Babysitting

I babysat for my adorable neighbor again last night. Look at this adorable bee!! Isn't she just the cutest!? She is now six months old and so much fun. She and I had fun together playing with her toys and singing but mostly just hanging out on my bed and relaxing. She was cooing and rolling around and just so darn cute! The sweetest part though was when her mother came to pick her up. She was all smiles then! She laughed out loud, she was so happy to see her. I can only imagine how rewarding that is as mom...
Sweet!

So, one of my students gave me a lovely silver planter and some bulbs for Christmas. The packaging said to plant the bulbs by February and by spring I would have a bowl full of lovely paper white Narcissus. These are basic directions and a no-brainer for a gardener type but I am a city gal. I had no idea even which end of the bulb went down into the soil! After trial and error (planting them correctly the first time, digging them up and planting them upside down that then realizing my error and digging them up again and finally planting them correctly!) I finally figured it out. Here is what they look like as of today. :) I think they might actually bloom! I am having less luck with my orchids, though. I got one from a student as an end of the year gift and another from a friend in May. They both had lovely flowers on them when I received them as gifts but they eventually fell off and have yet to return. When I moved my Narcissus to a brighter room I decided to try to revive my orchids. I think they are still alive since the leaves are still green (even if they are a bit droopy) so I watered them thoroughly and placed them in a sunny spot. Hopefully they will bloom again.

Post job fair

I had no idea. No idea that the job fair was going to be so damn intense! No idea that candidates were going to have colorful brochures instead of resumes. No idea that they would have CD roms instead of resumes. No idea that they would have entire websites devoted to every detail about their teaching careers!! Who knew?? Not me, that's for sure! It was overwhelming. And then almost every minute of the day was taken up--between interviews and school presentations and reviewing school details and benefits online to talking to other candidates to writing letters of interest to writing letters to state disinterest to looking at school brochures to reviewing notes with questions to ask... on and on and ON. It went straight through from 7 to way beyond 6 every day. Completely exhausting!!! I have been home now for a couple of days and I have yet to fully recover from the whole ordeal. It was a lot. But in the end, I got 3 offers!!!!! One in Amman, Jordan; one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and one in Manila, Philippines. I thought about it and made my decision. Next year I will be living here!! I accepted their offer yesterday morning! Since that decision has been made, though, adopting a child is obviously on hold for at least one year. I will go ahead and finish my home study (I already paid for it for one, but also because I can take it with me) but I'm not sure when I will resume exactly. I may adopt while living there or I do it when I return. I really don't know. But what I do know is I think this blog needs to come to a temporary close until I am back in mommy-mode. Perhaps I will start another one to keep folks posted on my exotic Southeast Asian travels? But if not, it has been really great getting to know so many of you through the blog world and I wish you all peace and joy! Ingat! (Take care in Tagalog)

Home Visit, Job Fair and Cards

I had my second home study today. We met at my house this time. I have to admit, as much as I didn't like the idea, I did clean this place pretty thoroughly. I didn't have any time to get to the grocery store so I'm glad he turned down my offer for something to drink cause all I had was one measly diet soda and water (tap water!). All in all it was pretty painless. He just wanted to chat about my autobiography and take a look around my house. The next meeting he wants to meet one of my references. We scheduled that for March.


Meanwhile, I heard from one of the schools in Hong Kong that there are no more primary openings there. That was disappointing since my friend and I were hoping to both get offers at the same place. But, on a happy note, I got an email from another school requesting that we set up an interview ahead of time! So, I have one guaranteed interview for the job fair! Whoo-hoo! Unfortunately it's first grade which I really didn't want to teach and not very high paying, but it is at one of the schools I am interested in so I can't complain. Gosh, I have so much to do to get ready for the fair! I need to buy something to interview in since I am too fat for most of my clothes, update my resume and xerox several copies of it, review the benefits packages of the schools, get passport photos made to attach to my resume, make a list of things to pack, and figure out how I am getting to the airport. It's strange to think that in less than a week I will know if I am going to be moving abroad and where. Of course, it figures that now that I love my house, my social life is great and I am happy living in DC, the thought of leaving is much more difficult. But in ten years when I look back I think it will be cool to say I worked in Asia or Africa. Besides, it's good to shake things up now and again, lest you get stagnant. Being forced out of your comfort zone is great way to grow.


These are the cards I created for the swap. Simple. I can't wait to get mine!

Maria's Visit

What a fun weekend! Having a friend in town is always the best way (for me) to get out and see the local sights in my own city that I pass by (and ignore) every day. DC really has so much to offer and it reminded me to enjoy it while I can. We started out on Saturday at Eastern Market, a cool flea market with everything from homemade sea glass jewelry to colorful shawls from Ecuador to Indian curry hummus. We walked around, picked up spinach crepes from a street vendor for lunch, got 10 minute chair massages, and really just had a lot of fun people watching.

(here we are at Eastern Market)



Then we went to the Anacostia Museum in time for a 30 minute guided tour on the history of the area. The museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, is located in the neighborhood of Anacostia. This museum is supposed to be for African American history and culture. According to their website, it's there to "explore American history, society, and creative expression from an African American perspective." I had never been there before so both of us were really looking forward to it.

(Maria in front of the museum)


(the cool sculpture up close)

(I'm getting pretty good at getting pics without using the self timer)

(well, most of the time... Blair Witch Project?)


What a disappointment. The museum is so small you can practically see the whole thing when you step in the front door! And although we really enjoyed the tour of the current exhibit, East of the River: Continuity and Change (which taught us about an area of Anacostia from it's Native American roots to the present day) there was nothing else there. I have never been to a museum that small. And then that fact that it is located in Anacostia, about 20 minutes from the other Smithsonian museums - deep in Anacostia- instead of on the Mall. Being so far from the other museums means it loses any foot traffic. And then it's located in Anacostia, a neighborhood short on restaurants and shopping but high in crime. When we pulled up to park, we saw this sign:

:(


It made me think that the Smithsonian Institution doesn't really value African American culture very much, but I just learned today that they are actually in the pre-building phase of such a museum. It won't open til 2015, but at least someone recognized the need. Better late than never, right? After the museum we swung by the White House, bought some chips to eat with the Indian hummus I had picked up, and went home to relax.


(the White House looking beautiful, but yellow)

(why didn't someone tell me my shirt was untucked?)


Later on that night we headed out to a cool party. We didn't get there til 1 a.m! It was in some sort of art gallery space. It was fun.





When we left the party, Maria was hungry so at 3am we stopped at Wilson's to get some soul food. We didn't get to sleep til 6! Very long day.

(at Wilson's and not looking so cute at 4 a.m.)

On Sunday, we tried to meet a friend at her church but we got a late start (I am way too old to stay up til 6) and then got lost so we went out for brunch instead. Her church is near Eastern Market, so she and her daughter (the one I babysat a couple of weeks ago) joined us after we ate. We walked around there for awhile, long enough for me to buy one of the Ecuadorian scarves, but it was so much colder today so we didn't last long. Being inside a warm museum seemed like a better idea so we squeezed in a quick trip to the National Portrait Gallery before I had to take Maria to the airport.


Very fun weekend! And now I must clean my house, do bills and create cards for the swap!!!!

Where is the time going??! It's almost 7:30. I finished my autobiography. That man (my social worker) knows my life story like no one else! Phew! And I cleaned my kitchen, living room, bedroom and dining room. That's it. Still to do before bedtime:

- clean sunroom, basement, den, office, bathrooms
- finish two other parts of home study that the SW asked for (what's taking so long is trying to remember all my addresses for the last eighteen years! That's many, many, many addresses for me)
- create cards for swap (oh the pressure... I got one in the mail already!)
-bills (why am I not doing on-line bill pay??!)

My friend Maria, originally only coming in town for the weekend, may actually be staying until Thursday now. She has never been to DC so I want to show her a good time, but I told her about all the crap I have to get done. I think I am going to have to save the rest of the cleaning for the weekend. The bills and HS are more important. She doesn't arrive until 4pm tomorrow so I will have some time after work tomorrow to get a bit more done.

I wonder how clean my house really needs to be for my home study anyway? I know this is a big deal in the adoption process but it's another one of those annoying things that gets under my skin when I compare having a baby to adopting a baby. I mean, no one comes to your house to scrutinize it when you are about to deliver. But I don't have any time to rant about that right now!

*Update ~ Finished what is required for Monday's home study. It's now 10:45 pm.

To Do

I have been so busy! I just finished being in narrative he!!. Our school doesn't do grades but rather narratives which are essentially 3 pages (single-spaced) of details about each child. They take alot of time to write. So, just finished those. Check.

Finalized my list of countries where I hope to get interviews. Check.

Got my police clearance. Check.

Got fingerprinted. Check.

Did part I of my autobiography. Check.

(and no, those last 3 are not for the job fair but for my home study)

Still to do before Friday...

1. Clean my house for my out of town guest arriving on Friday.
2. Design Valentine's Day cards.*
3. Finish parts II-V of autobiography.
4. Complete two other sections of my home study.
5. Bills



* So, I saw on someone's blog this cute idea!! Basically, anyone who was interested could sign up to be part of the "Postcard Swap 2008: The Love Edition". What you do is design between 10 and 12 postcards to be mailed in time for Valentine's Day. The cards don't have to be about romantic love per se (especially since they are being sent to strangers) but any kind of love--friendship, family, symbols of love, love of nature, love of life, whatever. No guidelines were set except for it to be on a post card and for the message to be uplifting, inspiring, kind and peaceful. So, I signed up! Lord knows I need as much uplifting, inspiration, kindness, and peace in my life that I can get :) and I love being creative (though I really wish it were not this week!!). The really fun part though is, I will receive 10-12 cards in the mail! Isn't that a fun idea?!


OK, gotta run. Blogging was not on my list above and now it's 10:30pm on Wednesday night. Not a lot of time, especially since I value my sleep!!