Artsy

Today, Angela and I met 3 of her friends from her Drexel program at the art museum.  We scoured the majority of the museum, except for the American art and special Cezanne exhibits.  Although, I must say that after wandering through so many museums in Europe, I am quite tired of Medieval and Renaissance ‘Madonna and Child’ paintings.  I still have a soft spot for impressionist paintings like Monet, Pissarro, and Seurat.  I could look at those all day.

After the museum we went to Mad Mex (really we just wandered around until we happened upon it, after finding a place with a 35 minute wait).  We filled up and ate fairly quickly and then just hung around talking, mostly of the other guys lady issues.  Eventually, quite a surprise, the waiter came around with a box of donuts.  Apparently, one of the cooks is a moonlighting dunkin’ donuts worker, and brings by the extra donuts.  It was a nice day.

Everyman: Day 7

I overslept by 45 minutes today, not sure how the kicker knew what time it was, but there I was, out of bed.  Kinda tough getting up at 4 (or 4:45) on a weekend.  I think I have a few weeks more to get used to the schedule before I can slip in some sleep in days.

This morning, as I was surfin the nets on the couch downstairs, Dill hops up on the couch and falls asleep next to me.  Next thing I know, Pickle is walking across my lab and curls up right between Dill and I.  Unfortunately, there is no camera near by.

This afternoon, we went to BJs for a few (trunk load) of groceries.  I like going to BJs, and Reese’s Puffs are my fun indulgence item of the month.  :D

After that I went down town to dinner with my mom at Philadelphia Fish Co. while Angela stayed home to study.  Poor Angela.  Dinner was pretty good, I had a whole bass  that was served lightly fried with Japanese black rice, and a thai coconut sauce.  I really liked the sauce and rice.  The fish was tasty, and as always whole fish can be quite an adventure, especially when it is served staring right at you.

Interestingly, they were able to debone the entire thing, minus the head and tail, which had a couple of associated verebrae.  But, props to the chef for getting all of the ribs out along with the spine and guts.  All that was left in the end was the tail and head.  I had the head wrapped to bring home for pickle.  He loved it, but I don’t think he was to sure what to make of it.  So he picked at it a bit.  The rest is refrigerated for him to work on today.

The rest of the night proceeded smoothly, with the evening nap postponed to after dinner.

Restaurant week

Tonight I met Angela downtown on my way home from work.  Since it is restaurant week ($35 3+ course meals at many restaurants – a pretty good discount to the normal prices) I decided to splurge and take us out.  We went to Friday – Saturday – Sunday, which was very cozy in the upstairs seating, low lighting, and nicely romantic.  I had a thai chicken salad, filet mignon; Angela had cream of mushroom soup, and salmon, sharing all the way.  It was all amazing.  Dessert was great as well, we split a slice of cheesecake and chocolate moose pie.  

After dinner we went to the library to find some books, but couldn’t get a library card without proof of residency (well, a free library card).  

We continued further downtown to the Mariott for a CMU info session.  It was nice to be able to talk about our school proudly and to help encourage high schoolers to apply.  The pull to return to Pittsburgh is growing.

Pizza night! (pizza the second)

Chorizo and Onion (yes, that’s a pineapple and strawberry smoothie in the glass )

Toss the dough!

• The other half of the TJ’s whole wheat pizza dough.
• TJ’s pizza sauce
• 2 grilled TJ chorizo sausages, chopped up.
• 1/2 onion rings, sautéed.
• ~1/2 lb mozzarella cheese

Spread ingredients over crust in approximate order listed above.

Bake at 425F (preheated) for ~10 minutes (until cheese is bubbly, and crust is browned).

Pizza night (pizza the first)

Pesto and broccoli pizza.

• Half a package of TJ’s whole wheat pizza dough.
• Cottage cheese, enough to spread over with a thin coat.
• TJ’s pesto.
• Garlic cloves, sliced.
• Broccoli Florets.
• ~1/2 lb mozzarella cheese.

Spread ingredients over crust in approximate order listed above.

Bake at 425F (preheated) for ~10 minutes (until cheese is bubbly, and crust is browned).

Spring Break

Back in school, and I’m already starting to lose my voice.  I haven’t actually lost it once yet, but with a mild sore throat, it might not be good. My spring break was so relaxing.  By the end of it, I actually started to forget what I was getting away from.  (Reminded on Monday).Two weekends in Pittsburgh sandwiching 4 days in Florida was pretty sweet.  A rent-a-rower took me back, and baking baklava was  amazing.  The week in Florida was very relaxing, tennis, short jogs, kayaking, lazing around reading.  I started and finished “Freak the Mighty,”  got through a few more pages of “To the Lighthouse” and made significant headway in “Clear and Present Danger.” Upon return to Pittsburgh I went and ran a half marathon, attended the URA regatta, and baked spanakopita.  Talking with Angela, and starting some planning for our trip to Europe and some remodeling in the new house I am getting very excited about this summer and fall.  

Thanksgiving wrap-up

My thanksgiving was a whirlwind of visiting and eating with Angela’s family in Maryland, then with mine in Philadelphia.

My first dinner was at Angela’s, check out the spread!

It was a little strange being in Philadelphia for only one day over thanksgiving. I felt more like a guest than a resident, like I had in years past. I don’t necessarily think that this is a bad thing. To me, it feels more like there’s been some closure on the previous stage of my life, and now, I am more independent and really starting to develop my own life as a new point of nucleation.

Saturday evening ended with a dinner at a Thai restaurant near my house. Here’s a picture of the whole crew:

From left to right: Peter (step-dad), Page (Peter’s sister),  Celia (cousin), Josh (Celia’s brother), Rachel (Josh’s wife – expecting), Judy (my mom),Patti (Aunt), Archie (Uncle), Angela, Me

Following the dinner, Angela and I headed back to Maryland where we slaved over hot computers to produce some quality post-bac. applications.

The next morning we packed up and in doing so, I noticed a nice little pile of red on her carpet.  Turns out a jar of jam broke and spilled in the side pouch of my bag.  So instead of spending the last half-hour relaxing with Angela, I frantically tried to clean my bag, and apologize to Angela’s mother.

The drive home to Henderson was uneventful but sad to leave such a great weekend, with great company.

The Move and Settling

After finishing the seminar in New York City, I flew back to Pittsburgh for a moment.  Upon landing, I took the 28X to Oakland, packed the last few items into my car, then started the drive to Philadelphia with Angela.  Arriving in Philadelphia, I packed up a rented mini-van (thanks mom), with all of the possesions I thought I’d need for the next two years (or at least could get away with for a couple months when I drive back for thanksgiving).

The next morning van packed, I set off for Henderson, NC.  Six hours later, I pull in to my new abode.  I somehow found time to get over to the Vance County School district office get booked, sign some stuff, and pee in a cup (fingerprints, paperwork, drug screen).

Then the unpacking began.

The room was basically filled to the brim with boxes, until I was able to stack things on and under my table/desk.

Then the unpacking process began. Angela and my mom helped me a great deal over the course of the first few days (then my mom left, and Angela kept helping).

This is how the room looked by night time of the first day (not too bad, despite the fact we slept on the floor for a few days).

(I’ll post a picture of the current room soon)

During the days I went to new teacher orientation, some of which was useful, but most of it was not very helpful, and stressed me out by not giving me enough time to get everything done.  Although, now I realize that the majority of the new non-TFA teachers have basically nothing prepared (I feel bad for the ones who are new to teaching).

In the evenings I continued to settle in, rearrange furniture, and do things so that I could become a resident (I now have an NC drivers license, car registration, insurance, license plate, and voter registration, whew.).

Over the weekend I attended a TFA ‘All Corps Conference’ where we got to meet the ‘06 corps members and worked on some of my stuff for unit 1.  It was again, pretty helpful to have time to work on stuff when there’s someone there to ask questions of constantly.

Sunday was pretty excellent.  Waking up late, a drive to Durham to get cake at the Mad Hatter bakery ,hang out at Costco (way upscale compared to the Henderson Wal-Mart), a little Target perusal, and finally a tasty dinner of indian food at the Sitar Indian Palace (we had Mushroom Saag, Naan, Samosa (fresh from the fryer), and Chicken Mahkani, Yum!)

I have the next week to finish preparations in my classroom (I have pictures of that too, soon).  Actually, there’s an open house on Thursday, so I should probably have things more in order by then.

NYC

Teach for America is piloting a Math-Science seminar to help us teachers learn how to teach science (apparently institute didn’t cut it, and they knew it). Well, this required me to do another 6-7 hours of mindless pre-work.

So, off to St. John’s University in Queens. Flying into Laguardia wasn’t so bad, getting to the college with my stuff from the airport was another story. I had it all mapped out, the Q33 to Jackson-Heights then the F line to Jamaica then just a few blocks of walking to the campus. On the bus I go with my two dollars, “nope, we only take coins”. Upon examination of the change machine it was deemed out of order. I was instructed to take the free bus to the next terminal…to get change for a dollar. Well, mission accomplished, change in hand, I get on the bus; I get off a stop or two early then walk several blocks. Got on the F and get off at the end the end of the line, turns out thats a good sweaty walk in the humidity about 3/4 mi.

After checking in, me and some other ENCers hit the town. We the subway to Rockafeller Center and roamed around until we hit Times Square and ate at the Prime burger. We then walked for a while longer. Said hello to Whoppi Goldberg in front of Madam Tuseaud’s, and went on our way.

I called my cousin, Josh, who is now working in Bumble and Bumble’s IT department, and met up with him down town (14th and 8th). We then trekked to SoHo to harrass our other cousin, Gideon, working at a bike shop for the summer.

While he made a rather long drawn out sale, Josh and I waited past closing time. Finally, Gideon showed us to a small indian food place down some alley near the bike shop. This place was a real hole in the wall. No more than a door for the entrance, a small hallway winds up a short flight of steps to a slightly larger opening containing a counter and a man behind it taking orders. We then walked for a little while carrying our hot food chasing a phantom park that Gideon believed he knew the location of. Turns out Josh remembered another place that we could sit and eat, so we went there. Just north of the intersection of Lafeyette and Cleveland, there is a small island in the street. On that island were folding chairs and tables which we used and ate, and talked until the owner of the restaurant across the street most appologetically kicked us out.

Again we roamed. This time in search of mythical teas. Alas, the shop Gideon desired had been closed for 40 minutes. We roamed again until we found a little japanese shop where we bought bubble tea and the mango combo platter with lots of fresh fruit.

After a bit more chatting we parted ways with Gideon, who would ride his bike back to Brooklyn. Josh and I took the subway to Jackson-Heights (close to where he lives), and I transferred to the train to take me to St. John’s. I experimented with another walking route back to the campus from the subway stop, which seems to be a little better.

I’m not used to walking this much.

Zoo

 

As it rained at the Pittsburgh Zoo today, Angela and I watched a Siberian Tiger take a small tree. I don’t know if it was the rain, but a lot of the animals seemed more lively. (Although, I suppose the lions were still quite placid.)

We saw the otters of course, and while they weren’t holding hands, they were still cute, but then again, I thought the elephants were, too.

Tonight, we return to Abay’s (uh-bays) the Ethiopian restaurant on Highland Ave. I really like this place, and the style is pretty cool. They have a large platter with a doughy-spongy flatbread on it. Then they place about 4 small-medium piles of different food on it. Some is spicy, some just very flavorful, but they are all delicious. They all have a consistancy of a very thick stew (if you’ve ever had indian saag before, I’m thinking something like that). Anyway, next, rip off a piece of the bread (they bring an extra beside the one on the platter under the juicy stuff), and pinch off a good bit of the stuff in it, then enjoy.

Well, as you might be able to tell, I’m a bit excited.