What a twist in your plans Robert! It sounds like you are taking great advantage of it, which is wonderful! Marianne, you are having a lot of hard work and fun in the city! That sounds exciting too! I am sure your IP is great!
I am in New York and I wish I was in Portugal or even Andorra spending time at home, relaxing, with friends and family. I really miss them all and I miss home, even the washing machine and the rope in the garden to hang the clothes on it! That sounds crazy I know! We still have to wait till the two last weeks of August to make that true.
In Summer A I took Intro to Painting at TC which was fun and more interesting than I have ever thought! It really pushed me to look at things in a different way and to express myself in another way that is not through writing papers and journals... I am eager to have time to keep painting.
Summer B is here, and I am taking a course in Conflict Resolution in the Classroom. It is very well organized, fun and so, so, so relevant! For my personal and professional life! It is so interesting to learn and to be aware of the strategies that exist to solve conflicts in a healthy and constructive way. The classes are intense, from 9am to 5pm! but it is just 5 days and the readings and the instructors are great. I have met wonderful people in both courses.
In the meanwhile I keep trying to finish my dissertation for a Master degree that I begun in Portugal two years ago. I keep procrastinating, which is awful but I am sure I will finish it soon (before vacations hopefully) and survive. My advisor from Portugal takes his time to answer my emails (approximately one month for each little email) so that makes it more difficult. It is hard to remain motivated. :) I am always thinking that I'd rather be doing something else: reading, painting, making my puzzles or even attending more classes at TC... So, I am having a hard time with myself and that dissertation...
I also have been participating in Sojourners. To make it short, generally on Saturdays mornings I go visit detainees at Elizabeth Detention Center. One person that I had been visiting for more than one month now has just been freed, which was an awesome new! I am so happy for him! For those who may be interested in knowing more about Sojourners and getting involved as a visitor there is an informative session this Thursday. Contact me (or Marianne, she was the one who convince me to become involved and I am very grateful to her :) ) if you need more details about it!
Daniel, my husband, is having lots of fun as a soccer coach for kids. He is also exhausted, so he is dreaming on our next vacations to Portugal.
We spent a wonderful weekend in Washington DC on 3th, 4th and 5th July. We had a wonderful time together discovering the city, its museums, hanging around in the mall and participating in the folklore festival that was taking place there. That was so refreshing!
We also have been receiving friends from Andorra and Portugal that come to visit us and explore NYC. That have been fun to have them at home and spend time with them. Daniel's cousin and her husband are the next people coming. They arrive this weekend and they will stay for two weeks. :) So, we are getting prepared to welcome them!
And roughly that is it!
I would love to read more news from you all! So keep posting news!
Lots of hugs for you all,
Dearest Natali,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing - seems like there's a lot going on for you in NYC. I really appreciate that you took the painting class and found new ways to express yourself. Theater/acting and painting is something I've never really pushed myself into trying, because I always feel like singing/music and dance is what I'm better at in terms of the arts. You have inspired me to try harder to explore....
I really wanted to take conflict resolution in classrooms but I I couldn't do it since I'm away all summer. Can you find out if it will be offered in the Fall or Spring?
Many hugs !
ZOhra
Hi Zohra! Thanks for your nice comment! Glad to hear from you! How has been your summer in Quito?
ReplyDeleteI love dancing too (singing just for fun, like karaokes.. :). We could all go out sometime dance some nice music! In the fall they offer the course in Conflict Resolution and I higly recommend it. The class was a great mix of theory and practice! We learn a lot of activities to use in the classroom in order to build confidence, community, and to fight against bias, exclusion... I wish all schools and teacher trainings included CREducation. Talking about conflict, the positive outcomes of conflicts but also the negative ones, the way we should handle conflict, talking about how to stop bullying behavior, implementing anti-bias curriculum, all this is so relevant, isn't it?
I really enjoyed Susan Fountain as instructor. No idea if she is going to teach any class in the Fall, but she is a great teacher and has plenty of meaningful experiences to share! Look for classes in ORLJ department.
Best of luck! and see you soon!
Natali