Kirst Afloat

Nick Vujicic

I was not familiar with Nick Vujicic before Tom sent me the link to this.  Wow!  What an amazing guy and what a powerful message. 

James and the 10 Cubed Chain

Dear Kirsten, 
 
I promised James to send you these photos today.  It was quite an accomplishment and Li Lao Shi and I were so proud of him.  Three weeks ago, he took this chain out and burst into tears somewhere around 213, put the material away, and vowed not to do “such a long chain” ever again.  This morning I asked him to do the 8³ chain and he said, “Miss Jennifer, how about you show me the 10³ chain?”  We had a long conversation about how this is a very challenging activity that may even take two days to complete but that was fine and we agreed that he was ready for the challenge.  We started setting up the mats around 9am and he completed it just before dismissal, with only a few distractions; toddlers in the play area can get very messy at times.  It was so amazing to see him beaming about his work.  Li Lao Shi overheard him saying to Aya while putting on his shoes, “Aya you know I worked so hard today.”  And he told me later with such charm, “You know Miss Jennifer it didn’t take me TWO DAYS!”  It was such a great moment for us to see. 
 
Hope you will enjoy,
Miss Jennifer

Bagalanche

n. A new term coined by Claire.  It refers to all of the bags that fell out of my passenger side of the car upon opening the door.

Wow...just Googled it and it's in Urban Dictionary!  Claire must be on the same wavelength as a lot of other people.

Kids' Cooking Class @ the Mandarin, Chiang Mai

Claire and James were thrilled to cook with one of the chefs at the Mandarin.  They initially did not want to wear chefs uniforms but later saw the wisdom.  On the menu: Chocolate.  And lots of it!  Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate truffles, chocolate mousse and (for a change of pace) marzipan animals.

        

Yea!!!

First off, we had a BRILLIANT holiday in Chiang Mai.  The Mandarin is absolutely, by far, the most beautiful place we have ever visited.  I will post more about this (and photos) soon.

Logged into my class this morning and read this (about my illustrator project):

Kirsten -- I seldom tell someone that their paper is PERFECT but yours simply was.  Great job.  I think it will serve you well -- and I learned quite a bit just by reading your plan and checking out a few of your resources (which by the way you nailed in terms of citation).  Congratulations.

Meanwhile thank you for your permission to post -- I did that immediately so you could have the URL for your resume if you wish since this is a "published source."  The reference to the posting could be cited as:

Rendell, Kirsten. (2008) "Draw & Write What You Know: Illustrator Focus—Grace Lin by Kirsten Rendell."  Children's Literature—Resources (online) URL: www.mcelmeel.com/curriculum/childrenslit/gracelin_bykirstenrendell.html

 Kirsten thank you for the permission to post -- this will be an excellent example to future students.  You nailed every aspect of the criteria from goals written in child outcome language to a sequential outline of sessions with readings, discussion, and activities. And credible and interesting sources for authoritative information.  Wonderful.

Sharron 

It felt very good...I was very stressed about this assignment (especially when our computer died!).  It's probably a lot of the reason that I'm still fighting a cold!!! 

(Note:  Don't know what the deal is with the above link...for some reason parts of my plan were not recognized and were turned into gibberish!!!)

in Transit to Chiang Mai

We're off on a much needed vacation. Can't beginn to tell you how sleep deprived I've been. I was like a narcoleptic the last twelve hours. Slept most of the way to Bangkok. Fortunately James sat with Tom so it was possible to sleep. Claire mothered me a bit and hooked me up with the most incredible airline blanket ever. Our Thai flight had the new interior and Business Class was very good. The old interior/entertainment was dreadful. Kids are in a cooking class today soon after we arrive at the Mandarin. Can't wait to chill out although I still have classwork to finish.

We Won!

Just got home a little while ago from hockey---we had the late game again and were on the ice until after midnight.  My team came out strong, forechecked, backchecked, hustled and played strong.  What a difference...I was lacking confidence after our 0-7 first game and the 1-11 rout last week (during which I played HORRIBLY).

We were up 3-0 going into the third period.  With about 4 minutes left, it was 3-2.  Stress!  At the end, after they had pulled their goalie, we had a penalty.  It came down to one last face off in our zone.  Our center won it, skated down and effortlessly pushed the puck into the open net.  4-2!  Excellent.  Winning always feels so much better than the alternative.

DragonBack 4 – PPG 2
DragonBack – Nick Moorcraft 1G, Wayne Webber 1G, Grimes 1G, Charlie Musgrave 1G
PPG – Tom Jessop 1G, Tom Barnes 1G
Saves – Kirsten Rendell 11 & Bengy Hui 23
The 3 Stars of the Game – 1) Kirsten Rendell
 
After losing their first two games 7-0 and 11-1; DragonBack came out with a new attitude spearheaded by team leader Mark Irwin, who spent most of his week recruiting new players from around the rinks in Hong Kong.  It was 0-0 after the first period and then in the 2nd DragonBack scored 3 goals and the teams spirits were lifted.  PPG tried to fight back in the 3rd but to no avail and DragonBack tallied their first victory of the season.

Mamma Mia! (Chinese-style)

Here is the description of Mamma Mia! from a Chinese DVD package:

"Mamma Mia" is leading to a restaurant on the Greek island of a woman and her daughter live.  Daughter is about to get married, she very much hope that his father personally to the day of her wedding in the hands of Didao the hands of the groom, but her mother never told her in the end who is her father.  Thus, prior to the marriage, a peep at her mother's diary and found that there are three Valentine's mother would most likely be her father, in panic, she found under the old address of the letter, sent three invitations to be invited to participate Her Wedding.

Ha! Delay No More!!!

Horrendous

Pretty much sums up yesterday.  Today is much better, thank you.  There was a project deadline, a computer that froze and died, a frantic search for my professor's name/phone number, a kid that was up most of the night, trips to and from the city, a kid that had to be strapped into a seat on the bus while hysterically crying and kicking, etc.  But in less than 12 hours, I recovered my data and finished my project.  The computer was fixed in under 18---we now have a new motherboard.  And I slept for 6 continuous hours and caught a couple more hours a bit later.

Nightmare from this morning

I woke up at 4:30 am and thought "I should get up and work on my Illustrator Plan project.  (This is for a graduate class---Children's Literature in the Reading Program---that I'm currently taking online through the University of Wisconsin-Stout.)  Then I thought about the time and how tired I've been and decided to go back to sleep.  At 6:25 I awoke again and was stressed out and disoriented.

This dream/nightmare is a repeat.  I've had it at least once before although it was more detailed and realistic this go-round.  I'm not sure of the setting---it was a cabin of some sort and the climate was cold---there was snow.  My mom and my Uncle Ronnie were definitely there as were Tom, Claire and James.  I believe Cathy was somewhere and possibly my brother.  The gist of the dream is that it is Christmas Eve, fairly late, and I suddenly realize that I forgot to Christmas shop.  Completely.  The kids have gone to bed and there's nothing to put out.  I then panic, try to decide what store might be possibly still open, and leave.  However, this time, James wakes up.  I have to go lay with him and fall asleep.  Then it's REALLY late, maybe 1 am.  And I have nothing.  Oh my god, what a disaster!  I'm sure this had something to do with my project and the time.  Fortunately it's not due until 4pm CST on Monday which is 5am Hong Kong time on Tuesday.  The project is pretty much wrapped up.  I'm waiting to hear back from a classmate about one of her suggestions which is unclear.  I also believe I need to add in objectives/goals in addition to the standards which are already there. 

I told Claire about my dream.  She told me I shouldn't have been so dressed.  She said, "Mom, you just could have changed some of the tags on the presents from Santa to "From Mom"".  Problem solved!