The Magnetic **yawn** Fields

For a long time, if you were to ask me who my favorite band was, I probably would have just said The Magnetic Fields. I love how they write quirky lyrics, experiment with a lot of styles, and have the talent to make the entire product sound flawless. Some of my favorite songs have been written by The Magnetic Fields, so it seemed easy enough to scoot them up to the status of Best Band Ever in my personal hall of fame.



Well, the band took a serious dive in the hall of fame after I saw them on concert this last Tuesday. Granted, I’m not sure exactly what I expected, and Rob and my friend who joined us both worried that the mellow band would be a total snooze on stage. I maintained faith however. I thought about how some mellow bands still find ways to be inventive on stage and engage their audience through their charisma and talent. Since this group has such a devoted fan base, I figured something would happen to make it fun.

Not so much.

They came out, stared down at their instruments, and played the songs identical to how they sound on CD. Sometimes the lead male singer and one of the female singers would banter a bit on stage, but I thought the deadpan reminisces were just dead. The band members seemed disconnected from the show, and I got the feeling they were bored and didn’t want to be there. At one point, someone from the crowd shouted out a song title during the encore, and in his baritone voice the lead male singer says, “We don’t interact with the audience.”



Funny, I thought a concert was for the audience to enjoy, not just a practice session for you or a big chore to cross off your to do list. Interaction between the band and the audience is half the fun! Otherwise, just stay at home at listen to the cd. Three of the five band members never spoke during the whole show: not to introduce themselves, not to say a few funny words, they were just blank. Hardly anyone laughed or even cracked a smile on stage. This is an indie-pop-rock concert, not a sermon! What a gaggle of curmudgeons!

I did read in an interview somewhere that they don't mind that their mellow concerts are sometimes more like book readings. What an insult to book readings! Just because it's a book reading doesn't mean it has to be dull; an author can still project personality and finesse.

On the plus side, they are incredibly talented at what they do. The fact that they can recreate the CD quality of many of their songs is really neat. It’s just unfortunate they couldn’t be a little more playful on stage. Do they take themselves that seriously?


Well, it would seem that The Decemberists just got a promotion. I am in adoration of their Hazards of Love album!

It's Weekday Movie Night!

Since my work schedule has been somewhat hectic and definitely draining of my energy, it’s been hard to be productive after work or during the weekends. Why attend to cooking healthy meals, heading to the gym, or working on house projects when I can stare at a TV and drool?

Not so pretty, but really, motivation has been scarce in our residence as of late.

One trick Robert and I have implemented, at first on an accidental basis, but now on a traditional basis, is the week day movie night. This is a night where we order take-out food, drive it home, and camp out in front of a movie while drinking rootbeer.


Thinking back to my more reckless youth, it’s hilarious to think that this is me being wild and crazy. What? Drinking soda? Eating fast food? Watching a feature length film? **Gasp** I guess I'm just a rebel like that.

One night it was BurgerMaster and Julie and Julia. I know, how ridiculous are we to watch a movie about French cooking while chowing down on greasy American burgers, but somehow it just felt right.


Another week, we ordered pizza and had a few friends over to watch the Indie Sci-Fi flick, Moon.

Another night it was Chicken Teriyaki and Doubt. I was very impressed by Doubt by the way. Meryl Streep’s portrayal of the character really did it for me.


And most recently it was Teriyaki (there are two competing chains near our place, and we wanted to see which one is superior…as suspected, it’s a toss-up) and Pineapple Express. I absolutely adored Pineapple Express and laughed my a$$ off.

Anyways, these weekday movie nights really help me get through the week. It gives both of us a break from cooking, cleaning, and stressing. Rob and I can just stretch out and unwind for a few quiet hours. I find it’s easier to stay focused, healthy, and productive during the week if I know I have a special weekday movie night upcoming.

Nature Porn

**Not actual Pornography in this blog, just a movie review of Avatar**

**Possible Avatar Spoilers **

I liked Avatar a lot. Sue me. I don’t care. It was a fun movie! I was thrilled by the setting, story, characters, and effects. While I can acknowledge what detractors say: it’s *just* a special effects marvel, it’s costs were out-frigging-rageous, it’s story line has been done a thousand times over, and it was a bit smug and simplistic…I certainly had the most fun I’ve had at the movies in a long time!

And actually, I don’t completely buy into the critical opinion that Avatar is just a frivolous movie. Whether intentional or not, the movie got me to thinking…..

First of all, I thought: wow, white people really hate themselves a lot!

Second of all I wondered: do any members of the armed forces feel saddened by their portrayal in the movie?

Maybe it has to do with Christian dogma, maybe with technology, maybe with the basis of western civilization itself, but people do not feel connected to nature, and I believe this can cause a great deal of fear. It made me imagine a person setting out for a camping trip: pack the tent, the plastic bottles, the packaged food, the special insulated blankets, and so on. We want to wrap ourselves in plastic before we even enter nature. At best nature was subdued by a generation or two before us, at worst, nature has yet to be subdued. Yet, we fetishize nature like we would fetishize anything we fear and covet. There is an urge to commune with nature, but a fear of the messiness and danger that nature presents.



Additionally, there is a gut feeling that nature has been wronged, and humans (especially privileged humans) are to blame. For doing wrong, there is an underlying feeling of guilt for not receiving due punishment for these transgressions, and this leads to a sort of thrill when punishment arrives. For example, when the Na’vi fight back against the humans and win, it got my heart pumping. It felt right. It felt legitimate. It was justice. Seeing the carnage of human kind felt good, because darn it, we deserved it. We want our punishment for going too far.



Watching the movie also reminded me of my juvenile fixation with nature shows. I absolutely loved watching the documentaries; although, I learned early on there was a pattern: ¾ of the show was about how amazing, cute, or precious nature is, and the last ¼ was how humans are messing it all up. Avatar used this formula too, except at the end nature fights back, and **phew** not a moment too soon, humanity is stopped. That was quite a sight to see: all the thrill of retribution, without actually having to be punished (because the audience is on nature’s side of course).

Furthermore, the Na’vi have so much dang integrity and wholesomeness too. Isn’t that something? They mate with one partner for life, they can directly communicate with their ancestors, they can physically connect to many animal and plant lives, and we never see a flaw in their lifestyle. They live in balance with all life, and all their needs for sustenance, community, and spirituality are satisfied in their world, without the need to suffer any fear or doubt. Additionally, they are sleek and sexy and can comfortably dwell in the nature that surrounds them without the aid of plastic wrappings.

This movie is like an exotic pornography for people who want to thrive in and connect to the natural world. If only life could be as pure and simple for us as it is for the Na’vi.

ToO MucH beGiNNing EsL MAKes tEaChER a dulL GirL!

Blog updates haven’t been happening exactly according to plan. This is mainly due to a pretty heavy job load I’ve had for the past few weeks. I have basically full time teaching hours, but I end up working over 40 hours a week planning for classes. I have also been trying to hit the gym regularly 2-3 times a week. The result is: I get home exhausted and hungry, and I just camp out in front of an episode of Dexter with Robert and a box of teriyaki before cleaning up and going to bed.

Work has been a drag just because it’s been challenging. Sometimes a challenge can be invigorating and inspiring. However, lately I feel like the challenges have gotten the better of me.
We’ve started up a winter school for Korean Study Abroad students. Because I have been labeled “the flexible teacher,” I was placed with the most basic, beginning students. Before this, the lowest level I had taught was a (more or less) fluent student in the second grade. This beginning ESL was a whole new can of worms though.





To add to the burden, here is the curriculum I was handed:

• 2 vocab books, with the prescription to assign at least 25 words to memorize each night.

• 1 reading book, Beezus and Ramona, the following chapter books were TBD, although luckily I was relieved of the burden of the 1 book a week standard.

• Assign 1.5-2 hours of homework each night.

• Focus on reading

• Three huge, mixed up bookshelves covered with all the scattered levels of English grammar, comprehension, vocab, writing, and chapter books to fill the rest of class time.

The first week of teaching was full of fails on my parts. Their listening comprehension was low, and it was difficult for me to establish a class agenda, because all the lesson plans I tried to implement were too advanced. For 5 hours of teaching, you really need a solid plan, and I realized after week 1 that I needed to re-evaluate my plan.





So I did some online research to find some activity and lesson plans for my students. I scoured the messy bookshelves, and got the go ahead from the owner to buy a few (reimbursed) books in order to arm myself with some more level appropriate books, worksheets, and activities. Week 2 turned out much more successfully. I also scanned the internet and was reminded from my ESL training at the library and TESL express about how many great ideas and resources are on the web.

With the (previously mentioned) limited curriculum, it’s been hard for me to stay organized and plan ahead. Since the school doesn’t give me any specific things to accomplish in class, I set a few goals myself to try and incorporate some sense of consistency:

1. Speaking and Listening: be able to understand each other in the classroom setting. At the end, be able to follow a 20 minute documentary excerpt. (I have a good one about a Korean scientist)
2. Writing and grammar: be able to write solid, complete sentences. Recognize parts of speech and complete sentences.
3. Reading: be able to read chapter books at the 2nd grade level and answer comprehension questions, inference questions, vocabulary in context questions, and also be able to write summaries of the story. Also, be able to accurately describe: a) main ideas, b) sequences of events, c) conclusions that may be drawn, from short reading comprehension activities.
4. Vocabulary: I think learning 25 vocabulary words a night is stupid. I just make them do that because that’s what the school demands. My real vocabulary goal for them is to understand unfamiliar words in context.

While trying to keep class focused on these guidelines, by week 3 the whole class had changed again. I got two new students and lost one student with no warning. My 2 new students are even more amateur at English than my other students. Week 3 had me juggling the class like a circus clown: trying to continue to challenge my long term students, while trying to get my new students up to date. Can you imagine the headaches I get?




Now that we’re ready to start week 6, I have been quizzing them on parts of speech and words in context mercilessly. Their sentences are getting longer and more consistent, although understanding words in context is still an uphill battle. There has been solid improvement with reading comprehension, and they can answer questions about the reading if the questions use words from the text that they can locate to find the answer. Having them synthesize ideas, form opinions, and summarize main ideas and sequences in their own words is still difficult.

By the end of the week of juggling this crazy show, I am totally empty of energy. One Friday, I kept making careless errors in class, much to the amusement of my students who finally said, “It must be teacher’s be careful day.” It turned out that it was merely: teacher needs a cocktail day, but that was fixed later in the evening during a hot date with Rob. (I love a good sidecar)

New Years Resolution

Rob and I welcomed 2010 with the resolution to eat less and also to buy local and organic produce and meat.

After I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma (1 year ago) I have wanted to buy local produce and meat. While my mom snarkily jokes that I’m turning into a busy body liberal, I retorted that buying local can be an incredibly conservative thing to do. One way to look at it is that by supporting my community, I am looking after my own interests by paying for what I think is best for my community. Anyways, conservative or liberal or somewhere in between, sustainable agriculture seems like an important challenge for our country…as much as it pains me not to pinch pennies and buy the cheapest stuff I can find. (that has been a long-running hobby of mine!)

So, to start with, we signed up for a CSA basket to come every other week from New Roots.** We also have been shopping at PCC, but I’m still on the hunt for better meat options. I am willing to pay top dollar for truly free range chicken and truly (100%) grass fed beef, and I’ve found Washington State farmers who claim to do this, but I haven’t seen these farm’s names on the meat at PCC. I guess I still need to do a bit of experimenting with where to find good meat products, and also take a few weekend trips with Rob to farm country.

To coincide with this resolution, Robert and I also want to limit our portion sizes. During the holidays and other celebration times, it’s so easy to go overboard with food. It all tastes so good and it’s so easy to indulge. Considering how expensive all this organic, local stuff is, eating less never looked so profitable!

** I made a really good soup from some of our veggis, but as is usual with my attempted cooking blogs, I took a few early photos, and promptly forgot to take any photos of the process. I get too carried away while cooking I suppose!

Eat and Be Merry, Diets are for New Year's Resolutions

After things got discombobulated during the holiday season, and after running around like a crazy person, I feel like I am finally nestling back into domestic bliss. As we speak, the house is relatively clean, we re-organized the office space, and the laundry is spinning merrily away. It is good to be home and back in the swing of things.

This year the holidays were fairly stressful for me. My family lives a drive away -- a long drive, but convenient enough that I’ve never flown during the holiday hullabaloo. I certainly wasn’t missing much. My goodness, the airport was such a crowded mess: frazzled families, screaming babies, planes crowded with packages, and exhausted people like Rob and me who always managed to get in the way. We did luck out in terms of our flights and never had a delay or any mix ups. Unfortunately, with the weather and other emergencies this last Christmas, I can’t say that everyone escaped the airport so unscathed.


Our travel time was extended as we opted to fly in and out of Washington DC and drive the rest of the way to Williamsburg. This way, I got to spend some time with my friend in DC and the Smithsonian.

Anachronism was also integral to the trip as we visited Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestown. We got to see all the folks dressed up in their old-fashioned garb and talk to them about the life and times of America’s messy past. I particularly enjoyed the Jamestown museum and the faux settlement. Rob particularly liked being able to explore and touch all the replicas of old tools, buildings, clothes, etc.



This highlight of this trip really was eating though.

We got Ben’s Chili Dogs in DC


Chick Fil-A every chance we got

I even found a Nandos in DC, which was a chicken restaurant Juliana and I frequented in South
Africa
And of course Robert’s grandma took great care of us. Each morning there was grapefruit, poached eggs, toast, and fresh coffee. She also cooked dinner for everyone with some of the favored traditional recipes, and I always love a hearty home-cooked meal. Christmas dinner was buffet style at the retirement community’s dining room, and the spread was epic with salmon, halibut, shrimp, roast beef, turkey, soups, and of course salad, potatoes, stuffing, bread, and other tasty sides.

But, as with any trip, it’s always a comforting thrill to come back home. I was so happy to cuddle with my fat babies, sleep in our bed, and settle back into the business of domestic bliss.

So, I have fallen somewhat behind on blogging for the past month or so. For the next few days, I will be posting frequent blogs to catch up with some of the rough drafts that have been languishing in my documents. Then it'll be back to Sunday updates.

Happy, Healthy Dinner-Time

For some reason, I’ve struggled to work up the muster for a blog this week. Maybe it’s partially the weather. Although Seattle has been hit with a generous heaping of sunshine, the bright blue days mean cloudless nights, and it’s been chilly without our usual blanket over the city. The cold is definitely a de-motivator for me, as I would prefer to cuddle up in blankets instead of just about anything else if I’m feeling cold.

Ever since starting this weekly blog, I’ve meant to put together a cooking entry. I love to cook and experiment with new recipes. The only problem is, I always forget to photo document my culinary explorations. I might take a few shots throughout the cooking process, but there’s always crucial pieces of photo evidence missing.

Last week was no different. I invited a few friends over for dinner, and the menu was simple but delicious:

Chicken with vegetables and cous cous
Cucumber and radish salad with garlic and sour cream
Fruit salad
And my friends supplied the green salad, wine, and cake for dessert.

The chicken was really easy to put together, and I think the result is especially tastey. The ingredients you will need are:

3 chicken breasts,
2 cups salsa
½-1 lime
1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
Olive oil or grapeseed oil
Currents
Toasted, slivered almonds
Salt and pepper
Cumin
Honey

But curses upon curses, I took a few preliminary photos, and got so completely wound up in chopping, cooking, visiting, and eating, I forgot to take many essential photos. Let’s see if I can talk through the instructions all the same…

I'll start with explaining the chicken: just sauté the chicken breast with onion, garlic, salt and pepper. I cut the chicken into bit sized pieces, but you can likewise keep them nearly whole or in large slices. After the chicken is cooked and slightly browned, add the salsa, cumin, honey and lime juice. Let it simmer until you are ready to eat. When you are ready to serve the chicken, toss in some currants, and top the dish with the toasted almonds. Serve with cous cous on the side and it’s delicious, hearty, and healthy.

The cucumber and radish salad was a cinch, but takes a bit of planning. First you must peel and thinly slice the cucumber the day before. Put the slices in a covered bowl and the next day, drain the excess water and toss with sliced radishes and garlic. I used 2 cucumbers, about a dozen radishes, and 4-6 cloves of garlic finely minced. Toss all ingredients together with salt, garlic powder, and finally a bit of sour cream. The raw garlic gives it a spicy taste that my husband winces at, but I love!

Finally, to add even more color to the table, I cut up some fresh persimmons, kiwis, and topped them with pomegranate seeds.

Even without pictures, I hope you can just see how lovely this dinner turned out! With all the slicing, dicing, and what not, it did take a bit of planning and finesse to make happen – but, in terms of a dinner party spread, it was definitely delicious!