you thinking eating popcorn for dinner is bad? 

i ate crackers + brie with raspberry jam

plus a slice of dark chocolate cake for dinner..

:X

hanauma bay 

is a volcanic crater with a tropical reef inside.

this place seems too good to be true.

spam for breakfast

spam musubi for lunch

 we had a nice view of diamond head volcano.

i've never had other people acknowledge and

thank me for being brave before.

it all feels like a blur now, but
i somehow led my cohort into what i consider to
be the most authentic, honest, emotional
and vulnerable but powerful
conversation of the entire program so far.

in that moment, i decided that i wasn't going to
continue letting people use their privilege of
"discomfort" as an excuse to silence others anymore.

 ~  ~  ~  ~

"what's the news? what happened?"

"well, linda basically started a revolution in class today."

today, we made interactive cards that "hug back"

for FRIENDSHIP/VALENTINE'S DAY

[note the teeth along the mouth, to the right]

it's a nice feeling

to see how these dots/people/ideas
are all starting to connect, finally.
.... ... .. ......  ...   .. .

woohoo for productive snowy days at cafes!

how to nurse yourself back to health within 2 days:

1). eat mini saltine crackers

2) swallow cloves of garlic on a spoonful of honey

3) take 7+ naps (hopefully, your sickness

falls on a weekend)

4) make ginger, honey & lemon tea
5) watch snow falling outside~*~*~

once, morgan and i lived amongst chickens and
didn't see any other humans for 4 days.

my CT went to an all day Professional Development

so... i taught an entire day of
kindergarten by myself!

~*~*~*~*~

"i just love watching you grow."

- cathy, my CT
:)

waiheke island

we had a guest speaker who

shared with us concrete strategies/ideas

for culturally responsive teaching.

she had asked her students' parents to come in
to share their own "survivor stories."
one mother who survived living
in the amazon rainforest came into the classroom
and told stories of what it was like to
live off the land, hear screeching monkeys all day,
and travel across raging rivers.

i think i'm doing to do something

inspired by this for my

COMMUNITY, FAMILY, POLITICS ACTION PROJECT~*~

"if you bite the head first, you'll be smarter.

if you bite the tail first, you'll run faster."

i am way too comfortable right now to study..

---> sleepytime

happy lunar new year!
新年快乐

year of the horse (my year!)

to prevent my passing out in class,

i drank a cup of coffee.

it tasted like bitter foam >____<

then natalie and i wandered around the

drama department, trying to find the

pool that is supposedly in the basement.

it wasn't.

the highlight of my day was when
i got to draw a tomato boy on our
poster for kindergarten math standards..

the nasturtiums my sister and i planted grew flower buds

and my lobelias & johnny jump up violas germinated!

 as i was walking to class this morning,

i found this slip of paper on the ground.

it asks: "what nourishes you?"

finally after 8 hours of unproductive classes,

we had 2 panel talks where we learned some

things that i actually feel interested in:

1. CIAR (Council on Islamic-American Relations)

came and gave an insightful and relevant overview

of prayer norms, holidays, and Muslim families'

attitudes about schooling, the role of teachers,

& practices to be more inclusive of Muslim students

in our classroom. then, i realized i should stop
feeding my kindergartners marshmallows.

2. D. led a workshop about healthy gender learning

& how purple crayons can cause trauma/identity crises.
~ ~ ~ ~
on days like these, i can think to myself:
"this is exactly what I want to be learning
right now and these are the exact conversations
i've been craving to have."

i went jogging for the first time in months.

as i was trying not to get hit by a car,

i suddenly re-realized how GREEN it is here. 

/\/\/\ moss breathes + grows on every surface /\/\/\

i don't actually have a freckle by my mouth.

i kinda want one (a small one).