Its difficult for me to believe that this is my third year at HOPAC, but, as this is my third week participating in the legendary “Pamoja Week,” it must be true. Pamoja Week is our celebration of unity at HOPAC. In many ways, it mirrors the American “Spirit Week.” Pamoja Week is the highlight of…
A Series of Odd Events While Traveling…
Photo taken from https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4014/4379094927_85bd8fc549.jpg Sometimes it feels like I’m living a part of Lemony Snicket’s series of unfortunate events. Traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Colombo, Sri Lanka last week was one of those times. Though I’ve had a number of traveling adventures, including traveling cross-country to Victoria Falls bootstrap-style, this latest trip was,…
Kitesurfing
Instead of traveling this midterm break, I opted to stay in Dar for the week. When the opportunity arose to learn to kitesurf, I jumped on it. Living on the coast for the past two and a half years, I’ve seen plenty of people kitesurfing, and so assumed it wasn’t terribly difficult. In some ways,…
Margins
Margins bring order and cleanliness But I’d prefer to run insane, my life all a mess The white space on the page brings focus to the text The notes and scribbles scrawled filling space, erasing rest Jambo moja’s the theme: only one thing But I’ve misplaced the bold in all my running When the page…
The Struggle is Real
Yesterday morning, I impulsively typed up a Facebook status update as a means of venting my frustrations about my struggle to choose joy. Twelve hours later, the status had over 100 likes, fifteen comments, and had been shared multiple times. Apparently, I’m not the only one struggling to choose joy. I woke up angry this…
Teaching Like its Summer Camp
It occurred to me earlier this week that perhaps the reason I’ve been so tired this school year is not my class load, but the fact that I am teaching like its summer camp. Those of you who have ever been summer camp counselors know what I mean: the enthusiasm, energy, creativity, passion, and giving…
The Fifth First Week of School
Confused yet? I think I might be. Its a good thing this is my fifth year teaching. My schedule this year is 100% insane. Of course, I often enjoy what others deem insane, but this is crazy even for me. At HOPAC, primary (elementary), middle, and senior (high) school is all on one campus, but…
Summer!
Summer has always been my favorite time of the year…. even way back when Mom was still making us do school during the summer so we wouldn’t forget everything by the next school year. This year has been no different. Even though I live in the land of eternal summer (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), coming…
Home Again: The First Week
At about this time last week, I arrived in the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. After passing through immigration and passport control with impressive speed, stopping at the Mishawaka Apple Store for a fix, and making a weekend trip to Mississippi to surprise my little sister, I am home in Indiana. I feel like I have…
Ride Fierce Racing 
