Chumpon at last!

Chumpon, Thailand
Thursday, December 29, 2011

For a whole year we dreamed of returning to this place. Peaceful, lovely beach, nice pool, friendly staff, good food...

It's not easy to actually get here, but we are here at last!

Food good enough to make one cry

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Sunday evenings in Chiang Mai the streets near our hotel are PACKED full with a night market: vendors of all types, lots of people, and food good enough to make you cry. The hardest part is deciding which food to try. All the temples in the area of the Sunday Market also open their grounds to food vendors. I finally decided on a noodle soup with beef balls. The broth was just spicy enough not to make me cry--except with happiness.

Total contentment.

Chiang Mai marathon

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Frank got up at 3:15am this morning for a 4:00am start to the Chiang Mai marathon. He was still going strong when he crossed the finish line at about 4 hours, 48 minutes. Nice job, Frank!

Along the Mae Ping river

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Friday, December 23, 2011

We spent the morning on a lazy boat trip on the Mae Nam Ping River here in Chiang Mai. The hour or so boat ride ended with a tour of a so-called fruit and herb farm. Kind of a dilapidated place, but it was interesting to see a semblance of village life. But putting along low to the water for a couple of hours was very relaxing. In any case, A loved the boat trip.

At the "farm": Star fruit in situ and rose apple flowers

What IS a rambutan?

Bangkok, Thailand

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Ever wondered about rambutans? In the video below, A explains all about this tropical fruit...

Meat on a stick

Bangkok, Thailand
Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Another chance today to revisit some of our favorite food stalls here on Sukhamvit, Soi 11. Today it was the fellow who sells satay sticks with a divine hot sauce and small bags of sticky rice. We also visited the mango seller and the lady who makes a to-die-for green papaya salad.

So much good food, so little time...

Frosted symmetry

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Today was the last day of our unit on Frieze Patterns. To test my students' knowledge of the seven frieze types, I decided we'd do a bit of cooking decorating in class.

First, the students got to decorate their own cookies--but no eating! Next, I arranged the cookies in various frieze patterns. (That's Type VII on the right.) Before the students could retrieve their cookies for eating, they each had to correctly identify the frieze types.

Strange, how concentrated they all seemed!

The world is white

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Weird weather this weekend left all trees, plants, fences (everything, really!) covered in a thick, frost-like layer of ice crystals. Meanwhile this weekend I also learned from friends how to make these wonderful snowflakes out of paper.

The whole world is white...

Christmas baking

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, December 10, 2011

As the season approaches, I decided it was time to do some Christmas baking with help from friends and neighbors. Mixed up two batches of cookie dough, and we got down to work. Some of my favorite results (for which I cannot take credit) were when folks started mixing doughs--see the Christmas tree, rabbit and bells.

Flex!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Friday, December 9, 2011

Once again it's time for paper flexagons in math class. One of my students quickly found all (?) 18 patterns by creating a very fun set of designs. Next week we'll hold our annual Flex-Olympics in which students will compete to see who can find all the faces in the fewest flexes.

Click the video below to see the designs in action...

Here's a link to my favorite hexa-hexa-flexagon numbering system.

Sewing club

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Thursday, December 8, 2011

My sewing activity is soon over for the quarter. All the girls finished at least one nice quilt square and some even had time for an iron-on project (see the tree at right).

My favorite part about running these activities is to see what the kids come up with when I let them loose with some fabric and a few ideas.

Castle building

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, December 4, 2011

It's the weekend and more time indoors. This time we devised a plan to build a castle for A's dinosaurs. Lots-o-fun!

Pieten diploma

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, December 3, 2011

We spent the morning at friends of friends practicing to be Sinterklaas' helper, Zwarte Piet. Activities included jumping from rooftops, wrapping packages, drawing pictures for Sinterklaas, and eating a lot of gingerbread cookies. Tomorrow is the Big Day when the old gent himself will arrive in UB on his white horse.

While the kids were practicing their helper skills in the next room, the sly fellow slipped in and snuck some candy in the kids' boots...

Flag waving

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, November 26, 2011

What to do when the temperatures outside are completely inhospitable and the air smokey? I suggested to A that we might make some paper flags out of origami paper. She thought that was a fine idea. As soon as each flag was complete, she asked me to tape it to a colored pencil. She spent the rest of the afternoon parading around the apartment waving her flags.

With apologies to the liberties taken with some of the flags--all exact colors and shapes were not to be had.

Sledding at -20°C

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, November 20, 2011

You can't stay out long when it's -20°C (-4°F), but it was time enough for a couple of good runs on the levee...

Pink snow flakes

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, November 21, 2011

While the kids ran around like crazy, we adults enjoyed some paper folding. This one, folded from tissue paper, was far too delicate for me, but U did a fantastic job completing the project. I think I'll stick to origami paper!

UB Granola

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Tired of paying for expensive cereals here in UB? Well, help is on the way...

2 packages of oats (or 8 cups)

1/3 cup honey

1/3 oil (sunflower or safflower)

1 cup walnuts

1 cup almonds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

any other nuts or dried coconut

Mix the honey and oil in a pan and heat (but do not boil). Pour the honey and oil over the the oats and nut mixture. Mix well. Bake in 325F/150C oven for about 30 minutes, stirring often. After it cools you can add some raisins or other dried fruit.

The playdate season begins

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Cold weather's here and time for serious indoor play. The kids spent the morning in games of chase, hide and seek, and cookie baking and decorating.

Let the winter come!

St. Martin's Day

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Friday, November 11, 2011 (11-11-11)

Gathered at a friend's house yesterday afternoon to make lanterns a la the German tradition for St. Martin's Day. I had some distant memory of a St. Martin's parade from long ago in Sweden. We made our lanterns, waited for dark to fall, bundled up against the cold, and headed out for a round of singing in the garden, lamps lit.

You can read more here from Wikipedia.

Raise a glass

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, November 6, 2011

As anxiously awaited as the swallows' return to San Capistrano, the Polish milk has, at last, returned to Ulaanbaatar. It's only been gone for 5 months, but it has kind of felt like forever.

So, let us raise a glass to Polish cows and their milk which arrives in UB in 0.5%, 1.5%, and even 3.2%. This batch doesn't expire until Feb 6 2012 so that's at least 3 months of joy...

(Very) Well-travelled berries

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Well, these strawberries travelled from the Northwest (USA) to Thailand and then in my backpack via Korea to Mongolia.

I am happy to report that A enjoyed every one.

Carbon-footprint be darned...

Ronald greets you, Thai style

Bangkok, Thailand

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Out this afternoon doing a bit of shopping when I noticed (as I passed yet ANOTHER MacDonald's) that Ronald was striking a culturally appropriate pose. East meets West? West meets East?

Proper sandbagging technique

Bangkok, Thailand

Friday, October 28, 2011

On the Bangkok elevated train this morning when I noted this diagram in my neighbor's newspaper. My lack of Thai was no barrier: clearly this diagram is instructing us in proper sandbag filling techniques. When I reached my destination down by the river, water was pouring into the street from the river. I hiked up my pants and waded across the street to the conference hotel.

Clearly Bangkok is a city under siege.

Green papaya salad

Bangkok, Thailand

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The piles of sandbags are everywhere and the whole city is "tweeting" about the latest areas of flooding or predicted flooding. But I managed to get in one wonderful plate of green papaya salad on my way home from the conference. Worth flying into the eye of the storm for.

I remember trees

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Friday, October 21, 2011

Gathered this afternoon with two friends to cut up more bits of fabric. Our goal? To make a tree. As we head into winter, it gets harder to remember trees, their smell and their lovely green-ness.

So, this fanciful tree will have to keep the memory alive until spring. Thanks, ladies--

(Katta rahmat!)

Color triangle

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Thursday, October 20, 2011

It's vacation week, and I have time to sit around and do silly things like cut up tiny bits of fabric. Then I had this vision of the color hexagon used to select RGB colors.

What I ended up with was a "color triangle" instead.

Party animals

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Friday, October 14, 2011

Went to a nice birthday party this afternoon with loads of kids, music, and a big lovely cake. These fun items grabbed my attention from the food table!

Warm food for cold nights

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, October 8, 2011

As we roll into October and the local fresh vegetables disappear, I have a new appreciation for borscht. How can 3 beets, 4 carrots, 3 potatoes, 1 onion and a bit of fresh dill (well, fresh from the freezer) taste so good? As the Russians know so well, it's the perfect winter food.

The Globe

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, October 8, 2011

We got a wonderful present today from A's classmate: a globe! A's map collapsed off the wall just a few days ago so it felt like perfect timing. And it makes a fantastic night light...

감사합니다!

(That's "thank you" in Korean)

Tessellating cookies

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Once we are well into the tessellation unit in math class, I start seeing tessellations everywhere. Today it was baking cookies--can I escape them?

(Yes, I know they don't really tessellate, but they reminded me enough of hexagons to trick to my brain for a moment.)

Tessellate!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Friday, October 7, 2011

Grade 10 is finishing up a unit on tessellations with a small art project on paper or fabric. Once again they've come up with some really fun designs. Nice job, Grade 10!

Team Origami

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I took my 10th graders today to visit a local elementary school to teach origami. Some of my students love the experience, and I had to practically drag some of them back to the bus. Others couldn't get away fast enough. It's my favorite field trip of the year.

First snow

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Woke up to a gray sky and snow all around this morning. It's not too cold and it probably won't last long, but the first snow is here!

Managed to jog this afternoon anyway. We'll see what happens to the running when the really cold weather returns...

Camp!

Terelj National Park, Mongolia

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Got home yesterday from three wonderful days at camp with my students. Lots of outdoor games, cold nights, sunny days, a campfire with s'mores, hikes--and yes, even a camel tethered on the hillside.

Lots of wonderful bonding time and fantastic weather--except for the first night when I almost froze despite two pairs of long johns and piles of covers.

Matematiko

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Monday, August 22, 2011

Decided to welcome my students back to school with a bit of a linguistic challenge. Can you guess which language is which?

Uzbek samosas

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, August 21, 2011

More Uzbek treats tonight from our neighbors: Samsa (or Uzbek samosas). Wikipedia has lots to say about the variants of samosas throughout Asia. I am thinking there's some kind of geometry thing going on there--why all these triangles and pyramids? A possible investigation for my math students?

PS: They were flaky and delicious...

Uzbek dumplings

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, August 20, 2011

We got an impromptu lesson this evening from our neighbors in making Uzbek dumplings. It's a very labor intensive process (just a dab of filling, please!), but the final product is fantastic.

Let's hear it for neighbors!

Here's what Wikipedia says on the subject: Chuchvara

Welcome to UB!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Held a coffee hour this morning for our new colleagues. I kind of baked too many cinnamon rolls, but I managed to send some extra home with everyone. I think we're going to have a great year!

Coffee by a river

Terelj, Mongolia

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Spent the day in the countryside with friends today. Ended up playing by (and in) the river for several lovely hours and enjoying a picnic--and a coffee.

Pasta & pastries

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Monday, August 8, 2011

Happy to be home in Mongolia at last, even as we wrestle with the jet lag demons. Our very kind Uzbek neighbor has treated us to home-made treats two days in a row: stuffed pasta (chuchvara) yesterday and today some fantastic pastries. These kindnesses seem even greater when one is bleary-eyed with jet lag.

Yes, we are home!

One last trip to the park

Seattle, Washington

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A month in Seattle has quickly passed, and we have really enjoyed visiting some of Seattle's great parks--Seward, Powell-Barnett, Carkeek, Wallingford, Cowen. So many GREAT playgrounds, too. Tonight we had one last trip to the park before tomorrow's big flight.

Remember to vote for your Seattle Parks levy the next time it comes up. In Mongolia, such parks do NOT exist.

Kid at Kidd Valley

Seattle, Washington

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Okay, this is not in the category of great food, but I decided a trip to Kidd Valley should be part of our gastronomical tour of Seattle--which has included wonderful Ethiopian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai food.

But A definitely approved of the french fries and the boysenberry shake--and it was lots of memories for me from my childhood, too.