To Paris with Love

The advantage of getting my sister's computer second hand is that she left a few pictures of herself on it.  (She may not think so but I love how she looks in this picture - so happy and beautiful)

To my dear oldest sister~

Joyeux Anniversaire!  生日快樂！ 誕生日おめでとう！ 생일 축하합니다! ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!

All the languages in the world (and Google translate) cannot express how much I wish for good tidings on this, your birthday.  I love you more than words can say!  

Love,

Your younger sister who probably annoyed you a ton as a kid and still probably annoys you a ton...but now in a good way, right?  

Us in Koeln, Germany, December 2011

I Wanna Be Like You

Dear 長谷部さん,


You spent your summer break appearing on TV shows and radio shows, hosting charity events for the earthquake/tsunami victims, oh and giving 50 M yen to Unicef. 

You come back to Germany only to get a "minor" injury that required stitches on your eyelid.  (I'm still baffled how an eye injury of any kind is minor)  Two days later, you score a goal in a testspiel - a beautiful header into the net at 12 minutes - as though you weren't still sporting a bandage. 

Are you for real?  


Were you one of those kids - the kind that teachers and adults all adored?  While trying to coax all other normal people into doing something, too often adults pull out the "Why can't you be more like <insert perfect child's name here>?"  Despite our best intentions, the very mention of such a question immediately set up a standard that us normal kids could never follow and we started resenting that perfect kid. 

The only time I was the <insert perfect child's name here> that I can remember was back in the day when I played softball.  The star kid's mother/coach asked the star kid, "Why can't you be more like Erin?  She warms the bench the entire game without complaint.  Can't you just sit out half an inning?"  That was the first time, sadly, that I realized that warming the bench was a bad thing.

Well, despite the fact that I keep shaking my head in disbelief and asking myself, "Why can't you be more like Makoto?"  I find I really can't resent you...especially since you're so giddy about the Japan/Germany Women's World Cup game today in Wolfsburg, especially since you couldn't contain your excitement in receiving a signed copy of a Mr.Children album, especially since deep down, I realize that all that resentment as a kid towards those perfect children really just stems from admiration and awe.

Love,
Me

Hometown Musical

Last weekend, my roommate and I were discussing 4th of July celebrations nearby and she mentioned that her hometown of Waynesboro always did their celebration a week later because they didn't want to compete with Staunton and the Statler Brothers.

I looked up the Statler Brothers and found out they were a band that started in the 50's and have been a pretty big deal for a long time.  And bonus!  They even wrote a song about their dear hometown Staunton, VA.

Source: www.virginia.org

"We've got a bumper crop of happiness."  I just don't know if anything could get better than such fabulous lyrics.  With some amount of pride, I smiled to think that I knew where Staunton, VA (this magical place of happiness and smiles) was located and in fact, I had been there.

A few days later, I remembered another fabulous song about a random place that I had visited and I shared this classic with my roommate.  I present here for you, Wir sind das Ruhrgebiet.   Sadly, I don't know any of the lyrics.  But definitely a fabulous song that should go into anyone's music library.

Iconic symbol of the Ruhrgebiet: the Zollverein

Sorry, it's blurry but it says Ruhr

I started to wonder how many other random places have songs named about them.

Well, last night, I was discussing with a friend about my Illinois roots and mentioned the years I spent in Jacksonville.  She was curious, "Like the song?"  Baffled, I gave no response.   She went on to explain further.  "There's an artist named Sufjan Stevens who made an album all about Illinois and one of the songs in it is named Jacksonville."

I went and did a little research.  And sure enough!  There's a song about one of my hometowns - Jacksonville,IL!  They mention Andrew Jackson (our namesake) and Nichols Park and lots of other things that brought back a flood of memories about my childhood.

Any other small town songs that you know of?

Give a Little Love

On the 4th of July, my sister, my mom, my niece and I went on a drive and ended in us wandering through the gift shop of James Monroe's plantation (Ash Lawn-Highland).  Random, right?  As I was looking at the various overpriced items on sale, I couldn't help but think about the much nicer and bigger gift shop over at Monticello (only 2 miles away) and the much nicer and bigger Independence Day celebration happening over at Monticello. It got me thinking about the much nicer and bigger role that TJ played in our Independence and pretty soon, I was feeling pretty sorry about this President that I knew almost nothing about.  In fact, as I confided to my sister,  "I'm not even entirely sure I know which number President he was.  Was he Our fifth?"  (Yes, in fact, he was)

Ashlawn-Highland: Home of James Monroe

So, we splurged a little and decided to go on the tour of his house.  Alexis was tired and in need of a nap so I was pretty much the only one who benefited from the tour (although a definite highlight was when Alexis caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and started giggling at the cute baby looking back at her)  (Oh!  and we got free cucumbers - never turn down free cucumbers from a presidential garden)

But this is what I found out about James Monroe:

He spoke fluent French and often spoke French in his home.

He was good friends with Napoleon Bonaparte and even received a gift of a large life-size marble bust of Bonaparte from Bonaparte himself.

James Monroe is pictured in the depiction of Washington's Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze as the one holding the flag.  In real life, he went ahead of Washington to help with surveillance.

James Monroe was once talked out of a duel with Alexander Hamilton by Aaron Burr.

James Monroe gave up his lower farm - Monroe Hill - to the cause of the University of Virginia.

Thomas Jefferson helped James Monroe pick out the land for Ash Lawn- Highland and in fact, even helped build the house (proof is in the nails that came from Monticello)

While President, Congress gave him a sum of money to furnish the newly built White House.  That was all Congress gave him his entire time in office.  So, essentially, James Monroe paid for all of his Presidential expenses out of pocket.

The Monroe Doctrine that Monroe established in front of Congress has served as one of the most fundamental speeches outlining American Public Policy until well into the 20th Century.

And suddenly, I'm wondering: WHY HAVEN'T WE MADE A BIG DEAL ABOUT THIS GUY?!

Seriously.  He was friends with Napoleon Bonaparte?  A guy who gave his daughter the entire country of Holland for a wedding gift?  And somehow this man who is well known for his ego found cause to befriend James Monroe?

James Monroe was talked out of a duel by the very man who would later kill the man he was supposed to duel?  Really?!  How did we not notice the irony of such a fabulous moment in history?

Thomas Jefferson saw it fit to take James Monroe as his protege.  And I mean, I really think he took charge of his life.  James Monroe didn't faithfully live at Ash Lawn-Highland for the time he owned the plantation so I take this (probably incorrect assumption but let's go with it) as Jefferson deciding for Monroe, "You know what?  You need a house near me.  There's a great spot of land only 2 miles away.  In fact, all you have to do is sign here.  Oh, and I'm sending over my carpenters today to start building the house."  Thomas Jefferson - one of our most famous founding fathers, the guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence.

I'm starting to think if some of the crucial men of the day took avid notice of this president that there's definitely more to this man than my history books ever led me to believe.

So, here's a shout out to our Fifth President of the United States, James Monroe.

What My Niece Did This Weekend

Tried on her mom's sunglasses.

Took books off the shelves in the bookstore.

Played with my calculator rather than all
the other toys available to her.
I have grand plans for this little one

Hung out in her stroller with her pink teddy and her sippy cup.

Hung out with me.

Got her hair fixed by her mom while hanging out in her favorite
 place in my apartment - underneath the coffee table

Slept away her exhaustion (and her grumpiness)

What I did this weekend: Yep, you guessed it - I pretty much obsessed about my niece.  

Disney Princess Mentality

You know how they say animals and children don't lie? 

And you know how Disney princesses always have animals of all sorts befriending them? 

I sometimes pretend that the beetles and cockroaches and stink bugs and caterpillars that like to crawl all around me and the children who smile at me or just even stare at me wherever I go, is because they can all "sense" that I'm a fabulous person. 

Now all I need is a familiar who is smarter than most humans and I'm good to go. 

Strange Phenomena

Yesterday, after teaching rising 9-11 graders the basics in Chinese, the teacher I was helping out asked me if I wanted to come watch them play foursquare during their recess time.  Foursquare?  High schoolers?  But sure enough, all the students quietly lined up without any deliberation of rules and played four square in boxes much smaller than the usual four square setup.  My friend told me that no such debate had ever occurred - the kids just played.  We watched them and couldn't quite figure out the rules.  Sometimes there were 2 bounces allowed and for some reason, slams were heavily avoided.  Surreal?

Intrigued, I asked some of the administrators there.  One of them told me about how foursquare time was, for lack of a better word, "sacred".  For a teacher to set up a recess outside of everyone's appointed recess would be enough for the entire class to mutiny.  Another said that it has it's own name, Larryball, after a counselor who created the game and the phenomena over 10 years ago, and its rules could be delineated on Wikipedia.  (No such luck - the article did not exist)


On a completely unrelated note, here is a basic (and not an entirely scientifically sound) study that I conducted after Ashley's class activity.  We roughly (very roughly) assume an equal distribution of the orange, green, black, and blue "bugs" (pieces of paper on the ground) initially as shown in Image 1.  Image 2 shows the new populations distribution after four generations of predators (students).  What do you think accounts for this phenomenon?  The phenomenon is correct even if other things aren't. 

Image 1: Initial Population Distribution

Image 2: Population Distribution after four generations