Eat Teach Blog

Clearly I’m a photo dump kind of a gal. I take photos way more often than I sit down and blog. Let’s rewind to Thursday. I went to Amelie with Ananth and Kirst.

We got 2 wine flights each along with some snacks to share.

We then moseyed on next door to BigFoot Lodge (which reminded me SO much of BigFoot back in Culver City). Only difference is that this place had popcorn. And I was forced to cheer on the Warriors. Apparently something about NorCal pride?

After work on Friday, I went to my home away from home

Hung out with some buddies.

Why did the peacock cross the road?

On Saturday, a group of us got together to make mimosas (with a side of brunch). Around noon, we all walked downtown to go to Boogie on the Bayou. It. Was. CROWDED. They had tons of live bands, food samples, and random vendors sprawled all along Campbell Ave.

I did not partake in the alligator consumption. But I kind of wish I did. Looked like everyone was enjoying it A TON.

Now, it is bedtime for this old lady. I’m going to attempt the 4:30AM workouts this week again. WISH ME LUCK.

**********************************************************************

YOUR TURN:

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

So rather than bore you with the details of my eats and what-nots over the last few weeks of barely blogging, I’m opting for a photo dump.

I’ve been trying to find better (read: healthier) ways to occupy my time. SO, instead of checking out local dive bars or lying on my couch for 5 hours after work, I’m trying to go for walks/hikes to explore areas that are still new to me. Last week, my co-worker, Nick, and I took the Los Gatos Trail that starts off at Vasona Park and winds up the mountain. The last time I did this, I took the trail from Campbell Park to Vasona Park (which involves NO hills whatsoever). This hike was a little more challenging.

Last Thursday, I went to the Macklemore, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and Calvin Harris concert. So did 2 of my students. I know this because I ran into them. Awkward.

Last Friday, I went to my first Giants game. It was also the first time I’ve taken the Caltrain to the city. It was also -5 degrees outside and our layers (both clothes layer and alcohol layer) weren’t doing much to keep us warm.

Aside from me and Emily, nobody knows what “OKAY, IT’S TIME TO TAKE A FUNNY ONE NOW” means.

We’ve been soaking up the weather like CRAZY. It’s been perfect – between 75 and 85 every day. It rained a bit today, but the sun is BACK IN ACTION.

I discovered the Mimosa Swirl. Before I moved up to NorCal, Jen was always telling me about “this place called Aqui” that serves industrial-strength margaritas. Well, I’ve had my fair share of them since I’ve been here. But I had never been to Aqui for Sunday brunch when they serve these mimosa swirls (which is essentially just champagne mixed with their industrial-strength margaritas). THEY. ARE. FAB. And ridiculously strong. So you’ve been warned.

I’ve been quite the loyal customer to Philz Coffee. It JUST opened up about a mile away from my work and I’ve already frequented the place FOUR TIMES this week. Before they opened here, I had to drive to Palo Alto or SF to get my fix.

And LAST photo dump – I met my neighbors.

About a week ago, my friend from UniCamp checked in to my apartment complex on FourSquare. He was visiting some of his friends from high school. Random, right? Out of 200+ apartments, I found out that his friends live right next door to me.

My friend, Ryan, on my neighbors patio. SMALL WORLD.

So now that we’re all BFF and everything, I invited them over for dinner last night. Not with a knock on the door. Or a text. But with a paper airplane note. #classic

Now I’m at Nook on Russian Hill, passing time until 6PM when I meet Ananth and Kirstin for dinner at Amelie. The last time we all had dinner, my car got towed. Lesson learned. I forked over $15 to park in the lot. WORTH IT.

**********************************************************************

Do you borrow sugar from your neighbors? Or, at the very least, do you know their names?

If Macklemore and Chris Brown were going to die in a burning building – and you could save only one of them -  who would you pick and why?

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week and I definitely felt the appreciation. Unfortunately, so did my waistline.

Korean food made by some parents

Snacks all week long in the office

And of course, can’t forget the gifts from students.

Do they know me well or what?

Side Note: Anyone else think the new Sriracha-flavored Lays taste like they should actually be called Tabasco-flavored Lays?

Anyway, I am ready to start a new, healthier week. I went to the Farmers Market in Downtown Campbell yesterday (it’s been 2 months!) and bought a ton of produce. I’ve got 2 weeks until Rachel’s wedding and I’ve gotta kick my butt into gear. I’m attempting the 5AM pre-work workouts this week. Today was successful. Let’s see how tomorrow goes.

Wish. Me. Luck.

************************************************

 In terms of workouts, are you a morning person or night?

Favorite flavor of Lays?

This past weekend, 12 beautiful ladies made their way down to San Diego to celebrate my good friend Rachel’s bachelorette party.

Please take note of the lingerie and penis balloons in the background.

Rachel and I were both involved in the Student Alumni Association at UCLA and were roommates for a year in college. Best. Year. Ever. We have so many special memories from that year.

From left to right: Gina (My roommate for 4 years!), Lynsey (Roomie for 3), Rachel (Roomie for 1), and Me

We rented a beachhouse in Mission Beach for the weekend. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it was a block from the beach and was a pretty great set-up on the inside.

Friday:

We got there a few hours before the bride-to-be to decorate the house a bit.

We wasted no time and, when the bride-to-be arrived, we jumped right into the festivities.

Why, yes. That’s a penis straw in my margarita.

That night, we went on a Laker-themed bar crawl around Mission Beach.

But we played the, “How Well Do You Know Adam?” game before we took off.

Needless to say, Rachel knows Adam very well. (They’ve been together since middle school!)

Even though we were all really excited to go out, we needed to make sure we didn’t go too crazy and mess up our Saturday plans. It ended up being a fairly early night and we were back in the house by around midnight.

Saturday:

We spent the day at the beach.

Remind me again why I moved away from this beautiful place?

Baked some cake:

And got ready to go out sushi-ing, sake-ing, and dancing:

It was SUCH an incredible weekend. Beautiful place. Great girls. And a wedding 3 weeks away to look forward to!

It took me 3 days to fully recover from the weekend, but it was absolutely worth it.

************************************************************

What are some bachelorette games/activities you’ve seen or done in the past?

I’ve been gone for a LONG time. In my defense, Sister and I got food poisoning toward the end of my trip so I spent about 3 days recovering from that. The first two days in DC were great – a week is really not enough time to see everything that this city has to offer. But here’s a quick recap of the rest of the week:

We took my dad to the Air and Space Museum in Dulles, Virginia. I’ve never met anyone who is as fascinated with planes as my dad is. Except 5-year old boys.

WWII Fighter Plane

We took a guided tour of the museum and my dad was front and center the entire time. He was on the guide’s tail – eagerly listening to the history of the planes, asking questions, and sharing information, At one point, he shifted from being part of the tour group to being the guide’s BFF.

Discovery Space Shuttle

I tried all sorts of cuisines for the first time:

Afghani Food

Ethiopian Cuisine

To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of Ethiopian food – but it was definitely a fun experience!

We also visited the Lincoln Memorial. I wish my students could have seen this – we are currently learning about the Civil War in class and they definitely would have appreciated this.

We went to the Holocaust Museum, Museum of Natural History, and Museum of American History.

At the Museum of Natural History

We visited the National Zoo.

We went bike riding along the Mount Vernon trail. 

So much fun – so much going on. There’s always something to do or something to see. Guess that just means I have to go back and visit soon?

Hello from Washington DC!

I feel like I’m hoppin’ all around the nation lately. It’s spring break and The Budhraja Family is spending the next week here! Well…my parents are here for another two days, but I’m stuck with Sister until Saturday.

Sister and I in front of the Capitol Building

We were super productive yesterday but I think you kind of have to be. Despite the city being so compact, there are so many things to see. But Day 1 was quite a success.

We stopped to say hello to the Obamas.

 We made our way over to the Tidal Basin and got a glimpse of Jefferson Memorial.

I can’t believe how quickly the cherry blossoms start to disappear. I wish I were here a few days ago when they were in full bloom.

We stopped by the Holocaust Museum, but I definitely want to go back again this week. We didn’t get to see many exhibits.

We had Potbelly‘s for lunch – so, so good.

We went to the Capitol Building and then followed up with some Nando‘s for dinner!

Full chicken with three sides: Butternut Squash, Mashed Peas, and Rice

YUM.

And licked our plates clean….

So, SO good. It’s supposed to rain for the first half of today so we will most likely head to a museum. Be back later with more!

***************************************************************************

Any must-dos, must-sees, must-eats you recommend? I’m here all week!

The problem with going a few days without blogging is that when I finally sit down to blog, I have SO much to write about that it becomes overwhelming and then I walk away from the computer for a few more days. Anyone else have this problem?

Anyway, moving on.

San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio was GREAT. Not only did I get to see my family, but I also got to attend one of the largest professional development conventions for special educators. The CEC convention gave me the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals, attend seminars and demonstrations, and overall grow as an educator. There were moments when I felt a bit discouraged because I wanted to be at everything, do everything, talk to everyone.

But now I know what a typical CEC convention looks like. So next year, when I attend the convention again (2014 will be in Philly!), I will know what to expect and be able to plan accordingly.

Did I mention that the program was 450 pages long?

I won’t go into detail about the seminars I attended – that would take ages. I will, most likely, blog about them throughout the year as I use the things I learned.

I am just happy to have had the experience and to return with a refreshed, more mentally-renewed mindset.

Blogging live from San Antonio! =)

And reason for this post is because I missed out on a seminar I REALLY WANTED TO GO TO. I thought it would be smarter of me to attend the “Student and New Teachers Social Event” at the hotel next door. When I got there, I basically saw all these 20 year olds. Nothing against 20 year olds. I was a 20 year old once upon a time. But, after sticking around for the first 10 minutes, I realized I wasn’t going to gather much from that “workshop.” So I hustled my butt nextdoor to the convention center only to find out that the workshop I was planning on attending, “90 Tips in 120 Minutes,” was completely packed. At least they gave me their handout. So now I’m here. Blogging.

But aside from that tragic moment, everything else has been super so far. On the flight from San Jose to Dallas, the flight attendant brought over 2 mini bottles of wine for me on the house on the airline? I think he could tell that I get super anxious and nervous when I’m on a plane.

I have an extreme phobia of airplanes. I don’t think I’ve ever had a huge affinity for flying, but my fear has definitely grown since I had a really scary experience flying back from India in 2009.  I get anxious days before I have a flight. I have dreams of getting into plane crashes or plummeting thousands of feet. When I’m on a plane and there is even the slightest bit of turbulence, my heart drops and I have difficulty breathing. I’m not kidding when I say that I probably lose a week of my life with every jolt we experience. I wonder if that kind of fear ever goes away. Somebody please tell me I’m not alone in this feeling….

But aside from that – once I was off the plane, I was greeted with yummy homemade Chipotle bowls made by my loving Bhabhi…

…and got to watch this little munchkin play with bubbles. =)

Last night was the opening night of the convention. And I realized that this convention is unlike anything I’ve ever been to. The program for this week is nearly 450 pages long. IN A BOOK. And at any ONE GIVEN MOMENT, there are at least 50 things you can attend. Talk about differentiated instruction!

In addition to the seminars and poster sessions, there is an expo with loads and loads of newly developed curriculum, assistive technology, and other programs that have the potential to benefit our students. It’s like going into a Farmers Market for Educational Resources. I WANT EVERYTHING.

I went to an incredible session on Classroom Management today and am hoping that tomorrow I’ll have a better sense of what to expect and where to go! It’s nice to have options but, as a first year convention go-er, I feel a bit overwhelmed at the numerous opportunities!

************************************************************************

Any convention/expo go-ers have suggestions on how to navigate the entire thing?

I want to see it all. But I don’t think that’s feasible!

This is what I got to return to when I got back from Yosemite.

And that is also what I will most likely return to when I get back from the Council for Exceptional Children Convention in San Antonio, Texas!

I am so excited for this opportunity. I started to plan out my schedule to see which seminars/lectures I wanted to attend, but I got so overwhelmed with the amount of things going on that I just closed the browser.

There are a million things going on PER HOUR. I’ve gotta sign up for some CEC 101 training – I’m sure there are people that got this stuff squared away. So I’m stalking them on Twitter. Thank god for social media. Experts – I’m coming at you!

In other news, it’s Autism Awareness month.

This month, I strive to do more than just spread awareness. It’s important to EDUCATE, EMBRACE, and UNDERSTAND. We need to cure ignorance, not autism. 

And with that note, I’m off to my gate. See ya in the South!

This post is long overdue. I got back from Yosemite two weeks ago and was slammed with a ton of work. Students were suspended, aides were fired, and subs were asked to never return to our school district. Not to mention, I got the pleasure of reading over 300 emails when I got access to a computer. I am just now feeling like I’m back on track. Unfortunately, I’m leaving for Texas from Tuesday-Sunday. I’ll be attending the CEC Convention in San Antonio which is going to be a great experience! The timings not great – but sometimes you have to do things because they benefit your students in the long run. Here’s the perfect example….

Yosemite was AMAZING. This post has way too many pictures. Pictures that attempt to capture the beauty that is Yosemite. But they just can’t. There’s no way.

Our hiking rotation went straight to Crane Flats Campground for the first two days:

The kids loved playing in the snow.

It was amazing to see them come alive. New, unexpected relationships were developed during these unstructured moments where they were around their classmates in an entirely different setting.

We went cross country skiing. I spent most of the time on my butt trying to figure out how to appropriately stand up without puncturing myself in the eye with a ski.

The kids got to crawl through a fallen sequoia tree. His name is Dead Fred.

We spent two days in Yosemite Valley where we went hiking, saw Yosemite Falls, and grew even closer as a hiking group.

I realized the value of teaching outdoors. Where students can see, touch, feel, relate, and be able to connect their learning to reality.

My students realized the value of trust and communication when we went through the spider caves and could not see a single thing. They relied on senses that we typically take for granted. They relied on each other before taking a single step (or crawl) toward the end of the cave.

We learned the value of leaving no trace behind. That we do not inherit this world from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children. And that we must minimize the impact we have on Mother Nature.

We reflected. We were mindful. And we began to realize that we are a part of something so much bigger.

My students began to understand that the journey actually is the destination. 

So yes. Things have been a little crazy since I got back. But it was worth it. And I would do it all over again. To see my students’ excitement and to be in one of the most beautiful places in the world. All while being able to see the direct benefits of hands-on learning and outdoor education.

It was so, so worth it.