History and Mystery

One of the many beauties of working at an international school is getting a random assortment of holidays off from school. We happened to get a long weekend for American Thanksgiving that I used to check off a major player on my bucket list - THE GREAT WALL!! 

Dawn, the friend I do morning workout time with approached me with an awesome offer much like this conversation...

Dawn: "Hey Meg, I know we don't really know each other that well yet and it is really early into the year for making plans, but Chris, Ashley, and I have a trip to China planned for Thanksgiving break. It is really a four person trip, but all the returning staff have other plans. Would you want to go with us."

Meg: "China!?! Chincha!?!" (look that one up in Korean)

Dawn: "Chincha!" 

Meg: "I need to look at costs etc. What are your plans"

Dawn: "Its all planned, we have a driver and we will go a bunch of places like the Great Wall..." 

She kept talking but I ignored everything else and kept thinking "Great Wall....Great Wall....YAY!!"

Meg: "YES!!"

Okay, it probably wasn't really that smooth and I didn't actually use the word chincha so often back then, but basically I jumped into a pre-planned, already organized, affordable vacation to China! I was basically in when the words "Great Wall" became part of the conversation. We were blessed with unseasonably warm weather and clear skies - what a treat!

Here is a picture tour of our trip!

Stop #1: Great Wall!

[Jump for Joy with Ashley and Dawn- Great Wall]

[Touching a piece of history!]

[They do a marathon on this thing?!]

[Peaceful, beautiful morning]

[Look at that wall!]

[More stairs...more and more and more!]

[Okay - we had this part of the wall to ourselves so we took a load of pictures]

[More Jumping! That is Dawn!]

Summer Palace

[Summer Palace - what a lake!]

[Ladies at the summer palace!]

[I would live there for the summer if I was in charge, too!]

[Stairs here too? Glad we workout!]

[The afternoon sun was shining - what a blessing!]

Kung Fu Show

[No pictures inside the show but it was AMAZING!]

 Olympic Park & Bird's Nest

[Just holding the torch...no big deal]

[In awe of the bird's nest - any place that felt the strength of Olympians is pretty awesome]

[The design is so cool!]

 Duck Dinner

[Let's eat duck - a whole duck!]

 Temple Exploring

[Lovely morning walk around an ancient temple]

Tienanmen square & The Forbidden City

[History...]

[Beauty]

[Culture]

[Bye Bye China! I'll be back!]

The Heart of a Teacher

I realize that I have not blogged in a long time...a very long time! I also realize that I have a ton of trips that I need to blog about and post fun pictures for. Although those seem important from time to time, I have also realized that those things don't change my heart. I love to travel and adventuring around this year has been amazing! Please don't get me wrong - its not that I don't appreciate those things - its just that my students are the changing factor in my life. They are what changes the beat of my heart. My students have always had this effect on me and that will hopefully never change.

This week I saw a post on facebook that just described the heart of a teacher SO well. It captured everything I wanted to tell them about what it is like to be on this side of their lives. Check it out if you get a moment http://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/what-students-really-need-to-hear/ 

Here is what has been on my heart this week - to me, this is the heart of a teacher.

Dear student (my student...not a number, not a job. A loving, growing, changing human.),

You change the beat of my heart. You cause me an unimaginable amount of stress/anger/frustration and then turn it all around. You make one statement, show one proud smile or one hurting tear, score a personal best, fall in love with anything, or say thank you. That one instant makes it all worth while. I hope you know that you matter and that I care. If I didn't care, I would have walked away long ago. Every one of you, including you, are worth fighting for. I hurt for you when I see you lose someone or when your heart is broken. I share in your joy in successes and all the little happy parts of your life that you share with me. I am excited when you challenge yourself, when you learn, and when you grow! You are so much more than just my job. 

My class is not easy. I do my very best to make it fun (sometimes so that you don't realize that you are learning something hard!). My expectations are high and you can meet them. You CAN! I am by your side, the cheerleader in your corner, every step of the way. The trouble in all this is that you have to decide that is what you want to do. I can give you all the lessons, tools, activities, examples, and tests in the world, but I can not give you the desire to learn. It is hiding somewhere between your head and your heart. I will do my best to show you that its ok to be passionate about learning and I will try every trick in the book to get you to enjoy learning. Ultimately, I have zero control of it - its up to you. 

Lastly, I want to let you in on a little secret. If you never remember the balanced equation for photosynthesis, you can still grow up to earn a college degree if that's what you want to do. Even if you don't remember the special properties of water, you will make an awesome parent one day. Classification of organisms is important to understand, but you can still change the lives of the next generation if you forget what a domain is. You are so much more that a test score, a grade, a statistic. You are a human, a person, a son or daughter, brother or sister, a friend, one day maybe a parent, a mentor, the world to someone else...you are an important person. You will make your mark on this world. If I can teach you how to learn, how to care, how to do something with passion, how to serve others, and how to love the people around you, I have completed my goal. 

Student, you change the beat of my heart and you remind me of how valuable life is. My desire is to serve others, to change their lives, and you are an important person in my journey to do all that. Thank you for letting me share in a window of your life. 

You are loved.

With all my heart,
That crazy lady from first period Biology

To all those teachers who lost their kiddos on that ferry this week, my heart breaks for you and I pray for peace and for God to mend your heart. I am so, so sorry.