Isaac's Poem

A boy in my class wrote this poem the other day. It's amazing and needed to be shared!!

The rain falls from the sky like a forgotten dream.

The drain fills up with water like my eyes when I cry.

Some people say that rain is the tears of the gods,

That suffer pain and hurt

Because of us.

The thunder howls to the moonlight

And the rain comes like a nightmare,

You never know when it starts or when it ends.

The rain is like the moon, full and happy and like the sun, clear and bright.

The rain is not sadness the rain is victory and glee.

-Isaac

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Read this book the other week. And yes I’ve seen the movie about 20 times but this scene in the book was SO much funnier:

“Jed is taking us both to the cafè for a magic mushroom omelette!...Shazzer is not speaking to me. After the magic mushroom omelette, nothing happened initially but on the way back to our hut everything suddenly began to seem most amusing and I unfortunately began to giggle uncontrollably. Shaz, however, did not seem to be joining in the joke. On arrival at our latest hut I decided to put hammock up outside, using thin string, which broke, so that I landed on the sand. This seemed at the time so very amusing I immediately wanted to do it again and, Shazzer is claiming, reperformed amusing hammock crash repeatedly for forty-five minutes finding the amusingness undiminished by repetition. Jed had been in the hut with Shaz but gone off for a swim so I decided to go in to find her. She was lying on the bed moaning, “I’m ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly.” Alarmed by Shazzer’s contrasting-with-own-mood self-loathing, hurried towards her to cheer her up. On the way, however, caught sight of self in the mirror and had never seen a more beautiful or entrancing creature in entire life. Shaz alleges that for the next forty minutes kept attempting to rouse her spirits but I became repeatedly distracted by the sight of self in the mirror, striking poses and beseeching Shaz to admire me. Shaz, meanwhile was suffering total trauma believing her entire face and body to be grievously deformed. I went off to get her some food and returned giggling with a banana and Bloody Mary, telling her the waitress in the restaurant had a lampshade on her head, then returned besottedly to my station at the mirror. Following this, Shaz claims, I lay on the beach for two and a half hours staring up at army hat and waving fingers softly in the air while she contemplated suicide.” – Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

movies

I’ve seen some excellent movies in the past few weeks. The Hunger Games, which I’m sure you’ve heard of. (If you haven’t you’re not the type of person to be reading this blog… or be on the internet at all… right?) It was super exciting. Jennifer Lawrence is my new girl crush.

I’ve also seen The Avengers which might be my favorite movie of all time. Mostly because there’s enough eye candy to tide you over for the rest of the year. I’m not a huge “super-hero” fan either. Batman is too scary and Spiderman seems like a tool to me. (Can’t wait to Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone remake it though.) But the actors and actresses in this movie really do a fantastic job. And Robert Downey Jr. is a god.

Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?
Tony Stark: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. 

21 Jump Street. Totally unrealistic but fucking hilarious. Seriously. Channing Tatum + Jonah Hill = dream team. Love the fact that Jonah Hill is still funny even when skinny. Was totally skeptical about that. Fun fact: did you know that Eric (popular/dealer kid) is James Franco’s little brother??

"Get ready to be two badass motherfuckers."

Costa Rica

I’m leaving Costa Rica in approx. 5 days and I feel like I need to do some reflecting. It’s incredible how much faster these 4 months have gone than the 4 months I spent in Jordan. I think this is because in Jordan we were there two weeks before the kids even arrived on campus and in Costa Rica we hit the ground running. My two experiences have been so different it’s almost impossible to compare them. But here goes: I feel like I learned more in Jordan, not only about the Middle East but also about my myself. But I feel like I have learned more about teaching and the possible direction of my future career in Costa Rica. I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a teacher. I thought that taking a gap year would help me decide what I wanted to devote the rest of my life to. But I think I’m even more confused than when I took off to Jordan in August. I hated my job in Jordan. But I think that was just because I was working for a passive aggressive bitch. Because I liked the kids and I liked teaching them. I’ve been teaching fourth graders in Costa Rica. And I love my kids. All 20 of them. They are so cute and being part of their lives has been an incredible experience that I will cherish forever. (cheesy and cliché but true) But I always thought that teaching was a job with little monotony and that’s part of the reason it intrigued me so much. Doing the same thing day after day for a career might be the end of me. But I think it’s just the same as any other job. The same kids misbehaving everyday, the same curriculum every day. The same schedule. Repeating yourself constantly. The lack of problem solving skills fourth graders have is ridiculous… (“I don’t have a pencil.” THEN GET A PENCIL!!!! Honestly?!?!?!) And as much as I love my kids I don’t think they take me very seriously. I know they love me and will miss me, that’s clear to me. But I don’t like yelling or scolding. And they know that.  Maybe part of that is working under another teacher and not being able to completely run my own classroom but I think part of it is my own personality. I don’t know if teaching is the right career for me.

I’d really like to come back and visit these kids. They keep asking when I’m leaving. They say things like, “but you’ll be with us in 5^th grade, right?” and telling them no is almost heartbreaking. “But you’ll come back and visit us right??” I’d really love to. I’d love nothing more than coming back every year and seeing my kids grow up and mature into the young adults that I know they have the potential to be. But how realistic is that? Would I rather spend the money going somewhere new? And meeting new people? But the thought of not seeing these kids ever again is enough to break my heart and make my eyes fill with tears. 

parks and rec

so justin bieber got a jesus tattoo.

P.S. What are those shorts? 

So just when I thought he couldn't get any worse, Bieber decides to get a jesus tattoo. Honestly, it is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen. My hatred for him has tripled. Why is Selena Gomez still with him...? She's kinda cute. Annoying, but cute. I guess we can all hope that it's a publicity thing. Yuck. 

the wisest of words