No. 1.4
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Snowpocalypse hit this week. So obviously I took the opportunity to go snowboarding in the morning BEFORE all the soft snow fell. This actually makes perfect sense if you think about it for a second. Why, you ask? Well, reader…despite the fact that there wasn’t a ton of snow on the slopes, my friend and I weren’t trying to get snowed in at Camelback. Seriously. At least the name could be more vacation-like if we’re going to get snowed in there, right?
In fact, I didn’t believe that it would snow even when we came back to Philadelphia for dinner at El Vez (sidenote: good Mexican food, I’d recommend it with a “Philly amazing” stamp at best though as some of my 1L friends would say. It’s worth a visit for sure though). Anyway, lo and behold that night the snow fell heavily and steadily. It was nice. One of those days where you stay in the great indoors. A group of buddies and I ended up watching Weather Man in the large theater room in my complex with ice cream and Chinese food from Sangkee. It was so simple, but it was one of my favorite nights so far this semester.
Good times and this was definitely the first week since MLK weekend where I fully feel back in the swing of things. Game on. Note to self: cut bangs randomly again at some point in my life. Apparently it’s really easy for people to notice and nice that they do! It was the perfect change-without-being-too-drastic that I was looking for. Thanks Section 3 people for the random compliments, messages during class and of course varied attempts to embarrass me.
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No. 1.3
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This week was all about friends and food. There are few things in life that are quite as worthwhile as good friends and good food. I know that’s pretty cliche, but I think it’s that way for a reason. Primarily the fact that it’s generally true!
This past week has been an interesting one for me. I felt sort of like I was floating through as a bystander, but in retrospect, it was a solid week. In part, I think it’s because I had been waiting for the release of grades for so long that after they came out on Monday it was somewhat anticlimactic. I feel at peace with how this upcoming semester is going to progress.
One thing I realize is that I need to be comfortable with the fact that I can’t always be in charge of everything going on in my life and that everything is not always certain. We’re now past 1 semester + some change and I think most of my law school friends and I are getting to the point where we know one another pretty well. We know who we like; despite the uncertainty of human relationships, it is generally clear why things are the way they are and why they will remain this way or whether there is still potential to get to know one another more. I still would like to meet more people in Philly though outside of the small bubble that seems to lie between Chestnut and Sansom. Case in point: it was so refreshing to go out with MD friends this past weekend. But still, with my 1L friends…we know that we’re in this together and that the next few years will be an interesting experience that we will share more or less, together.
Something may be brewing, it feels like the calm before the storm. Going boarding at Camelback this Friday. Yes, I am a 1L student. Repeat.
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No. 1.2
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Happy Birthday Ben Franklin. For the longest time, whenever people asked me what my favorite book was, the answer was The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I seriously loved reading this work during English 45B. How fitting that I am living in the city he basically founded and attend the institution he essentially began as well. Everything happens for a reason.
Speaking of which, we just got our grades, so today was a much anticipated day for 1L students here. I also got an email from a former student today. It’s the kind of message that you get every so often as a teacher and it’s the kind of message that makes me realize a number of things about my own life and my own plans for the near future. As a teacher, this was one of the driving factors behind going in every day to try and do my best in the classroom…for my kids. Here is an excerpt:
“I want to let you know that I attend Westwood college for my bachelors of science in criminal Justice and I am so happy there its in Annandale Va and My mom go to school with me I have a 3.0 GPA and I am so proud of myself I never thought my Grades would look like that and I know you had something to do with them being that way because you made me believe in myself even when I felt bad about being in a 10th grade class and being almost 19 with a bunch of 15 yr olds but I just wanted to see how you been doing and tell you what I am doing also”
I have a lot to learn this next semester, but I know that I have at least one outstanding professor and a number of good professors, which I really needed to experience. The message just sort of slaps you back down into having a sense of perspective, you know? Week 2 of a picture a day is officially, a success!
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Practical and funny, I like.
This sure beats Erie and PJ/SMJ flow charts. I am now trained and prepare to be a lawyer. Look out large law firms.
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No. 1.1
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So my first week of taking a picture a day is complete. Already! But isn’t that so often the story of life?
I suppose that is one minor motivating factor behind this Picture a Day campaign…an attempt to remember what I normally forget. To sum up the first week of picture taking, it was actually a challenge for me to remember to tote around my Canon PowerShot SD1000 everywhere. I faltered the second day and thought about ditching this project because I thought to myself, “Dang…there will be so many days where I don’t do much of anything. That’s kind of lame.” And then I realized that that’s the point of this endeavor. It forces me to realize that each day is significant and even if something monumental doesn’t necessarily happen each day, it’s really how I choose to look at things. I think I will really appreciate this project later down the road as well when I look back at what the heck happens on a daily basis. There is just so much we forget!
The pictures progress chronologically from top to bottom. On a few of the days, I took multiple pictures, but then found myself gravitating toward the “more ordinary” ones anyway. For example, tonight, four of my law school buddies and I went out to a nice dinner at La Croix at The Rittenhouse Hotel. We each had a three course meal paired with wine. As we ate and conversed, we all felt like normal human beings out on a Monday evening. It was amazing (both the food and the feeling). Afterward, we went out to Yogorino, which is an equally delicious yogurt shop near Rittenhouse Square. Apparently the Philadelphia location is the only one currently in the United States (this probably explains their lack of U.S. targeted website, but you can check out Yelp for more information on Yogorino). The topping I chose tonight was white chocolate with wafers. Delicious. And the yogurt is lighter than most of the typical fro-yo crazed chains. The cups are also a biodegradable blue plastic that is sturdy enough to take home if one should desire. I would highly recommend trying both places that we ventured to tonight. Anyway, the picture I chose for tonight was NOT of the food or the places that we visited, but rather a shot taken in the elevator while I was trying to catch everyone…but instead caught everyone walking out. haha. Relish the little things is what I’ve learned so far from “Picture a Day.”
So there’s my first week in a post. More to come in seven days!
Ah and if there are any questions about the pictures, just leave a note inquiring and I’d be happy to explain. Please refer to the pictures by number (1-7) on each post so I know which one you are referring to. Thanks!
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Round 2, Fight!
So today marks the beginning of my second semester of 1L year. I’ve experienced half of my new batch of classes and also have one class with a mix of students instead of the usual 75 students that we took all of our classes with first semester. The class I’m talking about is called Legal Responses to Inequality and although it makes perfect sense, it humored me to notice that probably 80-90% of the minority population of the Class of 2012 was enrolled in this course. I’ve never seen such a bloc of Asian and African American students in one classroom…probably, ever since the inception of my law school experience.
Today is also the start of my picture-a-day campaign. Credit goes to Earl or I guess rather his brother (in-law?) who inspired me to embark upon this journey with the beginning of this semester. If you ever see this Earl, thanks! I plan to take at least one photo every day whenever I feel like it and designate one (if more than one was taken) to be my picture of the day. It may be representative of a day in the life or just a random shot that captures a feeling or otherwise. I think I’ll commit to posting seven at a time, so basically I will post once a week. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer. At all. So here goes nothing.
I also got my first job offer today. I guess today is just the start of a new section of this particular chapter of life.
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2 week anniversary
It has officially been two weeks since I started law school…okay well, I guess I’m two days early since we started on Tuesday, September 8th.
But in these past two weeks, I have done hundreds of pages of reading and now have close to 80 pages of typed notes. Whew, I wonder how many pages of notes I will have by the end of the semester. I have also said:
“Vivian, and yourself?”
“I’m from Texas, but D.C. most recently”
“I was teaching, yes Teach For America”
“I taught 9th and then 10th grade English”
“Berkeley”
“07″
“Yeah so I headed to D.C. after graduating and now I’m here”
“I broke it playing softball”
“Section 3, yeah see you around!”
Yeah I’ve effectively said those facts in various patterns way too many times. I guess that’s how it goes when you come to a new place with 255 other new people. Everyone is very smart and nice. Some people are very cool and I hope that a few people will become great friends.
So I went out to the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) dinner and after-event this past Saturday. It was actually a lot of fun. It’s so interesting how people of common experiences and backgrounds so frequently find themselves coming together. For some it has to do with preference and others perhaps just a sense of camaraderie. I feel fortunate to have met so many people from different walks of life in my short lifetime (sidenote: someone asked me how old I was yesterday and it felt really weird to say 24…I think that was my first time saying my age aloud to someone else since my birthday). Anyway, so I guess I’m just trying to say that I feel lucky to have lived and experienced many cities and people up to this point in time. All of which have shaped me in various ways.
But I have to admit that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to value the commonalities that I share with fellow Asian Americans. I think this is normal, we all gravitate toward people that we can relate to and enjoy the company of and this obviously transcends beyond ethnicity but sometimes it includes ethnicity too, which is perfectly okay. Hopefully this will be a time for me to grow as a person and not limit myself. Too bad I have no idea exactly who/what will be limiting and who/what will be nurturing, but I think I’ll be able to discern as I go through these next few fresh months of 1L year.
Lastly, I am going to admit that I love to dance. I think I really do. And the thing is, I don’t necessarily like to dance all…club dancy most of the time. This is a comment that I have received on numerous occasions when we go out. Some guys just like to dance too! …as opposed to have some girl all up in his space. Although believe me, I’m sure many guys don’t mind the latter either.
But this doesn’t mean that I don’t like to dance in clubs. I just don’t necessarily like to dance in clubs in a club dancy kind of way. You follow? I recently heard a story from my grandma about how she used to love to dance and how she would go out and dance the whole night away. haha. She even used to go out to places where older people gather to dance. It’s really hilarious to imagine my grandma doing her thing on the dance floor, but I can’t help but agree that dancing is a whole lot of fun sometimes.
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Documentation
When I think back to my original intention for starting this blog, I can boil the reasons down to two:
1. to document my thoughts as a TFA corps member
2. to find a new medium that would enable a smooth transition from xanga to blog
Now, several years later, I realize that my well-intentioned goals to write (and often subsequently reflect) and document have often been…ahem, inadequate at best. At the same time, after a recent 10 day trip to three countries and six cities, I have decided(not as an excuse), but rather as a realization the following:
Sometimes, you’re too busy living life to document. And this is generally a good thing, if you are living it fully.
And although 35 years from now, when we’re all flying our cars and downloading our food (Lord, I hope not)…I will fondly look back upon these digital archives with a rush of memories. At the same time, I’m surprised at how clearly we are able to think back and recall our thoughts, emotions and perceptions of times passed. Sometimes, I can imagine myself in that very moment. It’s funny how our hearts and minds deem some memories worthy to keep and others…ahem, inadequate for whatever rhyme or reason. In any case, I have many thoughts and no thoughts all at the same time these days. I think, for the purposes of this blog, I have dug myself into a situation where I no longer desire to go back and track my thoughts ad naseum.
It’s currently prayer time in the Lee household and my junky desktop is attempting to upload some long overdue photos. I think I’ll be back soon to post some ramblings.
…brb
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One day
The day has finally arrived. The one that marks the end of my time with my students and with my mission to Teach For America. It’s like the day that I always anticipated, but never thought or perhaps even hoped would never arrive. And yet, here I am.
It’s bittersweet. And though I’ve shed few tears during my time teaching my kids. I find myself shedding a couple today. As I hugged Monna before she left to get on a plane to Georgia. As I tossed a football in the hallway to Darian. (probably very against the rules) And finally as I put stamps on the letters that my kids wrote to themselves. The letters I will mail back to them when they don’t expect it. Maybe it will be a year, two years, I’m not sure…but I really hope that I always remember everything that went on in my classroom. The little details that no one could truly see or understand without having done it too.
And yet, life strangely moves on so quickly. Tomorrow we’ll all have new worries and pretty soon it will be as if it never happened if we let it happen that way. I have to promise myself not to forget.
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