February 22: Tax Training

Cory cracks me up.  He's quite the ham.  We were moving all our food and supplies to the miller learning center for our first tax training.  By the end of the day, I was mentally exhausted from trying to fill my head with information about non-resident alien (yep, that's what the government calls international students!) forms the 8843, 525TV, GA500, and 1040NR-EZ.  I'm glad I've at least done my own taxes so I'm moderately familiar with some of the forms.

February 19: GLI Session

Yesterday was our first global leadership institute session of the semester.  The There were about 30 students there.  The discussion was around power, privilege, oppression, and what that means for leaders.  The students were really engaged.  I'm very excited about this group and the possibilities for the continued conversation as we have a couple more sessions and a leadership capstone 1/2 day retreat.

November 15: ASHE & Sweetie Pie's

I went to a couple really good presentations today and got to see my good friend Dr. Joseph N. Cooper present his research.  I feel like I've been telling Joey for years (the last three) that he'd like this conference.  His research is around Black male athletes but his degree is in sports management, which is why he wasn't as familiar with this conference.  Anyway…he did a wonderful job AND kept his talking time to 12 minutes (out of the 15 allotted).  Which, if you know Joey, is an accomplishment!

That night a group of us headed to Sweetie Pie's (soul food) for dinner.  The food was…delicious, and I brought a whole meal back to the room (they gave you half a chicken & two sides).  

Both Thursday & Friday nights were filled with university receptions.  I went to Denver's reception (where Kristin is), APU (yep, they even had one…I was surprised too), NC State (where Tiffany is), and Michigan State (where Christa Porter is).  These receptions are a good time to network…especially if you are job searching.  Christa introduced me (and Ginny who is also job searching) around to various people as MSU has a two-year teaching appointment (which would be amazing).  They also have some stellar faculty there.

Anyway, the night was filled with socializing and networking and I was tiiiiiiired when I got back to the room.  ASHE is filled with early mornings and late nights, but it is also such an invigorating conference and I come away grateful to connect with colleagues.  I'm also a nerd, so the learning part is also exhilarating. 

Living Life in South Africa (Week 1)

Here is the recap of my first week in South Africa.
Sunday: we arrived, safe & sound, and after lots of travel time!  We added it all up and realized we spent 35 hours on planes and about 25 in airports.
Monday: We had a wonderful day touring the city.  We visited District 6 museum which is a tribute to a part of Cape Town.  During Apartheid, the government forced Blacks and Coloured out of their homes and into the townships outside the city.  All of District 6 was demolished and claimed as an 'all White' area.  It's an amazing museum dedicated to the people who lived in district 6.  

Here are some pictures from the city tour

 

A map of district 6 on the ground in the museum. It has amazing details from the district handwritten in by the families of those who were forced from their homes.

 

The balcony where Mandela gave his first address after being released from Robben Island in 1990.

 

 The view from the highest driving point in the city.

Tuesday we had class in the morning and as part of it, a panel of guests who lived through Apartheid, three of whom were from district 6. What an honor and privilege to hear their stories.

We also got to have lunch with them, which was such a treat!  The woman taking the photo also told us to squeeze together (clearly we didn't need to).

Wednesday was more class, including leadership and service learning topics.  In the afternoon, we took most of the 141 students on a hike up Table Mountain.

 

 During part of the hike up Table Mountain. It was beautiful and a bit treacherous.

 

 On top of the mountain!

Thursday was class and then the tour of an Amy Biehl foundation. Amy was an American who was brutally murdered over here in South Africa while she was trying to fight for rights for Blacks and Coloured. After her death her parents forgave her murders and even spoke on their behalf at their hearing (you should check out the whole story). Her parents then started a foundation to help underprivileged children in the townships. In addition, two of the men who killed Amy now work for the foundation.

Here are our students doing Tae-Bo with the children at the foundation.

Friday was a debrief and class as well as the first part of grading! Friday night the Global Lead staff and the academic staff all went out to dinner at a great Mexican food place. Laughs and good food were shared.
Saturday was filled with LOTS of grading, a brie, and then a Stormers rugby game

I had never been to a brie, it was kind like a BBQ, but with some sort of mystery meat ;)

 

Sunday was filled with more grading and Sunday dinner. It was a nice ending to the week. The first week had many many highlights including all the wonderful conversation I have been able to have with students. 

Oh and the view from our apartment; we are right on the beach & have witnessed magnificent sunsets!

Writing Retreat

I spent the last week up in the Georgia mountains on a writing retreat.  It was lovely!  We spent all day, every day, for a week, in cabins writing.  In the evenings everyone would get together and talk about our progress for the day...successes, challenges, etc.  Then various people would share snippets of their work and ask for a press, express, address, or bless.  Here are some highlights...

Revised my publishable paper prospectus (my population and methodology changed)
Fun memories with my cabinmates
Walks around the lake
Hike up to the waterfall
Wrote up a book review (hopefully for publication)
Lots of laughter about bugs and 'camping'
Learned more about qualitative research
Meaningful conversations around higher education & life
Wrote my way into my dissertation (I think I have a topic, pending advisor approval ;)

It was a wonderful retreat...although I am extremely happy to be sleeping in my own bed again! Here are a few pictures from the writing retreat (mostly our trip up Anna Ruby falls).

Devotional for the first day of the writing retreat.  I thought it was fitting.

 From my morning walks around the lake

 We each kind of staked out spaces.  Some of the rooms had desks, mine didn't, thus I took one half of the kitchen table.  We also rearranged furniture that first night to make more conducive writing spaces

 On the deck watching the sunset

 We had all sorts of bug friends that decided to visit

 We were given stickers to wear for our hike

 LaQuesha and my cabinmate Carla

 It was a beautiful day.  I love the mountains, cool(er) days and less humidity!

 Danny & LaQuesha are in my program & made the trek (.4 mile hike, ha)

 The group of us that treated ourselves to a break and a hike.

Carla, Katy, Jung-chi, Danny, LaQuesha, Josh, and me

 My cabinmates, Carla, Katy, and Carolina

Water Skiing

It's been a couple weeks since I've updated my blog. Here are some of the highlights from the last few weeks.

Labor Day Weekend!

Hung out in Austin

Watched Baylor win the first football game of the season

Visited with a friend from OR

Hanging out with the Ecklund's

BJs tradition

LEAD retreat

and last but definitely not least...

Water Skiing!

Yes, that's right! I tried/learned how to water ski! It was a blast. I'm hooked. I love, love, love the water and am so excited to try it again!

One of the chaplains and his wife bought a boat and I tagged along on Labor Day. Megan video tapped a few of my attempts. The first time, I mostly got up. Second time, disaster. Third, got up for a bit, only I went to the right and Megan's camera went the other direction. This is my first attempt below.

Really, I cannot wait to try this again...I LOVED it and would LOVE to get good! The chaplain wake boarded and did all sorts of tricks...sign me up for that!

And here's my battle scar from skiing. ;) When I got back in the boat, I noticed my knee was stinging and when I looked down I notice I was bleeding. It just means I'm 'that' hardcore, ha.

Although lots of other things have been happening, I felt the need to catch up a little with my blogging. Last weekend Kristel came into Austin for our friend Britney's wedding. I'll post on that and other adventures later!