"Lightness of One's Dreams"

"One loses, as one grows older, something of the lightness of one's dreams; one begins to take life up in both hands, and to care more for the fruit than the flower, and that is no great loss perhaps."
-W.B. Yeats

I jokingly posted this FB status awhile ago, "I'm teaching 45 of my sophomores how to play kickball today. I so did not see this happening in my 5 year plan..."


I am learning that while measuring myself next to my own plans...success and fail should not be the only vocabulary used..."different" and "well, that's interesting" can also be used.
 
As I look forward to the next five years, W. B. Yeats words play in my mind.  With all of life's uncertainties, I do know one thing...I will keep dreaming while taking up life with both Hands.

How to Properly Eat Fish

1. When your students excitedly ask if you like fish...place a grin on your face and nod your head.
2. Wait expectantly for the food to arrive...
3. Have your students eat first (this ensures the fish finishes cooking in the soup and allows someone else to find the head)
4. Carefully use your chopsticks to find some fish in the huge bowl of soup in the center of the table an entire arm's distance away.
5. Place fish on bowl of rice. 
6. Talk with a student while carefully inspecting your piece for gills, eyes, and scales.
7. Place fish in mouth - DO NOT SWALLOW!
8. Chew...while chewing search for bones with your tongue.
9. Upon finding bones spit them out onto the table.
10. Repeat steps 4-9
11. Walk home in the freezing cold
12. Spend the rest of the afternoon trying to cough up the bone stuck in your throat
13. Go to a team dinner and choke in front of everyone.
14. Eat a ton of rice hoping to dislodge the fish bone...
15. Write a blog

Joy

I thought I understood the words, "Be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have."  However, maybe I didn't.

In America, people often commented on how I love to smile...
In China, people often comment on how I love to smile...

My response: I have joy and hope...and that joy causes me to smile.

I then ask them why they think I smile.  Most of the time I hear something like, "Foreigners are always happy" or "Maybe your life is easy and nothing difficult happens."

A smile can be the opportunity to give an answer for the hope that I have.

Denial

Tonight, I worked with three students who are going on to compete in a city/region wide English contest. 

Their challenge: Speak for 3 minutes about a Word that has Changed the World.

One of my students chose the word Denial.  She wrote that through people denying us and even self denial great things have come (Steve Jobs being fired from Apple etc).  However, the translation of denial from Chinese to English missed some connotation causing the native English speakers to question her usage of the word.

We spent two hours tossing around ideas for a new word...criticism, overcoming denial, failure, etc etc.  There was no word, no English word at least, that would capture her idea.  However, the word denial in its base form worked...it just had connotation and grammatical baggage that made it unacceptable.  So we talked, debated, and thought and thought and thought.

Finally, I simply said that we needed to acknowledge the word's failure and point out the weakness before the judges do.  By acknowledging the weakness, admitting the failure, we then became able to use the word...without its baggage.

And isn't that true in life?  When we have a weakness or a shortcoming, we need to acknowledge the weakness and admit the failure.  We can then take the good that is there and move forward...working with what we have but also drawing from our strengths.

We need to stop denying that we have shortcomings...rather, we need to face them, own them, and well...Just Do It.

Popcorn...the pop, pop, and burn.

Dear World,

 There are some universal facts that are undisputed and they are as follows:

• Nails on a chalkboard is a horrendous sound.
• Burnt popcorn is a horrible smell.

For this post, I will focus in on, "Burnt popcorn is a horrible smell."

For those of you who know me, you know I like popcorn.  For those of you who know me well, you know I depend on air, water, and popcorn for physical survival.  Sooooo, when I got to China I knew there was an issue to be dealt with.

I made it about a month without popcorn (the buttery microwave popcorn was NOT a good substitution for my stove top version).  And then, Laura showed me the way.  There are popcorn kernels to be bought and popped.  YAY!!

Step 1: Purchase and Take Home

Step 2: Popping on the stove

Step 3 (optional): Failure

Step 4: Try Again (a few days later with a little research done)

Step 5:  Success!!!

And that is a fine example of my life in China...sometimes it takes a little more effort, time, research, and energy...but it generally can be done!!