I have no idea what one I missed, because it didn't tell me afterward. I did this too quickly (about two minutes...if that) to remember all of the questions. Anyhow, I guess I'm allowed to stay.
You Passed the US Citizenship Test |
 Congratulations - you got 9 out of 10 correct! |
Cardo has a new iPod and has been obsessively using it lately. He's been checking out a bunch of You Tube videos and making me watch them too. Here's one he asked me to watch last night.
Other than this, I'm just taking it a bit easy, trying to get over this influenza/cold/horribleness. We're hoping to be able to make it out for a walk later, although we'll have to be pretty slow-going for me. My body is tired and my muscles are mutinying a bit (I did absolutely no exercise yesterday, other than walking up and down the stairs for class. Actually, I slept. This was the first time I can remember, since Pic's been here, that I've actually been able to rest when I was sick. Usually, I still have to be up, taking care of the apartment, Pic, my own neverending reading, responding, planning stuff. Yesterday, Pic was at school. I cut my day waaay short and left. I had only gotten three hours of sleep, from after three until after six, waking up too many times in between. When I got home yesterday, I slept for six hours. Then, I slept another eight hours last night! That's more sleep than I get in some months.
Anyhow, I'm going to go make some hot tea and lay down a bit more.
...suck. I'm sick. It came on today. It's not just allergies.
We got up at five this morning to get Cardo to the airport for a work trip. Pic dozed for some minutes in the car on the way home and then not again until we got back in the car at noon. Then, again, she dozed for a few minutes. Two of the three things I had planned today had to be cancelled, due to sickness and lack of childcare. Ugh.
I did eat today, though. Smoothies, pizza, breadsticks (these last won't be pictured...we didn't make them but bought them from zpizza).
Apple juice, bananas, mixed frozen fruit (pineapples, strawberries, mangos, papayas), wheat germ, honey.
Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough, fresh mozzarella, royal gala apples (from TJ's), prosciutto (from TJ's).
This dinner was brought to us tonight by the letters "T" and "J."
Here is an article I just read and felt strongly enough about to share with those interested. (I subscribe to a Wondertime newsletter, initially only because the abfab Catherine Newman writes her weekly blog Dalai Mama for them.)
The article is about kindergarten and different teaching philosophies. Also, there is a list of eleven ways to make a "good school great" -- again the focus is on early childhood education.
I've always been more than a little interested in elementary education (okay, any education), but I think about preschool, kindergarten and the other elementary years more often now that Pic is three (and a half). Recently a new-to-the-program woman with school-aged children (I think one is in elementary school) told me that her children didn't have PE. What?! Um, okay. How that's a good idea, I just don't know. I have to get outside at least a little everyday to feel healthy. Pic definitely does also. I am so frustrated with this mindset that our children need to be able to pass tests to be considered successful. What about Pic's physical well-being? I suppose one could argue that that is my domain, that I need to make sure she gets the exercise she needs, but I think it's unfair for children to not have a chance to get outside (or into some open space, if the weather sucks too much) to release pent-up energy. If Pic ends up not having PE in school, I'll definitely make sure she stays active, but I feel like this mindset (the no physical education...not my own) is setting kids up to be large lumps of inactive, unhappy people.
In the eleven tips on making a good school great section (which does have eleven tips...two are labeled #6), tip #4 is "Advocate for recess." Since when do we need to do this? Don't kids get recess? I know that it's been a while since I was an elementary-schooler (go Jets!), but has really that much changed?
One of the things I've been worried about is having to schedule every moment of our lives once Pic reaches elementary school. I don't want to be the kind of parent who has her child signed up for twelve activities at once. A parent who is also participating in her own twelve activities. This lifestyle might work for many, but I can't imagine it. I want Pic to have time to be a kid. To go to the park and play with friends. To do yoga and pilates on the living room floor with me (yes, I want Pic/Mamma time, but I don't think that's too much to ask).
I agree with Nelson's statement, "We'd [he and his wife] heard of schools where administrators boast, 'We teach our kids in kindergarten what other schools teach in third grade,' and thought that absurd. We didn't want to rush the academics." I don't understand the rush. Why can't my five-year-old be just that?
I don't know too much about these issues yet. I'm not an elementary school teacher and Pic has a couple of years before she joins the ranks of elementary schoolhood (word coining, not at its finest), but I doubt the situation is going to be rosier by the time she enters kindergarten.
After I've written all of this, there's another consideration (or many more). It's nice for Jack, Nelson's son, that his parents have the means to get him to another school, but not all parents can do this. I have a flexible schedule (and I hope to continue to have one) and I can plan to take Pic outside so she is physically active, in case she ends up in a school with no PE. Some parents work ridiculous amounts of hours (Cardo works more than full-time/40 hours a week, but I still think we're lucky) at one or more jobs. I'm feeling frustration just thinking that these parents are stuck with whatever local schools have to offer. I don't know that I'll ever have to deal with the situation, mainly because I have access to information and I have spare time that many other parents might not.
Also, I feel sympathy for teachers. Poke is a teacher and when she tells me the ridiculously meager amount of time she has to teach subjects such as history, I feel a bit of despair.
Okay, enough freewriting. I'd like to hear others' reactions to the articles or insight on anything I've written. I know that my ignorance and idealism are both great, so I need some education myself.
I’m back in the swing of things and I thought all was going well. The first half of my day was decent enough, but Mondays are just going to be ridiculously long and tiring.
Halfway through the day, I was starving. I had eaten a Lara Bar for breakfast, so I needed something substantial for lunch. Record Street closed, so getting a tuna sandwich there was out of the question. Although I think I always like my sandwiches at Jimmy Johns, I didn’t feel like going in there today. So, I trekked up north to the now happening (hello Greg Brady) part of campus to scope out the food choices. Actually, I already know them, but I was hoping that they had changed. No dice.
Starbucks and Keva Juice (smoothies and juice only, no pretzels) are located on the first floor of the Joe. On the second floor are Port of Subs and Tahoe Creamery. Although I have a deep love for ice cream, I just didn’t want it for lunch (no...really, I didn’t, but it does sound good right now). I also didn’t want Port of Subs. All too often when I think of Port of Subs and Subway, I think of bad service. The service I received today was actually good. The sandwich-makers were chipper and polite; they didn’t roll their eyes at the crowd of people queuing up in front of the counter. But…just the thought of a Port of Subs sandwich was depressing. I love sandwiches, I really do, but sometimes I’m not in the mood for something so generic. I think this is what depresses me about the Joe, everything is so new and generic (which really means so big-business brand-named, but generic just feels right). Everything is still too new. I know I whine about weird things, but I like places to feel lived in.
Anyhow, I’d much rather have had a sandwich from Massimo’s, but, alas, it wasn’t to be. So, I ordered my sandwich and trekked back down campus to sit in the empty seminar room, eat, read and write.
I called Cardo during my break and he had bad news for me. He had just gotten an e-mail saying that he needed to go to Oakland on Thursday. This frustrates me for so many reasons. One: he was told that he would be notified of any trips a month in advance. I don’t know what the crap calendar these people are looking at, but three days does not a month make. Two: Coach J and I have our first day of our internship that day. Thursday is the one day I need Cardo to have off so he can be a parent and watch the kids. Hello! One. Freaking. Day. Just one day a week. Three: it seems like it’s always my work that has to be pushed aside and put off when it comes to scheduling issues. (Cardo actually off-handedly remarked on Sunday that things are hard to schedule now that we have a kid. NOW? Um, okay, three-and-a-half-years later.) Four: did I mention how freaking last-minute this is? I thought so.
I should stop and take a breath now. A friend is going to sit with the kidlets Thursday. We don’t have to disguise them as tiny high-schoolers and smuggle them in. And, I should mention, Cardo is a good papí. He’s supportive of me and my plans. He works full time and then some. I imagine he spends more time with family than many other people who are the primary moneymakers for their families. I don’t mean to sound so annoyed with him, but sometimes I am annoyed. Maybe not so much with him (although that is part of it), but with the situation…with my measly paycheck, my many years of measly paychecks ahead of me, my exhaustion, my impatience…. But, really, I’m still shaking my head about his “now that we have a kid” comment. Ah, well.
Well, internetland, thank you for letting me vent (not that you had much choice…but if you made it this far, thank you). I’m going to go upstairs and lay like a useless lump.
Before I do that, though, I’ll leave you with Pic’s choices for who could watch her Thursday. She first suggested Auntie C and Uncle A. However, they will both be working at that time. A couple of hours later, as we were walking to Ross to look for shoes for her, she suggested, “Bert and Ernie can watch me!” We’ll drop you off in New York first thing Thursday morning, lovie.
I know this first one looks nothing like copious. Simple: rice pilaf, portabello mushrooms I really needed to use (I sauteed these) and copious amounts of chopped spinach. Oh, and a healthy sprinkle of wheat germ.
All hail the copiousness! When Nana and Papa were here recently, Cardo and I made dinner one night. Bruschetta: both tomato/basil and cannellini. Guacamole (made by the talented husband) and portabello sandwiches with mesclun and sauteed green onions. It was good but entirely too much for us to eat. We had a few bruschette left over. Actually, I could go for some of this right now, especially because I just ate sugar on a stick (an orange Tootsie Roll Pop).
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