I'm still here!!

Believe it or not, I am still here!!

I realize that it has been so long since I've posted that most of you either: don't remember who I am and why you follow me or no longer care.

But I am going to try to revive this blog!!

I'm pretty busy right now, but my life is getting really exciting and I want to be able to share it with all of you!

Here are some of the things that I am looking forward to in 2013 that you will get to hear all about:

1. Student teaching (already off to a start)

2. Graduating from UNC :(

3. Finally heading to India!! (for good or at least for longer!)

4. K getting married!

I suppose I could start calling her by her full name since she lives in the good ol' US of A again, but its more fun to call her "K."

Anyway, 2013 is going to be a big year for me (I realize that we are already solidly into 2013 and it is now February, but humor me). I really do intend on being more active on this blog. I have been lazy, uninspired and just downright lazy about blogging on here, but I do want to get back into the habit of it.

God has big things in store for me this year and I hope that you will join me on the journey! 

Rapunzel- A princess I can love

I would not consider myself a feminist and I don't think that Disney movies are inherently evil and teaching our daughters terrible things.

But after reading a couple of books and having a number of discussions along those lines, some of the arguments against Disney really start to make sense.

As much as I LOVE the Little Mermaid, she sells her voice for a boy. I'm not sure how I feel about that...*

All that to say, tonight I watched Tangled with a friend (not for the first time, just for funsies) and I couldn't help but analyze it for the underlying messages it sends our young girls (I didn't do it on purpose, but sometimes I just can't turn off the UNC mind).

Let me tell you, I love Rapunzel.

I think that she is an awesome princess. She's beautiful, sweet, and totally kicks butt and takes names.

She's the kind of princess I would want a young girl to admire.

She is the balance of innocent and naive, but sassy and observant. She figures out what is going on pretty quickly and stands up for herself. This blonde has some fiest to her.

I love fiest.

And the best thing is, both she and Flynn are great. It seems in these kinds of movies that either the girl is sleeping and the boy saves the day, or the girl is awesome and the boy is a doofus.

Flynn is great. He fights for his girl. And lets be real, no matter how much feminism tells us otherwise, a girl wants a boy who is going to fight for her. A man who is going to defend her. I believe that is what we were created to long for. And in the end, both were willing to sacrifice themselves for the others well-being.

Merida in Brave was hailed as a Disney princess for feminists. She was fierce and a fighter. Like the awesome Katniss Everdeen, she was an amazing archer. And most importantly, she didn't want to get married. I had one problem with Merida...

She was a brat.

I couldn't stand her. The way she treated her family and threw temper tantrums was just annoying. (sorry if you liked the movie- the animation and music was beautiful, but I couldn't stand her).

This is not who I want girls emulating, they get enough brattiness from other TV shows and movies.

Why can't a girl be cute and girly? Why can't she be sweet and naive? Why can't she use a frying pan as a weapon?

Obviously, the person that we want our girls to emulate the most is Jesus first and foremost and then the Bible and Christian history is full of amazing women who gave their lives to God and others.

But when it comes to role models in secular culture, I really like Rapunzel.



*I am all for watching The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (Belle is my favorite princess), but I definitely think that those movies need to be watched together and discussed (as most things do). However, the ones where the girl literally just sleeps while the prince slays the dragon (Sleeping Beauty and Snow White) nope, just nope. 

I'm not an awesome person

Lately, people have been asking me a lot about my plans after college (almost wrote high school...).

I've been asked a lot if I plan on staying in this area to teach after I graduate and, of course, I say no that I want to teach at an orphanage in India.

And I always get the same response:

"Wow. That is so amazing. That is so great that you want to do that!"

And I never really know how to respond.

Because on the one hand, it is kind of awesome. It is a huge need and I'm so excited to get to be a part of these kids lives and a part of the plan that God has for them.

But on the other hand, its not about me. Not at all.

I had nothing to do with it. I did not choose to do this. I didn't decide to go and do this awesome thing.

God literally reached into my life, lifted me off the path I was headed down and set me on this path instead. It was all his doing. I am simply following his directions. Because I've learned its better not to argue with the creator of the universe. He tends to win those arguments.

And even more importantly, I'm not an awesome person. I'm a sinner. I'm extremely selfish. I have a tendency to be lazy and procrastinate.

There are things about life in India that I dread, to be honest. I am not looking forward to the hot summers. I am not looking forward to be separated from my friends and family. I know that I will be frustrated and short tempered at times. I will not be the teacher that I want to be or imagine myself being.

I don't really know why I am writing this, except to say, I am not awesome.


but GOD is. 

School themed top 5

This was my first week in my placement classroom. Since it was the first week of school, we all went to our placements everyday but starting next week we will only go on Wednesdays. I am in a 4th grade class here in Durham and I absolutely love them! Here are some highlights:

5. My kids are having a really hard (but understandably so) time trying to figure out what my name is. So they are constantly looking at me "um excuse me, Miss Dro.. um Miss... what's your name again?" Its super cute!

4. One of my boys chose the final Percy Jackson and the Olympians book to read. When I asked if he didn't want to start at the beginning of the series, he told me that he didn't need to because his brother had already read them and told him what happened. To say I was dumbfounded would be an understatement. But he's reading it and says he enjoys it. But he's missing out.

3. Not a funny story- but we have a couple of new kids to the school so its been really cool to watch them open up and make friends. One boy in particular has been really quiet and shy and spent a lot of time by himself, but today in particular, he really started opening up and talking with the other kids. That makes me happy.

2. My class makes my bookwarm heart warm. Every time my corporating teacher stops talking (even for just a minute) half the class has a book out! I love it! My CT is constantly having to tell them to put their books away. What a great problem to have!

1. Finally, I just really love my kids! One girl wrote me a really sweet note today saying that she liked me a lot (and my clothes and hair haha) and that she really wants me to stay and teach at Forest View next year :) And when I told them today that I wouldn't be there until Wednesday next week, they were all so upset! They told me I should just skip class so that I can come more haha.

So that was my first week! I'm super excited about the year and will have lots of stories to share in the future :)


Also- on a completely different subject: Doctor Who comes back TOMORROW!!! So excited!!! (even though I won't be able to watch the new episode until Monday) It's going to be awesome!!!!!!!

What I did last week

My week started pretty typically:

I took this precious girl out for her 7th birthday.

We went to Frankie's and she wanted to do the ropes course and let me tell you, this girl is FEARLESS! All the teenagers were super impressed by the 7 year old who was going on the highest ropes. And she made fun of her adult babysitter for being terrified of heights. She thought it was just awesome that I was scared and she wasn't.

Then we went to get frozen yogurt and (because its me) found our way to barnes and noble to read some books. It seems these girls and I have started a sort of book club- trading books back and forth each Sunday. 

Which leads me to a funny story. While driving, A says to me when the topic of me being an adult some how came up- "but you're not really an adult, you're still kind of a kid. Like you like to read kids books and do kid stuff, so you're still kind of a kid."

And you know what, sweet girl, I am totally ok with it. 

Also, at B&N we came across this beautiful collection of books:

(That's Percy Jackson and Harry Potter all on the same table)

Sweet A ran up to the table and proclaimed: "Look! It's all your favorite books!" That's right and I'm proud of it! (I might start doing book reviews, in which case you will hear about my recent love of Percy Jackson.)

Then my weekend took a slightly uncharacteristic turn and I found myself doing this:

I ended up at a shooting range with a few friends. This was the first time I ever even held a gun and, as you can imagine, there was some giggling and squealing when we made our first shots (and several rounds after that...)

All in all, it was super fun. My friend and I call ourselves disney princesses because of a personality test we once took. Well I've never seen a disney princess who could do this:

(don't be too impressed, we were pretty close up)

The shooting range was fun, but I don't think it converted me into a gun-wielder (although I would like to go back some day haha).


Also- on an unrelated note, I've decided to completely embrace my nerd side and have entered the wonderful world of Doctor Who. It's British TV (and everything that that implies) at its finest and I love every second! (and it makes scanning so much more interesting!!) 

HIgh Five for Friday

I forgot to do these for the past two weeks, but here we go again! I'm linking up with Lauren over here. Also, no pictures again this week. Fail.

1. Found out my student teaching placement!!

I will be student teaching in a 4th grade class at a school here in Durham starting this fall! I'm so excited! 4th grade is the grade that I wanted and one of my good friends is going to be at the same school as me, so we can ride together! This also makes everything a lot more real and I'm slightly freaking out over the fact that I will be a senior and a teacher soon....

2. Pool time with an old friend.

Yesterday, I got to go to the pool with my best friend from elementary/middle school. It was super fun to hang out and catch up since we go to different schools now and rarely get to see each other.

3. Painting, painting, and more painting

I helped some friends paint a room in their house this week. I really enjoy painting and have done quite a bit of it with my mom here at our house, so I was happy to help them out. It was also a fun excuse to spend time with a new friend before she leaves me :(

4. New books!

I started a new book series this week, I'm not completely in love, but I'm giving it more time. Its another young adult fiction series by the same guy who wrote Percy Jackson. I'm loving some YA fiction this summer.

5. Celebrating 7 years of this sweet girl!!

Yes, this picture is from years ago (but it was the only one I could find right now haha) but today this little one turns 7 and will be celebrating Tangled style! 

Differences that make me smile

India is a different culture.

Shocking I know. 

And yet, I feel like I am beginning to get a grasp on Indian culture, although I realize that I probably never will completely understand that place and I'm fine with that. As I grow more comfortable with this land that I love, it is so fun to watch people experience the culture for the very first time. That has been one of the biggest joys of these past two trips. getting to introduce people to this culture that has captured my heart and see them learn to love it too. 

I love watching the girls pick out their clothes and attempt to wear a sari (as long as I am not the one leading the sari lesson).

It's awesome watching people attempt to eat with their hands, especially our poor left handed friends who have to learn to use their right (if you don't know why you can only eat with your right hand in India... well ask me in person sometime...). 

And always the best is watching them being welcomed by the kids and other members of the ministry. They are always surprised and so happy when the little ones bring out our welcome garlands the first day and cry when they bring out our farewell garlands on the last day. 

And then there are the differences that just make me laugh. I want to share the best example. 

A few weeks ago, there was construction on 147 (the main highway through my city). For probably 1.5 miles, the right lane was blocked off, but no one was working. I finally reached the work, 1 truck drilling in the road, and then the lane continued to be blocked off for another 1.5 miles. So about 3 miles blocked off, for 1 truck. (these distances may be exaggerated)

When we were leaving India, as we drove through Delhi, we came across construction on a bridge, 1 man working on this like fence thing along the edge of the bridge. He had maybe 5-7 cones set up about 4-5 feet into the lane. Traffic barely noticed him and just kept chugging along. 

I don't know if this makes you laugh, but to me it sums up the difference in Indian and American culture. In India, I just laughed, imagining the traffic jam that would have been caused in America, because you know that lane would have been closed for at least a mile for that one man working. 

I'm not saying one way is right and one is wrong, they are just different. 

And it makes me smile.