sunscreen song

In response to Tammy's Music Meme. Just listen from beginning to end...and smile!

I am the granddaughter and daughter of breast cancer survivors. I am the mother of a daughter. I am the sister to a sister. I am the friend to many beautiful women. My daughter, at 8 years old, has all ready been witness to courageous fights against cancer by people she loves, yet she continues to ask me, "Mom, what can I do?" "We can I always pray," is what I usually tell her. And sometimes we can do a little something else...

For several years, our Mother's Day tradition was to participate in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure with my mother, extended family and friends. This year my mother will walk again with team "Udderly Breast Friends" in the mother's day event in Bloomington, MN.

http://www.racecure.org/site3.aspx

In 2005, I walked and walked and walked and walked and walked 60 miles in 3 Days with team Fight Like a Girl in the Susan G. Koman Twin Cities Breast Cancer 3 Day. Words cannot express the emotion involved with either of these two events. The strength, the community, the fight, the progress shown in masses joined in common pursuit of a common goal -- finding a cure -- is beyond words.

2007's Race for the Cure will go on despite the fact that my daughter and I will not be able to physically participate. My mother continues to walk. My mother continues to survive. My daughter continues to ask, "Mom, what can I do?"

Today I found something she can do:

http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php

Lifetime television and grammy award winning singer/songwriter Jewel have an online petition urging congress to pass the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005 (S 910/HR1849). All you have to do is click on the link, read the additional information provided regarding the bill, fill in the required fields and submit.
There are many things in this life beyond my control, and thankfully the power of prayer and strong Faith help me manage the fear that sometimes takes me by surprise. As I pass this on to my daughter, having learned it from my mother, I am also grateful that there are little things to do that also make a difference. Things we can share. Pass it on...

When in Rome?

One would assume that the old phrase, "When in Rome." means we would wear something similar to the above.

When in Brazil...

Play Soccer!

Sierra is now playing futebol with Escola Americana and LOVING it! She received her uniform this week. As you can see, she looks GREAT! I of course wanted her to LOVE volleyball; however, it was not high on her list of activities for second semester. Being the good mother that I am, I forfeited my selfish desires and supported her choice to play soccer instead. I'm just thankful she found a sport she is enjoying.


It's actually hard to live here and NOT enjoy soccer. People of all ages can be seen with a soccer ball at their feet in all places at all times of day, and when there is no soccer ball, an empty bottle or can or nut from a tree is a great substitute for a ball. Mia Hamm would like it here.

Escola Americana's 70th Birthday Celebration

On March 15, EA turned 70 years old. The original school, 1935, was in a house facing Ipenema Beach. During 1937, it was officially named Escola Americana. Formerly, the school operated under the name Ms. Garland's School. Ms. Garland, who will soon celebrate her 103rd birthday, joined the birthday party last night! Somehow the stress of being a teacher didn't shorten her life span. When the Leblon campus opened in 1960, it was the only building on a block that is now filled with highrise housing apartments and hotels. The school moved to it's current location in Gavea in 1971.
The evening began with cocktails and mingling as well as some complimentary photographs by the photographer who does all of the student photos for the yearbook and school events. Many of the expats were laughing at the likeness to High School Prom the photographer added to the evening. Nonetheless, we all stood in line and smiled for our picture couple by couple.



Joe and I were laughing at ourselves while we were preparing to leave for the evening since the event required "passeo completo", which is formal attire here in Brazil. We are so used to spending days in shorts, swimwear and flip flops that dressing up in grown up clothing seemed a little uncomfortable at first. We both were very much looking forward to the night though. And felt great leaving to grab a taxi with Jen and Valdir.




Here are Jen and Valdir at dinner. They are becoming great friends to us both. Jen is the department leader of the student services department and services students in grades 6-12, and Valdir teaches French and Portuguese in the middle school. They are great people. Their one-year old daughter Sophia is a favorite little friend of Sierra's and whenever those two are together Sophia is squealing in delight as Sierra tries every antic she can come up with to get Sophia smiling. Most, if not all, attempts are successful.



A great topic of conversation last night was "the many faces of Jen". She is a very expressive person and she has a couple of signature expressions we all know her by. One involves moving her head with attitude and can't be captured in a still photo. However, another is shown here: hand moving to increase emphasis through gesture, leaning forward to highlight delivery, and fabulous full open mouth smile. So Jen.




Anyone who has heard of my initial travels to Brazil has heard of Mark McFarland, somewhat of an icon to me. I first met Mark in 1995 while student teaching at EA. I thought he rocked then. He is still here, still teaching at EA, and still Rocks! This man left AZ in the 70s with a backpack on foot and ended up in Rio de Janeiro. He's been living in Rio now for 30 years! Just a down to earth, wholesome, honest, funny, happy go lucky, fly by the seat of your pants man. I was so happy last August when I found out he was still here. I think I have a similar photo of the two of us from 12 years ago back home.

All in all the evening was wonderful. The dinner was outstanding. Our table conversation rarely fell below a small roar with laughter. The environment was exquisite. A Brazilian band played lovely background music and later full dancing music. A good time with our EA Family!

Books
Directions: Look at the list of books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read
Italicize the ones you want to read
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2.Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3.To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10.A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
12.Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16.Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(J.K. Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (George Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45 Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jone's Diary (Helen Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100.Ulysses (James Joyce)
Almost 50% of the list isn't so bad, huh? However, I realize many of these books are bolded because I read them prior to teaching them to 8th graders. That means many of them have been read more than 12 times (I have been teaching 12 years) and possibly closer to 60 times (I usually read them 4-5 times each time they are taught because they end up being read with each of my classes.
It was fun to think again about the ones I particularly enjoyed: Jane Eyre, She's Come Undone, Brave New World, Angela's Ashes...
Thanks Tammy!

I must have turned over a new leaf.

This month has become a month of resolutions so to say. As you read in an earlier posting, I spent a Sat afternoon playing softball, which I hadn't done in nearly 15 or more years. This week I decided to join a volleyball team with a colleague of mine at her club near the lagoa. I lived for team sports growing up. When I wasn't practicing or competing in a game, I was training. At one point in my "career" I was leg pressing 385 lbs. in efforts to improve my hops. Well, I have shockingly come to learn, if this activity sits idle for a decade or more, the muscles will SCREAM bloody murder the first time they are again pushed to the limits.
Last night was my first night at Clube Militar playing indoor volleyball--in an over 30 league I might add! It was one hour of kick your butt drills and one hour of 4 on 4 scrimmage. By the second 4 on 4 scrimmage match, my thighs were burning and screaming and tensing and burning and aching and screaming and I pushed on! Why? you might ask. Because it was unbelievably fun!!
At the end of our 2 hours, my colleague asked if I wanted to continue coming every week. She was letting me know that if I wanted "an out" I had one, but if I wanted to remain with the team, I needed to pay the R$35 for the coach's fee for the month. I said, 'Yes! Who do I pay?" despite the onset of extreme muscle pain in my legs.
I paid the team "captain" and walked--gingerly-- from the gym with my colleague at which time she informed me that the coach is Brazil's Pairs Beach Volleyball Coach from the '04 games in Athens!! Hello!! No wonder I just had the workout of the decade.
Today, my forearms are bruised, but my legs feel much better. I intend to do some biking in the coming days to make sure next Monday doesn't leave my muscles as fatigued as last night's practice.
BTW: I still got it!!

Creative Scavenger Hunt

Once again, at the prompting of Tammy, I have another task to complete on the blog. Don't let me fool you; I actually enjoy these crazy things. :-)

1. Morning. When I first thought of morning, I remembered this photo from Christmas morning this past December. It couldn't have been any later than 6:30 a.m. Sierra had been so nervous about whether or not Santa would find her in Brazil. She had a terrible time falling and staying asleep, so you can imagine how quickly she jumped from bed at first dawn. I LOVE Christmas morning...any other morning, I'm not so fond of.

2. Wow!

The view from the Chinese Vista here in Rio, overlooking the city. Cocovado, Christ the Redeemer, is on the left side of the photo on the top of the mountain. The landscapes that I have witnessed in the past 7 months are unbelievable. I think I've seen the most beautiful view possible and then I find another that takes my breath away.

3. Happiness.

I'm an English teacher. I think this one of Sierra writing speaks for itself!

4. Lost...At first sight you may think this is merely a picture of our soccer/basketball court looking down from the veranda, but when you look more closely, almost in the middle of the picture, resting on top of the wall that surrounds the court, you will find one of my hallway rugs!

5. Unexpected!

Last January, while in Parati, we were walking the streets, window shopping, and enjoying the quiet of the little quaint beach town, when I happened past this little restaurant bar. On one wall inside the bar I found the collage of framed, AUTOGRAPHED, photos shown here...the collection includes (although I realize they're hard to see with the glare of the flash) Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, Eva Peron, as well as other world known social activists/leaders. I think I stood in silence for about 5 minutes simply staring in awe at this wall.

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!!!I think it's been 15 YEARS since I last played softball. A decade and a half later, here I am at bat on the field at Escola Americana, under the scorching sun at midday!! WHAT A BLAST!

Here's watching to make sure I really made contact, and running from 1st to 2nd after Neise batted. As you can see, the infield is grass--very different from the true sand of a baseball/softball field. Also, I'm a fast pitch softball player. Anyone who knows anything about softball will be able to relate to the fact that they are two very different games. As a matter of fact, more than once I was asked to join a slow pitch league, and I always said no. However, today was International Family Day at Escola Americana and to give the girls' softball team some practice, I stifled my pompous attitude regarding the battle of fast pitch vs. slow pitch, joined the team of teachers organized to play against the girls. At the end of the game...I realized: I had one heck of a good time!!

After the sportsmanlike shaking of hands, teachers won 4-0, we commenced to discussing the possibility of scheduling another scrimmage. The girls have one tournament in April, where they play against 7 other American schools in Brazil, but before then, they don't have a single game and the chance to play another game would be really good for the kids. I said, "Yeah! I'll play! For sure." Then as I walked away, realizing I was a little stiff from the foreign activity I had just placed my body through, I realized, "Perhaps I should have waited to see how I feel in the morning before committing to another game." Truth be told...I didn't realize how much I missed playing sports.