Last Friday I arrived back “home” in Singapore to glorious hot, sunny weather and a leisurely day at the condo capped off with an evening walk through Emerald Hill and dinner and lime juice at Warong M. Nasir Indonesian Food, one of my favorite inexpensive restaurants in the “hood.”

Today is National Day in Singapore and since my body’s still in travel adjustment mode (wide awake at 2 a.m. and again at 4, then desperate for a nap in late afternoon), I’ll take a few minutes on this holiday to return to my blog, hoping to create a new rhythm for blogging this second year in Singapore. As summer vacation wraps up, I’m reminded of the blessings in my life. Among these: an abundance of work that satisfies and challenges, and time to enjoy travel, family and friends, baseball, good coffee, and reading.  

June travel took me to Phuket, Thailand for three relaxing days soon after school was out. Summer is off-season in Phuket. This translates to no crowds and (relatively) inexpensive luxury accommodations. The Indigo Pearl was a true gem of a hotel – my room even included a bathtub on the deck!

Since the weather was iffy, I had time to sleep, read, walk, and discover the quiet of my location on the island, Nai Yang Beach. Unexpected pleasures included meeting the owner of La Maison while ducking out of the rain for coffee, then returning that evening for green curry with vegetables and bananas floating in warm coconut milk, the breath-holding quiet in anticipation of each night’s sunset, collecting unusual shells on my beach walks then happening upon Thai messages written in the sand, and the kind hospitality of the Indigo Pearl’s staff as they drove me to a local pharmacy for medication to sooth infected insect bites. My memories of Phuket are now etched by a handful of scars on my lower legs, the kindness of the locals,

sobering reminders of the devastation this area       experienced during the 2004 tsunami,

and baffling names for cafes and massage businesses.  I mean, a restaurant in Thailand called “Aloha” that serves Thai and Swedish food?

A Thai massage hut with an unfortunate name?

Summer travel also included:

–  five days in New Orleans for the American Library Association’s annual conference (barely broke a sweat in the Nawlins’ heat – thanks to life in sticky Singapore), and a side trip to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to tour the DeGrummond Collection

–  three days in Toronto where I met with the editorial and writing team at Rubicon as we worked on Interface, an exciting literature-based project for teen readers (stay tuned for more about this)

–  Four (or was it five?) days in Vancouver, BC to fulfill the required 330 days “out of country” for income tax purposes

–   And never-enough-time in Bellingham and Seattle to enjoy family, friends, WWU colleagues, and Piggy, my nephew Trevor’s generous-sized (and appropriately named) cat!

I miss you already, Summer of 2011!

My promise when we moved to Singapore was to maintain a blog — hoping it would allow me to keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues Stateside AND serve as a way to chronicle this new life. I got off to a rather decent start . . . and then teaching took over.

Thanks to those of you who followed along those first few months and apologies for becoming a blog drop-out.  My 2011 goal is to make time for more than teaching, including re-igniting the desire and B-I-C (butt in chair — thank you Debbie Wiles for that phrase!) requirement to kick start this blog again. I begin with this short but hearty salute to twenty ten . . . a year that expanded my notion of what I call home, a year that brought me full-circle as a teacher.

[Part 1 of] Ten (new) pleasures from this past year:

1) Middle Schoolers — Goofy, smart, roller-coaster-ride savvy.  They’ve taught me far more than I’ve taught them.  Who’d have imagined I’d look forward to a 5 a.m. alarm clock five mornings a week.  But I do and much of that is because of the gift of middle schoolers.

2) Top-notch Teaching Partner — Reminded of the rewards from collaboration, this teaching journey works because of my colleague/partner, Brian Arleth.  The hours devoted to planning, revising our plans, creating curriculum, sharing the read-alouds, discovering what engages (and doesn’t engage), and generally leaning on each other, have energized me professionally and personally.  Kudos to our administrators who created this partnership.  I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather teach with side-by-side at SAS than Brian.

3)  Life Without a Car — The MRT (mass rapid transit) has become my favorite form of transportation — reliable, clean, efficient, inexpensive, convenient, etc., etc. etc. Between the trains and buses (which we rarely use since we live .3 km from the closest MRT train station), we can get nearly everywhere in Singapore (as long as we head home by 11:30 p.m. — trains stop running before midnight EXCEPT on New Year’s Eve when they extend service to 2 a.m.).  It’s my “office on wheels” every afternoon as I either respond to student writing or read uninterrupted during the 30-40 minute journey from school to our condo.  Owning a car in Singapore is ungodly expensive, it’s a hassle to negotiate traffic, parking, auto taxes.  The MRT allows me anonymous time to work, people watch, rest.  I’ve become a mass transit addict!

4)  Bling — It’s everywhere — shoes, handbags, clothing, Christmas trees — and it’s not just for evening!  While I haven’t (yet) succumbed to too much sparkle, I find it’s creeping into my wardrobe (or at least into my shopping taste).  My newest flip-flops have a gem or two but not quite the glitter of the Singapore set.  I’ve become attracted to the sparkle and will need to make some adjustments when I return to the States (how will it go with my Bellingham fleece?).  For now, I’m enjoying the gemology, curious how much of it I’ll own in the next year and a half.

5)  Shoe Obsession — For the fashionistas in SE Asia (and also in Australia), shoes are the thing (second only to short, skinny dresses).  The higher the heel, the better. Or so it appears.  While I’m not a convert (not enough skinny — or balance — in me), it makes for good people watching.

❧                ❧                ❧                ❧                ❧                ❧                ❧

Since this blog entry has exceeded my intentions (that’s what happens when I wait two months between writing), I’ll save the last five 2010 pleasures for the next blog entry (to come very soon, I promise).  If you’re still reading, thanks for your interest and welcome to a brand new year . . .

Highlights of this month include: a blissful four days in Bali (see previous post), weekend ventures around Singapore (including this afternoon’s prowl around Chinatown), Singapore American School events (most notable was last week’s high school musical production of “Grease” — remarkably talented cast, including a surprise appearance by Tim Stuart, the HS principal singing “Teen Angel”), parent-teacher conferences, and 8th graders’ Halloween costumes.  

My commitment to get more sleep means I now try to turn out the light by midnight.  I need to make a new resolution for November (light’s out by 11 p.m.?) because the only time I meet this goal is on Friday nights when I’m so exhausted, I can barely keep my eyes open on my MRT ride home from school.

So, in an effort to end October in style — and before midnight turns into November, I’ll blog-out “early” with more “voices” of my 8th graders in their assorted Halloween garb.  Enjoy!

It’s a privilege to share story with kids, even “big kids.” And it’s a pleasure when I observe teen readers already picking up Ms. Lord’s Rules because they know and trust this author will deliver a good read.

Silvya already asked what I was going to read next.  I don’t know.  For now, I’ll linger in the afterglow of this book for a few days, knowing the commitment of time for read aloud and response has been rewarded.

Don’t let anyone tell you 8th graders are too old to succumb to story!

– “I love you, Katniss!” shouted at the top of his lungs by 13-year-old Siddhanth (better known as Sid) as he lunged off the Tower and plunged into the sea at Telunas a week ago.  This is a kid who not only devoured The Hunger Games trilogy, he bravely admitted to the entire class that he read–and loved–all of the Twilight books (which set off quite a commotion — and permission for a few of my other guys to admit they read ‘em too!).  Sid is an avid reader, a gifted poet, and he lights up a stage as an actor/actress (as we discovered during skit night at Telunas when he stole the show performing a female-jive version of Little Red Riding Hood).  Sid’s a gutsy kid who’s earning acceptance for his unique talents – I’m fortunate he’s in my class.

– Catching Mallari under my desk when I returned from lunch.  When I asked what she was doing, she sheepishly admitted she’d “stolen” our one-and-only copy of Cynthia Lord’s Touch Blue because she needed to find out what was happening to Aaron and Tess, the main characters. Don’t (ever) let anyone tell you that 8th graders are too old to listen to a story, especially one with characters they care about.  Yesterday afternoon as I hustled to return a book to the library minutes before class, another student stopped me on the stairs:  ”Are you going to read Touch Blue today?”  Our ritual in RLA 8 is the read aloud three times a week — but now that we’re just six chapters from the end, they want more.  How satisfying is that?

– Random delivery of mid-day treats dropped off by some of my students taking an International Cooking Class as an elective.  Yesterday’s delivery was still warm stollen.  A few weeks ago, Silvya stopped by with some cabbage and meat pinched pies on a paper towel and since I wasn’t there when they arrived, she left me a note.  Nice to know who to thank for these goodies.  As the kids try out recipes from around the world, I’m the lucky recipient on the days they make too much.  And most of the time, the treats are rather tasty.  Most of the time.

]]> http://nancyjjohnson.com/blog/blog/2010/10/02/a-few-more-pleasures/feed/ 3 http://nancyjjohnson.com/blog/blog/2010/09/26/thats-what-i-call-a-field-trip/ http://nancyjjohnson.com/blog/blog/2010/09/26/thats-what-i-call-a-field-trip/#comments Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:23:54 +0000 nancyj http://nancyjjohnson.com/blog/?p=244 Spent three days last week accompanying the 8th grade A-siders (about 100 kids) to Telunas Beach, Indonesia for our annual CWW trip.  Classroom Without Walls is the mother of all field trips — three days, two nights of team/community building at a “rustic resort” in the gorgeous Riau Islands (here’s where rustic means no hot water for showers, cabins supported on stilts, no tv/computer, and the hard-to-find-in-Singapore power of solitude).

Middle schoolers at SAS are divided into A, B, and C “sides,” groups of 100+ kids on each side.  Last week all A-side teams experienced their CWW trip.  This Wed.-Fri. the B-side will journey away and the following week it’ll be time for the C-siders to travel.  Our theme of “no one is an island” wove through every aspect of our trip, from sharing buses and long boats, to the no-iPod, no mp3, no gaming consoles rule, to large group activities such as skit night, marshmallow roasting, jumping off the tower, and tie-dying t-shirts (that’s Nikita and Manasvi in the photo), to small group collaborative “games” such as water relay, digital scavenger hunt, spider web, mad-lib skit prep, and hazardous waste challenge.

We ate well, played together, solved problems, took risks, laughed a lot, and returned home with myriad photos, fond memories, and suntans, bug bites, and the infamous tetherball jammed finger as evidence of three full days of wondrously hard “work.”

For your pleasure . . . a few more photos of my first CWW:

Other pleasures from last week included a remarkable Saturday night Band Exchange Gala Concert at SAS where we experienced 45 minutes of lively performance by the combined middle school bands from the Singapore American School and the International School of Bangkok.  Early into the second piece in the program, I turned to Fred and asked if he’d ever heard a more inspired middle school band concert.  No clarinet squeaks or wayward percussion “movements.”  These kids rehearsed with focus and performed with skill and passion.  We agreed this topped any school band concert we’ve heard  . . . ever. Kudos to the over 130 students and teacher directors for the hours invested in making beautiful music.  The written program included a quote by composer Malcolm Arnold, “Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is.”  Observing these talented teens from two international schools, both on stage and afterwards as they reveled in a job well done, reminded me of the many ways humans “speak” and find connections, even from richly diverse lives.

Other recent pleasures include:

– A trip to the Furniture Mall on Beach Street preceded by a spectacular, inexpensive lunch (S$26.50 for four = US$19.80, complete with four entrees and lime juice for everyone) at an undisclosed location [promises to Jimmy for not divulging the name of this secret hideout restaurant for fear it'll be overtaken by Westerners. Can't say I blame his concern.  This place is plenty crowded with locals.].  Fortified by lunch, we bought a bed for our guest room (finally!). After Saturday’s delivery we’re ready to welcome guests!

– A birthday celebration where we joined Gretchen, another “newbie” colleague as she celebrated her 30th birthday accompanied by her Mum from Down Under and loads of SAS teachers.  The party started at Morton’s (love those happy hour steak sandwiches), then proceeded to the Loof rooftop bar, and then continued somewhere else, but us “oldsters” only lasted as long as the first two venues.  From all accounts, the party finally wound down around 3 a.m.  I think I remember a time when I stayed up that late for Saturday night events.  Not happening nowadays unless I have insomnia . . . or am in route overseas.

Happy 30th birthday Gretchen!

What’s with the “break in the action” post title?  Two reasons . . . Earlier this week I managed to walk right into a steel laptop carts.  Cumbersome, heavy, and right in the way, the last two piggies on my left foot hit that danged cart as I hustled to leave a colleague’s classroom following a morning meeting.  By day’s end my little toe was a motley shade of grey-purple and nearly double in size.  Here’s the good news/bad news about a broken toe.  Bad news: It takes time to heal and there’s not much that can be done except apply ice for swelling, ingest ibuprofen for pain, and avoid curbs, crowds, and a school full of kids.  Good news: My shoe wardrobe in Singapore includes variant versions of flip-flops and sandals.  Lots of room for toes to breath . . . and heal.

The other “break” in the action was a day off from school yesterday due to the Muslim holiday Hari Raya Puasa, or Eid, marking the end of Ramadan, and celebrating the conclusion of the holy month’s thirty days of dawn-to-sunset fasting.  In Singapore it’s a public holiday — no school (public or private) and lots of family festivities.  Fred and I took advantage of the day by visiting Istana (meaning “palace”), the official residence of the President of the Republic of Singapore.  It’s only open five days during the year and, lucky us, it’s just a short walk from where we live.  The sprawling 100 acres includes glorious theme gardens, numerous bungalow type buildings and the grand Government House that is used mostly for ceremonial and entertainment functions.  It’s a “white house” of sorts — set in a magnificent location. A lovely way to discover more about our Singapore home on a much-needed day off.

There’s no denying it . . . The Hunger Games Trilogy Revolution is alive and well in Room M126.  Every single copy available (from my library, to the entire SAS library system, to my colleagues’ libraries) has been checked out.  Kids are sneak reading in math, in social studies, even during our writing focus lessons (dang!).  And, the obsession has hit both my gal and guy readers, including some hold-outs who tried to avoid the hype.  Now they’ve become outsiders if they haven’t read (or aren’t currently reading) this trilogy.  Even Jane, who much prefers James Thurber, put aside her thick collection of Thurber’s short stories this afternoon when a copy of The Hunger Games became available.  Thank you Suzanne Collins for creating readers.  And thank you John Mason at Scholastic for dropping a copy of Mockingjay into the (air)mail.  It lasted a whole 10 seconds on my desk before Rohan spied it.  I expect he’ll be at least half way into the novel by morning.  Let’s just hope these kids get some sleep.  We have other work to do.  Yeah right.