Always a Breaker, now a Lion

Before I even moved here to NYC I did some research on the rugby scene here and checked out my options. There is a Div 1 team here, the NY Women's side, but they are way good and way intense about practices, training sessions, etc. While I have no doubt that I would have a good time, I don't anticipate being able to commit a whole lot of time to rugby, especially in fall when 15s start. The team I was most excited to check out was the Village Lions. They practice on the Lower East Side (heretofore known as the LES), which is not super close to me, but not too hard to get to. They just started their 7s season for the summer, so I decided to come out to training this week.

I'm not sure how I feel about 7s as a version of rugby (thank god the games are only 15-20 minutes, otherwise I might die), but the ladies are really great and we co-practice with the men as well. Coming from a team like Seattle where we have little interaction with the men, its nice to see a team that has a good relationship with them. One of them even got me drunk on Thursday after practice (thanks Steve!)

7s involves a totally different set of skills than 15s does, and as the coach said Thursday, we all have to re-learn our bad habits for 7s. Want to run sideways, rather than forward, to take up time? Go ahead! Basketball pass the ball over your head to someone across the field? Why not? When we're playing touch with the men, it looks more like a crazy game of hot potato than rugby. I hope that this week we'll do some tackling so that I can feel slightly normal again.

So far I've gone to the bar post-practice Tuesday and Thursday (closed the bar on Thursday and ended up wandering Manhattan, didn't get home until 4:30am!) and we went to go watch the US men's select XV play against England select XV last night. Today there is some sort of bbq going on and then I'm going to a Lesbian Frat Boy party hosted by Aneal. Its been since Molly's birthday that I've played flip cup and I'm starting to go through withdrawals. Just wish Alison, Jo, Sarah, or Lauren were here to be my Beirut partners. Oh well, guess I'll just have to stick to what I'm good at- shot-guns!

Hope you're having a great day. Its 92 degrees here and I'm melting.

joys of college, part 2

so i was a little mistaken in understanding what the advisor told me on wednesday. i don't have to take 45 science credits, i need 45 total for the degree- 36 as required by the state and 9 credits worth of earth science prerequisites.

not so bad after all, and most of my class mates have to take 42-45 credits as well. we're already planning our end-of-summer party at jo's soon-to-be beach apartment on long beach, long island. i don't envy her commute, but beaches are dreamy, even around here.

one of the other great things about college in new york? random obscure jewish holidays off! i don't have school monday or tuesday this week. woot woot!

oh the joys of college

so classes in the immersion program are going well. the days are long, 10am-4:30pm, but the content is nice. aced my first quiz today, no doubt.

met with my advisor today and found out that in order to meet the state's earth science masters degree requirements, i have to take 45 (!) science credits. that's 15 classes, folks, on top of my education classes. oye.

the reason this happened is because, though i have science undergrad classes, they were not in any concentrated subject area. thus, i have a handful of credits that apply toward the general requirements, but none toward my content.

good news is that some of the classes sound relatively cool, but i'm looking at two falls, two springs, and three summers. *sigh*

Life in general, updates...

Yesterday I took the LAST, the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test, which is required for all teachers in NY. The overachiever in me made me borrow a test prep book from Meredith, but after completing two practice tests and missing only three questions out of 80, I realized I was overreacting a little.

Is it weird that I kind of enjoy taking tests? I'm sure it is.

Anyway, the testing site was this high school in Far Rockaway (yes, like Rockaway from the the song "Lean Back") and was in the projects. It was my first exposure to high-rise project housing and total urban decay and despair. Scary. Once I got to the school, I immediately found like the one other homo there and we exchanged glances but didn't talk.

The test was easy and I was the first one done in my testing room, then I immediately hopped back on the train and made the three connections back to my house.

I ended up going to the Cattyshack and was approached by none other than the girl from the test-- Sarah. She's friends with rugby girls, she's a teacher, she's way cool and she has a girlfriend. She would make a great buddy though and I look forward to hanging out with her more.

Today I had my first full shift at the farmer's market and was slightly hungover for the train ride into Manhattan, but it was great. The people at the farmer's market were really cool nice. Andrew is a little bit to deal with sometimes, as he's quite neurotic, but he charms the bees and the customers. We worked well together and he left for a significant part of the day and I was running the show. It was pretty seamless and we sold a lot of honey.

I had the pleasure of meeting and selling honey to two different people today:
Piper Perabo and Sam Rockwell!
Piper was very nice and cute and has a new short haircut.
Sam was very nice and we talked about Matchstick Men a bunch, then he bought some honey and some bee pollen, for his seasonal allergies.

Then I took the money I made today and bought myself a vegan sandwich, as I haven't had money for any significant meal for a week. It was lovely. Good day.

Tomorrow is my first day of school/training. I know nothing except I need to be there at 9am with a notebook and a pen. Updates will follow once I know what the hell is going on.

Got the job!

So after a very long interview (by my count, from 8:30am to Roughly 1:30pm, no lunch) I got the job at UAMA!

I started getting good vibes right when I got there. The building is pretty new and they have lots of nice technology around. I first was tasked with writing an answer to a prompt, sort of a personal statement on how I feel like I fit into UAMA. No problem and I thought that I incorporated all of the questions well.

Then it was off to a 10th grade science class to observe and help out during their Regents prep time. This is where it got interesting. I walked into class during the last five minutes of the previous class and just stood at the front of the room with Stacey, one of the 10th grade teachers. As class was letting out and kids were leaving the room, two girls come up to me. One of them says "So I know this may be inappropriate, but I just want to tell you that you look hot." Then they walked away.

:^O

That's pretty much all I did was stand there with my mouth hanging open.

Thankfully no one hit on my in my observation class, that would have been awkward. The observation time was fine and reminded me of when I went to Aneal's school-- kids will throw up a wall and be distracted until you approach them individually. Then, all of a sudden, they turn back into kids and start working. Things to remember for this summer, as I'm hopefully going to be there for my summer school stint.

Then it was off to a panel interview with the other 10th grade science teacher, Alma, the school secretary/brains of the operation, and Shari, a 10th grade english teacher on the hiring committee and my point person through the process. I showed them the lesson that I had prepared, highlighted why I chose a topic that integrated other disciplines, and we went over my written statement. Then they just took turns firing questions off and at times I felt like I was playing verbal air-hockey vs. three people at once.

In the end, I felt like I left them fairly impressed. Then they all went to talk to Paul, the principal, and I was left alone for what felt like forever. He then invited me into his office, we chatted, he gave me the UAMA spiel, we discussed its strengths and weaknesses, my strengths and weaknesses in what felt like just a good conversation. At the end, he said "so do you have any questions for me?"

I asked him what the timeline was for hearing about interviews, etc, so I would know whether or not to keep searching around and he said--
"Well for you, that's an easy answer. We'd like to offer you a job."
Sweet. So there you have it. He sent me home with a CD rom full of all kinds of guidelines and handbooks, etc, to look over and now I just have to let the fellows know so that I can put in to work there over summer.

I am SO excited.

Interviews in the works

so tomorrow is my interview at UAMA, which is the music/art high school in the trendy warehouse area of brooklyn. i am going to be there at 8:30 am to do who knows what, and then helping with a 10th grade science class as well. that's about all i know about the process, but i am excited nonetheless. i am also happy to know that there is a subway that runs during morning and afternoon rush hours that will take me to and from that area pretty conveniently, which bodes well. i have been growing into my neighborhood here and like how close it is to transit, not to mention how cheap it is.

i also have an interview on thursday at a middle school, the UAAAL, for an 8th grade science job. less thrilled about that one, objectively, but meredith knows that principal and thinks highly of her.

i know i should get to bed early but its hard to want to- still on west coast time.

wish me luck, cyberspace.

Bar BQ- a new favorite!

So my cheap experiment at Bar BQ was a big hit!

I convinced Gretchen, my roommate, and Jon, a friend from Texas to join me once I'd already scoped it out. Jon took a car all the way over here from Bed-Stuy just because he owed himself a $2 beer or five and some bbq. And the bar serves Lone Star, the national beer of Texas, and something I haven't seen in a very long time.

They bartender was very NY gay, which was funny in a BBQ joint, the shots were plentiful and the food smelled great. We had a great time filling Gretchen in on our funny TAMS stories and Jon showed off how fabulous his iPhone is.

Also met Jeff and Claire, a cute young couple who lived around the corner. Claire, as it would turn out, is from Seattle, Queen Anne to be exact. We mused about the Seattle/NY transition and they took me across the street to a coffee shop that was having a keg party to introduce me to some neighborhood folk.

All in all, the best night I've had here since I moved. It was a great time and I think I'll be back next Monday-- except maybe for less whisky. Oye.