Halloween

As of yesterday afternoon, I was going to school for today's Halloween celebration dressed as a yoga instructor with my mat and all. But then everything changed. My roommate Claudia and I went to a local costume shop which turned out to be a bit different from what we expected. Everything was folded in plastic bags behind the counter and having no real idea what to ask for we stood around for a bit peering at names on the bags. After a bit, we asked the sales lady what else they might have for adult women besides superheroes which were not school appropriate costumes. After she went to look, we came home with a smurf (los pitufos) for Claudia and a bunny rabbit for me. My other roommate Adam went as a lumberjack with his "axe" and all.

There was a costume parade at school today as well. Some very interesting costumes were there. A group of girls dressed as the 7 dwarfs, but the winners were 3 students dressed as the Yip yips from Sesame Street.

Everyone have a Happy Halloween weekend. Get ready for Dia del Muerte photos next week.

Late addition from last nights party... my roommates (Adam and Claudia) Paul Bunyan and his blue Babe

Back in Mexcio

Back in Mexico.  I arrived yesterday and began the big job of unpacking my room. All my things were in my closet plus the bags I brought with me. My bathroom is in pretty good shape except for needing some drawers and such to help organize it. My bedroom needs a lot of work still including some more furniture to put out stuff on. :)

This morning, Adam (my roommate) and I came to the school and have been here in meetings. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Have lots of work to do so time to jump in.

ISTE11 Top 6

So the last days have been filled with meeting lots of people... some new and some I already knew digitally (via Twitter and blogs), posters, presentations, discussions and the like.

These are my 6 highlights so far:

#6 - Walking around the exhibition hall and seeing presentations from many vendors including Google, Adobe, Livescribe and more.

#5 - Volunteering at an ASK ME station on Sunday afternoon. After I finished I knew my way around this huge Philadelphia Convention Center.

#4 - Attending sessions of all kinds, from ISTE Unplugged, Poster sessions, Google Educators talking about Google Apps for education, international initiatives of ISTE, Music and Tech (great presentation by people I follow on Twitter - lots of good ideas even for non music people), Learning Tools Family Feud (all the stuff was crowdsourced ahead of time - so cool).

#3 - Doing #edchat live from the Newbie Lounge. It was cool to meet the #edchat moderators and be sitting next to people while tweeting them... though also a bit odd. It was nice to throw in some verbal conversation in between tweets too.

#2 - Winning a FLIP by playing Reflex math game with Explorelearning once in the morning and then being in the top 5 at the end of the day to compete... and then win the FLIP. I also won a free 3 month trial of the software to use with my class in the fall.

#1 - Meeting people and having impromtu discussions is the best part of being at ISTE. Continuing the discussions over lunch and dinner.

Knit in Public Week

So from June 11 to 19th is World Wide Knit in Public Week and it just so happened that our group here in Mexico City was meeting last Sunday June 12th. Most of us were crocheting, but we meet at a coffee shop or the like once a month to hang out and knit/crochet. 


Here are a few photos from our outing.

Summer Reading Challenge 2011

So from Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews I was turned on to this BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge 2011. (Thanks!)  This is a really cool summer book club for adults... kinda like the Scholastic project for kids. There are even prizes and such along the way.

I would love to keep up by reading a book a week, but since they say you can read just 1 or as many as you like, I will do the best I can. My 2 limitations are: as I live in Mexico City and it will not be easy to get all the books unless I decide to break my Kindle budget and time due to end of year writing exams, grading  final projects and grading exams.

Was able to buy week 3: The Last Letter by Kathleen Shoop, week 4: Here, Home, Hope by Kaira Rouda and week 9: The D Word by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke books for my Kindle without spending too much. :) Most others are available on the Kindle but at $9.99 or $12.99 each will break my book budget soon. Hoping can get some from the library when I hit the US in a few weeks for summer vaca. Might have to bite the bullet for week 1. Hmmmmmmm.

Anyone want to join me?

Back in the 30 Day Shred saddle

Sorry I have been absent for so long. Had some news to deal with and then a fab visit from my brother. All of which took me away from writing here.

Today I woke up too late to make it to my yoga class, but decided it was time again to let Jillian whip my butt for a while. So I got dressed and did Level 1 30 Day Shred workout this morning. It felt great as I did not feel like I was going to die like the first time I embarked on this workout. All the walking/running on the treadmill (I did make it to week 3 of couch to 5k) and yoga have definitely made me stronger. I am excited to make this 30 day pledge again.

For me I will pledge to either do a Jillian workout or take a 90 minute yoga class every day for the next 29 days. The end of the school year is always a stressful time with exams to write and grade and grades to finish and last teaching to complete and family day and a million other end of year obligations plus apartment hunting (new Mexico City digs) and moving. This is my pledge to take care of myself despite all this and to keep my stress level a bit more under control.

Here I go!!!!

In memory of my mom: Gloria Rochelle Geller

Today was Mother's Day in the US and Mother's Day is May 10th in Mexico. We even get a half day at school so people can celebrate with their families. I find this day a tough combination of joy for friends and cousins who have kids and are moms and sadness for the fact that I do not have my mom. It is a bit easier being in another place since every other commercial on tv is not about Mother's Day, but those email ads still come.

I decided to follow a few people on Facebook that posted a photo of their mom from last week through May 10th. I decided that it was a great idea to honor the woman who I still love dearly though she is no longer here. I am a product of who she was and who her mom was as well.  I lost them both too young, but am lucky to have a number of surrogate moms who are there for me when I need. So, I scanned one of the last photos that I have of her which is a picture from my friend's wedding.

This is a classic photo of my mom. She looked great here and it holds a place of pride on my photo shelf. It has gotten many comment from family and friends. My uncle (mom's brother) thought I was looking more like her till he realized it was her. Each one has made me smile and also made me teary. 

Today, I decided to spend the day on me. I took a yoga class for the 1st time in a few weeks (due to spring break and all) and then met up with my knitting/crocheting (critting) group - also feeling like I was honoring my grandma and mom since they were my teachers, for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day outside and I felt good about my memories.  This evening, I read a beautiful post by Kami that she titled "My Women" that I just need to share with everyone. It inspired me to write this. Thanks Kami!