Rant on Low Expectations

I have to say that last night I did something that I did not do last year or I would have already been ranting about this for the last 12 months. I read the staff handbook. I just forgot last year I guess or I did and I missed this part or something. So, last night I was reading it online and I was absolutely furious when I read the part about promotions and retentions. It is one of the lowest expectations I have seen in the last couple of years of our teaching. My kids barely have to pass half of their classes to finish middle school and move on to high school. What makes this worse is that it is public information! They should never know! They should think, just like I did, that you have to pass all of your classes to attend high school. We had no idea there was such things as credits until we got into high school (junior year) and we were so confused that we still thought we had to pass everything! It is an absolute tragedy that I would ask a child to come to school for an entire year for a free education, a FREE education, and only ask him or her to only do half of the work. That is crap if I've ever heard any. I'm not going to go on strike or anything else, but really? Get yourself together. Why would kids go to college and try to pass their classes if they never had to do it before! This is ridiculous! Parents, get behind your kids and kick them into gear so that they have no choice but to do well and kids, get in shape! The real world doesn't let you do things half way and keep the job... Work hard! Wait for another day... There are plenty more rants to come... Melissa

First Days of School

We have officially had 2 days of school so far and they have already been full of fun stories. I think I'm going to have some really great kids (keep your fingers crossed) and that they are going to do well this year. Many of them have older brothers and sisters or cousins and friends that I had last year or the year before. It is also so interesting to see if they behave similarly to their family and friends and usually they do. I already have some little trouble makers that kinda laugh about it and students that I am able to laugh with. My first period is very animated and 2nd and 7th are so small! I have less than 20 kids in 2nd and 7th... I almost don't know what to do with myself! What do we do with kids when there are less than 30 something kids!?! Katie and I have already been maintaining our psychopathia (that's what I'll call it) for the year so that there are no surprises for our kids and she has also scared some of them because she told them that we were close. To prove that, Katie told one of the boys today something that I had said to her yesterday and he looked at her and said, "You guys do talk about everything! When do you do that?" So she just said that we talk every hour, on the hour. He's a pretty funny kid though and I feel sure I'll have more stories to come. He is so much like the boys I was closest to last year so hopefully we'll have a good year! In other news, well I think there is not any unfortunately... so carry on with your fantastic weeks of work, school, and play! I'll give you more updates later or a rant on something that I feel sure you will enjoy. -Melis

Could We Talk About This?

"Could we please talk about this?" is the phrase most often used while I am speaking to refer to something ridiculous that is happening or going on or something that has been said. Or if I am ranting about something like normal, I will end or begin with that statement. So in tradition of every other list I have on this blog but I'll do letters instead of numbers so that I can be a little more diverse but I can't stray from routine.

a. How cold it was today in Las Vegas, okay so it wasn't cold, but it was cold in the Colorado River while overcast and water is squirting in your face and you're wearing a tank top, because you think it's going to be 1 million degrees like normal.

b. Katie and I's "dam" jokes as if they haven't been told a million times before. We just had too much fun with that.

c. How scary it is to live in a house and not an apartment sometimes.

d. How many conversations I have had about boys, marriage, and future in the last week... what in the world am I doing?

e. How many times I have already tried to picture how this year of school is going to be and what the kids will be like. Who am I kidding? There is no way that I am ever going to figure that one out!

f. How much I miss my family in Georgia, and there is a small, slight part of me that thinks that one day I could live there or Cleveland where I went to college. I think I am having what I will call a mid-twenties crisis here. Therapy... I know.

g. How many times I watch Pride and Prejudice per week because it is one of the only movies that I can go to sleep in consistently because I have memorized so much of it. So much that I can hear the music and tell you what is happening without any other lines.

h. Stress of school... I already know that I have so much responsibility and I am looking forward to routine!

And to the ridiculousness of my life--- it is what makes me laugh, question, and wonder how different everything could actually be and thankful that it is the way it is. Happy weekend! -Melis

Rants on Social Issues

We recently, as in a few days ago, received an e-mail forwarding a new district mandate that kids no longer have to stand for the pledge of allegiance or say it. Now I understand, there are religions that do not say the pledge and so on and I understand and respect that. But seriously, you live in a country that gives you a free education, whether you're from here or not, say the freakin' pledge or at least stand and halfway act like you like or care about in respects to those who live here and are extremely patriotic or that have family members fighting wars or have fought wars so that you maintain the freedom to be able to stand or sit during the pledge.

On another note, I read An Ordinary Man, by Paul Rusesabagina, the man who kept the Belgian owned hotel open for refugees during the genocide in Rwanda. So if you've seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda," you have an idea of what went on in Rwanda. The Hutus and the Tutsis were the main two ethnicities in Rwanda and because of Western culture's influence on the country, the Westerners who had been there before had told them which ethnicity was superior, so the Hutus were the ones who felt like they should be in charge and therefore they began killing and murdering, brutally, Tutsis all over the country. In another book I read, it quotes that if the killing in Rwanda would not have stopped at 100 days and it would have continued at the rate of killing that it did, more people would have died in Rwanda than in the entire Holocaust. I think I've quoted that before but I think it's one that should not be forgotten! That's a huge deal. My geography book tells me that the Holocaust is the "systematic murder of more than 6 million Jews." We know this side that there were more than just Jews that were killed but 6 million people, let's turn around and just pretend that didn't happen! This only ensues rage for me in a very strong, furious manner. I'm so serious, don't get me started. So back to the book, he talks about how many clear signs that the genocide was coming that no one really paid attention to. United Nations guards that were placed in Rwanda were instructed that they couldn't use their weapons to stop any of the violence that was already taking place, even if people were murdered or wounded right in front of them! I mean what is the United Nations for. Keeping peace? Hello... I don't really consider watching something like this happen keeping the peace! I have been told that silence is agreement and that is exactly what the U.S. did, what the UN did and what the rest of the world who could do anything to prevent or stop it did! Then we want to make the comment "Never Again." Well if we really believe that, then let's do something about what is happening in Darfur. Even if you can't go to Darfur or do anything with money or whatever, you can at least let someone know so that someone else knows and word spreads so that we stop ignoring atrocities that are taking place at this very moment. Am I passionate about this? Of course and if you are any type of carer of humanity or people at all, please consider others and think about whether you're actually going to do something about what you say you are and stop sitting on your boat only listening or reading me rant about things like this!

"One person can make a difference, and every person should try." -JFK

Rants of Education... Somewhat

Teaching... I know I have said this before but I am amazed that I could love my job this much. I was so distraught yesterday when my sister and I were walking here in D.C. behind a girl who said, "I mean, what am I supposed to do? I am only a teacher. I only have 20 kids that I can influence and really, what change will that bring about?" If you are in a career like education or anything with people quite honestly and you start thinking that way, please quit for the sake of the rest of us so that you don't impose your miserable-ness on the rest of the world. Let me rant for a second and let's do the math.... Let's say that I have about 160 kids that walk in my door. Yes, I am a realist and realize that everyone of them will not change because of what I do or say and so on, but let's just think. I have the chance or rather opportunity to impact 160 kids. Chances are that those 160 kids have at least one parent, so that's 160 more people, more than likely they average to at least one sibiling, and they at least (AT LEAST) have 2 friends. 160 kids in my classroom plus 160 parents plus 160 sibilings plus 320 friends. That adds up to 800 people. 800. So yes, she only has 20 kids but she has the chance to impact 120 people because of those 20 kids! And let's say she's taught for 4 years, that means she has had the chance to impact 480 people! We need to change our perspective and stop acting like the world is going to change without someone attempting to make a difference. I mean who wants to live life full of nothingness without every effecting anyone? I would dare say that if we were honest with ourselves, we would hope that we could look at the last week and see how something in us changed or someone else changed because of us. It's about education, yes, but it's about you just as much. Think about it.... change your perspective so that someone else can be changed by you!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mohandas Gandhi

Stop standing around and do something! -Melis

So Today... and Yesterday, Well Sort Of

Today, I have a lot to do. I fly out in about 12 hours to go to the east coast and I have a lot to do but I'm very excited to see my family and hang out with the sister. We're going to see a lot of the sites in DC, including the Holocaust Museum, which I've heard is horrifying but really neat... I'm a litte nervous, but excited, about that. I went to DC when I was in 8th grade and 9th grade so it's been a while! Plus, we didn't get to ride the subway and everything like I'm going to with my family. To add to that-- I've been grossly sick, my throat is just nasty and I'm not even lying. It's simply amazing that I actually still have a voice and it is very hard to believe that I have been back in the states a week already. Last Saturday, I was waiting to leave Dubai and now I have been back here for a week. It has been a good week to be back even though I was not thinking that it would be at all.

This past week, I have been able to hang out with the roomies, they are so crazy. We went to see the Titanic Exhibition. At the beginning of the exhibit, everyone is given a card with a name on it of someone that was actually on the exhibit. Some of them have extra information throughout the tour and others don't. So Katie (who is ridiculously insane if you have not met her) had John Jacob Astor's wife, who was 18 and he was like 48 or something out of control. We're walking through reading biographies and then Katie says very loud, "Hey, that's my husband!" Everyone in the exhibit just stared and then she said, "Not in real life, just here." It was funny... you have to understand that she does things like this all the time, like more than once a day. Last night, we were coming back from Monica's wedding shower and we were listening to the radio and she was making fun of me because I sound awful and I was still trying to sing all the rap songs that I know. Then we decided that it would be hilarious if we rewrote rap songs to make them about school so we spent the rest of the car ride doing that. If we actually do it, I'll post one of the videos to the blog-- be ready for it.

In other news, school officially starts for me a week from Wednesday... I'm so excited to get new kids but will be highly disappointed if they're not as fun as last year. I already know a few of them, but not that many. It should be interesting... a fun combination of very different kids... hair gel, bright colored shoes, sagging jeans, skinny jeans for the girls, and plenty of drama... oh the drama... bring it on... and hopefully plenty of visits from my little precious ones from last year, I miss them a lot!

Soon and very soon, I'll have plenty of exciting stories and funny quotes and I'll let you know all of them! -Melis

Things I've Missed This Summer...

There are so many amazing things that I have experienced this summer. I have loved it but there are also things that I have missed, just because I haven't been in the states, so over the past few days I have tried to catch up but there are still a few things that I haven't had that I hope to either have (food wise) or experience...

1. Ice cream: Yes, I had some, but not as much as I've had in the last few days, especially because my throat is disgusting and ice cream has felt better than anything else because I don't have to chew it up and swallow it, it just works. (Sorry for the gross details.)
2. Sweet Tea: I haven't had any yet, but I missed it.
3.Target: Oh my love for Target runs very deep... if you know me, you understand, even my kids at school know that this is my favorite place.
4. Dr. Pepper: They have Coke in glass bottles, and Fanta, and Sprite but not Dr. Pepper. From what I understand, you don't find that much in foreign countries but it is by far, my favorite soft drink.
5. Real Ketchup: They have tomato sauce, but it's sweet, and quite frankly, it's just not ketchup.
6. Flavored Cereal: Zambia just doesn't have nasty for you, a lot of calories, fatty cereal and that's my favorite kind so anything with sugar in the cereal aisle- here I come.

Different Eyes

The sweetness and joy of following God is that following God is never what is to be expected... plans never match, things fail and fall apart, and somehow in God's mind, everything works out perfectly. I guess it is sweetness and joy to Him, but it looks more like shattered glass to me, falling apart piece by piece, not necessarily at a moment in time. Yes, there are times when more breaks off than expected or there are times when the fragments are so small, that I can barely see them, much less comprehend what happened.

What I saw as sweetness and joy didn't show it's face as that this week. As most of you know, I am supposed to be in India right now but I'm back in Las Vegas. I didn't get my Visa, was given wrong information about my Visa, in Johannesburg, stuck in Dubai's airport for 24 hours (half of which I spent crying and being stared at), and now back in Las Vegas until next Saturday when I go to visit my family on the other side of the U.S. My idea of His best for me was that I spent this week with my very missed roommate from college while she is on the other side of the globe. His best for me was me getting back on a plane, sitting next to someone that made me incredibly uncomfortable for 15 hours and then almost missing my plane back to Vegas because of customs and not being able to find my ticket online, as well as Atlanta throwing away my toothpaste the 2nd time I went through security. I'm worn and tired. I had prayed the entire 6 weeks of Africa that God would let me see with His eyes and that was what He had for me in Dubai. I feel that I have seen what He wants me to see over the past 6 weeks, but I was still missing something. As I sat in the Dubai airport, I realized how unfree I must be and how free I must look. Appearance is everything in the U.S., even in Christian circles. Don't be genuine, look free, don't show your true self, pretend to have it all together. I sat at a restaurant in the airport watching these women, Muslim women, some of whom I could only see their eyes and some of whom I could see their faces. They stared at me as I stared at them. There was something about them that I couldn't really put my finger on at first until I started thinking more about it. Then I realized that I must look free, with my hair fixed the way I want it, wearing a t-shirt, and exposing my entire face to the world. Do they think I'm free? I'm watching them, almost wishing that I was them, able to unexpose myself to the world, able to hide whatever I wanted so that no one could really see what I am or what I look like. That way, I could care less about what people think and I could focus more on what God wants for me because I wouldn't be so distracted. Ridiculous, right? Their eyes encouraged me that I am to be free because of whose I am. I am the Bride of Christ, the one who owns everything, the one who breathes life into me and beats my heart so that I continue living to follow Him. He is the essence and everything of what freedom is. He just IS. I must be in Him, free in Him, free to expose myself to the world so that I can be hurt at some points, so that He can have glory in them all.

If I've learned anything from the above or Africa... it's that He knows best for me. I don't. I see shattered glass as shattered glass. He sees it as a picture of His glory, what I see as bitter, He sees as sweet. If I would only look with His eyes more often, I would see the glass as a reflection of Him because it is. Everything Him, none of me.