"...For the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you..."

2010-02-01T16:15:00.001-05:00

In case you want to know where I went... I have moved!
www.postcollegeramblings.blogspot.com

Children should be seen and not heard

2009-10-29T18:48:00.003-04:00

What a nightmare. The day before the big Halloween party and the kids are nuts. They survived the social studies lesson GREAT! In fact, it was quite a good lesson. For once we had some peace and quiet. It was about cooperation and getting along involves talking, listening, sharing, and taking turns. The first activity had them drawing a picture. The catch was, each pair had one crayon. They both had to have one hand on the crayon. They had to try to draw a picture, but they weren't allowed to talk at all. I told them that if they talked or even if one partner talked, they were out of the game and had to put their heads down. A couple of them didn't listen and got sentenced to putting their heads down. It worked! There was complete silence! The second time they did it, they were allowed to talk, but they had to whisper. If they got too loud, they'd be out of the game. If the expectations are clear and held to, the kids respond well. Everything fell apart in the afternoon, though. They had a lockdown drill that lasted for 30 minutes. They had to be completely silent for 30 minutes and afterwards, they went crazy. They missed their recess so they were completely bonkers and one of them was going on and on about the injustice of not having recess.

Kids are dropping like flies at school. Yogi has been out all week. Kennedy was out two days. One kid in the other pod threw up en route to the nurse. A good number of kids were sent home today due to illness.

Tomorrow is going to be wild and crazy. Oh dear.

I have picked up social studies and math, basically at the same time. I have to write lessons for Monday today so he can see them tomorrow. Then I work tomorrow night 6 to midnight and go back to NJ on Saturday.

It's really no surprise my hair is all gone. 1st graders will do that to you!

And it begins again!

2009-10-28T20:39:00.003-04:00

Ok, so today is Wednesday and the first full week of student teaching 2 has ended. I haven't been inspired to sit down and begin my blog again and I'm still not really inspired but I really should start writing the funny things that happen while I think of it. I have some really nutty kids. There are also 20 of them instead of 8. I should come up with nicknames for them again but there are too many to think of.

It has been a bit of adjustment going to public school. I didn't realize how much I'd miss Faith Academy. I think I really miss the community the most... and being able to address bad behavior with the Bible. My co-op is quite different from Janine. Janine and I were pretty alike in personality and this time I have a male co-op and he's very disorganized. I'm getting used to being handed things on the spot and being told to teach them. He handed me a guided reading book and told me to teach it on the spot. He said he wants the principal to come observe me just because. Uh... that wasn't in the contract. Oh well.

I probably have funny stories to tell but I'm not really inspired right now. I need to start updating this more faithfully. Oh, and today one of the girls, Trinity, walked into her teacher's elbow and banged her nose and was going around pinching her nose. She caught me biting my lip trying not to laugh and she said, very nasally, "It's NOT funny!" Hahaha.. oops

Hello, long lost blog!

2009-09-25T11:29:00.003-04:00

Wow, I haven't updated this in a while... probably because I'm a little distant from PBU right now. So I'll update it for all the people who actually read my blog (like.. 2 people).

First order of the day: Scroll down to the very bottom of my blog. See that adorable dog? That's Pip. Pip died when I was home in the Philippines. :( Sad. He died the weekend before I got back to Manila from student teaching in Davao.

Speaking of student teaching, in case you aren't tracking with me, I was in the Philippines for 2 and a half months doing my student teaching down in Davao. All about that can be found at www.onceuponastudentteacher.blogspot.com

Moving on... I finished off my last semester of classes at PBU back in May. The very next weekend I went to practicum in Philly. I decided to do the program called "Urban Seminar" which is 2 weeks long and is pretty intensive. It was SO MUCH FUN! I loved it and I have developed a love for innercity education. If you were wondering what happened, you can read my OTHER blog: www.urbanseminar09.blogspot.com

Other than creating several different blogs, I do have somewhat of a life... however, one might contest that point as I am being a bum for a month until I start student teaching again. I actually have a lot to accomplish, but I don't have all the materials I need to begin.

Anyway, I stopped by PBU after flying back from the Philippines. I saw lots of people I don't know due to the incoming freshman class. It was weird. The school has really changed since I was there as a freshman. The past two classes have been.. interesting. I miss being a freshman, but I don't think I'd want to be a freshman now. In some ways, I'm looking forward to graduation... just not to finding a job after that. Haha.

So that's my brief update. Nothing else is really that exciting in my life. I'm using my brother's computer so I'll upload whatever picture I can find on here. Brace yourself for something truly stunning! :)

Smiles,
Becky :)

Everything non-academic I learned, I learned at PBU

2009-03-02T13:50:00.003-05:00

In the past 4 years, PBU has taught me multiple life-skills. PBU is not just about academics. The lessons learned outside of the classroom are deep and abiding and will stay with me for life. I shall list some of them:

Snow Days - Snow days are very important things. It's not really a lesson, but since there is a snow day, I figured I should mention it. PBU has taught me to appreciate snow and to hope desperately for a snow day. I never had snow days when homeschooling (plus we never HAD snow) so having them now is great. It's also my last semester of classes, and therefore my last snow day of my college career. I'm savoring it! Especially since it's March.

Golf Carts -- PBU has taught me the fun of golf carts. When I worked on grounds, I got to drive the golf cart like a maniac. I got so used to it that I had to remember not to try to drive my car over the grass and on the walkway. The best part about the golf cart was driving up to the carriage house, turning around, defying all the stop signs, and flooring it down to the arches. It was as fun as a roller coaster ride. Golf carts are also great tools for chasing geese. Whenever one sees a flock of geese, the best thing to do is stop doing whatever important task you're supposed to be doing and chase geese around.

Thistles -- I hate thistles. I also hate pulling them out of the ground. PBU has taught me the importance of pulling out thistles before they grow bigger. Nip it in the bud, you know?

Wasp Killer Spray -- PBU has taught me the power and fun of wasp spray. There was a hill that tended to have wasps a lot and there is something exceedingly invigorating about running around the hill spraying the wasps and watching them drop like flies. It's a welcome break and it provides the fellow grounds worker much needed entertainment on a hot summer day.

How to NOT make friends -- Apparently, when you're on custodial, it's not professional to look for more work. A job that takes 20 minutes should take at least an hour and a half. Looking for extra work after 20 minutes is not professional and should be avoided at all costs. Instead, it is better to drag out a task as long as possible or play pool in Heritage Hall while waiting.

Humility -- Every PBU student should spend a semester working in the dishroom. It keeps you humble. It also teaches you how to work fast, be quick on your feet, and accept burning fingers because the plates come out so hot.

Zambonis -- The Zamboni machine is quite the thing. You have to develop the art of using your entire body weight to push the thing around. It's also a whole lot of fun when it overflows dirty, grey water over the floor you just cleaned. Zambonis teach you patience and the ability to laugh at yourself.

Cheesesteaks -- The Eagle's Nest has taught me the art of making really good cheesesteaks. This is a rather useful skill that I'm sure I'll use many times in my life (not).

Onions -- Apparently there are many ways to cut onions. I haven't figured them out, but I learned that there are different ways.

Romaine Lettuce -- Cutting Romaine lettuce in bulk is a skill I have mastered. It's loads of fun, too.

Data Entry -- One little mistake in Admit Gold can cause a lot of problems. Attention to detail is important. Speed is also handy too. Plus, I learned that I associate people by their applications. When I meet them in person I go "OOOOH! That's the person I entered a few months ago!"

Patience in the Tedious -- According to James, Enrollment Operations puts the "us" in tedious. Bulk mailings and meticulous countings of single sheets of paper for inventory teach patience and a good attitude in all things.

Radios -- Ok, so 10-2 means "I can hear you loud and clear" and 10-1 means "I didn't catch that." Never mess that up. I do it all the time. Also, the code for bathroom is "483." Thanks to PBU security, I learned how to use radio codes.

Vans -- Driving a van is definitely loads of fun. I never thought I would ever drive a vehicle bigger than my car. However, I like driving big vehicles a lot. If I ever have 12 kids, this skill will be handy.

People skills -- Apparently PBU has made me more outgoing. Hooray!

Time Management -- With working multiple jobs and having tons of homework, PBU has taught me how to use time effectively. I suppose this skill will come in handy even after I finish school.

Coffee -- Coffee is a must to begin a day. (Unless I'm sick -- then it's tea) I never really drank coffee until school. AND I never drank coffee this regularly until this semester. (Except today was my first cup in a week because I've been sick)

All-Nighters -- I have never pulled an all-nighter until this semester. Now I regularly pull 2 in a row. It's a blast for the rest of the week. Operating on few hours of sleep is a new skill I am slowly acquiring.

Geese -- Geese are things to chase. Whenever you see a flock of geese, you must chase them. It makes the day so much better.

Rabid Squirrels -- Always check trees for rabid squirrels before you climb them. Who knows, they might just fly out of the tree at you.

Tofu -- PBU has taught me the many ways to make tofu and the many different ways to name tofu dishes. Jerk Tofu, Tofu A La King... stuff like that.

Rice Cookers -- PBU has taught me the skill of using rice cookers, crock pots, and hot pots in many different ways. Who ever knew you could make stir fry in a rice cooker? Who knew you could can jelly using all three things? Who knew you could make really good chicken and dumpling stew in a rice cooker?

Thrifty Grocery Shopping -- Thanks to PBU, I have discovered Aldi and the Bucks Produce Store. PBU has taught me how to make good, cheap meals using both stores. Hooray.

How to Annoy the Mailroom People -- I learned that if you ask every day for a whole summer if you have mail, you can be known by your box number rather than your name. One guy used to call me "435" instead of "Becky."

I am a mere number -- When you work security, you're known by your shift start time. I have learned to be referred to as "23." I usually want to laugh, but it's not really funny. "18 this Supervisor." "This is 18. Go ahead." "When you get done, bring the jeep for 23." Since when am I a number?! Becky un-clear. Hahaha.

Microsoft Office Training -- Apparently this is going to look good on my resume. Hooray. Thanks to Enrollment Operations and being a student worker, I can now say I have been trained in Word and Outlook.

The Mennonite Look -- If you wear skirts enough every day, people think you're Mennonite and try to convince you that you are even when you deny it.

This is getting boring. Actually it was boring from the start. I lost all my inspiration. I'm sure there are many other things that PBU has taught me but I can't think of them.

2009-02-20T16:43:00.002-05:00

My, my... I'm really getting good at this blog thing! Haha! I should be doing homework but I have developed the horrible disease called Senioritis. I should have been working on researching stuff for my IDP (but I'm a little crippled by the fact that I need some stuff from the Philippines first to help guide the way the rest of the research is going to head) in the past 4 weeks but of course I haven't. I have kept ahead on everything else, though. As my roommate sarcastically comments "When's that due? 3 weeks from now???" I have senioritis my IDP but apparently not really in the rest of my homework. I tend to like to do everything 1 or 2 weeks in advance and so the fact that I have a paper due next Friday and I haven't started has sent me into panic mode.

Life is chilly. I nearly got blown off the walkway today. It's supposed to snow Saturday night but the last time weather.com said that, nothing happened... except rain.

I have been keeping busy all week. This work week contains about 33 hours. Cool. It doesn't really feel like that because 16 of those hours were in the middle of the night. My brain tells me that doesn't really count.

Linguistics class is cool as always. I am very seriously considering this: http://www.wycliffe.org/Events.aspx?eid=369&ModuleId=34 The problem is... getting out there. :(

Math stresses me out. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Well then...

2009-01-29T14:26:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while! Oh well... didn't miss much. Haha.

There are days when the list of things that need to be done seems insurmountable and the deadlines are coming at way too fast a pace when you step back and realize, "God will see me through this... take it one step at a time" Then there are the days when something happens and you are positively beaming with joy. Such a day is this one. Get this: I have 12 credits this semester. I went to my Tuesday night 5 hr class and Dr. Vasso says, "You know this isn't required for your program. You need to check up on this." I talked to my advisor and sure enough, I have more than enough grad credits! I had no need for Global Trends in Education! I dropped it. (And I am sorely tempted to sit in on a Tuesday night class with Dr. Hardesty because he's just amazing and I never got a chance to take him.......) This means I have WAY more time to research and do a more careful job on my IDP. Along with that, my chapter due dates are flexible which means I can spread this project out longer! I wish I could sit in on Pauline 1 with Dr. Hardesty. I wish I could take piano again. However, I do need to utilize the free day of no class to do homework! I might still sit in at least once on Dr. H's class. I celebrated by bonding with a piano after lunch. I'm in linguistics this semester (for fun... it's an audit!) and I am falling in love with language. Music is a language in itself. I miss piano lessons. I miss music becoming more than symbols on a page as my teacher made the music tell stories and have feelings and emotions. It's like reading a story. A reader can follow the guidelines of a story but without making the words come alive, the story can be dead. A musician can follow the music on the page, keep perfect time, and to some extent, follow the written symbols for volume and tempo, but without making it come alive, the music is dead. I can be methodical in my playing and I don't always just let the music become music. Last semester, music became music. I miss it. Not that music ceases to be music, but that I have ceased to go to lessons and have whole new worlds opened up right beneath my fingers. (Ok, not MY fingers... my teacher's fingers... my fingers are still learning the language) Not to be dramatic or anything...........

I have recently moved into the library. I could probably bring my sleeping bag in here and just camp out all day and all night.

We had a snow day yesterday. I spent it reading Dispensationalism by Ryrie. It's a tough read!

I have taken to walking to school every morning. I also walk back if it's still light out. I love it. In the early morning, on a sunshiney day, it's beautiful!

I need to go to work soon.

This picture failed to attach itself to the previous post

2009-01-10T21:31:00.001-05:00

Why HI there, ya’ll! (Said in a very Southern drawl)

2009-01-10T21:25:00.002-05:00

Well, folks, the picture here is a good display of my opinion of my blogging: Are you serious? Yes, I do believe I have failed to develop my writing skills as of late and have next to nothing to say. I read over some old posts from back when I was a carefree freshman and I was quite entertained. My posts used to be somewhat interesting and hold a lot of memories. However, those carefree days are over. As I logged into IQWeb to print off my course syllabi I realized once again how each semester piled more and more work upon me. Obviously, I am ignoring the homework looming over my head and am not doing a lick of it. Shame on me! (I did finish my Theories of Learning pre-course work today, though)

What else is new in my life… Like I said, my life is uninteresting! I start classes on the 21^st and life gets crazier from there. There is no life outside of school, apparently.

Here are some pictures I stole from Andy. When all else fails, post pictures! These are from the Helping Hands dinner. Eileen is really not THAT much taller than me.

Meet Abby. I was her buddy that

night. We made bead…project…things. Yeah.

2008-12-22T13:07:00.001-05:00

Dear Mom,

Thanks for teaching me how to dress fashionably. This is my outfit of choice for hanging around the house. Do you think I did a good job?

Becky

2008-11-29T21:16:00.005-05:00

While my computer is borderline functioning, here are a few more pics. These are our "Family pictures" that we took for our Nexus family. Nexus and Enrollment Operations have groups/families and we are all trying to earn points toward some prize (which I don't even know what it is...) and one of the ways to earn points is to take a family picture. We took multiple and it was fun doing it. Soooo here are some of the pics...

Got a little squashed at the bottom

Too bad we weren't evenly lined up!

James thought it looked like a band picture so he's doing his air..banjo...thing

James is actually behind us but he ducked down at the last minute.

Some pics for once

2008-11-29T17:49:00.006-05:00

I went hiking with on Friday at Federal Hill.

I was trying to beat UC with ugliest self portraits

I always thought I was the only one who took lots of stupid pictures of myself...

2008-11-27T17:58:00.002-05:00

Well Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a video to amuse you.

2008-11-07T17:24:00.002-05:00

Why, hello! I am currently sitting in the library and have been in front of this computer for 3 and a half hours doing work on my IDP... and my head hurts. I got a big chunk of the final project for Educational Research done, though. Hurrah! And by the way, if any of you wonderful readers feels inclined to give me a Christmas present, you can contribute to my Word 2007 fund. I need it for writing my IDP next semester. I've been bonding with the computer lab computers in the library because they have Word 2007. I don't understand the program, BUT it does have automatic APA formatting for citing and bibliographic needs. It's AMAZING in that way! APA is such a pain, especially since I've so far gotten away with MLA even in the grad classes. Oh well.

Today was quite the tiring week. I did manage to write 2 papers. I had a position paper for Ed Psych due Tuesday but I got an extension date on it because Dr Mac said we could but turned it in on time anyway. The extension date made me feel like I was doing it way ahead which is why I got it done. Haha! I have a psychological problem. I also got my doctrine paper done which is due in 2 weeks. I wanted to knock those out of the way so I could write the section of my IDP that I need to do. I'm also trying to do a book report on a book about the Cold War. It's much more boring and confusing than the book on the immigrants. The writing isn't as interesting either. I could summarize the Cold War in a few words, but unfortunately I think it has to be about 5 pages.

In two weeks I have due: Doctrine paper, Ed Research final project, book review, Ed psych exam, and teach a lesson. After that, my life gets much better, except for White Glove.

Tonight there's a really cool concert for Veteran's Day. It's called The Greatest Generation. They're playing some hymns such as "Abide with Me", "For All the Saints", "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", as well as some patriotic stuff, movie soundtracks, and a couple marches. I sat outside chapel during their rehearsal last night and they sound AMAZING. Dr. Emmons is reading some letters that are often read at funerals of veterans or something. They have slideshows and stuff. One of my friends is in band and she said she almost cried during the one song. So the not cool part of the concert is that I can't go. I have a previously planned dinner date with our former MuKappa advisors... and we've been trying to get this date since September. I'm looking forward to that too though.

Saturday is a worldview conference. I'm going and I'm excited! Afterwards, I'm going with Jenn to the house of the Walton's for a missions dinner. (Mr. Walton was kidnapped in the southern Philippines for about 24 days several years ago). That should be interesting too.

I just realized I don't only have a half hour until dinner... I have an hour and a half! They haven't changed the computer clocks in the library yet. I suppose I should work on my book report. I'd rather take a nap. I've decided to begin the habit of getting up at 5:30 and going to bed at 11:00 so I can study more... it was working until this morning when I didn't get blanket victory. I think my eyes were in rebellion and didn't want to get up. I got up more around 7:30. Haha. I don't foresee much sleep next semester either so I should get used to it.

Ok bye!

Happy Election Day (tomorrow)

2008-11-03T20:49:00.002-05:00

And it is He who changes the times and epochs;
He removes kings and establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men,
And knowledge to men of understanding...

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth;
And no on can ward off His hand
Or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?'

It snowed in October!

2008-10-29T07:55:00.002-04:00

2008-10-17T14:54:00.002-04:00

Post a picture of yourself.

I am... tired.
I want... to get an A on my Doctrine midterm
I have... a little shadow that goes in and out with me.
I wish... to get a head start on my IDP
I know... that they don't know that I know they know.
I hate... shoes.
I fear... C grades
I hear... Sesame Street songs.
I crave... chocolate.
I search... the Academic Search Premier far too much.
I always... greet my neighbor with a loud voice in the morning.
I usually... go to bed late.
I am not... a genius
I miss... not being a senior.
I love... school.
I never... succeeded in tagging a squirrel.
I rarely... get to go to the park.
I cry... over homework.
I lose... my cellphone a lot.
I am confused... in class.
I should... do my homework right now.
I worry... about my IDP.
I dream... weird things.

2008-10-09T23:28:00.001-04:00

I have to buy Word by next semester. Great sadness.

Blast from the past

2008-09-27T00:02:00.003-04:00

Three years ago

Three years is NOT a long time ago yet looking at this, it seems like soooo long ago! It's so weird. Three years never seemed huge until I came to college. Maybe it was because my life never really changed all that much in 3 years. Here I was worrying about Doctrine 1 and OT History and math... and now I'm in Doc 2 with only Doc 3 left for my Bible degree, I'm in class with Dr Van Billiard again but this time we're talking about Education Research in a graduate class rather than math concepts... I steer clear of the library unless I have to, and the upstairs library is freezing now. Oh yes, I have the same teacher for Social Studies now that I had 3 years ago for Teaching Bible, my first education class at PBU. Wow... what a ton changes in such a short time!

We celebrated our senior privileges and went to the pub for chapel! It's kind of a tradition -- during class chapel, seniors do theirs at the Great American Diner/Pub down the road. There were 100 of us and they were expecting about 50. Warren should have just preached to the entire pub since most of the population was made up of PBU seniors. The funniest part was that he was doing a devotional in Lamentations 3 and sometimes it's awkward to walk into if you have no idea what the context is... he was in the process of reading it when the waitress was handing out food. Anyway, looking around, it was so weird to see so many of my friends that started out as freshmen with me 3 years ago. I was at a table with Danae, Katie, Chris, and Elizabeth - we've been friends since the beginning when we all lived in Memorial. Danae lived across from Chris. Katie and Elizabeth were suitemates. Now Danae lives with me. Katie and Chris are still suitemates and Elizabeth lives with Chris. (Janita was working and couldn't come to chapel.)

Just look at www.xanga.com/pbudays from August 2005 on... it's entertaining... maybe more so for me than you.

I got a pink backpack at the thrift store today. Hooray! It's a pain to try bike to school with my computer back pack so this one is smaller, NOT a computer back pack, and less flimsy than my first blue backpack I got when I went to Essex County College... and besides, it's PINK! And it was $2.50 and brand new. I got Silverster and the Magic Pebble too... oh and a little kitchen decoration that's actually really funny.

Geography center for Teaching Social Studies

You know what's annoying? We have 10 article critiques due for Ed Research in 2 weeks. However, we're not allowed to start them because we won't know how to start them until the end of Thursday night class. Dr Van B's reasoning is so that we will have pressure and will get used to deadlines for when we do our IDP. Waaaaaaaaah!!!! I like starting things 2 weeks in advance! This defies all my habits of anti-procrastination!

Awkward moment of the day!

2008-09-19T14:51:00.003-04:00

Rather than do homework, let me share my awkward moment of the day!

I finally remembered to carry my friend Brett's rubber ducky around in case I saw him to give it back. (I took it from him at the end of last semester and I completely forgot to give it back to him and have been slowly bringing it closer and closer back to PBU.) Anyway, he was sitting at a table, so I told him to catch the duck and threw at it him. He ducked and it hit the floor and bounced into the lap of a man eating by himself. The man was either a visitor, an IJS student, or a grad student. Either way, it was a little shocking for him to find a rubber duck in his lap and to find a whole table of college students laughing/turning red. Brett and I both apologized profusely. He thought Brett had thrown it at first. HAHAHA. He was really nice about it but I was mortified... well, sort of. If it had been a professor or even the president Dr Williams, I think I would have crawled into a hole until graduation. But it was actually really funny too... and now Brett has his duck back.

Happy Early Constitution Day

2008-09-15T22:00:00.002-04:00

Dr Williams talked about the Constitution today. He read a list of attempted ammendments to the Constitution. He almost lost the whole chapel when he read the one about the 1893 attempt to rename the country to the United States of the Earth.

Check it out!

2008-09-10T15:09:00.002-04:00

Maybe some day I'll post pictures and some wonderful blackmail videos of Elena. Last night when I got back from class, she had some Tang and apparently the sugar did her in because she was bouncing off the walls. She was lying on my bed serenading us "operatically" about life as a PBU student. It was a strange night.

I need to be reading right now but I'm not. Today is such a gorgeous day. It's not conducive to studying! I rode the morning shuttle to the tune of "Fun, Fun, Fun" (till Daddy takes the T-bird away). Yeah....... interesting.

Chapel was really good. A guy from Urban Promise spoke on innercity schools mostly and how solid, good Christian education should not be only for the rich. I saw there's a week long "mission" trip during Spring Break to Frederick Douglas School in Chester with World Impact. I want to look into that. It's such a good school. I loved it when I visited for a day during missions conference. It only goes up to 3rd grade, at least it only did last year. I like it when professors talk about our "teaching ministry" rather than our teaching job or career.

Anyway I really should do my homework before I have to go to the beloved dishroom.

Hi

2008-09-05T14:16:00.002-04:00

I figured I should probably write something on my sadly neglected blog. We got internet in our apartment only yesterday.

So I started my last year. It's so weird to be a senior. I'm so antisocial. It is so much more enjoyable to come "home" ever day instead of going to a dorm room. We turned our apartment into our little home.. and I just noticed one of my pictures fell down. Silly 3M. I'm only on campus really for class and work. It's great. Today I biked to school and that was nice. Faster than walking and sometimes faster than the shuttle because the shuttle only runs every 20 mins and it takes about 5 minutes to bike... probably less coming back since it's all down hill.

Classes are great. I dropped my audited class (and I still had to pay to drop it.. sniff) and since I didn't want to miss out on anything I signed up for piano. Hahaha! I have one of the best pianists as a professor... which scares me. He's unbelievable! I've heard him play and now I feel like I'm in kindergarten. I start on Tuesday. He knows Jessi's grandma really well so Jessi said to just tell him I know them and he'll be nice. Haha.

My favorite day is Friday, not because of the weekend but because I don't have anything until chapel and nothing after chapel! MWF have my 2 favorite classes but Monday I work 3 times and Wed I work 2 times with 3 hours in the dishroom at night. So I look forward to Friday when I don't work and I get to enjoy class. ;) Except I think I have to babysit on Friday. But that's ok.

I had the first of my 2 five hour classes last night. It was actually fun. We did a lot of research. It's the prep class for doing my master's thesis next semester. Thankfully I have an idea but I need to tweak it a lot. Gaaah... it's stressful being a senior.

Speaking of being a senior...... I had my senior pics taken. The sitting is free and at least I get in the yearbook. Nobody really buys their pics anyway. I figured I'd just go to experience it even if I won't bother getting the pics. They're probably awful. The sitting was horrible. I had to turn my body one way, drop one shoulder, turn my head, lean back, lift up my chin.......... so the smile will probably be very fake and very pained. I looked in the mirror to check the cap and gown thing.. wow, freaky. It looked more official.. graduation is coming already?! Ok not for another year and a half but still! All my friends from freshman year are talking about graduation and stuff now. It's weird. All the freshmen are still running around stressing out a bit but not entirely overwhelmed and having 4 years to look ahead to. Lucky. Haha

I need to read for my book report. It isn't done yet and it's due on Thursday and I'm already stressing out. I had hoped to do it last weekend or at least finish it by yesterday but apparently that didn't happen. Oh well. Bye!

Announcement:

2008-08-22T23:06:00.002-04:00

I HATE PACKING AND I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually on the bright side, this is the last year I have to do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SENIOR!!!!!!!

Thought for the day

2008-08-21T19:25:00.001-04:00

I want to go home. Oh well.

Nothing better to say

2008-08-20T06:25:00.003-04:00

So this post I dedicate to my adorable, lovable, cute, angelic, and very stupid dog Pip.

Today I spent a lot of it terrorizing my dog so he'll miss me more. He loves the attention. This morning I made him beg for his breakfast. Then I played tug of war with him but I got tired of fighting him so I tied his rag to the grill on the outside of the window and cheered him on in his war against the immovable steel. Hahaha! He really got into it. I just stood on top of him and yelled "GRR!! COME ON! PULL!! FIGHT THAT THING!!!" He is so dumb, I love it. Then we ran out to SM to get a really small suitcase and apparently Pip is afraid of suitcases. (What's new!) He doesn't like the sound of them rolling. So I chased him around with them... he eventually sat outside in the rain because he was too afraid to come under the carport in case the evil suitcase was there. I had already put the suitcase in the house, but he kept creeping around looking for it as if it would jump out at him suddenly. He decided it would be safer in the house so he ran in and was confronted by the evil suitcase. HAHAHAHA!!! He'll get over it in about half an hour. What a dumb dog. That's why I love him. ;) Nobody else pays attention to him anyway, so he appreciates getting teased after the fear wears off. I'm trying to make him into a man. Unfortunately he's afraid of almost anything. At least he hunts and kills cockroaches and occasionally lizards. That's one of his favorite games. Whenever the garbage men come (which is rather rare and sporadic), my mom moves the garbage cans and he chases all the lizards that were living underneath. He used to be afraid of the trash cans too... when we got them, he spent the entire day barking at them.

YAY PIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah and lest the adorable munchkin Booger feels left out, he's pretty cool too but his skills are a little undeveloped. He's only capable of knocking his entire cage on the floor and making a mess. And Booger is a guinea pig, if you're confused. He looks like a little football and he has a black spot on his nose, hence the name Booger. He's not very friendly though.

Time for a new post!

2008-08-11T20:03:00.000-04:00

Ok, new post! The End!

Manila Paradise!!!

2008-07-29T11:38:00.004-04:00

Gwapo if....

WALANG KALAT!!! No trash!!!
WALANG SAKIT - HANGIN, TUBIG, at PAGKAIN AY MALINIS!!!! No sickness -- air, water, and food are clean!
WALANG MABAHO!!! No bad smells!!!

WOOOOW!!! That'll be the day!

PS I would steal the sign for my room decoration because I like the colors, but apparently it's punishable by law. Sniff

2008-07-24T04:32:00.002-04:00

Ok, ok, I take it back. I will be long and detailed and tell you about my day in as much of an Andy-ish manner that I can muster.

First of all I awoke to a sunny day. I was quite cold because the fan kept blowing my sheets off. However, I survived and do not have any frostbite to show for it.

Today was teeth cleaning day! I got to go to the dentist and drool and slobber on myself while she cleaned my teeth. It was a rather unpleasant experience to have water drip down my chin to my shirt more than once. Plus, she managed to pinch my tongue a couple times and pick my gum. Oh well, I still like dentists. At least I don't have any cavities yet.

We then proceeded to the Optical Shop because I needed new contacts. I decided to get my eyes checked to make sure the prescription was correct. Now, the dear eye-checker-upper seemed to think I had never sat in one of those chairs and stared at slides of letters before. He proceeded to explain the entire procedure to me while I bore it patiently and didn't once tell him I had been sitting in those chairs for the past 14 years and I was very experienced with the procedure. He then proceeded to use no grade at all and asked me if I could see the letters on the wall. Now, he had just examined my glasses and knew that their grades were 475 and 275 but I guess it didn't click.... but of course with eyes like that, I couldn't even see any letters except a slightly black smudge on the wall. Anyway, we proceeded with the rest of the checkup and for some reason, he decided to use pictures instead of letters. So now I sat there hoping I wouldn't suddenly lose my entire vocabulary and not know what a car or a dog or a horse or a teacup were. The point of the story is that my eyes are the same as they have been for the past 3 or 4 years.

In other news, my new hobby is Milo. I like to invent new ways to make Milo. Isn't that exciting? Yeah....................

Ok bye!

2008-07-24T04:26:00.001-04:00

Andy gets more comments to his posts than I do and he updates more often... so I have to keep up! However I don't have anything to say anyway. So the end.

CLF

2008-07-19T08:54:00.002-04:00

First Grade

Third Grade

First grade goodbye

Third grade goodbyes

The past two weeks have been a wonderful, unique, blessed experience! I spent the past two weeks in Cebu teaching English to grades 1 and 2 and math to grade 3 (except for one math lesson for grade 1). The school is a Christian school run by the Martinez family. There are about 200 kids from pre-k to 2nd year high school. I had some adjustments to the education system but the English books were American curriculum. The methods are different here but it was easy to work with. I LOVED teaching grade 3 in particular. We had a lot of fun together. Grade 1 was more stressful but I still enjoyed the challenges they presented. I fell in love with the teaching profession finally! I was finally able to apply what I had learned in methods classes... and I found out that doing poorly in Teaching Math class also manifested itself in the classroom. I couldn't explain anything! I hate teaching math! I want them to know how math works but I can't even explain how it works to them! AHH!!!

When I left on Friday, the third grade class wailed. They couldn't understand why I had to go back to the States to finish learning how to be a teacher. It was enough for them that I already taught them English and what more did I need in my education! Two of them wouldn't eat their pizza (Tita Totit bough pizza for their class) because they were too sad. They all howled so badly that the other classes were congregating outside the window and door to see what was the matter. I could barely get out the door because they were clinging to me and sobbing. Grade 1 wasn't even that bad. Only 4 of them cried whereas almost all 18 of the kids cried in grade 3. I think half of it was getting so emotionally charged by the other crying kids that they all ended up crying for no reason at all. Haha. It was touching though. I felt so inadequate but I hope somehow I touched their lives.

I am excited to graduate and possibly come back and at CLF. ;)

For ANDY

2008-07-16T00:18:00.003-04:00

Because Facebook is being annoying, I'll take valuable time out of my lesson planning time and put some pics from Sunday up!!! YAY go me!

Ok too much effort. The End

Line up!

2008-07-14T23:21:00.002-04:00

So Andy's face seems to be improving. Last time he was a doll and this time he's a fan! Our lovely little lineup did a little switching over the years heightwise...

2008-07-04T11:10:00.003-04:00

Hey wow it's July 4th! I almost forgot. Anyway... I found this gem of a sentence attached to a doll in Balikbayan Handicrafts:

A typical barrio lass garbed in baro at saya, being in a tropic with humid climate, women carry an alampay, a piece of cloth to wipe away dirt and perspiration worn over the shoulders.

BEAUTIFUL! I love the English language!!!

Back to REAL jokes!

2008-07-01T08:31:00.004-04:00

For what it's worth, here's the latest text message joke sent to me. I miss this style of humor because it just doesn't translate properly in English... and this one is mostly English but it's still not as funny outside of Filipino circles. So I wrote it down and here it is in case I lose the paper. Feel free to not even get it but I thought it was hilarious:

Once I crush a guy from my alma mother who got my number so we could keep intact. Sabi ko, connect me if I'm wrong, but are you asking me ouch? Sabi nya, "The?!?!" I mean, tell me to the marines ang kapal! The nerd! Naiyak ako because of hunger. I cried buckles of tears. Tapos sabi nya, "Don't cry! Isipin mo na lang this is a blessing in the sky. Irregardless of my feelings let's go out na rin." Now we're so in love. Mute and epidemic na yung pass. Thanks we shallowed our fried.

Now to completely spoil it and give you a translation of what it is trying to say:

Once I crossed a guy from my alma mater who got my number so we could keep in touch. I said, correct me if I'm wrong, but are you asking me out? He said, "Duh?!?" I mean, tell it to the marines, how thick! The nerve! I cried because of anger. I cried buckets of tears. Then he said, "Don't cry! Just think of this as a blessing in disguise. Regardless of my feelings, let's still go out." Now we're so in love. Moot and academic is the past. [Good thing] we swallowed our pride!

Yumiferous!!!!

2008-06-27T11:54:00.002-04:00

These cute things eat the roots of plants... and thereby kill the plants.

If you think he's not particularly dashing...

Then just look at how he looks when he's cut in half! He was more handsome when he was alive and before we cut him in half with garden sheers.

Poor guy.

2008-06-20T22:34:00.002-04:00

OK so... New Jersey gets me lost! Why do I only have these problems in NJ and not PA?! I was trying to go to the Carlson's and I did some light exploration on the way. I took a post-modern approach and followed my heart and created my own way. I found it. Then I got really lost trying to get to Walmart. Ok, technically I wasn't lost because I had the general knowledge as to where I was -- I just kept making stupid mistakes! The exit I needed also had the street name and being on the other side of the road, it was different than what I was used to. I had the feeling it was right as I drove past it. Then I decided to make a U-turn at another exit, but listen to this ingenious move: I took the exit ramp, and made a U-turn which, guess what, just turned me right back on the highway in the same direction! HOW DUMB IS THAT!!!!! And then I wonder why I'm on the dean's list! Long story short, I ended up in Denville. Surprisingly I was able to visualize a map and managed to guess my way back and found WalMart after a number of completely unnecessary miles.

AND speaking of miles, I did an experiment. I didn't use the aircon in my car all week and I got 27mpg. That's 4 extra than usual which multiplied by 13 is 52 extra miles! Plus, I was on the highway every day which helped. Still that was a great highlight of my day -- and it made up for the fact that my Hide Em in Your Heart tape died. I need to try to open it and tape the ends back together. WAAAAAAH!!!

A PS to the previous post...

2008-06-18T20:01:00.002-04:00

I forgot to mention this little tidbit...

At dinner tonight Mr F. went around the table asking each person the highlight of their day. This was mine:

My highlight was when I got into my car after class. As usual, I had a kid's tape in and it was "Hide Em in Your Heart." The verse/song that was playing was "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." I almost ran off the road (ok not that bad). We had just been learning about different worldviews and theories and philosophies of education. The post-modernists talk about producing your own knowledge. Other worldviews champion the understanding of man and then they wonder why education fails. All of a sudden I saw that verse in a new light! Lean not on your own understanding. Christianity starts with acknowledging God! True wisdom and true knowledge can be found -- but only if you go to the root, the Author of Truth! In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path!

Cherish these moments!

2008-06-18T17:09:00.003-04:00

How often do you come out of an education class (let alone something as daunting-sounding as "Philosophy of Education") with a mind so full that you know you must let it all out before you explode yet so full that you do not even know where to begin! How often do you come out of such a class about education in awe of the Creator, having studied His character, the nature of humanity, and God's mercy in that class! How often do you come out thinking, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart"? This day 3 of class and this class is an unbelievable blessing. Dr MacCullough did not begin with the academics and the theories so much as she began with the Creator and our root belief system from which every other aspect of our life must flow. She wants us to love God with all our mind -- not just randomly pick and choose from different theories that sound close to Christianity. She wants us to have a sound Christian belief system founded in Christ alone! I've rethought a lot of things this week. I've seen how I have unconsciously let the world dictate my thoughts on education rather than asking what the Word of God says about it (and believe me, there's a lot -- a lot more than I ever realized!). I have separated profession from faith. If I believe such and such about the nature of man, God, sin, etc, how can I separate that from what I do as a teacher?

Today we covered a lot of things. We talked about who has the primary responsibility for the education of the child. If we believe the parents do, then how do we put that belief to practice? How do we encourage parents in their role? Then we talked about the nature of the pupil, beginning with the meaning if "Imago Dei" the image of God. Each human being is alike in that they are created by God in the image of God, but then fallen and no longer accurate image-bearers. Yet each individual is also very different! We had an activity where we picked pairs of Biblical characters (Moses and Aaron, Daniel and David, Deborah and Barak, Peter and Paul) and answered the question: Which one out of each pair would you want in your classroom and why? The point of the activity was that each person was very different but God used them in unique and special ways.

Much as all my other methods and education courses were rooted in God, I don't think I've ever had one so centered around God. This class really isn't about philosophies of education as much as it is about the Creator in all His grandeur and holiness and how each human being is a sinner in need of salvation and each human being is responsible for their actions. Everything we do in that class, everything we discuss is driven by what we believe about God and His world. I thought about a lot of my classes (and there have been a lot!) and a lot of my professors who have changed or greatly impacted my thinking in one way or another and I think I would rate this class and this professor as the top of my top ten. As I've mentioned before, I have indeed learned and grown in awe and appreciation of God and my need to live a holy life from other professors, but this just tops them all.

What have professors taught me at school? Mrs Sparling taught me the need to know the Word and live out the Word (and also the paranoia of yawning with my mouth uncovered because she calls you on it in the middle of class), Dr VanBilliard taught me that math can possibly be understandable and an appreciation of the creativity of God through the complexity and order in math, and many other lessons from other professors... and then Dr MacCullough taught me to rethink why I do what I do and that everything should be done in the light of God's Word and in light of what our philosophy in life is and even more importantly to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

Sometimes I wonder where God will lead me in the next few years. Will I be one of the "successes"? One of those star teachers that actually made a difference? Will I treasure the training years sitting under the teaching of such committed teachers as Dr MacCullough and go out and apply the tools and grow and expand in teaching and showing the love of Christ to children from all walks of life? PBU has so many success stories -- so many amazing teachers have arisen from this school -- and that is actually quite daunting. There is a standard to live up to -- the standard of this university but more importantly the standard of God as a Christian teacher.

Maybe I should change my major. Just kidding. ;)

Here is worldview!

2008-06-17T17:41:00.000-04:00

Part of my worldview is that we must have coffee. It's just integral! -- Dr MacCullough

Back in Class

2008-06-16T12:08:00.004-04:00

Lunch break! Back in class... school is such a horrible addiction. I was already weaned off of it for a month and now I'm back and looooving it!!!! Terrible, isn't it. I'm also way ahead of the game because I did extra precourse work. I also found out that the final project I have to do is the worldview integration one (which I wanted) and I don't have any other option because the dual-level people need it for the ACSI certification. Woohoo! And the beauty is I don't have to do any great research in the library. Hurrah!

Cowgirls!

2008-06-13T23:37:00.001-04:00

We served at Becky and Robbie's rehearsal dinner -- Western theme!

Flower Power

2008-06-12T21:51:00.001-04:00

I have nothing significant or inspiring to say so here are some pictures of flowers
.

The End

Dedicated to Devin

2008-05-27T12:40:00.005-04:00

Because I know how much he misses me already...

This is the candid look

Here is the "I can't exactly run away right now" look

Here's the "Haha you missed" look with failure

The "I'm trying to read, go away" look

Successful blockage for once

Trying to get away

The oblivious look

What he did most of Monday

Snake catching

Trying to get away but not being able to go too far on the rocks.. hahaha

Devin's baby picture

The Little Boy Is All Growed Up!!!

2008-05-18T15:24:00.006-04:00

Well... at least he graduated.

The reason I go to PBU is because we have less than 200 graduates, not over 2,000!!!!

Pics are out of order. Sorry.

2008-05-16T15:31:00.002-04:00

Nothing really significant to say so here's a picture. One of Mom's roses from Mother's Day. That was a sentence fragment. Good for me.

I'm almost done The Universe Next Door. Pretty good introduction to the basics of 9 different worldviews. Another sentence fragment.

I ran in the rain today. I was soaking wet. Lovely. :)

Remembrance of Things Past

2008-05-03T21:07:00.003-04:00

POP QUIZ!!!!!!
"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold."

Who wrote that? Bonus: What poem is it from?

Anyway, not that it really matters. Would you believe it, time took wings and flew! However, everything finished with a bang... a loud bang... and now my license plate is slightly glued to my bumper. Some lady didn't stop at the light and rammed into me. The damage is not much to speak of. Seriously, everyone was out to kill me today. The lady who hit me said, "Wow, we got lucky." No we didn't. I call that God's tender watch care over me. Let's see, I tried to change lanes and my blinker was on and some dude in a truck decided to come over from other lane and speed past me. Then there was this part where the right lane ended and some overexcited driver who was way behind me tried to speed up and slip past me. Good grief, calm down! It's not a race! Another girl tailgated me and there dude in front of me was going 60 on a 65 and I couldn't get over and the other girl was riding on my tail. Silly, silly drivers! Welcome to New Jersey. Go figure, all my driving issues today were in NJ.

I have decided I am going to be an emotional wreck on my graduation. I'll probably go up the aisle crying. It was so sad!!! I knew more than half the people that graduated today. I said goodbye to people I lived with, had class with, ate lunch with, and just hung out with. Sad day. And I decided to not try to be smart and get a really high gpa because then you have to go up separately and get an award. No thanks. Speaking of GPA, I might potentially have a 4.0 this semester! Now that is amazing. That's like... unheard of... yeah except that's one semester out of what... 9. I have decided however to not try anymore because then I'm labeled a geek, a freak, and just plain "Hermione." First of all, I like school. Second of all, I like working hard. Thirdly, at least I'm not one of those smart people that gets it without trying. However this week I almost seriously thought that being "smart" (I like to use "disciplined") is not worth it because of all the comments. But then I have to refocus and remember that I'm doing it to give God the glory using every ounce of my brain capacity that I can.

This year was pretty good! I went on a trip through memory lane looking through all my giant binders of each semester... except I need to sort out the Fall 07 stuff to put in a binder which I didn't do over Christmas break. Anyhow, I was looking through freshman year papers, Bible class notes, Dr. A's class notes... I have some really valuable information on all those tree slices! I have also learned A LOT in the past 3 years! Wow, what a lot of classes! 41 at PBU! Not that you're interested or even care, (I'm just waiting for my laundry) here are the wonderful classes I have been blessed to have (or sometimes have to tell myself that I am blessed to have had them):

Freshman year:
1st Semester
OT History 1 -- Dr Benware
Doctrine 1 -- Mr Krewson
English Composition -- Mrs Hook
Math Concepts 2 -- Dr VanBilliard
Teaching Bible in the Elementary School -- Mrs Kloth
2nd Semester
OT History 2 -- Dr Benware
Biblical Introduction -- Dr Emmons
The Four Gospels -- Mr Oliff
Math Concepts 1 -- Dr D. MacCullough
Anatomy and Physiology -- Dr Beach

Sophomore Year:
1st Semester
Church History 1 -- Mr Field
Children's Literature -- Dr Minto
Physical Fitness -- Mrs Hui
Life Management -- Mrs Hui
Philosophy -- Mr Harmon
Integrated Language Arts -- Dr Alexander (!!!!!!!!)
Early Childhood Mathematics -- Dr Alexander (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! can you tell I like her?)
2nd Semester
OT Wisdom Books -- Mr Hook, husband of Mrs Hook
Pauline Epistles 1 -- Mr Allen
Prophetic Books 1 -- Dr Toews
Educational Technology -- Mr Weir
Emergent Literacy -- Dr Alexander (!!...you get the point)
Foundations of Special Education -- Mrs Rivera
Integrating Music, Art, Health/PE in the Elementary Classroom -- Mrs Benjamin, Ms Miller, Mrs Beach

Summer
Prophetic Books 2 -- Dr Toews
Literature and Arts of the Western World 1 -- Dr Minto
Intro to Second Language Acquistion -- Mrs Underhill
Language Fundamentals TESOL -- Mrs Underhill
TESOL Methods and Materials -- Mrs Underhill\

Junior Year
1st Semester
General Epistles -- Mr Bosco
Teaching Science in the Elementary Classroom -- Dr Alexander (!!!!!)
Elementary Spanish 1 (Mrs Sparling...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Astronomy -- Mrs Gossard
Developmental and Diagnostic Reading in the Middle School -- Mrs Rivera
Diagnosis and Evaluation of the Exceptional Learner -- Dr Cook
2nd Semester
Pauline Epistles 2 -- Mr Schmidt
Church History 2 -- Dr Hard
Lit/Arts Western World 2 -- Dr Bancroft
American Pop Culture -- Mr Palladino
Elementary Spanish 2 -- Mrs Sparling
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity -- Mrs Underhill

Now normally people do this kind of thing when they graduate, but I was all inspired by the graduation ceremony today so I would like to talk about my favorite professors or most influential professors.
Dr VanBilliard and Dr MacCullough -- they taught me math concepts and I never really understood math until then. However, that was 3 years ago so I don't understand math anymore. Academic boulemia. I was still adjusting to college and didn't learn how to retain information. But it was pretty cool when I was taking the class! My favorite memory of Dr VB's class is gambling day where we talked about the Christian's response to gambling. We even gambled with math games on cool TI-83 calculators.

Dr. Alexander -- She is the most amazing education professor that I have had so far! She has such a thorough knowledge of subject matter, she makes the class interesting, and she pounds the information into your brain that you could practically dream out lesson plans. (Ok not quite) It is easy to retain information from her class because even though details might fade away, the main principles remain. I have a feeling Dr A's voice will be in my head when I begin student teaching. I can actually hear her teaching right now. I am sad I'll never have another class with her during my PBU college experience. It wasn't until I had Dr A that I thought I might be able to teach some day.

Mr Oliff -- He taught me to think abstractly. I am actually sad I never had him again since he is so intense and he really teaches you how to think! I had headaches coming out of his class. His class was still one of my favorites.

Mrs Gossard -- One of those wonderful VA teachers that is now at PBU. Her astronomy class was INTENSE. It was so hard, but as an educator, she is excellent. She is so dedicated to her students. She does everything she can to make students learn and she expects a great deal out of her students. Even though I thought I would die in her class, she is a wonderful teacher!

Mr Palladino -- Class discussions and big class debates are not my favorite things in the world. However, Mr Palladino definitely helped me think a lot. He is not your ordinary professor. He challenges higher thinking and teaches you to love your education. Education should not have a beginning or an end, according to him. Education happens all the time. He challenges his students to pursue academic success and think outside the box. He challenges his students to be Biblically-minded, well-educated, and professionally competent men and women of character... and that's the PBU mission statement in case you were wondering.

Dr Hard -- I love Church History. I loved his class. His class was a lot of fun... cellphone hokey pokey, Star Wars, Star Trek, stupid jokes that don't really make any sense, "Let's hear a Hoo-Rah! Oh that was pathetic!!!", "Happy Birthday to you!", "Oh great, we have visitors," "That's your cellphone AGAIN?!", "You're in the front row!!! Next time play with something valuable and I'll keep it," etc....

Mrs Sparling -- I was really sad during the last day of Spanish. She is an amazing woman. She taught us some valuable treasures in Scripture as we memorized verses in Spanish. She also told some really great missionary stories. Her testimony is definitely a shining one! She challenges her students to live by the Book and to read the Word and study the Word and hide the Word in our hearts. I will miss this class A LOT!!!!

PBU definitely has some star teachers. The education here is valuable, especially if you try to get the most you can out of it. Mrs Sparling reminded us before finals week that even if we might not understand why we have to take a certain class and we feel that we will never again use it in life, God has put us here for a reason and we ought to give it our best in the time He has given us to study. There are some classes that I feel were a waste of time, but there is always something valuable to learn, even if it's just patience and sanctification. Of course there are funny memories like Dr Allen's corny jokes, Shakespeare is gansta!, Lit and Arts with Dr Bancroft.. just about every class, Mr Hook and lament psalms, Restaurant day in Spanish class, and other things.

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

You know, PBU should pay me to advertise for them.

Anyway, to wrap up... Some memories of this past year:
Suitemate bonding with Elena and Colleen... Danae and Jessi estan mi shrinkos... Heyyy, Chopped Liver!... banquets... Squirrel attack... MuKappa memories... Danny-isms... New Orleans... the new PBU president... Ultimate Frisbee... tutoring at Faust... Spring Formal and Philly...

This post was more for my benefit than anyone else's. My feet are really cold. Anyway I should hope my laundry is done now. Therefore I am going to bed!

2008-05-02T09:31:00.003-04:00

Reason #1 to know Dr Hard's Church History notes like the palm of your hand:

So you won't get distracted by his joke questions in the middle of the final.

In the middle of the matching section involving dates of the Seybrook Platform, Mayflower arrival, etc was the question: The year that the the Enterprise reached warp speed?

Another matching question:
The "state" that students are in during finals week = Chaotic

T/F
The "Force" in Star Wars is an expression of true Christianity

And one of the multiple choice options for the New Light/Old Light Controversy: The war between the Klingons and... something.

After hitting the first joke question, Dr. Hard says "Haha, pretty cool, huh? It's like finding Easter Eggs!!!"

Randolph's cellphone went off AGAIN in class. Because it was the final, he didn't have to stand up and do the cellphone hokeypokey but Dr Hard yelled at him and said, "You again!! If there were a purgatory you'd go to it with your cellphone!"

Wow. I love this school.

Yo estoy estudiando mucho estes dias...

2008-04-30T22:50:00.002-04:00

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I got these in a care package from Chambersburg and I thought they might make me smarter. I just love them!

One of the proofs that PBU is a special place

2008-04-29T10:29:00.000-04:00

2008-04-26T22:56:00.004-04:00

The ringmaster sang the National Anthem (and more things). Really good voice!

Cool tigers!

Yay cowboy boots

Yo estaba estudiando por que yo tenia un examen de Espanol.

Academic Communications buddies!

Spring Formal:
It was pretty boring, if you ask me. We just sat around and ate... and watched a guy play music on wine glasses, which was actually pretty cool. The best part about the night was when I ditched being responsible and went to Philly with a bunch of girls at 10pm and wandered around the Fairmount Waterworks with a bunch of girls until midnight.

Circus:
Admissions took us to the circus. It was smaller than I thought it would be -- maybe being older changed that. It was pretty good though. Not as terrifying as it was 12 years ago. Definitely more digitalized and they had a really obnoxious clown that the guys were imitating in the car on the way back. I had fun though! Actually, the best part was the guys singing and pretending to be clowns on the way back to school. Hah.

Friday:
Such a depressing day. It was the last day of classes and now I only have two more last day of classes left in my college life! I said goodbye to Spanish class, to Church History, and to American Pop Culture -- the three best classes of the semester and potentially my college career! Ok, they came in pretty close with Doctrine 1, Four Gospels, Integrated Language Arts, Teaching Science, Math Concepts 1 and 2, Emergent Literacy, etc, etc, etc. BUT, I woke up semi-early and continued working on one of my take-home finals that I had started on Thursday but quit so I could write an emergency extra credit paper for Friday. I actually worked in the office for two hours -- what a shocker! I was introduced to the best game ever -- Ultimate Frisbee!!! The only problem with that game is that I cannot bring myself to yell and draw attention to myself which is why nobody knows where I am or that I am quite often wide open. I just run around like a kindergartner playing soccer with no strategy at all -- just following the frisbee. It was great, though. I played again in the dark at 10. There was a bonfire and campout that night too. I didn't camp out, just went for the food and some of the games and singing.

Saturday:
I woke up later than I had wanted. I did knock out more of my final in the morning until I had to work for the Advance Degree Graduation Banquet. Word of Life was on campus for some competition and I sat at the table with a couple Filipinas. That was cool. I'm babysitting now and I finished two take-home finals that I thought I wouldn't finish until Monday and Tuesday. YAY! I should study for Pauline now, but I don't feel like it. I really wish the parents would come home soon because it's 11:15. Bah humbug.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2008-04-18T14:17:00.003-04:00

You know how they sing "It's the most wonderful time of the year" during Christmas? Well it's wrong. They should sing it now. It's 80F and the sun is shining and everything is blooming! The only downside is school is almost over.

Danae stole my camera and deemed it necessary to take pictures of unsuspecting cowboys from Pennsylvania.

2008-04-03T19:03:00.005-04:00

I thought I would share with you my viper in a little diaper story of the day.
The little three-year-old that I babysit has lately been demonstrating the first point in the Five Cannons of Dort. He is learning how to be very defiant and stubborn. However, I was trying very hard not to laugh because it was also kind of funny. He dragged his little sister into the closet under the stairs. He wanted the door closed but for obvious reasons I wouldn't close it. I went to make sure he wasn't hurting his sister and he looks up at me and says "GET OUT!!!" I just stared back at the little sinner and asked, "Is that how you're supposed to talk to me?" The sinner ponders for a while and looks puzzled and finally says, "Please will you go out?" I of course was happy he asked nicely and started to back out and he said "Will you please shut the door?" Naturally, I said "No." He asked rather nicely again. I said no again. Then I hear, "Well... SHUT THE DOOR!!!!!!" I was trying not to laugh so I didn't do anything other than say no and leave before I laughed. His dad walked in the door and got to see the little boy defiantly telling me he was going to shut the door (but looking like he was too scared to shut it anyway) and he dad asked if he was being nice to me, and he honestly replied "No I not be nice to Becky!" He got a little lecture for that.

The End

2008-04-03T00:01:00.002-04:00

Hi people -- Sorry I didn't write about the retreat yet. It was GREAT! But anyway, I'm going to Philly on Friday to further my education... Mr Paladino is leading a trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum to see the Freda Khalo exhibit. I don't like art, but I hope I'll at least be able to appreciate it and be more educated... and it will be a nice cultural experience for my Lit and Arts requirement. Bye!

American Pop Culture

2008-03-28T14:03:00.003-04:00

So we're doing the 60's and 70's in class now. What do you remember about the 60's and 70's? What do you remember about Woodstock and all the hippie things?

Today we watched stuff from Sesame Street and we were supposed to discuss if we'd let our children watch it but then everyone got into a huge debate about the evils of TV and the need for intellectual stimulation. Haha.

Did you know Oscar the Grouch was orange in 1969?

The reason I got "Big Yellow Taxi" stuck in my head Tuesday night is because on Monday we watched this

Personally, I don't think she has that great a voice anyway. Haha. Funny, it sounds like she wrote it for now with all the enviromentally friendly (and obsessed) people and tree huggers around today.

We also discussed John Lennon (and Yoko who I didn't know was Japanese.. not that I know anything about John Lennon anyway) and Hair and Peace (remember that?) and "Give Peace a Chance." There's a girl here who's last name is Peace and Mr. P wanted her to play a sport just so he could chant "All we are saying is give Peace a chance" whenever she's on the bench. Hah.

I really don't think I would have liked the 60's and 70's but probably 30 years from now I might say the same about the 90's and 00's. But you know what's even more interesting -- songs and stuff from the 70's that are mostly of people grasping for happiness without being able to attain it are really no different from poetry that goes way back like Tennyson's poems. (You can almost compare John Lennon's "Imagine" with Tennyson's "Ulysses" or "Tithonus"... sort of... it works in my mind) Whatever period you study if people aren't saved, they're all grasping for vanity and looking for happiness and satisfaction without being able to attain it. So that's my intellectual conclusion for the day -- the decades are really no different from each other since the fall. Man is just as totally depraved in each decade, whether 1500's or 2000's.

Today I coughed and I heard something pop/crack and now my ribs really hurt. Must have fractured something. Oh well, that stinks.

2008-03-27T14:16:00.003-04:00

The exciting news of the day is....

JESSI
COLLEEN
ELENA
DANAE
and I
MADE IT INTO PENNDEL APARTMENTS NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-26T18:03:00.003-04:00

Guess what? I went to bed at 7:30 last night and slept until 10 and went back to bed at 10:30 and slept until 8! It's like... jetlag! So after the fun ER trip, I survived the entire day and night class without a nap... I was getting distracted in my night class because for some reason the lyrics "They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot" was stuck in my head! Anyway, yesterday was also the big children's booksale and of course I got more books. I got some educational books such as science experiments, and a book on Louis Braille. I also got another Dear America book and completed my E.B. White hard copy collection (Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan, and Stuart Little). I also got an Uncle Wiggley book. Last of all, I got The Bronte Sisters which has Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey! I already have a copy of Jane Eyre (which I've read five times) and I really want to read Wuthering Heights now. Anyway, I need to study for an exam and write a paper. So bye.

Oh yes, I'm excited for next semester. I have a pretty nice class schedule too.

MWF
11:00 Teaching Social Studies
1:00 Doctrine 2

TR
8:00 American History 2
11:00 Educational Psychology
12:30 Theology of John Calvin

T (Half a semester)
5:00pm-10:15pm Curriculum Theory and Design

Addition stuff

2008-03-22T21:06:00.003-04:00

So I kinda claimed a new study room. It's warmer than upstairs. Haha. And I didn't feel like clearing off the table to take pictures so the mess is all my homework stuff.

Nice flowers.

The very cool washer and dryer. It's like having your own little home theatre because you can just sit at the table and watch the colorful clothes go round and round.

Anyway, I put those up for the benefit of whomever might not have seen it.

Other cool information about me: I have another email address! I don't really know what it is BUT that's not the point. Go to MotoMail.us if you want to set up an account too. Basically you can type a letter to CJ, get it printed out and delivered within about 24 hours, or so they say. I haven't tried it yet since he just left anyway. If you need the information about his rank and all that kind of stuff, email me. Actually this whole paragraph is really for the benefit of Mom and Dad.

In other thrilling news, I finally cleaned out my car and vacuumed it. There's a new outlet inside the new addition so I was able to get the vacuum cleaner to reach. There were all kinds of treasures on the floor... and I think I vacuumed up some pennies too. Ooops.

Well I'm going to get back to reading more about Church History. It's about the Reformers now and it's amazing how many people I know about just from growing up on books about the reformers, particularly the Trailblaizer books. So yeah. And I'm gonna steal a cookie from Andy even though I don't like snickerdoodles anyway.

So I bought a hymnal...

2008-03-15T21:10:00.002-04:00

2008-03-14T15:36:00.002-04:00

That's my kind of math! Beautiful!

Happy Pi Day!

Punch a train? What?? Panch a train? PONCHERTRAIN!!! Ohhh!

2008-03-08T20:05:00.005-05:00

Hey ya'll! I'm back! The team went out to dinner and as usual my phone was on silent so I missed the call. :( Oh well. I think I'll just go to bed and skip dinner. That puts a damper on the day though because it would have been a lot of fun.

The trip was GREAT!!!!!! I learned a lot. I definitely want to go back, possibly for longer especially to work with the Carpenter's House. More about that later.

We had a small team, which I was worried about at first, but it turned out to be really nice. We all meshed really well and did a whole lot of laughing for sure. Our team leader was Stephen. He's an RD in Penndel. If you know Stephen, you'll understand why we laughed a lot. He's just a funny guy. The co-leader was Greg. He isn't from PBU. Somehow he knows Billy Dunn and he had done relief work in Mississippi before and came on this trip. It was good to have him along. Now if you know Matt, then you'll also understand why we laughed a lot. Matt is a senior at PBU and he likes to be argumentative and ornery, especially with Greg. Matt has a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor mixed with pessimism. It's not as bad as it sounds. He's a great guy, just hilarious. Half the stuff he says I don't think he really means to be funny but the way he says them makes them funny. When we hit turbulence on the flight to New Orleans he said, "Oh no, I think we hit a deer." Other such things like "I don't know what I'd do with a million dollars. I'd probably go to lunch first" also came from his mouth which made the trip hilarious. Sarah is a sophomore and an RA in my dorm. She often engaged in giggle fests with Jess. Mallary is a junior. She's Matt's girlfriend. She is such a great girl, definitely a rare jewel at PBU. I've known her since the first day of school since she was supposed to be Amelia's roommate. Jess is Mallary's suitemate. She's also a junior. I knew her from summer classes. She's really sweet and makes funny noises.

Our flight was 7ish on Saturday so we had to get up around 3:30am. I was really tired that day. We arrived in New Orleans and picked up our rental van at Enterprise. The drive to Slidell was about 40 minutes. There was a lot of damage still in New Orleans but there were also a lot of new buildings that were opening up again.

We got to the church and were greeted by Charles and his great southern accent. He brought us in and showed us the church. It definitely went far beyond our expectations. They have the church so well organized! There is a full kitchen for everyone's use. Breakfast and lunch you make for yourself using the food at church. There were 2 refrigerators designated for lunch and breakfast with all the stuff you needed in there. The sanctuary had cots and mats stacked in the back and there is a big tarp that gets hung down the middle of the sanctuary dividing it for men and women. There are also 2 separate side doors on either side of the tarp. In the back of the church are 2 shower rooms with 3 shower stalls each plus a washer and dryer in each for laundry. The church is definitely well prepared for teams. They are building a giant warehouse in the back which now only holds tools and a conference room but will eventually be a dormitory with bunks and bathrooms and possibly new kitchen and dining hall but I forget if that's right. Week day dinners are cooked by Dale who has been cooking since they first started housing teams. Most teams leave by 8 and come back sometime around 5. We make sandwiches and bring snacks and drinks to the work sites.

When we arrived at the church, Charles told us that the man who is normally in charge of the teams had a heart attack the night before. He is doing better and is at home now. However, Charles had to handle everything. We got asked to go into New Orleans instead of Slidell where Mike (the man who had the heart attack) usually keeps the teams. Apparently teams have problems with going into New Orleans but we all didn't mind.

We found out our orientation would be Sunday night because there were new teams coming in later Saturday and Sunday. We then went to tour New Orleans at the French Quarter. That was crazy. It was quite the Vanity Fair place with lots of Voodoo stores and fortune tellers. There was a bone reader and some dude who spray painted himself to look like a robot. There were street performers everywhere and break dancers who really should have done more dancing than talking. We stopped to see them but it was really inappropriate and so Mal and I made up the excuse to go get a postcard and the whole team left. One of the dancers yelled at us "You'd do better in church!" which was true. We finally found Cafe Du Monde and had beignets. Funny thing was that all the waiters and waitresses were Asian.

Somehow we managed to miss the French Market but that's ok. We didn't feel like eating out so we went back to church and met the other team from Maryland. We made hamburgers on the grill and had that for dinner. The Maryland team turned out to be quite enjoyable. One of the guys, Andy, went to WWC last year and knows several PBU people. He's now at Cedarville. There were several other men and a few women. Then there were two other younger guys. Tim was a traveling nurse and Curt was a mechanic but he had been in the Air Force. Stephen taught everyone the card game "Up and Down the River" which is Oh Heck actually. Matt didn't like the word "tricks" and he renamed it to "gumbos."

Sunday church service was at 10am. The message was pretty good. The pastor of the church is a PBU grad. You can kind of tell from his sermon outline that he is a product of PBU. It was laid out well and was pretty thorough. I saw Sarah who used to go to PBU but married the pastor's son (who also was at PBU for a bit) and now they have a baby. I went over to see the baby and Sarah handed him to me. Thankfully he was swaddled in a blanket so I was less afraid that I'd injure him. He's only a month old and his name is Austin.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Greg and Stephen spent the morning service in the ER. Greg woke up with a uvula that had gotten elongated and was resting on his tongue. The gag reflex was making it hard for him to talk. Apparently he had an allergic reaction. They have him some shot and it eventually got better.

After the service, we took Charles and his wife Judy out to lunch. Actually, Charles took us on a tour to Biloxi, Mississippi. We drove along the gulf. We stopped at the University of Mississippi. It's a gorgeous campus. The Friendship Oak is there and it survived the Hurricane. We ate at this place called Shaggy's and we all tried to order shrimp po boys but they were out. I wasn't interested in a soft shell crab po boy so I just had a boring hamburger. ;)

We got back just in time to make the baptism service. There were about 6 or 7 people getting baptized, some of them quite a bit older. We didn't stay for the fellowship meal though. We got back in good time for the orientation. The Habitat for Humanity group showed up right at 8 for the orientation. They drove all the way from Cincinnati, Ohio. There were 18 of them, 14 of them highschoolers. After the orientation we had team devotions and then went to bed.

Our first work day was at Reverend Field's house in the lower Ninth Ward. Charles brought us on the back roads to introduce us to the gators but there weren't any that we could see. We got to the house and it's like a ghost town. It looks like an open field but there are random stairs and foundations and an occasional house (usually mostly destroyed) here and there. The levee that broke is right behind the house. Pastor Fields lost his house, church, and barbershop. We were sent to work on his new house (which Charles designed and it's a really cute house) and his barbershop in the backyard. Mallary had put in floating floors with her dad, so she was sent to put down flooring in one of the rooms. Jess helped her with that. Matt had to use the hopper to spray stuff on the walls and ceiling of the barber house to make it stucco-ish. (It helps hide painting flaws) Greg and Sarah hung drywall in the master bedroom bathroom. Stephen and I worked on a fence and dug a trench. Funny thing about the fence -- Stephen didn't know we had a nail gun and we were trying to hammer the nails in on an angle. It took forever!!! Halfway through the job someone said something about having a nail gun and I said "Oh yeah... I knew that." Stephen gave me a death glare. Actually, I was also confused. I had been handed something from Charles that I thought was a nail gun but it wasn't but we did in fact have a nail gun. On top of that, Charles showed up and took one look at the fence and asked if we had seen the diagram. Oops. We put the boards vertically instead of horizontally. It wasn't too big of a deal though. After lunch we used the nail gun and finished in a much quicker fashion. Then we had to dig 2 trenches. I dug the one to the barber shop and Stephen had to dig one to trace a pipe. The ground was hard and filled with shells which made it really annoying. It took forever and eventually the pipe went underneath something and Stephen couldn't find it.

Tuesday we worked on the same house. Mallary and Jess did more flooring, Sarah and Greg did mudding in the bathroom and also ended up laying tile down too. Stephen and I argued and painted the barbershop. Matt was cleaning up the backyard and he said he could hear us and thought "Wow they're really going at it." Ok, it wasn't arguing. It was debating. It was about rules and stuff and I kept going in circles because I can never think on the spot. Then we got into an argument about voting and now I have to vote this November which means I have to register at some point. That was a mind stretching day.

On Wednesday, we went to this other house in New Orleans. We had to do a lot of finishing work which was kind of annoying because it felt like we weren't really doing anything. I put in the shoe kick underneath the kitchen cabinets and then painted baseboards the rest of the day. Sarah decorated herself in caulk as she went around caulking numerous little holes. Matt fought with door handles and tried to fit them into their proper doors but was having difficulties because apparently the knobs were being "jerks." That day kind of dragged.

Wednesday night was a fellowship dinner. Church members, teams, and house owners come together for dinner at church so that they can interact. One of the pastors gave a short message and then some people shared thanksgivings and prayer requests and stuff.

Thursday most of our team went back to the house from Wednesday and did even more caulking and painting. We ran out of things to do around 3pm and went back to Pastor Fields' house and finished off the tiles in the bathroom. (We had to put grout in.) Meanwhile that day, Stephen and Matt did yard cleanup in Slidell. At one house they had to chop up all the leaves and then bag them. They decided they want to invent a lawn mower that has a built in incinerator so they don't have to bag at the same time. Haha.

Friday, we all went back to Pastor Fields' house. Mal and Jess attempted to put flooring into the barber shop but ran into difficulties. Charles specializes in symbolism. His idea was to make the barber shop floor out of different colors of tile. When people ask, it's an opportunity to talk about how the pastor cuts hair for different races and bring the gospel in as well. Anyway, the different colors didn't fit in with each other even though the flooring was the same brand. I was in the bathroom with Greg and Sarah because we had to sand down the mudding and re-mud the drywall. I eventually ran out of things to do because I can't reach the ceiling. I ended up stripping wires so Matt and Stephen and a guy from the Maryland team could put outlets in. We ate lunch and then quit because Friday is feed the homeless day.

Charles is a man of compassion and love with unwavering faith. All the missions teams had to memorize 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and he reminded me someone who has love AND faith that can move mountains. He and his wife share the same passion and they are both trophies of grace. I never did get a chance to hear their whole testimony but basically they came from a pretty crazy background. Charles is full of surprises and stories! Anyway, one of Charles' passions is for the homeless people who live under a bridge in New Orleans. About 85% are Katrina victims. They have tents and air mattresses which I found out later were all from Charles and Judy. He is building this place called The Carpenter's House which is kind of a halfway house and community center. They are putting in showers and washer and dryer and are going to have programs to help people get more education and a job. They are also eventually looking into starting charter schools (ears perk up). It almost seems like a Whit's End kind of place but for the homeless. There will be a thrift store and everything. We met several other teams there and put together bags of bread, peanut butter, potted meat, fruit, etc. This is really Charles' and Judy's ministry and is not connected to the church. We all went down to the bridge and passed out bags of food. I absolutely loved it. I think it was my favorite part of the whole trip. Charles really has the hearts of all the people there. He found out there were some people needing a new tent and blankets and said he would be back in a few hours with it. I asked if I could go back with him and so Tim (from the other team) and I went with him to get the stuff while the other teams went back to church. Along the way I got to hear more about how God had provided for this ministry and to really see real, practical Christianity expressing itself in showing love to widows and orphans. I would love to come back to work with the Carpenter's House someday. Maybe someday! I asked Charles if he ever wished he was a million people. Sometimes I wish that because I go places and I would love to serve there and then I go other places and there are more needs and I wish I could be everywhere at once! I am kind of a freak for wanting to get everything done and wanting to rush but then Charles surprised me with his answer. He said that he knows there is a lot to be done but he remembers not to rush because it is God's time not his time. Charles actually reminds me a lot of Uncle Chuck. He specializes in "messing with people." An example of this would be his going into the guy's side with a megaphone and waking up Tim and Andy who had a habit of waking up late and yelling "Good mornin' darlin'" at them and occasionally dumping their cots over. He is also known to shake Byron's (a long term volunteer) trailer to knock him out of bed in the morning and then greet him with a happy "Good mornin' pumpkin!" when he stumbles in the door. Underneath all his joking and picking on people, he has such a burning heart for God and love for service and it comes out in everything he says and does. When we drove back to give some people tents and blankets, he ended up tossing blankets out to people and also gave someone his sweatshirt because he saw the man was cold. We also drove up on an entrance ramp and he honked his horn and had Tim jump out and throw a blanket down. Apparently everyone knows the sound of Charles' truck. He also goes back and visits with people and tries to meet their spiritual needs as well.

Saturday morning, today, we got up and cleaned the church. The other 2 teams had already left. The Maryland team left at 4:30 and the Habitat team left at 6:30. Tim was the only remaining one from the other team because he had driven his own car and was headed out to Oregon. We all went out to Waffle House for a good southern breakfast. =)

Well we've come full circle! I'm back at PBU and I should be in bed because I'm going to be 2hrs off with the time change and the Daylight savings thing. So in sum, our days were spent working and nights socializing. We brought cold weather with us because after the beautiful weekend, the temperature really dropped even to freezing. The houses were drafty and I was working in 4 or 5 layers most of the time. We played games a lot with the other team from Maryland and there was definitely a lot of laughing going on. There were lots of memorable quotes that make for good inside jokes. We all bonded really well and I hope that we still get a chance to hang out some back at PBU because the tendency is to get back with our other friends and not really keep building our friendships that we forged on the trip. I wish I could have hung out with them again tonight but oh well. We're planning a reunion at Stephen's in two weeks.

I'm fixin' to go to bed soon... So in the words of Stephen, "Love, peace, and chicken grease!"

For pictures, mouse over to get descriptions and to pause.

2008-02-25T18:51:00.002-05:00

I love languages. There are some languages were certain things sound better. For example, Spanish sounds so much more majestic when talking about God because of the form of the words. Anyway, I decided I like Steve Green in Spanish a lot. I found the Hide Em in Your Heart songs in Spanish online. That's fun to listen to.

Some pic-a-tures

2008-02-16T20:38:00.004-05:00

First of all, funny cat pictures.

The pinoy group!!!

We went to visit Anna at BBC. This is Jessi and Anna (duh)

We cool PBU people at BBC

So one day the sunset was gorgeous

It snowed last week

Yay PBU girls

The PBU MK's

Here, Mom, this one is for you. Messiah College MK representatives

Yay PBU

There were 5 Daniels at the retreat

Babysitting

2008-02-14T14:28:00.002-05:00

"Aidan, I have to study Spanish."
"Spanish? Oh that is soooo hard."
"Not really. What do you think la television means?"
"I don't know."
"Television!"
"Well my friend is learning Spanish so he would know what that means. And he's just a kid!"
"Yeah well that's the best time to learn it."
"Did you learn it when you were a kid?"
"No. Don't you have to learn Spanish in school?"
"No, I don't learn it yet. And I'm not ever going to."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. I know what buenos dias means."
"What?"
"Good morning. Did you know that?"
"Yes."
"She knows it..."
"Aidan, what's your favorite food?"
"My favorite food? I would say peanut butter and jelly."
"Why?"
"That's what I eat every day for lunch."
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Uh... ice cream maker. I would like to be an ice cream maker when I grow up."
"Why?"
"Oh I don't really know why."
"Do you like ice cream?"
"Uh huh."
"What's your favorite flavor?"
"Vanilla."
"That's boring."
"How come?"
"I don't know... I like chocolate."
"Well I really like vanilla because you can really get yourself vanilla ice cream with M&M's and that's why I like vanilla. If you get chocolate you can't see the M&M's especially if you get a brown one. That's why I'm smart."
"Are you writing all that down?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"For fun."
"Do you want to be that when you grow up? Is that why you are writing it down?"
"No."
"Then why are you writing it down?"
"For fun! Instead of doing my homework."
"That's what you're supposed to do for your homework? Ask someone what their favorite things are? That's weird."
"No, that's not my homework. I'm doing that instead of homework."
"Oh. I thought you said you were doing your homework."
"No."

Imagine that... a post!

2008-02-02T20:18:00.000-05:00

Colleen

We were playing with the hats that were hanging on Jessi's wall in her room... they had lots of dust

Wow... special

Apparently my threats don't scare them because Elena and Jessi wrote on the mirror anyway

MuKappa game night

Oh back to the many hats

Mexican

I was trying to look like Japanese

Hello! Look at this, I'm writing a post! This past week has been crazy-busy with extremely late nights for various and sundry reasons. I had to go to 2 really boring meetings, but at least I got payed to sit there for 5 hours. On top of that, we really need to work on getting our MuKappa cabinet meetings down to 30-45 minutes like they USED to last... not TWO HOURS. Rant over.

Would you believe it, I've grown half a brain! At least in the area of fine literature, I have progressed to actually enjoying it. I found great pleasure in reading sonnets by Shakespeare, Spenser, Sydney, Milton, and Donne. Some of them, particularly Donne, are very fascinating and beautiful.

Sydney, for example, knew the nature of the college student and so he wrote a sonnet especially geared for the college student.
Come, Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe, The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release... Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed, A chamber deaf of noise and blind of light, A rosy garland, and a weary head....

At least that's my interpretation of fine literature. I also read the play "Tartuffe" and was quite amused. However, my growth in the world of literature has not managed to embrace Documents of the Christian Church -- at that my brain recoils.

What else of fascination can I indulge you with? Oh yes, Dr. Babb substitute taught for my Pauline 2 class. That was very cool, especially the looks on students faces as the walked in and realized that our chancellor was standing by the desk. Of other food-related news, the Eagle's Nest got a slushie machine and the cafeteria finally has sticky rice.

Four weeks until spring break. That's freaky.

PBU's First Pep Band

2008-01-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

2008-01-17T00:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, so after the previous post, your probably want to know what the debate was about. I am in Palladino's American Pop Culture class and we are reading Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death. It is a fascinating discussion on the erosion of our minds with the rise of show business. The 3rd and 4th chapters are on the age of typography. People used to be able to listen to discourses lasting 3 or more hours. Speeches were often purely written text.

"This language is pure print. That the occasion required it to be spoken aloud cannot obscure that fact. And that that audience was able to process it through the ear is remarkable only to people whose culture no longer resonates powerfully with the printed word." (p. 49)

The Lincoln-Douglas debates lasted for hours but people payed attention and understood.

"It is hard to imagine the present occupant of the White House being capable of constructing such clauses in similar circumstances. And if he were, he would surely do so at the risk of burdening the comprehension or concentration of his audience. People of a television culture need "plain language" both aurally and visually, and will even go o far as to require it in some circumstances by law. The Gettysburg Address would probably have been largely incomprehensible to a 1985 audience." (p. 46)

After bemoaning the loss of reason, I began to think about education. In our education courses, we learn about these "new" methods of teaching children. These methods are apparently better. Children "need" visuals. Children "need" hands-on activities. Do children really need these or is this our response to pop culture and the age of technology? Just as I don't believe the human has changed in their desire for amusement and entertainment although the methods of entertainment have changed, I don't think children have necessarily changed. It may appear that they have changed, but is it merely because the media and our culture is dictating how we think we learn now. What if we raised children on deep literature without pictures? What if they actually had to use their brains to make sense of what they are reading without the aid of power points and diagrams? (I would be at a total loss... I'm a victim of my culture.. hahaha)

Beyond the realm of education, what about church and religion. Is it somehow a lack of faith in God that makes churches use various forms of entertainment to bring young people in? The argument that in order to reach the culture, we have to use the culture seems plausible except for the fact that it seems then that the media is more powerful than God. If God can't save because there are no puppets and drama skits in church, what kind of God is He? On the other side, the expository preaching of Reformed Baptists preachers today is not written sermons such that Jonathan Edwards or Whitfield preached. Where do you draw the line and justify certain changes to reach the culture while not making the excuse of pop culture. I heard someone say to me that the old method of preaching is outdated and is proven not to work anymore. Oh really? Or have we allowed the media to become our excuse for not using our brains? Take praise songs for example. We had a hymn sing today and someone asked what a certain word meant and the comment was brought up on the deep language of the hymns. Imagine that! You have to think about a hymn instead of repeat the same three words 10 times! How absolutely archaic. However, the reality of pop culture and the media exists. How you deal with it is the key issue.

What do you think?

The irony of it all...

2008-01-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

After a lively discussion with my roommate on the erosion of the human mind because of pop culture and the media, we both turned back to our computers and I considered blogging our anti-technology debate. Ironic, huh?

2008-01-13T22:15:00.000-05:00

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow'r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

2008-01-04T16:00:00.001-05:00

Maybe I'll pull my first all-nighter of my college career next semester! I foresee some late nights... I think I'm working 16 hours next semester.

Tentative:
Monday
9-1 Class
1:30-3:30 Work (Office)
4-7 Work (Eagle's Nest)

Tuesday
8-9 Work (Eagle's Nest)
9:15-11:15 Work (Office)
12:30-1:45 Class
5-8 Class

Wednesday
9-1 Class
MINISTRY (Whenever that is and whatever it is)

Thursday
8-9 Work (Eagle's Nest)
9:30-1:45 Class
2:30-5:30 Babysit
7-9 Work (Eagle's Nest)

Friday
9-1 Class
1:30-3:30 Work

My new favorite quote

2008-01-03T23:22:00.000-05:00

"Somehow I have never been able to sit down with my cup of coffee and the newspaper and make my chart work out properly." -- Pas Carter, talking about Revelation

2008-01-02T14:10:00.001-05:00

Dear Diary,

Today I did some important things... like put my birth certificate and my citizenship certificate in a fire safe box. The End.

Look, they match

World's longest Suduko (over 21 feet long)

A few pics

2008-01-01T15:57:00.001-05:00

So mature

Saturday night dinner

Olivia, Mary Christoph, Kiki

Seshani Bala, Mary Beth Pizzino

2007-12-16T22:30:00.001-05:00

Hi people,

As of Friday at 12:30pm, I became a senior officially (IQ Web has been lying for some time now). So finals are oooooooovvveeeeerrrr! I worked a lot my last week -- banquets and such. People just have to get all dressed up to eat. I suggested saving time by spreading blankets on the floor and having a picnic dinner. Ed majors would love that. Sadly nobody else liked it. Apparently it's more proper to dress up and sit at a nice looking table just to eat food which you do anyway so why make a big deal about it. Eating... such a strange activity, yet that's what MuKappa does too. AHHH!!! We have conformed!!!

Anyway I'm really, really, really, really cold... I am still wearing my winter coat in the house. It snowed last night so Andy and I shoveled this morning. Then it rained. Sunday School was canceled but morning service on was fine.

2007-12-10T18:06:00.000-05:00

Hello, world. I have a half hour until Astronomy and at this point, I have given up studying. I went to a study group with Mrs. Gossard and that was good. However, it is science and it is multiple choice. Both work against me. So I have decided to stop trying to cram info in because it won't help anymore. All I know is that in the middle of the coronal mass ejection picture is what looks like the face of George Washington. Fascinating, eh? I would notice something like that... Why can't I pay attention to things that matter?

Mrs. Gossard wanted to know my learning style. I said I learn through music. She said I was very audio. But then I said I have to rewrite all my notes to get them in my head and that I know what pictures are on the page that the correct answer is even though I don't know the answer. She said I am visual. Then she said I was kinesthetic and finally she said I was a puzzle and she couldn't figure out my issues. "It...is...a...puzzlement!" -- The King and I

So last week I got 2 books. Student Senate gave everyone The Pursuit of Holiness. Then I got a bilingual Spanish-English NT from Mrs. Sparling for perfect attendance in Spanish class.

Hmm, what else. Oh, there was a special chapel for Dr. Babb. He got presented with a monographed towel, supposedly from the student body. As a result, the student body decided to try to get him a real gift that we actually had something to do with and hopefully more meaningful than a monographed towel. People want to get him a sword. How about a light saber? He's the new chancellor anyway.

I ate in the Eagle's Nest all by my lonesome. I don't like eating here cuz the food is all fried. But I didn't feel like cafeteria food either. Oh well.

I suppose I should start packing up and think about class. Oh and I want to show Mrs. Gossard George Washington's face in the coronal mass ejection. I think she'd find it amusing.

Goodbye, Benaiah!

2007-12-08T23:14:00.001-05:00

Of snow and white slips and exams and pirates and elephants and peanut butter and Christmas and guinea pigs and Spanish and pixie stix

2007-12-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, half of that stuff will not be addressed in this post. Those were things that popped into my mind while writing it. Fascinating, isn't it?

First order of the day: White slips. I have never gotten a white slip in my entire PBU existence -- a feat of which I am greatly proud. However, lo and behold, soap scum does not come off the shower floor while the shower is still wet. I, however, was not blessed with this knowledge. I was worried about the shower, so I tried to be in the room when the distinguished White Glove Inspectors came through brandishing swords and gloves of um...whiteness. Alright, they didn't but it sounded cooler that way. Anyway, they were supposed to start at 10, so I had no idea when they were coming through and I had to continue my stalking of faculty and staff (more on that later) so I left. Lo and behold, they came when I left and left that little piece of paper that every student dreads (except for the dumb ones that don't care). It doesn't have my name on it, though, because the RD didn't know that I had cleaned the shower. It had Elena and Colleen's name on it and because I am such a nice person, I told Christina rather than let them have a white slip to their name. Poor little sophomores. I just went to Christina and explained about the name mistake and I did tell her that I tried to scrub it, but it doesn't come up when wet. Oh well -- there's a $10 fine but I'm actually more disappointed by my no longer white slip free record. Haha.

Second order of the day: The stalking. It all started with Deborah in Student Life. I have these posters things to put up for people to write questions about missions and the spread of the gospel because there will be missionaries to answer those questions during World Reach (the fancy name for "Missions Conference"). Anyway, I took them to get stamped so I could put them up, but Deborah sent me to Student Ministries and Mrs McAlack sent me to Mr. O'Brien because he's in charge of missions conference. The first time, he was not in his office. I came back when classes were supposed to let out (10:45) but he was still not there. So, I found his teaching schedule and the classroom he was in and went and hung around outside his classroom until he came out. He then had to call Mrs. McAlack to ask her something. I then had to go to Mrs. Hui who was in charge of the posters in the first place and then Mr. O'Brien called and approved of the posters which meant I had to go back to Deborah and get them stamped. However, Deborah was not there so I had to go twice. I finally got them stamped and now they are all over campus. Some people wrote stupid questions, so we'll see how well it works.

Next thing: It's snowing. It's kinda dying down know which is sad. There's pretty white stuff barely covering the grass, though. I was having fun sliding on one of the sidewalks before my 2pm class.

Ok, fourth: Christmas. The RA's came banging on doors waking us all up at 7am. I was actually already up and dressed. Elena then came to me and told me that my presence was wanted in the lounge and that Santa had come and brought presents. I thought she was kidding so I wasn't going to go down. She insisted so I walked down and most of the dorm was there. Apparently the RD's had contacted all of our parents to send a gift for their child. We then had cinnamon buns and whatever else there was. It was very creative. And now my feet are warm because I got socks. Mom, I like the socks, except they're very mature looking. Hahaha. They're warm though and I guess that's more important than my delight in crazy, hideous socks.

Finals: One word: disgusting. I got my grad class final and it's INSANE. We have to make up case studies and write lessons with accommodations and modifications that meet the needs we specify in the case studies. SCARY. It's due Tuesday and I have a big astronomy exam on Monday which requires much work. I'm going to ask if there's any possible way for the Astronomy exam to be moved some so I don't go insane. Finals week has always been beautiful for me. Not this year! Grad classes... ewwwww!!! I actually need to be cramming for stuff right now!!!

Pirates: YES! Pirates of the Caribbean music. Love it!

Ok, here's insanity:
Saturday night: Benaiah's despedida
Monday: Astronomy and Spanish exams
Tuesday: Two grad finals
Wednesday and Thursday: crazy juggling of studying and 3 jobs
Friday: General Epistles final and more juggling of work
Saturday: Banquet and then done!

It is time to accomplish work now!!!! I do have pictures to post of cabinet dinner, cousins, Jenna's birthday, and other random stuff but I can't right now. I got a B- on my teaching approaches paper for TESOL. Sad day. :( Oh well -- every other paper and assignment has been A or A- so I guess it's not the end of the world.

Oh, PS I'm reading a really good book in my devotions. Ok, it's good so far. I don't know about the rest. Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes. Here's a closing thought from John Wesley:

O God, fill my soul with so entire a love of Thee that I may love nothing but for Thy sake and in subordination to Thy love. Give me grace to study Thy knowledge daily that the more I know Thee, the more I may love Thee. Create in me a zealous obedience to all Thy commands, a cheerful patience under all Thy chastisements, and a thankful resignation to all Thy disposals. Let it be the one business of my life to glorify Thee by every word of my tongue, by every work of my hand, by professing Thy truth, and by engaging all men, so far as in me lies, to glorify and love Thee.

Office pictures

2007-12-01T23:36:00.001-05:00

No longer is the question "Is there any mail today?" in use. Now it is "How many thousands of letters are we sending out today???" Such a look of utter ecstasy when handed slices of trees!

Note the evil, temperamental, female folding machine on the right. It hates James... but it works for me. It's fickle... I talk to it to encourage it. James just says it female.

And since I work in an office with 3 guys over 6 feet tall, I get jealous of their ability to look over the cubicle wall... so I drag a chair over and climb up and feel better about myself because that way I am capable of being just as cool as them.

Photos are courtesy of David S.

I love PBU chapel annoucement videos

2007-12-01T21:26:00.001-05:00

Of cold feet, senioritis, and so on

2007-11-24T17:32:00.000-05:00

Can you have senioritis 10 credits away from being a senior?

My feet are cold.

And so on.

Ok, ok. So Thanksgiving day I drove back to NJ. I brought Cyprus along because she lives in a nearby town. That made the trip pass quickly. I am bringing her back to school tomorrow. Then let's see... I made hats and pretended to do homework. Then Aunt Annie, Uncle Don, and John came over. We played a very cool bowling game that Grandfather made.

Friday... I did homework... yeah, I did. I wrote a paper. Go me! It was on Asperger's Syndrome. Fascinating. Except I'd rather read about it than write about it. Then Andy and I went to Catherine's house. We stopped by the Carlson's to get the kids. Mrs Carlson gave me these handy-dandy foot warmer things. They were adhesive and you put them on top of your socks. They work amazingly well! They wear out within a few hours.

We attempted to teach everyone Moro-moro, but it was a flop. We then proceeded to play freeze tag. In the process, I nearly broke my leg. I was chasing Stephen and I jumped on a bunch of rocks and then slipped and twisted my leg underneath me. Andy was the only one who saw it thankfully. I couldn't get up for a while because it really hurt. I tend to have a high pain tolerance but for some reason I was pretty close to crying. (I didn't though) I finally sat up and decided it was broken and then figured pretending it didn't happen was the best way. Haha. Except now it still really hurts and I can't turn my leg inside to the right. Oh well.

Hmm... then Kaitlyn and I decided to bond. She wanted to take me to see this movie "Enchanted" so we did. It was hilarious -- basically Disney making a spoof of their old princess movies. I think it was more amusing for us since we both grew up with Snow White and Cinderella. So that was fun. Then I realized I didn't have my cars keys with me which means I didn't have a door key. On top of that, the house was remodeled so byebye spare key. I tried calling Andy but his phone was on silent. I threw pebbles at his window. Sooo I slept over at Kait's and dragged her out of bed nice an early with my cheery "GOOD MORNING SUGAR PLUM!!!!!!!!" greeting. I offered to sing "Rise and shine, lazy sleepy head, get those lazy bones out of the bed! Rise and shine, lazy sleepy head, get up and serve the Lord!"

Then I got home, got distracted with yarn... and then cracked down and did a lot of homework. Go me. Ok enough. Bye.

PS Oh yes -- I taught the whole table the fascination of loose finger flicking. I showed John and got him into it and then the rest of the table tried it. Andy and I think Grandmother can't bend their finger straight at their second knuckle. I wonder if it's hereditary. Anyway, it's fun: bend your finger at your right knuckle so your finger looks like an upside down L. Then flick the tip of your finger. Go for it. You'll be amused for a while.

2007-11-19T22:58:00.000-05:00

I gave Danny and Brett Tagalog lessons today.

I am very handsome: Ang mukha ko ay parang unggoy.
Where is the kitchen?: Mabaho ang aking paa.

Yeah I'm good. Danny is now carrying around a table napkin that with those lines so he can practice. Brett has it written on his hand. I love promoting Tagalog.

One of those days

2007-11-07T20:41:00.001-05:00

This adorns our bathroom wall and greets us in the morning

Jessi's and my side of the bathroom

We're so mean. Hahaha

2007-11-06T14:46:00.000-05:00

Horrible. Who has 5 exams and a quiz on the same week that isn't finals??? Seriously... I need to be cramming right now... but I'm not. Serina and I were getting lots of studying done in the cafeteria until people showed up and decided they wanted to socialize with us. Bad people. Go away. Haha. And now I'm babysitting. The good news is I finished reading for my night class... and the little angels are asleep. The bad news is I have to memorize all my Spanish vocabulary and write a Spanish paragraph tonight after 9:30 or 10:00pm. Eww. That's disgusting. I have to somehow start writing article summaries and think about completing my science unit... oh and not to mention... study for science exams. The good news is I don't have an 8am class on Thursday because of the MACSA conference. AND I don't think I have Spanish on Friday which is equally beautiful. Sports teams are going down to Florida. The women's volleyball team also made PBU sports history. I don't really know anything about it. You can find out about it on the PBU sports page if you're that interested. Go Crimson Eagles!

I miss out on Student Senate Chapel on Friday. Too bad. Last one was good. I have to be at a mandatory short term missions trip meeting. Yes, I got picked to go on the missions trip to Louisiana over Spring Break.

The weather is quite chilly. James calls it comfortable. I call it freezing.

2007-11-01T09:03:00.001-04:00

Happy November 1st! Except nobody really understands that or thinks about that here. Oh well. Yesterday, one of my Calvanistic friends said "Happy Reformation Day!" to me. Last night there were some interesting characters walking around. I went to class though... and then to the mall with Jessi to look for something for Elena's birthday. It was quite unsuccessful on my part. But I ran into a former co-worker from Chick-fil-A who now works at Claire's. She said that the former operators at Chick-fil-A lost the store yesterday. No surprise, really. Apparently the night crew was quite wild and there were complaints and Corporate came and watched the store in the food court and finally cracked down and took over the store. There is a reason I never went back to Chick-fil-A. I would love to work at the new one, though. It's very well-run, and several of the team leaders are PBU students. However, I am very happy with my 6hr a week job on campus! I really have no idea how I used to work at Chick-fil-A 14-20 hrs a week! Crazy.

Anyway, I figured I should post something to say I'm alive. My guinea pig died apparently. :( So sad. I wish I could have a guinea pig here. Dad, are you going to get another guinea pig???? Guinea pigs make good pets.

I was given back an hr and fifteen minutes of time today! I was sooo close to skipping class, but I decided to be a responsible grad student and I went to class only to find out it was canceled. Sadly, it was because my professor's husband had to go to the hospital. He had a heart attack out in Arizona last week during MACSA and Mrs Rivera went out to take care of him. He had a heart attack and had bypass surgery and a stint placed in him. Apparently he is really sick again so she had to take him to the hospital this morning. So pray he gets better. Dr A's husband is also having heart problems as well. Anyway, I utilized my time effectively by writing another lesson plan.

So in chapel there was this "Reverend" from Trenton. He had the whole preacher collar thing. Funny, last night at the MuKappa dinner, Danny, Jessi, and Analee (from Guatemala/Spain, Mexico, and Brazil) and I all said that our first thought was "WE HAVE A PRIEST SPEAKING TODAY?!?!" Haha, we all grew up in Catholic countries. He did have the whole parson voice going.

So today I have to go to ministry, tutor, and do lots of homework. Chanhthu is visiting which is exciting. She was Katrina's roommate last year and now neither of them are at PBU. There are open dorms in Stillman and Souder tonight too. That should be fun. Matt made a video for chapel on it... I don't think it's online yet. If it ever comes on I'll post it here. It's funny... it's all about how Souder has Cooties (girl's dorm).

Anyway I need to go head over to Kiddie College. I found out I need a new ministry next semester because the roster lied. I have a 3 hr class on Thursday, not Tuesday. Grrr. Oh well. Maybe I'll tutor with Colleen at a school nearby.

Moving up in the world

2007-10-13T17:44:00.001-04:00

My dorm has an address!!! YAY! Tuition dollars at work!

2007-10-07T22:31:00.000-04:00

So... apparently when I was a freshman I took lots of pictures and wrote extremely long blog entries. HAH!!! I still take pictures, but not as much. And I don't really write long blog entries (obviously). Hmm... It's 10:30 and if I go to bed right now, it will be a truly miraculous event since I usually try to be in bed by such an hr and end up in bed at midnight! But yes, I am alive. I have been busy with school and work and such things like that. See ya

PBU school spirit

2007-09-18T18:39:00.000-04:00

2007-09-12T06:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Mr Robb called me Becky Norrmaier. I prefer Needermaier.

2007-09-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

So apparently I have a new name. I am Becky Needermaier. I walked into the cafeteria for lunch and Laura was the checker and asked me to eat my lunch at the checker table and scan people's cards because they were so short handed. So I got to have the cool laser pointer thingy and pretend to hold up everyone who arrived. Anyway, Mr. Robb (he works for alumni relations) showed up and I said "Hi Mr Robb!" He was embarrassed because he couldn't remember my name even though he knows what office I work in. So I told him my name and then after class today, passed him in the hallway and he pointed at me and said, "Becky!" And I said, "Yep." And then he said, "Needermaier!" and I started laughing. He said at least he had the maier part. I think it's fun to confuse people on campus. I remember names and faces pretty well (including people I haven't officially talked to) so I like greeting people by saying their name and sometimes providing additional information such as their academic major and that freaks them out. Mwahaha. So Needermaier was my amusement for the day... that and threatening people with the scanner... or with no lunch by refusing to scan their cards.

I went to the Oliff's and cooked caldereta last night. Yummy... it was fun! I never realized how much of an act of service/ministry just cooking a meal can be for a busy family. Thankfully the girls aren't picky and they all loved it. I tutored Ruth for a class last semester and this semester I'm going to tutor Bekah so in some ways it was a thank you for letting me use their girls in spite of the danger of permanently scarring their academic career. Haha.

Tonight is dorm dessert at the RD's apartment. Woohoo! Yay for food.

Tomorrow I start my ministry with kiddie college. There's a ladies bible study on campus every Thursday and we take their kids and do stuff with them. I hope I get put with the infants. You know, brainwash them when they're young.

Oh yeah, I actually went to the Luau this year. They had a slip and slide and Dr. Babb went down it. Everyone gathered around it and "took a knee for Dr Babb". You can tell he's a swimmer -- he made a perfect dive on to the slide. He's one of the top ten swimmers in his age group in the nation.

So here are some pics of recent stuff.

2007-08-28T21:11:00.001-04:00

So I'm back at school! Junior year! Woohoo! Somebody thought I was a freshman and another girl decided she wanted to be just like me when she got older. HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!! That's funny. Poor girl doesn't know what she wished for.

I've only had 2 classes so far: Astronomy and Developmental and Diagnostic Reading in the Middle School. I liked both classes. Actually I saw the lunar eclipse early this morning and unintentionally broke curfew. They changed the rule for when we can be allowed outside our dorms. It used to be 5:30 but now it's 6. They changed several things in the handbook, some for better and some for worse. For example, the old one said specifically no kissing. The new one leaves it up to discretion. However, attire for formal events is no longer listed as "appropriate attire" but very specific in what can be worn. The old one has stuff about the student's personal walk and devotions and also not planning any University events on the Lord's day that don't promote worship and stuff. I didn't see anything about that in the new one. R-rated movies are now allowed on campus, with discretion. Also, people can have wine like at a dinner setting at home but not get drunk. So yeah... a lot of stuff has changed.

The whole atmosphere has changed too. The new drive is COMMUNITY. The "Manor Dorms" are now supposed to interact a lot more. There are dorm and Manor events crammed upon each other. Tonight was rock painting (door stops) and tonight is a dorm meeting for all of Manor dorms. Thurs is a Memorial photo scavenger hunt, Friday is the Luau and Saturday is the back to school kick-off party at Penndel. Yeah talk about pushing community. We have "Manor Olympics" or something coming up too.

Anyway there is more I could say but I have to go to the dorm meeting.

Woohoo

2007-08-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

Wow so it has been a while since I've posted. I am alive but busier than when I'm taking classes... at least it's more time consuming. Plus, I don't have internet access in my dorm (the wireless is all messed up) and I'm too lazy to bother carting my computer anywhere or using the email lounge computers for any extended period of time.

We've been weeding and planting up a storm. I've visited the nurse a couple of times for things like barbary thorns and sprained hands. That was fun. My goal is to get on a first name basis with the nurse as a result of my constant appearance in the clinic. She threatened to start charging.

I start work at 6:15am and work either to lunch or until 3pm or sometimes 4:30 if it's a nice day to pull a 10hr. Sometimes I get begged to work in the cafeteria (like last week) soooo it's been pretty busy. Next week is my last week and it will be a lot! Last week I worked over 50 hrs because of Scott begging me to work. I have grounds work, cafeteria work, and other stuff going on next week. Monday I'm going over to the Oliff's to make dinner with the girls (aka "Oliff-ettes"). (Mr Oliff is a prof at school)

So here are some pics to enjoy

2007-07-24T12:27:00.000-04:00

Would you look at that... two posts in the same week! I'm on lunch break and rather bored. I ran all over campus just now doing some errands, i.e. returning a book to the library, turning in my FERPA waiver to the registrar's office, bothering Academic Communications people, trying to find Scott in the cafeteria, etc. So now I'm back in Heritage waiting for it to be 1pm so we can resume cleaning and moving furniture in the girls' wings. We cleaned the guys' wings this morning. That's all we have to do today and it really only takes an hour and a half at most. Andy, the boss, said "Take as much time as possible and I don't want you to come to me at 1pm and say you're already done." However, he's asking for overtime people sometime later this week into next as we're going to be stripping the floors and rewaxing them. Right now I'm just tired and have a headache again. I'm drinking this nasty, medicine-like drink called "Diet Green Tea with Citrus." Nasty!!! I just felt like drinking it. Lauren left it in her fridge which I'm babysitting.

Yesterday it poured almost all day. The sun finally came out around 4 and it was absolutely beautiful! It was quite cool, sometimes chilly, but really nice. Today's high is 84 and sunny. WOOHOO! Too bad I can't go out and enjoy it after work because I'm doing the banquet.

Speaking of the banquet, I needed black dress pants. I don't own any so I tried to borrow some from Ariel. They would fit fine if I grew about 5 inches. Sniff. So I guess I'll wear my skirt, but the shirts we have to wear are supposed to be tucked in and it doesn't work so well with my elastic band skirt. Oh well. There aren't enough girls on campus to have hopes of borrowing a pair of pants that fits. And speaking of being short, we were cleaning some glass balcony things in the BLC and Ben had to go up the ladder to do it. I wanted to go up the ladder and Andy said, "Well that's great but you're too short." Waaaaaah!!!

I have decided to see how many departments I can work for this summer. So far I've worked for the marketing department and campus services. Tonight I'll have worked for food services. Scott was practically on his knees begging people to work tonight's banquet. He doesn't have enough people and there are so few people on campus now. He promised to treat anyone who worked tonight to Rita's. Haha. That's desparate. Andy tried to get him to let us eat for free all next year, but he wouldn't be that nice. The set-up is really nice though. They did an Italian restaurant theme and there are candles and checked table cloths and everything. Really pretty! Kinda crowded though because they used the bottom of the BLC by the museum area which contains random paintings and of course the Fujimura or whatever it's called painting. We have a lot of random decorations around. I just noticed that the paintings one wall are of the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Philmont WaterWorks. Hah! I've been there!

Well it's only 12:37 now so I've got some more time to kill. I don't feel like walking back up to main campus and bothering the different departments since they're all on lunch break anyway. I must be one of those annoying students who walks into every different department to say hi to people. I take every opportunity possible to bang on Gaynell's office window or talk to Liane in Admissions. I like to visit Student Life and bother people there too. And of course I like to walk into Academic Communications and see if anyone missed me. Haha.

Oh, yesterday, we were moving fake trees from different offices. (Yeah, we steal decorations from all over the school just for this banquet) I was carrying a huge tree (from the Alumni office, which, by the way, has a basket of candy!) which pretty much completely covered me. I bumped into Dr Minto and she gave me a really strange look and said, "What are you doing? Are you hiding? Because I can see you." Hahahaha! Today Andy told us to steal the paintings from the cafeteria. I asked if we could dress in black so it would be more fun. Ben was singing the Mission Impossible theme song to go along with it. ;)

It's over... well, almost...

2007-07-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

Hmm... goose in the tree! Wonder how it got there.

My room... before roomcheck

And again

Core Creek

Erin and I found a catfish

Playing with the geese

He looks cute but he grows up to be a nasty goose.

Guess what? All my summer classes are done!!! Nine weeks of classes (plus 2 extra weeks when there was no school) are over! I can't believe it has already been 11 weeks since school ended for the semester. Crazy! Time flew, but it also feels like such a long time ago because it was a lot of work. I still have post-course work from this last class and the first TESOL class, but the class part is done! I hope to get most of it done next week, except for the field observation which I will do next semester. It's all due November 9th, but I don't want to wait.

These past weeks have been crazy. Our TESOL class really bonded and we had a lot of fun. The past 2 courses were more fun because we did more. We've had a lot of laughs together, especially as afternoons wore on. You can tell that half the class is made up of elementary ed majors, or at least young "grad" students. I don't think older, experienced teachers would really crawl under the table and flop on the floor for a group activity, even if they were supposed to be acting like elementary kids. See, we put our desks in a horseshoe this week and we used the middle section for teaching. A lot of the activities that were taught were for younger grades and we sat on the floor a lot. Andrea and I were too lazy to walk all the way around the horseshoe, so we developed a habit of crawling under the table on our hands and knees and then flattening out nice and comfortably on the floor. ;) The funniest part about it all was that Mrs Underhill got into character for whatever age level we were playing. One activity today was geared for adults and there were some collective disappointed moans in the class. We prefer to act like kids... and actually, we still did.

The only guy in our class was basically the perfect model of the problem child. We played this game where we all sat in a circle. The first person said, "My name is ____ and I like ____ (a fruit)." The person following had to say "My name is ____ and I like ____ and _____ likes ____" and so on. For example, "My name is Laura and I like watermelon and Ashlee likes strawberries. You had to keep adding to the list, so it involved a lot of memory work. The one guy in the class, Nick, decided he'd be creative. "My name is Nick and I like strawberries. And Julie likes strawberries. And Krystal likes strawberries. And Andrea likes strawberries..." HAHAHA. When we did our critiques of the lesson, everyone talked about how to deal with people like Nick.

We had an open-book final exam for this class. I don't think it was too hard, but I don't think I could have survived as well in that class if I hadn't had Dr. A. for Emergent Lit and Integrated Language Arts. Half of the class had a lot to do with Emergent Literacy issues which have been hammered into my head by Dr. A. I knew a lot of the methods and stuff really well because of that class. It helped because there was not a lot of completely new information I had to learn. Hopefully I'll do well in these classes. It's looking pretty promising from the grades I've gotten back so far.

Now for culinary college stories:
I made my first ice cream cake! It worked fine and tasted great. Yay! Aldi is a wonderful store. ;) I got some Oreo-like cookies and crushed them up with peanut butter. This made them stick together to form the base of the cake since I couldn't bake. Then I softened/melted Moose Tracks ice cream and poured it over the cookies. I topped it with a few M&M's and melted chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together to create icing. (I put it in a Ziploc bag and cut the corner off so I could form letters.) It was Walter's birthday on Wednesday, so the dinner people threw him a surprise pizza party on Monday night.

Another use for rice cookers: Jam! Walter picked raspberries in the woods last week and then went out and got canning jars and SureJel to make raspberry jam. We used a hotpot and a rice cooker to cook the berries and used the other rice cooker and a 20 cup coffee maker which kind

of looks like the picture, only it's plastic, to heat the jars and lids. Walter messed up the sequence for making the jam (he put the berries, sugar, and SureJel all together at once) but it turned out pretty well. The jam didn't firm up as much as hoped, but it tasted good. We ended up with about 8 jars. In order to seal them, we put them back into rice cookers and the coffee maker for 10 minutes. They all sealed fine! Yay for inventive college cooking!

Another thing to do with raspberries: make raspberry pie!

Cook together for 3-5 minutes 1cup of berries and ¾ cup water
Mix together 3 Tbsp cornstarch and ¾ cup sugar.
Then gradually add to boiling fruit stirring constantly till thick and
clear.
Cool then add tsp lemon juice and 1qt of fresh berries put into a prepared
pie shell and top with whipped cream

We didn't do the whipped cream part, but we did the rest. I got a graham cracker pie shell (at Aldi of course!) and it worked well.

We had a hailstorm on Wednesday. I think it killed one of the geese. Geese can provide a lot of entertainment, by the way. ;) So about the hailstorm, during class it started POURING and we were behaving like little kids in elementary school. None of us were listening because we were so distracted by the downpour. Mrs. Underhill finally told us to get up and go to the window to satisfy our curiosity. ;) We were running around the halls, barefoot, with delighted squeals looking out the windows. HAHA.

About changes in the University:
We have a new statement of faith, a new core curriculum, and a new Community Life Covenant. The handbook is being revised again and here are some of the new changes:

1. All academically classified seniors, regardless of residential location and students who are living in Privileged Housing are without curfew. All other students will continue to have a 1:00 AM curfew.

2. All Penndel apartments are permitted to have one microwave. In the past this was reserved for only those in Privileged Housing.

3. As part of an attempt to set a unified decorum for chapel, we are asking all men to remove their hats as an expression of respect for the Lord.

4. You will no longer be required to report your church attendance on a weekly basis. Participation in the local church is an expectation that remains, yet you will only be asked to commit to a local church on your ministry covenant forms turned in each semester. Our desire is to see you active in attendance and participation in a church where you can worship, grow, fellowship and put in place the great wisdom you are gaining in classes at PBU.

5. There has been much speculation and debate about dancing in the new standards. As you look at the new version of the standards you will notice that there is no longer a distinct statement on dancing. Instead the word dancing has been inserted into the overall statement on entertainment. This does not signal a reversal of the PBU position on dance. While you are at liberty to dance off campus, the university will continue to work with student leadership to determine if any further change is warranted.

6. A Disciplinary Affairs Committee has been developed to hear serious cases of student misconduct. This hearing would be called if it is in the best interest of the student. The hearing allows select members of the PBU community including faculty and students to hear a situation and reach a confidential decision of discipline.

I am classified as a senior next year, so I guess I don't have curfew... not that it makes all that much of a difference since I'm never out past 1am anyway.

Tomorrow, Martha Lipsy becomes Mrs. Martha Klaver. Wow... such a weird thought!

Anyway, I'm done talking now. Hope you enjoyed the lengthy post. HAHA.

2007-07-13T08:51:00.000-04:00

Dear eagerly waiting world of fans,

I have been way too busy to write! My second to last grad course is almost over! Our last day is today. So exciting! One more week left and I'm on an academic break for five whole weeks!!!!!!!! How beautiful is that?! I actually enjoyed this class a lot.

There is much I could say but I can't because class is starting soon. One thing I've been thinking about is the beauty of words and language and the complexity of all these languages, yet God understands every single one of them. Everyone varies in dialect and intonation, but every human being can praise God. I also have been thinking about the power of words and how we ought to guard what comes out of our mouths. And the biggest thing I've been thinking about is the incarnate Word, the Word that became flesh!

Anyway, class is beginning. Have to go. Do you miss me?!?!? =)

2007-07-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

Hmm, haven't written in a significant amount of time. I was in the middle of "crunch time" about a week ago. The last week of Prophetics was probably the worst ever. All my Lit and Arts post-course work was due on Monday and a big paper for Prophetics was due on Tuesday. Then I had the Revelation exam Thursday and a big paper for Prophetics the Monday after the course was over. That would have been fine, but I had 2 books to read plus writing that went with it for my pre-course work for Introducing Second Language Acquisition. Yeah, so that last week was awful! I wasn't able to finish my pre-course work for Introducing SLA on Saturday so I got up at 4am on Monday and finished it. Then I worked on the Daniel paper later that evening since the deadline, thankfully, was midnight! I felt so unmotivated to do anything on Tuesday because it suddenly felt like I had nothing to do with my life (even though I had plenty). I had to write a rough draft for a paper on Tuesday and then turn in the paper on Wednesday. The paper was just my "language autobiography" and all about how I learned to talk. How am I supposed to know that???

Anyway, the past few weeks have been busy and sometimes nearly sleepless, but I think the hardest parts are over. I have one full week to do precourse work for my last 2 courses. Yay! So I'll be at school all next week, working some and doing lots of reading.

I completely wiped my computer yesterday and it seems to be running better now.

Friday-Saturday was a sleepover at Julie's. It was her 16th birthday. I got her a card that said "Wrinkle, wrinkle little star, Can't believe how old you are!" At least *I* thought it was funny. Hahahaha. We watched "One Night with the King" after Pastor Carlson talked about the REAL story of Esther and the issues the movie has. I had already seen it because Dean Hernandez had a movie night with "The Well" (ladies' Bible study on campus). I didn't like it much the first time I had seen it and all Pastor Carlson said was exactly what I was thinking.

Anyway, so much has happened in the past few weeks that I don't really have anything to say! Sooo... here are pics! Enjoy!

Wow...

2007-06-27T07:57:00.001-04:00

Last time I posted was June 9th??? Ok, I really don't have time to write anything because we have a "mini exam" every day and I still have to review for it. So... I'll give you something really long and boring! MY NOTES! HAHAHA

Characteristics of Language

Languages are systematic:

Recurrent elements
Patterns of relationships
Infinite # of sentences can be created
Created - rules and principles - we're usually unconscious of these

Languages are symbolic:

Connection between the symbol and the meaning is arbitrary

Languages are social:

Express culture
Adequate for communication
Interaction is required for L1 acquisition

Levels of Language:

Lexicon - vocabulary
Phonology - sound systems
Morphology - word structure
Syntax - grammar
Discourse:

Continuous speech, whether spoken or written, longer than the sentence, e.g. paragraphs, conversations, texts
Ways to connect sentences and organize info across sentence boundaries
Structures for telling stories, engaging in conversation
Scripts for interacting and for events

Contrastive Analysis (CA)

Lado 1950s
Based on Structural Linguistics and Behaviorism
Structural Linguists
Comparing L1 and L2 one level at a time:

Phonology (how are they the same, how are they different)
Morphology (compare word structure)
Syntax (compare sentence structure)

"Structure before meaning" -- need to understand the structure first in order to learn a language
Behaviorist Psychology:

SRR as habit formation

SLA includes transfer

Positive transfer
Negative --interference--habits to be replaced by new habits

Lado's (1957) Contrastive Analysis Hypotheses:

L2 structures that are similar to L1 structures will be easier to learn
L2 structures that are different from L1 will be harder to learn.
Errors are the result of interference or negative transfer from L1.

CA was used to predict errors and areas of difficulty
Behaviorism 1940s-1960s

Teaching implications

Practice and drill new structures

Imitate and repeat the same structures over and over

Need to replace L1 habits with L2 habits

Focus teaching on "difficult" L2 structures-- those different from L1

Predictions made by CA were shown to be unreliable:

Many predicted errors did not occur
Many errors could not be traced to interference or transfer from L1
Much predicted positive transfer didn't happen

Error Analysis (EA)

Replaced CA in 1970s
EA didn’t predict errors based on comparisons of L1 and L2
In EA, L2 learner errors were:

Analyzed
Classified
Compared to children's L1 acquisition errors

1970s Changes in SLA Focus

From structural descriptions of language -> underlying rules
From behaviorism -> mentalism
From external (language use, behaviorist idea) -> internal/innate (what goes on in mind, some kind of innate ability)
From pedagogical focus -> more theoretical SLA research

Transformational-Generative Grammar

Noam Chomsky
A relatively small number of "rules" account for the basic sentence structures of a language
A limited set of transformational rules allow modifications (transformations) of the sentences
From these finite sets of rules and "transformations" an infinite number of sentences can be "generated"

Changing views of L1 Acquisition

Not S-R-R but instead Inner forces interacting with the environment
Child not a passive recipient of "stimuli" but instead seen as an active and creative participant in language acquisition
Structures of child language production not just deficient versions of adult language but analyzed as grammar systems in their own right

CA -> EA -> Interlanguage Studies (page 40)

CA focused on contrasting L1 and L2 (inaccurately) predicting L2 errors

EA focused on analyzing L2 learner "errors" -- those features of L2 learner language (interlanguage) that were different form the target language

Interlanguage studies focused on the learner's interlanguage as a whole, studying the stages and changes that characterize learner language

Interlanguage (IL)

Selinker (1972)
Intermediate states of a learner's language
Development of a learner's IL:

A creative process
Inner forces interacting with environment
Influenced by L1 and by L2 input

IL differs from both L1 and L2
Interlanguage = learner language
Systematic -- it makes sense, there are rules

Rule governed
Learners work through similar developmental stages, though at differing rates

Variable

Learners switch between a range of correct and incorrect forms over lengthy periods of time
Context affects patterns of language use

Dynamic

Evolves over time
Changes frequently, in a state of flux
A succession of interim grammars

A reduced system

Form is less complex grammatical structures
Reduced function: serves a smaller range of communicative needs (I can't do anything with interlanguage that I can do when I reach proficiency)

Interlanguage and Success

Relative success = the level of IL development reached before learning stops

Beginning of IL -- when a learner first attempts to convey meaning in L2
End of IL-- when development "permanently" stops
Boundaries unclear

Controversial Issues Re: IL

Label of "fossilization"
Goal of target language -- "native-like" production not always an appropriate or realistic goal
Should "progress" be measured against native-speaker norms?

Morpheme Order Studies

Roger Brown (1973) -- children's L1
Dulay and Burt (1974) -- children's L2
L1 and L2 morpheme acquisition order similar
L2 morpheme acquisition by children from different L1s was virtually the same
Creative Construction

Dulay and Burt
Internally driven acquisition processes
Learners subconsciously create a mental grammar for interpreting and producing newly encountered L2 language

Bailey et al, 1974

Studied adult's L2 (ESL) acquisition of the same morphemes
Studied 73 adult ESL learners from 12 different L1s
Results were similar to study on children's ESL acquisition

L2 Morpheme Studies

Both child and adult ESL learners (from various L1s) acquire a number of grammatical morphemes

In a set order
In a variety of contexts:

Formal classroom
Naturalistic settings
A mixture of formal and naturalistic

Order of Acquisition of Negatives:

Similar stages in

English as L1
English as L2
German as L2

Natural Order

Important concept for SLA studies

Suggests innate capacity may not be limited to early childhood

1970s L2 Development Studies

L2 language development is:

Systematic
Largely independent of the learner's L1
Similar in many ways to L1 acquisition
Follows similar acquisition patterns across different L2s (though different patterns from those of L1 acquisition)

Krashen's Monitor Model

Applies innatist (Chomskian) principle to L2 acquisition
5 Hypotheses (guesses)

Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Two ways of developing competence in L2:

Language acquisition:

The "natural" way to develop linguistic ability
Subconscious
Results in acquired linguistic competence-- a "feel" for correctness not awareness of rules
Implicit knowledge

Language learning:

Knowing about language
Formal knowledge of a language
Conscious
Explicit knowledge of rules (aware of them and able to talk about them)

Monitor Hypothesis

Conscious learning functions as a monitor, or an editor, to self-correct speech
Our formal "learned" knowledge serves only to check and correct what we produce by the acquired system
Criticism of Monitor Hypothesis

Impossible to test or verify
No way to know when a learner is consciously applying a rule or not or whether the rule is applied from the acquired system or the "learned" rules

Natural Order Hypothesis

Grammatical structures/rules are acquired in a predictable order
Criticism:

Too strong a statement
Doesn't take into account

Language transfer
Individual variability

Based almost exclusively on morpheme studies
A weak version of the hypothesis is supported by EA and morpheme studies

Input Hypothesis

We acquire (not learn) language by understanding input that is a little beyond our current level of (acquired) competence
Comprehensible input = language that is heard and understood
I + 1

I = the acquirer's current level of competence
Stage I + 1 = the stage immediately following I along some natural order
Acquirers progress (from a stage I to stage I + 1) by understanding input that includes a structure (+1) that is part of the next stage (I + 1)

Criticism:

Vague and imprecise:

How to determine level I and I + 1

Circular argument:

Comprehensible input -> acquisition; Acquisition verifies that input was comprehensible (and I + 1)

Impossible to test or verify

Affective Filter Hypothesis

Affective [emotional] factors, including motivation, self-confidence and anxiety, can positively or negatively affect second language acquisition
Affective filter blocks acquisition
Low affective filter

More open to input
Acquisition easier, quicker
Right attitudes aid acquisition in 2 ways

Confidence to interact with native speakers; acquirers seek out interaction, hence more input
More receptive to input received

Implications for classroom:

Supply comprehensible input (I + 1)
Create an atmosphere that promotes a low filter

Criticism

Vague
Impossible to test or verify
How does the affective filter work?

Influence of Krashen's Monitor Model on Research and Teaching

Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Emphasis on importance of meaningful communication in L2 in the classroom

Natural Order Hypothesis:

Has influenced teachers and curriculum writers to adapt the order of presentation of new grammar points to the "natural order" of acquisition when feasible

Input hypothesis:

Has stimluated continuing research on input and interaction
Has led teachers to consider whether they are presenting material that is too simple (just I, no + 1) or too overwhelming (I + 2,3,4…)
Has led some teachers to allow their students a "silent period" before expecting them to speak in L2

Affective Filter Hypothesis

Raised awareness of the influence -- positive and negative -- of affective factors on L2 learning
Influenced teachers in trying to make the atmosphere in their classrooms non-threatening and affirming

Widespread Consensus going into the 1980s

Re: What the L2 learner comes to know IL is:

Rule governed
Dynamic
Differs significantly from both L1 and L2
Final state of L2 differs from native speaker's language system

Re: How the learner acquires knowledge

SLA involves creative mental processes
Development of both L1 and L2 follow predictable sequences, suggesting that L1 and L2 acquisition processes are similar in significant ways

Re: Why some L2 learners are more successful than others

Relates primarily to the age of the learner

The 1980s: Chomsky's Universal Grammar

Continued emphasis on:

Linguistic competence-- speaker-hearers underlying knowledge of language
Poverty-of-the-stimulus argument-- knowledge is beyond what input provides

Humans have innate knowledge of what all languages have in common, i.e. UG
LAD + UG (Principles and Parameters) + Input = LA

Children are born:

With a hard-wired Language Acquisition Device (LAD) in their brains
With the major principles of language in place (UG)
But with parameters to set, based on the input they receive in their particular language
Language input is not sufficient to account for language acquisition (Poverty of the Stimulus)

Principles and Parameters

Universal principles:

The core grammar of all human languages
An innate faculty that specifies the limits of language
Invariable

Parameters

Language-specific grammar variations
Variable but limited
Limited parameters:

Example:

Head-initial or Head-final
English has a head-initial parameter setting

John kicked the ball
Verb "kicked" comes at the head of the verb phrase

Japanese has a head-final parameter setting

John ball kicked (lit. translation)

From Transformational Grammar to Principles and Parameters

TG-LA involves a language-specific set of rules based on input and guided by UG
P&P-LA involves extremely general principles of UG and options (parameters) to be selected

Vocabulary important -- provides data for parameter setting and interpretation of meaning
UG in L1 Acquisition

Initial state: UG and innate learning principles in the language faculty of the brain
What is acquired: info from input (esp. vocab) that the learner matches with UG options (parameters)
Final state: adult grammar/ "stable state"
How L1 acquisition occurs:

"natural," "instinctive," internal"

UG and SLA

Initial state:

Knowledge of L1
Same parameter settings -> positive transfer
Different parameter settings -> negative transfer
Access to UG?

4 options:

Full access
Partial access
Indirect access through L1 knowledge
No access

L2 Interlanguage in UG Theory

Intermediate states of L2 development
If access to UG, then IL involves parameter resetting

Chomsky's Minimalist Program (1990s)

Core of human language: the lexicon (the word store) made up of lexical categories (content words) and functional categories
Language faculty consists of:

A computational module

Invariable
Specifying universal abstract principles of language

A lexicon

Variable across languages
LA involves learning the lexicon

Errors Analysis (EA)
Corder (1967) "The significance of learners' errors"
Positive view of learner errors

Corder's view of Errors:

Sources of insight into the learning process
Evidence of a learner's language system at any point in language development
Evidence of learner strategies and hypothesis testing
Windows into learner's minds

Error Analysis:

Collecting a data sample
Identifying errors

Language which deviates from target L2
Look for "systematic errors" -- due to lack of L2 knowledge
Exclude "mistakes" (p. 39)

Describe and classify errors

Language level-- phonological, morphological, syntactical, etc
General linguistic category -- passive, negative…
More specific linguistic forms-- articles, prepositions, verb forms

Explain errors

Interlingual-- negative transfer/ interference from L1
Intralingual -- developmental, e.g. overgeneralization

Evaluate errors -- how serious (if it affects the understanding)
Ambiguity in classification

Can't always distinguish transfer from developmental errors

Lack of positive data -- focus only on errors, not what a learner has acquired
Possibility of avoidance of difficult structures

Constructionism

Approach to SLA within Chomsky's Minimalist Program
IL development = progressive mastery of L2 vocabulary and related morphological features
Lexical acquisition provides info for parameter resetting

Evidence for at least some access to UG in SLA

IL doesn't violate the constraints of UG -- doesn't create grammar that is incompatible with UG principles
IL can't be accounted for by only L1 transfer and L2 input

Final State in SLA in UG Theory

Why some learners are more successful:

Varying degrees of access to UG
Different relationships between L1s and L2s-> different transfer or interference
Quality of L2 input
Learner perception of mismatches between L1 parameter settings and L2 input
Different degrees of lexical acquisition

Total Physical Response

Approach

Uses the senses --> stimulus-response
Language is a natural process and human brain has a bio-program for learning language
Built around coordination of speech and action
Alleviates stress in classroom setting
Grammar based view of language
Verb is key

Design

Begins with oral proficiency
Goal: teach basics that a native speaker could understand
Grammar is taught inductively
Learner = performer and listener
Teacher = modeler and facilitator who provides opportunity for learning
Allows mistakes at beginning

Initiator of TPR: ASHER

Silent Way

Approach

Caleb Gattegno
Child state of mind when learning

Lots of input from teacher
Silence aids in concentration
Throughout process learner learns to correct themselves
Inductive process of learning
Vocabulary is important
How language is said is vital
Teacher isn't really the model of language -- more of a guide

Design

Goal is near-native fluency
Much learning revolves around visual elements (color charts, rods, etc)
Independent learning for the most part
Student explores and makes generalizations
Lessons are built grammatically based on what is previously taught

Suggestopedia

Approach

Lozanov -- used yoga
Music and musical rhythm is central to learning
Memorize vocab pairs L1-L2
Learn best when info is from authoritative source
Child to parent = student to teacher
Environment is as important as instruction
Rhythm and intonation is part of instruction

Design

Organized plan
Activities: imitation, Q & A, role play
Absorb material in a pseudo-passive state
Goal: conversational proficiency

Problems

Teacher is absolute authority -- weird and scary
Students aren't supposed to understand things but let it roll over and through them

Community Language Approach

Approach

Charles Curran
Modeled after counseling techniques
Focused on "how" the person learns
Interaction is key
Humanistic perspective
SARD = Security, Attention/Agression, Retention/Reflection, Discrimination

Design

Progression is topic-based
Class decides what's going to be studied
Teacher functions like a counselor
Learning is a community
The role of the students is being community members

Whole Language

Approach

Teaches language as a whole
Emphasis on authenticity
Interactional perspective
Humanistic and constructivist Background
Language is thinking. New language = new way of thinking
Connects to real life experience
Oral language communication
Emphasis on using literature and process writing
Cooperative learning
Concern for student's attitude

Design

No curriculum, focus on learners' needs
Taught to apply outside of class
Teacher is facilitator
Learner is evaluator and completely self directed

Multiple Intelligences

Approach

Gardner (cognitive science)
8 total; all of them are used collectively
More than just linguistics
Armstrong applied it

Design

Four stages:

Awaken the intelligence
Amplify the intelligence
Teach with/for the intelligence
Transfer of the intelligence

Based on multi-sensory activities
Teach the student to better their own learning experience
Environment should be one that encourages the development of the whole person

Neurolinguistic Programming

Approach

Grinder and Bandler -- developed this as a form of therapy, not for SLA
Study of the brain and communication -- more about beliefs about how the brain functions
"program" people to learn the language
Language reflects and shapes our experiences
Humanistic philosophy

Design

Four principles:

Thinking about the outcome and what you want
Having good communication with others
Using your sense to decipher between feeling vs. real
Being flexible so that others understand

Modeling is essential
How you think directs how you learn

Lexical Approach

Approach

Memorize patterns
Language built on words and words only
Language input is an effective approach to learning languages
Set word combos that are reused
Memorized commonly used phrases and expressions

Design

Lexical rather than grammatical
Instruction based on data analysis
A lot of technology
Major source of input is teacher talk
Learner makes generalizations after analyzing data provided
Teacher's role: create an environment where learners can learn effectively and manage their own learning

Corpus = body of lexical items

Competency-Based Language Teaching

Approach

Focus on the output of language
Language is seen as a medium through interaction
Social context
Based on functional and interactional
Teaches what one needs to know for certain situations

Design

Teaches real world content
Focus on the use of the language rather than knowledge of grammar
What is to be learned is very specific and useful
Standards-based

Quiz:

Who is TPR? ASHER

Silent Way? GOTTAGNA

Community-Language Learning? CURRAN

Suggestopedia? LOZANOV

Multiple-Intelligences? GARDNER

SLA chapter 3 thru p. 52

-- Key terms

-- Self-study questions

-- CA, EA, Interlanguage -- what they're about

-- Morpheme order -- L1 and L2 -- general understandings (people acquire the order in similar ways across different languages)

-- Krahen's 5 hypotheses

-- Chomsky's TG, UG, P&P

-- (Matching, multiple choice)

-- Approaches 5-13

Distinctives of each approach

Matching or multiple choice

2007-06-09T22:49:00.001-04:00

Wow, so I'm swamped with homework! Thankfully the Daniel paper was moved to the 25th, but that's the first day of TESOL when all my precourse work is due! Gahh! Oh well. I have to remember at some point to order more books. Ewwww.

It's getting late and I don't want to start waxing eloquent because I need to go to bed. So enjoy the pictures instead!

2007-06-05T14:51:00.000-04:00

Some pix

2007-05-28T16:43:00.000-04:00

The stirfry

Pretty good, huh? Yummy!

Tyler State Park

Erin playing with a fish

The poor, terrorized frog that Erin caught (and dropped a few times)

The fish were all too small

Benaiah fishing again

Our "family"

Memorial Day

Look at my white family... hahaha

And again

At Martha's suprise party! Yay for all the Lipsys in a family photo! (Lydia, Joanna, Pastor Lipsy, Esther, Mrs Lipsy, Nathaniel, Beth, Pete, Martha, Dan)

An update

2007-05-26T22:52:00.001-04:00

I left my wire at school so I can't post the lovely pictures. And now it's approaching 11pm so I am going to bed. So much for that.

Oh wait, you wanted more? Ok, here's a picture from 1989. Hehe. Mahal kita, Tay!