Half a Disney Day

One of the highlights of my trip home was a day at Disneyland. Most people know that big fans of The Magic Kingdom are mostly of children and females; men over the age of 14 seem to be dragged along by said females and children.

Nathan was no exception. From the time I first uttered the line, "So, I thought it'd be nice to go to Disneyland when we're in LA..." his responses (mostly comprised of blank stares and noncommital "hmms") would remind me of how I'd respond to my mom when she'd say to me, "Want to come with me to the Chinese supermarket? And, then the drugstore?"

Six months after hearing the first of several suggestions that we spend a day in a theme park whose ruling mascot is a large mouse with a high-pitched voice, Nathan finally gave me the thumbs-up. Needless to say, tickets were procured before he could change his mind.

So, you can imagine my immense irritation and disappointment when we ended up having less than half a day at the park. Due to a long chain of Murphy's Law events, Nathan and I didn't enter the gates until 3:30 pm. Basically, our visit with Jammie the night before, turned into an extra late chat in my driveway (she got lost getting to my house and her phone had died).

So, we slept in an extra hour the next morning, but my mom was home, so it took me an extra 45 min. to get ready, further delaying our departure. My mom needed me to take the van in for repairs, and the dealership is only 9 miles from Disneyland; I was uninterested in driving down to Anaheim twice in one week, so we took the van in for a "quick" fix-up before heading to the park. The last time I went to get the van door fixed, it took all of 15 minutes. That day, Nathan and I waited over an hour before finally leaving for Disneyland.

But, having never driven to Disneyland from the South, I got lost and had to call my friends within the park for help. I had no idea how much CA freeway memory I'd lost in the last two years! By the time we parked, rode the tram from the parking lot to the park and got through the enormous line to enter, I was undeniably pissed off.

Fortunately, my love of Disneyland soothed my rankled constitution and we ended up having a rather lovely time. The 50th Anniversary fireworks show was especially good!

On the tram


The newly remodeled, very pink Sleeping Beauty's castle


Rae and Shelley on the Matterhorn


The castle at night

Spring Break

The good people at Diller-Quaile gave us two whole weeks of Spring Break at the end of March. I must say, I was quite ready for the vacation, and no, it wasn't extravagant; it was the perfect amount of time for me to:

1) recover from yet another cold
2) visit my family in California
3) recover from a hectic visit with my family in California!

For those of you who believe that Southern California never gets foul weather, you are mistaken. The relaxed people of Los Angeles received rain for many days before we arrived for vacation, and after we returned to NY. That's right--we brought the sun with us!

Hanging with The Shels


Nate in the Sun


Happy reunions with the elusive Jammie...



and the photo-happy Kathy

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go

It's official: I am a worker bee. All over the island of Manhattan, I buzz to and fro, bringing muscial education (hopefully) to several groups of children.

In September, I was only working for two places, the Diller-Quaile school of music and Children's Aid Society. Mon., Tues., Thurs. and Fri. mornings I work with babies and toddlers at Diller-Quaile in general music and art classes, some of them separation classes (no parents). On Monday and Tuesday afternoons, I teach music, movement and chorus for K-3rd graders at afterschool sites in Yorkville and E. Harlem.

Due to extreme loan payments, I found another job as a piano teacher for kids/teenagers at a music school with an Italian name (Florentine) in Chinatown. My weekday hours did not match with theirs, so I signed away my Sunday mornings to them and I started teaching there in February.

My students are great, they're coming along swimmingly. The main office workers, though nice, are completely incompetent; however, as it is my first year of teaching, and none of my jobs afford me benefits, I decided to stick with this school. A big plus is I can teach there throughout the summer, something that is not possible with D-Q or CAS, as they shut down for the summer months.

My fear of not making rent during the aforementioned summer break drove me to search for one more job. I was so pleased to find a position in an early childhood program in Tribeca. Starting next week, I will be working with downtown babies/toddlers on Wed.-Friday afternoons. The Nest has a Spring/Summer semester that will take me all the way until August, so that will take some of the pressure off of me financially.

Now that I've been able to fill in my open hours (and them some), I'm faintly worried about burning out by next September. With church taking out half (and sometimes more) of Saturday, and spending a third of Sunday at Florentine, I plan to guard my free time even more fiercely than before. Working has surprised me by being immensely fulfilling and more exhausting than school ever was for me. And, I was a good student! Apparently, practicing endless hours of Beethoven and hammering out reams of research papers do not have the same effect on me that teaching does.

It's such an odd feeling I have when I leave my classes. On the one hand, I'm flushed with happiness at musical progress made and the ever-tightening bonds of friendship with my students; on the other hand, I'm so emotionally and physically drained that I crave solitude more than having dinner with friends.

Talking to some of my coworkers, I was quite relieved to find that I'm not alone in my situation. Most of my friends/coworkers work at least two jobs, and gig with their bands/choruses/orchestras on top of that. I have a few friends who do their best not to socialize on schoolnights, choosing simply to recharge by themselves (or with their families) at home. Weekends are much looked forward to, as it is with all people, as are those nifty school breaks/holidays we receive. As for my coworkers who've just had babies, I just do not know how they do it! (Although, it should be noted that none of them are married to or partnered with musicians/artists.)

I am unmarried and have no children, so my time is pretty much my own. I also happen to love my jobs, and most of the people I work with (those Chinatown secretaries need to be flogged, and that's much more than most people can say. I love New York, and I found not one, but four jobs to stay here. I'd say I'm pretty lucky. Tired, but lucky.

Not-so-random musings...

Here is a question that has plagued my mind lately:

Why do people have children if they don't like them?

I'm not talking about the masses of teenagers who still can't bring themselves to use birth control on a regular basis. I'm talking about "responsible" adults who can afford children and think that it'd be a "neat" idea to procreate in the name of further extending their family tree. These same people are then bewildered and surprised when their cute babies don't sleep through the night, and then grow to be mischievous, loud, temperamental, or just plain naughty toddlers.

Some parents are convinced that their two year olds should be able to control their emotional and physical impulses as an adult would, talking to them as they would a teenager. Then there are parents who do not understand that their children are whining/crying because they're tired of taking a backseat to their parent's cellphone.

My advice to those who are thus far childless: if you don't like the idea of little people who are co-dependent, cry frequently and loudly, like to eat random crap off the floor, and require constant love and care that does not come from a dvd boasting large colorful animals, then try NOT to have children. Seriously, as an early childhood teacher, I care much less about whether your kids are taking up your time from watching a basketball game, even if it is the Big East Tourney; no, I care about whether or not you're making time for your kids.

Whether you like it or not, you as a parent are wholly responsible for their happiness and healthy development. Not their nannies, not their school teachers, not their stuffed animals. Children are an absolutely precious gift, and they deserve parents who are willing to make the sacrifices required of them.

Cooking: A Beginning

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of food. I eat more of it than most people I know, I read about it, I try to discover new (or new to me) bakeries, restaurants, etc. every week. But, I have never been one for the kitchen.

Basically, I've spent the majority of my life making rice, baking cookies, boiling hot water for tea and washing fruits to be eaten whole. I don't like having to cut them into slices because the slices rarely look nice, and then I feel disappointed. Besides, the skin is usually where all the nutrients are, so why not just devour the fruit from the outside in, as nature intended? If mango could be eaten from the outside in, I'd do that to. As it is, I'm very happy to slice a mango into halves, then stand over a large sink to suck the flesh off the seed, the way all good Asians do. When the mango is ripe, a bowl just doesn't cut it.

When I lived in Loma Linda, I learned how to make fried rice, basic veggies, salmon. Nothing hard at all. Oh, and good scrambled eggs. I love scrambled eggs. But, since moving to New York, the city of fast and good food, I completely lost what little motivation I had to cook anything for myself. Instead, I learned how to order take-out and delivery over the phone in commanding tones; I'm usually the one who has to do all the ordering for large groups of friends who do not care to deal with unfriendly waiters with heavy accents.

Lately, though, I've been thinking more and more about the utter helplessness I feel when faced with fresh food and a stove. Like most choleric people, I do not enjoy feeling helpless, even more so when it involves the alchemy of creating meals that are pleasing to the eyes and tastebuds. Plus, working with young children everyday, I have an increasing desire to be able to feed my own future children one day, and I don't mean by picking up a phone and dialing the nearest Italian restaurant.

As luck would have it, I am blessed with several friends who do like cooking, and actually participate in the making of food during the weeknights. One such friend is Jeremy. He is the best cook I know in my realm of friends, and fortunately for all of us, regularly invites us to cook with him. Unfortunately, he and his lovely wife will most likely be moving back to San Francisco in a couple of years, so I thought I'd best take advantage of his culinary prowess while I can.

Last Wednesday, a few of us got together before Bible study to create a Mexican feast of cheese enchiladas, roasted sweet potatoes and chayote squash, black beans, our own yellow rice (yes, Jeremy knows how to make white rice turn yellow) and a mixed salad with homemade lime and olive oil vinagrette. It was great fun and turned out to be mighty tasty. Even though I was just one of 4 people cooking, I was so proud of myself!

On Saturday night, a much larger group assembled itself around Jeremy's kitchen island to cook for an even larger group of hungry friends. On the menu: beet risotto, roasted butternut squash, acorn squash puree soup, sauteed broccoli and mushrooms, tossed salads with sundried tomatoes and artichokes, and bruschetta. There were a lot of big knives being flashed around that night, but no serious injuries were incurred. I sliced a part of a fingernail during a basil chopping session, but to the relief of all, no blood was spilled!

Here are some pictures from Saturday night:










Who knows? Maybe by the time Jeremy and Erica leave, I'll be able to manuever around the kitchen with less anxiety and without slicing my poor fingernails.

Vacation

As some of you know, I have been enjoying my first vacation week of the new school semester, thanks to the presidents of the United States. That's right, we don't just get a weekend--we get a whole week! New York public schools (I'm not sure about other states) give their students a week for President's Day (President's Week), so I didn't have to go in for my Children's Aid sites. Diller-Quaile, probably to go along with the spirit of things, decided to close for the week as well.

At first, I thought I'd fly out to LA to see my family, but decided to visit them next month instead. Given the choice between February and March, my mom pointed out that she'd prefer a lesser gap of time between times she gets to see me. (As a teacher, I'll probably get to visit her again in June.)

And, so, I have spent the week relaxing in the City. I ended up getting sick--again--on Sunday, so I've been trying to recuperate before work starts up again. Here's a list of the things I've done this week:

1.) Slept in every day--till 12 noon!

2.) Two HUGE loads of laundry

3.) Tidied up Nathan's apartment (yes, I do do that)

4.) Ate the best pancakes of my life--no joke--at Clinton St. Bakery

5.) Watched a lot of Olympics

6.) Bought 3 hardcover books at Labyrinth Books--all for $11

7.) Found a sweet (in all senses of the word) Soda Shop in Tribeca

8.) Consumed gallons of soup (it's about all I crave when I'm sick)

I have to admit that I have missed some of my students...but only the good ones! haha! So, it's back to work on Monday, and to the things that I haven't missed this week:

1.) Paint and glue all over my clothes

2.) Wrenching small objects from the mouths of babes

3.) Duct-taping the light switches and sink handles to prevent insanely frequent usage from small hands

4.) Chronic lower back pain at the end of the day from communing with 2 ft. tall people

5.) Having to hear 2nd and 3rd graders inform me, "We're so TIRED. We've had a long DAY. We just want to SIT."

But, I'm blessed with work, and I love my kids. Here's to the things I missed very much this week:

1. Being greeted with huge smiles and jubilant hugs every morning when we open the classroom door.

2. Hearing 2 yr olds sing ABC and Old MacDonald with zest every day.

3. Dancing with my kids to The Nutcracker Suite

4. Seeing how much they've all grown in such a short time.

Bubby's and Klatch

Ah, the joys of eating in downtown Manhattan. As a resident of upper Manhattan, I must say that when it comes to food, I would practically walk downtown for a decent meal.

Having said that, let me just recommend two places I had the pleasure of visiting last week. The first is Bubby's Pie Company, better known as Bubby's. If you like heaping plates of solid American food, served in a bright n' airy dining room filled with an eclectic mix of Blackberry-toting businessmen and baby-toting moms, then head down to Tribeca. The real draw at Bubby's are the desserts; personally, I stand behind their pies. I find it reassuring that the word "Pie" is in their official title, and that their pies are excellent.

Nathan and I listened to our Claudia Schiffer-lookalike waitress and ordered the largest slice of lemon meringue pie I've ever had the good fortune of eating in a restaurant:


It was really delicious...


Now, for those of you who like going to Century 21 and then wonder afterwards, "Where the hell can I go to rest/celebrate after surviving such a stressful shopping experience?" I direct you to the coffeehouse Klatch. Sunny yellow walls, twinkly lights all 'round, catchy tunes and excellent service can all be found in this cozy little shop tucked away in the Financial District.

A big smile for my Mexican Hot Chocolate


Bubby's
120 Hudson St.
www.bubbys.com

Klatch
9 Maiden Lane
btw. Broadway and Nassau

Sweet Valentine

February 14, 2006 was my FIRST Valentine's Day! Well, it was the first time I had a Valentine to celebrate with. My first time standing in front of a huge wall of Valentine's cards at the store, pouring over the selection to find the perfect one for my darling. First time I got to pour my thoughts into what I would get as the perfect gift (final selection: Pistons vs. Knicks at Madison Square Garden in March). First time to rush home after work to change into something nicer for dinnr (I always get paint and glue on my jeans on art days at school). First time receiving a dozen red roses EVER. I know some of you will think I'm to cheesy, but I don't care! I had a wonderful day, and I hope you did, too.

A cozy, romantic restaurant (Salt on 58 MacDougal St.)


Yummy meal


Handsome date


My red roses

My Kids

I get to see these beautiful faces twice a week at Diller-Quaile, and I wanted to share them with you. Smart, funny, and amazingly musical, here are five of my seven students in Music and Art for 2's Class #36.

Introducing...

Clare and J.P.


Daniel (and his father)


Hannah (and her nanny)


Nick (and his mom)


And, here's me and Miss Clare, posing and singing out "Cheese!"

Let it Snow

During the record-setting snowfall, a very sleepy Jannine tried to make her own path through the streets to get to her first day of work. After a ridiculously difficult and long subway ride (2 different transfers!) to the far reaches of Chinatown, our brave piano teacher--who could not reach her school by phone--tunneled 7 more loooong blocks to find a school that was not open. Much internal seething ensued amidst the swirling flurries of snow.





However, on the way back to the subway, Jannine was able to purchase Chinese breakfast items for a grand total of $2.00, and then spent a nice, relaxing day indoors with her friend Erica.

When music videos go awry

I loved Knight Rider as a child. I love Dodgeball as an adult (c'mon, you KNOW it was hilarious when Lance Armstrong makes his cameo). What do the two have in common? Mr. David Hasselhoff.
Who didn't laugh hysterically when Coach Hasselhoff dresses down his German team en Deustch after they lose to Joe's Gym in the Vegas rounds? And, when he smashed a framed picture of himself, causing the Germans to tear up, I said to myself, "Now THERE'S a man/actor who knows how to laugh at himself!"

And, so my love for the Knight Rider lived on. Unfortunately, while browsing through an acquaintance's blog, I found a disturbing chink in the Knight's armor. She had stumbled upon, and posted a link to, a video clip of David Hasselhoff singing "Hooked On a Feeling." While Mr. Hasselhoff seems to possess a fine singing voice, his agreement to participate in the antics portrayed in this music video raised many a question in my head, the first and foremost being, "What the hell was he thinking?!"

Prepare yourselves for Hasselhoff moves that include flying like a bird and taking a bite out of a large salmon, caught with his bare hands in an eskimo suit.