All I ever learned about friendship, I learned in Kindergarten

Scene: The lunchroom. I was sitting with two kindergarten girls while they finished off their lunch.

Rosie: Um, Cece?

Cece: Yeah?

Rosie: Do you want to be my friend?

Cece: No.

Rosie: ...

Cece: I'm already Lisa's friend.

Miss Hillary: Oh, Cece! The wonderful thing about friends is that you can have more than one! You can have 2, or 5, or 10, or even one hundred!

The girls joined hands, faced each other and squealed.

Girls: Oh! My! Gosh!

Cece: Ok. Maybe today I be Lisa's friend, and tomorrow I'll be your friend.

Rosie: Pinky swear?

Cece: Pinky swear!

They shook pinkies and then gave each other a big hug.

I don't think I've ever laughed harder

I miss Whose Line Is It Anyway. Specifically the game party quirks. I stumbled across someone who has 30+ clips of just that game last night. I think I watched about 20 clips. But this one. Ooooh this one. I laughed till I cried. I'm still laughing about it, 24 hours later.

So much for posting every day

Ah, but it got me posting again, so why not? After all, unlike Katrina, I'm ok with not winning a sock zombie!* [Don't worry, Katrina, they're cool, I'd just be happier if you got it than if I got it! I'm guessing so would you! ;) ]

Part of the not-posting has come from the fact that my life is pretty boring these days. Work, come home, pack. Or, perhaps more accurately, work, come home, crash out by 8pm.

Thank goodness for long weekends - I've actually gotten a bunch of packing done so far and feel good about my progress. At the beginning of this process I had visions of running out of time at the end of the month and freaking out in a massive mad rush of no sleep and insanity to just jam every last little thing into whatever boxes, only to be dumped in a big pile-o-crazy at my parents, to be sorted out probably never.

Don't worry, mom, I'm sure that won't happen.

Probably.

Speaking of mom, she came over today and helped my pack up my kitchen, minus a very small selection of essentials I'll keep out till the very last minute. While the first box I packed up a week or so ago was a kind of a milestone for me (first concrete step on a path that may lead me back to Africa full time {GULP!}), packing the kitchen today made it sink in a little more that I'm actually moving out. It's one thing to organize and throw books into boxes, or to get rid of mass piles of paper, or even to move out my bedroom furniture. None of those things really phased me. But packing up the kitchen today somehow made it much more real. I guess it's that, once my kitchen is packed, I can no longer functionally live here.

(You'd think that was true when the bed was moved out, but no. Who needs a bed when you've got a floor and a couch? I know. I'm weird. Too bad.)

I won't wax sentimental tonight about all the things that have happened in my life while I've lived here. That's another post for another day (probably a day where I've got a supply of kleenex nearby!). But goodness me, it'll be eight years, two and a half months. It's by far the longest I've lived anywhere since moving out of my parents place. (Does that make it ironic that I'm moving back IN with my parents now? No? Ok then.)

Huh. I need to stop now. I'm looking around as I type and getting all teary-eyed. I'll miss this little home of mine.

Any ideas of something to do to mark the milestone of moving on/moving out?

____________
* From the website: "... A sock zombie is a zombie doll made completely from socks. It’s better than an ACTUAL zombie in so many ways! I mean, can you put an ACTUAL zombie in your backpack? Sure. But just that one time."

Her name, her story

I was short on time and low on groceries. Racing out the door, I decided to swing through the drive-through that is conveniently (or perhaps not so conveniently!) directly on my way to work for a breakfast sandwich. As I was waiting for my food at the pickup window, I saw her.

Purple dress, way too short. She was pulling it down self consciously as it rode up around her rear. White jacket. Bare legs. Shivering in the drizzly November morning. She was in a weird place - hanging out at the end of the drive through - and was definitely out of it. She was most likely high, and most likely working.

I didn't want to stare, so I looked away. And then something in me told me to stop. Everything I've been paying attention to and learning lately flooded into my mind at once. Trafficking. Prostitution. Slavery. Addiction. Theft of dignity. Brokenness. Loss.

I rolled down my window and told her that she looked cold, would she like a coffee. She asked for a muffin, too, and assured me it would be the same price. I told her of course and swung around into a parking spot to walk in with her.

She started telling me about how she had been hoping to ask somebody for a dollar so she could get some food. She wasn't from around here - she said she'd just gotten in from Edmonton and was her to try to get straight. She was waiting for her methadone and trying to get into detox.

"I just want to get straight," she told me, over and over.

I bought her breakfast and we chatted some more. I told her about a drug and alcohol treatment program I knew of here in the city, and wrote it down for her. I told her it would take courage to get straight, but that she had it in her. I told her I would pray for her, for God to give her strength. And then when she had her food, I asked her name.

Pearl.

I couldn't stay with her while she ate - though I regret that I didn't. I shook her hand and squeezed her arm, and told her to be well. I noticed that she looked young, but her hands were hard. Dry, and rough - so much older than the rest of her.

I prayed for her all the rest of the way to school. And as I prayed, I wondered about her story. Where had she come from? Would she get clean? Was she trafficked? Would she get into detox? What does she believe about herself?

As I drove, my heart broke. She's been on my mind heavily for the last two days. As I think of her, as I pray for her, it's her name that gives me hope.

Pearl.

A pearl is a thing of great beauty and worth, but it's formed through difficulty and adversity. When something that doesn't belong is introduced into it's shell, it's the oyster's healing process that creates this beautiful pearl.

Beautiful Pearl. You are so precious. You have such worth. I don't know if you know it now, but I pray that you discover who you truly are: a beloved child of God. I pray that you're serious about getting clean. I don't know if you are 'owned' but I pray you will find freedom from bondage and from fear. I don't know what demons you will have to face, but I pray you find people who will help you face them, and together you will find healing. What a perfect name for you. I hope your name becomes your story.

"Be well," I told her as we parted ways.

"You too. I know we'll meet again."

I hope we do.

__________________________
If you're interested in learning more about the human trafficking that happens right here in our backyard, I would highly recommend the film Avenue Zero. The trailer is here:

Another gem...

Having settled in to fixing some errors in his phonics book, Danny* was almost finished when he exclaimed excitedly,

"Miss Hillary! I just have one more erection!"

"Just one more CORRection! Well done!"

Hmm... Or maybe two!

_________
* Name changed

Before it gets dismantled!

I got a new couch and put up some photos in my living room this summer. I also finally arranged some of my things from Kenya. I realized last night as I started packing that I don't have any photos of the finished product - so here they be. It looked good while it lasted! :)

The Big Move Begins.

Ugh... this late night posting has got to stop. I'm way too tired to think of anything intelligible.

So. Step one of the Big Move happened today. Dad came by with a borrowed trailer and we moved all my bedroom furniture into my new room at their place. Now I have room to start sorting and organizing the boxes - what to move, what to store, what to throw out, what to give away... yikes.

I'm SO grateful that I've got this whole month to slowly move stuff in and get organized. All those people who have to move on one day - yikes!

This weekend I moved my bedroom stuff and will pack a bit more, next weekend (a 4 day weekend!) I'll pack pretty much everything, the weekend after that I'll move it, and the weekend after that I'll clean the place.

Voila!

Now that I have a computer with a card reader, I'll post some pictures of the process. Cause ya know, it's so very enthralling!

Unorthodox lessons and vocabularial (it's a word!) blunders

Earlier this week, I taught my kids about pee.

Tired of the endless stream (no pun intended) of kids who come back in after recess or after lunch and, five minutes later, tell me with crossed legs, "Miss Hillary, I have to go the baaaathroom! It's an emerrrrrrgency!", I sat them all down for a lesson.

"Boys and girls, when we eat our food, most of it gets used by our bodies. But some of the food we eat, our bodies can't use, and it comes out as waste. What do we call that waste?"

Mostly I got some blank stares, but one boy, thinking he was giving a silly answer, giggled out, "POOP!"

"Bingo! You're right! It's poop!"

His eyes popped open, I'm sure shocked that he was right.

"And what ELSE comes out as waste?"

A chorus answered me thios time: "PEEEE!"

"You betcha! Boys and girls, todaaaay we're going to learn... about PEE!"

I proceeded to teach them about how when we eat and drink, our food goes into our stomach, into our intestines, and the nutrients go into our bodies to make us strong and help us grow. Some of the waste fills up in a part of our bodies called our bladders.

When we pee, we empty out our bladders, and then it's empty. Slowly, slowly, it begins to fill up again, especially after we eat and drink. When it's only half full, our bladder doesn't really tell our brains we have to go pee. But when it's full - EMERGENCY!

I wrote out an example of a daily schedule for the kids and showed them the times in the day that are good times to go to the bathroom. We talked about how your brain might not be saying "EMERGENCY!!!" but that, "I promise! There's probably something in there! And if you try, I'll bet something will come out!"

It was quite hilarious, and I'm 110% positive that this was the one and only lesson I've taught all year that EVERYBODY has paid attention to. Hopefully, at least now when I say, "Go and try anyway!" I can refer to this lesson and they'll understand why I say that!

Sidenote: I'm also veeery curious what the answers were if the kids were asked, "So, little Johnny, what did you learn about in school today?" HA!

Well, today I discovered that even my little monkey with serious attention difficulties picked up at least SOMETHING from my lesson.

He's working on learning the letters of the alphabet (oh yes, in grade two), and today he was working on U. He doesn't have a very expansive vocabulary, either, so he was having trouble with figuring out what the picture was.

"Miss Hillary, it's a cow."

"Well, yes, but look at the arrow - what part of the cow is it pointing to?"

"......... oh! It is a bladder?!"

CUTE!

"Ah! Good guess! I can tell you're really thinking about it! But a bladder is inside the body, and that's the part that holds the pee. This part is on the outside, and it's where the milk comes out. This part is called an udder. U-u-udder. Does it start like 'u-u-up?' "

"Yes! ... but Max* told me it was his tentacle."

Hmm. I'm prrreeetty sure Max didn't mean 'tentacle.'

I think just found the subject for my next lesson!

________
* Names have been changed

Sadness

I know this isn't terribly elaborate (and might not even make sense!) but I. am. exhausted. Spent.

I got home from a public meeting a little while ago where school board trustees were listening to people's concerns and ideas about the proposed closure of my school. It was a hard meeting to be at - there were some pretty emotional please from kids and parents who simply don't have the options that so many of us have.

This ongoing battle with the ministry of education in this province is exhausting. Underfunding, underfunding, underfunding and cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts. Since 2002, there have been 191 schools closed in this province, and 25 that have been threatened with closure.

It's not a happy time to be in education... but day after day, I can't give up, because of the kids. They're worth fighting for, they're worth not abandoning. I just wish our government would buck up and see that, too.

Calling all teachers!

I've got two computers in my classroom and I've been trying to think of how to make it easy for my kids to access some approved game sites (and ONLY some approved game sites!). So I thought... a homepage!

Check it out! And if you've got more good sites I should add, please comment there and let me know!

Primary Learning Online

Turn that frown upside down

I can tell I need to sit down and think about things I'm thankful for tonight, because as I sit here at my computer staring at the screen in complete and total exhaustion (it was another 13 hour day today), all I can think about is how frustrated and burned out I am by my job this year. Underfunding, huge cuts, a class full of seriously high need (and seriously awesome, but seriously high need) kids, and an insane lack of support have all turned me into a frazzled ranting stress case. You may think I'm kidding, but those who see me regularly I'm sure will vouch for it.

So, as I'm trying to get into the habit of doing so anyway, here's a list of ten things I'm grateful for - ten signs of God's goodness to me from today.

1. I ran into an old friend when I picked up my coffee today - someone I knew from my church years and years ago, and who I used to babysit. Every single one of his co-workers talked about what a lovely human being he was, and as I left, I realized just that little interaction made for a happy little kick start to my day.

2. I'm grateful for my coffee! :)

3. The tech guy showed up today to set up the computers and the program I need for my new ESL students. I only requested the job yesterday, and was surprised to see him so soon. This means I can start the kid's program tomorrow instead of waiting till next week like I thought I would have to.

4. It was a beautiful sunny day today after a day of monsoon rain yesterday. I'm grateful for ANY sun in Vancouver in November, and we got nearly a whole day of it!

5. I got some ideas from the ESL consultant today which should be helpful for my kidlets, and she called me back right away! Hooray!

6. I got an email from my mom today that my bedroom is ready to go and I can start moving stuff in as early as this weekend. Not having to do everything all in one weekend will make this move SO much easier!

7. Today was my prep period, so I had a bit of a breather in the middle of the day to get stuff done.

8. There are some really great people at my school this year, and I really like them. I'm grateful for fun co-workers.

9. I love my new computer! Finally I don't have a dinosaur slug of a beast! It's fast and it's big and it's shiny! OoooOoOOoOOOoOOOooo!

10. I'm grateful for this list and how it's helped my grumbly, ranty self remember that I have been blessed throughout today.

11. I'm grateful for my bed.

I'm gonna go sleep on it now.

I think this proves I'm cerifiably insane

NaBloPoMo.

"NaBo...what?"

National Blog Posting Month. It comes 'round every November. It's a challenge. Post something every day for the month of November.

I'm in. And I'm CAH-RAY-ZAY. But, I miss blogging. I miss getting my thoughts down, recording bits from my days, and the interaction that is a blog. Sooo... I'm signing up.

My teaching year this year is the craziest it's ever been. I have HUGE needs in my class and the least support I've ever had. It's insane, really. We're REALLY feeling the effects of the latest round of cuts to education in this province - they're deep. I'm at school for 10-12 hours a day. Oh, and they're considering closing my school.

I'm making big decisions about my future - researching schools, doing some self-study, and generally feeling like major life shifts are causing emotions to be very near the surface.

Oh, and in November? I'm sorting through my life for the last eight years - purging, sorting, storing, and moving. That's right! I'm moving back in with mom and dad so I can save some moolah for school in September.

AND report cards are due at the end of the month.

So of COURSE it makes sense to commit to blogging every day. I figure it'll either keep me same or help push me over the edge. Stick around and find out which!

I'll bet you won't be able to tell the difference!)

In fact, sometimes it's true!

Scene: My classroom, helping a student who was having difficulty with the differences between long vowels and short vowels, particularly long a as in ape and short a as in apple.

Miss Hillary: Ok, so what's a word that has the long a sound in it? Aaaaaay.

Student: Umm...

Miss Hillary: I'll give you a hint... 'I don't want to work, I just want to....?"

Student: Um? [it wasn't the best clue on my part, but I was thinking of the word play]

Miss Hillary, making a "play" kind of gesture: I don't want to work, I just want to....?

Student: Ummm... OH! DRINK!

Water is Life

My heart sometimes aches for Kenya, and especially for the Rendille and for Korr. Here is a video about the need in Northern Kenya. It is full of my friends, narrated by my pastor, and has an interview with Nick and Lynne, the missionaries I stayed with while I was in Kenya. It was so good to see their faces and hear Nick's voice.

Watch this video and enter in to the place and the people that have captured my heart!

Water is Life from AIM On-Field Media on Vimeo.

The ball is rolling

When a friend of mine saw my re-designed blog and read my latest post, he said to himelf, "Uh-oh. Hillary sounds like a missionary to Africa who is trapped in Canada." Something in that resonated in me for sure. I feel like I'm home, but I'm not home. Though I have to say, the label of 'missionary' still seems foreign to me. But 'trapped in Canada?' I think that feels very true.

Over the last few weeks, my plans have been coming a little bit clearer. I've decided that I want to do my required training over one concentrated year in a seminary program instead of bit by bit while I continue to work full time. It's definitely the fastest way to get it done, and I think it will be beneficial to me to be around other people who are studying the same thing that I am. I've found one program that looks really good, and opens a number of possibilities for me (though I'm still researching a few other schools, too).

Of course, going back to school requires a lot of money. I was hoping for a few different housing options - getting a roomate, establishing a community house in the house I'm in right now, etc - that would allow me to save some money this year before going back to school, but none of those options have really worked out.

In fact, my housing situation has been less than ideal for the last six months or so. The owner of the place I've lived for the last eight years has decided to put the house up for sale. It was on the market for four months or so, and didn't sell, but in that time, my landlords (also renters, who lived upstairs) bought a house and moved out. I was all but told I could take over the whole house until the owner put it back on the market in the spring, but at the last moment, the owner changed his mind and rented the house to someone else. I could still stay in the suite, but I was disappointed not to be able to start the community house I had been hoping for.

Since then, it's been extremely frustrating dealing with the owner, who never returns phone calls or emails, and still hasn't fixed something he said he would fix over two months ago. And of course, there are adjustments with new people upstairs, too. Mostly cause of issues with the owner (and my own desire to stay SANE!), I've been feeling very desperate to get out of here.

And so, the need to move and the need to save some money for school has led me to the following solution... I'm moving back in with my parents!

It's been just over ten years since I moved out, and now, at almost 32 years old, I'm moving back in! (I feel terrible about the timing of it all... my sister just moved out on Labour Day, so for the first time in nearly 32 years, my parents have had the house to themselves. Now, just a month later, I come over asking to move back in! Eeek!)

My parents have been extremely gracious to let me stay for a very nominal charge, and I think I should be able to save enough for an entire year of tuition and fees.

So the first step in the plan to get back to Africa is underway!

I forsee a heck of a lot of sorting, cleaning, purging, and packing in my future.....

Clever little monkey!

I have a grade two and three class again this year. They're very fun (and a little crazy!), and they often make me laugh. Here's a gem from the other day from a student I've nicknamed Sunshine:

Miss Hillary: Ok, please put your books away and come to the carpet for our lesson.

Sunshine: Wow! That went fast!

Miss Hillary: Well, you know what they say, "Time flies when you're having fun!"

Sunshine: Oooh! We should have fun in math!

Miss Hillary: Oh! So you like math, do you?

Sunshine: No! I want us to have fun so it goes by fast!

~~~~~~~~~
In other news random though babbling... getting back into blogging seems weird. I don't know what to write about. This redesign needs tweaking, I think, so random posts like this one don't seem out of place. I know, I know, I just posted about anything and everything before, so why not now? And apparently I need to share how strange this feels for me.

Lots more to share coming up about some crazy, wacky, big-life-changes kinda plans! That is, if I can muster enough energy after my full days at the zoo! :)

Ruined for the Ordinary

Hi. It's been a while. Nearly six months, actually - a near eternity for the me I used to be. But that's just the thing... I'm not the me I used to be.

I've been ruined for the ordinary.

No longer do I envision my life unfolding as I thought it might. I have no idea what that means, but I know things will never be the same.

They say that one a person has been to Africa, it will always hold a piece of their heart. I knew that before I left, but I had no possible way of understanding what that would really mean for me. Some days I miss it so much that I feel a physical ache in my chest.

It's been over a year since I returned home from Kenya. So much has happened in my life and in my heart in that time. I really have no idea how to catch up, so I'm not going to try. I'm sure the important bits will all come out here over time, but here's the gist.

Once home, I knew that I wanted to be more involved in missions and outreach in some way. Everybody asked me, "So... are you going to go back?" I really didn't have a response. Sure, I could go back to Africa, maybe. But teaching in an inner city school with a majority First Nations population had me staring a huge need and huge opportunity right square in the eyeballs every single day. Maybe this was where God was calling me to be.

Over the Christmas holidays, Africa Inland Mission asked me to be the Canadian rep at their booth at Urbana, a huge missions conference held every three years in St Louis. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. God used that conference to do many things in me (mostly make me bust out in tears at every. single. speaker at each of the evening sessions), one of which was to open my heart even more to the opportunities in ministry to First Nations people. Still my heart was torn between staying and going.

In January, I began taking a course called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Perspectives looks at the biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic aspects of God's heart for the nations. It was in this course that I gained a sense of God's overarching plan to bless the nations and to bring glory to His name. Doing the reading each week, I would be moved to tears frequently. (Yep. I'm a regular ol' crybaby now. All. The. Time. I'm sure the people in Starbucks where I would study thought there was something seriously wrong with me!) Also through the course, I came to the following conviction.

I need to go.

It wasn't a dream or a vision. It wasn't an audible voice calling me to missions. Heaven knows I didn't morph into some kind of super-holy wonder Christian. HA! In fact, I think I've been the most broken I've ever been this past year. I lean heavily on God's promise that His grace is sufficient for me, and that His power is made perfect in weakness. It's just that my perspective has changed and that I'm willing to go.

For the first time, I came to see the biblical foundation for cross-cultural missions. I was shown the current state of the world and was taught what it truly means to be a part of the revelation of Jesus to the nations. I came to see that this kind of work was most needed among those people groups who are the furthest removed from the gospel. And, or course, my heart is in Africa.

I don't know what that will look like yet. I'm in the process of figuring out just how to get there. Right now I'm thinking of returning for two to four years to start. I have to do some course work before I go - mostly Bible courses and cross-cultural studies type courses. I have to figure out how to finance that education in a way that won't make it years before I am able to go to the field. I don't know how that all will work out, but, God willing, I know it somehow will.

It's exciting. It's thrilling. And it's scary. The least reached people groups live in difficult areas, whether that's because of climate, geography, politics, or wars. It's why they're among the last people groups to hear and accept the gospel. But over and over God keeps bringing the image of Revelation 7 to my mind:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

There are people missing from the multitude. I want to be sure that I do my part to make sure they are there on that day, bringing glory to Jesus.

There's a phenomenal video that Africa Inland Mission's On Field Media team has published that has also helped me come to this decision, and has encouraged me, as it's title suggests, to move against the fear. I would encourage you to watch the whole video. It's just under ten minutes. If you really don't have time, skip to 7:05 and watch it to the end.

Move Against the Fear from AIM On-Field Media on Vimeo.

Again with the tears. I cry every time I watch it. All this crying isn't because I'm imbalanced (ha!) but I think it's because I sense God pulling my heart in a way and in a direction I've never experienced before.

There's a lot that this decision implies, and it's by no means been a painless journey, nor will it be in the months and years to come. But it's the right decision. As I come back to blogging, will you follow me on this journey?

Maybe you, too, will be ruined for the ordinary!

Thanks, God, that was quick!

Today at work when I went downstairs for my morning coffee, our lunch lady told me that one of my kid's grandpa had his motorized wheelchair stolen the day before.

Seriously?!? What kind of low-life would steal an old man's wheelchair???

He came in a few minutes later, so I sat down and chatted with him. He told me the details of what transpired, and a little bit about the search and the other difficulties that arose from the whole situation. It was some big stuff - some that can't be made right, and some that could, but nonetheless have created some major difficulties for him, apart from just mobility issues. My heart really went out to him.

"This is NOT how the world is supposed to be," I told him. "You know, I'm a person who belives in God and believes in prayer. If you'd like, I'll pray that they recover your chair and that God helps to rectify these other difficulties for you."

He agreed, so I said a quick prayer in my head, and made mental note to keep praying later, too.

We kept chatting for a maybe five minutes or so, and then I excused myself, as I still had yet to get up to my classroom to prepare for the day. As I was saying my goodbyes and reminding him I'd keep praying for him, his phone rang. I gave a smile and waved goodbye as he answered the call.

"They found it!" he called after me. It was the police calling him - his chair had been recovered at a crack house down the road (ah, so THAT's kind of lowlife who would steal an old man's wheelchair*).

After he was off the phone, I went back and told him, "You know, as we were talking I said a quick prayer in my head for you! Sometimes God answeres prayer really quickly!"

He thanked me, and I told him I'd keep praying for his other needs, too.

I am SO thankful that God answers prayer, and delights Himself in showing His love for us! YAY God!

* ... aaaand, as I was typing that, God reminded me - they're made in God's image, too. It's THEM that Jesus would be hanging out with. ARGH!

Yes, I'm still alive!

In the "just perfect for how I'm feeling" words of Velma at A Smeddling Kiss, "I know I've been posting quite sparsely these days. I've temporarily lost my taste for blogging, because so much is happening so fast and there are only so many hours in the day. I'm overwhelmed with the actual events of the day and have no time or energy left to turn them over in my mind and examine them and polish and chronicle them."

Yep, that about sums it up.

But here's a fun gem from today at school. During our writing time, one of my grade 3 kidlets informed me, "Miss Hillary, I'm going to write a poem!"

"Good idea!" I told her.

When she was done, she read it to me, and I was so impressed! Here it is! I've conserved the spelling as is, but broken the lines up as she read them to me, not necessarily as it was written.

Saturn oh Saturn, up in space
maybe your coverd with lace,
Saturn oh Saturn, may I sleep on your rings
while space sings to my face
Maybe your coverd with lace.
Orbiting around the sun
You'll feel undone,
when you run
around the sun
I want to see you up in the sky
with my very own eye.
Dear Saturn don't change a thing.

Opening Ceremonies

So... who watched it? What did you think?

The Olympics Are Here!!!!!

A very big welcome to the Vancouver 2010 Spring Olympics!

Here's a FABULOUS tune that pretty much sums it up...

Bake Sale update!

My kidlets raised $410.62 for Haiti!!! And of course, the Canadian government is matching every donation, so we're at $821.24 (see my mad math skillz?).

Hip hip HOORAY!!!!!

In the eyes of a child

Can I just say for the record that I am so incredibly proud of my kidlets??? They are the best ever!!!

Last Monday, I decided to talk to them a little bit about the earthquake in Haiti. I knew some of them at least had seen the news, and decided it would be a good opportunity for discussion. So with a lot of qualification and some censoring of some of the more scary details (they ARE just in grade 2 and 3, after all!), I told them about the earthquake. I talked about the poverty in Haiti. I talked about how houses and stores fell down, and how people couldn't get food.

"Miss Hillary, did people die?"

"Yes. A lot of people died. And a lot of people got hurt. But there are countries all over the world who are helping, too."

"I wish we could help those people."

"Well... you can!"

"But we're just kids. We don't have any money!"

"No, that's true. Most kids don't have a lot of money. But we have done things in our school before to raise money. What have those things been?"

Huge, noisy gasps of air were sucked in and hands shot up in the air... "WE CAN SELL STUFF!!!"

"Good idea! What kind of stuff do you think would be popular to sell?"

One boy just couldn't contain his idea and shouted out: "WE CAN BUY A BUNCH OF NINTENDO Wii's AND SELL THEM!"

Buahahahaha!!!!!

This launched us into a discussion of cost effectiveness and feasability, but we eventually settled on the idea of a bake sale (that would conveeeeeniently line up with our upcoming parent-teacher conference days!). We then talked about how the government will double any money we make (hello, math lesson!), and how we will give the money to an organization who will be able to buy food, clean water, and medicine for people living in Haiti.

And so the kids got busy. They picked a name - the "Please Help Haiti Bake Sale" - and wrote up invitations to all the other classes to bring in baking. ("More goodies means more money!" one little entrepeneur pointed out.) They wrote an announcement and have been advertising the bake sale over the PA every day for the past few days. They made posters and have been asking thier parents to make goodies.

In class, we've talked about recipes and how to read them, and we've spent three full mornings baking cookies and cupcakes and decorating the cupcakes. We've done our work in the staff room so we can keep an eye on our baking. We've been learning about money and how to count quarters, loonies, and toonies and how to make change. We've been practicing with plastic play money - and can I say, these kids have really got the idea! (We'll see how they do with a rush of big kids wanting their recess snacks pronto, but hey, that's ok!)

The big sale is tomorrow and Thursday, and they are SO excited! They've been working hard, and have told me so many times how glad they are they can help people who don't have as much as we do.

One little boy, while making his poster, told the support worker in the room, "I wish I had one million dollars, then I would keep one and I'd give the rest to the people who got hurt in Haiti."

The caring I have seen in these kids this week has awed me. They've more than once brought me to near tears, and I am SO proud of them!


In the eyes of a child there is joy, there is laughter
There is hope, there is trust, a chance to shape the future
For the lessons of life there is no better teacher
Than the look in the eyes of a child

~ Air Supply, "In the eyes of a child"

Where I Live

If I were independently wealthy...

... I would train to become a children's counsellor/youth and family worker. I would hire a teacher to take care of all that "teaching stuff" while I worked one on one and with small groups of my kids and as much as possible with thier families. I would sit with them in their fear, in their pain, in their sadness. I would laugh with their silliness. I would cry with their tears. I would show them what to do when their emotions overwhelm them. I would set limits and give natural consequences. I would cheer their successes and help them gain confidence. I would hug them and tickle them and joke with them and play with them. And I would tell them a million times a day that they are special, that they are loved.

For obvious reasons, there is so much my heart longs to share here, but I can't. But so many of my kidlets are going through rough, rough stuff. I feel their pain so tangibly sometimes and it makes me weep. These children are so inspiring to me. While the behaviours that they show are sometimes difficult, it also is a testament to their strength. They are learning to cope with whatever means they can, and they are survivors.

Please pray for these little munchkins. You may not know details, but God does.

If you HAVE to go to staff meetings...

We're working on starting a behaviour system at our school known as Positive Behaviour Support (where we specifically and directly teach kids what is required of them in terms of behaviour - what a novel idea! :) ) and this past week we were to do the first lesson plan centering around behaviour expectations for moving through the hallways and stairways.

The handout from our principal included a few suggestions for our lessons:

* Drama activities highlighting hallway and stairway behaviour
* Writing activities
* Art projects such as posters
* Classroom discussions
* 12th century style lectures (monk habit and rosewood lectern available for loan upon request)

I'm sorry, what? Read that last one again.

During the meeting, I joked about wanting to borrow the habit on Thursday morning for my lecture.

"Sure! It's actually a snuggie."

If you have to go to staff meetings, at least we're kept amused!

Oh, and in searching for a link or an image of a snuggie, I came across this and I think I'm traumatized.

Ya might be a redneck if....

Strike that. You're DEFINITELY a redneck if...

2009 In Review

I know it's just a snippet, but it's easy and a fun review of 2009 (good heavens, what a year it was!) If you do one for yourself (and I hope you do!) let me know in the comments so I can see! The name of the month links to the first post of that month (in case you’re curious and want to click through and read the rest):

Here’s what you do. Just take the first line of the first post of every month and repost them in one big post. (Clear as mud?)

January: I'm in such denial, it's unbelievable.

February: Can I just say right now that I am having absolute HYSTERICS right now with the amount of bugs in my room???

March: My feet tucked tightly under me and sharing a seat on the wheel hump, I try to make myself as small as possible to make room for the crowd of Rendille people crammed in the back box of a clattery old green land rover.

April: This is my friend Phil in Disneyland, posing with Buzz Lightyear, a character from the movie Toy Story.

May: Don't you just love coming to my blog and seeing THIS in your face?

June: I was in the middle of a Rendille lesson at my language helper’s house when the rain started.

July: Over thirty years ago, Lynne read the following verses from Isaiah 18 that speak of a people “just beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:”

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.

August: I'm a Rendille!

September: Wow. I really HAVE been hit with a whirlwind coming back.

October: I got an email today from a fabulous missionary couple I got to spend some great time with in Nairobi asking if I had changed my blog address... they had been visiting my blog and hoping to find news from me on how I was settling in and what has been going on in my life since I got back from Kenya, and had not been finding anything!

November: It's been pretty scarce around here these days.

December: Miss Hillary's class has been working on "stretchy sentences" and "wow words" lately, using a variety of tactics.

If I could get on Facebook at work...

these would be my status updates for today...

Hillary...

... is wondering why her phone went gibbled overnight and therefore didn't wake her up on time. YIKES! Gotta RUN!

... just got to school and... ARG!!! Staff meeting! I forgot and have SO MUCH TO DO before school starts!!!

... is holding in the screaming - interruptions, scatterbrained-ness, failed lessons, temper tantrums... yep, it's that kind of morning!

... is currently covered in paint. Literally.

... wonders how she's going to get the energy to do ANYTHING tonight. Painting is fun, but EXHAUSTING. And I chose to do it two days in a row. Eeeek! *yawn*

... thinks that kids helping to clean up is great, but ultimately makes MUCH more work for me in the end. Ah well, they're trying! And I have a table, a dozen paint bottles, and three chairs that are now all manner of bright splotchy colours.

... is fixing nine foot aliens to the walls and they're FABULOUS

... ooh look! Leftover Christmas chocolate!

... is blogging instead of finishing hanging the last of the aliens. Yep, it's time to go home.

Just so ya know...

Anonymous commenters are welcome to leave relevant comments, but they will first have to be approved. Random comments, links, and anything to do wit 5ex or p0rn will not see the light of day. So don't bother.

Thankyouverymuch.

Memories of Urbana - Brenda Salter McNeil on A Credible Witness

I've got a river of life flowing out of me
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free
I've got a river of life flowing out of me

Spring up oh well, within my soul
Spring up oh well, and make me whole
Spring up oh well, and give to me
That life abundantly

"... so I listened to the words that I was saying and I thought to myself, 'Are we serious? Do we MEAN what we're saying? That we've got a river of life flowing out of us? That is has the power to open prison doors and set people FREE? That people who are stuck and can't walk out of situations, that, because of what's in us, the doors get busted open and they get to walk out, clean and free? We've got that inside of us?!?! Do we MEAN that? Or is that just a ditty we sing in worship?' When I thought about that I thought, that's powerful.

And that's not just a song to splish or splash. That's a song to flood the nations!"

At Urbana, Brenda Salter McNeil continued to speak about how that song reflects John chapter 4, where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and asks her for a drink. Her, a member of a race despised by the Jews, a woman, seen as perpetually unclean. And yet Jesus, a Jew, comes and not only talks to her, but drinks from her cup. She talked about how the Bible said that Jesus had to go into Samaria, a place most Jews took the long way around just to avoid. He took on credibility because he showed this woman that she, too, was valuable. He moved into her neighbourhood.

That's what the world is looking for from us... they're looking for us to be credible witnesses of Jesus Christ. They want to know if we walk our talk. The want to see people who do what Jesus did, who say what Jesus said, who love like Jesus loved, and who go where Jesus went. They're looking for it. They're expecting it. They're searching for it. They have us under scrutiny... and they're looking for our testimony to match our lifestyle. So if we're looking to be credible witnesses in this generation, we're going to HAVE to go through Samaria...

That means that we will have to make the conscious decision to be with people who we have not seen ourselves identified with before. We'll have to make the conscious decision to be with the marginalized and people who have been discriminated against in society because of their gender or because of their ethnicity or because of their socio-economic background. We're going to have to decide, just like Jesus, we have GOT to go there, if we're going to be the church. Amen. Because people are still wondering, all around the world, will Jesus come into MY neighbourhood? Does Jesus love me enough to come into MY reality and the stuff I face? ... There are people all over the world who are thinking about that same question... They're wondering if Jesus loves them enough to come into their neighbourhood.

When we say that God so loved the world that he sent his Son, that the Word took on flesh and stepped into our neighbourgoods, was he talking about Samaria? And this is our generation's opportunity to answer the question and say, YES! Yes, Sam, he was talking about YOU. Yes, young man, he was talking about YOU. That's why we can't afford to avoid Samaria - those neighbourhoods where the people are from different cultures or who don't speak our language or who don't eat our food. We can't avoid Samaria, because those places that are inconvenient or that are outside our comfort zones demand our presence if we're going to win back our credibility. We need to be witnesses who can be believed. And so if we're going to follow Jesus, we're going to have to go THERE. We're going to have to go to those places, those Samarias, those intentional places where the people may not be happy to see us and don't expect us to come...

She continued on to talk about where to start, and how to proceed in the midst of the fact that we are broken people who don't have all the answers but who still have a testimony.

She told us how to say, "I can't tell you everything, but I can bring you to a man who told me everything I ever did. He just. might. be. who he said. he. is."

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

I've got a river of life flowing out of me
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free
I've got a river of life flowing out of me.

This isn't just a song to splish and splash about.
This is a message to flood the nations!

Watch the full talk here.

Books for lend!

Urbana, the conference I was at for the past week in St Louis, had a huge bookstore and AMAZING deals on books, so I went a little book crazy. I want to offer them up for lending to anyone who's interested. Take a look at the Amazon page for more info and then just message me if you want to borrow a book or two!

Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices - Julie Clawson

A Credible Witness - Reflections on power, evangelism, and race - Brenda Salter McNeil

Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation - Ben Lowe

Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals - Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is - N.T. Wright

True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In - James Choung

Christian Mission in the Modern World - John Stott

How to Inherit the Earth: Submitting Ourselves to a Servant Savior - Scott A. Bessenecker

The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World's Poor - Scott A. Bessenecker

Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle: Living Fully, Loving Dangerously - Kent Annan

Teaching in a Distant Classroom: Crossing Borders for Global Transformation - Michael H. Romanowski and Teri McCarthy

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical - Shaine Claborne

Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World - Christopher L. Heuertz

Kingdom Without Borders: The Untold Story of Global Christianity - Miriam Adeney

Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World - Gary H. Haugen (International Justice Mission)

When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor... and Yourself - Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

Merry Christmas!

Underneath the stars
Just a simple man and wife
somewhere in the dark
his words cut the silent night

Take my hand for the child
That you carry is God's own
And though it seems the road is long,

We're not that far from Bethlehem
Where all our hope and joy began
For in our arms we'll cherish him
We're not that far from Bethlehem

Let us celebrate
As the Christmases go by
Learn to live our days
with our hearts near to the child

Ever drawn, ever close
To the only love that lasts
And though two thousand years have passed

We're not that far from Bethlehem
Where all our hope and joy began
For when our hearts still cherish him
We're not that far....

We're not that far from Bethlehem



Song by Point of Grace

On bullets and birthdays

I know I haven't been super active on my blog lately. There are a few reasons for that, one being that coming back from Kenya is proving harder than I thought it would be. Not so much missing it, though I DO, very much. (Huh... just remembered that I dreamed I saw my friend Janet from Korr in the middle of a herd of camels meandering through Gastown last night. Weird). There's just other stuff that I'm not even sure how to talk about, let alone write about. Life is still good, just hard.

Oh, and today marks four months that I've been home! Crazy!

So here are some updates, bullet-style.

* I'm on holidays!!! Good heavens sakes alive, I was going nuts last week. Just super worn out and my brain was having far more malfunctions than usual (hehe). I haven't had an extended period of rest since summer 2008. So yeah, I'm tired! Good thing it's Christmas holidays and I have two weeks off to rest... oh wait, I don't... let me introduce you to bullet number two.

* I'm going to Saint Louis! The AIM Canada office called me about two weeks ago to ask if I'd like to go to Urbana, a huuuuuge missions conference held every three years. They wanted a Canadian rep at the booth for the conference. Five hours a day at the booth, and after that I get to take in the seminars and the city (me and 23,000 other people! Yeah, Urbana is HUGE). So at 4am on December 27 I'm headed to the airport and flying to Missouri! I'm excited! (And for economy rate I get to fly back on business class! Booyeah!) I'll be taking my laptop FOR SURE, because of bullet number three.

* Pictures! Good gracious, I have thousands of photos from my trip I have barely touched yet. And a book I've promised to make about the Tirrim project. And slideshows/presentations about my trip to make. And I was planning on working on all that over the week that I'll be at Urbana. Hmm... maybe I can do both??? I'll have time on the planes and lots of time when I'm not at the AIM booth, right? Ach, I know me. I'll want to jam in every seminar I can to take advantage of being at Urbana. It's been really hard to work on the photos and the presentation this fall because of bullet number four.

* (side note - is anyone getting the impression that these bullets and 'smooth transitions' are more of an excuse to be lazy and not write properly? No? Good, I didn't think so.) Bullet number four. My computer is a dinosaur. And it's suddenly come to the realization that "Hey, wait, dinosaurs are extinct!" It is making every effort to join it's counterparts in extincty-ness, and, despite my best efforts to the contrary, it is winning. It started with all the sites I log into and tell my computer to remember not remembering me anymore. I have to enter my user and password every. single. time. Then Firefox started randomly shutting down on me. Really fun. Mid email, mid reading, mid video - BOOM. Crashes. But the MOST fun is when my computer just randomly turns off. It restarts itself, but it takes forever, and whatever I was working on is gone. See why working on pictures from Kenya scares the crap out of me? No way no how am I going to risk losing ANYTHING (and yes, I have them backed up. Twice. On two different external hard drives. So really I shouldn't worry, but it just makes doing ANYTHING really, really annoying.). And then there was that time a few days ago when the computer crashed totally, didn't turn back on (in fact, I couldn't GET it back on), and started making this weird beeping siren-y noise that took a full 30 seconds to stop even after I unplugged it. Um, hello, Santa? Got any brand new computers in your sack for me?

How appropriate. No sooner had I typed that last question mark and hit "save" (thankfully I've learned to save every three seconds!) did Mr. Compysaurus Rex die on me again! It came to life again, except now I'm the one who feels like roaring!

BUT, in other news... today is a birthday (an anniversary?)! A milestone, if you will! I've been blogging for FIVE YEARS!



Here's my first post! It's riveting. (What can I say, I was a newbie!) :) But five years has brought a heck of a lot! New friends, new jobs, learning to do a little bit of blog designing, stalkers, changing schools, heartbreak, a trip to Africa, lots and lots of learning... it's definitely been fun (well, except for the heart break and the stalker bits!).

So Happy Birthday to HelloHillary! I truly do love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life!

The hallelujah chorus like you've never SEEN it before

I knew it was Christmas time because...

Miss Hillary's class has been working on "stretchy sentences" and "wow words" lately, using a variety of tactics. One is the framework below...

I knew it was Christmas time because
On Monday I saw one...
On Tuesday I saw two...
On Wendesday I saw three...
On Thursday I saw four...
On Friday I saw five...
... and that's how I knew it was Christmas!

The kids have to finish the sentences by picking a Christmas THING, telling what KIND of thing it is, and telling what is was DOING. (Adjective - subject noun - verb phrase, for all you grammar nuts!)

For example: On Monday I saw one green Christmas tree glowing in the window.

I've given the kids licence to be creative and silly, provided the objects are Christmasy type objects and the sentences make sense. And they CRACK me up! Here are a few of the best...

I knew it was Christmas time because...

On Monday, I saw one angry Christmas tree jumping on a nerd.
On Tuesday I saw two live snowballs burying Santa in the snow.
On Wednesday I saw three chocolate reindeer eating each other.
On Thursday I saw four "chuddy" (chubby) gingerbread men running from people who want to eat them.
On Friday I saw five flying snow angels sticking their fingers in their noses.

On Monday I saw one shiny Christmas tree running away from people.
On Tuesday I saw two teeny weeny snowmen melting in a desert.
On Wednesday, I saw three funny, chocolatey reindeer shaking fairy dust to bring Santa to town.
On Thursday I saw four humoungous snowflakes crushing elves.
On Friday I saw four bad Santas stealing presents from teachers.

On Monday I saw oneround Snata laughing "Ho! Ho! Ho!"
On Tuesday I saw two bright green Christmas trees dancing in the school.
On Wednesday I saw three plain stockings running away from Sanata (complete with picture of an angry Santa saying, "Get back here!")
On Thursday I saw four little snowflakes walking down the hill.
On Friday I saw five itty bitty reindeer dancing in a field.

On Monday I saw one glittery snowflake dancing to the ground.
On Tuesday I saw two cheeky red and green mice in stockings nibbling on cheese.
On Wednesday I saw three gigantic Santa reindeer practicing thier take off.
On Thursday I saw four skinny bald Santas yelling at each other.
On Friday I saw five fat tall Christmas trees giving high fives to me.

And THAT'S how I knew it was Christmas.

How do YOU know that it's Christmas?

Celebrity

Heard this on the way home tonight. Haven't heard it in a long time, but sang along to every line and laughed about how very, very true it is. Brad Paisley is a genius.

The video is fantastic. You can watch it here (couldn't find it on YouTube for the life of me).


Someday, I'm gonna be famous.
Do I have talent? Well... no.
These days you don't really need it,
Thanks to reality shows.

Can't wait to date a supermodel,
Can't wait to sue my Dad.
Can't wait to wreck a Ferrari,
On my way to rehab.

'Cause when you're a celebrity,
It's adios reality.
You can act just like a fool,
People think you're cool
Just 'cause you're on TV.
I can throw a major fit
When my latte isn't just how I like it.
When they say I've gone insane,
I'll blame it on the fame,
And the pressures that go with
Bein' a celebrity.

I'll get to cry to Barbara Walters,
When things don't go my way.
An' I'll get community service,
No matter which law I break.

I'll make the supermarket tabloids,
They'll write some awful stuff.
But the more they run my name down,
The more my price goes up.

Cuz, when you're a celebrity, it's adios reality.
no matter what ya do, people think you're cool
Just 'cause you're on TV.
Now, I can fall in and out of love,
Have marriages that barely last a month.
When they go down the drain,
I'll blame it on the fame,
And say: "It's just so tough,
Bein' a celebrity."

So let's hitch up the wagons and head out west,
To the land of fun in the sun.
We'll be real world, bachelor, jackass millionaires [*cough* Jon Gosselin *cough*]
Hey, hey Hollywood, here we come.

Yeah, when you're a celebrity, it's adios reality.
No matter what you do,
People think you're cool just 'cause you're on TV
Bein' a celebrity.

NaBloPoFAIL

A post every day... or, you know, a two week break with nothin'. Meh, whatever works. I found myself just posting for the sake of posting and realized that I just didn't really care that much. So, yeah. Here I be.

But what I was REALLY going to talk about is pom poms. Sparkly, smooshy, fuzzy little pom poms with which I can get my kids to do practically ANYTHING. (Muah hah ha haaaaa!)

One of the motivators I use in my class are these lovely balls of manipulation motivation. I have a big baggie of them, and when the class does something particularly well - it could be a specific skill they're working on, like walking quietly in the halls, or just in in general good on-task chunk of time - I'll make a big hoopla and put a pom pom into a large jar. The idea is that when the jar is full they get a prize as a class - a movie, extra centers/play time, an extra gym period, that kind of thing.

So one thing I'll always do when I'm away and there's been a guest teacher in the class is (if the note is good) I'll read parts of the note to the class and praise them for a good day with the guest teacher. I've been getting pretty good reports lately, and last Thursday was no different. So today, I was making a big stink about how teachers love to come back to notes about who was helpful, did their work, listened well, etc etc etc.

Oh you guys, I can't even TELL you how much it makes teachers happy to get notes like this from a guest teacher. I am always so proud to have such a great class when guest teachers come in. Teachers looooove getting notes like these!

In the middle of all my oozing, one of my grade three girls pipes up with this gem:

"Then you really should get out more often!"

Allllrighty then!
*giggle!*

She Loves Me, by Jeff Gray

When I got home tonight, I had a fairly large envelope in the mail. It was a book, sent from somewhere in the States, called "She Loves Me" - a collection of observations that kids have of their teacher, and how they know that they are loved by the things the teacher does. It's illustrated by a 14 year old girl who has grown up in Malawi. The book is absolutely beautiful, and it brought tears to my eyes.

And I have no idea where it came from.

There's no return address, and there is just a simple, self stick, hand written address label on the envelope. I can't even tell what state it came from cause the post mark is on the plastic window of the envelope. I didn't order it, I didn't request it. I've never even heard of it!

Any ideas? Email me (link at right) if you know!

How mysterious!

Science World and my Big Fat Hairy Mistake

"This! Is! Soooo! AWESOME!"

Those were the words of one of my kidlets even before we actually started doing anything at Science World on Tuesday. You know a field trip is going to be a hit when...

It was a busy, busy day. We started right off the bat with a workshop on structures. All the kids got to participate in building a giant dome out of triangles and pentagons. There were three jobs - holders, bolters, and wing-nutters. Hmm... maybe I've found a new nickname for some of my most endearingly quirky kidlets! (hehehe... just kidding... maybe!) Poor kids - some had never been to Science World before and our workshop was just off the coolest gallery in the place, with a glass wall. There was so much to take in on the other side of the glass it was hard to concentrate!

After the workshop my kidlets and I rushed off to catch the Omnimax movie, Beavers. What COOL little critters! (And the beavers are interesting, too! Hardee har har...) The theatre was really steep and the kids were a little spooked, especially cause we sat at the top! It took the two boys beside me about five minutes before they stopped clutching their chairs! If you ever want to have some fun, take 6, 7, and 8 year olds to a giagantic Omnimax movie on any kind of science topic. Their comments were PRECIOUS! Kids are such little scientists anyway, they were making predictions and observations right left and center. I seriously need to carry a notebook around with me wherever I go to write some of the stuff they say down. (Leesepea, I don't know HOW you remember whole conversations from your school day... it must be your superpower! By the end of the day, I can barely remember my own name!).

A few great comments:

Upon seeing the sweeping mountains and valley containing the soon-to-be-dammed-up river: "Wooow, that place is so beautiful, I think my eyes are in heaven!"

While watching a bear chase the beavers, climb up on the dam, and break a hole through their house: "Ooooh, come on, beavers! Run! That bear wants to make you into a beaver sandwich! Ruuuun!"

And my favourite, during the beaver-mating scene: "Hey look! They're dancing!"
They were let loose to explore the galleries in the afternoon, and it went really well. They mostly ran from activity to activity, sort of half trying it, never really reading what to do, but enjoying it all the same.

The only downer was a super big blunder on MY part. Holy guilty teacher syndrome, bat man! One of my munchkins lives pretty far from the school, and so it was easier for mom to bring him directly to Science World, so we just met him there. Poor little guy wasn't feeling well so he was having a really hard time enjoying the day. He was complaining of a headache and didn't really want to participate in anything all morning. He curled up and went to sleep for most of the movie, face all scrunched up in pain. I felt so terrible for him. He kinda looked at me like he was doing something bad by sleeping, but I just gave his back a rub and told him to sleep, it was totally ok.

Come lunch time, when all the kids were getting out their bag lunches from the school's lunch program, I realized with horror that I had left this kiddo's lunch back at the school! Aaaargh! I quickly asked someone if they wanted to share their sandwich, and I got out my banana and a granola bar, but I still had to break the news that I had forgotten his lunch. I pulled him aside and apologized profusely, offered him the food that I had, and told him that because I had forgotten, I'd buy him a special drink, did he want Coke or Orange Crush? He seemed to be placated with that, so PHEW! A few minutes into the show (we were eating and watching a science demo show at the same time), he removed himself to go sit in a quieter place. I went over a few minutes later to check on him and he burst into tears.

"[Kiddo], what's the matter? Are you still feeling sick?" He shook his head no. "Hmm... are your feelings hurt because I forgot your lunch at school?" WOAH NELLY, the waterworks started even harder and he nodded his head yes. My heart nearly cracked in two! Of all the kids in my class, he's one of the most sensitive, AND he wasn't feeling well, AND his big mean teacher forgot his FOOD! Good grief, *I* nearly started crying!

"Oh, sweetie, you KNOW I didn't do it on purpose..." Knowing this kiddo and his sense of humour, I tried a tactic to get him to stop crying... "I just made a BIG... FAT... HAIRY mistake!"

I had him at "fat." He guffawed at that, and downright giggled at "hairy." I repeated it again and he was in stitches. He didn't like the sandwich (he had ordered a different kind), so I went upstairs and bought him a bag of popcorn instead. Phew! Crisis averted!

So here's the lesson, folks. With grade two boys, just bust out some fun words like "fat" or "goober" or "snotty pants" and you're almost guaranteed they'll listen to ya!

*giggle*

Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time

~ Terry Kelly

Move over, Gretzy, Miss Hillary's class is a-comin'!

Have I mentioned how much I love my class this year? Cause I do. Love my class. They are SO fun! And super adorable. And I SO wish I could show you pictures of their cuteness.

We were in gym today, and we're vaguely doing a floor hockey unit. We do a few passing drills, talk super briefly about a few general rules, and then let them play a game. Of course, they're little, and there's only eleven of them (oh yeah, did I mention I only have ELEVEN KIDS??? I am such a better teacher when I only have eleven kids to deal with, let me tell you!). This makes the gym seem really, really empty, but is good in the sense that they pretty much have no choice but to participate.

I was so proud of one of my girls today - when we first started the unit, she refused to play and just hung back holding the stick limply in one hand. She didn't know how to play and I don't think had a lot of confidence because of it - heck, I can SO relate! I HATED sports as a kid. I had no clue, and so had no confidence at all in gym and in team sport situations. I totally don't blame her! But today she was in there, shooting the ring (we don't use a puck, but a rubber ring thing), passing, stopping, shooting... AH! I was so PROUD of her!

Ah, but where I was really going with this was the goggles. Always safety-conscious, elementary kids have to wear goggles when they play floor hockey. The kind we have are HUGE on the kids, and I totally thought they would all complain, but not ONE of them do. They wear these crazy things and rip around the gym with their hockey sticks, SO into it, and let me tell you, it's all I can do not to totally crack up when an itty bitty grade two boy who's significantly shorter than the net is playing goalie, all gung-ho, wielding a hockey stick that's six inches taller than he is, in goggles that cover three-quarters of his face... and he's actually REALLY GOOD!

If you ever need a pick me up, get a class of grade two and three kids and turn them loose with hockey sticks (heaven help us all!).

Hooray for a relaxed weekend!

Low key birthday party on Friday night, a bunch of errands and some house cleaning on Saturday, games night at a friend's just down the street Saturday night, a great church service Sunday and lunch with a friend, more household organizing, and a lazy evening on the couch watching Patch Adams. 'Twas grand!

How was YOUR weekend?

Bird's Eye View

UN.BE.LIEVABLE. Since Korr isn't on any map, I never was very sure where to situate it. Since coming home, I was able to pin point it a little closer, using the mountains (hills) around as landmarks, and I actually was pretty close! But this week I was poking around on Google maps again, and learned that YOU CAN SEE KORR on the map! The town, the goobs, the airstrip, the school, the church, my house... even the WELLS are visible! Needless to say, I was pretty excited! It absolutely BLOWS. ME. AWAY. that we can see this!

I've added some markers to show you where stuff is, and to help explain the difference between the "town" and the nomadic villages that are scattered throughout the desert. I've shown our house and the church in one map, and a Rendille goob (village) in the other. You can click and zoom in around each one (click the blue markers to see what each thing is), or click the link below to be taken to a more "big picture" type map. You can zoom in and get a bit of perspective as to where stuff was.

Go to the "big picture" map to explore
Alternatively, here are some links if you want to see...
Tirrim Primary
Tirrim Secondary and the Tirrim Center
Korr Town
The airstrip
View of a current goob and an old site after they have moved
View of a "foor," the camps where warriors stay when they're searching for grazing with the animals

Our house and the church

View Korr in a larger map

A goob (nomadic village)

View Korr in a larger map

TOTALLY should be the theme song for Vancouver 2010

Kenyan Connection

You know how when you learn a new word, you suddenly seem to hear it everywhere? It seems to be the same with going to Africa. Once you've been, it never leaves you (not that you'd WANT it to!), and you find connections seemingly everywhere.

The first Sunday I was back, a lady from Kenya recognized my purseand my scarf, and wanted to know if I'd been to Kenya...

A friend's two roomates are from Kenya and Tanzania, and he's encouraging me to try out my (extremely limited) Kiswahili on them...

I take a break from housework and flip on the TV. The Simpsons is on and, whoop, it's the one where they go on Safari...

I go to the U2 concert and the couple beside overhear me talking to my friends about Africa. Turns out they worked with a Christian orgnaization (I forget which) in Nairobi for two years, and had actually HEARD of Korr...

I meet the members of my new discipleship group last night, and one of them has been to Kenya for a month with YWAM...

These are, of course, just a very few examples. Seems everywhere I go, Kenya pops up in some way, shape or form. Not that I'm complaining, of course. It's definitely not a bad place to be connected to!

Um... thanks?

I really don't know what to do with this.

On my way home from work, I stopped for gas. I also checked for oil, which was a break from usual routine, and so with the second time I closed my door, I locked my keys in my car. Genius, I know. It was just what I needed when I was trying to get home early, get a little bit of work done, and go to bed. (I'm feeling much better today. Still tired, but way better. Don't know what yesterday was all about.)

So I'm at the counter in the station asking the guy for a phone book so I can call a tow truck to unlock my car. A pain, I know, but with my insurance, I'll get it reimbursed, it's just the pain of waiting for a truck to show up. But then a dude in line behind me hears this and asks me, "Hey, what's the problem?"

Me: Uh, I locked my keys in my car.
Dude: Oh, I can help you, I've got a slim jim.
Me: Really? Oh, that's awesome, thanks!
We walk outside to my car, and Dude says: Ok, so my shop is really close, let me just go get it and come back. I'll be about fifteen mintues.
Me: Oh, wow, um... Thanks! Do you have time for that?
Dude: Yeah, sure. I mean, if it takes a really long time, there may be some compensation involved, but I'll try to do it for free.
Me, warning lights going off in my brain: Uh, well, thanks. If you're willing to help, that's great, but if there's a charge, well, uh, I'll get reimbursed for a tow truck, so I'd rather do that.
Dude: Naw, don't worry, I'll try to do it for free.
Me: Uh, ok, well thanks a lot!
Dude: Yeah, don't worry about it, I'll be back in about fifteen minutes.

I go into the gas station and chat with the attendants a bit. They know this guy and say that yeah, his shop is just around the corner. Less than ten minutes later, Dude shows back up again with a coat hanger and a variety of long metal pokey things, none of which are a slim jim, but het, if it gets the job done...

Dude: Yeah, my buddy has the slim jim. He's in Richmond and said no way. If it was me, he'd be here in a flash, but I had to be honest, said I was just helpin' someone out at the PetroCan... said he wouldn't come over, so I dunno if this'll work, but let me give it a try.
Me: Ok, sure.
Dude, after two or three minutes of poking around and popping the lock: There ya go!
Me: Awesome, thank you SO much!
Dude: Here, you can have this, too [the tool he's fashioned to pop the lock]. You'll need it next time.
Me, not really wanting it: Thanks, but you can keep it.
Dude: No, man, you did it once, you'll do it again, keep it and you can use it next time.

I throw the thing in my car, not wanting to get into the discussion that, should I lock my keys in the car again, how am I supposed to actually GET it from out of my car? Whatever.

And then I realize he's not such a good Samaritan after all.

Dude: So how does $15 bucks sound?
Me: Uh, well I told you I could have been reimbursed for the tow truck. [I genuinely had no cash, didn't ASK for his help, and already TOLD him I could have had it done for free]

Dude starts to make protesting faces, and I notice that, as he's got his variety of screwdrivers, hangers, and metal tubes shoved in my window, reefing on them back and forth, he's totally dented up and scratched the metal trim.

Me: Uh, it's all dented here now...
Dude: Ok, well make it ten. Bring it over to my garage, we can fix it... But not for free. [chuckles]

[Side note: Where he pointed to when was was talking about his garage was down a street I drive every single day to and from work, and there's nothing but residential there for blocks and blocks, so it's obviously quite literally a GARAGE that he does work out of. Probably not equipped to fix the damage, not that I'd take it to him, anyway!]

Me: Look, I've got no cash, and I already told you...
Dude, getting angry and swearing under his breath as he storms away: Well thanks for being CHEAP!


Alllllrighty then. Not really sure what to do with that. I mean, I DID get my car opened, and didn't have to wait for a tow truck, but Dude totally thrashed my car. I'd rather have waited an hour. And then I feel like a creep for not paying the guy, but I TOLD him, and he did it anyway.

BAH!

How I didn't ALERADY fail the NaBloPoMo challenge

Step one - start feeling a wee tad feverish and more than a wee tad achy at school, and really, really, really tired.

Step two - prepare for a sub for tomorrow JUST in case.

Step three - shiver and freeze and shiver and freeze and shiver and freeze some more all evening long.

Step four - get home and fall directly onto couch under the warmest blanket I have and shiver and freeze and ache some more.

Step five - wake up bleary eyed, certain it's the middle of the night, check email to see about a conference and realize that Oh Crapola, I didn't post, I failed NaBloPoMo already.

Step six - not really care.

Step seven - look at clock and realize it's 11:58pm. Ah HA! Still time!

Step eight - post this silly little list.

Step nine - march myself straight back to bed.

Step ten - goodnight.

Highlights

So here's a few snippets of what I've been up to the last few weeks...

Hiking

Went up Cypress with my friend Chris around Thanksgiving. 'Twas glorious to be out in the mountains, especially with all the fantastical fall colours. But good golly, I'm a big ball of wuss when it comes to hiking these days. Something about the no mountain and 45 degree heat situation in Korr that wasn't so great for keeping me in top hiking form. That was pretty much the easiest hike in the world and I was all Little Miss Jelly-Legs by the end of it. But it sure was purdy!


Hot tickets

Last Monday some friends offered me a ticket to go see U2. How could I say no?!? We went, and it was SPECTACULAR. A-MA-ZING. ZING, ZING, ZING! Got some great pics, too! Still in the process of culling out the (many, many, many) bad ones, but here's one that's not to shabby. It's fun, Bono and the Edge look like they're floating!


Halloween

My costume was rather lame and predictable (woohoo... cowgirl! I had grand plans for a zebra, but that never panned out. I had no time, and frankly, just didn't care that much.) My friend Trudy's costume, on the other hand - FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.


Happy

Fall beautiful-ness. I love it! It's been GORGEOUS this fall. The leaves seem particularly vibrant and colourful this year, the weather's been beautiful, and life in general has just been good. Sorry, no picture for that one. Picture a happy Hillary!

Feast or famine

It's been pretty scarce around here these days. I've missed a few weekends of Watch it Weekends, partly cause I'm busy, and partly cause I'm not sure anybody's actually watching. But I definitely need to get blogging again, mostly cause it's a great way to get my thoughts out. That and it's fun to write.

So what better way to switch from famine to feast than NaBloPoMo? Ah, yes. National Blog Posting Month. The challenge: post every day for the month of November. Why? Cause it's a good challenge, it's fun to read what others have to say, and cause good golly I still have so much to blog about it might get my butt in gear to finish some of those Kenya posts I really want to get written before I forget! So some might be long, some might be short, some that are deep and profound, most that are anything but... but posts there will be!

Happy November! NaBloPoMo, here we go!

As in, for FREE?

Let me tell you, using a Kenyan cell phone as totally RUINED me for the cell phone shenanigans that go on here in my country. I'm sorry, access fee? Three year contracts? Minute counting? Ridiculous charges? BAH HUMBUG TO ALL OF YOU!

I definitely long for the days of "Buy phone (cheap). Buy SIM card (less than $2). Buy top up card (as much or as little as you want). Phone. For cheap. Run out of credit? Go buy another card. You can buy them anywhere, even Korr, where the nearest network is a three to four hour walk and a huff up a mountain away. Needless to say, I had a little bit of rage at the Canadian wireless business when I got home. (AND? Did you know that, at least with one company, when you answer your phone, it starts charging you from when it started RINGING, not when you actually said hello? GAH!)

However, ease of cell phone use wasn't the only thing I learned when I was in Kenya. I also learned about bargaining and bartering. Oh, yes. Bartering. Not just for Kenyan curio markets, people.

When I got home, I wanted to look into maximizing the value of my cell plan, so I called up Company Friendly, my current provider's competition, to scope out the deals I could get on plans. The guy was really helpful, and told me all the options and all the features I could get on a new mobile plan. Pretty comparable, though it looks like a slightly better deal than the one I had with my current provider, Company Red, who I've been with for over six years now.

I decided to scope out my other options with Red, as I had just gotten whatever to get my cell up and running again when I got home from Kenya, and hadn't yet done a lot of research. I asked about plans and options, and got some dud in customer service who didn't offer any extra info like the Friendly dude did, and for that alone, I was willing to abandon ship, so I called up Friendly again, but this time with a little bit of ammo.

"Soooo, I'm thinking of switching to you guys from Red, but I'm just wondering what kind of incentive you can give me to do that..."

Well, click, click, click, and off I was transferred to the special, "Come on over to OUR side" department, and was lured in with all kinds of extra features and a waaaay better deal that I was getting with Red. Sweet! So I signed up, and my phone arrived about a week later. But, just before I called to activate my new Friendly phone, I remembered a very important bargaining rule: always go back to the Other Guy and tell them what Competition Guy is offering you. Maybe Other Guy can sweeten the deal."

So I called Red.

"Hi! So, I'm a six year customer with you guys, and I'm about to switch to Friendly. I've got the new phone here, and was just about to call and activate it when I thought I'd better call you and see what you're prepared to do to keep me as a Red customer."

A lot, apparently.

They asked what Friendly was offering me - which was a really good deal - and then completely blew it out. of. the. water. They were throwing features and freebies at me faster than I could keep track of them. I made a list (three times I had to ask them to slow down so I could write it down), then told them I'd think about it and get back to them.

Just for kicks, I called Friendly back to see if they could better it.

"Uhhh... wow. We can't even TOUCH that," they told me. Ok, fair enough. I had a 30 day satisfaction clause in my contract, so I had them send me a return mailer and I sent back my phone, called Red, and signed up for a three year contract, which includes the following:

* 250 minutes per month (was 200, but as he was running through my features at the very end was like, "250 minutes, right?" Ummmm... yeeeessss.)
* Evenings and weekends starting at 6pm, not at 9, included
* Free incoming calls
* Caller ID, voice mail, and 2500 texts
* 100 minutes of long distance a month
* FREE Blackberry Flip phone, without a data plan (apparently nearly impossible to get)
* 65% off the data plan fee, should I want one (I don't)

... all for under Not Very Much Money At All... ten dollars LESS, in fact, than when all I had was 150 minutes, caller ID, and evenings at 6pm.

So with all this, now, I'm thinking seriously of canceling my home phone, so I called Red again (gotta always go through the Retention department now) to ask about upping my plan minutes a little bit a month, just in case.

"So, what's the next Retention plan up from mine if I wanted to increase my monthly minutes? I'm thinking of canceling my home phone and want to e sure I don't go over my minutes."

Her answer?

"Well, I could give you 100 bonus minutes a month for the duration of your contract."

"Um, bonus minutes, as in for FREE?"

"Yep. One hundred minutes a month for the next three years. So you'd have 350 minutes instead of 250 for the same price."

"Uh, wow."

"Well, you HAVE been with us for a really long time, so that's why we can offer you that bonus."

I thought that's why I got all that OTHER bonus stuff, but OK!

"Well, uh, sure! Sign me up!"

So, seriously folks. Finished your contract with your current cell company? Call them and tell them you're about to jump ship, and watch 'em scramble! I think I might call them back next month and see what else they'd like to throw in for me!

*giggle*