|| Currently... ||

Here is a list of current things. Mmmm.... I love lists. It's Friday in the Kingdom of Tonga and I'm getting excited for my weekend. For being the "dry season" there sure has been a lot of rain recently. For the last four days there have been some pretty gnarly downpours. When this happens the school yard turns into a lake. Normally I love the rain, but when it compromises the structural integrity of my shack it makes me a little nervous. 

This morning I met with the other teachers at my school and talked with them about cumulative assessments and other ways to test for understanding. We talked about exit slips, weekly mini-assessments and ways to integrate assessment into the daily structure of the classroom. Next week we are going to come together to create assessments that work for subjects other than faka-palangi (English).

Currently...

Listening. Alt-J, Passion Pit, Sigur Ros, Bon Iver, Noah and the Whale and Fleet Foxes make the perfect rainy day mix. I'm sipping Zen tea and enjoying a sleepy Penny who is currently dozing in my lap. She isn't too bad when she is in this state.

Reading. I just finished Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project and I'm looking to starting something new. I have a bad habit of starting 3 or 4 books at once and then determining within the first 100 pages of each which one I will continue on with. I wish Sabrina Ward Harrison made books for the Kindle. That'd be so sweet.

Eating. I snuck some quinoa into Tonga (shhhhhhh....don't tell!) and finished my final bowl of it today. Sad times. I have enjoyed making black bean, mixed veggie (zucchini, cucumber, green pepper and carrots!) and quinoa dishes the last couple days... I savored every little bite of those little bits of magic.

Watching. I know I am way behind the times in terms of what's new/cool/hip/groovy on TV, but when I was back in the States I scored a copy of the first two seasons of the HBO show, Girls. Lena Dunham is a genius. I spent my high school years mildly obsessed with Sex and the City knowing that their lives were a little over the top but fully embraced the show nonetheless. "Girls" has a SATC vibe occasionally, but is way more relate-able.

 What are you currently up to?