This Christmas will be my first ever spent away from either my family or Kyle. It is not one I am particularly excited about since what I most enjoy about Christmas is spending time with the people who are important in my life. Of course I love the food, and the presents, but sometimes I feel like we loose the true meaning of what it is about, and get too wrapped up in the pressure of topping last years gift with something even more spectacular and expensive. I found this video on a cool blog I have been reading lately and I felt that it really helped to put things into perspective. Please don't take offense because, I, like most people love presents, and I don't feel that I am better than anyone else, but this video definitely makes one think?
What are some things that we could do to help simplify Christmas? One thing I was thinking about was since I am out of the country this year, anyone who wanted to give me a gift could donate money in my name. Unicef is a great organization that helps children specifically in many areas including education, nutrition, medical attention etc. There are so many organizations and non-profits that do amazing work all around the world, assisting others that have much more need than you or I have for a Christmas present. It is something to consider anyways.
In other news, today I made my first teacher blunder. I used a permanent marker on a white board. The kids found it hilarious as my face began to change from pink to tomato red. After class I payed three kids in red stickers (reward stickers that they equate with gold) to clean the board for me. They discovered regular pencil erasers will do the trick if rubbed hard enough! It wasn't my proudest moment :)
4 comments:
Nice to meet you!!! Sounds like quite an adventure you're on right now. You're a brave woman.
And thanks for linking up with "Reinventing Christmas," too! Yeah, it's funny how having no money kinda forces one to simplify a little!!
It was that video that started it all for me, too.
I'm sorry you couldn't watch the video on my blog. It is great! I just tried at work and it is working for me here. It is also from Advent Conspiracy and talks about the money that was raised from Advent Conspiracy over the last few years has helped to save lives by providing clean water supplies.
I am so excited about your blog and you going to teach in South Korea!!!!! My two kids were born there. I'm going to start following you and hope you will continue to blog when in Korea so I can learn more about Korea and the culture and peoples. I have been there twice and loved it!
PS: a great way to get permanent marker off a white board is to rub it away with the ink of a dry erase pen. No kidding. It totally works.
Old facilitator trick: learn to sniff your markers before using. Dry erase smells different from permanent. Do a comparison sniff session once, and you'll have it forever. Or... you can put yarn around your usable markers. If you don't feel the yarn, you don't use it. (Rubber bands are a quick substitute.)
The dry erase erasing technique is for real. (Now we tell you...)
Im with you. I love Christmas. I love being with everyone. I miss Sidnei. *sigh*
At least that blunder was an easy one to recover from!! Markers are easily switchable!! that's cool that pencil erasers take it off! I didnt know that!!!
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