Thanksgiving Pics

Back in Mo Co

Mo Co is short for Montgomery County, Maryland, statistically one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. Ugh, that fact makes me shudder. Without a doubt, I've benefited from the safe streets, beautiful landscape, and easy access to restaurants, shops, and banks, and proximity by car and metro to the nation's capital. While in many ways a participant, I get overwhelmed by the crowded streets, the confiscation of spacious farms to serve the causes of suburbia, locals teens driving the latest Hummers and soccer moms with Suburbans polluting the air, among other things.

I was fortunate to be raised on one of the few acre plots in the area where I don't share my front or back yard with another home. Trees surround the lot and we share the dead end street with four other homes. Through the woods I can barely see the giant florescent cross of the National Lutheran Home across from our street. In those woods are memories of stick forts and capture the flag, foxhunts and hideouts. The pond in our front yard served many a purpose from mud baths, to tadpoles for science class in elementary school, to picnics in the small metal rowboat. Oddly, one of my comfort sounds from home is that of crickets and frogs' mating calls.

Home for me is the leaves tumbling in the air in the fall season and taking walks along the serene and beautiful C&O canal only 10 minutes away. For many of my friends, being home means reconnecting with childhood and high school friends. On that note, I can't really relate. It's been 7 years since I lived at home and I didn't leave much behind. My one friend from HS now lives and works in San Francisco. All my friendships are spread across the states and the globe - in China, in Ecuador, Texas, California, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania.

Now that I'm back and living with my parents again I'm going to need to establish a new meaning of home - one that goes beyond bonding with my parents and reaches out to the community. At this point I still feel like a young student visiting my parents on vacation from classes, staying close to home and spending time with my parents. I find it strange how easy it is to slip back into the little me I once was when in this home - bound to the activities of the family and common habits - meals, errands, church, swing dancing (yes, not the average family activity but it was for us!), and sleeping in until 9:00am.

So much has happened in my life and in my mind since I left seven year ago. I'm an adult, right? Haven't I moved beyond those habits and activities? I fear that somehow I'll slip back into the me before I took the timid yet hopeful steps to go to a boarding school in St. Louis. While I want to preserve the simplicity of my childhood, I want to expand it's meaning to include healthy activity and involvement in the area and in Washington, D.C. I don't want to be a visitor anymore, but a resident.

In the two weeks since I've been home, there's been much relaxing, reading, and rearranging my living space. I've so put my feelers out already and got hired by Professionals for Non-Profits, a group that places professionals in temporary positions in non-profit agencies in the Washington, D.C. area. It's the perfect step for me if I want to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to work internationally or domestically in the non-profit sphere. Socially, I've managed to preserve my passion for dance and have been to a few milongas, or tango social parties. I joined a gym a few days ago also. Now I just need to meet people!

Where have I been?

It's been It's been almost 4 months since I've made a post and of that I am actually quite embarrassed. I think I've forgotten how to write, so bear with me while I take a few posts to get back into it. Where have I been?

I was relived to finish my first (and maybe only) year of teaching in June. It was a fantastic time full of trials, tribulations, and also some successes too. The colleagues, students, and sense of community made the experience the most fulfilling. Well once I finished I had one week to get home, unpack, and repack for my trip for a four week trip to China and Thailand with Charissa, a friend from college. If you'd like to know more about that check out my PICTURES here: http://picasaweb.google.com/margiehatch

There were a few weeks of domestic downtime here in MD and then it was off to Maine for a week of boat driving, teaching skiing, and rediscovering my spiritual center at family camp (www.newfound-owatonna.com). From there I went southwest 5 hours back to Troy, NY and got to work with the varsity volleyball team as their head coach. What did I do with all my time during the day?: agonizing over practice planning, building sandcastles, hide n seek, and changing diapers for 2 yr. old Eli, researching graduate schools, settling on Peace Corps Masters International program through School for International Training - phew!

Coaching I came to realize quickly, was much like teaching because it is a much more demanding position (if you want to do it well) than most make it out to be. I spent hours planning my practices mulling over little details like what announcements to make and when and how. How do I do this drill with my team of 11 when it calls for only 6? How do I work on more difficult drills with the starters and not keep the bench warmers stagnant and without opportunities for progress? Are they really capable running this much? When do I do water breaks and for how long? Should we do sprints every day? Oh no! Two of my best players have gone down with injuries in practice! That means I need to completely rearrange my drills for tomorrow! And what about Thursday's game? What tone do I want to set with practice (strict and down to business or educational and more accepting of mistakes, or will this be a fun practice to let them let loose the tension of the day, or should practice be a combination of both? Oh man, it was incredible how much I labored over the details. In addition to this, I wrote summaries after each match (). Um, yeah, not feeling the writing bug at this moment. Will include more if so inspired.

Ni Hao from China

My desire to travel and explore is finally being satisfied. Well, I actually don't think the addiction can ever be fully quenched. However, I write you all from Wuhan, Hubei Province China - I'm in the heart of a rooster, if you could turn the map of China into a drawing. Honestly, China wasn't at the top of my list of places to visit in the next 10 years but when your closest friend moves back to China, you haven't seen her for a year, and she's near fluent in Mandarin Chinese, you've gotta take advantage of that! So the mere fact that I've made it this far in a country where I am no doubt a minority in height, dress, skin tone, language, and inability to do a proper Chinese squat is kind of remarkable. Of course, I am doing my best to fit in - I can dodge traffic, pick up small, slippery little suckers like peanuts and cucumbers, and count my Chinese numbers with the best of them. But really I would not have been able to leave the Beijing airport two weeks ago had it not been for my dear friend Ally. In total, Ally's been in China for two years and thank goodness because she's not only an expert in Chinese but also highly skilled in the art of bargaining, getting a taxi, and ordering the best eggplant and 'hot pot' (a Sichuan restaurant tradition) dishes in the mainland. I have to be careful not to take her valuable skills for granted.

I don't have my time right now to detail my travels but here's a quick summary of the geography covered so far.
BEIJING: In the three days in Beijing we met some awesome travel buddies, stayed in a lovely hostel, did a 4 hour hike on the Great Wall, saw Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City, and did our best to bargain at the Pearl Market.

CHENGDU: From Beijing we flew south to Chengdu where we once again stayed in an awesome international hostel, saw the famous pandas, went to a two temples- Daoist and Buddhist-, took a side trip to Leshan where I saw the largest Buddha in the world, and sweated more than I ever thought possible when eating in a restaurant - that's the hot pot I mentioned above. In a group, you sit around a table that has a hole where a pot of oil sits over a gas flame. The pot is usually split in half dividing between regular oil and really spicy oil. then you order a bunch of uncooked dishes like tofu, beans, noodles, pumpkins, radish, lettuce, mushrooms (and all sorts of meats for nonvegetarians). Then you throw it into the pot and wait for the goodness to boil. I thought Mexican spice was intense but this kind of spice numbs your entire mouth, lips, and chin and all the heat moves through your entire body. Now, what the local Chinese men do is strip their shirts off - oh if only that was appropriate!

CHONGQING: took a bus to this town - apparently one of the largest cities in the world with 32 million people...who knew? we didn't have time to explore because it was at this town that we boarded a 4 star cruise ship to make our way down the Yangtze River from Sunday evening to Wednesday afternoon. Don't have exact names at this moment, but we did pass through the famous big gorges. They were absolutely incredible and unlike anything I've every seen before. I was surprised to see beautifully terraced lands along side the water (I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I'm back in the states). What was most fascinating though was to see what land is on its way to destruction by the flooding of the waters as a result of the new 3 Gorges damn, started in 1992. Along the river are meter markers showing how high the water will raise by 2008 when the dam should be finished. Already, 1.2 million people have been displaced from their homes and villages and relocated to 'new' towns, relocation towns they are called. These towns look more like cities near the water with high rise apartment buildings that give the area the look of a ghost town. I'll try not to get riled (sp?) up right now but it was interesting to listen to the cruise tour guide, who was Chinese but speaking English. - She makes it sound like the majority of people are satisfied with the change to these new relocation cities - they are given new jobs, she said, are able to have televisions, and overall have more opportunities....hmm....interesting. I understand that cities provide more opportunities but the relocation also alters a way of life that had been established for hundreds of years and generations and generations. Found out that ultimately the dam should provide up to 2-3% of the countries power. That is a good amount but I was expecting more.

Anyways, here's another observation from going down the river - lots and lots of shoes. What? yes shoes. Crazy right? It makes it seem like people as well as land were destroyed by the flooding, which is quite creepy really. Anyways, I have some other interesting and somewhat disturbing experiences occured while on this boat but overall I was awed by the beauty, beauty that may not be there in just one year.

WUHAN: Now, here I am second day in Wuhan, after crazy, wicked hot bus ride from our end destination on the boat. We're stayin in an air conditioned spacious apartment of a friend of Charissas. I've been lazier here than anytime this year...lounging around, chatting, making good food, and actually....sad to say it...watching t.v.! This is because there really isn't too much to see in Wuhan and it's probably in the high 90s with the thickest air I've ever experienced - near impossible to function in when you're drenched within 5 minutes of leaving the apartment. I will begin my productive travels tomorrow morning when we leave by plane for Hong Kong. I'll be there most likely until the 10th seeing some Emma Willard students who live there, taking a side trip to Macau (the Portuguese island), and trying not to blow my funds in such an expensive city! Then we'll fly to Bangkok, Thailand.

Hope to send updates from there! Zai jian! (good bye!)

Born to Tango

"Tango Pasión" 1999 José María Cornide

I've been wanting to do something adventurous and spontaneous for some time now and the opportunity came this past Friday night. While sitting at the j.v. basketball game I received a message on my cell phone from Kevin, one of the dance teachers here at EWS, inviting me to a Milonga ( a tango social party) that was beginning in only 2 hours or so. Somehow he heard through the grapevine that I knew how to tango (not sure where he heard that joke!) and he wanted to introduce me to the local tango crowd in this region. I've certainly never considered my big and tall self capable of dancing such a sensual and intricately detailed dance as the tango, but my interest was peaked and I decided to take him up on the offer. I told Jessie, my housemate, and she was interested too. Well when I called and confessed to him my inexperience but sincere interest in learning he told Jessie and I to meet him in the school dance studio where we'd have an hour private lesson and then head over to the Milonga together. What an amazing opportunity!

I didn't think it possible but in one hour he had us dancing the 3 key moves that we would need in order to participate at the Milonga - the basic 8 steps, forward ochos, and backward ochos. He also gave us some tips about the social gestures and procedures necessary to invite someone to dance with you and keep them dancing with you - In Argentine Tango you show you're interested in dancing with someone by making eye contact. Then, there are three short pieces of music within each set. If you enjoyed the first dance you need to be sure not to say "Thank You" because that communicates that you are done dancing with them and would like another partner. If someone says thank you to you they don't want another dance with you and are in someone unsatisfied with your performance. If you get through three dances then your partner must be really impressed and want to take you out on a date after the milonga! Isn't it all fascinating? I had no idea that there were actually rules of behavior for dances like this.

So we get to the dance studio, which is used as a yoga studio during the week, and the crowd is mostly older and , no surprise here, much shorter than I. Jessie and I were a bit worried we wouldn't fit in and that we'd be wallflowers the whole evening because of our inexperience but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Kevin, our most amazing and patient teacher, actually danced with us the entire night. He'd dance a few songs with me and then invite Jessie to dance for a few. Each time helping us when we needed and introducing new steps as the night progressed. Occasionally he would dance with some of the people he knew there but he really was dedicating this night to help us learn. Jessie and I both were invited to dance with others in the room, which was a lot more challenging because the steps where not always done in the way Kevin did them. That's what makes tango so fun is that there are some basic stpes but they are never done in the exact same way each time. There's always room for interpretation and improvisation. Although dancing with those other men was more of a challenge I felt I could keep up well and many were impressed that I'd only been dancing the tango for less than three hours.

When I wasn't dancing I really enjoyed watching. there were some incredible dancers there. But there are so mancy nuances to the dance that one can't see or understand unless they do them. The male is the leader and determines every step the female is to take by how he has his hand on her back or how or when he crosses the center line of the woman's body. Much of the dance too is done on the balls of your feet. The best tip Kevin gave me was to take one step at a time. The next step is mostly determined by which foot the female has her weight on and where her center of gravity is. So if the female decides to predict the moves or speed them up, it makes it difficult/impossible for the male to lead her. Now one could read into this dance and see that it mirrors patriarchal values which control even the slightest movement of the female and as a feminist I can say there is much truth to that. However, there is something magical about being held by your partner and being carried across the dance floor in the most graceful of ways. Like I said, I never thought that my 6'1" athletic self could be turned into a nimble, quick and lightfooted dancer. But Friday night I proved myself wrong and felt like I was dreaming. It was so amazing that we could learn so much in such a little amount of time, be able to put it to use on the dance floor and learn more as we went along. I learned some new moves such 'la parada' (sudden stop/pause in the dance), "la mordida", or sandwich (when one partners foot gets trapped between the two feet of the other partner), and "arrastre"( where the foot is dragged across the floor by the foot of the other partner, which forces one to cross their foot over their center of gravity).

We had a great time and stayed until 1:15am! I'm hooked and now trying to find a way to keep practicing. My weeks are pretty booked now with my only free day being Monday (tuesdays I play volleyball in a league nearby and wednesdays and thursdays I'm on duty in the dorms). I found out there are private lessons at someone's home for only $5 every monday and also Williams College is beginning lessons next Monday. I think it's worth a look into either one of them! For this week I'll continue practicing each night in my attic room!