Official Declaration from the Hyodo family:
Today, October 24, 2010, is an international holiday known as Christy Krumsieg Day.
At the Hyodo household in Nairobi, Kenya, we will be celebrating this holiday with gifts, a commemorative family photo, cards, a special dinner (heard rumors of a Lebanese restaurant), and playing Cranium as a family. This holiday was established on Saturday, October 23, 2010, when father Mike Hyodo realized that this was the last week of Christy Krumsieg's stay in Nairobi. Although a petition was begun to extend Christy's membership in the family (which included staying until Christmas), a compromise was reached granting Christy the permission to travel with her mom and grandparents to Mombasa, the Congo, and back to Chicago, but only under the condition that a holiday would be established to celebrate the past three months and begin to bring closure to that experience.
Thus, Christy Krumsieg began to bring closure to that experience and say her goodbyes...
Good-bye to my host family: I can't imagine these past three months without them... from little Joshua's explosive energy to helping Blake with geometry homework to talking about college possibilities with Nikki to having entire conversations with Tia through eye contact only (which makes teaching her in Algebra also quite fun). I'll miss Mike's corny jokes and Trisha's fussing over making sure I have everything I could possibly need or want.
Good-bye to my mentoring teacher Jessie: I had to travel halfway around the globe to learn from the best middle school math teacher in the world, but she proved to be well-worth the effort. She has taught me how to handle the ex-pat world (translation: ex-patriot - the international community), how to work collaboratively with other teachers and staff, how to communicate well with parents, how to engage with Kenyan culture while working at an international school, how to cry when you need to, how to treasure middle schoolers, and how to be a freakin' awesome math teacher.
Good-bye to my students: During parent-teacher conferences on Friday, one mom was telling me how much she appreciated me (on behalf of her eighth grade son), and said something along the lines of "It's been nice to have some fresh meat around." And I thought, "I'm sure it is. Your son's class likes to eat me alive!" However, despite the times that my eighth grade Pre-Algebra has driven me nuts, I will still miss all of my students tremendously.
I will miss hearing the eighth grade girls' high-pitched squealing outside my classroom door (I think it's a mixture of laughter, talking, emotions and eighth grade girl-ness), seeing my students take more responsibility for their learning, listening to their stories involving experiences all over the world, playing sproutball with them [an improved version of dodgeball... we played for many hours on our three-day Cultural Field Studies trip, which also included a walking safari, learning about water conservation, songs and s'mores around the campfire, devotions, a boat ride to see hippos, and a service project at a local Kenyan primary school - I was surprised by how many of our students had never been to a local school and it was neat to see some of them realize how privileged they are to be at Rosslyn... where we have electricity (and not only lightbulbs, but also TVs, projectors, microphones and musical equipment for chapel, and computers in every classroom), where we don't spank our students for being late to class or misbehaving (although sometimes it sounds like a good idea... but generally, I'm against using fear as a classroom management technique), where the students don't have to walk many miles to school, and where the students get an education that prepares them for prestigious universities in Europe and the U.S.]...back to other things I will miss... eating sushi that my students share with me (I need to make some Korean friends in the States), watching my 7th graders practically jump out of their seats to answer a question in class (in particular, two tall, gangly, twitchy boys - one Chinese, the other American - who sit next to each other and enthusiastically explode - arms and legs flying everywhere - whenever I ask a question), and helping my students make connections and understand math on a deeper level.
Good-bye to Kenya: I will miss the sunshine, the purple jacaranda trees, the relationally-based culture, mangoes, people-watching in an international setting, Kenyan tea, saying "Tu a nani!" (See you later!) or "Asante sana!" (Thank you!) to our houseguards David and Kennedy as one of them opens the gate to let us out, delicious lentil stew, and random adventures (safaris, hiking, dental clinic, Israel Houghton concert, etc.).
There were times over the past 12 weeks that I thought I wouldn't make it. I remember mentioning to Jessie how long it took me to write a single lesson plan and how I had no idea how I could possibly teach another class (much less a full-time teacher's class load), and she responded, "You will become more efficient... or die." I was convinced I was gonna die. Somehow I must've become more efficient because I'm still alive to write this email. God is faithful.
Join me in celebrating God's faithfulness and International Christy Krumsieg Day today... here's few suggestions for celebrating the holiday:
- smile :)
- give somebody a hug
- play piano (or whatever instrument you may play)
- go biking
- play games with your family/friends (board games, card games, whatever)
- drink a soy mocha
- shop at a thrift store (it's even better if you shop with your mom)
- eat a mango
- give somebody a back massage
- read a book (for fun! ...readings for class don't count)
- go to a playground and swing
- send Christy Krumsieg an email
- find a reason to declare an international holiday in honor of somebody else and celebrate!
Hope your holiday is as joyous as mine!
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