After Thanksgiving

There were times when this week of not-teaching felt too long, when I found myself wanting to be busy and hectic like the weeks have so often been. I think part of it is because there's so little time left until the holiday break, and I know that once school kicks into high gear, the next two weeks are going to fly by awfully quickly. And we can be honest here: I'm really, really excited to go home.

But it's not as if this place isn't full of amazing opportunities and adventures, and the last few days have not included a minute of that laziness that I felt during exams. So here's a recap of the weekend.


THURSDAY: PD and Thanksgiving

With finals behind us and a whole weekend ahead, we began with a big long Professional Development session at which King's welcomed Michael Nachbar, the director of Global Online Academy. This is a pretty amazing project that's brought together some of the best prep schools in the world to create online classrooms in which students can take courses offered by teachers from around the world. Lina, my Arabic teacher and Downton Abbey watching partner (we started last week and are already on season 2), teaches an Arabic class for GOA, and it seems like a ton of work but an amazing chance to connect students from wildly different places and cultural backgrounds.

So his talk was cool, but even cooler were the discussions we had afterwards about how we can do a better job implementing technology into our classes and the structure of the school. We broke into little groups and the 5 people I was with were just offering such thoughtful, creative, insightful ideas about things that King's could be doing better and how we could improve. It brought on this difficult and powerful feeling of responsibility, like picking up your pack for the first time when you're about to go on a long hiking trip. I felt that day like there was a huge weight on my shoulders, but not an entirely unwelcome one. This profession is just so full of people who want to do the best they can for the betterment of others, and watching that spirit in action is something that honestly gets lost in the day-to-day slog of planning and grading and supervising. Those kind of days make me really glad I'm teaching, at the same time as they make me feel like this job is ridiculous and impossible. I think we need to have PD discussions more often.

But then it was THANKSGIVING and oh man did we have ourselves a time. The faculty potluck was held at the headmaster's house, which had been done up Bedouin-tent style:

My contribution, with the help of Yasmine the Human Sifter, was the old family gingerbread recipe, and I have to say, we did a bang-up job.

We made two loaves (or whatever you call them), and the second didn't even get touched because there were so many desserts, so I have a full pan of gingerbread sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm looking at it right now, there under that tin foil, calling my name. I haven't even had the power to eat it though, because here's the thing: Thanksgiving potlucks where 60 people bring dishes are RIDICULOUS.

There were five tables of food: a greens and salads table, a sides table, a turkey table (the turkey was provided by the school), a bread/more sides table, and a dessert table. I filled up my plate, then went back for seconds, then had dessert which included I think seven pieces of gingerbread. It was absolutely incredible.

Highlights included: sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, a beet and goat cheese salad, pumpkin pie cheesecake, apple pie made with tea-soaked apples, and stuffing and rice and beans and cranberry relish and peppermint cake and molasses cookies and challah (!) and basically everything imaginable. I ate all of it and was so full and it was so worth it, and then we had mulled wine at Meredith's which was also worth it. One of my favorite Thanksgiving meals, to be quite honest, and with great company and much merriment.

So I went to sleep incredibly full, knowing that I had fewer than 24 hours to regain my appetite for what was to come. Yes, the weekend of eating did not stop at Thanksgiving. We had bigger fish to fry.

FRIDAY: THANKSGIVUKKAH

Or, as Tricia called it the night before, "Chthanksgiving," which is one of the funniest things I've ever heard and one of the most successful stories I've ever retold. People collapsed. It was really funny.

THIS was the real triumph of the weekend. A much smaller group of us had been planning for a few weeks, and we spent the day cooking before gathering for a nine-person meal that brought the two holidays together like the asteroid smashing into the earth and killing the dinosaurs. I know I said I wouldn't do too many food blog posts, but this was maybe the most impressive culinary event I've ever been a part of. Take a look.

The night began with Maria's pumpkin challah, which tasted basically like regular challah, but had an incredible rich consistency and a deep orange color. It didn't hurt that we served it with some kind of ridiculous cinnamon honey butter.

The table, prepped with the chanukiah, and four dishes: stuffing (not Chanukah-themed but delicious); roasted cauliflower; marinated vegetables, and Cassie's and my greatest creation.

A close-up of said creation: sweet potato bourbon kugel. A kugel, yes, but with a Jack Daniels-infused sweet potato puree mixed in with the cheese and noodles, and a cornflake-pecan-brown butter crust on top. This thing was UNREAL. I kind of want it to be a Thanksgiving staple for the rest of my life.

The festive table, with Chanukah and Shabbat candles lit (I led everyone in prayers). Featured here are the turkey, which was delicious, and in the lower left, horseradish-chive mashed potatoes. Like I said, we just smashed some holidays together. Thanks, Buzzfeed.

My plate. Turkey, stuffing, kugel, potatoes, cauliflower, the marinated vegetables, and Jamie's roasted squash with tahini-lemon dressing which was also incredible. I had at least two more helpings of kugel after this.

There was a brief break after dinner for a Yankee Swap (we had considered a Secret Santakkah, but decided on a Yankee Swappakah instead). Little gifts made the rounds, I got a fantastic cocktail shaker, and then it was time for dessert.

Yes, if you thought things weren't ridiculous enough, there was dessert. Here's Maria's rye-crusted pumpkin pie:

And the real winner of the evening, also Maria's, were the pecan pie rugelach. Literally rugelach with pecan pie filling instead of jelly or chocolate or whatever. I think I had a thousand. The presence of whiskey whipped cream helped. These were perfect. I vow that I will someday eat them again.

We were going to have latkes before dinner, but instead we had them after dessert. Jamie and I fried up some delicious classic latkes; you all know what those look like, so instead I included the cranberry applesauce cooked up by yours truly:

This, too, should be a keeper, Thanksgivukkah or not. Just delicious.

It was truly a historic weekend of food and I am still recovering, but blissfully so. Today we all began the painful process of returning to reality: finalizing grades and writing comments, cleaning up classrooms and writing lesson plans, and in just over an hour, it'll be time for an epically long Glee Club rehearsal to prepare for tomorrow's concert with the orchestra (it's a benefit for the Philippines, which is pretty cool I think). Then it's off to the races, with twelve days to go until winter break, and America.

As I pulled down a few of the term 1 decorations in my class to get ready for tomorrow's "first day of school," I was struck with just a tinge of nostalgia. With grades in, and classrooms reset, it really does feel like I'm done with that first group of students, and now I'm about to jump into something brand new all over again. Just when I started getting comfortable, too.

We'll see how it feels to start working some philosophy magic on a new bunch of kids, and with three weeks of vacation around the corner, I hear it's hard to get anybody to sit still. I'm awfully glad to have had this weekend to come together and share food and drink and fun with everyone, and I'm ready to get the show on the road. Let's do it, December.

A meta-confectionary photo safari

Mere hours ago, I alluded to my plans to eventually produce these remarkable cupcakes. Little did you know, all you many many readers out there, that I intended to bring this ambitious plan to fruition this very evening. You're in luck, because I've got two hours to kill in this supervised study hall, and I'm going to do my best to keep the students quiet while in fact devoting all of my attention to the following blog post:

CUPCAKES WITH PIES INSIDE: A JOURNEY IN PICTURES

Joanna, the new art teacher, and I had had this plan for a week or so, and she was saintly enough to pick up almost all the necessary ingredients over the weekend. I say "almost" because she was under the mistaken impression that the can of pumpkin was a can of pumpkin pie filling, and so we needed an emergency grocery run and the help of Meg's pantry to fill out our remaining pie ingredients. All told, we were baking at Lina's for like three hours, and the cupcakes weren't even done by the time I had to come to study hall. But the first batch was done, and I had one, and now I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's take a quick trip through the process.

Didn't start taking pictures until we were already partway through, but here are the mini-pies. 24 little pumpkin pies make their way into the oven...

And out they come, looking a little misshapen (which we kind of expected). No worries, because they won't be seeing the light of day much longer...

Here are the mini-pies enjoying their new home: cupcake batter made with copious amounts of cream cheese. This recipe is ridiculous.

All sealed up!

Aaaand one more trip into the oven:

25 minutes later. Lina made it seem like I should be worried about them, but I have no idea. Pretty nice golden brown, if you ask me.

A few spatulas-full of cinnamon cream cheese icing later, and we have ourselves a nice looking plate:

The first incision. I have chosen not to include the picture of myself smiling like a frantic idiot, but trust me, I was. This was extremely, extremely exciting.

And here you have it, folks: a tiny little pumpkin pie, sitting inside a cupcake. Somehow, some way, we actually pulled it off. And HOLY CRAP were they good.

I don't think I'm gonna make posts this food-bloggy very often (I'll leave that to more qualified members of the family; Jess, could you give me a lesson in food photography some time?), but I was awful proud of our handiwork today, and something had to happen to those pictures. I'll leave you with this thought: in a single bite, the flaky crispness of pie crust, the smooth richness of pumpkin pie filling, the soft crumb of an excellent cupcake, and a thick and slightly cinnamon-y frosting on top. No joke, folks; it actually tasted like all of those things.

Back to the grind, I suppose, with a stomach full of cupcake and a heart more-or-less full of happiness. More updates to come as exam week continues - can't forget that we still have two Thanksgivings to look forward to, and I can only hope that I'll have recovered from these perfect monstrosities by then. See you soon!

Exam week

The next time I step into a classroom to teach, it'll be December, and barely a week and a half will stand between me and baggage claim at JFK. The first term is over, every final paper has been graded (except for the unsubmitted one, but that's its own problem), and I've got until next Saturday to make of this week what I will. And what a week it's been, and has still to be.

The end of term 1 was smooth and generally satisfying. The cookies went over extremely well in both classes, and one section clamored for my own answer to some Big Philosophical Questions and applauded when I finished my little tirade. I don't miss them too much yet, though I might when my new classes begin next week; mostly, I'm filled with a sense of relief. If I bumbled my way through those first three months and the kids enjoyed themselves, the next term can only be better. Here's hoping I can fix some of the first round of mistakes and prepare myself for the second round.

But class can be at the back of my mind of a little while longer, because we're only just approaching the middle of exam week. We didn't have a week like this at Hopkins, and it turns out that it's totally awesome - besides proctoring study halls and a few exams, we are basically free to do as we choose. I was on duty over the weekend, but my freedom is slated to include:

- at least two Downton Abbey marathons (one already completed)
- at least five kinds of pie (with more to come on Thursday)
- at least one trip to the movies (Hunger Games sequel; last night)
- at least two baking adventures (these today and the old family gingerbread recipe later this week)
- at least two Thanksgiving potlucks (the big all-faculty one, and a more intimate Thanksgivukkah bonanza about which I am impossibly excited)
- various and sundry other culinary pursuits, from burgers to department lunches to faculty charity dessert sales

BASICALLY it's been a great week. No lessons to plan, no more grading to do, and the biggest challenge is how to fill the time with activities hopefully both productive and leisurely. So far, so good. Does blogging count as productive?

It's not like we're totally on vacation, though; Glee Club is preparing a new song for our concert next week, and I'm already turning my lesson plans over and over in my head as we approach the start of term 2. Until then, though, we teachers can breathe for a few days, and my thoughts can start to turn to December. The first four months of the big adventure are winding down, and though it's suddenly already time to start considering commitments to The Future, there's plenty of merry-making left to be done before I have to make any big decisions.

Thanksgiving and the accompanying celebrations around the corner; expect extensive photojournalism centered primarily on food. Until then, I'll be here, eating more cupcakes.

Back so soon?

Well, sure! I'm sitting here in supervised study hall with seven students who I have to force to remain silent for another two hours. I have three classes left to teach this term, and I think all of them are going to be essentially free-form discussions with student-generated philosophy questions. This means no lesson plans.

So where does that leave us? Well, here are some things that have happened since last post and/or things I forgot about:

A visit from Silicon Valley legend Mitch Kapor, who's responsible for the program that eventually became Excel, not to mention Firefox:

I have absolutely no idea what he was doing in Jordan, but he was an awesome guy: really passionate and energetic, and he spoke right to the kids and at their level. It didn't stop the entire row of sophomores behind me from falling asleep, but generally the kids were interested, and they should've been. He's an incredible guy with some amazing stories, and he seemed very eager to share some real wisdom about his experiences from writing programs in his bedroom to deciding not to invest in Twitter on day 1 (which he said was his biggest mistake. I wish I could make mistakes that big). A fantastic guest to have at King's, and I feel lucky to have seen him. 

Also, it's my last day with G Block tomorrow after two solid days of discussion and reading. I think I'll miss them but I want to save the mopey reminiscing. for the aftermath. Instead, here are some of the fruits of my labors in preparation for our final class Symposium:

Yasmine helped, but I did most of it. I don't think I'm ever buying chocolate chips in Jordan again, because that shit was like two thirds of my salary. But the cookies do look pretty good (if I do say so myself), and some of them have pretzels inside! I know, I'm a maverick.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

King's has finally graced the internet with THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE KING'S ACADEMY GLEE CLUB!!!

Watch and laugh/enjoy. I'm proud of them, and I think all things considered we did a pretty good job. There are some moments in there that kinda sound like music! (All credit to Nana for spotting this video before I did).

Anyway. If I get real bored, I may well update again. I do have more than a hundred minutes remaining in this fluorescent purgatory. Stay tuned.

As an end approaches

Wow, I guess it's been two weeks. Doesn't seem that long. Plenty to talk about then.

Three days from now, I'll teach my first-ever last class. It's the last week of term, and it's short because exams begin on Thursday, so my rowdier, younger class will only meet the first three days of this week. So on Tuesday I'll bring in juice and cookies (which I do intend to bake myself; already bought the ingredients), and we'll have 45 final minutes to talk about the big questions.

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The counter-downer in me is excited: we're less than a month from winter break now, and since I'm not giving a final exam, next week (Term 1 finals week) is more or less a massive vacation with only two weeks of teaching on the other side. Something tells me the next four weeks are going to move incredibly quickly.

Another part of me is sad, and naturally so, I think: I have enjoyed working with these two classes, and I'll definitely miss their enthusiasm and their intellect and everything they've brought to the class and taught me so far. But yet another part of me is glad that I'm so close to escaping this first term of teaching, when I made so many mistakes, because starting fresh means getting to try to erase them (and inevitably make new ones, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

So it's a mix of all kinds of feelings that's taking me into our final few days together, and I'm still in the midst of putting together the week's lessons: the last couple will be pretty straightforward, but how do you conclude a philosophy class before the inevitable Big Final Discussion? Right now I'm thinking we'll do two days on The Meaning of Life, which is all well and good to say, but it means you have to figure out what you're actually going to do which hasn't been as straightforward. Comment if you have an old lesson plan lying around.

A couple updates from the past couple weeks:

1. WADI ZARQA MA'IN

No pictures here, because we weren't allowed to bring our cameras, but here's what happened: we had a day off from school on November 5 for "Islamic New Year" (which nobody seems to care about) and I foolishly volunteered to lead interested students on a hike. I kinda thought other people would volunteer, and I kinda hoped no kids would sign up, but of course, there I was at 8:30 with one other teacher, schlepping our way into the desert for what I imagined would be an enjoyable, if not thrilling, few hours in the desert.

First off, it ended up being TEN hours (which I had only sort of been aware of beforehand). Second off, it ended up being INCREDIBLE. Turns out that in addition to the desert hiking and wadi wading I was expecting, this hike included rappelling down waterfalls. We all wore wetsuits and harnesses, which looked awesome, and twice over the course of the hike we'd clip ourselves into a hook that had been drilled into the rock face, and uneasily edge out over the lip of a cliff below.

The first one was about 35 meters down a nice sandy cliff; you couldn't really see what you were climbing down until you reached the bottom and realized you'd been alongside a very beautiful waterfall the whole time. A couple kids did take pictures, now that I think about it - I'm going to email Omar right now to see if I can get those.

OK, email sent. The second rappell (?) was where the real action happened. We knew it would be longer, 50 meters this time, and we knew something interesting happened after the first few steps. Turns out that the first few steps were the only few steps, because this one was fifty meters down through space directly in the waterfall. Picture a waterfall cascading through air, and now picture a person gingerly lowering himself down through the path of the waterfall, and now picture me being that person. It was absolutely incredible and further proof that no matter what, going is preferable to not going. Yes, it was ten hours, but would the next day's class really have been that much better if I'd had ten more hours to plan it? I will definitely never forget Zarqa Ma'in, partly for those waterfalls but mostly for reminding me that it's always worth it to put yourself out there.


2. UM AL RASAS

Continuing in the same vein, I used a few free hours the weekend after that hike to join up with a trip to Um Al RaSaS, one of the very many archaeological sites in the area. This one features some absolutely incredible mosaics that were once the floor of a church; see if you can recognize the town at the bottom of this picture:

Yes, it says "Madaba" in Greek. Yes, this mosaic is 1500 years old. It's still called Madaba, even though now it has a pizza place and a Popeye's knockoff. History is really cool when you're in it. Apparently I live in what was once Moab, as in Moab from the Bible, which I had not realized until this trip.

Also, we ran into a security guard from the school who, in true Arab fashion, invited us back to his place for tea. I wanted to share a picture of their sitting room because it was pretty fascinating to see his house and get a taste of his hospitality:

That was a week ago? Things happen fast sometimes.

3. KORASH EXPRESS

Galvanized by my experiences out and about in Jordan, I of course jumped at the chance to try karshaat, which basically amounts to various sheep entrails prepared in various ways. Below is a picture of intestines (left) and stomach lining (right), both stuffed with rice and spices, but I also tried:

- liver (stuffed with spinach; very spicy and delicious)
- brain (tasted almost like fish, I thought)
- tongue (served with spicy chilies; EXCELLENT)
- feet (basically just fat; boring)
- a few preparations of face: fatteh (yogurt and bread) with cheek meat; broth made with the head; and the literal face of the animal sitting on a plate. Cheek meat is delicious.

Many of my companions were preeetty grossed out, but I honestly loved it all. It probably helped that I was extremely hungry, but I would happily go back there and eat the same things again, especially the liver, the tongue, and the two dishes below.

4. MISCELLANY

Of course, after being so adventurous with food, I had no qualms about taking a Yale friend out to Hashem (the classic downtown falafel and hummus joint) the following night. This turned out to be a mistake, because Hashem left me with a fairly serious case of food poisoning that lasted the better part of the week. I didn't think that this early in my teaching experience I'd have the thrilling experience of excusing myself from teaching (Glee Club rehearsal, in this case) to quickly let my lunch back up the way it came, and then returning to get right back into the rhythms of "Do You Hear the People Sing." Ordinarily I wouldn't be that gross on this blog, but if you made it through the karshaat, hopefully you'll be just fine here.

But don't worry, parents and grandparents: I saw the school doctor, drank lots of tea, and avoided the bad kinds of food, and now I'm feeling just fine, as evidenced by the fact that I gorged myself on cupcakes at the new art teacher's birthday party last night. All will be well for this final week of teaching.

Those are some pictures and some thoughts; I think I'll have more time to keep up in the coming weeks because of exams. Hopefully the free time will bring more trips and adventures; I intend to keep seeking them out and taking every opportunity that comes my way. Of course, the real challenge is making sure to put yourself in the path of oncoming opportunities in the first place, which requires creativity, initiative, and enthusiasm that I'm always trying to work on. Plenty more learning to do in the month before December 13. We'll talk again before then; for now, I'm going to put my laundry in the dryer and take a nap. Napping is important too.

One Conference to Go

Happy November, everyone. I've had 13 parent-teacher conferences since 10:30 this morning, and have about 45 minutes to go before my next one, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a little updating.

Yes, you read right, parent-teacher conferences! The final teacherly hurdle, in which I sit before adults at least twice my age and tell them I know how their children should be living their lives. In some ways, if our dean of faculty is to be believed, PTCs are one of the last New Things we're going to be doing in a year full of them.

So far I feel pretty good about them, actually. 14 is far fewer than many of my colleagues, so it's been pretty relaxing, and I've found the parents very engaged and devoted to their kids' success. Often it's the parents of the best kids who are the most likely to show up to conferences, so I've been having some great conversations of the "you have a great child; keep it up" variety. It's awesome to see parents so excited about their kids' education, and it's actually gotten me motivated to plan really great lessons this week and keep our momentum going. We'll see how that part goes.

Anyway, some updates with accompanying photos:

1. HALLOWEEN!

We actually celebrated Halloween last week because of Parents' Weekend this week, and here is one of the fruits of our labors, if you will (look familiar, mom and dad?). I got to wear my tails again, and also dress up like a Ninja Turtle, and also eat pretty uncomfortable amounts of candy and cookies and cakes. I'm pretty sure I ate til I felt sick, which seems like exactly the way Halloween is supposed to be spent. And despite the fact that I can't tell if the kids actually know what Halloween is or just think it's a weird tradition their teachers force on them, they seemed to have a good time all weekend. 

 2. THE GLEE CLUB PERFORMS

Here they are, pre-concert, and only a couple of them are hiding their faces! All 50-some-odd of us made our way on stage at the Parents' Weekend Student Art Showcase and performed "Titanium" to hearty applause and great praise. I'm really proud of how they did; very few people let the pressure of performing affect their energy and enthusiasm, and our sound filled the auditorium despite the fact that the acoustics in there are just miserable.

So we did it! We sang! Never again will the King's Academy Glee Club have to agonize about its first performance. From here, there's a lot further we can go - for starters, we can sing Real Music instead of my own hastily constructed arrangements. Next on the docket is "Do You Hear the People Sing?," featuring a piano accompanist as well as actual sheet music, and I'm excited to see how they fare when faced with an unfamiliar song. Given our success yesterday, though, I have great faith in their abilities. A lot of teachers were very complimentary, and I'm trying to use their praise as fuel to keep things moving forward. All in all, though, I'm proud to be able to say that we have a long way to go, because I have faith that we'll actually be able to get there.

Be on the lookout for a video!

3. It rained?

No picture of this, but it was weird. All of a sudden there were weird noises in my apartment, which I dismissed as malfunctions in the pipes, but then I saw people's Facebook pictures (isn't that how it always happens these days) and sure enough, it was really raining! It lasted about an hour, which is good because any more would've flooded the campus, but it was both weird and welcome to see a change in the weather after so much constant sun.

The best part by FAR was the smell. All of a sudden the whole campus had this earthy, nature-y musk to it, almost like being at a farm or a national park. As soon as I walked outside I was struck with memories of Yellowstone and Glacier; I wanted to just stand out there and drink it in. Hopefully we get a bit more of that, though not too much, because it's nice not to ever have to worry about where your umbrella is.

4. Obligatory Food Moments

This isn't really as momentous as the Glee Club or as exciting as Halloween, but we did go to an awesome restaurant last night. The premise is that you help prepare a traditional Jordanian meal, and then you eat said meal. So here it is (from back of photo to front): freshly baked bread; a tomato/cucumber/parsley "farmer's salad;" maaloubeh (chicken and rice with some veggies, cooked upside-down from what you see here and then flipped over to be served); and moutabbal, which is basically like hummus but with eggplant.

   

And here it is all nicely assembled on my plate:

Throw in some knafe-esque pastry (flavored with orange blossoms from their garden!) for dessert and we had ourselves quite a meal.

*

So it's been a fun and productive week, filled with all the usual successes and questions and challenges. Next week we have a day off in the middle for the Islamic New Year, and overall I've only got 11 days left of teaching this semester, which is crazy to think about. I'm going to miss these classes; we've really created an atmosphere in just two months and it'll be sad to see them go. More on this to come, when the end is nearer and I start getting actually (instead of just preemptively) sentimental.

Time to see if I can find a writing sample with which to prove my student's incompetence in my final parent-teacher conference. She's a nice kid, but not the sharpest tool in the shed. And after this one, freeeeeeeeedom!

Happy weekend, y'all. And happy November - so begins my third full month at King's. Let's keep the momentum going.