Student Work - Love

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, and inspired by Lauryn Hill's "To Zion - Interlude," I asked my students to define love. Here are just some of their responses:

Boys:

Love is very important for me. Love means to like something or someone a lot. Example: I love my dad.

To love someone is to care about them, risk your life for them 

Love – feeling happy inside by someone you really like and admire a lot  

Caring about a person’s existence

Is something only the heart can choose and not the brain

What is love? Love is a series of nonsense that most girls want and some people like and some boys don’t get

 

Girls

To me love has no definition. It has meaning; it’s a feeling you have towards someone. You adore and cherish someone. It doesn’t necessarily have to be spoken; it shows from the bottom of your heart.

 

Love is the rescue from loneliness. The best medicine. A person's gravitational pull to another person. Love is the look in the eye that has the key to the heart. Love is saying the right words to say for a connection.

Love is like a combination of strongly adore and admire. When somebody loves you, the person admires you and is quite willing to do anything to protect you.

To me love is something that you feel toward a person that is worthy of trust and who you enjoy spending your time with. It’s a strong feeling that you only get with a few people in your life and those people are the ones that you don’t want to loose.

Love is when you feel good with a person (you like) and you are yourself. Love can be friendship. Love is when you feel happy and light with the people you like without having to change your personality. Words aren’t necessary, but you appreciate the others company. Love is when you try to get one's attention and you smile and feel merry when you are with the person. Love is when you feel depressed and your heart hurts when you aren’t with that person. You give gifts without counting and you would do anything to protect the ones you love. Unfortunately, I don’t think love lasts.

Fast-forward to about 4:30 for the interlude.

Jack Fruit

My co-teacher brought some Jack Fruit to work the other day and offered me a piece. Before I could take a bite, she told me that the other teacher said it tastes like dung. You can imagine after hearing this I was not too enthusiastic about trying the bright yellow substance, but I went for it. It does NOT taste like dung. Rather, it's flavor is a mixture of pineapple and mango. The texture was a little rubbery and the smell is a bit...ummm...dungy. But the taste is enjoyable all the same. I don't think I'll eat it by itself too often, but I do think it will go nicely in a smootie!

The yellow pieces are the Jack Fruit. The white and black pieces are dragon fruit.

Valentine's Day - Part 2

My Valentine's Day started with me sleeping in because I had to go to the doctor for a check-up. As I hopped in a cab, I told the driver, "Happy Valentine's Day!"
He replied, "That's today? What day is it?"
"February 14th of course!" I answered. "Do you have a valentine?!"
"No, my valentine is far away. She is in Egypt."
"Well, you should call her and say, 'Happy Valentine's Day!' I think it will make her very happy," I offered. The driver just chuckled as I got out of the car, leaving a tip that would hopefully pay for his Valentine's Day phone call. I do hope he took my advice and called his sweetheart.

After my doctor's appointment, I arrived to work just on time to start class. Students were able to purchase a free-dress day by donating money to the Terry Fox Cancer Research Foundation, and they all looked so cute in their pink and red, flowers and hearts, kandoras and dish-dashes. I just love seeing the kids out of uniform. Coming from the states, I was expecting a spectacle of balloon and candy exchanges, but beyond a few extra pieces of chocolate, classes continued in normal form.

Later that evening, I attended a Non-Valentine's Day Valentine's party. Since "love talk" was restricted at this party, we ate nachos and watched "Moneyball." (Great movie BTW.) I still cannot understand why some people reject this holiday so much. What is so wrong with having a special day to spread a little extra love! So what if card, candy, and flower companies make a little extra money from it; spread some love for crying out loud! But, to each-his-own (I guess).

I ended the day with a Valentine's ice-cream Skype date with my mom. We both had a bowl of ice-cream and chatted about school, family, friends, and her V-Day plans with Mr. Eddie. Seeing my mom and her perfectly arranged bowl of ice-cream and cookies made me miss her a little more than normal. She's just so darn cute and I love her to pieces!

All in all, Valentine's Day 2012 was great and it just reminded me to share love everyday!!!

XOXO

This represents me on Valentine's Day (and hopefully everyday). I hope my heart shares love like this does!

One of the cards that I received at Bible study last week. Inside it included verses from I John 3:18, I John 4:18, Psalm 37:4, and Proverbs 31:10.

The balloon's a little deflated and the rose is wilting, but I got these a few days before Valentine's Day. So sweet.

Valentine's Day - Part 1

I cannot wait for Valentine's Day this year!!! (Imagine me screaming and running through my apartment in excitement.) No, I do not have a boy-toy to play with this year (don't start thinking too dirty), but I think that's what I'm so excited about!!! (Eyes get big.) When you're not in a relationship, it's easier to remember that Valentine's Day should really be all about celebrating love. And I LOVE LOVE!!! (Voice becomes unnaturally high-pitched.) Thinking about this day as a day to celebrate love and the people/things in my life that I love, I realize how blessed I am. No, I don't have that "special someone" in my life to take me out to dinner or buy me a box of cordial cherries. But you know what, I've been there, done that, and it was a great blessing [I hope you get the joke ;-)] at the time. But, I am blessed because I have many special someones in my life to share my love with. From friends, family, my students, co-workers, God...I just want to show EVERYONE and EVERYTHING how much I love them!!! (Skipping and leaping in anticipation.)

To begin preparing for Valentine's Day, my friend and art teacher at AISA hosted a ladies' Valentine party. We ate succulent snacks and created cute cards for the upcoming holiday. Who doesn't like making Valentine's cards? (If you say, "I don't" then you lose.) My personal favorite is Card #2. Which is yours?

German Chocolate Brownies with strawberries on top. #SugarRushWellWorthIt!

Heart shaped cheesy biscuit things!

Card #1: Jesus = Love

Card #2: Window to My Heart

Card #3 (for the roomie): A Rose is Still a Rose

Card #4: Mom's Sewing Basket

Card #5: Love Multiplies

Celebrating on a Yacht

A friend recently turned 30, and to celebrate she decided to rent out a yacht. She appeared to have a great time, and so did I. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Can you guess who the birthday girl is?

I almost didn't buy this dress, but I think it was a good investment...You can always count on Forever 21 for a good party dress!

The boat got a little rocky at some points, so I decided to just sit on the floor...plus all the seats inside were taken.

View of the Corniche from the boat!

Turnip Root, Guava, Passion Fruit, and Yellow Plums

It's been a while since I've posted about trying new foods, but that doesn't mean I haven't been experimenting with my taste buds.

Lately, I've been craving greens of all sort: spinach, kale, turnips, mustard greens...if it's leafy and full of fiber, it's been calling my name. My search for fresh turnips continues to prove unsuccessful, but I did find turnip root the other day. I've enjoyed turnip root in UPenn's dining halls a few times before, but I've never cooked it myself. After a few Google searches and YouTube videos, I learned there are several ways to prepare this starch vegetable. I chose to peel, cube, and boil them, later adding brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg. One of my Google results advised changing the water 2-3 times to prevent a bitter taste. I should've heeded the advice, but I didn't. But, my turnips turned out delicious. I think my grandmother would be proud!

On the same night, I tried guava. I've had guava flavored drinks before, but never the real thing. When I Googled (yes, like you I'm sure, I Google many things) how to cut and eat guava, I learned that the seeds are edible and full of nutrients. So, I through my guava chunks, seeds and all, into my blender with some yogurt and little rose syrup for extra sweetness. The blend came out looking like a Pepto-Bismol smoothy, but tasty none-the-less. Except for the seeds. Guava seeds my be edible, but they are not chewable...unless your teeth are strong enough to chew tiny little pebbles.

Not one to enjoy crunching down on rock-like seeds, I tried again. This time I cut out the seeds, but this left me with very little fruit to compliment my yogurt. So, I added some passion fruit. I've never had passion fruit before. I, yes you guessed it, Googled how to eat/cut a passion fruit, and was told to simply slice it in half, scoop out the meat and seeds, and enjoy. Not paying attention to any pictures, I was surprised to find egg-yoke in my passion fruit! After further research, I realized this was the part I was supposed to slurp down. I just couldn't do it, so I through the yellow slime and seeds (these were soft) in with my guava, yogurt, and a little sugar. Ummm, can I say best yogurt EVER! It tasted like melted guava-passion fruit ice cream. And if you know me well, you know I LOVE melted ice cream! Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to eat the passion fruit on its own.

Lastly, we have yellow plums. I was craving some fruit, saw red plums and yellow plums, and asked myself, "I wonder how different yellow plums tastes from red ones?" Answer: not that different. A little more sour, yellow and red plums are about the same. (I'd add pictures, but I'm not really sure what happened to the ones I have. Silly technology. You can just imagine a red plum, but yellow.)