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.