Symphony

My boss gave me two tickets to the symphony on Nov. 11 at 2 in the afternoon. I have a HUGE problem here. I grew up in Maine, then spent the last 25 years in NC. I have no culture. Accepting the tickets seemed like a good idea at the time. But now, I am panicking. What to hell do I wear? I am not sure I am ready for this...

Kayak Rolling

I went to the pool to practice rolling. The intergenerational thing is so strange. There was a 25 year old kid helping me. He said it was so cool to see anyone willing to try something new, at any age. Every time I screwed up he would comment on how I was stretching myself...rewiring my brain to think a different way and how cool it was. He just kept cheering me on until I was successful. In NC, a 25 year old would have lost their patience with an old lady or never helped her in the first place. It is very different and that is going to take a while to get used to.

Condoms at Sam's Club

Oh my gosh. I almost had a heart attack at Sam's club when I was picking up contact lens solution. They sell condoms at Sam's club...right there on the aisle. Again a cosmic culture shift. In NC they are behind the counter at the drugstore where you get your prescriptions. You can only get them by asking the pharmacist on duty for them. They aren't out where kids can see them.

Teaching

Week 1 - Total intimidation. These people are freaking SMART! I have that sense of the imposter syndrome just like when I was working on my PhD. Sooner or later, they will find out that I am not supposed to be here, that I don't belong. What do I possibly have to offer these incredibly talented people?

Week 2 - Technological Frustration. I have so many incredible peices of educational software I could be showing my students. But unlike at my last position, I don't have the freedom to put temporary versions on computers nor to I have the political clout to get them to purchase what I need. How do I regroup and figure out the best way to educate my students within the limitations of what I have?

Week 3 - Unprepared. I just haven't been able to get my head into this class like I need to. I am so blown away by their responses to the discussion board. They are so incredible. I need to put more time and effort into rising to the challenges they present to me. It is hard to do in this incredible place where so many cool personal interests (biking, kayaking, the market, etc) vie for my time.

Week 4 - The Farmer's Almanac. I just had this totally cultural moment when I asked a question about how we forcast the weather before technology. In NC ALL of my students would have chimed in the Farmer's Almanac, for many of them, Doppler Radar, etc. is just a bunch of witchcraft and voodoo and not reliable. Here, they just looked at me and didn't seem to have a clue what I was getting at (i.e there has always been technology). Then I was talking about girls and boys PE. Again, I got the "blank stare look". Apparently, here, they let girls and boys have PE together...who'd have thought????

Week 5 - I am beginning to think that I am not teaching my students anything. I hate wasting people's time. I am leaving for Eugene tomorrow. One of my students said the funniest thing to me. She said to make sure when I went to Eugene to take my bong...that it was a big community of old hippies. I was taken aback and she probably thought I was offended. What she didn't realize is that I was so blown away that my students knew what a bong WAS... I am not sure if I am Alice or Dorothy and I have actually been dropped by the wind storm in OZ.

Week 6 - I sit here in my office and read over the discussion board posts. Maybe I have taught them someone, just a couple of things. They are still so freaking smart. They take the assignments I give them and go so much further with them than I have ever had my students do before. I am so used to teaching apathetic students and I know how to get them hooked on class. It is quite a pedagogical shift for me to think about how to teach students that go so much further than I expect. As a friend once said to me...I have to outthink them, outthinking me.

Coffee

Well I have thought I was going to get run out of Seattle. I didn't know how to order coffee. All I have ever had is regular brewed coffee, size small medium or large. My new friend gave me some pointers...she used them to describe men :-). There was a subject I could relate to.

So today, for the first time EVER, I went to Starbucks and order a grande, non-fat, pumpkin spice latte, hold the whip, extra hot... Thanks Maurea!

Biking

Mountain biking, riding through the woods, is so much stress relief for me. For a few hours each week, I have no problems, no cultural issues to overcome, no homesickness. It is just me, trying to keep upright on a bike when roots, trees, rocks and my own mind are doing their best to unseat me. There is the beauty of the woods, the camaraderie of friends, the pushing of your physical self, the connection between your mind and your body, and the definite need to be in the moment. What a freaking rush...it is wonderful.

Drinking

There is a definite cultural shift here in the consumption of alcohol. In NC, people either drank or they didn't. Alcoholism was not discussed ever. If you drank, that meant socially one or two glasses of wine or beer, not getting sloppy faced drunk...at least not in front of the respectable folks. The "blue laws" prevented purchasing alcohol from a store or restaurant or bar from 1 am Sunday morning until 1 pm on Sunday afternoon. That way people would go to church, stone cold sober. Here, you can go to a restaurant at 9 am and order alcohol. It is acceptable to have it at lunch. It is served at university functions. In NC it was illegal to even HAVE alcohol on a college campus. I am still getting used to seeing people at Sunday brunch with beer and mimosas...

I made the mistake of saying that I drank to two new friends of mine. They both looked at me and one of them asked ...do you drink a lot? She was referring to what she thought was my drinking problem... Here EVERYBODY drinks. The difference is in HOW much???? I am never going to figure this place out.