A Flavor of Education

While not the family blogger, I’ve had a goal to guest post for quite some time. Starting a new job and working at least 12 hours a day might not seem like the ideal time to realize such a goal. But, that’s how life works: oddly. Being in a new place is exciting, scary, and interesting. While there are many funky oddities that characterize a small town (of which I’m sure I only know few at this time), this post concerns the essence of a small liberal arts college. There are many things that characterize such an institution, but I’d like to leave you with ten mind morsels. Each is a way to complete the following sentence starter: You know you’re at a small liberal arts college when…

10) Your first student shows up to the first meeting of your first course 40 minutes early.
9) Students actually read what you assign them (at least 80%).
8) At a free cookout you overhear a group of nearby students arguing about the specifics of a World War II event.
7) When a slightly disgruntled student comes to discuss their recent test grade with you, they are marginally interested in their specific grade and much more interested in your philosophy of grading and its relationship to true learning.
6) Students are accustomed to addressing their professors by their first names.
5) The buildings match.
4) Students participate in reading groups outside of their normal classes.
3) People you’ve never met know who you are (this does overlap with “You know you’re in a small town when…”)
2) In the governance structure of the college, there is actually a “Committee on Committees.”
1) In the men’s bathroom there is magnetic poetry on the urinal wall. Apparently it’s been there for years. Not only is it there, but it changes, almost daily. Here are a few recent samples:

“Can an obedient skeleton make phone calls?”
“Know, see change and remember.”
“An obedient skeleton can make you ache.”
“Climb on and howl.”
“Publish manuscript.”

Notes from the Western Front

A few notes and pictures of interest, at least to us:

Our New "House" (at least, as it looked when we moved it- we've added some flowers and furniture):

The view from my new commute (warning: this may make those of you in Big City want to move out here!):

Teaching three days a week = pure awesomeness

Leaving me time to make things like this eggplant pizza: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Eggplant-Pizza-102240

Pure deliciousness.

Speaking of pure awesomeness- The LIQUOR aisle at Target!!!!!:

The CSA where we get our veggies:

Fortunately, if surprisingly, there is some good food to be had of the restaurant variety also, in nearby Moderately-Sized City:

There is a lot more nature here, too. And by nature, I mean bugs. But there is some cool nature, too:

And, in case this point hasn't been driven home enough, it's very pretty here.

Damn relaxing, too =)

caffinated....

Last night E and I had coffee with my sister- it was great. Wonderful. And when I was still going strong at 10 pm, I started to wonder what was going on.... until I realized that, in my excitement over the real, live, frapachino, I had forgotten the magic word: decaf. My body was still twitching at 7:30 this morning...... but I'm pretty tired now. Time for bed.

How the Doctors R and E go to the Beach

First, have two people defend two doctoral dissertations in 21 days- extra points if you defend one of them twice.
 
Be sure to have your car break down on the day of the last dissertation- but not until AFTER everything is over, AFTER you've picked up your other, working car from the shop. This works best if you have it break down right next to a parking space on a residential street near your house.
 
Start walking home, until your husband drives by (in the working car) and helps you push the non-working car into said parking spot. Take out your backpack, your change of clothes, your present from co-worker A, and your present FOR co-worker B, lock up, and drive away praising Jesus.
 
Go to the party at your boss's house for your defense- only an hour late.
Be sure to sleep for eight hours, then roll out of bed to a slate gray sky, and pack bathing suits and sunscreen.
 
Walk past the packed boxes, past empty boxes, past laundry, past bills, and past Histology of the Nervous System in Two Volumes, and past backpack and change of clothes still left by the door from last night.
 
Drive past broken-down car, and don't look back.
 
Finally, enjoy a wonderful day at the beach soaking in the sun (or shade), surf, snacks, frozen margarita and dinner date.

Sunday Reflections

Rain.

Ran.

Rain, rain, rain.

Rest.

City Life

Last night I saw all three emergency services in action!

Now, E and I don't actually live in the city. We live between the city line and the beginning of the nice, safe suburbs. Which we're closer to usually depends on where you're coming from. (Figuratively, not literally.)

Last night, we spend the evening with some friends who are bona-fide city dwellers. They are part of an awesome community connected with a church in the city, where we know two families who are comfortable and committed to urban life. They both both own homes and love neighbors in the kind of place your parents don't want you to live. They are pretty awesome.

We went across town these friends to an awesome El Salvadorian restaurant. (The great ethic food you can get here will definitely be something we'll miss when we move). This particular area is known to be rather dangerous- not the kind a place a woman like me wants to walk alone at night. Not the kind of place you need to avoid with a group of four, two of them self-collected men.

We had a nice dinner and walked down to see the water (yes, we live that close to the coast). On our way back, we saw an ambulance struggle through a line of cars headed to the Cinco de Mayo festival that was going on near where we were parked. As we were walking up, we realized there were tons of police cars there, along with a few ambulances and fire trucks. We saw several men laying face-down on the ground, and walked around part of the sidewalk that was sectioned off with police tape. We found out someone had been stabbed- and noticed blood and a crumpled t-shirt at the crime scene! The police were doing great, controlling the situation, taking statements- we noticed they had these plastic handcuff things instead of the metal ones I always picture. I can't imagine being a police officer in such an urban area. The ambulance crew must have already done their thing- we saw one pull away in front of us.

On the way back through town, we saw a huge hole in the street where they've been repairing a water main break for a week. It's causing havoc with rush-hour traffic, but it's not an emergency service.

Having dessert back at our friends' house, we saw a fire truck go by, lights blazing and horn honking. Our friend informed us that when living in the city, the thing to do is go find out what's going on- we could see that it stopped not far from us. So, we went and saw the firemen do their thing- the fire was in an abandoned house that is due to be torn down, and as far as I can tell they didn't even need to use the hose- though they did get it all hooked up, which was cool to see.

It was amazing to see all three emergency services in one night! The crime downtown seemed like a it was pretty serious, while the fire seemed like a relatively minor event. Incidentally, the town we are moving to DOES have volunteer ambulance service and firefighters, we were glad to find out while we were visiting out there the other week. I think they have some police, too, though I imagine that job is pretty different from the police officers here. We'll find out!

Cherry Blossoms!

We went down to DC and saw the cherry blossoms the other weekend! (If you live in the area and pay attention to such things, then you know this post is a little dated). It was a great, semi-spontaneous date for us after church on a Sunday afternoon. We laughed that we are so used to being near Washington D.C- we took the Metro down with only the faintest idea of where we were going, and had to wander around a little bit before we found "the cherry blossoms." E has never been, so we definitely enjoyed the opportunity to see them while we're still nearby- I was teasing him because any flowering tree we saw, he would ask, "Are those the cherry blossoms?" At least now he can recognize a flowering cherry tree! He practiced by taking lots of pictures. While we were there, we also walked around the Natural History Smithsonian- gotta love those free DC museums. We tried to see the Botanical Gardens, too- I saw them in the dead of winter and was excited to see what they had in spring- but it was closed when we got there. While we were disappointed not to meet up with a friend who actually lives in DC, we did have dinner at a great Thai place right by his house in his honor. I especially enjoyed this as E doesn't generally enjoy Thai, and manged to surprise me due to some confusion about Metro stops. Yum!