jennifer patel

How many times did I have to hear about it today?  I get it my sweet, precious, students: you're going to go home after school and get really high...what's new from any other day?!  Did I mention, I work with troubled students?! These guys will be doing what they always do everyday... Not a darn thing!

This past weekend, we celebrated our cousins' (not actual cousins, but I can't follow the Indian lineage, so I call everyone a cousin) baby shower.  She is so sweet and I am so lucky to have her and all the other "cousins" in my life!  They help me get through these large Indian events, where I have no idea what to do, what's going on, what anyone is talking about, or how to dress myself.  It's embarrassing really.  I do know how to say "pani" which means water.  Since that's all I drink, it's one of the only words I can say.  It makes me feel useful to go around to the older women who don't speak English and say "pani?"  Then they smile at me like I'm five years old and say stuff to each other in gujarati which I take as personal affirmation for my efforts.  Story of my life. Despite my own shortcomings, it was a really fun afternoon.  It started with a blessing...followed by games...ended by lunch and cake. This i...

Happy Opening Day 2011! I know it's only the beginning of April and I shouldn't say it, but I will...I am burnt out. We are in the home stretch of school (10 more weeks) and this is when AEP becomes a party—for the kids! One thing that helps get me through the rest of the school year is baseball season. This year, we bought a 20-game package and thinking "only __ more days until the next game" makes the 10 weeks at school go by faster. This opening day, my principal granted me permission to go before I even asked. It was agreed that I would be allowed to take a 1/2 a day and leave at 10:30 (awesome) on opening day which fell on a Friday this year (most awesome). Our ace, CJ Wilson started: I got a chance to meet CJ at spring training this year. There was a short list of questions that I had always wondered and was going to ask if I ever met him, and when the time came...I was kind of a blubbering idiot. All I could wonder was what it must be like to be so good-l...