One of my classes is called “Art, Culture, and Creativity.” It is taught by this spacy older Jewish lady with frizzy grey hair. She wears flowered skirts and Birkenstocks with white stockings. She is really into folk art. Have a clear picture?
From time to time she has guest speakers come in to talk to us about integrated lesson plans (i.e. incorporating art into other subjects.) The thing about these guys is that they’re usually elementary teachers themselves and don’t really know how to teach adults. Some, like the storyteller, are cheesy but cool. Yesterday we had a music teacher who was absolutely fascinating.
He had white hair and a white moustache. He wore white linen pants and a loose “world music” sort of shirt, if you follow me. He kept refering to notes. He seemed very nervous. He opened by telling us a little bit about himself. He had just returned from a month spent with his elderly sightless parents. He was helping them move to Oregon from the East Coast. He said it was hard work. He had to read a lot of files to them, and describe many items. Luckily his 20 year old daughter, who is a student at U of O accompanied him to help. That was how he introduced himself to us. I was amazed. Then he led us in this weird song about a donkey that had many parts. I got to play a xylaphone (how do you spell that?) It was really fun.
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So here is an update on my relationship zone. Moose came to visit, and we had a lot of love (great talks, trips down memory road) but no lovin,’ so to speak. I know my dear readers were privy to some sweet flirting a few months back, but by the time Moose arrived we had already decided to just be mellow friends. As for AJ, my incredible levels of school stress and guilt about being a bad girlfriend led us to decide to downshift a little bit. He is no longer my “boyfriend”, but we are “dating.” This may seem like an arbitrary distinction, but it has made both of us feel so much better. We hung out last night and it was really fun, but I don’t have to stress about disappearing into my homework for the next four days and making him sad/insecure. He can go on hot dates with other hot ladies while I slave away at my Teaching Philosophy. That’s fair, right? Anyway, even if it is a nominal change I feel great about it, and now whenever I do see him I feel glad rather than guilty.
Ta da!
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wow, ta da works great as a blog entry closer! I’m glad you’re fitting some love and lovin’ in during your busy schedule. Sing me a folk song!
I don’t think I captured the beautiful absurdity of the music teacher’s intro in my recap above. It was so weirdly personal. I mean, don’t you usually introduce yourself to a large group of adults like, “Hi, I’m Willow. I love Portland. I have no pets. I like to eat dinner.” or whatever? This man blew my mind with his sightless parents story. Mildly inappropriate and awesome.
u americans are crazy! u know this dating this has never caught on in the UK…I can’t IMAGINE doing it! I am NOT cool with being compared to other ladies!
not to say i think its wrong…just one major observation of a culture clash….
I’m so with piu piu – ‘dating’ is not a Germanic thing to do either. To us, it’s all or nothing ;).
Oh, and it’s xylophone.
I feel so slutty now!
I have mixed feelings about “dating” to be honest. I actually feel a little our of control at the moment. I feel like I need a lot of space and independence right now, and having a full-on serious boyfriend is too stressful for me. But I like spending time with AJ. So this “dating” thing is a good in between thing for me right now. I get some nice loving without the intense obligations that come with a “real” relationship. But it’s not really fair to AJ, who ideally wants more than that. He’s being a really good sport, but I feel sort of crazy right now. Plus my relationship with Jake still casts shadows. I don’t really know what I’m doing, readers. I’m trying to be really honest with myself and with AJ, but I hate that it all has to be on my terms. But I also really enjoy the time I spend with him. What do I do?
Sorry for that outburst. I’m still feeling really guilty about this whole thing. I want to do the right thing for both of us.
hey! u can but try! if it makes u feel a little less stressed than it can only be cool. i know where ur coming from…i split up with boyfriend’s completely in the past due to BA stress….its a hard one to call…
You’re not slutty! If the ‘dating’ thing works for you, go for it! I know how school stress wears down a relationship – my husband and I kept one night a week free to ‘date’ during the semester. It’s the only time we really see each other…
dear willow.
i think it is spelled “zailofone”