Birthday week!

For the past week or so, I've been intending to write a post. Whenever I had a topic in mind, I had no time to write it. Once I got the time, I had already lost interest in the topic.

So here I am, recapping my birthday week.

I had school off on Monday, so I visited my parents on Sunday afternoon. We had a birthday dinner for me, and per my request, we had a grill-out with wine! :) I chose a grill-out because I thought it would be an easy way to accommodate my meatless diet; all I would need is a veggie burger, and I would fit in! Of course, my mom messed this up by serving grilled chicken instead--thanks, mom! :) That drew lots of attention to me, and for the first time, my dad noticed that I wasn't eating meat. Considering this has been going on for half a year, I guess you could say he's not very observant!

On the day of my birthday (Thursday), I expected to hear a "Happy birthday!!" or two from a few students who remembered since I had been announcing it for weeks. I received much, much more.

Within the first minute of walking into the school, one of my students got up from her table, ran up to me, and wished me happy birthday. Immediately after, a group of girls did the same thing. After I passed, I heard them arguing behind me about who was "first" to wish me happy birthday. :)

When I entered my classroom, I had a vase of yellow daisies on my desk from my cooperating teacher (she knows yellow is my favorite color flower), along with a bag of lentils (she always hears me rave about them!), dark chocolate (she knows it's my favorite), and several colored pens for grading (I complained once about how I didn't have any). I was stunned! Not only did she go above and beyond what was necessary, but her gifts were perfect! They were so "me." Other people who walked in and saw them were like, "........lentils?" But I was over-the-moon thrilled.

My first period class sang happy birthday to me. My second period class gave me a signed card, an Easter basket full of candy, and a book of poems (I just finished teaching them a poetry unit!). By fifth period, I had three cards/drawings from individual students, a large poster signed by almost all of my 100+ students (and some others whom I've never even met!), and multiple other renditions of the happy birthday song. To top it off, my parents sent red roses to the school, so I got called into the office to get them. I couldn't stop blushing!

My bounty by the end of the day

Needless to say, it was the best birthday ever. It simply reminded me why being a teacher is so satisfying. Despite the fact that I give them homework and make them think and do things they don't always want to do, they still admire/appreciate/adore me...almost as much as I adore them! They may complain one day when I ask them to write 20 examples of imagery to use in their poems, but they turn around the next day and compete to be the first to wish me a happy birthday.

I rounded out my birthday with dinner with my friends at one of my favorite restaurants in town. :) They have cider on tap, which is a rare find in South Dakota!

To complete my birthday week, I chaperoned the middle school dance on Friday night. I took away two things from that experience:

1. The cool thing to do in middle school is huddle in groups around the entrance to the bathrooms. (...I'm just as baffled as you!)

2. "Ice Ice Baby" is still a "cool" song to the current generation of adolescents.

Oh, and to call it a "dance" is a bit of a stretch. It should really be called the "Stand in a Circle with your Friends and Sing the Lyrics to Every Song" event. Or perhaps the "Get Sugar-Drunk on Mountain Dew and Chase Each Other around the School" event. Anything other than a "dance," since very little of that was actually taking place.

Motivation and Anxiety

Today, I attended my very first yoga class. Our wellness center offers all classes for free on the first week of every semester, so I knew I had to take advantage of this. I've always wanted to attend a yoga class (it's on my bucket list!), but I always used the cost as an excuse to avoid the anxiety of trying something totally new. This time, I had no excuse. It was just me and my anxiety.

For the past several weeks, I had been saying I was going to go to as many classes as I could this week to try everything out. Now that the week is here, I've been piling up excuses left and right.

But I'm done with that. I hate that quality in me. I need to be brave, flexible, adaptive, and fearless. If I ended this week without going to one single yoga class, I would never have forgiven myself. So I kicked my butt all the way to the wellness center this morning and just did it.

So I guess you could say I'm really proud of myself. :) Several times throughout the class, I would smile and think to myself how ridiculous it was that I was afraid of ever being there. Even if I went by myself and knew nobody, it didn't matter. Yoga is a personal, reflective thing. You never really have to feel self-conscious about not knowing what you're doing because it's such an intricate and self-centered form of exercise that nobody has time to see what you're doing. They're too busy perfecting their own positions, focusing on their own breathing, or meditating in their own minds. They don't give a crap if your knee isn't perfectly above your ankle.

I've been dealing with motivation a lot since the end of the Semester from Hell. And I don't mean motivation like, "Get off the couch and do something productive!" I mean it in a bigger sense, like "Figure out what you want in life, and work toward it. Don't let fear stop you."

I'm getting tired of the bitterness and jealousy I experience when I witness other people's awesome lives on Facebook. I have friends/acquaintances studying abroad, getting internships in California, finding careers in Florida, and going on vacation in Colorado, the Caribbean, or New York City. I'm tired of it because I know that I could have those things, too...if I just stopped doubting myself and letting my anxiety win.

I really hate running. But I tell myself, "If Micaela can run a marathon, I can most certainly run a mile."

I freak out on the first day of big life changes. But I tell myself, "If Katie can move to Nashville for an internship, I can most certainly attend a middle school within walking distance of my apartment, find the classroom I've already observed, and become better acquainted with a teacher I've already met."

The point is, I'm graduating this spring, and I know what I want--to move out of South Dakota. Preferably, to move out of the Midwest completely. And--just like with the yoga class--it sounds so fine and dandy when it's far in the future, but I know when the time comes, the anxiety will creep up on me. And I'll stick around, find a school nearby, and plant myself there for life. Then I'll watch other people's lives and be miserable that I was too scared to make my own dreams a reality.

Well, I don't want that to happen, so I need to practice getting out of my comfort zone and kicking Mr. Anxiety in the face. I found a great opportunity to get into an incredible teaching program in Boston (yes, Boston!). I'm going to pursue it. And I'll probably have a lot of anxiety about it, but that won't stop me.

Maybe this time next year, people will be bitter and jealous of my Facebook photos...

Thanksgiving

I've always loved Thanksgiving. I think it's the simplicity of it. Everyone gets a day off, eats good food, and reflects on what they're thankful for. It's a lot like Christmas, except without the pressure of gift-giving.

I struggled to enjoy it this year as much as I usually do. This semester really has been a lesson on poverty; I've participated in poverty simulations, learned about real examples of poverty in South Dakota, heard from Mary Robinson (the former president of Ireland) as she spoke about the extreme famine in third-world countries, and learned about how poverty affects the classroom.

Being aware of all these issues, I had a hard time enjoying a day that revolves around overeating. The restaurant I work at was hosting a free Thanksgiving meal for members of the community who couldn't afford to have their own, and as I sat at my grandma's house, passing around heaping bowls of mashed potatoes, stuffing, dinner rolls, and lefse, I wanted nothing more than to be back at the restaurant, helping out. I just felt sick, spoiled, and unworthy. I wanted to do something--anything to help.

That being said, I survived my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian. Not difficult. After all, the desserts are the best part, and there's no meat in pumpkin pie! ;)

I'm eager to get back to school so I can power through these last few weeks. I sense stress and chaos in the near future, so I've been emotionally bracing myself.

I'll be a student teacher in just a couple of months. Almost there. I just gotta keep going. One day at a time.

Soup It Up!

So.

As it turns out, being a senior English Education major in her final semester before student teaching is extremely stressful. When I'm not in class, I'm tutoring. When I'm not tutoring, I'm observing or giving lessons in nearby high schools. When I'm not doing that, I'm giving mock lessons in my labs. When I'm not in lab, I'm waitressing at the pizzeria. When I'm not waitressing, I'm doing homework. And when I'm not doing homework, I'm sleeping.

Or eating.

I might have taken on a little too much this fall. But that's okay, because I've had plenty of soup to keep me warm and cozy and sane.

Since the beginning of the school year, I have made three different soups (not counting chili). All thanks to this baby:

My immersion blender is seriously the most used appliance in my kitchen. It's almost frustrating that it's never clean when I need it, because I often use it multiple times a day. Smoothies, soup, pasta sauces, etc.

Potato Corn Chowder

I essentially made a pureed potato soup, and then cut the corn off the cob and added it in. Only four ingredients: onion, vegetable broth, potatoes, and corn. Everything but the broth came from the farmers market! Vegan, local, and organic. Just the way I like it.

Potato Soup

I used the leftovers from the other soup. And garnished it with fresh rosemary growing from the pail on my balcony. :) Three ingredients: onion, broth, potatoes.

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

I've never actually had squash before. Or at least acorn squash. Admittedly, I had to ask Google how to roast a squash. But the experience was a positive one! I ended up eating spoonfuls of it before dumping it in the soup. 

So I've done the whole pureed soup thing. Now I'm going to try my hand at hearty, chunky soups. With lots of beans.