book club update

in the course of a couple hours, my sister's book club project is fully funded!!  of the seven people who donated, she only knows who four of them are...here is our email exchange when i checked back on her project and saw that it was complete:

me:
OHMYGOD YOUR PROJECT IS FULLY FUNDED - WHO THE HELL ARE THESE NEW DONORS?  How did they find you - can you do a search on donorschoose for projects that would interest you? Or do you know these people??


I just got REALLY EXCITED for you!  Like, why aren't you online so we can talk about this?? Ahhhh!!!


Love!
Claire

her:
Um, I have no idea who these people are. But they gave A LOT of money...I needed like $200 and then all at once it was funded...Someone is from NJ...and someone is totally anonymous! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE???? I am so excited and touched and confused...they don't know me but they gave me money!


Okay, let me know if you figure anything else out about my mystery friends...


I am PUMPED!!!!!!!



(aww - she got all her books!  also: we like exclamation points and all caps when we are excited.  we are sisters - what can i say.)

if you are late to the game and like the idea of donorschoose.org and want to help out a teacher who you don't know (since you can't help becky any more), i'm sure they will be just as thankful as becky was to get a donation from someone who just wants to do a good thing.  go to http://www.donorschoose.org/, click on "projects" in the upper righthand corner, and find one that speaks to you!

a cool study

REALLY interesting article about the importance of teachers in elementary school...again, i have no idea if the cause and effect is as straightforward as the graph indicates (scroll down and click "graphic" on the lefthand side), and it's been a while since i had a math class, but that looks like a pretty startling correlation to me.  my favorite line:

"The economists don’t pretend to know the exact causes. But it’s not hard to come up with plausible guesses. Good early education can impart skills that last a lifetime — patience, discipline, manners, perseverance."


bottom line: the article is definitely worth the 5 minutes it takes to read.

book club

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."
--Anna Quindlen, author
(anna quindlen: are you inside my head?  and inside nora's head?)


so i'm on facebook the other day, reading through my friends' status updates, and one came up for my sister, becky, that was a picture of her classroom and the tag line "book clubs make better readers!"  so i clicked the link, was taken here (click "more" to read the whole proposal), and when i stopped being teary-eyed about how sweet this idea is, i donated a little money.  (i was also like, "wait, why am i finding out about this via facebook?" and i think her desire not to pressure anyone into giving by emailing them added to my desire to help out her class.)  i visited becky's class in october and i know what a special place it is.  i also have a very vivid memory of reading when i was in 4th grade: my 4th grade teacher gifted teacher assigned us my brother sam is dead to read, which was the first book i'd ever read that contained the word "damn" and i couldn't believe we were allowed to read it.  i really liked that book, and my friend joe and i both read ahead even though we were NOT SUPPOSED TO READ AHEAD because we wanted to know what would happen.  looking back, perhaps it isn't a coincidence that i remember this book (historical fiction) so fondly and then grew up to be a history teacher.

but anyway: i hope becky's kiddos are making memories like that, too, and if you want to make a little donation, i'm sure she and her kids would be thankful.

MIA

i've been a little MIA recently - apologies!  those of you who have worked at a summer camp before will understand...some days are easy breezy and some are so hectic that when you get some free time you (a) sleep, (b) spend it all with your friends, or (c) can't put together a coherent thought that would be worth blogging about.  that has been me recently, and it probably won't get any better anytime soon.  the kids leave on saturday (!) and then we spend two days packing up before the admin staff leaves on monday (!!).  i really really can't believe that my time in oxford is coming to a close.  it feels like it went by so much faster than last summer (which we've taken to calling "swine '09") and i'm really sad that i won't be around this group of people any more after monday.  we had so many returning staff that it was easy to fall into those friendships again and in some ways it feels like i've been here forever.

enough of that, though.

your procrastination of the day: the killers' "mr. brightside" performed by tommy reilly, who won a british show much like american idol last year.  we were talking about music a couple days ago and a friend of mine showed me this link.  on the first listen, i really liked it.  on the third, i was in love.

imports

one of the best parts about working in our office is the ability to buy fruits, crisps, biscuits (cookies), and other random snacks - and have the program reimburse you.  we all snack on it while we're in the office - some days, like today, you work an 8 hour shift, and that is a lot of sitting around and waiting for things to happen.  strike that: sitting around, snacking, and waiting for things to happen.  i was struck recently, while buying fruit, of where it was grown.  in the US, most fruit we eat is grown in the US or in central or south america.  obviously that isn't true when you're buying fruit in the UK, but i didn't exactly realize that before i sat down to think about it.  here is my most recent fruit purchase:

clementines and apples from south africa
pears from holland
grapes from morocco

(just like in the US, all fruit packages here are labeled with the country of origin.)

somehow grapes from morocco seem so much more exotic than grapes from central america.  all a matter of perspective, i guess...

to remember

“Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
—Howard Thurman

[from here - they send me a quotation a day...some lame, some wonderful.  this falls in the "wonderful" category.]

my love of ken and trivia

you know ken jennings?  the guy who won 74 games of jeopardy! in a row?  i love him.  when he was on his run of 74 wins in a row, i was working at TIP (nerdy summer camp that i worked at for six summers from 2001 to 2006), and jeopardy! was on at a time during the day when we had to run activities for students.  ann marie had a tv/vcr combo in her room, and she would tape jeopardy! every day and then we would play the tape after the kids went to bed.  and ken just kept on winning and we kept on cheering him on.  (it was awesome.)  so i have this great memory of watching the show with some really good friends at a summer program that was one of the best experiences of my life (for the following reasons: 1 - it made me realize i wanted to be a teacher, which i now am and can't imagine a more perfect job for me; 2 - i made some of my best friends while working there; 3 - it began my love affair with night swimming, mix-your-own-six-packs, the rough ridge overlook on the blue ridge parkway, our daily bread, staying up obscenely late, and boone, north carolina.  what am i forgetting?).

i read ken's book and occasionally read his blog, and i'm telling you all this (get to the point already, claire!) because he's got a great trivia quiz that he sends out to your email account every tuesday if you subscribe on his blog (lefthand side, scroll down).  so: trivia lovers: subscribe!

crisps vs. chips

my sister loves potatoes - mashed potatoes, french fries, potato chips.  i mean, everyone loves these foods, but becky LOVES these foods.  we talked on the phone yesterday and i gave her a quiz - what does this british word mean in american english?  in addition to words like "loo" and "courgette" and "ta," i found myself giving her all the words for various potato products, totally on accident.  after "crisps" and "chips" and "mash," she said to me, "ooh these are very important words for me to know" and we both laughed a lot.  one thing i have really enjoyed in england is going into the grocery store and just walking the aisles.  in a nice grocery store like marks and spencer i can spend a lot of time looking at sandwiches and cheeses and desserts and crisps and noticing the differences in the food between british grocery stores and american grocery stores and trying something new.  getting sandwiches and crisps from a grocery store is definitely something we will be doing when my family comes over in lessthantwoweeks.  is this dorky?  probably.  but i've already looked to see if there is an m&s in edinburgh, and there is.  and i'm excited.

my day off, week 3: torrential downpour version

this picture doesn't do it justice.

why yes, i will be going to the movies this afternoon.  hmm...inception or toy story 3?

red vs. blue

this article really resonated with me.  you should read it.

#1: i was (am?) a middle class rural white kid, and there weren't a lot of other people that fell into that category at duke when i was there.  that part of me identifies with what he's talking about in this article...and if most rural middle class whites are conservatives (which they probably are), they aren't highly represented at selective universities.

#2: this is what my conservative students tell me that they don't like about affirmative action programs in higher education - that it isn't a meritocracy and that they are the ones being excluded.  i'm very okay with higher education not being 100% a meritocracy, but then again, i think i did get into college based on merit, and maybe i'd think otherwise if i hadn't gotten accepted to my top choices and i wanted someone or something to blame.

#3: in my gut, this article makes a lot of sense to me and i like things that make sense.  particularly this line:
"Among the highly educated and liberal, meanwhile, the lack of contact with rural, working-class America generates all sorts of wild anxieties about what’s being plotted in the heartland."
ohmygod yes.  sometimes i find myself defending where i grew up and what it was like - giving the "inside scoop" on living in red america - to blue america.  i get what he's saying.  i agree with what he's saying.

#4: but sometimes i'm a little afraid of the politics of red america.  can you love red america AND be afraid of red america?  and this author?  um, i think he might be a conservative.  AND HE MAKES SENSE.  yikes.  in fact, i've found that i regularly like what he writes for the new york times - he has such a weird, comic-book-guy-from-the-simpsons meets jazzy/really-bad-professional-photographer, and i notice when i'm reading an article written by him.  so rock on ross douthat.  even if you did write a book about how the republicans can rise again.

secret crush of the week:

sam kass, white house assistant chef.

swoon.

and yes, i discovered him because he was a guest judge on top chef.  on rainy nights i've been watching an occasional episode of top chef that i've downloaded from itunes. 

[picture from here - with a little blurb about him if you want to read more.  apparently i am slow on the uptake and people have been crushing on him since last year.  note: this does not make him any less cute.]

another pub added to my list of favorites: the perch

for my day off last week i decided to go on a long walk and get far far away from tourists (it was a saturday, and oxford is full of tourists on saturdays - italian, spanish, japanese, and americans, mostly - i think tour buses come here for a day trip from london) and far far away from our students.  i had a really delicious sushi lunch with some coworkers and then set off with my ipod and a book.  i decided to walk through port meadow, public grazing space in oxford, to a pub called the perch (click "history" to learn more about port meadow, if you're interested).  the pub is accessible by car and road, as well, but it seems much more exciting when it just appears down a path in the middle of port meadow.  so that's the way i got there.  i'd seen the signs before, but never ventured down the path and to the pub.  here's port meadow, or rather, some clouds above port meadow:

40 minutes or so after i set off from our college in oxford, a sign indicates the way to the pub - at this point you are literally in the middle of pasture land, walking along a dirt path next to the thames river:

the path is gorgeous - covered in green:

and you emerge and can see the back garden of the perch, which was SPECTACULAR.

you go inside to the bar and order a drink - i had a ginger beer, which was so gingery it made my lips tingle - and then find a seat inside or at one of the dozen or so picnic tables scattered about the back garden.  there is a playground for kids and a stand where you can order barbecue.  i just sat in this garden in what felt like the middle of nowhere, and had a drink and wrote postcards and read my book and was totally at peace.  one of those moments where you think, "i'm pretty happy to be a human being on this planet right now."  (do you guys have those moments?  i definitely have those moments.)

my picnic table was under a huge willow-like tree.  if i was 5, this tree would have been the coolest thing i'd ever seen.  at 27, it was close.  the branches hung down to the ground all the way around the circumference, so under the tree you felt like you were in your own little universe.

after an hour and a half or so of reading and people-watching and writing, i set off through port meadow to the city of oxford again.  i kept thinking: i wish someone from home were here so i could share this with them.  pubs here are already such a different experience than going to a bar in the US (mom/dad/beck: get excited), and this is a really special pub.  (trivia!  what is "pub" short for?)  so, even though it's cliche to say: wish you readers were here!

you can try to hold the breeze

the avett brothers, "die  die die"

this is my current i'm-in-a-bad-mood-and-need-to-get-over-it song.

also my walking-around-england-with-my-ipod-on-and-people-watching song.

i'm not in love with this video - i don't really get it -  but i hope you enjoy the music.  i absolutely do.  especially the last minute of the song.  can't you just picture me walking through the busy streets of oxford and getting away from it all with this in my ears?  because that's what i do...


(thanks to colin, who has really similar musical taste to me and who introduced me to the avett brothers and burned me this CD.  colin: you continue to rock.)

typical day

i don't know if i've told you guys what a typical day looks like for me while i'm working in england, so here's an attempt, if you're interested:

10am - wake up, lie around, check emails, take a shower, tidy up my room, etc.  [i'm on a sort of three day rotation: one day i'll be on duty from 8am-1pm, the next from 1pm-6pm, the next from 7pm-midnight, and then it repeats...so most days i can sleep in.]

12 noon - check in with the office to make sure there are no crises for the day, walk around town running errands and picking up lunch for myself (usually a sandwich and crisps [chips] and a bottle of water...sometimes a savory veggie pie...sometimes falafel and couscous and hummus), walk back to the office.  eat lunch with random coworkers/friends sitting around the office.

1pm-6pm (let's pretend that's my shift today) - on duty in the office.  answer phones, respond to emails, respond to random inquiries from kids who come in (i've locked myself out of my room/do i have any mail/where is the lecture this afternoon/etc.), deal with issues that faculty members have (can i use the copier/where do i find this form/can you get a message to this student/etc.), read a magazine during slow times, deal with any crisis that comes up.  i'm always on duty with a PA (program assistant - an oxford undergraduate who works for the program), so i have someone to hang out with.

6pm - eat dinner in the dining hall

7pm - do nothing and LOVE IT

9pm or so - get (or send) a text message related to having a drink at our staff's favorite pub, the three goats heads.  check in with the office on the way out to make sure there isn't a crisis that's come up.  go to the pub.  sit in the same booth we always sit in (if it's free).  have a pint or two with my coworkers/friends (they're really the same thing).  laugh a lot.

11pm or so - walk back to college.  go to bed.

moral of the story: it's not a bad job at all.

yep: definitely don't have it memorized

on thursday i met my sister's friend sarah for a drink.

she's in oxford working for a summer program for american high school students and i'm in oxford working for a summer program for american high school students.  however: not the same program.  i've met sarah several times when visiting my sister in new york, and we're definitely friendly.  sarah emailed to ask if i wanted to get a drink and share stories of how dumb kids can be, and of course i agreed.  we met at the old tom, a pub near pembroke, had a drink in the back garden, and talked for two hours.  very fun, and we're planning to do it again soon.  at some point during our conversation i got a phone call, which when you have my job you can't ignore.  who has my phone number?  only people i work with.  and i have to answer when they call.  so i talked for a couple minutes, apologized to sarah, and before putting my phone away, said, "it's so funny - only people i work with have my phone number, which i don't even have memorized - the assistant director of the program wrote my phone number on my phone and taped it on the back - she did that for all 5 americans who are working as deans."  i flipped over my phone and showed her.  AND SHE PULLED HER PHONE OUT AND SHOWED ME EXACTLY THE SAME THING.  two separate programs doing pretty much the same thing have both provided their american staff members with phones and just know that they aren't going to memorize their phone numbers.

it was hilarious.  i said, "ohmygod we have to take a picture!," as she was pulling her camera out to do exactly that.

(i've blurred out the last two digits of each of our phone numbers so you can't stalk us.  fun fact: british phone numbers are read as 07717-323-3xx [all phone numbers appear to start with a zero], instead of 1-234-567-8910.  only one of the many differences between our two countries...)

i heart kittens

anderson sent me this link, showing how well he knows me - i could not stop saying, out loud in my room by myself, "OHMYGOD THESE KITTENS ARE SO CUTE."  and i love that they seem to be providing joy and softness to people in hard circumstances...

the meteorologists really have no clue

earlier today i looked at the BBC's weather report for the weekend in oxford, and this is a direct quote from their website:

Saturday to Monday


Dry and bright on Saturday with only a few showers around and some sun. It may remain fine on Sunday and Monday, possibly getting warmer too.


favorite bits:
"ONLY a few showers" - like we should be happy that it is only a few
"it MAY remain fine on Sunday and Monday" - translation: "we really have no clue, but let's give sunday and monday the benefit of the doubt"
"possibly getting warmer too" - oh, okay - so it will be like this OR WARMER.  so specific - thank you, BBC.

nestled

water lilies from the man-made lake at blenheim palace.  and there was a swan swimming around near them.  i mean, seriously?  if you wrote this landscape into a book it would seem cliche, but i saw it with my own two eyes.  and it was just as picturesque as you'd imagine...

true story

ring, ring.
ring, ring.
"hello, this is bob barnes*..."
"hi, bob, this is claire [last name] from the oxford tradition summer program that annie is attending?"
"yes..."
"first, everything is FINE.  annie's sitting with me right here.  but...she got hit by a bus today."
"WHAT?"
"um, yes.  she was crossing the street and she looked left instead of right and she got hit by a bus."
"OHMYGOD!"
"she's okay.  i wasn't there when it happened, but a couple students came running back to the office to tell us.  by the time we got there the police were there and some EMTs.  they checked her out in the ambulance, and she's totally fine - just scratched up her leg and her arm.  we went down to the police station so she could fill out some paperwork, and now she's back here at the office with us.  she's right here - do you want to talk to her?"
"YES.  OHMYGOD."

this was my tuesday afternoon.  visions of a dead child in the street, replaced by a sobbing child with some scrapes and bruises, but nothing bad.  so scary for 10 minutes, and then so relieved.  ben, one of our program assistants, SPRINTING up the street to find her...when i arrived at the scene (and it really was a scene...four policemen, an ambulance, the bus driver being interviewed) he was emerging from the ambulance to say, wide eyed, "she's fine.  everything's okay."  some really really nice policemen who drove us back to the station in their car and made her a cup of tea while she filled out the report.  [note: station was not terribly exciting.  i had visions of meeting inspector lewis, but of course he wasn't there.]  back to the office to let her parents know.  me: "should we call your mom or dad?"  annie: "DEFINITELY my dad.  my mom would freak out."  me: "do you want me to call and talk to him first?"  annie, through tears (she cried for two hours straight): "YES PLEASE."


*names changed to protect the silly american involved.  AND I WAS NOT THAT SILLY AMERICAN.  i know you're impressed.

not so secret anymore

a signpost from my walk around the blenheim palace grounds:

this made me giggle.  "let me help you find the secret garden!  it's over here!"

so sweet

i discovered this clip through heather armstrong's blog, dooce, which i read religiously.  she writes:

Just in case you are one of the only people in the world who hasn't seen this, I just had to post it here because I cannot stop watching it.
Here is Iker Casillas, the goalkeeper and captain for Spain's World Cup team. That's his girlfriend Sara Carbonero, a reporter for Spanish network Telecinco. Spain had just won the Cup, beating the Netherlands one to nothing. Now, I was rooting for Holland, and was sick at my stomach when the game was over. Until I saw this.
The world needs so much more of this.


and ohmygod it's totally worth watching.  so you should.

gavin and stacey

i am newly in love with the BBC show gavin and stacey.  i discovered it through netflix before i left for england, and it's one of those shows where you laugh because there are ridiculous parts (the deadpan/awkward british humor of the office) and you make "aww" noises because there are really sweet parts.  the first season was only six 30-minute-long episodes, so of course i watched them in two days and am now really sad that season two isn't available on netflix (yet).  gavin and stacey, i love you!

"run," by stephen fretwell is the theme song for the show and it definitely deserves a listen.  i clearly purchased it immediately after watching the first episode and i've been listening to it frequently ever since.

i may have an obsession with taking photos of roses

these were the only three roses on a huge rosebush climbing up one of the walls of pembroke college.  the leaves are so green and the roses are so white and they seem adventurous, climbing up this old wall...

zooborns

these little chicks are so cute in their booties!  and ridiculous.  definitely ridiculous.

and yes, i regularly read a blog about new baby animals that have been born in zoos.  once you go to this website, you will understand why.  CUTENESS EVERYWHERE.

paul the psychic octopus

okay, i do see some problems with this...paul the octopus may have picked spain because it was the closer box to him and he's hungry for a yummy mussel...but this is REAL NEWS on this continent, and which team paul would pick to win the world cup final has been highly anticipated.  now we just have to wait and see if he picked correctly...

(and i love that you can hear the cameras clicking away as paul makes his choice.  paul is a very famous psychic octopus.  perhaps the most famous psychic octopus ever!)

blenheim palace

friday was my first day off (yay hooray!) and i was very adventurous.  well, first i slept in until 11am, took a shower, and wrote some emails in my pajamas.  THEN i was adventurous.  i took a bus to blenheim palace, in a town called woodstock that is about 30 minutes from oxford.  blenheim palace is the largest private home in england, built in 1704 for the first duke of marlborough.  the 11th duke of marlborough lives there now, but much of the palace is available for visitors to tour, which i did.  winston churchill was born here - his mother went into labor while at a party hosted by the duke - and there is a lot of churchill memorabilia here, in addition to the bed where he was born.  interesting stuff.

the front of the house...but maybe "house" isn't exactly the right word... :

and the back:

the water terraces in the garden behind the house:

the palace is on 2,000 acres of land, and honestly, the grounds were much more interesting and fun to walk around than the palace was.  lots of gardens, a dammed river that has created a lake, and gorgeous views.  it didn't hurt that it was a BEAUTIFUL day - hot (relatively speaking) but breezy.  there are paths around the grounds that you can walk on, and i walked probably 3 miles around the grounds.  you know about my freakish love of roses, so the rose garden was one of my favorite spots:

a lot of it was VERY reminiscent of the wind in the willows - or at least what the scenes from that book look like in my mind:

after three hours or so of strolling around and discovering what was around the next corner and taking a million pictures and sweating a fair amount, i caught the bus back to oxford.  people, the british are PROMPT.  the bus schedule said that there was a bus from woodstock to oxford that left at 5:35 AND THE BUS ARRIVED AT EXACTLY 5:35.  it was ridiculous.  on my list of things the british do better than americans: make high-quality cheap sandwiches, drink beer at lunch time, queue up, and have public transportation run on time.

perfectly pink

if you can't brag on your own blog, where can you brag?

i teach AP government and politics.  i love it.  i love how relevant it is to the students - it helps so much in getting them interested and excited about the course.  i love teaching seniors, who you have to shelter very little from the realities of our government and our world.  i love teaching at my school, where i have almost total control over how i teach the material.  i have bright, interested, engaged, well behaved, kind, mature, funny students.  i have a great job.  (i can say this now, a full month into summer.  i might not have said this six weeks ago...ahh, what time can do...)

all of my students are required to take the AP exam at the end of the year.  it's a national exam taken by 220,000 students every year...i teach based on concepts set forth by the exam's creators (the college board), though with a lot of liberty to add projects and movies and current events in addition to it.  the exam is scored from a 0 to a 5, 5 being the highest possible score - supposedly equivalent to an A in an introductory government course in college.

the first year i taught the AP course, i had 2 students who made 5s on the exam and 8 students who made 4s.  and i was elated.  i knew the kids were bright and should do well on the exam, and i would have felt like i'd failed them in my teaching if i didn't have at least one who scored a 5.

the second year i taught the course, i had 4 students who made 5s and 12 students who made 4s.  i was even more excited - progress!  i was getting better at teaching the course or motivating my students or i had brighter students or something.  i know the students take the test - and i can't be entirely responsible for how well they do - but i do take seriously my responsibility to prepare them well.

this year, the third year i taught the course, i was feeling good.  i felt like i was teaching the material more effectively than in the past, i had some really bright kids (though not necessarily that much brighter than in years past), but then i went to florida and graded the AP exam and i started to sweat.  i could envision what my students would write for each essay question and i found out that some things i KNEW they would write weren't specific enough to get credit.  uh oh.  maybe they wouldn't do as well as i'd originally thought.

today i got my exam scores.  and 19 of my students got 5s and 14 got 4s.  i am losing my mind i'm so excited.  19!  19!  2 to 4 to 19!  i am so so proud of them, how seriously they took the course, how hard they studied, how diligent they were.  and proud of myself for the improvement i've seen in my students.  all year i measure my success as a teacher by what i've done to make them more knowledgeable and more interested and more excited about politics, for helping them grow into responsible and respectful americans.  today i measure my success by how well they've done on this exam.  so i'm going to revel in their 5s for a minute.  we'll be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

pembroke college

i introduced some of you (who read my blog last summer) to pembroke college, where i'm staying while i'm in oxford.  i took a couple pictures today around college so you can all see (or be reminded) of where i'm staying.

basic primer: oxford university is made up of 39 (i think) individual colleges.  students apply and enroll in a specific college, where they live, take their meals, and usually take their classes.  their degree is an oxford university degree, though - they take final examinations that are uniform throughout all colleges, so a history degree from one college should mean the same thing as a history degree from another college.

our program is housed in two colleges, pembroke and oriel, and i live and work in pembroke.  now that i'm in my second summer working here, i'm much less a deer in the headlights, and i'm getting to know more of the college staff (the porters [who provide security, control the keys, are the general caretakers of the college 24/7], conference services, the maintenance staff, the bursar, the chef and dining hall staff).  in short: i'm immersing myself more in the college that i did last summer.

pembroke is beautiful, simple as that.  i love living here.  the grounds are well maintained and the college is on the smaller side, so it feels really cozy.  here are a couple photos - more to follow, of course.

pembroke has three quads - the old quad (adjacent to the main gate), which leads to the chapel quad (below - boo for yucky gray skies) through an archway, which leads to the north quad through an archway.

my room is great this year - it is en suite (has a bathroom and mini shower), and looks out on chapel quad.  if you look at the middle of the above picture, you'll see my room!  here's a closer picture:

the doorway on the left leads into our stairway, and my room is the first room on the right, on the ground floor.  those are my two windows.  it's been a bit loud in the mornings, with the noise of kids walking around or sitting on the bench that is literally right outside my window, but i can't really complain.  many of the rooms in the college overlook an alleyway that runs behind the college and is full (apparently) of angry drunk people in the wee hours of the morning.  i'll take talkative high school students any day.

i sleep with my windows open, and so far it's been the perfect temperature.  my little travel alarm clock has a thermometer on it, so i can tell you exactly the temperature in my room:

tip of the day: want to know how to convert celsuis to fahrenheit but can't remember that weird formula involving 5/9ths or 9/5ths?  one of the americans that i work with gave me this tip last year, and it has helped me a lot:
20 degrees C = 68 degrees F and
30 degrees C = 86 degrees F.
(and if a child has a temperature of 40 degrees C you should take him to the hospital.  i learned that tip last year.)
68/86 is easy for me to remember.

so from 68 degree oxford (i am wearing a sweater and jeans right now) to 95 degree atlanta and 97 degree north wilkesboro (yikes, guys - hope you're staying cool!), goodbye for now...

current obsession

new love: this song - chelsea hotel, covered by dan bern (written by leonard cohen).  remember that awesome mixed CD that colin made me that i waited until i got to england to listen to?  this is track #8, and i've been listening to it on repeat.  this is the first i've heard of dan bern, and i love his voice...feels very bob dylan-esque to me.  and the song just FEELS good.  when i listen to music, i'm not listening to the lyrics, or i'm not trying to make sense of the lyrics - i'm listening to how it sounds.  this song could be sung in german and i'd like it just as much.

dog-cat-rat

ohmygod, has dog-cat-rat moved from santa barbara to san francisco, or is it possible that there are two dog-cat-rats??

when we were in santa barbara two years ago for my cousin emily's wedding, my family was walking around the downtown area and there was a dog.  with a cat on its back.  with a rat on its back.  apparently this is legend in the santa barbara area, because when we met up with emily, i said, "you'll never believe what we just saw!  there was this possibly homeless guy - " and before i could say anything else, emily said, "dog-cat-rat?"

family: can you identify this dog-cat-rat as the one we saw?

patriotism

"patriotism is not enough.  i must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone."
--edith cavell

this is a statue that i've seen several times in london - it's near trafalgar square, where i've spent a fair amount of time - and i've been struck by the quotation every time i've walked past.  you can read more about her here, if you're interested.  i think she means that you should love your country, and sacrifice for it, and stand up for it, but patriotism to one country doesn't mean that others fall below it.  you can love something without hating its adversaries.  she makes a lot of sense to me.

and that's your deep moment of the day.

[photo from here.]

appreciation

this is a cake.  the pembroke college dining hall staff made it for our staff because they thought we'd appreciate it, and they delivered it to our office part way through today.  no one asked them to.  no one even asked them to recognize that today is american independence day, but they did, and i was really touched by that gesture, that thoughtfulness.  (and i love that it says happy 4th july, not happy 4th OF july, because that's not a phrase the british would use.)  it's weird being away from the us on the day of the year that is most patriotic, the most american.  this little act of kindness helped me celebrate the day - was really the only way i was able to celebrate the day - and the cake was DELICIOUS.

today was arrivals day, and all 398 students arrived safely at oxford.  a lot of hard work went into today, and there are a lot of tired staff members to show for it.  our staff KICKS ASS this year - fun to work with, upbeat, willing to work hard, excited to meet the kids.  i'm tired, but it was a good day.

happy 4th of july, everyone!

not glamorous

readers, you deserve the whole story.  whilst (excellent british word) i love telling you about the best parts of my day, i should tell you about the boring parts, too.  least glamorous part of traveling: washing your underwear in the sink.

positive side: it's this underwear, and made to be washed in the sink.

(is this too much information?  feel free to tell me if it's too much information, but i am IN LOVE with this underwear and i've probably talked to you about it already, to be honest.)

so that's what i did tonight.  came home, remembered i had no clean underwear for tomorrow and hadn't done laundry, and washed my four pairs of exofficio underpants in the sink.  it's made to dry quickly, so in the morning i'll be ready to go...

sunrise, sunset

i can't believe i'm saying this, and i'm knocking on wood as i speak, but i haven't been rained on yet in england.  blue skies, beautiful white clouds, 75 degree weather - that's what it's been like here every day since i've arrived.  the weathermen are saying that it will be a "barbecue summer," a phrase i'm hearing repeated a lot by locals, which i guess means a summer with lots of weather suitable for sitting outside and barbecuing.  i love this phrase, though, because when i hear it i know exactly what it means.  i picture long evenings and late sunsets and meals eaten outdoors and no care for what time the clock says.

on that note: sunset time in oxford tonight: 9:27pm.  sunrise tomorrow?  4:50am.*  and they are not kidding...my first night in oxford i woke up at 4:30 BECAUSE IT WAS STARTING TO GET LIGHT OUTSIDE.  it is ridiculous.

*by comparison: atlanta: sunset at 8:52pm, sunrise at 6:30am.


this is an amazing country in the summer - so much daylight without too much heat.  i know this about myself: that i'm a person who thrives on sunlight and on being outdoors.  the year i lived in new hampshire: (a) it got dark at 4:30pm in the winter, and (b) my apartment had NO WINDOWS - only skylights.  not good for my energy level or desire to be awake or my general happiness.  i mean, i was fine...but from 5pm onwards i had to fight the urge to get in bed and stay until morning.  sunlight and good weather can make my day, can literally brighten me up.  and we're having some mighty good weather.  it's the kind of weather where you walk outside, look up, and wonder if all of this - the flowers, the clouds, the way the sun feels on my skin - could be unplanned, could be on accident.

funny british things, part 1

1. i had kind of forgotten about man-pris (my name for capris worn by men), but england is full of them and they continue to crack me up.  i mean, women wear capris.  and men in america wear shorts that are shorter than man-pris and pants that are longer than man-pris, so what's so funny about them?  I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, OKAY?  maybe it's that man-pris kind of taper in to follow the leg like pants do, but are shorter than pants.  they are EVERYWHERE.  the best link i could find to show you a picture was this one, and these men are models, which makes it look even sillier.  but you get the picture.

2. before the us-ghana soccer game, the sports channel here was doing a little pre-game show with interviews and commentary, and at the bottom of the screen they ran headlines...so-and-so will be back for germany for the next game, the british team is training in this location, etc.  and this was an actual headline, deemed worthy of being put on the screen: "on sunday, england will wear all red for the second game in a row."  this was its own headline!  and then i found this link: http://www.thefa.com/England/News/match-centre/2010/SloveniavEngland/MatchPreviews/RedKit  i have now learned that this wearing all red thing is DIFFERENT and LUCKY and IMPORTANT and obviously worthy of its own headline.  but can you imagine this kind of headline, detailing information about what jersey will be worn, on ESPN?  i cannot.

3. last summer i blogged about one of my favorite places to eat in oxford, but we ate there recently and i was reminded of how much i love it.  it's a pub called the old tom and i love it for two reasons: one, it if you walk all the way through the pub and out the back door, there is an outdoor seating area that fits about 20 people.  it is walled in, with thick ivy covering every wall, and you feel like you're on your own little island.  so cozy, and so peaceful.  two, it serves a full british pub menu plus a full thai menu.  yes, A PUB THAT SERVES THAI FOOD.  and it is hands down some of the best green curry i've ever had - coconut broth, just spicy enough, with lots of vegetables and meat or tofu.  IT IS A PUB WITH TOFU. let's just have a moment for that.  a nice metaphor for england maybe...tradition with a dash of modernity mixed in.

this kid wants to be a single lady

thanks to joey for stumbling upon (and passing on) this link - the first 10 seconds aren't that funny, but it absolutely gets better from there.  LOVE IT.

willis v. watson

really interesting article on a new computer that can beat people at jeopardy!  willis: watch out.*

(i would like to urge everyone to click the link in the article to play a fake game against watson the computer.  watson was pretty impressive, i thought.)


*for those with short memories, willis qualified and tried out for jeopardy in person!  any time between now and 18 months from now he could (emphasis on could) be called to appear on the show.  OMG.

oxford, take 2

i'm in oxford!  i got in on sunday, and i can't help comparing last year's arrival to this year's. 

last year: i take the train from bath, where i'd been sightseeing, and then proceed to take the longest possible route, on foot with all my belongings, from the train station to pembroke college, where i'm staying.  i feel really lost the whole time, because, in fact, i sort of am.

this year: i take the bus from london, a bus i have taken before, and i know that it has a stop literally across the street from pembroke.  i get off at that stop, cross the street, and i'm here.  i feel very proud of my navigation abilities.

last year: by accident i meet a coworker-to-be at the college gate at the very moment i arrive.  he takes me on a little walking tour of town and makes sure i get to our first meeting on time.

this year: i don't meet anyone at the gate, but i do recognize the porter on duty and we chat a bit.  i've prearranged to meet two friends/coworkers from last year to find a pub and watch the england v. germany soccer game.  one of those friends is the stranger from last year who took me around on the first day.  we meet at our predesignated time, hug, tell stories, and watch soccer until our first meeting.  [side story: england loses.  the pub is NOT AMUSED.  every time england gets the ball, people from all over the pub start yelling "come on england!" - that EXACT PHRASE - and every time their star rooney gets the ball they yell "come on rooney!"  every person who cheers is saying one of these two phrases.  this is apparently how you cheer for football here.  when england scored "the goal that wasn't" YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THIS PUB.  to say they were angry that that goal didn't count IS THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR.]

last year: at our first meeting i am introduced to a bunch of people whose names i promptly forget. i feel overwhelmed, but excited.

this year: at our first meeting i know two thirds of the people there, and there is all sorts of hugging and laughing and "i didn't know you were coming back!" and catching up, and it is the most amazing feeling to be in a city 4,000 miles away from home and to know so many people so well.  i am overwhelmed by it in a way i didn't expect to be.


all of this is to say: life is very good right now.

london

i had a wonderful day in this beautiful city, BUT I FORGOT MY CAMERA.  and then of course there were so many things i wanted to take pictures of.  damn it.  highlights: perfect weather.  a circle of little girls and their preschool teachers, in st. james park, DRESSED UP AS DISNEY PRINCESSES.  so cute.  billy elliot was incredible.  i watched the us v. ghana game in the pub across the street from my hostel, the horse & carriage, and it did not end up as i wanted it to, DAMN IT.  now i'll have to cheer for england, but it won't be as exciting.

since i forgot my camera, you'll have to make do with this, which is beautiful:
http://scenes-from-my-hood.tumblr.com/post/735593176/thedailywhat-time-lapse-thing-of-the-day-alex

begin adventure

i have arrived in the uk safe and sound!

here was the scene at my gate at the atlanta airport: 40+ american high schoolers, all wearing red jackets, embarking on a chorale trip to europe. AND THEY WERE ON MY FLIGHT. in the airport they were doing all the things that high schoolers in big groups do - play big games of cards, laugh too loud, play volleyball with a balloon and then proceed to scream when the balloon pops. every person at that gate who wasn’t with the group was thinking one thing: SHIT. other than taking a million years to board, the kids actually appeared to sleep through the flight, so the potential catastrophe of laughing/talking/singing on the plane was avoided. whew. i sat next to a really nice british guy and his two sons and i slept off and on during the flight. when we landed in london i was exhausted, though, because sleeping in an upright position isn’t the best sleep. i mean, obviously. but i have persevered - i showered and went on a walk, bought a ticket to see the matinee of billy elliot tomorrow, visited van gogh and monet and degas in the national gallery, had a meal, and i’m now resting a bit before i go to the pub across the street to watch the football (look at me practicing my british english) match at 7:30pm my time / 2:30pm your time.

i’m reminded already of my biggest complaint about being a woman and traveling alone: i don’t feel very comfortable walking around after dark. and granted, it doesn’t get dark until pretty late here, but i found last year when i was traveling - and i continue to find - that i make my evening plans around locations that are close to my hostel. i might have gone to see billy elliot tonight, for example, but getting home at 9:30pm or so from a location a ways away makes me nervous, as it probably should. so matinee tomorrow and football watching tonight. YAY HOORAY FOR FOOTBALL WATCHING.

yogurt + planes

yesterday afternoon i went to the gym, watched world cup soccer, sweated a LOT, and then went to yoforia to get a cold treat (the plain yogurt with kiwi, strawberries, and mango on top.  IT IS SO GOOD IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL).  in the parking lot was a car with this painted on the window: "my sailor comes home in 3 days!"  i had a little "aww" moment for this woman (i have decided it is a woman based on the handwriting), wondered if it really was 3 days (how long had this been on her car?), ate my yogurt, and went home.

today i went to the gym, watched world cup soccer, sweated a LOT, and then went to yoforia again.  DON'T JUDGE ME.  i am leaving the country for seven weeks.  i can have yoforia two days in a row if i want to.  in the parking lot was the same car, with the same painting on the window, except today the "3" had been wiped off and replaced with a "2."  i have decided that this woman works at yoforia, and i love that she's keeping a countdown on her car until her loved one comes home.  for some reason i feel like i've just observed an intimate part of her life, though it's clearly a part she wants to make public.

hooray, random yoforia worker.  i hope the next two days fly by for you.


and speaking of flying!  i depart tonight at 10:55pm for london.  as soon as i get settled in at my hostel i will update you on my (hopefully-nondescript-because-i-will-have-slept-the-whole-time) flight.  goodbye for now, friends.  i will see you soon!

85 N

text message transcription:
[background: jenny was driving from atlanta to her hometown in north carolina.]

me: how's the drive going?
jenny: south carolina is just a boring obstacle blocking my way into north carolina.

THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL EVERY TIME I DRIVE HOME, TOO.

south carolina, i know you have some lovely parts (okay, one lovely part: charleston) and you give jon stewart a lot of material for his show, but most of the time you just stand in my way.

goal!

i pretty much can't believe that just we won that game and WON OUR GROUP!  oh the us deserved to win that game and i'm so happy that we did.  yay hooray!

(in true claire fashion, i spent a lot of time this morning talking to the tv.  and it worked!  now i need to work on lowering my blood pressure because it is currently VERY HIGH.)

surreal conversation with my sister

becky: we only have four and a half days of school left!  and one of those days is field day and another day is 5th grade graduation, so really we are almost there.
me: hooray!
becky: my class is singing a song at 5th grade graduation. [becky teaches 4th grade in harlem.]
me: fun!  what song?
becky: "empire state of mind." the alicia keys version - not the parts where jay-z raps.
me: ohmygod.
becky: i know.

note: at mulberry school, where i went to 4th grade, i'm pretty sure we sang "god bless the usa," by lee greenwood, during a school assembly.  i think this song comparison really epitomizes the larger difference between growing up in rural north carolina in the 1980s and growing up in new york city in the 2000s.

pining for 76 degrees

monday was the official first day of summer, and ohmygodiamsotiredoftheheatalready.

things i love about summer:
not working
sleeping late
spending time with friends
taking fun trips
the ability to pick up and move across the ocean for seven weeks
drinking beer on patios
heavy rain showers that cool off the day
flip flops
people get married
[note: many things that i love about summer are made possible because of my awesome job.  so here's a toast to my job, too.]

things i hate about summer:
HOW HOT IT IS
getting sunburned sometimes
sweat dripping down my back if i'm outside for any length of time
friends not always being around because they are taking fun trips themselves

but back to the fact that it is officially summer now.  it was 94 degrees in atlanta on monday, the summer solstice.  I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS.  i am deliriously happy about going to a country where it will be significantly cooler than that.  for example, on monday in oxford, england, the high was 76 degrees and the low was 52.  i know that many people like the summer heat.  i am not one of these people.

so here's a toast to england - to wearing jeans and sweaters at night, to not sweating as soon as i walk outside, to sleeping with the window open.  and, again, a toast to my job for giving me the opportunity to do this.

as much as i'm looking forward to being in england, though, i feel a little sick when i think about not seeing my friends all summer.  i said goodbye to one of my best friends on monday - she's left town for a week and won't be back before i leave for england.  AND THEN SHE IS MOVING TO IDAHO.  this is not cool.  she and i work together and i'm used to seeing her several times a day and then at night or on the weekends.  so with the excitement of going to england i'm also feeling the sadness of leaving my friends - some for only seven weeks, some for much longer.  i'm trying not to think about it because it just makes me sad.

things end.  things begin.  but transitions can be hard.  exciting, but hard.

love to the max

the quickest way into my heart?  a good mixed CD.  and colin made me one!  based on the song list i am SO EXCITED to listen to it, but i am going to wait until i get on the plane for england.  it's like i got a toy in the mail a week before christmas, unwrapped it, and then put it on counter and waited until christmas day to play with it.  oh, it's going to sound so good on thursday.  i can't wait.

but let's first have a moment for how well colin knows me.  she titled the CD:

WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING that my travel blog last year was titled "from claire to here."  oh, she knows me so well.  could not be more excited about this CD.  really couldn't.

and because colin is a 4th year (yay!) medical student, this is the CD case that she had lying around her house and put my CD in before sending it:

HA.  i am so entertained.  the empty CD cases that i have lying around my house are titled things like "teaching with primary source documents."  you can decide which is dorkier.

daily schedule

i know exactly as much as the rest of america about international soccer teams and how good they are.  that is to say: i know nothing.  but i love watching world cup soccer, as i've said before, so i keep this link open on my computer all day and refer to it when necessary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings  brazil vs. the ivory coast - who should win?  well, the fifa rankings will tell me.  and this lets me enjoy the game just a little bit more - when new zealand ties italy, well that IS an upset.*  since the world cup began, this is my typical morning:
set alarm for 9:30am.  snooze it while i get used to the idea of waking up.  pull out computer and watch highlights of the 7am game.  hold computer really close to face so i don't have to find and put on my glasses.
stumble out of bed and into the living room by 10am.
turn on tv in time to watch the second game of the day.
lie on couch and watch world cup soccer until noon.
at noon, actually begin day.

I LOVE SUMMER.


*this is one of my favorite things about soccer: you can have an UPSET TIE.  you tie.  and that can be an upset.  this entertains me greatly.

you know you love me - i know you care...

on saturday, willis and kelly and i went to get manicures and pedicures, in preparation for thomas and lindsey's wedding that night.  let me say first that my nails look awesome.  let me say second that justin beiber was working at this nail salon.

facts you need to know to understand this story:
1. most nail salons i've been to are operated by asian people.  this nail salon was no exception; everyone who worked there was asian-american EXCEPT FOR FAKE JUSTIN BEIBER.
2. justin beiber is this new hot teen singer.  real justin beiber, that is.  anyone who wears their hair like he does and is under the age of 20 i also call justin beiber.  THERE ARE A SURPRISING NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT THIS MONIKER CAN BE APPLIED TO.
3. this video is ridiculous, but it allows you to see and hear justin beiber in action, in case you're living under a rock/at my parents' house and haven't heard him before.  also (i can't believe i'm saying this), i love this song a little bit.

so you will understand, now, that it was odd to see a 16 year old justin beiber look alike giving manicures at this nail salon.  i gawked a little, but not as much as the woman next to me, who got on the phone and said "you won't believe this - i got a manicure from a little white boy!" really loudly.  i was embarrassed for her.  however, this phone conversation did answer a lot of our questions without us having to ask them - which we wouldn't have done.  (i just pretended it was normal to spot a celebrity working in a nail salon.)  kelly and i found out by continuing to listen in on this woman's phone conversation that apparently justin beiber is dating the nail salon owner's daughter, who also works there, and this is his summer job.  and we saw his girlfriend/the salon owner's daughter - she was also 16-ish and after a little while they left together to get sandwiches from publix for lunch.

are you as entertained by this as i am?  please say that you are.


now don't mind me - i'll be watching the music video again.  i hope that all of you find love at a bowling alley while your friends have a dance off with the other person's friends.  (rolling over a pool table is optional.)

chang and eng

really interesting article from nora - she knows about my love of all things interesting about my hometown/county!

math

best night ever = braves game with kelly and claire [making friends with the six year old boy behind us, cheering on the rain (it actually only sprinkled) because it brought cooler weather, THE DRILL PUSHED THE PAINTBRUSH OVER instead of vice-versa (and we know how i love cheering for the drill), the atlanta skyline at night was gorgeous, and the braves won 6-2.  it was awesome.] + going to see galen play at limerick junction afterward [my favorite bar, my favorite musician, sing-a-longs, great friends, a beer.]

it was one of my last nights in atlanta before i hop across the ocean for seven weeks, and it was a damn good night.

reason #221 why i love summer: having fun without worrying about having to wake up at 6:30am...

my mom saw avatar before me. what is this world coming to?

so, i saw avatar this week and let me just say this: interesting story, cool visuals, but THIS was a best oscar contender?!  more than ever, i'm happy that the hurt locker won.  and now, unlike my previous rants, i've seen avatar and thus can talk bad about it all i want.

3 out of 5 stars.

and that is my movie review of the day.

i'm back in the land of the internet, and this post is what you get

on sunday night i got two emails, in quick succession:

email 1:
http://www.theoneill.org/about/preston.htm

was just on the tonys. he was also, if you'll recall, in our musicals class.

we're all winners tonight!

c

email 2:
Woo -

I'm watching the Tony awards right now, as I do every year, and I just saw a guy we went to Duke with accept an award! Did you know Preston Whiteway? I knew him, but I can't remember how - I assume through you, since you knew everyone? I remember him being really into theater in school, and apparently he's been the managing then executive director of a regional theater in Connecticut since we graduated. Makes me feel totally unaccomplished.

- Rachel C.


i have a million things to note about this.  a million!  but i will just tell you a couple things.
thing 1: ohmygod a kid i was friends with at duke - he was in my freshman dorm, and we also took a couple classes together, and we definitely watched some basketball games together, and i worked with him when i volunteered as an usher (free way to see shows) when broadway tours would come to duke -  ACCEPTED A TONY AWARD ON SUNDAY NIGHT.  he runs a regional theater that won the best regional theater award, and as the executive director, he accepted it.  HOLY SHIT.
thing 2: yes, i took a class on musical theater in college, and it was one of the best classes i took in all of college.  you didn't have to have talent...you just had to like musicals.  WHICH I OBVIOUSLY DO.
thing 3: it makes ME feel unaccomplished, too.  preston just accepted a tony.  i slept in late and make a birthday cake for my dad.  not the same thing.
thing 4: rachel always signs emails "rachel c.," and i feel i should point this out to the public.  apparently she was in kindergarden with another girl named rachel, and when she first had to write her name on papers, she always had to write rachel c.  and it stuck.  rachel c. is adorable.
thing 5: love my friends for emailing me this!  really, just love my friends.

yesterday i got this email from colin, after telling her i really wanted to see preston's speech but was having trouble finding it online:

i win at life.

http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/interactive/video/index.html?category=creativeartswinners

scroll down, you'll see it. good speech!

c


best. friends. ever.  seriously - moments after a mutual friend is on tv, these two girls sent me emails.  BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME.

and GO PRESTON!


(i'm realizing that there are a lot of capitalized words in this post.  THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET EXCITED.)

pause

please pause for a break in our regularly scheduled programming while i go home to north carolina for two days to visit mom and dad, see some stars, pet some dogs, breathe some clean mountain air, not get stifled by the heat, check on the progress of my mom's garden, bake a carrot cake from scratch, and celebrate my dad's birthday.  i will be living in the land of no internet, so i'll be back on this here blog-thingy on tuesday!  for those of you with real jobs, i hope the beginning of the week flies by for you...i'm sorry i won't be here to distract you.

12 hours until kickoff!

do you know this about me?  I LOVE PETTY COMPETITION.  not competition to see who is going to make the most money or be the most "successful" or run the farthest or the fastest, but mini competitions.  who can correctly guess what time we'll finish grading AP exams on the last day.  who can correctly guess the electoral vote count in the presidential election.  who can make the best men's basketball tournament bracket.  this I LOVE.  i love following competitions that are larger than myself and i love playing games to pass the time.  if there is competition involved, i will become interested.

enter: world cup 2010.

have i watched a professional soccer game in the last, oh, four years?*  no, no i have not.  but give me a competition and i will get excited.  hence: i'm in a world cup pool that my friend clay started, and i'll be watching as many of the games where the us (or england, my adopted country** for the summer) is playing as i can.  it's a competition.  there will be an ultimate winner and thus (for me) a lot of fun along the way.  i'm all of a sudden a big soccer fan.***

and for your enjoyment ladies (and some gentlemen), i give you this.  though i would like to dispute the inclusion of some of the players on this list...


*since the LAST world cup, that is...

**and a country that will probably make it further in the competition than the us will, and i will cheer for them when the us loses.  PLUS, they're in the same group as the us.  what could be more exciting?

***for those who don't know, i played soccer all growing up and was the captain of my high school team.  (go unicorns!  you can make fun of our mascot later.)  i'm KNOW the rules.  i just never watch the games.

mashup

those of you who love newsies (colin, rachel-in-DC, jenny, nora - i'm looking at you...i hope i'm remembering your love of newsies correctly) will lose your mind over this.  (thanks to colin for posting it on facebook so i could find it and love it!)

the rest of you under age 40: it also involves lady gaga, so you are required to watch it, too.

final count:

2,150 essays.

i am a bad ass.

now: long walk and then getting in the ocean for the first time!  hooray for getting out at 1pm on the last day.  i'll be back in atlanta tomorrow afternoon!

the birthday problem

last post about the AP reading (i promise):

my day: get packet of 25 essays.  essay 1: open blue book (it's actually pink), find question #4, read, record score, close.  essay 2: same thing.  YES, I'VE DONE THIS 1,925 TIMES.

on each packet is the student's ID number, initials, and date of birth.  for the past two days i've entertained myself with this game: how long will it take me to find a student with the same birthday as me?

day 1: it took 185 essays before i found one with the same birthday as me.  this student scored a 0/5 on my question.  i was very disappointed in my birthday sharer.
day 2: it took 125 essays before i found one with the same birthday as me.  this kid scored a 4/5!  good work, birthday sharer!  and then like 10 essays later i found another kid with the same birthday as me.  less exciting this time...i don't remember what the kid got.

now, the question is: how many essays SHOULD it take to find one with the same birthday as me?  [dad or rachel-in-waco: figure out the math for me.  i am too tired to do so myself...]  i don't know the answer, but this essay is interesting in that it addresses (sort of) the same principle, mathematically.  (thanks to dad for reminding me of this!)

1,925 down, more to go...

well, friends, over the past six days i have read exactly 1,925 essays on the same prompt.  that number looks like one i would make up, right?  random high number?  FALSE.  i have been keeping track - tally marks for each packet of 25 that i finish - and that is the total number.  I AM AMAZING.  BOW DOWN TO ME.  (no, seriously - i need some positive reinforcement here.  tell me i'm awesome.)  the people in charge let us go at 4pm today instead of 5 and people screamed and clapped.  we are that tired of reading the same essay again and again.  one more day to go, but the fact that they let us out early today leads me to believe we'll get out early tomorrow, too.  honestly, i don't know how many more of these essays i can read without going crazy, so getting out early is necessary.  i just had a long phone conversation with willis, in which he relayed funny stories from a boys' weekend in durham and gave me some much needed laughter...i'm going on a long walk next, and then getting dinner and settling in to watch a movie.  where am i getting dinner, you ask?  well, the options within walking distance of my hotel are:
1. indian food (already had that twice)
2. sushi (already had that twice)
3. burger king (embarrassingly already had that twice)
4. barbeque joints (eww)
5. restaurants with a nascar theme (no way)
6. quizno's sub shop (a possibility)
7. chain pizza restaurants (a possibility)
8. oh wait, that's it.  legitimately it.

i might be walking into a papa john's and placing an order for take out.  so classy.

i can't wait to get back to the food utopia that is atlanta.

oh, and i keep forgetting to tell you guys this: the convention center where we're grading AP exams had a big sign out front that alternates between flashing two things: "welcome college board AP readers!" and "tickets on sale for WWE raw on july 31."  you know, one location, two similar events: exciting AP grading one month, fake wrestling the next.  no discrepancy there AT ALL.

"put it on the avery tab!"

a couple pictures from my cousin pat's wedding (also known as "katy's dance party") last weekend!  the whole affair was super low key and really fun - and they looked (and are) so perfect together:

the weekend: aunts dancing until midnight, photo montages, trivia questions, good beer, bright flowers, kites, GORGEOUS weather, a brewery tour, my sister and my cousin laura going after the bouquet in a somewhat intense fashion, finding an after party with sara, lots of good food, the sausage race and cheese fries at the brewers' game, playing/losing dice games.  i genuinely love spending time with my extended family, and it was great to have a weekend together.

my cousin grace and i appear to be having fun, huh?  (thanks to aunt lisa for the picture above, and for this AWESOME picture of dancing glory!)

my cousin sara and my sister and i shared a room at the hotel, and it was one of the best parts of the weekend.  it was designed partially as a cost-saving measure, partially as a no-one-should-have-to-stay-alone measure, and it was genius.  there was much giggling, and no weekend is complete without a lot of giggling.  right now i'm in florida, alone, grading these AP exams, and i'm wishing i was sharing a room with the two of them and doing a lot of giggling.  sigh.

until the next family wedding...

nerd alert

when one is sitting in an almost silent room, reading the same essay over and over again from 8am to 5pm with minimal breaks, one starts to sing songs in one's head.  the songs i am singing are:

1. from the musical in the heights, i often start singing from a song called "blackout" - the line is "we are po-wer-less, we are powerlessss" (i am adding emphasis for you so you can sing it in your head).  example of what a student writes: "the federal government is powerless to prevent the states from enacting laws that blah blah blah."  i sing: "pow-er-less, we are powerlesss!"  note: this happens about three times an hour.

2. okay, not a song lyric - some poetry!  because i'm a dork!  hooray!  facts you need to know: (a) i love t.s. eliot and i have bits of his poetry memorized.  (b) i do not wear a watch.  (c) i cannot have a cell phone (which usually acts as my watch) in the room where i am reading essays.  how are all these related?  i will tell you.

"For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?"

[from the love song of j. alfred prufrock - http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html]

i am figuring out how many packets of essays i can read between, say, the beginning of the day and my first break.  this helps me get through the day - if i read four packets of essays, it will be break time!  i am silly j. alfred prufrock...every day he stirs his coffee and puts the spoon in the sink, and there is one day.  i read four packets of essays, and there is one session.  the time isn't important.  every time i finish a packet and put a tally mark down to mark it, i think "i have measured out my life with coffee spoons."

i told you it was a post that required a nerd alert.  musicals and t.s. eliot?  i am so cool.

[trivia!  connections!  what long-running broadway musical was inspired by a t.s. eliot poem?]

[and yes, i am reading essays on a saturday.  and a sunday.  yikes.]

unsinkable

this is awesome...and (full disclosure) made me cry a little.

actually, that's my pet peeve with other blogs i read.  if you're going to link to a video and tell me i should watch it, i need to know if it is (a) scary, (b) funny, (c) involves cute animals, (d) will make me cry, etc.  i need a preview.  so this video is well made and inspirational and thus you may cry a little.  that is my full disclosure.

daytona, day 3

okay, people, i graded 100 more essays today than i did yesterday.  100!  i am amazing!

i actually don't know where these hundred came from, but at the end of the day that was the total.  so there.  i guess i'm hitting my stride.  and: our table (the 7 of us) was declared by the computer that calculates these things as statistically most accurate of all 16 tables grading our question.  i have no idea what this means, but we're supposed to be proud of it.  so we are.

official pet peeve: spelling "trial" as "trail."  um, students?  "trial" was written IN THE QUESTION.  how are you misspelling it in your answer??  i would guess that one out of every five students does this and it makes me want to punch them in the face.  (not really.  but i have started talking to the exam booklet about it as i grade.)

daytona beach

i'm in florida grading AP exams right now.  i'm trying to find funny things to tell you about, but really my days are 8am-5pm, with breaks and lunch thrown in there, where all i do is read the exact same essay over and over again, scoring it and bubbling in the score on a scantron sheet i'm given.  kids write funny things occasionally, but i'm pretty sure i signed some sort of confidentiality agreement, so i can't tell you what those funny things are.  i will tell you the things i CAN tell you.

211,000 students took this exam this year.  each exam has four essay questions on it.  i am trained in only one of those questions, so three other people also look at each student's exam and assign a score for the essay they are trained in reading.  there are 600 readers here total.  i am not going to do the math to figure out how many exams my share is, because i'm pretty sure i don't want to know.

today i read 12 packs of 25 exams each.  i am keeping track because it helps me feel accomplished.  when you are grading your own students' essays, you know how many there are and you are working towards that goal.  here, when i finish a packet, i raise my hand and my new friend jim comes by and gives me a new packet.  I'M NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO WALK THE 10 FEET TO TURN IT IN AND GET A NEW ONE.  this is because that would waste time and be loud - chairs scraping, people walking, etc.  jim's job is to bring the 24 people in my section their new packets.  jim is approximately 70 years old and is my new BFF and says things to me like "we have to stop meeting like this" when he gives me a new packet.  i realize this might sound creepy, but it isn't.  it is some of my only human interaction before i'm grading again, so i laugh at his dumb jokes.  and i grade.  and i change positions in my seat (aka "squirm around").  and now grading is over for the day and i am free!  hooray!

thank you, papa john's

last week i saw this label on the pizza box in our refrigerator and i had to take a picture of it.  see if you can find what entertains me...

this makes me laugh a lot.  what does that say about me?

major league baseball knows how to entertain me

you know my love for the tool race at braves' games?  well, at milwaukee brewers' games, they have a sausage race, with five sausages: a bratwurst, a polish sausage, an italian sausage, a hot dog, and a chorizo.

[from: http://blogbeckett.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/mlbsausageraceap.jpg]

we went to a brewers game on sunday and the game was fun and all, but when the sausages took the field for their daily race I LOST MY MIND THEY WERE SO CUTE.

life is good when you are at a live sporting event anyway, let alone one where mascots run around to entertain you.