Blog Tag

I took the bait because I have a thousand other things I need to be doing and I am stalling.

Here are my responses to this tag:

I am always supposed to be doing something (i.e. lesson plans, correcting student work, my own homework, research for my thesis, stuff for my calling etc) but I am very easily distracted so I end up reading blogs and doing tags that help me accomplish nothing.

I miss summer vacation. It is already cold here. In the summer it was warm and sunny and I had no responsibilities and now…well, that changed.

I think there is hope in the next generation.

I know the church is true, Jesus Christ is my Savior and that my Heavenly Father knows and loves me.

I want to visit all 7 continents before I die, including Antarctica and I want to ride from Beijng to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

I have great friends and family.

I search for plane tickets to cool places at least twice a week, even though I don’t have any real vacation time until Christmas and no money. FYI -plane tickets are expensive right now.

I wish all parents would take care of their kids and that no child would have to grow up in an environment of drugs, prostitution, violence or apathy.

I hate the smell of New York City when it rains. I love the smell of rain everywhere else, but here it smells like a wet dog.

I am scared of cows and being shot into outer space.

I fear the wrath of my neighbors if McCain is elected president. Harlem is known for getting a bit violent and well, I am white.

I always turn the water off when I am brushing my teeth even though I live on an island and nobody around here thinks at all about water conservation, I have been trained by the California droughts.

I love the sound of dry autumn leaves crackling under my bike tires as I ride by.

I feel responsible to volunteer for anything and everything. I feel that because I was born to such privilege in a country with so many opportunities, I am bound to reach out and help others.

I hear noise ALL day so when I get home I like silence, not even music playing for at least 2 hours.

I don't remember most of my past roommates’ names. I have had 87 roommates since I turned 18 and I just can’t remember them all.

I wonder what my life will be like in 10 years. I honestly have no idea. I doubt I will be living in the same place, have the same friends or be working in the same industry.

I care about the social customs of hygiene enough to shower every day even though I don’t like shower. Oh, how I miss my dear China where showering more than once a week was considered excessive.

I regret never learning to play the piano and standing outside the Louvre in Paris and never going in.

I am not good at organizing…anything, my time, my papers, my room. I am an organizational nightmare.

I believe everyone should follow social courtesies like standing to the right side on the escalator if you are standing and letting the walkers, walk by on the left and waiting until those getting off the train exit before pushing your way in.

I dance in gay bars because the guys there don’t put their hands all over you and you are never worried about them following you home.

I sing only the hymns I know and only the melody and I rarely use a hymnbook. I can’t read music so I find the hymnbook useless.

I write positive notes to my students on post-it notes and stick them on their desk. The best thing I have learned as a teacher or a youth leader is that positive reinforcement is the best motivator. One day I wrote a positive note to one of the worst kids in the school and he stapled it to his shirt and wore it around all day.

I win card games because I cheat. I have no problem cheating at card games or trivial pursuit or any other board game. I think it is all part of the game.

I dream in Spanish sometimes because I am around Spanish so much these days. When I was in China I dreamed in Chinese, everyone in my dream was speaking Chinese but I still couldn’t understand them.

I lose at least 20 pens or pencils a day. I need a fanny pack to wear to school so that I have somewhere to keep them.

I never saw any of “The Lord of the Rings” movies and I don’t feel that my testimony has suffered for it because I was schooled in all the parallels to the gospel over the pulpit.

I listen to silence or people talking. I have no interest in listening to music despite repeated attempts to figure out what all the fuss is about.

I read on the bus and the train every day on my way anywhere I am going; and that is the beauty of public transportation. Right now I am reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I am on book six and I HATE Anne. I think she is so annoying, but I keep reading. I love reading books and I love that my students, who also ride the bus to school in the morning, see me reading.

I am happy, period.

What ever happened to an Apple for the teacher?

So we all remember my student from the Ivory Coast. She is this beautiful little black girl who speaks French and follows me around. Today she shows up to school and hands me a little box and says, "pour toi" (for you). As a sixth grade teacher to kids from a latin culture I have seen this before and quickly refuse before they get too set on giving it to me. I don't accept gifts for many reasons:

• my kids are poor
• I am a government employee and I am sure it is illegal
• speaking of illegal I don't want them to give me any stolen goods
• most importantly I don't want the crap that they tend to give me, i.e. old hair baubles and bows, gum, used pencil top erasers, junk they find in the park, small ceramic kittens in Santa Claus hats etc

This little girl thinks that I am not understanding her so she keeps pushing the little box on me, so finally I relent realizing that it won't kill me to put a used Sponge Bob eraser on my pencil and appear to cherish it so as to make nice and bridge the cultural gap. I take the box and give Fatime a hug and say thank you. Then I open it.....inside there is a ring and what appears to be a diamond perched on top!
I try to give it back, Fatime puts it on my finger and looks quite intent on keeping it there. I ask her if her dad knows she gave it to me. She says yes. I decide we have to start class and this has gone on long enough and that I will talk to her later. So I teach my class then when Fatime leaves I put the ring in the box and lock it up. I go and consult my Assistant Principal and my dean, they say "COOL, Keep it!" they are obviously really classy. Fatime sees me later and asks if I have lost the ring, she is very concerned so I take her back to my class where I have it locked up, she pulls it out and puts it back on my hand and tells me not to take it off or I will lose it. So I teach the rest of the day with this ring on my hand and four other teachers ask me if I am engaged.

Here is the thing...
She is from the Ivory Coast, known for a brutal diamond trade.
(As I am writing this I am afraid the UN is going to come and arrest me)
I am fairly certain the diamond is real based on some things she has told me.
I am morally opposed to owning or wearing a diamond because of the atrocities committed on children in the diamond trade in Africa. How ironic is it that the first diamond that I ever receive is from the exact population I am trying to protect with my stand against them?
Given that there was a huge miscommunication problem with the diamond ring, this could mean that I am engaged to some random African man.

So, what do I do? Anyone ever had to give back a diamond ring?

The First Two Weeks

Teachers are told not to smile until Christmas so that the students don't rip you to shreds by June. Turns out, I can't make it even through an entire day. To counter my smiles I am perfecting a disapproving teacher glare that can strike fear into the heart of even the most thuggish of thugs.

I am much more prepared this year, than last so...things are going a lot more smoothly.

The first day of school, a sixth grade teacher came up and said, "Ms. Allred there is a girl in my class from the Ivory Coast who speaks not a word of English and she looks like she is going to burst into tears at any moment." She had recently been sent to live with her father whom she had never met and was separated from her Mother for the first time. Then she comes to our crazy school and is in a classroom where she can't understand a word and all the students are staring ar her and she has a bunch of teachers who never smile and glare angrily. I went into grab her immediately and broke out my rusty French. She started crying and hugged me, then she followed me around for a week. She never wanted to leave my side. She is doing better now and even trying out some English.

Some interesting things...
1- On September 11th I wrote on the board, "What happened 7 years ago today in New York City?" Nobody knew the answer. These kids were 3 or 4, seven years ago so that event seems like ancient history to them. After a few hints, (I drew the twin towers on the board and an airplane) one boy raised his hand and said, "George W. Bush ordered that someone blow up the twin towers." This is what happens when parents let Micheal Moore educate their children. We had a discussion about theory and fact.

2- Today I was discussing the issue of race with another class and one of the boys raised his hand and said, "Ms. Allred, you white like milk."

3- Another boy in another class came up really close to my face and after staring into my eyes curiously asked, "Did you buy those at a Halloween store?" He wants a pair of eyes "just like" mine to freak out his friends and family.

The Narrows in Zion

I hiked the Narrows with my young women’s group when I was 16 and my mom and sister said they wanted to do the hike this summer so I thought I would tag along. They both backed out and my little brother Bryce said he wanted to so we went.

We started at the trailhead 17 miles above the park. About ½ of the hike is walking in the river between two huge rock walls. As a 16 year old I was much more focused on just getting through the hike. As an adult I was able to appreciate how beautiful it is. It is truly unique and beautiful.

Little known fact about me: I am very scared of cows.
Toward the beginning of the hike, before we got into the canyon I was walking along looking down and when I looked up I was about 10 feet from the face of a giant bull. It scared me so bad. I think this fear comes from Young Women’s camp at big meadow. At that moment all I could hear in my head was Sister Fralick’s shaky voice warning about ferocious cows. She said “I would rather be up against 10 grizzly bears and a puma than up against one of those ferocious cows!” Amen sister Fralick!

If you plan on doing this hike, start early the first day so you can go swimming at your campsite before it gets cold and…BEWARE OF COWS.

I forgot to mention...

I LOVE JON BON JOVI!!!

So Bon Jovi was supposed to play in Central Park on the great lawn. He is one of only about 6 other people who have played there. So it was kind of a big deal.

My roommate Soo is a journalist for the Korean daily newspaper so she snuck me in as a "freelance photographer" with a press pass

This meant that we were able to go all the way to the front to the press box and we were escorted up to the front to snap pictures. We borrowed a camera from a friend that looked a little more professional than my point and shoot. The problem is, I didn't know how to use it and now most of the AWESOME pictures I got are trapped in that camera.

Bon Jovi is a GREAT performer and I fell absolutely in love with him. We sang and danced with the rest of the of the Bon Jovi freaks for hours. It was simply magical!

Some Things I Learned in Guatemala

My roommate Cristi and I found roundtrip last minute tickets to Guatemala for $357. So we bought them and a week later we were on a plane bound for one of the most homicidal countries in the western hemisphere. We packed a backpack a piece and were ready for adventure.

Here are some things I learned....

Lava is hot

Guatemala is covered with volcanoes.
There is one that is still active right outside Guatemala City. We climbed it on Tuesday and learned that Guatemala is not at all interested in ensuring your safety. You are kind of responsible for that yourself. And as it turns out, most people who travel to Guatemala these days with the crime rates being what they are, are not really “safety” type people. We payed for some maniac to drive us on a huge bus up a rather questionable mountain hill and then hike straight up a volcano to roast hot dogs over flowing lava.
Lava rocks are sharp when they are cool and lava when they are hot, so neither option is really welcoming you to take a spill. As you walk on the rocks you look down and can see hot lava under the cooler lava on top and you can feel the heat pulsing through the cracks in the rocks. If you stay still for very long it feels like your legs are going to melt off along with the rubber on your tennis shoes, but it is MOLTEN LAVA, so how can you possibly NOT hike it.

Guatemalan buses are scarier than skydiving

After going to six flags last month I thought skydiving had ruined my ability to feel scared by risky situations. The crazy Guatemalan bus drivers took that challenge and managed to scare the pants off of me (that is just a figure of speech, rest assured I stayed fully clothed). The buses were all school buses from the united states that look like they got in a fight with the guys from MTV’s Pimp My Ride and lost. Comforting to know that the buses that had been rejected by the strapped for cash public school system for being unfit to drive over well paved flat roads were now being used to scale steep unpaved mountains slopes. There are a few types of buses in Guatemala. The shuttles are run by tourist agencies and cost like $20 - $30 and are Toyota minivans. Then there are the chicken buses. Appropriately named for the chance that you might be sharing your seat with a chicken. These buses are packed with locals. On one such occasion a kind person offered to let us sit on a bucket between the rows of seats rather than standing for the 2 hours on the bumpy road.
A holy place is wherever you can feel the spirit

We went to Lake Atitlan, which is rumored by several mormon scholars to be The Waters of Mormon talked about in Mosiah. It was absolutely breathtaking. We decided to set logic and healthy skepticism aside and believe that we were actually on the waters of Mormon. We took a boat out to a little pueblo called San Marcos. It was very quiet and small and there was no electricity the first night. We bought flashlights and went and sat on the pier and watched the moon over the silent lake. Then the next morning we decided to do our scripture study on the pier and watch the sunrise. We read from the verses in Mosiah that talk about the waters of mormon and tried to feel what they must have felt. In Mosiah 18: 30 it says,

; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer

It is amazing to think that the already gorgeous backdrop for their conversion, was improved upon by an intimate communion with the spirit. I think I will always think of Ricks college as beautiful for that reason.A mormon with a Book of Mormon, on the waters of mormon at the edge of the forest of mormon. Overall a very mormon morning.

I just need to get caught up...

So I have fallen way behind in this blogging business and as you may have guessed lots has happened, but you only will hear about the things that have photos attached. I am now enjoying that great summer vacation that makes teaching so tempting before you know better. I find that I am a horrible manager of free time and for this purpose I keep myself nauseatingly busy whenever possible. For example, going in to this week my ONLY solid plan was one dental appointment. Yikes.

Anyhow, I took my students (about 80 of them) to see the Statue of Liberty. I thought it was a fitting field trip, since they are all immigrants and New Yorkers and had never been that far down in Manhattan (keep in mind the Statue is only about 11 miles from the school). All the other teachers thought I was crazy and there were many moments that day that I agreed with them. Going to the statue involved marching 80 kids to the Subway, getting them all on the same train car, constantly reminding them to stop shouting and swinging from the handrails as we passed through midtown and the financial district and all the business people were heading to work and giving me dirty looks in the process. Then we had to take all the students through security (based on several essays I read afterwards, this was their favorite part! KIDS!) then get them on a ferry and over to liberty island at which point we got in another line to wait to go up to the pedestal. At this point all the kids smashed together in line and since they're middle schoolers this soon turned into a chorus of shrieks and shouting "Ms. Allred, someone keeps grabbing my $#@" or "Ms. Allred, tell her to stop touching me there." For the last five minutes I made them all stand with their hands in the air. They loved that!

We went up the pedestal after another round of security then came down, had lunch and then did the whole commuting nightmare in reverse. I was exhausted. The essays that I made them write afterwards included observations like “that statue was very small and ugly” and lots of notes about the security procedures so over all it was a raging success.


For memorial day a few friends and I went up to Lake Placid and went river rafting all day the first day. We were on the river for 6 and a half hours with a really funny guide. Toward the end of the trip the guide told me that I have authority issues and handed me the guide paddle and told me to take over. I happily obliged but all my friends then refused to listen and took naps in the raft. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to Montreal on Sunday so I could practice my French. We had poutine; which is a Montreal treat, French fries and gravy. A heart attack with a smile.
Lake Placid is beautiful.


The end of the school year was a wild experience. It got really hot and we have no AC and I work on the fourth floor of a brick building which means the kids went NUTS! Lots of fights and other niceties. I was enlisted to be a Chaperone when the graduating 8th graders went to Six Flags great adventure. I rode the Kingda Ka and every other ride and found out that sky diving kind of ruins you as far as thrills like that go. Over the course of the day my students kept coming up to me and claiming that they had contracted the flu. When I asked when the symptoms started they would invariably tell me that it happened at just about the same time as they rode some crazy ride. They were so confused. I hung out with some great teachers from my school.

The last day of school a bunch of the teachers went to a local restaurant and drank large amounts of alcohol at noon. It was really funny. The math teachers were taking shots like college frat boys.


After hanging out with my drunk colleagues I headed down to the Stake Center for youth conference. We had a three-day scavenger hunt for 70 youth in which they ran all over downtown Manhattan in teams of 10 youth and 2 leaders and they stayed at the apartments of different members of the stake. We went to the today show and saw Coldplay, we went on a cruise around the island, we went to see Stomp, we went and did baptisms for the dead, we taught them how to index (step 2 of extraction). We ran those kids so ragged that they all fell
asleep on the harbor cruise and at Stomp, which is basically a bunch of guys banging on trashcans as loud as they can. The youth conference ended in true youth conference fashion with a testimony meeting that certainly gave a good play by play of the weekend and was full of inside jokes and shout outs, but lacked some of that testimoniness that you often look for at those meetings.

Vegas Adventure

The great thing about working in public school in New York City is all the vacation time I get. My spring break this year was connected to the Greek Orthodox Easter instead of the Roman Catholic Easter so it was the last week in April. I flew to Las Vegas to see my friend Adam and Ashley Hawkins and meet her fiance. We decided that I would meet him in April instead of attending their wedding in June because weddings are so crazy that I would only be able to see her for like 23 seconds while I passed through her line and the rest of the time she would be so busy with her family and lost in the haze that creates Bridezillas that it would be pointless.

I flew in Sunday night after Stake Conference. It is noteworthy that I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Stake Young Women's presidency. I was very overwhelmed by it at first, especially given the 3 other callings I had but I have been learning to manage it and I really do love the girls. It is interesting though that through my job and my callings I spend all my time with teenagers. They can be a challenge and I didn't even have the benefit of knowing them when they were cute and young.

I went to school with Ashley on Monday to see what she calls her "ghetto school." I think I gasped out loud at least 10 times. One was when I saw the campus, gorgeous no rats, nice, new huge, open courtyards, a football field. You know, the stuff my kids only see in movies. Anyhoo, the kids filed in, I gasped again when I saw real live white kids. Another gasp when one of the kids said (direct quote) "get your "A" up here!" You see, he actually said "A" and not the full word! WHAT!??! Since when do kids do that? Another gasp when Ashley stood up and said "Okay" and all the kids went silent!!! Gasp #5 was when she said get out your pencils and not only did they HAVE pencils they actually got them out!!! #6 She gave them some ridiculous assignment and they DID IT with not much prompting. #7 We went a whole class period with not ONE fight!!! Nobody even hit each other!! #8 when the TV on the wall came on for the morning student broadcast(we have 1 TV for the whole school, she also has her own computer, we have 4 computers for the whole school and those belong to the Deans and APs) #9 the kids all went up and did presentations with no inappropriate language, gestures or drawings on the board#10 When during the broadcast a senior girl was asked to prom by her GIRLFRIEND! Apparently being a lesbian is all the rage at her school.

Tuesday I drove to Disneyland to meet up with the family. It had been 10 years since I had been there. I love that place, but it seemed so small as an adult. The castle looked like a miniature.

This is me with my niece Ava. This was only the second time we had ever met which might explain the baffled look on her face.
We all rode Peter Pan together. It is still one of my favorites. This is my mom, my sister and her daughter Kea.
The last ride of the evening, as a pack of caged wild animals. We had been going all day but as you can see from Kea's face we were still having fun!
Dad found his favorite eatery the next day at the Baker's Field Bakery. It is hard to be a champion for Bakersfield but Dad sure gives it his all.
I drove back to my G-ma's house in St. George that afternoon and arrived at about 1 am on my birthday. For my birthday, Grandma took Bryce and his friend and I to see Zion National Park. It was beautiful. We hiked around and had a lot of fun.
It was a perfect birthday. Then Grandma planned a birthday BBQ with Aunt Ada. It was way yummy. Then we all went back to G-ma's house and watched "Enchanted."


The next day we went and saw the St. George temple, the new Joseph Smith film (I had never seen it) and Brigham Youngs house before I headed back to Vegas. The sister missionaries had G-ma in tears and me practicing my control over my eye roll reflex.

I went and met Ashley's fiance (GREAT GUY) and we went and hung out with my friend Adam. Adam took me out to see Le Reve on Saturday night as a birthday celebration. It was an amazing experience. I left feeling drained, emotionally, mentally and physically. I am always in awe of what people can dream up in their mind and how they can make it happen so that I can share in that creative genius. A shout out to the creativity that abounds in the human race!!

A little update

Hello Again from New York City. Dad is really giving me run for my money now that he is blogging twice a month, although the blogs are fairly lame. Here is a view of the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset with the financial district behind it. I went to a park underneath it with my friend Adam. I had been across the bridge a gazillion times but never knew about the park. Three cheers for living in a city that you get to discover in layers.

A friend from the ward, who I actually knew from a ward in Provo performed at Amateur night at the Apollo. This is noteworthy for several reasons. First he is white! The Apollo is widely accepted as the heart of African American talent. It boasts making stars like Stevie Wonder, Micheal Jackson (although I don't know that they actually still claim him), Billie Holiday, Lauryn Hill, James Brown and our own Gladys Knight. Second he is Mormon and did a stand up comedy routine in front of a typically pretty rough crowd. He got booed off the stage within the first 3 minutes, much to the chagrin of the more than 50 people from our ward who came to cheer.



This era of my life at school is marked by many field trips. I feel a need to expose my students to interesting things and to give them the opportunity to be around adults who will support them. The problem with them is, they never want to go home. They are usually a lot of fun but VERY exhausting after working all day then traipsing all over the city with a group of pre-teens. Here are some of our field trips.

We went to the Little Red Lighthouse that is under the George Washington Bridge and ended up playing ultimate frisbee in the park next to it for like an hour. It was a blast. In this picture a few of the students were "posing" and Mr. Avedissian (my co-teacher) and I were making fun of the way they try to be all seductive at the age of 13.
This is a group of them that we took to Chinatown. I wouldn't let the waiter give them forks until they tried the chopsticks. They were pretty good sports about my China obsession and humored me by telling me that everything was cool. This was great for me becuase they typically try to convince me that I am not cool. Especially when they make fun of my cell phone. How do 13 year olds from the projects become such technology snobs?

I went with my friend Adam to the Chelsea piers to hit golf balls at the Hudson. None of mine actually made it but a few of his did.
This is a field trip up to Inwood Hill Park where the kids were able to climb around on rocks and talk to a ranger about all the animals finding girlfriends for spring.
I went to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart with my friend Aja and Jeff. I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time. I thought I was going to die and I am pretty sure all the people around me kind of wished that I would.

The Easter Hangover

I got Good Friday off but our spring break is not until April. The NYC Department of Ed has chosen to solve the great Catholic Dilemma for us and they have chosen to honor the Eastern Orthodox Easter instead of the Roman Catholic.

My day off was filled with meetings, for girls camp and for school but I did get to stay up until 4am over at a friends house. I have not been able to stay up that late in FOREVER. By about 11:00 I was totally out of it.

Saturday night, some friends and I stayed up all night watching Pride and Prejudice. The only reason this is noteworthy is because the all-night Pride and Prejudice party was suggested and carried out by a guy and he is Straight. On top of that there was no hope of him or any of the other guys attending that night to hook up with any of the girls in the room. Throughout the night, straight guys always outnumbered girls in the room and we watched all 5 hours. Apparently these guys wanted some insight into the female heart. Just add this night to the long list of examples of how NYC guys are their own breed. At midnight I made myself sick on Easter candy as a way to commemorate another Lent over.


On Easter we had a group of friends over for an Easter ham. We have a very sensitive fire alarm and when there was smoke coming out of the oven it went off. The problem is that we have very high ceilings so there is little we can do to get it to stop. Two of our friends decided to help and get the smoke away from the alarm. Quick thinking.


On Friday, my field trip was canceled due to rain. The kids were LIVID with me for not being able to control the weather. I find their logic refreshing and mysterious. So in their anger they planned their own little sixth grader mutiny. It was a fabulous day!

I am taking my after-school group to Chinatown on Monday and I am very excited. Hopefully all will go well.

Spring comes MARCHing in...

I will strike a deal with you Mom and Dad. I will update my blog every time you do. You are not allowed to harass until yours is more recent than mine. So here is some of what I have been up to. Warning: my life is pretty busy with a lot of the same stuff so if I run out of events to talk about then I will start sharing my opinions and we all know that my opinions tend to make Dad's face turn red and that vein in his forehead to pop out and then his speech becomes unintelligible other than an occasional "stupid liberal." You have been warned.

Here is a new picture to look at. This is mom at a restaurant that she really liked called Chocolate by the Bald Guy. They have good food and great Chocolatey desserts and the whole place smells like chocolate.

My life is very busy and very much the same. I am still teaching at MS 326 and struggling with/ liking it. We were just reviewed by the state a couple of weeks ago because we are on the state list and the city list of schools that are in danger of being closed down. It was pretty intense.

This is one of the classrooms I work in. Many people use it as a closet. There were 20 state reviewers wandering around and going in to all the classrooms, talking to some of the students, and interviewing the teachers. They decided not to close us down this year but to keep a close eye on us and require the implementation of all sorts of programs, none of which are going to change the fact that our school is made up of 98% first generation immigrants, who don’t speak English well and can’t understand the standardized tests. I started an after school program for the well behaved kids who really want to learn and progress. My co-teacher, Mr. Avedissian and I teach them about the cool places in New York and then we take them there on a field trip. Most of these kids have not left the 5 block radius around their house since they arrived here from the Dominican Republic. They don’t know about Times Square, Midtown, the Upper West Side, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty. They think of New York City and America as a very dirty grid of old apartment complexes with rats everywhere. It is fun to watch their eyes open up to this great city. On Saturday we took them to the house that George Washington lived in during the Revolutionary war right before the British took Manhattan and (attempted to) fly kites in the backyard.

I am still taking classes for my Masters degree at night. It is exhausting, but I like my professors a lot this semester. I am taking a linguistics class that I find fascinating. Both classes are a lot of work as I guess they should be at the graduate level, but it is exhausting nonetheless.

I was just called as the assistant stake camp director, which if you read my blog entry about girls camp last year, you will know that girls camp for the Manhattan girls is an adventure all its own. I am excited but can’t get really busy with it until this school year is over.

I still work as the assistant shift coordinator and the Spanish trainer at the temple and I absolutely love my Saturday mornings there. I always said that I wanted to live in a place where the church was still growing and needed more willing hands. I always thought I would find that place in some foreign third world country, but New York has church service opportunities by the truckload and we are constantly recruiting. I have a ward calling, a stake calling and a temple calling and they are always needing more. I love that I can be of service.

My attempts to maintain a semi-normal social life are often thwarted but in the past few months, we threw a party in our tiny New York apartment, to which 100 people came…


On Chinese New Year’s Eve, which was also conveniently Ash Wednesday, a couple of my friends and I went down to Chinatown and had some real Chinese food. Then I took the next day off of school for….cultural reasons. Then another friend of mine had a Chinese New Year Party. It was a lot of fun. Hooray for China!!!

This is the wall of my friends house. They painted it with chalkboard paint and they change the scene depending on what is going on in their lives. This is their Chinese new year scene.


We celebrated Pi Day (3.14 or March 14) over at a friend’s house with pizza pie and real pie (of which I could not partake because lent doesn’t end until Easter).

I still live in Harlem, which means I occasionally get heckled, I occasionally see people get their luggage stolen as they get off the airport bus and attempt to enter the subway and I occasionally hear amazing gospel choirs as I walk down the street. All in all it is a pretty good trade off.