i'm not dead!

(although i did have a crazy experience on the freeway recently... and i suppose i'm lucky i'm not dead)...

anyway, i realize it must seem like i've abandoned my blog... but here's the deal - it's been nice and sunny outside, and i have a brand new house with all of this amazing yard space just waiting for me to dig up the grass, pick out the rocks, and plant something cool... so that's what i've been up to.

...well, that... and a whole lot more! here's what i've done since my last blog post!:

i've done spring break in Korea & Japan! I stayed with my friend Hee Sun in Seoul, S. Korea. We were there for several days (all of which I was recovering from the stupid cold Mike shared with me. I lost my voice the last 2 of those days... which SUCKED!)... but we saw a bunch of cool old fashioned Korean village areas, we went by the blue house (which is like their version of the white house - yes, their president lives there, and yes, it's blue). we saw temples, we had TONS of kimchi!

In Japan, we stayed with my friend Yuka. I learned enough Japanese to say hello, yes, thank you, and i almost mastered "good night" (which i've now forgotten)... pathetic, i know... but i'll get there. i fell in LOVE with Japan! We only spent 2 nights in Japan, but we made the most of it! We flew into Osaka, and then Yuka lives a bit outside of Kyoto (which is a short train ride away from Kyoto, in southern Japan). We spent a whole day exploring the Gion section of Kyoto - which is a very well preserved older area of Japan. You can see all sorts of coolness in that area. THE place for viewing the cherry blossoms is there, in an enormous & beautiful park, there are temples, a pagoda (which you can actually go inside and climb up 2 stories!), there's a really cool WW2 memorial (which is like a zillion times cooler than our stupid wall) - complete with a GINORMOUS budha statue, and a miniature monk statue for each Japanese soldier who passed away in the war. it's also the area where Maiko hang out - Maiko are Geisha in training, and they're a Kyoto-only thing. We were very lucky to get to see 3 of them! we had our picture taken with a very young one - she was SO tiny and cute! we took a photo of the other two, as well. All of them had photographers following them around, taking their picture around the Gion area.... and don't even get me started about Japanese food - it's all SO good!!! I didn't want to leave Japan... I kept wishing we had more time there. Of all of the countries I've ever been (and i've been to a decent number of countries), Japan was by far my favorite. i made Mike promise that we could go back again! (if you go, though - heads up - we had a lot of trouble getting our ATM cards to work there. I've NEVER had that problem anywhere else... and it was totally unexpected! It may just be Kyoto, but it was not very common for places to take a credit card, either. i would expect that shouldn't be a problem in Tokyo, but ya never know).

THEN i spent an all-expense paid weekend retreat at Ocean Shores through my union. it was a blast! it was a seminar trip for relatively new teachers, and we learned all sorts of cool stuff. i was already in love with my union before that - this just rejuvinated my love affair with my union. they're awesome! i told my rep to feel free to drag me down to Olympia or whatever else she would like for me to do, i'm happy to help. i owe them big time for everything they've done for me this year... plus i'm huge on advocating for myeslf (and teaching my students to do so).

Speaking of which, i had to hold an intervention in my first period class. i've had to deal with all sorts of things in there that i shouldn't HAVE to deal with.. but alas, drama aside, i took matters into my own hands, and made the students lay down the law for me. i made them come up with a list of rights and responsibilities, which i'm going to print out and make all of them sign... then when they violate them, i'm taking one of the millions of photocopies i'll have on hand and highlighting the thing they violated - and stapling it to the discipline form. i think they've realized i'm done putting up with any crap in there... because it's been a LOT calmer since i held the intervention.... which is NICE. i have 5 weeks left, and i just want to ride them out in peace without drama and nonsense.

then, lets see... my puppy was born 3 days ago, and i'm all excited about that! i'm anxiously waiting until it's ok to go up for a visit, and waiting anxiously to hear which i'm allowed to pick from. i'm on the waiting list (and have paid my deposit), but i don't yet know where on the waiting list my name is. (cross your fingers that one of the 2 fawn boys can come home with me).

we held our open house yesterday, and we had a great turn out! people just leisurely stopped by all afternoon/evening, which was perfect! A couple of our neighbors even stopped by! i saw my friend & Seattle-mom, Marj (we painted together at the UW) - i haven't seen her in ages, and we talked about how we need to get the UW painting gang together for another lunch... and my friend Heather from work stopped by! It was good for Mike to finally meet her. I talk about our two language teachers all of the time, and Mike gets them mixed up. He can't remember which one teaches what, and always thinks i'm talking about the other one. it's kind of funny. (i'm also hoping Heather's husband (a firefighter) will give Mike a lesson in fire safety).

we borrowed my sister's truck for a while, to help drive all of our TONS (literally) of yard waste to the dump. we took 2 truck loads today, and i got a bunch of stuff planted in my butterfly garden!... which, of course, is one of my favorite things to do these days. i love playing in the dirt... digging weeds out... putting pretty stuff in the ground... watching the miracle that happens every time a seed comes up. every time i bury one i'm SURE it'll never come up. how can that speck of dust turn into a robust, beautiful plant? then like magic, they all do! i get giddy every time a seedling pops up or a plant blooms. i realize it's all just a normal part of spring, but believing i'm doing something to actually help it along and shape it into a beautiful front yard just seems unreal! i love it!

...and now... i'm sharing popcorn with my oldest cat, who turned 5 on the 1st. that's right - my 5 year old weenie cat who won't eat anything but dry cat food LOVES popcorn. he begs for it, even! he'll come over, paw at me, and cock his head to the side, and give me this low meow until i give him a piece. then he plays with it for a few seconds before devouring it. fascinating, isn't it?