ENGL 399 Personal Non-fiction: Final Revision

Where I Belong

I walked down the hallway, my bright-orange backpack a beacon among throngs of 5-foot-tall students. I tried to envision where I was. Everyone had told me, "Just think of the building like a horseshoe. The eighth-grade classrooms are upstairs on the side of the horseshoe." Well, that was great if you were in a helicopter and could see the entire building, but even though I was taller than most of the boys I still could only see the hallway from the perspective of a lost student. I smoothed my skort and hoped that my hair still looked ok. At home, no one cared if you were wearing sweats or a dress to class. Also at home, my classroom was down the stairs and past the dinner table. Using that logic, I saw a familiar-looking water fountain and decided that my classroom must be just past it. Fortunately, this time I was right.

WJI application

Audio Interview with Kathie Virunurm, campus director of George Mason University's Campus Crusade for Christ.

Kathie V Big Break Interview by user5607175

ENGL 399 Dialogue Exercise

Your bank has charged you with a fee that you think is unfair. You phone the bank to get it rescinded but do not succeed. Write a fictional dialogue without the aid of tags. 

"Thank you for holding. How can I help you today?"

"Hi, yes, thank you, I just have a question about my account. I checked online and…"

"Um yes, for account questions, you need to press four on the menu."

"Ok can you just—excuse me? Hello? Hello? What the crap!"

RD Dias 8 y 9

March 17-18, 2011

Yesterday was really fun; we went to a bilingual school to observe for Ashley's research, and we have never seen fourth graders that excited to learn math. At least four kids waved their hands wildly whenever the teacher asked for someone to come up and solve a problem on the board. Some students were so excited they were half standing up out of their chairs, slumping back down when someone else got called on. Every student was engaged and happy, and a teacher's assistant made sure that students who were struggling got the help they needed. The principal of the school was helpful and gracious to answer any questions we had. Ashley and I decided that teaching there is a possible career path for both of us. 

Revelation 5:9

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

So often I'm caught up in this world. All I can think about is my present or my future and what I can or can't do. I worry about tomorrow, I worry about today, I worry about yesterday. I try to make life perfect and then I give up.

But the truth is that none of that matters. My life here is a breath in eternity, and my eternal purpose is to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." The only way that's possible is because Jesus, the worthy Lamb of God, ransomed me with His precious blood. I was God's enemy and Jesus sacrificed Himself to intercede on my behalf. He forgave my wicked sin and brings me to the Father. He is my only hope and my only reason to live. When life is constantly changing and unstable, my rest is in His steadfast love and sure promises. He is my Redeemer, and He is worthy!

RD Dias 6 y 7

March 15-16, 2011

Sorry this is a long one!

 

Things about the Dominican Republic

Yesterday I learned that my initials are the same as the Spanish initials for la República Dominicana.

One of my favorite things about la RD is how late everything is. When you go to church at night, you know that you'll eat afterward—you ate lunch late so you're not hungry before church, and then you have something to look forward to afterward! You also don't waste food (or anything else) here. It's a refreshing break from American excess.

DR Dias 4 y 5

Monday, March 14, 2011

3:30pm (since Daylight Savings Time kicked in in the states, we're on the same time schedule now!)

First of all, I feel like I've forgotten how to write, since my brain has been trying so hard to learn Spanish. So, lo siento if this sounds stiff (or if I spell every Spanish word wrong). I said grace at lunch today; fortunately, God understands English, French and Spanish, so He knew exactly what I was trying to tell Him! 

It's such an adventure being immersed in a language that I don't understand at all. If I ever finish learning Spanish and want to experience this again, I decided I'll just go to a different country. All of the sudden I'm obsessed with languages. I could go to Denmark, Italy, China, South Africa, Korea, Russia, Egypt...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

DR Day 3

Saturday, March 12, 2011

 I thought it was March 11 still, but it's 12:55am; today we finally realized we're in a different time zone. Last night we got to meet Antonia's daughter Katy (Estil is her boyfriend) and we watched "Bajo el Mismo Techo" (Life As We Know It) before going to bed.  We woke up at 9:00am (10:00am, really!), ate hot dogs on rolls with ketchup and mayo spread, and headed to the beach. We probably got to the beach around 2:00pm. Latin American culture is much slower and more laid back than it is in the U.S.

DR Day 2

Friday, March 11, 2011

1:30pm
 

I'm lying on the bed in our room at Antonia's house (she is the lovely Dominican who picked us up from the airport this morning, along with Estil), pretending to take a siesta and eating cold cinnamon bean soup. Gauzy curtains over the open glass-panel and wrought iron windows are waving in the breeze as a fan oscillates next to the bed. I feel like I'm lying on the beach, except there's no gritty sand and no sun in my eyes and the only water is the shower running in the background.

The heat (supposedly 84^oF) contrasts strongly with the torrents that kept us at Dulles late last night and the freezing ride from Dulles to JFK (I tried to fall asleep leaning up against Ashley just so I could get a small bit of warmth). We got to JFK at 2:15am and, after getting our seats changed so we could sit next to each other on the way to Santo Domingo, I fell asleep on the floor while Ashley talked on the phone. We boarded at 5:15am and got to Santo Domingo at about 10:40am.

We breezed through customs. I felt like I was in a parade walking out; there were railings on either side of the wide walkway, lined with families and drivers all waiting for arrives. We found the sign that said "Ashley y Rebecca" and headed out, stripping our sweatshirts and jackets as we got in the car. Antonia drove slowly but aggressively home—in Santo Domingo you beep your horn at people who aren't sticking to the bumper of the cars in front of and beside them—and they quickly found out that I didn't speak any Spanish (actually, I think Estil realized that when he asked me something when he took my bag for me on the way out of the airport, and I just kept smiling and nodding). So Ashley and Estil joked about me in Spanish, and every time I tried to say something in Spanish I'd say it in French, and we ate lunch and showered and now we're finally going to sleep.
 

View out the back window of our hostess's house

Ashley

DR Day 1

Thursday, March 10, 2011
10:00pm

Background: my friend Ashley is doing an independent study on education in the Dominican Republic, and I'm tagging along to take pictures and be a travel buddy.

Well, we raced to the airport tonight after leaving Fairfax a little late. Ashley checked in at the kiosk to print her boarding pass and we found our racing was unnecessary: our flight was rain-delayed for three hours, and we would miss our connecting flight in JFK. So after half an hour at the Jet Blue counter, we were booked on a later flight out of JFK.

(And we just got called to the counter at the gate when they realized we're going to miss our original connecting flight – little did they know that our friend Eddy at the check-in counter had already taken good care of us!)

So we've been trying to find non-existent gates (I could've sworn our boarding passes said B16, but it was really B64) and eating Chipotle and trail mix ever since. We'll see how our overnight at JFK goes.

Profile Ideas

Idea #1: Friend

• From the country, so everything is about Wranglers and cowboy boots and country music
• Whenever I go home with her, I get an accent (but I don't want to make the story about me of course)
• Her dad built her house; she went to a high school where people would go sit in parking lots after school for fun
• Her family loves their cat Cleo (even her 6'9" dad fusses over Cleo like a baby)
• The decibels at family dinner conversations rival most rock concerts
• I have endless stories from my time with her, but I've already done a project this year involving her

Idea #2: Boss

• Swim lesson coordinator at the pool
• Single mom with 3 kids
• Energy levels through the roof
• Four major food groups: diet Pepsi (Coke?), pretzels, Bagel Market bagels, and Altoids
• Controversial ways of implementing ideas: she's not all or nothing, she's all or all
• Sample snapshot: you walk out onto the pool deck and see a woman in a swimsuit, yoga pants, and goggles, lying face down on the pool deck showing the breaststroke to half a dozen fish-in-training shivering in the Vermont water
• She's like the ball in a pinball game: rarely slows down and you never know where she's about to bounce off to

Which do you think would work the best from a storytelling perspective? Based on these bullet points, which profile would you be more interested in reading?