Bidding

I have been so excited all day! Kevin told me last night that today is when he'll be getting his bid list. That's the list of openings in the various embassies around the world. Kevin will get assigned to one of them, based on his bids and preferences, and then we'll be off... eventually.

Since both of us speak Mandarin and have been trying to teach Penny some as well, we've been looking forward to bidding high on all the Chinese-speaking posts. There are billions of Chinese people, and we have like 6 embassies and consulates in China, plus more in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. HUNDREDS of people work at these embassies. Kevin has family in Taipei, so that was going to be top of the list, with the rest of them shortly following.

Now that we have the list, there is.... ONE... opening in China. Period. And it's an opening for a management officer, while Kevin is a consular guy. And he said there are probably 8-10 other people in his training class that speak Mandarin.

So.... we'll be doing a lot of globe spinning in the next few days and weeks.

I'm not allowed to post the list, and I'm also not supposed to give too many specifics. But I'm excited to be learning about all these places. There are several in the Caribbean that I think we'd be stupid not to bid for. But then again, some people would say that about Europe, and we're not terribly excited about Europe.

Honestly, looking at these options, I'm realizing that any of these places would be exotic and adventuresome in their own way. I guess it just depends on how much adventure I'd like to have on a daily basis.

Kevin is obviously looking at different things than I am. Some of these posts require language training, and some locations are better for his career than others. Some posts have hardship pay that can be up to 30% of your regular salary. On the other hand, you do earn this hardship pay in most cases. (I say "in most cases" because China's posts receive hardship pay, and for us, we don't consider it a hardship. We like the briar patch! But we won't say no to some extra dough....) I'm more looking at the living conditions, weather, travel availability, healthcare availability, and possibility of friends and family coming to see us.

Anyway, we have a few weeks to mull and stew over the list. I think Kevin said that we'll find out where we go a few days after I get to DC. I can hardly wait!

Poor Penny

Tonight Penny decided to help my dad remodel the kitchen. He had the kitchen sink upside-down on the floor and was trying to wrench the drain off the bottom. He got it firmly clamped with the giant wrench, and right when he twisted it, Penny reached in to help.

There was much crying, a little blood, and a wrestling match to keep her from touching her bleeding finger. My mom and I managed to wash it off and put a Band-aid on it, and then we went to watch Beauty and the Beast for a few minutes for her to forget about the pain. She eventually did settle down, and we had a nice, relaxing time watching the villagers storm the Beast's castle. Anyway, Penny got pretty squirmy after a bit, not content with sitting on my lap to watch the movie. She wiggled and ootched, and then pretty soon she was snuggled up hugging me with her head on my shoulder.

I'm sorry if I make you jealous, Kevin, but it was pretty much the cutest thing she's ever done.

Where we were

Penny spent the day with Grandma. They went to a soup class at church and had soup for lunch. Then they played with toys and had a generally wonderful time together. That's not hard to do with Penny around!Kevin spent the night last night in Shamrock, Texas. Then I talked to him after school, and he was just outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Penny and I talked to him before bed, and he was on the Music Highway nearing Nashville, Tennessee.

If it's possible, though, I feel like I covered more ground today.

Today was the Discover New Mexico day for the entire 7th grade, for the entire day. We had presenters come from the community and surrounding areas to give classes on New Mexico and its wonderfulness. Each kid got to choose 5 classes. There was obviously a lot to choose from.

We had several artists: potters from Santa Clara Pueblo (and grandparents of one of our students), a weaver from Chimayo, a painter from San Ildefonso Pueblo, and then a tin-working class and retablos demonstration by the Spanish Colonial History Museum. One person demonstrated primitive arrow making, and another class was doing flint-napping.

We had presenters from the Los Alamos National Lab: DNA extraction (where the kids actually extracted DNA from strawberries), Nanotechnology, Bees (which are trained to sniff out explosives), and Robotics.

Then there were several presentations about the surrounding nature: owls, falcons and a snake came to one presentation, there was a game about native plants, presenters came from Bandelier and Puye Clilffs, and there were more activities about animals.

This was pretty much education at its finest.

My jobs for the day were to go pick up the catered lunch from El Parasol (a fine NM restaurant in town) and go to the various presentations and take pictures. This means I got to see a little bit of all of them.

By far, my favorite one was the Santa Clara Pottery presentation. They showed what the clay looked like when they dug it from the ground, and then Grandpa demonstrated how to make a pot, coiling the clay and shaping it with a gourd piece. Then as Grandma gave more information about how it was being made and then how it was finished, Grandpa worked and worked.

By the end of the presentation, the pot looked pretty much like this (except not polished or fired, obviously):

But he had completely shaped the pot and carved intricate designs into it. During the 5 classes, he made 5 little pots.

They also had some animal and people figurines on display, and they were absolutely gorgeous! The part I thought was so cool, and of which I was completely jealous, was that for each class, the kids put their name in a bucket, and one lucky kid got to take home a piece of pottery. Now, Grandma and Grandpa said that these were pieces with a flaw, maybe a chip, a crack, or a discolored part. It wasn't something they could sell in their art shows. But the piece I saw was a figurine of a woman, and to me it looked perfect. You'd have to be the master to know there was any sort of flaw.

At the end of the class, each kid got a good handful of clay to make their own creation. They had watched how to make pots, and they also got a quick demonstration of how to make a turtle (a very popular Santa Clara piece). Like this one:

It was really really cool. This was my favorite class, but all of them were fantastic. New Mexico is really an awesome state, and quite a cultural hodgepodge, too. I learned a lot about the surrounding area. Even after growing up here for 20 years, there were still things I didn't know.

It actually happened

My husband just left me. I can't say it was entirely unexpected. We have been rather stressed lately, and he has been mentioning it more and more lately. And today it finally happened, leaving me alone, unemployed, with a baby, living at my parents' house. *weep*

Seriously, though, Kevin just left this afternoon for Washington DC. I know I'll miss him in a day or two, but right now, I am just so excited for him to be starting his new job!!! We've just been treading water/ marking time this whole year, and it is marvelous to be finally moving forward!

My dad went with Kevin to accompany him on his three-day drive. They're hoping to make it to Amarillo tonight, Tennessee tomorrow, and DC on Friday. Or Saturday. We'll see how ambitious they are. I certainly don't envy them the drive!

I'll be following them once I finish my student teaching in about 3-4 weeks. Luckily, I get to fly, which will be quite a feat, considering I'll be taking Penny, a stroller, 2 cats, my luggage, and baby stuff for the trip. Can you see why we sent our car seat with Kevin and will just borrow one for the next few weeks?

Moving our stuff has been fun. In the last year, we have moved/downsized now 4 times. We moved from Provo to Boise, then to Kevin's parents' in Washington. Then we left our stuff in storage in Washington and just took our car-full of stuff (including baby and cats) to New Mexico. Each time we moved, we got rid of a significant chunk of our things. Each time, I thought we'd gotten rid of everything that we could possibly do without, but then we find more things-- or they get gotten rid of themselves. It turns out that mice got into our storage over the summer, and that obligated us to toss several things that I wouldn't have otherwise wanted to get rid of. So now I really have no idea what is left, but whatever it is, it's on its way to Washington DC to be stored for the next while.

Kevin will be moving into an apartment that the State Department provides for us during his training in DC. Most people complain about these apartments, how they're kind of dumpy and have boring, white walls. But after our college apartments and living with family, we are SO EXCITED to have our own place!!

I'm happy that Kevin left me, but I'm very much happier that I get to rejoin him in a few weeks! Bring on A-100 training!

One benefit to being a Title I school

Los Alamos is not -- by any stretch of the imagination -- a poor community. It's not insanely wealthy either, just middle-class comfortable.

In so many ways, this is a huge blessing to our schools. Parents are generally well-educated, and they teach their children to value education. Many students have a parent staying at home, and so the elementary schools have plenty of parent volunteers. Parents follow up on their children's progress and help them with homework.

We have great computers and technology resources. Heck, they're tearing down the high school right now and building an entirely new building.

But man, when it comes to the cafeteria lunches, I wish we were a Title I school. At Title I schools, more than 40% of students are from below-poverty families. Most of them get free lunches. This means that the government is very concerned with the quality of lunch provided: there have to be certain amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables served, and there should be some healthy content to the main course.

Today a student came to a lunch help session with her cafeteria tray in tow: nachos drenched in canned nacho cheese, fruit salad swimming in whipped cream, and a cookie.

What are we teaching our kids?

Hoops

The final countdown begins: Kevin leaves for Washington DC in a week! He'll be driving our car and all our stuff* out with him. Penny and I will live out of suitcases for a month or so until we join him. I can hardly wait.

I've been busy (or at least preoccupied) with my student teaching, so I haven't really done much to prepare for this major lifestyle overhaul. Today, though, we finally decided that it would be prudent to have a legal license plate for the cross-country trek next week. This meant battling the Los Alamos DMV. For the third time.

The first time I went in, there was a sign on the door saying they were understaffed that day and couldn't do VIN inspections. The guy also thought they'd be understaffed for the next indefinite future. They gave me a list of documents and crap I'd need to bring in order to register our vehicle. Joy.

After going through the list of possible documents, I realized that as an unemployed (well, unpaid), uninsured hobo living off my parents for free, there was very little (zero) documentation of my New Mexico residency. And apparently they don't accept library cards or just-opened-that-day bank accounts. I feel for illegal immigrants! I worked at the YMCA for a week this summer-- just long enough to get a paycheck. But that was more than 90 days ago, so it was invalid.

I eventually had to sign an affidavit proving my residence and have the ward membership clerk at church write a letter attesting to my street address.

Armed with all this documentation, plus car title, insurance info, driver's license, etc, etc, etc, I headed to the DMV today during my prep period.

They were understaffed.

Not making eye contact with the guy behind the desk because I was sure I would yell-- or cry-- I asked him if they were planning on being understaffed next week or when they were planning on becoming staffed enough for VIN inspections. He ignored my apparent lack of social skills and eventually told me I could go to the police station and have them conduct one.

I drove over there, and right when I mentioned the DMV, the lady at the desk got my name and phone number, which she would email to a certain officer who would call me to set up an appointment. Seriously?! I asked how long it would take and if there was any possibility I could do it NOW. Well, yes, she informs me. It's actually the guys over at the animal shelter who do VIN inspections, so I could head over there and talk to them directly.

So yes, I did eventually get my VIN number inspected. I did return to the DMV and get a New Mexico license plate. You only need one in NM, did you know that?

So now Kevin and our car are completely ready for the long trip across the US. Well, they're legal. Well, after we actually put on the new license plate. But the hoops have been jumped through, and it was no small feat. I treated myself by eating lunch and helping kids write essays.

*We drove to New Mexico in May with only what we could fit in a car, leaving enough space for a baby, car seat, two cats, and a litter box. Translation: we're already living out of suitcases and have been for 7 months.

Waxing poetic

Our 7th grade class is learning about prepositions, so we gave them the assignment of writing a preposition poem. This is mine, which I wrote during a staff meeting. (Shhh...)

Buried treasure

Off the boat

Onto the island

Up the beach

Past the hollow tree

Over the skull-shaped rock

At high noon

Through the ancient ruins

Down the cliff face

Behind the waterfall

Into the murky cave

Under the X

In the sand

Inside the rotted chest

Buried treasure

I know, I know. Wipe a tear, everyone. You may stop snapping now. If only you could see my final copy-- it is illustrated.

Finally!

Fall is football season. This year I've been following my two favorite teams, the BYU Cougars and the LAHS Hilltoppers. My brother's on the team.

Both teams started strong. BYU beat the Washington Huskies, and the Toppers beat Pojoaque. It was a good start.

But since then, it has been a miserable, lousy season! Penny, Kevin, and have gone to all the home Topper games, and even one away game, and we lost all of those... really badly! We were the first team to lose by the newly-instated mercy rule. If you're behind by 35 points they let the clock run, and if you're behind by 50 points, the game's over. We've used it two or three times now. It give new meaning to the crowd shouting, "No mercy!"

BYU has been equally lousy. Last week we lost to Utah State. Utah State! Come on, we haven't lost to them since like 1993! And we lost by 15 points. It was pathetic!

Then this week, BYU fired their defensive coordinator. They said they had the hardest week of practice they've ever had. I could tell they definitely regrouped and reevaluated their game.

We played San Diego State this week, and I just hoped we'd stay in the game. They were ranked in the top 30 or higher for offense, defense, etc. We were ranked in the 115s in some areas. There are only 120 teams. It didn't look good.

But somehow we got our heads together, made tackles, pulled off a 4th down faked punt-turned-pass, and pushed the ball down the field. We dominated! We had possession for 45 minutes, compared to SDSU's 15. Wahoo! And it came down to the very last minute where we finally won by 3 points! Whew!! What a game!

Now, maybe the Toppers should see about rearranging their coaching staff....

Busy... but mostly just lazy

I would love to write about how busy I have been with my student teaching and how when I get home I'm just so exhausted I grade papers and then crawl into bed. And that's why I haven't been writing much.
That would be true, except that it's not.
I'm doing my student teaching, and it keeps me fairly busy, but I'm just teaching occasionally, and it doesn't involve a lot of grading. That can't be it.
I haven't taken any pictures this month, because our camera has fallen under the couch. I know exactly where it is, and I could reach it if I ever got down on my knees. But then I know the battery's dead, and that would mean I'd have to get then off my knees, run upstairs to charge the battery, and then wait for the battery to be charged before I can use it.
This is also why I haven't used my cell phone in a few days.
Man, something's got to change! I can't keep up this laziness.