RWF has a new home!

Hi readers,

Just like Princess Charlotte, Rhymes with Fabulous has really grown up since 2015!
Check out up-to-date content at the newly launched

http://www.rhymeswithfabulous.com/

In related news, if anyone feels they have strong and helpful knowledge about CSS Wordpress Coding...slide on over this way! 

Picture of adorable Princess Charlotte below. Off the watch the Royal Wedding (again)

Organization

Dear readers,

Below is a short list of things in my life I desperately need to get organized:

1.  My sleep schedule. 
I don't think it still counts as jetlag two weeks after a vacation.  I've been up since 4 AM.  Help!

2.  My Spanish notebook. 
According to my (multiple) Spanish tutors, it's important to understand when to use por versus para in both conversation and writing.  Le sigh.  Que pena.

3.  My Google Drive. 
Seriously, it's like the junk drawer of my internet.  Actual file names include:

NYSED_PartD
b1_eie_t1
File_000.mov (There are actually four of these. All different files.)

4.  My water consumption. 
I like to pretend I'm a camel for days at a time and then blame debilitating dehydration headaches on possible brain tumors while I casually salt my pizza. 
If I boil pasta in water, though...that's got to count for something? (see below)

5.  My pasta consumption. 

Unrelated question:

Is it seriously only Tuesday?  Calming photo of Mallorcan Great Route 221 below.

The Art of Thai Massage

Hi readers,

This past weekend, I went for my first Thai massage (Kenika Thai Massage for those of you who are interested).

Thai massage is fabulous!  

1.  The lady at the desk procured me a little bowl of water on a flower-covered serving tray.  The provision of water is, without a doubt, one of my favorite parts of a body treatment service. Finally, someone concerned about my hydration.  This is how dogs must feel all the time!

2.  I was led into my little Thai massage room and given pajamas!  Yes, I love spa robes.  But I don't love anything as much as I love pajamas.

3.  This adorable Thai woman came into and started crawling all over my back.  There is an element of surprise and wonder to the whole experience: "Is that her foot? Her elbow?  Can she pull my arms any further back without dislocating my shoulder?"  It promotes a vital sense of curiosity. 

4.  The massage table had a bowl of flowers underneath the space where I put my head.  (See photo)

I thought this was an especially nice touch.  Because even with all the hydration and the spider-monkey massage techniques, I find it difficult to relax if I don't have something to focus my mind on.  It turns out obsessively counting plastic flowers is a good focal point (there are 16 in that bowl, in case you're curious).

In deeper thoughts on relaxation (which I had time for while I was locked in the massage room with the nice spider-monkey-lady), I find images and easy, repetitive mental exercises help to lull my mind into a state of low-frequency thinking. I think it's why people have meditation shrines and mantras.  But anyway...

5.  The best thing about Thai massage? No oil! I was free to wonder out of the room, enjoy some sweet Thai tea, and carry on about my day without a shower (there are many activities where I consider a shower optional, but being slathering in massage oil is not one of them). 

Overall: Highly recommend!


(Disclaimer: it there is much more to the whole shrines/mantras thing, and bowls of anything in a place of relaxation are actually a big deal: check out extra information here and here).

New Year, New Me

Hi readers,

Happy 2018!  This year so far I have:

1.  Purchased a large pile of books in a country I don't live in (one of my favorite activities and makes packing a dream come true!  I once moved to New Zealand for 10 months and brought 1 pair of pants and 10 pounds of books with me)
2.  Seen a Rangers game (they lost)
3. Been stranded in the bomb cyclone back-up at JFK airport (I do NOT recommend this)
4. Completed (almost) my first Coursera course (I HIGHLY recommend this--very interesting!)
5. Woken up at 2 AM for three days in a row, ready to take on the world!

Unfortunately, my work day starts at 9 AM, and I find by then I'm slightly fatigued.  I'm not usually very susceptible to jet lag, but this return to Spain has been brutal.  I blame the bomb cyclone.

I get a little keyed up coming back from vacations anyway (not sure if this is just a teacher thing?) so when my eyes pop open in the middle of the night, my mind starts racing immediately:

Should I give partial credit to students who incorrectly define helicase, but understand the function of all types of DNA polymerase?  Do students need more instruction on their biomes project?  Does my SST meeting conflict with my Global Citizenship meeting?  Are the bunsen burners still on in my classroom?  When am I going to finish writing my book?  Can mold spores develop on mushrooms?  If yes, is my refrigerator a hazardous mold spore breeding ground?  Should I diversify my pod cast listening?  Is Opera really going to run for President?    

I've decided to just go with it.  Instead of laying in bed and worrying about things I should do in the morning, I've been getting up and enjoying all kids of productive activities: emails to my family, blog posts, internet research about North Korean Olympic athletes, coursera lectures, reading, deep cleaning of refrigerator drawers....

2018: Embrace the jet lag!! New Year, New (slightly tired/really good at siesta) Me!  

Winter pic from NYC below (slightly before we sank into the depths of bomb cyclone 2018).  

Back to the USA

Hi readers,
When I return to the USA for the holidays, there are always some surprises in store.

First, I continually forget how desensitized I am to background conversation.  In Spain, I need to really concentrate to eavesdrop, on the streets of New York it is as easy as hailing a cab.  And I LOVE eavesdropping! No Susan, you shouldn't call him again before he calls you back; yes little 22-year-old Morgan Stanley intern, your boss does think you're a total idiot; no Chuck, those girls from Whiskey Ward are definitely not going to call you.

It's so nice to be immersed in a culture and a language I actually understand, instead of a country where I'm desperately trying to figure out if we're talking about meatballs or lawyers (sometimes the responses would be the same, but sometimes "que delicioso" doesn't cut it when you're talking about an attorney).

Second, it is COLD here.  I'm glad for the cold, in a "oh-maybe-climate-change-isn't-going-to-cause- Manhattan-to-sink-tomorrow" type of way.  But worried in a "oh-maybe-we-will-freeze-to-death-instead" type of way (as well as being greatly discouraged from going outside).  I've spent a disproportionate amount of time since my return plotting how to better winterize windows with packaging tape and trash bags.  My mom thinks I should start a business.

Third, I forget how easy it is to lose track of time over the holidays.  I've spent afternoons relaxing in bed, left my watch (and phone!) at home when I head out to do errands.  It's so nice to be on vacation time and surrounded by family and the magical streets of New York. My best "magical streets of New York" picture below.

A bit of mental space

Hi readers,

Like all good teachers, I spend a fair amount of time perusing educational advice blogs (it's a great procrastination strategy-check out some of the best education blogs of 2017 here).  One of the best posts I have read lately was advice from a tutor on how to be effective with your students.  Her number one piece of advice:

Give the kids some mental space

The advice resonated as I nudged my stack of 55 ungraded long-response tests around thoughtfully on my desk.  I opened a new window to google mental space, forgot what I was doing and started googling "alien light beams" and "the new jersey shore" and "how to grade tests faster", checked my work email and realized....

You know who else needs some mental space?  

Me.

I think mental space is one of those nebulous concepts that probably means something different for everyone (note: I don't know for sure, because I forgot to google it.  The Jersey Shore thing really took up a lot of time.)  For me, the things that create mental space change all the time.  I think to genuinely feel "space", you need to engage in something new so that old, familiar walls and habits don't start building up. 

Mental space is NOT mindless pouring through the same (well basically the same) Women's Health articles every day. 

Just every few weeks, with the New Yorker in between ; )

I'm off to do my newest mental space thing--exercise! Just in time for New Year's Resolutions.....

End of School

Hi readers,
School ended in Madrid yesterday.  Each year this generates procrastination and despair over grading creative inspiration and time to consider blog fodder. (For notes from a previous year, click here) This year, as I cleaned out my desk, I found myself avoiding grading my finals asking some important self-knowledge questions:

1.  Do people in other professions love office supplies the way teachers do?  My favorite are binder clips!! I have them in all my drawers at school, small recycled glass jars full of a multi-sized rainbow of binder clips.  They also accumulate in my purses and my kitchen (for when I grade at home and need to binder clip 250 pages of exams together to get them back to school).  When I clean out my desk, I love to stop and treasure my little binder clip piles before I stack them away in a hidden cupboard for the fall. (Trust me, teachers are ruthless about stealing "borrowing" office supplies during summer school.  Who can blame them?  You need to make your joy when you are teaching summer school.)

2.  Is it weird to keep "gently-used" spoons in your desk drawer?

3.  How long should people be holding on to never-used hard-copy educational DVD's in this day and age?  My current running time with "Fishing for Change: A Video-Based Approach to Teaching Evolution Using the Oceans" is 5 years.  Our computers don't even have a DVD drive anymore....

4.  Why don't Spanish pencils have erasers?  Is this a thing in other countries as well?

5.  How long should I keep my workout clothes at school?  (The last time anyone used my gym sneakers, it was a student that needed to run on the treadmill for a science experiment.)

For now, my gym sneakers are safely stored away with my binder clips and I'm getting out my hiking boots for my first trip of summer--a week of mountains and beaches in the South of France.  Can't wait!! (For a reminder post about how obnoxiously much I love France click here).

Happy end of school to all the teachers out there!

Photo: www.sandygounified.org 

Getting old(er)

Hi readers,
There are a few moments in my life when I know without a doubt that I am getting older.  In no particular order:

1.  I'm excited to have a coffee Friday after work.

2.  I realize that the bartender/waitress/DOCTOR is younger than me.

3.  I have no idea what emoticons mean (or text abbreviations).

4.  I relish bringing my lunch to work.

And the most recent addition to the list....

5.  I buy travel insurance.

I noticed the travel insurance this spring.  I tend to purchase large quantities of airline tickets all at one time (not that weird for some select groups of people: young socialite jet-setters, parents of large families and......international teachers).  This summer for example, I purchased five sets of plane tickets (two international, three domestic in the span of 5 weeks.  Rough life, us teachers).

I had never purchased airline insurance before. However, my mother always did.  Last summer, it turned out we had a desperate need for the coverage.  My mother (on the eve of her 70-ish birthday) broke her ankle while we were traveling in Zambia.  As I filled out the packets (and packets) of paperwork that served to reunite us with our thousands of dollars, I realized the insurance had been a great idea.

I'd considered travel policies before, but always shied away at the last moment, reverse-clicking the tab as I decided that the idea sounded too expensive grown-up.  This year, I took the plunge.

Insurance land.  Population: old people. On fabulous summer vacations : )

For other indications that I am actually growing up, check out this post.

Surgical Spanish

Hi readers,

There are many things I am very tolerant about when it comes to my mediocre ability to speak Spanish. 

Server didn't understand I'm a vegetarian? Not a big deal. 

Cab driver takes the long way? I get it. 

Usually, I try to consider it an engaging challenge, like talking to people is a puzzle with lots of moving parts that don't fit together and I get to smile and laugh helplessly. Fun! (See vaguely related post here.  And here.)

But-after some stupidly brave attempts at Spanish hospital visits during my first year in Spain, I realized that I draw the line at my medical appointments. Going to the doctor in Spanish really freaks me out. 

That obvious fact plus a busy schedule is a perfect recipe for intimidating, longstanding medical problems.

This last week I made my first attempt to deal with an adorable little varicose vein that has been on the inside of my left thigh for...ahem...2 years. Yes, I've been monitoring it for growth and check with our school nurse (who I basically consider my general physician) to make sure it didn't seem cancerous, but it seemed time to get it looked at.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown:

Step 1: Use Spanish healthcare website to try and find English speaking doctor (Time on to do list: 4 months.  Time to attempt and realize I didn't want to go to a random internet doctor: 10 minutes)

Step 2: Go to school nurse AKA general physician and have her recommend English speaking doctor ( Time on to do list: 2 months. Time to complete: 10 minutes)

Step 3: Have nurse set up appointment (2 minutes)

Step 4: Attend appointment, where doctor tells me he speaks no English and proceeds to detail what is wrong with me and set up an appointment FOR MY LEG SURGERY in Spanish (1 hour)

Step 5: Go back to school nurse (Her name is Mamen, which I'm relatively sure is Spanish for 'angel sent from heaven to deal with my annoying questions').  Have her call doctor to translate why I need to go to a hospital. (I day)

Step 6: Meet Spanish doctor (now much more agreeable about speaking a small amount of English) in hospital for one veiny lump removal and 6 stitches (1 hour) 

The good news?  I learned lots!

Lesson 1: Spanish OR nurses like to say 'Jolene' (can be translated to 'oh hell') while they are in charge of cauterizing leg tissue WHILE THEIR PATIENTS ARE AWAKE UNDER LOCAL ANESTESIA)

Lesson 2:  I can deal with complicated stuff in Spanish by asking for lots (and lots and lots...) of help.  Very empowering.

Lesson 3:  It's very satisfying to take control of health care decisions and procedures (or at least, to have the very nice school nurse do it for you).  It takes a village. 

Lesson 4: If you really want to know if your doctor speaks English, don't speak to him in Spanish.  (I don't mean to be culturally insensitive.  Someone actually told me this and it was important to consider.)

Lesson 5: Having something on a to-do list doesn't mean a thing until I am actually ready to do it...then things start happening pretty fast. (see related thoughts about to do lists here)

The problem with to do lists

Hi readers,

I'm a planner.  My to-do list each day includes items from "drink coffee" to "plan summer" (the latter obvious must be broken down into several obsessive compulsive sub-categories including plane tickets, hotel reservations, and Facetime conversations with friends so I can beg to sleep on their floors.  Love you guys!)

In these to-do lists, I have been able to manage some significant accomplishments:

Example 1: Getting hired at my current job.  The to-do list stretched out over almost 6 months and included items like "write own recommendation and give to current boss for review" (life hack-ALWAYS write your own letters of recommendation and give them to your boss to sign edit and carefully review.)

Example 2: Summiting Mount Teide (the highest peak in Spain, 3,718 m).  The to do list included finding a guide, dealing with approximately 67 email chains regarding gear and travel, 10 months of waiting for joint availability between our group and the guide service and scheduling travel and accommodations for 4 days for 4 people.

Example 3: Submitting a draft manuscript for my novel.  The to do list included...learning how to write convincing adult fiction over the course of a year's worth of classes, deciding and editing a story line, researching dialogue writing and scheduling writing time into a crazy work schedule over the course of 11 months.

I'm really proud of these accomplishments, and I do think that the to-do lists were integral in achieving each of these things.  The problem with to-do lists is, once the stuff is done, I feel like I forget about it pretty quickly.  Because the whole point of a to-do list is to check stuff off so you never have to think about it again, right?

Which leads me to my latest invention:

A "goals" list.

I like to keep some of the stuff I have done, along with some of the stuff I want to do soon (again, obsessively organized by category), in a separate place from my to-do list.  Two reasons:

1.  Some of the stuff on my "to-do" list stays there for the better part of a year before I'm actually motivated to think of it as a goal.

2.  The little checklist emoji is so satisfying and motivating!  (See vaguely related post on other emojis I wish existed).

So right now, my hiking "goals" list looks like this:

To be fair, my hiking "to-do" list (like, all the hikes I want to do in my lifetime) is much longer and not as realistic, but Monserrat and Pyrenees National Park are two places I will go this summer, and I planned those trips remembering my satisfaction in the summiting Mont Blanc and Teide. When those shift into checkmark territory, I can start planning my fall adventures....

Pictures from the summit of Teide below.  (May 2, 2017) 

What Color Were the Walls?

Hi readers,

In case you were wondering: high school students get a little restless in the springtime.

Also: so do high school teachers.

I've been feeling a little distracted in my day-to-day life lately.  With spring in the air, it seems possible to go through whole days focused on small moments and questions:

"Where are my keys?"
"Did I turn off the stove?"
"How many rides do I have left on my train pass?"
"What is my password for the Iberia Miles program?"
"Do I have enough money for coffee?"
"Do I have a lesson plan for class tomorrow?"
"Where are my keys?" (This comes up a lot)

The answers to these questions are relatively simple.

-My keys are in my bag. (They always are.)
-Yes, I turned off the stove. (I have always turned off the stove, not that it does anything to alleviate my 20-minutes-from-home-and-I'm sure-my-apartment-is-on-fire induced panic attacks)
-Generally, I have between 1 and 3 rides left on my train pass (I've also recently discovered that I can add more rides before they officially run out and the train pass somehow keeps track of which rides were added first and uses them.  Magic.)
-Usually, I have enough money for coffee.  (If I don't, my boyfriend helps out.  He's very generous and it's in his best interest to keep me well-caffeinated.)
-I'm at the miraculous point of teaching where I generally do have a lesson plan for class the next day.  (One I have already spent pain-staking hours considering and planning out in previous years, so I can just make sure the information is still accurate (and that I have a current answer key for those pesky physics questions) and go in and teach something.)

It's important to have the answers to these questions.  These small considerations are essential for my day-to-day functioning.  However, in the restless spring air it feels like I'm walking down a beautiful path and these questions keep me focused on looking at my feet.

I want to look up and make sure I'm headed the right direction.

As usual, my path to self-assurance in the general direction of my life started with an internet search about successful, happy people and their hobbies.

The good news: There is a wealth of advice of successful, happy people and their hobbies!! (here is what they do before 8 AM, here is morning to night, here is what they avoid, here is an infographic!)

The other good news: I already do a lot of this stuff! I exercise, I read (memes count, right?), I eat breakfast.  I'm halfway there!

BUT in doing all this stuff, I don't want to get lost in the minutia.  Instead of constantly thinking about where my keys are (because seriously, they're always in my bag) I want to focus on some different questions:

-What do I remember about the last news story I read?
-What kind of trees do I walk by on my morning commute?  Why do they grow there?
-Does the person I'm talking to have brothers and sisters?  Hobbies that might be interesting to discuss?
-What is a good adventure for this weekend?
-What was I doing this time last year?  What's changed since then?
-What color were the walls in the last room I was in?

Picture below of a trip (not even a year ago) to Botswana, an adventure I don't think about nearly enough.

Adventure in the Kaliharihari Desert, Botswana 2016

Visitors

Hi readers,
This week, my dad and his girlfriend have been visiting me in Madrid.  (Hi, Dad!) 

While they've been here, I've been thinking about how much I love having visitors. Here's a short list of the things I did this week while I normally would have been sitting on my couch, slow-watering my plants and admiring my bookshelves:

1.  Went to Palma, Mallorca. We ate Mallorcian almonds and finally saw the inside of the Palma cathedral.
(The cathedral is a typical Spanish attraction which means it is open to tourism 9-2 Monday-Friday BUT my dad's girlfriend got us down there during a church service on a Sunday.  Highly recommend!)
2.  Visited the DocumentaMadrid film festival.  We saw short films about life in Aleppo, Buenos Aires and Greece (the depth of the social problems in all those locations is a subject for another time)
3.  Visited the RVTE Teatro Monumental for a Beethoven/Puccini concert.
4.  Had a party! On a school night! My friends got to see my family AND I learned a new spanish suffix: -azo (look it up).
5.  Used my kitchen! (more accurately--my dad's girlfriend used my kitchen while I watched and exclaimed over her cooking abilities).

What a great visit. Picture of Palma from the Hotel Born below. 
Happy Friday!

Routines

Hi readers,

My seniors start their IB exams today.  For them that means a three-week period of tests more difficult than most they will take in college, with an open door into of the next step of their young adult life on the other side. 
For me it means.....they have stopped coming to my class!!
As a high school science teacher at an international school, I had 2 sections of 12th grade students.  I have been with them for the past 2 years, working through a 400 page environmental science textbook ("IB Environmental Systems and Societies" by Oxford University Press for those of you who are interested), designing and completing 24 individual lab projects and grading hundreds of pages of their work and projects. 
I bid them adieu and good luck in their studies at the end of last week.  Since then I have only had to organize 1 set of labs, 2 sets of cross-curricular projects/papers and 1 school-wide event.  In teacher terms, this means I have been free as a bird!! (Yes, I'm serious).   I have been able to leave work at 5 PM every. day. this. week.  Amazing!!

So, what have I been doing with my new-found free time, you ask? 

Today I have been in 2 other classes--a Chinese 2 class this morning and a Theory of Knowledge class (technically I'm "subbing" right now for our IB coordinator, but I like to think of myself as more of an "observer").  Whenever I have the opportunity to go into other classes, I'm amazed at how different the routines and practices are.  In Chinese, they were watching a video (and responding in actual, legitimate Chinese sentences when the teacher paused the video, which was ceaselessly amazing to me).  In TOK (sort of an intro philosophy class) they are drawing pictures of....something.  I think to do with perception? (like I said, I'm just here writing my blog subbing observing).  I've gotten so many good ideas for how to shake up my routines and activities just by observing these other classes. It's nice to have some time to search for inspiration. 

Photo from pinterest.  Happy Friday!

Vegetarian Croquetas

Hi readers,

I have a vague obsession with weird Spanish cooking projects.  I like cooking things only once, just to prove I can, then going back to eating take-out falafel oven-roasted vegetables for dinner until I feel "inspired to do something more complicated" (translation: using more than 1 pan).

Over the weekend I achieved a milestone of la cucina española: my first batch of Spanish croquetas. Spanish croquetas are basically olive-oil-soaked fried dough and a famous sort of Spanish tapas/bar food.  See the photo from hogarmania.com for a visual,
except you should imagine little vegetables where the jamon is (note-this may be hard for Spanish people)

The croquetas were at the end of my list.  Other items have included:
1. Spanish tortilla
2. Paella
3. Gazpacho
4. "Spanish Baked Brie" (Slices of cheese melted into empanada dough)

I consider my cooking a cultural experience--mostly because I subject my poor, unsuspecting Spanish friends to both the process and the outcome, usually with very little warning.  For example: I was once making a Spanish tortilla and when a basic stranger who I had never spoken to before delightful friend-of-a-friend walked through the door.  I made him dar la vuelta a la tortilla (a Spanish expression for flipping a hot, heavy pan full of approximately 6 pounds of potatoes and semi-raw eggs onto a slippery plate) before he had even taken off his coat.  Culture!

In making the croquetas, I was able to practice Spanish with a wonderful friend for hours--and learned the Spanish word ahumada can double as a polite way of saying "burned".  I'm fulfilled and proud to report I have turned on both the oven and the stove since the weekend feel inspired to try new things.  Though for my next Spanish cooking project, I may have to branch out into the dessert world.  I think I am at the end of vegetarian-options list for main courses.  Chuleton de tofu?  Probably not going to work...

Call me home

Hi readers,

Hard to believe how much time has passed since my last post.  It's hard to sum up a year.  In no particular order, I have:


1. Undertaken a terrace gardening project
2. Learned to play a simultaneous harmony and melody on the keyboard (hmmm...sort of)
3. Seen a pair of mating lions in Zimbabwe
4. Hiked the Eastern Coast of Mallorca (GR 221)
5. Attended a wedding in Old Lyme, Connecticut
6. Attended a funeral in Amherst, Massachusetts
7. Watched my boyfriend pet a very friendly horse in Sardinia (see photo.  Que guapo!)
8. Caught several sizable catfish in the Okavango Delta
9. Taken two advanced fiction writing classes through Gotham Writers Workshop
10. Read and graded approximately 2,000 pages worth of student work

There we go.  Good enough.


I have been writing, quite a lot actually, over the past year (see #9).  But my focus has been on fiction.  And I found out something important and obvious: writing fiction is tremendously hard.

At the beginning, I found I really couldn't balance any attempt at creative short stories with thoughtful, self-depreciating blog posts.  When I was writing stories, my characters would all come out with the adorable, sarcastic tone I reserve for writing about my personal life.  When I tried to write here, the tone turned floating and invented.  I had to take some time to clarify the two different objectives in my head.

Also, the problem of there only being 24 hours in a day came into play rather regularly.

But, with spring inching into the air in Madrid and several major work deadlines recently behind me, I'm bustling with unrealistic expectations for myself once again and itching to share the obscure, relatively uninteresting details of my life with large groups of strangers!

It feels good to be back.

If you're still reading, the title of this post "Call Me Home" is the name of a wonderful novel by Megan Kruse. Highly recommend.

The Best Things About Easter...

Hi readers,

Happy (late) Easter from Madrid!  After an action-packed Semana Santa in Bordeaux, I am inching back into normal routine.  We came back to a Professional Development day at school (teacher-talk for a day with no kids in the building, when you can actually get work done in what I assume imitates a normal adult environment?).  PD days are a really nice to get back to the work routine.  Today, I am writing report card comments for my students and drinking copious amounts of free coffee.

Yesterday I celebrated Easter by eating vegan food and drinking detoxifying hot lemon waters (spring break in the South of France involved unsurprising, but copious, amounts of wine and red meat). 

I went for a run in the park and looked at the Cuestas de Moyano, a row of book stalls lined up outside the south entrance to Retiro (see photo from of alamy.com).  I took an Easter walk down Calle Atocha (really, I was going to the grocery store, but I went in a very relaxed, slow-walking way).  I video-chatted with almost my whole family, always an accomplishment as they are spread out over up to 5 houses, 3 states and 2 time zones.  I appreciated the European daylight savings time, which marks the return of the 10 PM sunset in Spain. 

While I missed the copious chocolate and English-language church services that mark my Easter celebrations in the states, I felt like the important aspects of the holiday were still observed.  It felt like spring, and a new beginning.  I got to talk with my family.  I took an opportunity to slow down and be grateful.  I plotted out all the olive oil products I am going to eat to mark the end of Lent. 
I searched for fat Easter bunnies and funny Peeps dioramas on google images.  And I was in bed by 9:30 PM : )

International Women's Day

Hi readers,

I have a confession to make.  I'm kind of old-fashioned.  Even in my Boulder, Colorado heyday of hippie-inspired activism, I could never really get behind the feminist movement.

Environmentalism?  Great!
Parity in education?  Totally reasonable!
Universal access to health care?  What a lovely idea!

I could corner strangers and harass them about the importance of those topics with the best of them. (Seriously.  I used to canvas for Greenpeace.)  But when people would try to get me talking about feminism, I would muster up and lackluster smile and say, "Mmmhmmm!" as enthusiastically as possible before making up an excuse about needing to hit the 5-day-old produce give-away at the local food co-op and walking the other way.

Here's the problem: Feminism focuses so much on the stuff we want.  In some countries, this makes tremendous sense.  In the USA, I think we need to spend more time being thankful for what we have.  For example, during my four years in Colorado, there was a serious push to re-instate the draft for the Iraq war.  Feminists were not marching down Colorado Avenue begging for equality in that pool of eligibility. They wanted a raise and a female CEO and IVF covered by health insurance.

At the moment, I get to vote and be employed and walk around without a large scarf covering 99.9% of my body.  I'm pretty pleased with the feminist movement accomplishments (again--in the US and the Western World).  I think we are in a good spot.  As a matter of fact, I think it's time to take a quick reality check and figure out exactly what it is we want next.

I like my job and I don't feel threatened by the men in my work environment.  I'm happy with my current level of access to reproductive health care (though it is one of several topics in US news I am currently following very, very closely).  I'm pleased with my level of ability for free speech.  I vote.  I wear heels, slippers and flip-flops with equal levels of comfort.  I love when my boyfriend cooks me dinner and fixes my computer and buys me coffee every single morning.

There's nothing I feel like I am really hungering for in regard to my feminine identity.

So International Women Day threw me a little off-balance.  It's a nice time to reflect and be thankful, as well as to consider the plight of women in other parts of the world where parity is nonexistent.  But do we really need a day?!  Shouldn't we be doing that anyway?  Like, all the time?

I wondered...

Hi readers,

In a particularly brilliant moment of lecture in one of my science classes today, I asked my students what they were reading in English class. I wanted to make the point that analogous structures in biology are similar to analogies.  (I know!  My students were all super impressed and interested.)

Sidenote: 
For those of you who have not been exposed to high school vocabulary in the last 20 years:
Analogous Structures: organs that look different but serve the same function in different organisms.  For example a fly and a bat both have wings but a fly's wings are made of chitin and a bat's wings are made of skin and bones.
Analogies: a comparison between one thing and another, typically during an explanation.  For example, you can make an analogy between the human heart and a pump.

I learned two things:
1) I'm not super clear on the difference between an analogy and a metaphor.  (It seems a little complicated, and hey-I'm a science teacher)
2) My students are reading Romeo and Juliet.

In a flash of inspiration, I looked up Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.  The kids just smiled politely and waited for me to get back to the point, but the gentle, lyrical sway of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..." stayed with me through the afternoon (though I am still not clear if that would be a metaphor or a simile).

When I'd muddled through enough thoughts on the Bard, my mind eventually turned to my favorite poem of all time.  I used to read it every night with my father, right after an equally delightful (but slightly less "timeless") poem about chocolate milk.

Words below.  Happy Monday!

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Caso De Campo

Hi readers,

This morning I went for a run in the Casa De Campo.  Casa De Campo is a 7-mile stretch of park west of downtown Madrid that used to be the royal hunting ground.  It is across town from where I live and where I usually go running (Parque de Buen Retiro).

This little change in location felt empowering.  First, it forced me to get on public transit for a run, something I usually consider to be a total waste of time.  But it was nice to review the metro map, examing the stops I don't usually get off at (Madrid has three metro stops in Casa De Campo, a phenomenal show of good planning in a culture that views train schedules as "suggestions").  I felt inspired to enlist some other small changes in my routine.

Most substantial: I walked.

Usually, the goal of my running routine is to get a steady stream of endorphins flowing as fast as possible.  Twenty minutes of running as fast as possible (ie: not very fast) is usually sufficient.  Today, I wanted something different.  I wanted an adventure (of the cheap, close, local variety).  I wanted to coax my brain into a place of escape, rather than a place of chemically-enhanced happiness. I wanted to notice the trees and slow down my thoughts.  Walking fit my mood.

Eventually: I put on a podcast.

After I had been satisfactorily re-introduced to our urban nature environment, I decided to check out my podcast selection.  I download podcasts in great, energetic piles about 3 times a year.  I try to listen to them while I'm falling asleep or walking to work in the mornings.  Generally, I lose interest after about three days and let them sit collecting dust in my little stretch of broadband for months at a time.  Today, I picked up where I left off in October with two selections:

"Meanwhile, in the Future" by Gizmodo
"Happier" by Gretchen Rubin

I would highly recommend both "channels".  Today, I learned about the possibility that we can genetically engineer humans to combat climate change and the research on dark matter of Harvard professor Lisa Randall (I'm sure there are slightly less geeky components to both if those ideas do not sound as appealing to you as they do to me).


On the way home: I bought flowers.

There is actually nothing that unusual about me buying flowers.  It's something I do every weekend that I find myself by the flower stand. The flower stand, however, is on the way to Casa De Campo and not on the way to Retiro : )

Today, I bought some butter-yellow craspedias (see photo).

More mindfulness

Hi Readers,

The mindfulness topic has stayed on my mind through the day.  Here are some continued thoughts:

1) I feel like am more mindful in my private life than in my professional life.
2) That's probably because it's difficult to be mindful (ie aware and present for what is happening in the moment) when someone is dictating the parameters of what is important and setting the deadlines for work to be completed
3) Maybe I should stop caring so much what the administrators that set deadlines think of my professional performance.

To bring mindfulness into my professional life, I think I need to set my own parameters for what I want to accomplish: in my days, in my years and throughout my professional career. It would take away the feeling that I am not working towards anything, or that I am working towards something I don't totally understand. For me, a lack of mindfulness can be associated with a feeling of drifting and times when I don't understand the big picture.  Currently, the goal in my personal life is fairly simple: I want to be happy.  Hence my enhanced level of mindfulness.  I'm able to gauge: Am I happy?  Why? Why not? Etc.

The goal in my professional life feels more complicated: I want to create an atmosphere of disciplined student learning.  I want the students to be happy too (I'm a big advocate of happiness, generally), but I want them to be happy in a challenging, inspired environment, not happy because they have their phone balanced in their lap looking at snatchap while they pretend to take notes.  Disciplined learning is hard.  It's especially hard to gauge the amount of disciplined learning that is going on in someone else's brain.  It's hard for me to know when and what my students are actually retaining from class.  I think the first goal towards mindfulness in my professional life rests on that--considering my job from the student perspective more carefully. 

I'm excited to try and bring a greater sense of peace and thoughtfulness to my career. I'm especially excited to start.....on Monday.  Happy weekend!