One Semester Down

-The 23rd was the last day before winter break. I am so relieved that we have this week off. I intend on doing some serious studying, grading, organizing, and sleeping. I already know the week will go by very fast.
-I feel that this journal has become just a place where I only rant and complain, and it may seem that at times I do hate my job, but at the end of the day, there is always something that happens during the day that redeems it.
-It doesn't seem like Christmas strangely enough. I don't know why I feel this way, but I must say that I am thankful for much - for the opportunity to teach 120 kids, my health, my family, my friends and of course baby Jesus!

Le Sigh (yes I sigh a lot)

I am already counting down the days until Friday. I keep saying to myself, "Just get through till the end of Thursday and you will be golden."
I know I wanted to do this, but I did not realize how much energy, time and brain power are involved! I am so tired. . . It's no wonder we have no school in the summer!

Rant

For once, I would like to have an ENTIRE weekend to myself and not think about work or do any work!! Gah!!!

Gift Guides

Oh my goodness. What is with all these holiday gift guides online?? They are truly a very very bad place to go to when you have lots of work and don't want to do it!!
I am already thinking of gifts to buy for family and um for myself (blush). Way too much temptation.

Oh brother

Every single item you own should have a place where it belongs or a designated storage area. As a teacher this is necessary. As a human being living on this earth, it is also necessary. Of course being the disorganized and messy person that I am, I do not do that!!

It just occurred to me that I lost a costly watch. I have absolutely no idea where it is. The fact that this happened freaks me out (I did find all the scantrons for those unit tests by the way). It's like another incident where I hid a costly necklace because I didn't want a maintenance/repair man (I had a number of heating issues in that apartment) looking through my belongings and stealing it and then I forgot the hiding place. The last time I wore this watch was probably during a faculty meeting the day before school started. After that I have no recollection of where the watch could be. I thought I put it in its proper pouch and left it on the shelf. Boo.

On a random note, I watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving (the historical one) four times the day before Thanksgiving (with my students mind you) and bits and pieces of the modern one. I think I am in a number of ways like Charlie Brown.

Update: I found my watch! It was indeed on a shelf! I doubt I will ever find the necklace though. I think it's buried in the couch or in some secret crevice in that studio. Whoever lives there and finds it will be quite lucky.

Other Randomness

How old is too old as far as criteria is concerned for a significant other?

The Day before Thanksgiving Break

I've gotten the sense that most classes don't really teach much the day before Thanksgiving break (with the exception of AP classes). Tomorrow will be a marathon of going class to class since it will be a C day and even though I do not intend on teaching anything (book check, Charlie Brown, hand back tests)- it will be tiring being "on" straight through for four hours.

I have already gotten so lazy with having a long weekend but I have to grade these 77 tests to hand back tomorrow!

Urgh

I don't come up with very inspiring titles, do I?
I don't go out that much these days because of work and since I don't go out and because I "need" certain things, I've been online shopping a bit. What I enjoy about online shopping is the vast variety that's out there at your fingertips. Of course you miss out on the shopper's experience of touching something first hand or trying an item on.
Most items I purchase are school-related or clothes and most clothes I order, I end up returning because the fit is off or the color is not what I imagined, or the style is just not me. In a number of ways, it's become a time-waster since I look for things, take some time to make a decision, review the item again online, buy it, track it to see when it will arrive, take out the item out of the box, try on the item, and then re-package said item so I can make a trip to the post office, wait on line at the post office and then go home. Phew!!
All the time I do that I could actually be interacting with other human beings. What a thought!

Yay for the Weekend!

I seriously do not know what I would do without a weekend. This week was horrendous and I am so glad it is over. Yesterday I went to sleep at 6:30 PM with the intention of taking a nap. Instead, I woke up this morning at 7 AM. Wowzers. I could have started my day at that time, but I decided to be lazy and stayed in bed until 10 AM. It's already 8:35 PM and even though I have much to do, I am just glad for Saturday. I am also looking forward to the short week we have. Each year Thanksgiving has a new meaning for me.

What else is new

This week has been brutal. I don't know what it is but maybe it's just because it's D Week and I still work way too slow. Or it's just an off week. Or the sleep deprivation is starting to get to me.
What's scary is that Tuesday and today were the "light" days. Thursday and Friday are the heavy days. I really want this week to be over really, really bad. I am already thinking about Thanksgiving break where I can sleep a decent amount and hopefully get some planning done (in addition to all the grading that's piling up).

Ugh

You know what's sad? The fact that I feel guilty that I am going to bed by around 1:50 AM (I wake up at 5:30 AM most days). Why do I feel guilty? I have so much work to do still that could be done (such as the grading. I hate grading.)
At the same time, there are priorities and one of those priorities is my need for some sleep! It's during these times that I wish I were younger and could handle the fewer hours on a long-term basis.

How Fast Time Flies

Where did my four-day weekend go?? I am already freaking out as I type this. Wednesday night I was a zombie. Thursday I woke up at 1 PM and did NOTHING. It was absolute bliss. I went to the post office, Trader Joe's, and met up with my small group leader (I don't attend small group). Friday I woke up at 11 AM. I made the answer key for two parts of a unit test only to find that I am missing the students' responses to part I. NOT GOOD. Watched Iron Man to forget that I did that and have to look for that and bought some clothing online to make myself look less like an ajuma (according to my family, I dress like an ajuma). In the process I fell in love with a Rick Owens leather jacket but convinced myself that I should not buy it.

Just came back from driving my brother to the airport and now feel compelled to do some major grading at 7 AM.

I made plans to actually meet up with a friend and bake but am already getting nervous that I don't have enough time today and tomorrow because I wasted Thursday and Friday. I've become such a flake yet at the same time I strangely feel that I've become a workaholic - a flaky workaholic!

Friday Nights

I always look forward to Fridays because I know then that there generally is some give when I get home from a long day (because there is no school on Saturday). At this point though, I don't think I can even kick back on Fridays. My body tells me, "You need this! You can't do work today or you will just freak out." Then my mind and everything else is saying, "You need all the time you can get because you're behind and everything is disorganized!" I never realized how type A you should be to be a good teacher among other qualities that you need such as being super super smart andcreative, having never-ending reserves of energy and a great sense of humor - all of which I do not have. (Type A in the sense that you get everything done as soon as it is given to you and that you know where everything is - which is so not the case for me. Super super smart so that you know all there is to know about various historical topics. Creative in the sense that you're not always "giving" them information but are finding ways so that they can learn the information themselves and make the learning more interactive and tailored to the needs of all students. Great sense of humor so that you can deliver the information in a funny and entertaining way and also be able to create an atmosphere where students feel at ease and like you.) If I were to take a picture of my workspace right now, all you would see is a sea of paper and I have yet to organize all of the paper that is in my backpack (aka a bag of bricks according to another teacher).

It's 10:41 PM and all I want to do is go to sleep. I have a hunch that I will do just that, but boy, I don't want to set the alarm though I should! (I don't know why my blog is set to California time!)

Boo

My school has two photocopy machines: one for the middle school and one for the high school. Both machines are somewhat older and they are leased from Xerox. These machines are notorious for breaking down. Last year the school had no working photocopiers for one whole week because it could not get a repairman to fix the copiers!

As a social studies teacher, what do you do since you need to look at primary sources? You go to Staples! Or, you go and print it out from the comfort of your own home.
Right now I am in the process of writing the multiple-choice portion of the first unit test (part I) for my AP World students. I originally intended to put 70 questions on the test to reflect AP test conditions, but I realize that's ridiculous due to two reasons:
1. too many pages
2. the questions will become too specific

We've covered 12 chapters and I broke the unit into two. Right now I am on question 37 and already have 7 pages. Thank goodness I only have 14 students in the class!! I am regretting breaking the unit into two and having the test over four days (one day for multiple choice, one day for essay - two units - therefore 4 days devoted to testing, grrr).

We are starting to get behind and I am getting anxious as I want to finish the second unit by December and test them for the end of the second marking period. We shall see how things go tonight with all this printing and with next quarter. . .

A Visit to the SAS Shoe Store

So I finally went to an SAS shoe store today to try on some shoes. Shoes like clothes, often do not look as nice when worn. None of the shoes were particularly flattering and they were not that comfortable (for me at least). The back of the shoe kept on digging into my ankle. From experience, I know that those types of shoes will give me blisters for at least two weeks. I didn't bother looking at sandals because it's not sandal weather. I do have to say that it still was nice to go out for once and do something that's not work-related. Now back to the grindstone.

Back to School Night

Today was Back to School Night and I am so glad that it's over!! At first I was nervous, but I realized that it wasn't all that bad. The parents just want to know what kind of person I am (I think). I hope I did not come across as a robot and that I showed that I care about their children!
What is cool about this evening is that I got to see where my students get their personalities and how they resemble their parents! For some children it was so clear because I was able to meet both parents. Some resemblances are so striking.

Hopefully the more I do this, the easier it will become! (along with everything else.)

Now time to study and lesson plan and sleep at 2 AM or later, yippee!

I am starting to surprise myself!

You know what's scary? I am starting to like certain shoe styles from the company, SAS (San Antonio Shoes). I think the majority of people who buy shoes and other products from SAS are usually in their 60s+. Two styles that stand out: Wink and Easier. If I am not mistaken, all of their shoes are made in the United States and the price point is not bad. I even checked out some of their handbags and two styles stick out because they look so practical, Dawn and Zipper. What is the world coming to?

Procrastination!

Columbus Day is this Monday and the students have the day off. Of course, teachers do not have the day off and instead have "professional development" which basically means we are forced to come in and work on our websites or curriculum mapping. Based on reading the "maps" of those in my department, I do not get the sense that this task is taken very seriously.

Since I do not teach on Monday, I've been a bit more lax than usual and slept a total of 14 hours (12 hours straight, then a 2 hour nap). On top of that I got a haircut and have been watching episodes from The Office. I just made a list of items that I need to finish before Tuesday and then reality hit me. Even though I do not teach students on Monday, I still have a ton to do. The work never ends. . .

First month

Teaching has been quite challenging. I am learning the material along with my students and have to manage their behavior, grade their work, and ideally try to stretch them and inspire them to want to learn.
I don't think I am doing a good job and I have not been sleeping much. Maybe next month will be better? Maybe I will get into the swing of things? I just think that since everything is new, no matter what, there will be no real break until December (and then I will be madly cramming and planning).
Back to School night is this coming Wednesday. I hope I won't be too awkward!

Brief, Brief Listing of the Trip

I had a great time in England and France - both countries have such impressive buildings/historical sites and museums. There is still so much left to see!

A recap (not in order):

Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
Horse Guards
British Museum
Covent Garden Market
Tower of London
Borough Market
Camden Lock Market
London Eye
Tate Modern
Afternoon Tea at Fortnum & Mason
National Gallery/Trafalgar Square
Bath - Roman Baths
Brighton
St. Paul's Cathedral

Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin de Tuileries
The Louvre
Notre Dame
Eiffel Tower
Le Marais
St. Germain de Pres
Strasbourg
Versailles

Cystic Acne

I have come to the sad (but accurate) conclusion that the cause for my cystic acne on my chin is due to consuming lots of sugary treats, fried foods, and spicy foods. That certainly takes the fun out of eating, doesn't it! Even in moderation, I have noticed a difference. What am I going to do when I go to Paris??

EDIT: It turns out I did not get any cystic acne while I was in Europe! I ate many desserts and foods with lots of butter, though I do realize I did not eat much spicy food and drank lots of coffee. . . I don't think I will ever understand my skin!

Great Essay

I loved reading this essay. Sigh.

Chicken Pot Pie

This post is quite overdue. I had made this two weeks ago and learned some things after making it. I used the recipe from The Best Chicken Recipe. I made several changes to the recipe and will note those before I type the directions. I took some photos, but was very dissatisfied with them, plus they're in reverse order. I have tried uploading them in different order, but I keep getting the same result! I think I am going to try using Photo Bucket once again. . .

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
3 celery ribs, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 medium onions, minced
Salt
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dry vermouth
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8 medium), trimmed
1 (1-pound) bag frozen pea and carrot medley (about 3 cups; do not thaw)
Ground black pepper
1 recipe Savory Pie Dough, chilled

The above is for the filling. I already knew based on reading the recipe that it would be a lot of work so I took some shortcuts.
First, I did NOT make pie dough. I bought already-made dough, Pillsbury Pie Crusts, though I am sure you can use puff pastry.

Second, I did not buy chicken breasts. Instead I bought a rotisserie chicken that had already been roasted and took off all of the meat off the chicken and cut it into pieces. In retrospect, I think I did not save that much time doing this since the above recipe calls for poaching the chicken breasts in the sauce. Also the texture of the already cooked chicken in the sauce was not as "solid" as I would have liked; it was at times stringy. Interestingly enough, the recipe requires that you cut up the chicken after it has been cooked. I am wondering if it would make a difference if I chose to cut up the pieces first and cook in sauce. I think one can tell either way if the chicken was fully cooked.

Third, I added 2 teaspoons of celery seed to add more flavor to the sauce. Next time I might even add other spices such as turmeric though the color of the sauce would change. But for me, flavor is more important!

Fourth, I did not use vermouth since I did not have any on hand and substituted with white wine; I think it was a pinot gris that happened to be in the refrigerator.


Directions:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onions, and 1 teaspoon of salt and cook until softened and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, about 1 minute.

2. Gradually whisk in the vermouth and cook until evaporated, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the broth, cream, and thyme. Add the chicken, partially cover, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover completely, and cook until the thickest part of the breast registers 160 to 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 1o to 15 minutes.


3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and set the Dutch oven aside, covered. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-sized pieces. Return the shredded chicken to the sauce with the peas and carrots. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Pour the mixture into a 13 by 9 inch baking dish (or a shallow casserole dish of a similar size). Roll out the pie dough, fit it over the baking dish, and crimp the edges tightly to seal.


5. Place the pot pie on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the filling is hot and the crust is golden, about 1 hour. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Afterthought: I had written some of my thoughts in the beginning, but one major one to add is that I realize that I do not like eating flaky pastry with heavy, savory filling. For me, a better complement would be eating this filling with biscuits. Some people advise to place biscuit dough on top of the filling and bake as usual. Other people suggest baking the biscuits separately and serving the filling and biscuits separately so that the biscuits will not get soggy. And just like pie crusts, you can buy already-made biscuit dough though making biscuits is not too difficult. One brand that I do like when in a pinch is Trader Joe's - no preservatives or funky ingredients.

Reading List

There are so many books that I want to read or at least try to read.
Current Reading List:

1. Momofuku by David Change and Peter Meehan
2. Ratio by Michael Ruhlman
3. Julie/Julia by Julie Powell
4. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
5. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall
6. Three Cups of Tea by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson
7. 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper and Cecil B. Murphey
8. Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson
9. Photography by Barbara London
10. Lit by Mary Karr
11. Cake Love by Warren Brown
12. Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Beranbaum Levy
13. Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells
14. Mindset by Carol S. Dweck
15. The Best of America's Test Kitchen (2008)