The Approach of Spring Break

I am shocked that next week is Spring Break. I don't know what to do with myself. I am going to miss going on Choir tour. I do not believe that a person has truly experienced life without the experience of traveling with 35-50 people in your age range on a buss for endless hours of I don't know what. There are key experiences that I remember about each of the trips' buss rides.

Freshmen year I remember Spying and recording observations of "Best Friends" and other upper classmen choir members.
I remember leaving traditional seat partner Becky, and she had to sit with Chris H. She has never let me forget this.

Sophomore year I remember the Mad Libs that Jodi and Laura did in a Chinese accent.
I am not positive, but I think that sophomore year was the year that EVERYONE brought a Guitar on choir tour. And EVERYONE played theirs on the buss. All at the same time. All different songs.
Sophomore year was also the year that Becky and I tried to sit with different people every time we stopped. People kept getting mad at us for moving around and taking their seats. (This statement is written with furrowed brow and protruding lower lip.)

Junior year I remember what it feels like to spend two 19 hour periods on a buss in two shots. This time is including but not limited to one very uncomfortable night on two buss seats and one more comfortable, but more interrupted night on the buss floor.
I also remember watching the Wal-Mart Baby movie with what's her face Judd. (This was not a good selection of film for choir tour)
I also remember Becky and I getting stuck in the seat with lights that did not work, and documenting our feelings about this with one of the worst pictures that I have ever taken.

Senior year I remember making Chris watch Napoleon Dynamite in its entirety while he just wanted to sleep. (This was not me being mean, this was me being....well....being me. At least I didn't make him watch anything else.)
I also remember the 30 lbs of puppy chow that Elise made for the trip.
I also remember getting back on the buss after going to the Mall of America and seeing Roman's face at a Green state after realizing that he just dropped a chunk of cash on a Nice leather coat.

There are plenty of other things that happened on the buss on choir tour. Some of which I would rather not talk about. All of this to say. It was real, It was fun, I don't know if it was Real Fun though.

To those of you departing on Saturday,
Love your neighbor, and make sure the vents and lights work in your seat.

In general news:
I walked to work this morning. It was one of the most beautiful mornings that we have had this year. I wore a skirt and sandals, and the temperature was perfect. I am going to try to spend some quality time outside.

This week I am working for Brad (Tabor Choir) as his substitute while he listens to choirs in Miami or some place even warmer than here. (He tole me that it is raining there, and that makes me feel a little bit better. I hope he gets some sun shine, but that man is as happy as a lark as long as he is listening to good music.) I am so ready for spring. I love the feel of spring. Something about it just makes me feel like I can breathe easier. Like there is less pressure in life, and there is time to spend time with God, friends, and nature.

While I am talking about spring, I just want to give a shout out (I have never given a "Shout Out" before so bear with me) to daylight savings time. Mind you, I don't like falling back, but springing forward is awesome! I know that people loose an hour of sleep, but we gain another hour of light in the evening and that is wonderful!

In other news:
I am interviewing with WSU (grad school) and Salina Public Schools
I am also in the process of Applying at a couple of other places.


In shocking news:
My Kitchingroom is clean! It has not been clean since the beginning of the Tabor Phonathon which took most of my free evenings durring the week. And seriously, who wants to clean on Saturday morning. Not me!

In Good News:
I just finished reading the Chronicles of Narnia. They were just as good as when I read them when I was little. I am going to read The Hobbit next. I haven't read it yet, and I am excited to do so.

Update on the Random Rescue of Vegetation

Oh yah, The plant that I stole accounted in the blog "The Random Rescue of Vegetation" Died this year.
Take a moment of silence and then read about how Jill Fisher and I robbed Max Terman of a peace plant.

home again

Well I am back at home for an evening. I seriously think that I only get a chance to write when I am here. Something about not having internet at my home in the burro….

Well, I graduated. It is official. I just started working my first post college job. I am the Administrative Secretary to the Director of Alumni Relations. (Basically this means that I get to enter computer data and help plan events at Tabor. I like it, and hey, it kind of pays the bills)

I am taking the Praxis test tomorrow. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but I have been cursed with Test Anxiety for as long as I can remember. Hence I have been nauseated for the past three or more days.

On a lighter note, I am a certified substitute teacher. I have worked three days in the past two weeks. The first two days were in a choir classroom, and the third day I subbed in a band classroom. One thing that student teaching and substitute teaching has taught me is how to perfect “The Look.” This “Look” must have the sheer power to stop human thought, action, and emotion within a second. It must have the strength to incinerate ego in one pointed glance. And it must not be influenced by the utter ridiculousness of the typical classroom.

Finally, I will leave you with this…
I was leaving the school on Thursday afternoon (after teaching band) and one of my high school students ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. She brightened my day to a blazing gleam. The look on her face was radiant. I asked her and the choir director why she was so happy. It pretty much amounted to the fact that about five senior guys (who are very nice looking) had complimented her on her voice.
I say this because of my awareness of the effect that words have on people. I am trying to constantly remind myself not to just be careful not to say the wrong thing, but to strive to always be encouraging.

Christmas Eve

Christmas is here.

Yes, I know that it is truly Christmas Eve, but in my house, it may as well be Christmas. I just came back from Church. Pastor Tim talked about the wise men and how they came to find Jesus. He asked the question, “Who found Jesus, and who didn’t find Him?” It was posed to remind people what qualities it takes to find Jesus and realize him for all that he is.

And now for something completely different…

This holiday, as well as other holidays… I am surrounded with trays. I don’t have anything against trays, but where did the “holiday tray” idea come from. Who had the first holiday tray? Did it begin with an entire meal on a tray and then evolve to the traditional snack tray?

And now for something completely different…

This is the first Christmas with Eight people at my house. We often stay here in Kansas for Christmas and the rest of my extended family, except for my Grand Parents, stay in Indiana. This year is the first peak of what Christmas may become with my parents being the patriarchs of the family. Lee is coming with Kati, and Christopher is spending his first Christmas Eve with me. Tomorrow I will go to be with his family. Not many people get to be the inventors of holiday traditions. Many people just inherit their traditions, but in the case that we are 800 miles from other family we get to come up with our own. Although I miss all of my extended family, it will be good to find new ways to celebrate the wonderful gift of Jesus.

Ramblingsssss

This is the second to last day of my career as a student teacher. It is an interesting feeling. The semester has gone by so fast, that I didn’t even get a chance to notice how fast it was going. The weeks fly to the weekends, which are wonderful, but as equally short as the weeks.
The entire experience (student teaching that is) is summed up in a concert next Monday evening at in the high school gym. (the perfect, not so much, venue for a choir and band concert)
Over break (CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!) I will be working on studying for my PLT Praxis exam. Yuck!
I also want to begin working on a post which has a wonderful title. If it is good enough I will submit it to the paper for printing. It will have to be some decent writing. Better than this. I just want to join my gradually growing group of friends who write for the Free Press. (Notice the quality of alliteration in the last sentence) (Oh yah, Little A. my high school English teacher would be proud.)
So…..
I love Christmas, but I have a beef to settle with it.
What happens when I come up with a great idea for a gift, and I want to get it with another person (aka: Go halfzies) and the other person decides to up and want to get it all by themselves. It was my idea!!!!! My good idea is stolen!!!! I have to come up with a good idea, and my creative juices are not flowing as they should!!!!!
(All of the exclamation points may be annoying to read, but they truly convey my feelings on the matter)

Anyway, I am done with that rant.
Perhaps I will sing a different tune soon.
This was disjointed and somewhat un readable, but hey, so am I.

A breath

It is 11:44, I am sitting in the Vocal office, and I am taking a breath. This week has been full of ups and downs. I began the week with trepidation and depression. I did not want to leave my family and friends after Thanksgiving. I think that Thanksgiving had given me enough time to become discouraged with the general non-committal poor work ethic of students around the holidays, and I didn’t want to deal with it.
After a week back at school, I realize that all I can do is take life one day at a time. (A fact that I have been reminding myself for quite some time now, like my ENTIRE LIFE!!!)
This weekend looks like it will be a good time to do some relaxing and also a time to get some serious amounts of homework done. I won’t have to say that for much longer now.
So, for future reminder to myself, and others if you would like:
1. Don’t panic!
2. Pray a lot
3. Read Job
4. Know that friends will support you
5. Take time to laugh every day
6. Pull one Small practical joke monthly

"I have seen the others, And I will no other to follow me where I'm going"

Life is flying by.
Today has been one of ups and downs.
Let me start with yesterday. It was much more pleasant than today.
I got to go to Wichita yesterday and hang out with some wonderful friends. We ate out, and then went back to a home to watch a video creation. It was good to laugh with those people. I miss my friends who have graduated. I will become one of them in les than a month, and it is a bit frightening. I am so ready though. No More Homework! (for a short while at least)
This morning I was extremely discouraged during my concert choir. I just couldn’t conduct the song that we were working on. AHHH. I picked it because I knew it would be a challenge, but something with my brain and my arms was not connected today, because I couldn’t do what I normally can. I think exhaustion has made its way to my central nervous system.
Anyway…at least the 8th grade went well today. Let me tell you, those kids can get me going like no other class can. I feel like the general preparing for battle. I want to tell myself…..
“I have seen the others, and I will no other, to follow me where I’m going” (if you haven’t heard that song, you need to.”
Well, I have to gear up for one more class.
Tally ho!

a pause for a moment

Well, the semester is drawing to a close, as is my career as a student at Tabor College. I won’t get a chance to look back upon it until February some time, but I can wait until then.
Other than the fact that I don’t know whether I will make it through all that I need to get done in the next few weeks, life is going well.
I spent some of this last weekend in Wichita with Chris’ family. It was good to feel at home with them. I watched Katie’s half time show, picked on Clinton, and tried yet again to make friends with the dog.
I am so ready for thanksgiving. I miss my sister a lot. We are planning some serious bonding time together. It will be terrible if we don’t get to do everything that we want to do. It is kind of funny, our favorite thing to do together it rent a movie that one or the other of us swears that we will hate and cram together on the couch to watch it. We normally devour about 8 to 12 chocolate cookies then moan for ten minutes before eating another dozen.
Shenandoah is going well. We start our last performance in a little over two hours from now. It is a good show, and one that I will definitely consider doing again some day. I will have to have the good voices that we have in the men’s section in order to do it though.
That’s all for now….
I know that it is scattered, but hey those are my thoughts….

Ache

Yesterday I got my first flue shot ever.
Last night my joints began to ache.
This morning my joints ache and my stomach is upset.
Is this a benefit of the flue shot?
All that I can say is, I better get exposed to the flue a lot this year,
And I had better not get it,
Because right now I am not so much a big fan of it at all.

The high school opens Shenandoah today for the junior high.
We are going to do the first act for them as a teaser.
Rehearsal went well last night.
There were only a few flubbed lines, and some weird costume issues.
Note to cast members:
One may not wear plaid flannel under a white dress shirt.

No sense

Which sounds more beneficial to all of you?

1. Working for an evening with a cast of high school students on their first dress rehearsal. Assisting an experienced director who I respect, and who trusts me to work with her talented students.

or

2. Sitting in a night class. While sitting in a night class, and sitting in a night class.

Now, I have an inclination of my answer…but that’s not important.

MAPS Rhymes with ...

MAKE A RECCORD! RING THE BELLS! I ATTENDED A USEFUL IN-SERVICE DAY!!!!!
Today I attended a technology in service day. I actually learned some things. I got to sit and actually work with the programs that they were teaching us to use. It was wonderful. It is so much better than the maps testing in service that we had to go to last month. (insert enormous snore)
I actually feel kind of bad about hating that maps in service anyway, because I am putting it on my resume because it looks good. Man, those principals and superintendents are going to look at that and be Highly Impressed. They will say, “My, what a fine student who knows what Maps testing is. She must be a huge supporter of high stakes testing.” Little do they know….
Yah, anyway. I am going to go run a HHS musical rehearsal.

Dang it, I am smart!

In class on Monday night we talked about how as teachers we want to give kids the tools to be all that they have the potential to be. Well what do you do when you ask a junior in high school what he wants to be when he grows up and he responds with “a fire truck.” Then what do you do with the elementary school who actually thinks that he is a fire truck. (true story there is a kid that thinks he is a fire truck, but only on the days that he does not think that he is a dentist, or a cat.)
Then I think about myself. What do I want to be when I grow up? Is it wrong that I still don’t know. I mean, I think that I want to be a teacher, but sitting here in this teacher’s office with a world of music students coming to me for help with EVERYTHING musical and most things not musical, I think, is it for me?
I have the potential to be anything. Seriously…. I feel that I could even make it in Law school or Med school. Dang it, I am SMART.
Teaching????????

Chicken Patty, my new nemesis

In case you ever wanted to know….
If you step on a 1.57 inch square of chicken patty with your left heel on a tile floor…
The result is somewhat similar to the consequence of a cartoon character stepping on a banana peel.
One can be sure that they will end up on the floor in the position of a hurdler soaring over the bar.

My Soapbox

Last night I was highly impressed with my junior choir singers.
For those of you who read, and don’t know, I am the Junior Choir director at Zion Mennonite Church in the Middle of Nowhere. We are working on the song “Glory Train” for two voices. It is a great song. Anyway… I have a 4th grader in choir who has the ability to follow a music score, read music, and carry a part by himself while others are singing something different. He is what I would consider a choral genius for someone his age in this day and age of forgotten choral music. I also have a 7th grade boy who is going into the beginnings of his voice change and has a 2 and ½ octave range that is clear and pure as a bell. There is also a 7th grade girl who has absolutely no breathiness in her tone. Seriously! Where do these kids come from? I am becoming more convinced that the music world of elementary schools does not expect enough of its young people. We could offer much more technical training to students. Instead we forget the capability of the students. It is understandable that not all students are going to have the characteristics of these few at Zion, but I believe that if we challenged students in choral singing, we would see talent that used to be seen in youth choirs all over the world just a few hundred years ago.

This town is too small for all of us

Well, I have my first cold of the season. What a kick. It isn’t even cold outside yet. The fall is only one week gone, and here I am snuffling up a storm. Perhaps the pressure in my head will go away so that the kid’s voices will stop sounding like they are coming from beyond the grave.
Today a fifth grader asked me, “I saw you walking with someone the other day. Who was he?” to which I responded, “He is my friend.” To which he responded, “I’ll bet he is your close friend.” To which I wanted to respond, “Kid, Hush your mouth yuh kid yuh.” Instead I said: “where were we…” and went back to my lesson.
Dumb kids. (they are cute though, and I love um)

now that i know this works

Here are some funny things that kids have said to me:

The 3rd grade class asks?
What’s your name? And what did you do with Mrs. Baltzer?

Interaction with a 3rd grade girl:
Question 1: Are you married?
Answer: No
Question 2: Do you have kids?
Answer: I like kids, but I don’t have kids.

Quotes by Jacob (5th):
My Name is Trogdoor.
Strongbad told me the answer.
Can we sing it like Strongbad?

The 4th grade class asks:
Question: Who is that man?
Answer: Mr. Loewen. He is my teacher.
Question: Who is his teacher?

Quotes by Tatum (3rd):
Miss. Shope?
Miss. Koop?
Mrs. Shope?
What is your name?

I will try to give you more stories when I have more time.

2nd atempt

This is my second atempt at posting, but bloger is being stupid, and won't let me post, so I am trying again.
I just wanted to update this blog. I haven’t forgotten about it; I have just been busy. I am in the middle of student teaching in the Hillsboro school district. I work with students ages first grade through twelfth. I love it. It is a lot of work and a lot of stress, but it is what I love to do.
I am also helping direct Tabor’s musical Into the Woods. It is going to be an amazing production. You should get tickets if you get the chance. We had our first act run through last night. It was rough, but promising.
Tonight I am going to College night in McPherson, and hopefully I will get to see my friend’s new baby. She was born just a few days ago.
Well, that’s a short and sweet update on me.

Here and Now

Yes, yes, I know. I haven’t posted in ages.
I am currently student teaching M W F at Hillsboro elementary and T H at Hillsboro Junior High and High School. I am enjoying my time here. I have been teaching third through fifth grades for a few weeks now, and I am going to begin teaching Second grade today. I had my first informal observation today. My college professor came to observe me today, and it went well. He had good responses.
The life that is not spent at school and doing homework for my night class is spent at rehearsal for Into the Woods. (The Tabor Homecoming Musical.) The talent of the cast is phenomenal. It will be an amazing show.
I did get to go to the state fair last weekend. It was so much fun. Christopher and I drove there and met Panda, Cara, and Jen K. We went in most of the barns, saw all the animals except the pigs, and bought bracelets to ride rides. The best rides were the log ride, the farris wheel, and this one ride that spun and swung (it might have been called chaos.) Anyway…we rode about 16 or more different rides. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Hopefully I will go to College night at Body and Soul on Friday this next weekend, and then to the Bethel/Tabor in Newton this next weekend.
So that is an update on my life.
May God Bless Yours.

A good fish story that has nothing to do with fish

So I know that I haven’t posted in forever and a day, but it has not been because didn’t want to. I have been pretty tired from work and friends. The summer is flying by. I have had two work experiences that stand out more than the others. I will share these with you in the most picturesque manner that I can afford on a Saturday afternoon.

We took the older kids camp to the state lake to go fishing. It was a beautiful day. It wasn’t too hot at all, and the kids were having a great time. I was teaching one of my 12 year old girl campers how to cast with an open reel fishing rod. It is more complicated with the button reel rod, and she was doing an excellent job. Suddenly about 3 yards to the right some kid yells SNAKE!! There was a small water snake (I don’t know what kind) in the rocks not far from us. The counselors told the kids not to provoke it, an order which was completely ignored, and they wound up scaring him into his hole. (An unknown location not far from us.) Not long after another kid at the next dock over yells something along the lines of ANOTHER SNAKE. They went to look at it and it was much LARGER than the first one. By this time I was just praying that I wouldn’t step on one that I didn’t see. Well eventually the snake business settled down. My camper asked me if I would like to cast and I said sure. About half way through my cast I realized that something was entirely wrong with how the cast was going. I wound up in the place that is past the point of no return. I threw the entire STINKING FISHINGPOLE INTO THE STATE LAKE!!! After doing this I saw no alternative than to swim out (in the snake infested waters) to get the pole. It was still floating and I didn’t want to try to get it with another pole just incase the movement would sink it. I took off my shoes, and fully dressed I waded out into the water. About 3 feet out I realized that there was a sharp drop off. Soon I found that my feet did not touch and I was literally gliding out into the water trying not to disturb our slithery friend from his restful slumber. I retrieved the fishing pole, climbed out of the lake, and tried to dry off. Later when we were having our recap of the day, my camper told me that it was her favorite part of the day.

Wow, that took a long time. Perhaps I will save the other story for another day. I will give you a teaser. “Once upon a time, I took three seven year old boys to the Zoo, and I will never look at the exhibits the same.”