ashley and i got sushi,

drank bubbly* and celebrated

that we live in this city.

``oh the people, places & opportunities

in this glorious city, i love it all``

in my tornado of a room;

piles of papers,

thirsty plants,

and cheese crackers.

our SoC meetings always inspire me to refocus and
remember why i started in the first place!!

it feels amazing to create a network of
alliances and trust that you are
supported because we all created
this vision together and that this all
is a collective effort, struggle & journey
to push for real change to empower real people.

then, i wandered around in the rain & found

myself having tea with my wonderful friend vesna.

i sipped a banana chai smoothie while

we chatted about language, asian diaspora
and the Khmer Rogue.

HELLO GLORIOUS SUNNY WEATHER.

i bused south to vanessa's hometown today and she

showed me around the places she grew up

and we played with her pup, Barkley

(who indeed barked at me...alot)!

 we went to an adoption transparency justice

poetry event with her mom, aunt and cousin
(they are so incredibly down to earth, nice & lively).

the space was powerful, emotional and inspiring.

wo0owh0o0o for nice people

who are eager to connect

me with orgs, people, and places.

~*~*~*~**~*~

how amazing it has that

bumping into someone

at the airport can change/enrich your

career possibilities.

i'm "wearing many different hats."
i am:
a student, a teacher, an advocate, a colleague,
a peer, and a voice for Students of Color.

i am passionate about teaching, but i
need a mental and physical break after completing
this frustrating, unsustainable but still amazing program.
i've been looking into my next big adventure

(after relaxing, traveling and gardening~).

there are SO many organizations out there that i want
to be involved in: ones that delve into social justice,

community engagement and empowerment, global issues,

education, children, multicultural dialogue,
human rights, anti-oppression and anti-colonialism.

i think i now have more of the

skills, education, experience,
background and maturity

to make a + difference.

;) 

one org that i'm looking into is the one
i researched for my project on the
education and rights of refugee children
in the united states.

i'm gonna make it happen.

vanessa and i met up for brunch

(and ate some a-a-a-amazing food),

browsed around for sales downtown,

then sat on aquatic themed mosaic steps

and watched cargo ships sail across puget sound. 

we chatted about the usual (our dogs, somali pirates

and how schools can dehumanize people).

springtime weather is magical~

ashley and i went on a grand

hiking-beach-park adventure!

beautiful day on the

waterfront~ ~ ~

one.

day.

away.

from.

spring.

break.

it's nice that dominique

believes in me "lots and lots."

and that nadya "held her breath due to

such a welling of pride in me".

and that vanessa is my friend
and we're suffering through TPA together
but still making time for picnics on the lawn,
bahn mi, and real conversations.

and that i have 20 wonderful students

who i adore and i think i am slowly but

surely doing something good with them.
~

this is much more interesting than

how the actual lesson went.

i accidentally got black marker on my shirt and when
i tried to wash it out, i was surprised it bled
into rainbow colors! apparently, this is called
"chromatography."

16/19 of my students are non-native english speakers

and the linguistic diversity of our class is AMAZING.

i'm experimenting to see what happens

when i encourage them to speak in/share their

home language throughout the day:

*counting in somali when jump roping.

*A-B-C math patterns in amharic.

*singing happy birthday in mandarin

(i joined susanna for this one).

*sight words in spanish.

*and some phrases in vietnamese in the cafeteria.

ps: i now know how to say:

grandma, bird, and butt in Somali.
 ~

"i dream my painting

~

then i paint my dream."

"my mom has a hat with your picture on it."

 "how did she get my picture on her hat?"

*pauses, then with a bright smile*

susanna explains:

"because, when you were sleeping,

she took a picture of you outside your window.
 then she glued it on her hat."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
then, out of nowhere,
susanna pulls out a bag of confetti sequins,
and gives it to me.

today, at the library, when we were reading a book

about marine animals, i told the kindergartners
that male seahorses give birth to babies,
instead of the females.

you should have seen the look

on their faces.

:O    :O    :O     :O    :O