Philadelphia Murals

One of the coolest and most unique parts of Philadelphia is its murals. Each one tells a story, builds community, and discourages graffiti. I had expected to see a great deal of vandalism, but I believe that the city's murals do an excellent job of discouraging "casual artists". They are one of my favorite parts of Philadelphia. Here are a few examples. Or, here is an entire database of them.

Snow and suppositories

Tonight was a delightful evening! Sarah and I attended a free performance of a musical theater class!! It was a small group of five actors/actresses who have been taking classes this fall. One of the students is in our home group, and she invited us to the performance. There were several solo acts, as well as a group improv activity where students weren't given a scene or goal or characters--only some chairs and two tables...oh, and they had to SING ALL THEIR WORDS. I can't imagine how hard that is. The whole event was quite entertaining! It made me want to be in another musical. Not that I'll actually follow through with it, but it's one of those feelings that pops up every now and then to remind you of your interests. If only there were all the time in the world!

BUT THEN! While walking back to Sarah's apartment, WE SAW SNOW!!! There were at first just a few flakes, then more, then it actually felt like winter for a minute! (the day started off with 51-degree temperatures, mind you) It was wonderful! Granted, it wasn't the foot of snow that Holland received today, but it's a start.

In a way I can pretend I have a snow day tomorrow because I have the day off! I have never celebrated immaculate conception as I will tomorrow. Can't wait!

With my day off, I hope to do some picture organization. I'm writing this down today so I'm more motivated to do so tomorrow. So, expect a picture or three!

In other news, Sarah found $20 on the street! I found $0.33 today, but somehow it seems just a little less exciting than her success.

Something else that happened today was less exciting: I had a doctor's appointment. Not just any doctor--a rectal specialist. I have been getting some blood from time to time in my stool, and my med school girlfriend Sarah encouraged me to get it checked out. It turns out I have a small blood clot in there. After several less-than-comfortable probings, he gave me some suppository pills to insert daily and said to come back in a month. Oh, the inconvenience of it all!

Conferences

I'm sitting here in my computer lab at St. Ignatius School, where parent/teacher conferences are going on all over the building. It feels strange--to be a teacher required to be in the building, but not really having any conferences! I had one parent stop in to check on her son's progress. I also went to another one where there was a student who had trouble in my class last week, but that parent didn't show (this perhaps explains more behind the student's behavior). As a specialist, I am required to be at school, but I have two schools to be at! So, I've been using the time to update the lab.

GEEK ALERT: I uninstalled the newest version of Internet Explorer. last week I installed IE7 on all the computers in the Windows XP lab, but according to my testing, IE7 takes approximately 7 seconds longer to load the same page than IE6! When you're dealing with students with a short attention span who have never dealt with dial-up and a world without microwaves, it's hard to wait 10 seconds for the class homepage to come up! There are a few reports out there about IE7 and its speed. Personally, I'm a Firefox fan, but I'd like to stick with IE for now. We'll see if a fix comes along before I upgrade though.

It's been kind of fun hanging around school tonight, however. I've been able to have casual conversations with my colleagues about subjects from swiss army knives to floffels to youtube to polycarbonate molding!

Yesterday my principal had asked me if I could take morning yard duty for her since she had an early morning meeting. You see, when the kids come in the morning, they run around the school yard for about 20 minutes before school opens for them. The principal is the only adult out there, and I imagine it can get busy out there before school (although things are generally more quiet early on rather than later).

Anyway, I was a little nervous about how things would go. I usually only have 15 students who I am responsible for at a time, and I didn't know how they would handle the dynamic of me addressing the school at one time. Well, I don't see how it could have gone better! Some of the things I had going for me was I know almost all the kids--even the kids I don't teach know me because I come into their classroom to work on their computer. I found my voice got more firm and had more authority in it. Kinda cool? I think so.

The biggest fulfilling part of the experience was that I felt the kids respect me. Sure, they may talk in my class from time to time, but they listen when I want them to. That, above everything else, makes me feel successful at my job.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Seth and I made a shopping trip tonight for food, an electric blanket, IBC root beer, a candle, and a Christmas tree! It looks great in the corner of our living room. I made an impulse purchase and bought a red poinsettia to go with our curtains. Now we just need some ornaments...

I'll be home for Christmas

My official flight information for returning home for Christmas is as follows:
Friday, December 22
United Flight 883 from PHL to ORD 9:30-11:56AM EST
United Flight 5633 from ORD to GRR 2:27-3:17PM EST

Monday, January 1
United Flight 5623 from GRR to ORD 3:51-4:54PM EST
United Flight 148 from ORD to PHL 7:00-9:09PM EST


Woo hoo!!!

Battlefield

This weekend I think I got to witness the purest college football in the country: the annual Army/Navy game. The players who play on these teams aren't after money or fame...they're on their way to serve their country! They just like to play. Both teams were very disciplined (few penalties, little to minimal celebrations, and complete silence for two ceremonial songs after the game before celebrating). The seniors for Navy had quite the accomplishment: they've beaten Air Force and Army all 8 times they've played them in the last four years.

As for the game itself, Navy won. Despite not having real personal connections to the game, I got into it! There were over 3000 cadets from the army and 3000 midshipmen from the navy all in uniform. Each school took a turn getting on the field and standing at attention. They were all very impressive! I felt honored to have them serve me and my country, and even undeserving of their hard work, perseverance, and protection. It brought the Iraq war closer to home too as I pictured them giving their energy, blood, sweat, and tears for others. In a way, it's a beautiful example of how we as Christians ought to serve other people.

We were all FREEZING cold, however. Friday was 70 degrees; Saturday was 40 with 30+MPH winds. And we were out there from 11AM to 6PM. Yikes! It was well worth it, however...I'll probably never get another opportunity to see something like this again. In terms of rivalries, there aren't many more deeply rooted in tradition or intensity. What a day. More pictures here.

Today is nearing to a close, but it was a very good day. Just overall, I felt really strong in a deep way. Filled with peace, patience, contentment. Praise God!

Michigan was kept out of the national championship game officially today. Despite losing to the best team all year by only three points, they were shuffled off to the Rose Bowl. Here's more about what I think about the idea.

Weird weather and Genevers

Today is the 1st of December, and I walked to my car in 66 degree weather at 7:20AM. This afternoon, wind will pick up to 45MPH with thunderstorms! I got a school cancellation notice that all West Michigan schools are closed today, too. Is there a better first snow day than a Friday? I think not. We'd better soak up the balmy Philadelphia weather while we can (high of 50 tomorrow).

Both schools had the Internet go out this week. Sorrows simply needed a modem restart, and St. Ignatius had an issue with Comcast. They fixed the problem last night, and we're up and running again today! Almost all of my assignments are web-based, so it made things more exciting yesterday. Kids were disappointed, but not frustrated, which excited me.

My time with Chief and Kevin VanderKlok was wonderful. We went out to the Continental and, of course, Franklin Fountain. Our conversation ranged from Anna's musical abilities (Chief's daughter) to the book Freakonomics to Camp Geneva marketing and development. They were in town for a national camp conference, and it was wonderful to see them. Three hours went by quickly!

Tomorrow I'm going to the Army/Navy game! A few friends from Jefferson got tickets, so four of us are going. I'm excited! Since my Grandpa De Boer was in the army, I'm going to be rooting for them. It's not Michigan/Ohio State, but it's still a classic rivalry.

Sarah is dancing tonight in an Indian night at Jefferson. She's been practicing with her Indian friends for it this past month. It's a whole night of Indian entertainment, food, and fun.