TESOL 2014: Portland

Last night I got back from a trip to Portland, OR for TESOL 2014. It's been two years since my last TESOL, and it was exciting to go back, though I missed having my colleagues from BG with me!

This was my first visit to the pacific northwest, and though I mostly saw the convention center, it did seem like a pretty area. As you might expect, it rained a lot! But compared to the winter weather we'd been having in Ohio, the rain and temps in the mid-50s really seemed like a pleasant change of pace. (Also, I came back to real spring weather in BG, so I'm thrilled about that, too! Today I actually walked home without a coat on! :-)

A couple of views from the convention center 

Back to TESOL, I flew out on Wednesday night last week, so I was gone for 4 nights. I had a roommate who found me through the roommate match list offered by TESOL, and that couldn't have worked out better--she was so easy to get along with, and since she was traveling on her own, too, we were able to keep each other company.

With my great roommate

Thursday was the first big day of the convention, and also the day of my first presentation, Teaching with TED: An Advanced Listening and Speaking Course. I tried to enjoy some sessions throughout the morning, but I was pretty nervous about my upcoming presentation. I got there a bit early, and I wasn't the only one! By the time the previous session ended, there was quite a crowd gathered, and I had a hard time getting into the room. Of course, I did get in, and so did about 150 other people! I couldn't believe the turnout--people were sitting on the floor, standing in the back, and overflowing out the door. You might imagine that this made me a bit nervous, but they were such a generous audience, and I settled in as I got started talking. After the presentation, a lot of people came up to me to talk or ask questions.

Before the TED presentation

After my presentation, I met up with my friend Angel from grad school, and we got to spend some time catching up. It was really interesting to hear about her job, which involves online teacher training and a fair amount of travel.

With Angel in the expo hall

That night, I met up with my roommate for dinner. We walked over to a restaurant near our hotel called Pestico. It was just a little place, but the menu was great; we both ordered the special, which was a unique ravioli dish--very tasty!

On Friday, I had another presentation, Ten Ways to Play Tic-Tac-Toe for Language Practice. This one was at the end of the day, and since things had gone so well the day before, my nerves weren't nearly so bad. I went to several interesting sessions throughout the day, and I also met up with a friend from high school who lives in Portland. We really hadn't been in touch since graduation, but it was great to see her. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture!

At my presentation, it was another great turn out--every seat was filled (but, thankfully, most people did have a seat this time!). This presentation was shorter, only 20 minutes, and it also went really well. Some people who had come to the TED presentation came back to see me again, and lots of people stayed after to talk. Again, I was so overwhelmed by the positive feedback! In fact, people are still contacting me by email to let me know that they enjoyed one or the other (or both) of my presentations. I'm just so pleased that they went well and that people found them useful. Also, thanks to those of you who were praying for me; the whole experience has been such a blessing!

Before the Tic-Tac-Toe presentation

That evening, my roommate and I did a bit of exploring, venturing to the true downtown area to see Powel's, a huge new/used bookstore. We also had dinner at a restaurant she'd heard a lot of buzz about called Mother's Bistro. The food there was amazing--hot fresh bread to start, then I ordered from the specials menu and had a wonderful cream of asparagus soup and a salad with hazelnuts, goat cheese, and strawberries. They also brought two complimentary bite-sized cookies with the check.

Saturday was the last day of the convention, and since I was done presenting, I dressed down and just went to a variety of sessions. By the end of the day, I was having some information overload, for sure! My roommate left on Saturday morning, so I decided a quiet evening unwinding in the hotel was in order.

The final keynote--Diane Larsen-Freeman

Sunday was just a travel day, but things went pretty smoothly, and now I'm trying to settle back into a routine here. March has been quite a whirlwind, and now we have only five weeks left in the semester. I think they'll fly by, and I have to admit that I'm fine with that, since our big Disney World vacation is waiting for us in May!

Spring Break

It's hard to believe that we're already more than halfway through the semester. For the first time since we moved away, we spent our spring break somewhere warm, which was just what we needed after the worst winter on record in our area.

The main reason for our trip, though, was for Mark to complete his off-campus recital requirement. He opted to go above and beyond, scheduling a combination of recitals and clinics in Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Durango. Since his trip overlapped with spring break, I was able to join him for the second part. It was so nice to see family, enjoy the food, and just get out of BG for a while. I was also able to go with Mark to Durango. We made a day trip of it, and while Mark was working on campus, I wandered around the shops downtown. It turns out that the only pictures we took during the whole trip were on that day:

View down the main street.

Another look at main street.

The lobby of one of the old hotels.

Me in the lobby of the other old hotel.

An excellent place to stop for lunch!

A turkey, cheddar, avocado, and green chile crepe with complimentary cider. 

The building where Mark gave his clinic and recital.

Beautiful views on the drive.

It's only been just over a week since we got back to BG, but it's been a long one. Now, I'm looking forward to heading to Portland later this week for TESOL. I'll be presenting twice, and it looks like I will also be able to connect with a couple of friends. After that, we'll be down to the last six weeks of classes. Mark's focusing on finishing up his "document"--the last major requirement for him to graduate, and he's applying for jobs. I'm sure the next month or so will fly by, which is fine with me, because we've got a big celebratory trip to Walt Disney World planned.

Mark's Recital

On Sunday, Mark had his last on-campus recital here at BGSU. Despite a fairly significant winter storm over the weekend, Mark was able to have his dress rehearsal and recital as scheduled. It was a great program, and he did an awesome job! Even with all the snow, there was a respectable crowd there. Thanks for all of your support, whether it was being here, praying for things to go smoothly, or calling afterwards to see how it went. It means a lot to both of us! Here are a few pics.

Set up for the multi-percussion piece. 

DrumKAT and MalletKAT

The view outside from the lobby.

See the big snowflakes falling?

Mark performing "King of Denmark"

Performing "Closing" from "Glassworks"

Don't you wish you were here? :-)

Winter Open House

On Thursday, I hosted a little open house. I've done this periodically over the last few years, and it's such a good chance for me to bake up some treats and have friends over to catch up. This year, I had a really good turn out. I guess that after 3 days cooped up because of bad weather, people were ready to get out and socialize a bit. Here's a few photos of the food:

Hot & Spicy Chocolate Chip Cookies, Special K Cookies,
Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Crinkles, and Cream Cheese Spread with Crackers.

Close up of the sugar cookies--these were the crowd favorite, for sure!

Tomorrow it's back to school! I'm excited for a fresh start and hoping for a great semester.

Christmas & the New Year

After Thanksgiving, the rest of the semester flew by, and then it was off to ABQ for a lovely Christmas. Because of our school schedule this year, we didn't travel until 12/23, so in some ways, it felt like Christmas snuck up on us. As always, it was a visit filled with family time and great food. Most of you who read this blog were there, so I'll skip ahead.

We flew back to BG on New Year's Eve and drove home from Detroit during the beginning of what would become a pretty big snow storm. Mark did the driving, and it was not pleasant, but he did such a great job, getting us home safely just after midnight. After that, the snow kept falling until we had about 6-8 inches on the ground. We were really happy that we made it home on schedule and didn't get stuck somewhere else on the way!

We were pretty tired, though, and I had a head cold, so the start to our new year was very low key. It's hard to believe that we've been home now for a week, and that the first week of 2014 has already come and gone! By this date last year, we'd already started back to school, but our first day of class this year is Monday, 1/13. I've spent the last couple of days getting organized, and I actually think I've gotten more prep work done before the start of the semester than usual (partly because I worked really hard on it during finals week, too). I hope this will mean a smooth start next week, leading to a less stressful semester on the whole.

The other main thing going on around here is another serious winter storm. Starting on Sunday, we had more snow--between 7 and 10 inches by the time it stopped falling. Then, the wind picked up and cold air from Canada moved in, and we were stuck below 0 for a few days. Between the snow blowing and drifting over the roads and the severe wind chills, everything in northwest OH has pretty much been shut down for the last few days. In fact, BGSU has been closed since Monday. We were ready for the storm, and I had all I needed to work from home, so it really hasn't changed our plans much. Of course, even though I'm quite a homebody, after 3 or 4 days without being able to leave the house, even I'm getting a bit stir crazy!

Here are a few pictures (taken with our new camera--thanks, Mom!).

In the corner of our balcony, there's over a foot of snow that blew in on the high winds.

See the big drifts of snow on our neighbors' roof? The icicles are even bigger now.

After the sun came out! It's hard to see how deep the snow really is out there. 

Looking out the front door of the building after the sidewalk was cleared. 

Thanksgiving

It feels like Thanksgiving was ages ago already, but I would like to write a quick post about our holiday with Mark's Aunt Debbe and Uncle Mike in Michigan.

We left BG on Wednesday morning, and drove first to Zeeland, MI, where Mark did his internship last summer, to have lunch with the guys he worked with. Since it was out of the way to drop me off with his family first, I went along. We ate at a place called Salt and Pepper, and the food was excellent! It was really great for Mark to have another chance to connect with this group, too.

Then we drove over to the Grand Rapids area and spent the afternoon hanging out with our Aunt and Uncle, then one of Mark's cousins stopped by to chat for a while and another cousin and his wife came over for a while after dinner.

Thanksgiving Day was really relaxing, especially because we were invited to have the big meal at Aunt Debbe's brother's house, and we were only responsible for bringing the salad! I haven't done so little cooking on Thanksgiving since...well, I don't remember when! Also, it snowed all day, and there was already snow on the ground from earlier in the week, so by the end of the day, it was looking like a winter wonderland.

On Friday, I spent the morning with Aunt Debbe making a wreath using greens from their huge yard. We did this two years ago, also. See the finished product below! We drove home after lunch, so we had some time on Friday to unpack and settle back in, then we had a whole weekend left to relax at home. Overall, it was a really nice weekend. Now, we're looking forward to Christmas right around the corner!

Visitors!

Last weekend, we had a lovely visit from my Mom and Dad. This was only their second time in BG (the first was when they helped us move here in 2010). So this time, we did a lot less working and a lot more playing and eating!

They arrived on Friday afternoon, and our first adventure was sampling the tasty treats at the Shatila Bakery in Dearborn, MI. It's a Middle-Eastern bakery that also serves French-style pastries, and from the first time I went, I've always thought Mom would like it. Since it's only about 15 minutes from the airport, it was fairly easy to stop there before heading home. That evening, we continued our international theme with dinner from South Side 6, some of the best food in BG. Since it had been a long travel day for my parents, we wrapped things up pretty early.

On Saturday, we continued our tour of I-75 by heading down to Findlay for proper tea at the Swan House. Dad and Mark were good sports and joined us so we could spend the time all together. Again, this is something I've been looking forward to doing with Mom since I first discovered it. We enjoyed sampling many different teas, and Mom and Dad bought me a bag of my favorite flavor as well as a beautiful necklace/earring set (on sale!). That afternoon, Mark had a recital to attend, so Mom, Dad, and I spent a couple of hours touring the historic area around downtown, then checking out the shops on Main Street. I think Mom's favorite shop was For Keeps, a gift store with a rather large home furnishings area upstairs (I'd never even seen the upstairs before!). They also enjoyed seeing the different style of architecture in the old buildings (like the courthouse) and homes (along Wooster). When we finished exploring downtown, we met up with Mark on campus and took a brief walk around campus. That night, we had a quiet dinner at The China, then played some James Bond Scene It before calling it a night.

On Sunday, Mark got to spend some time sharing what he's been working on at this stage in his degree. He played a few pieces from the recital he's planning for January, and showed some clips from his last recital in March. We had lunch at Reverend's, then walked around the Simpson Garden Park. We also had some tea and caramel apples at home in the afternoon. For dinner, we went to the Stone's Throw.

On Monday, Mom and Dad came to one of my classes, then we had lunch together (with Mark) at the pub on campus. After that, it was time to head back to the airport. It was really fun for us to have Mom and Dad here--we're so glad they came.

*I did take a couple of pictures during the weekend, but Mom did most of the photo-taking, and I didn't get copies of her pics before they left. If she's able to email some to me, I'll add a few photo highlights later!