amigos in mediation

Today was an exciting day for me. Last year, I worked closely with my AP in beginning the discussion of having a peer mediation program on our campus. Although Mr. U isn't at our campus anymore, the program is something I feel strongly about so today I approached my principal and informed her that I would be moving forward with it. Amigos in Mediation, developed by the Bexar County Dispute Resolution Center, is a comprehensive program that enables STUDENTS to resolve their own problems... under the guidance of their teachers... but through their own process. How cool!! I have a terrific group of educators from my campus that are excited to be involved with the project and today we met to hash out some of the basics. I really am so blessed to work with amazing people that do what's best for kids... even if it means giving up a Saturday for training or their conference period to monitor mediation sessions. Clap clap! So I spoke with my contact at Bexar County and it looks like we're set to go. The next steps will be to nominate and select our students, make a presentation at the Parent Organization meeting and get going with the conflict resolution. While I don't think that my elementary school will see significant mediations requested... I am super excited about the ramifications for the program in the future. We'll be one of 2 (of 14) elementary schools in the district with the program... but 2 of the middle schools and both of the high schools currently have AIM in place. Our students will be one step ahead with their knowledge of conflict resolution! I am thrilled to be developing these skills in the kiddos early... I'm sure it will come in handy as they grow and develop and face all of the challenges that secondary schools bring.

perspective

Today during the most boring and pointless of all professional developments I have ever attended, my colleagues and I discussed Texas musts. The conversation began when I admitted I had never indulged in a frito pie. Like never hearing of Pat Green, this too was absurd to my Texas-bred buddies. What else has Erin never experienced in Texas? What else MUST she do before she leaves the Lone Star State? Among the list came going to the coast. This is a time-honored tradition and one I have never participated in. Although I've never been invited to a weekend at one of the many coastal-city-hotspots, my friends knew there was something else keeping me from the sea. After all, I do lots of things by myself... so why not the beach? Well, I AM prone to sunburn. But the sun isn't the real problem - I do, after all, know how to apply sunscreen. I DO have a fear of underwater ocean animals. But that's probably more of an excuse than anything serious. The real reason, I confided in them, is that I don't quite feel comfortable tooling around in a swimsuit... whether or not I know anyone at the beach. I have some body esteem issues. And that's that. I really did anticipate some nodding heads of understanding and/or some similar stories pertaining to bathing-suit self esteem. Instead, my friend Sheri nearly knocked me upside the head in the kind way that she has and exclaimed, "Erin! You completed a marathon and you have a body esteem problem?! Get real!" And that is when some things kind of clicked in my head. Maybe I don't look exactly the way I want to. Perhaps I don't have the figure I'd ultimately like to have. When it all comes down to it... while it still matters to me... it doesn't REALLY matter. After all, my body - no matter the size or shape - did something that other bodies (even some more svelte and chiseled frames) never have. And that is catapult itself 26.2 miles. A quote I became especially fond of on the race course stated "I run because the mind is stronger than the body." I always thought that applied to me given the body that I have. And while my mind did help get me across the finish line, it was ultimately my body that moved me from the start to the finish. So thanks Sheri for saying what you did. I'm not completely cured by any means, but it is funny how a quick comment can begin to change your perspective.

putt putt and sunflowers

I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. I have a great school family... but better than that I have an awesomely wonderful family. I'll begin with the former. School is back in swing... literally and figuratively! On the teachers' first day back to work, we arrived to load a school bus which took us to a putt putt golf center! The heat and humidity (and sprinkles which turned into a downpour) didn't stop us from acting like a bunch of kids running around the place and seeing who could cheer loudest when 'holes in one' were made. My throat is a little sore... either from the yelling or crazy Texas allergens. Regardless, it was quite a fun time with my team, the green team (go figure!), coming in 1st! Wah-hoo! After, we were treated to the most delicious lunch at Outback which is certainly a treat for us teachers. I couldn't ask for a better school than Coronado to work at... which is saying a lot given that kids arrive on Monday and I currently don't even have a room, or an office, or a nook or cranny for that matter to call my own. Oh well. I guess we'll redirect and deal with any melt-downs that may come in the hallway. Hey! The name of the education game is: Improvise! Be flexible! Remain positive! Luckily, I'm pretty good at all three. I will say though that it IS kind of a bummer to not have a room. My family of Toros have all offered various spots in their rooms that I can call home until I move in to my own, so that's great. Just great. After this bit of disheartening news it sure was nice to have my principal hunt me down today, all excited, because I had received flowers. I knew the second she told me that it was my mom and dad that had sent the sunshine along... and the sunflowers sure did put a smile on my face. Of course the sunflowers made me think of Kansas and how I will be in KC next school year... which conversely made me reflect on the great school I already have filled with wonderful people and wonderful kids. But KC has one thing that SA does not (okay... let's be real... KC has TONS of things SA does not have!) and that is my great family minus Chloe. Chloe will be closer though, so that's another positive for the chart. In all seriousness though, I hope I will find a school that has an environment of fellowship and learning close to what CVE has. It's bound to be out there. This year though, I will appreciate what I've got and make the best of every day. And the sunflowers will be a great reminder of all the great things to come!

mandala

As many of you know, I have a fondness for henna. When I moved to San Antonio I spent a while searching out a henna artist and stumbled upon Pramod Goshai and his shop, Mandala. Pramod does beautiful, traditional design but has always allowed me my own taste and used his artistic gift to tattoo my Aspen tree. Well, it was probably a year ago since I visited his shop - it became too far away for casual henna stops once I moved up north. Regardless, I still receive emails from Pramod about events that his shop is having. Tonight, I got my friend Tina to attend an "Aangan". According to Pramod, Aangan means "courtyard/frontyard" and his email said the idea behind organizing an Aangan was "to celebrate diversity, to know each other and most importantly to celebrate ourselves, rejoice have fun in our hectic lives and to taste something new." Indeed, it was all of that. Mandala has beautiful artwork on display, the smells of the Indian and Nepali food were delicious and of course Pramod's henna was awesome. I was so surprised to walk in and have him look at me and say... "You're Erin... Erin Long, right? Would you like another Aspen tree?" Ha ha! Of COURSE I would. I got my Aspen and Tina (whose leg is in the picture above) got a butterfly. So fun. There were interesting people to meet at Mandala and Tina and I pledged to each other that we would come back. We are definitely looking forward to the next event!

one goodbye, more than one black and tan

Things in education are always changing... and a big change for this year will be the absence of my school's Vice Principal, Mr. U. He was a huge supporter of my behavior program and an enormous help to me throughout last year and I know I will miss him and his big personality around our school this year. He won't be far... just at the junior high down the street, but who will take his place on our volleyball team!? Or placing pictures on the "T-Drive"? There are a lot of questions left to be answered. In all seriousness, our school family turned out tonight to say our goodbyes and good-lucks at Mama's Cafe.

It was a great time and made all the better by an after-farewell fiesta at BW3s for some black and tan action. A drink I was introduced to in KC this summer... it is quickly becoming a favorite of mine... delicious taste and even more delicious appearance! Do you see how there are two colors present... one black, one tan? That's Bass on the bottom and Guinness on the top. Really any pale ale will work as the bottom and any dark beer, stout or porter, will work on the top... but in my limited experience the Bass/Guinness combo is a winner. Bottoms up! Enjoy!

isis and the cat

Isis is lonely. It's true. She misses her best bud Phoebe in Kansas, her friend Jabber in Keller, and her boyfriend Tanis who has recently moved from San Antonio. Ever since we've been back from Kansas, she's kind of moped around. I originally thought that it was because she was too hot to do anything (ugh, Texas heat!) but tonight's adventure has made me think otherwise.
On our nightly potty-walk, Isis trotted ahead of me, tail wagging. (She's such a good girl that I kind of break the leash-rule at my apartment and let her roam free... she always follows me around anyway, and comes when I call her!). Back to the story. Where was Isis going, I wondered? I hadn't seen her so sprightly in weeks! Well, turns out she was anxious to get a sniff of one of the feral cats that makes my building its home. It was so cute... she walked right up to the cat, tail wagging, and went nose to nose with the wild thing. The cat looked at her, curiously, then at me, then back at Isis. Isis just wanted a friend, but I don't think the cat was interested. The cat entertained Isis's sniffing for just a brief moment, then was off! Isis just looked longingly after it. So sad! The rest of our potty trip Isis was back to moping. I gave her two treats when we got upstairs... I probably shouldn't get Isis in the habit of emotionally eating, but I just felt so bad for her! She's in definite need of a doggy friend... or kitty friend, she doesn't discriminate! So, my plan for tomorrow? Dog park. Let's hope we don't melt or scare away potential friends by smelling and/or sweating too much!

welcome to the family

It has been a long time since I've been boxing, and I've missed it! I really enjoyed my Title Boxing experience so I was searching for a similar club here in San Antonio. Did I have any luck? No, I didn't. That is why today I gathered my guts and gave Sniper Boxing Gym a try. Sniper. Did you catch that? Sounds intimidating... and it was. Unlike Title, I was the ONLY girl and the boys/men at the gym were more scary than cute. Boxing is fun though, and once I got over the fact that there was NO AIR-CONDITIONING and a very rugged vibe, I had a great time. The owner/coach John had me work on the basics for quite a while (he claims that one day I will want to fight, and he wanted me to be prepared!) and I even got in the ring to work on my footwork. Jumping around the ring was harder than I expected. Then I got to hit a bag, working on my footwork and my 1-2. Next came getting BACK into the ring where John put on these mitts and moved all around the ring and I had to practice good form and follow him and then he would yell "1!" or "1-2" or "2-3" or "1-2-3!" ... you get the idea... and I'd get to box the mitts. I especially loved that part of my workout 'cause it was really great to be hitting an animate object instead of a bag for a change. Another fun part of my workout, and then I'll stop rambling on and on... was the tire. It was giant. I had to step on it, with the proper stance, and bounce back and forth and move around the tire, all while jabbing the air. In the last 30 seconds of the 'round' I remained stationary and then jabbed my fists into the air. So it was fun. And I'm glad I'm signed up. As the owner told me when I left, an hour and 45 minutes after I'd arrived,... "Welcome to the family". Welcome to the Sniper family... Eek!

teachers reunite!

Well, the start of the new school year is fast approaching. And because we like each other so much, the teachers at my school just couldn't wait until our training week to get together. This week brought a 'book study' (aka catching up over some cervezas at the local Taco Cabana) where we (ahem) discussed the second half of the book "Reading with Meaning". The book is actually really good, and if you're a classroom teacher it offers a lot of tips and tricks for developing great readers at the primary level. Anyway, I was pretty amazed that there were like, 12 teachers that showed up to the book study fiesta. It's nice to work with such great people.
And then the party continued... Happy Birthday Tricia! Tricia was the teacher I worked with most at the beginning of last school year. She's a great girl and had a big day to celebrate... so 4 of us from school joined she and her husband... and lots of her family... for a wild night at the bowling alley. :) We had such a fun and funny time - it was a great way to begin wrapping up the wrapping up of summer.

ginger-soy pepper steak

Enticed by stories of my friends' Asian-cuisine adventures, I decided to give an Asian-style dish of my own a go. The below is the DE-LISH! recipe I used. This sat in the crock pot all day, and believe you me... the smell I walked into when I got home was heaven-sent. Bon Apetite!

Ginger-Soy Pepper Steak
Serves 8

2 lbs lean round steak, cut into strips
1 large green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 cup nonfat beef broth
2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add steak to skillet and cook over medium heat until browned on both sides. Spray inside of slow-cooker with cooking spray. Place pepper and onions in bottom of slow-cooker; top with meat. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over meat and vegetables. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or high heat for 4-5 hours.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 237 cal., 7.1 g total fat, 95 mg chol., 322 mg sodium, 4 g carbo, 1 g fiber, 37 g pro.

fun in texas? can it be true?

Monkeys at the zoo! On Friday I got up bright and early and met my friend Natasha and her 3 great kiddos for a San Antonio Zoo adventure. Thankfully we made the right call and got to the zoo as soon as it opened... it turned into quite a hot day! The boys had a great time taking pictures, I had a great time searching out air conditioning and catching up with Tosh. Something a little distressing about the zoo was the state of the animals. Now, the SA Zoo is nothing like, say, the San Diego Zoo. I knew that going in to it. But the zoo was really lacking in a lot of ways. Tosh said that in the years that they've been here the facility has improved... but I was still sad to see animals without visible water in their pens (hello! it's hot in Texas!!), and without greenery around- Basically, animals existing basically on a slab of cement. Saddest of all was the way the animals paced around. I don't think that's natural. So, while zoos are cool because we get to see animals that we wouldn't get to see otherwise, something inside just made me feel icky about being there and watching them in captivity.

Saturday I hung out with two gals, Tina and Jen, from work. In the evening we went to some place out in the Texas country to hear a guy/band named Pat Green. The place, Whitewater, was actually really cool. I'd never heard of Pat Green, which apparently is unheard of. Even my friend Jaleen in Colorado had heard of him. Who knew!? Okay, so back to Whitewater. We drove and drove and drove somewhere way out by the Guadalupe River State Park. Then we kept driving. Then I felt like I was REALLY in Texas. Dusty roads, pretty woods, little honkey-tonk shops on the side of the road and Whitewater. The venue was small and beautiful. There were trees all around and a river right behind the stage. There probably weren't more than 300 people at the show so that made it cozy also. I'm not really a huge country fan, but the music was fun and the people were good... I even two-stepped a little!
Now the realities of life are setting in... I've got a week-long math training to attend this week... then a week free... then back to school for teacher training. Summer is coming to an end. :(