11 Questions

1.     Who was your most memorable teacher, and why? My 6th grade teacher was very special to me. I have known since I was in Kindergarten that I was going to be a teacher, but she is probably the first teacher that really encouraged me to actually become a teacher. I also remember giving her a present (even though I don't remember the occasion) and my classmates teased me about it. So, even though she loved it I still also remember being teased about it. 

2.     Who is one of your educational mentors, and what makes them so special? Well, Dr. Carol Hess was one of my college professors and I kept in touch with her for several years, but she retired this year. She inspired to me to be an awesome teacher. She also has lots of life experience. I never thought I would be brave enough to do the things I have done, but I looked up to her and thought if I want to be as awesome as her someday then I can’t stay in my comfort zone and never take risks.

3.     Which song describes how you are feeling today? Add the youtube clip if possible 
      I can't even remember how long (I know it has been at least since elementary school) I have felt like I am living my life upside down and from the outside looking in. I am usually attracted to darker music, but this lighthearted song actually also fits how I feel. 

      Paloma Faith "Upside Down"  

4.     What is your favourite restaurant/place to eat in the city in which you live, and why?
      I actually have two. One would have to be Sakura Sushi because I just started liking sushi my third year overseas and I am so glad that I can continue to eat it back in the US and other Asian food. The other would be Plaza Bonita. I also really love Mexican food, and I even though I really love Asian food I really missed Mexican food while I was overseas. 

5.     Which video is *cracking you up right now? (*making you laugh) Give us the link!

      I can't remember what my favorite one is called and can't find it. So this is my second favorite. 

      I can fit in there. 

      Twitter wasn't working earlier but I have it now. Medieval Help Desk

6.     What is one thing you learned recently, that wouldn’t have been possible without technology? How did you learn it?
      Well, this year has been an adjustment and my first 6 months in my new town I worked seven days a week, which did not give me the opportunity to meet new people. I also spent a lot of time staying connected with people far away, which is great, but those people can't accept invitations to do things in person. So, this spring I have been working on learning things not using technology and meeting people face to face rather than through technology. So, one of the things I have been learning is how to knit and I am taking a knitting class and meeting other people that knit. I am sure I could watch videos and learn how to knit but my goal is to meet new people where I live. How this ties into technology is that I learned through twitter at the beginning of the year about choosing one word for the year instead of resolutions. My word for this year is Balance. Moving to a new place is always a huge adjustment and there are many things I need to balance so that I make it a successful move. My personality is not always one that leads to balance, so I am really working on trying to improve that part of me. 

7.     Can you please snap a picture of one of your everyday views, and share the photo here?

Hualapai Mountains

8.     What is the next place you want to visit and why?

I have lots of countries that I have yet to see and I have a long list. I think my next trip I would like to go back to Switzerland. I loved Switzerland when I was there, but it has been several years and so I want to go back to see if I still love it as much as I do in my memories. There is something about Switzerland that calls to me and it has been too long since I was last there to consciously remember what it is, but hopefully going back I can find it again and be satisfied. 

9.     Complete this sentence: Teaching is a wonderful profession because…
      I get to work with students everyday. I enjoy continuing to learn myself and working with others to teach them new things. I can share my love of different things with them.  I love being able to be around young people because it keeps me feeling young. They have some great stories to share and they love my sense of humor. I also like the fact that I can make a difference to someone and that they know that there is at least one person in the world that cares about them. 

10.  Can you please list 5 of your favourite movies? Feel free to elaborate on why you like them. Or not!

This is tough.

James Bond movies- I don’t have a favorite, as I love them all. I love James Bond. 

"The Princess Bride"- I really like this movie because it was the first non-cartoon love story and it has action and humor too.

"The Shawshank Redemption"- I don't know. I just do. 

"The Red Violin"- I saw this back in college and it has stuck with me ever since. I recently bought it and watched it again. I still love the story of it.

"An American in Paris"- I love old movies and I also love to dance. Even though I wanted to be a teacher since I was little, I also wanted to be a prima ballerina. When I was little I planned to teach during the day and dance at night. So, not only is an old classic, but it also has dancing in it and it is overseas so it more exotic than the US. 

11.  How do you unwind on a Friday after school? That really depends on how the week went and the mood I am in. Sometimes I like to stay in, make dinner and watch a movie with popcorn. Other times I like to go out for dinner and dancing. 

Introverts

I followed a link on twitter today that led me to TED Talks and the talk, "Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts". I have known for years that I am an introvert. I was also extremely shy when I was younger. Although, I have outgrown my shyness for the most part and only a small part clings to me in certain new situations I am still very much introverted. I identified with several things in this talk. My Dad and I are avid readers but my Mom and brother are not. To me growing up I could read in the solace of my own room or in a busy room filled with people doing various activities. In college, one of my roommates, who is now my best friend and I spent lots of time reading in the same room. There was a period of time where we weren't getting along for some reason (I don't recall anymore why) but I do recall feeling lonely. We were in an apartment at that stage instead of a dorm room. Even though she was in the apartment she would isolate herself in her room while I sat out in the living room hoping she would come out to read. I didn't care if we didn't talk. I just wanted the presence of her there. Eventually things worked themselves out. I have even enjoyed hanging out with that special guy reading while he played his video games. While I don't play video games I can understand being sucked into another world and so to me it is fine to do our different activities together sometimes. I know in college it was a struggle for me when I was in the dorm room because it was just one small room that I had to share with a person all the time. I enjoyed when my roommates when home. Sometimes if they were gone and I was alone in the room I wouldn't answer the door. I didn't want to accept whatever invitation they had and didn't have a good reason for saying no, other than I wanted to be alone. I also remember in college and even now sometimes when I just want to stay home and enjoy a nice, quiet evening a voice in my head ( from different people who have said this to me over and over) that networking is important and you don't meet people being at home and so I need to go out to whatever event that it is, even when I really don't want to and force myself to say hi to all these people I don't know and get to know them, blah, blah, blah. I do it and sometimes I enjoy myself but most of the time I am glad when the night is over and I am back to my solitude. I will also admit that most of the time I greatly admire extroverts and how they are just go, go, go all the time. I wish I could be more outgoing like them.

I do see that many schools are set up for more extroverts. I know even in my own classroom in order to try to meet the different learning styles there is always a conflict. If we do several group activities the introverts aren't happy because they want to work alone. Sometimes I do let them work alone , as I understand being an introvert, but sometimes I do want them to learn how to work with other people, because we do have to do that. Other times if we have several solitary activities that we are doing the extroverts complain that we don't do enough activities together. I think it is important though to learn to work by oneself as not everything in life can be a group activity. In the US I had my own classrooms and I was able to be in their during my planning period, so it helped me get through the day by having that alone time to work. In overseas schools that I have taught in I have had to share either classrooms with my desk in the classroom, so that during my planning there are other classes taking place in that room (there was no where else to go) and I have worked in a school where all the teachers of the same faculty had their desks all in the same room. So, in both cases there is really no escape during the day to have solitude and think or really get in the zone and get things done. I think it is also more draining not having any real down time during the day. It is definitely still an adjustment that I am working on finding a way to deal with and make it work for me. I have always struggled with participating as a student and now chaperoning as an adult, school trips, because there is really no down time other than some sleeping. If it is for a vacation I like to travel alone, but if I travel with others I have to make sure I carve out time just for myself or I start to get grumpy. It works best if I travel with someone similar to me, so we both take our own alone time. It can be challenge to travel with an extrovert who wants to be with me at all times.

I even feel with social networking that it really can be more for extroverted people. There are many things I create and think that I don't share. I keep those things to myself just like I did before I started Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogging. I create for myself and sometimes I will share but a vast amount I still keep to myself. It is a struggle because there are tons of great discussions on twitter and thought provoking tweets. There are lots of great blogs out there too. I want to share so that people will know that I am trying to contribute and not just take, take, take, but it can be very hard. Some of it may be shyness creeping back up since this is new to me and I wonder what people think when I tweet something or if I were to share one of the songs I have on Soundcloud or pictures that I have taken and edited on Instagram. I know that several of the people I follow are extroverts and they have also been doing things much longer than I have, so they are comfortable in their online skin. With online people all around the world can see my things that I post on twitter, instagram, my blogs. How much do I want people who have never met me to know? How much do I want those people that I have met to know? There are somethings that I only want the people closed to me to know. Some of it has, of course, to do with trust. How much do I trust someone whom I have never met with my poetry, if I were to put it online? On the other hand, I write my poetry for me, about very personal things, and don't want other people's opinions or validation on it.
I think living overseas being an introvert can be different than back home. In one country I was really the only expat at school and  the other expat women in the town didn't work, so it was easier to have lots of solitude. In another country there is a larger expat community at school and there are a few international schools, so there is more pressure to be social. At first that was exciting after two years of lots of solitude, but now I am worn out. I think with just small expat communities, in my experience,  it can be harder to find another introvert to just hang out reading together with. I also feel I have to be more outgoing to bridge that gap, so that I can learn about a different culture, which is part of why I moved overseas. If I stuck mostly to myself I wouldn't learn much about the country I am living in and the people or their culture.
So, it is nice to know that I am not the only one who enjoys reading in the same room as someone else who is reading. Or who pushed herself to go out to socialize and network when I would really rather be at home experiment with a new recipe. Or that many work environments are set up more for the extrovert. I don't know if others find that social networking seems more geared for the extrovert, but there might be someone out there that does. The main thing for me is reflecting. This talk made me reflect, which is something I do quite often; however, in this case, I am going to share my reflections because there may be other introverts out there that feel this way and will be glad to know that they aren't the only one.