Also, if my wallet must suffer (haute chocolate is expensive!) from this new snooty hobby at least my ass doesn't have to go down with it.
My progress on my third resolution? I turned in those applications didn't I? Now its just horrible horribly anticipation time.
*GOING TO JAPAN IN MARCH AND MY MIND IS BLOWN BECAUSE IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING...I BOUGHT AIRPLANE TIX!!!! EEEEPPPP!!!
*I've been learning how to cook from my grandma and spending quality time with grandparents. So far I've learned to how to make tofu dishes four different ways and today I made mochi thingies with green bean in it. My poor description may have made this sound strange to even Asian folk but trust me...its delicious.
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