Already February?

Whoa! What? I haven't posted since early January? What have I been doing?

I started student teaching on the 22nd, and classes began the 23rd. This semester, the last in my program, promises to be much better than the fall. I only have to be at my student teaching placement three days of the week, and I have two classes instead of five.

The school where I'm student teaching is nice; their philosophy is more in line with that put forth in my classes, and my cooperating teacher likes a lot of my ideas for the class. We may actually go on a nature walk next week, which I suggested for an integrated science/social studies/math unit on plant growth and communities. Since next Thursday is Chinese New Year, I will also do a read-aloud and/or an activity on writing Chinese characters. Second graders are so cute! And it's great that they aren't subjected to standardized testing, so that we can actually do science and social studies!

Shane and I found a cheap flight a couple weekends ago, so he came to visit. We bought violins for each other for Christmas. I am not a great candidate to teach him, especially since I recently discovered that I have issues with my left arm because of playing the violin (more on that later), but it'll be fun if he and I can play duets together. (I had such fun playing violin duets with my stand partner from the high school orchestra, Jenny Lee!)

The following weekend, I flew to San Francisco for my grandmother's memorial service. She had passed away a few days before. She had been ill for a while, but I had not thought the end would be so soon. I was hoping to visit her this summer, perhaps. I hadn't seen her in several years, so I felt some regrets. Nevertheless, it was good that my sisters were all together, and to be with my mother and uncle during what must be a very difficult time for them.

My grandmother had taught me to knit when I was little. I was not very good at it, but I did make a small blanket or two for my Barbie dolls. I forgot how to knit until senior year of college, when my roommates and I knitted scarves and chatted over tea instead of doing homework. I made a couple scarves then, but I didn't continue past college. Last year, I got into knitting again here in New York, where there are many cute yarn stores. I took it up again because I realized I needed something to occupy my hands in order to relax. I relearned how to knit off the internet, and I got lots of help from people at a posh Upper West Side yarn store on moving away from rectangles to hats. I now have a small knitting library, which teaches me to make other things, and a growing stash of yarn. This winter, I have knitted a baby blanket, a few hats for friends, a couple camera cozies, and just recently, an alpaca shawl for my mother. I now have a thousand projects started, and I don't know when I'll have time to finish them.

I knitted much of last weekend, perhaps as a way to reduce stress, but also because I felt my grandmother would have liked that I took it up again, and that there is someone continuing a tradition, in a way.

While in the Bay Area, my uncle took me and my mother to see a friend of his who practices massage. She helped my mother and was teaching me how to work on her when she discovered that my left arm was kind of messed up. I mentioned that after long sessions of knitting, the third and fourth fingers of my left hand feel numb, which she explained as symptomatic of stress on joints (and which Rosalind tells me indicates carpal tunnel). When I told her that I used to play the violin, a big light bulb went on. She said that violinists all have messed up left arms because of the crazy way they have to hold their instruments. My left triceps are extremely tight, which causes elbow, wrist, and finger problems, since they are all connected. I therefore have to do exercises or massage on that area to keep it from getting worse, but I haven't figured out what to do about it yet. Massaging the way the woman taught me really hurt, working on some acupressure points, so I doubt I could do it effectively on myself. How do you open up your triceps? Maybe there are some good yoga poses for it? Shane said he'd teach me some exercises with weights.

This weekend, I'm planning to go to lots of yoga classes, mostly because I have to use up my monthly pass before it expires. I get so lazy! Last night I went to a class that kicked my butt. Tonight I'll probably do the same. I am going to try to make schedules for myself, so that I don't slip into laziness, but I failed in that regard today. I'm not used to scheduling my day, and I absolutely hate it, but I know that in the end that's what I need to do to get stuff done and feel good about myself. So, off to my errands now....