I had the opportunity to interview a man by the name of John Bell after Christmas of 2007. We exchanged stories for a while and talked about how life had been recently. At the time, he was 87 years old, living in an assisted living apartment. Over the past few years, his eyesight has dimmed, but not his wit or his intellect. Once he became comfortable talking to us, I started asking stories about the war, for he is a veteran of World War II. Slowly, but surely, the stories once again began to come out.The year was 1941, and John had recently enlisted in the United States Army. He was 21 years old. The war effort was underway, but the United States was not yet directly involved.John was stationed near San Francisco, California. One day there was a Navy pilot flying above the city and decided to push the boundaries. So, he took the Navy plane, took a dive, and flew it under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was quite the dangerous stunt to pull off and could have gone disastrously wrong. The cost of this stunt? That pilot forever lost his wings. "Son of a buck!"One Saturday night, he went to a football game with some buddies. They went out and had a good time, partying away. They received an order early Sunday morning to report back to base immediately: Pearl Harbor had just been attacked.Their job soon evolved to include many new positions. One job was to "clear out the coast", so in following with orders, they moved all people of Japanese decent off of the coastline. It was a known fact that there were two little submarines patrolling in the bay. They may have been similar to two one-man Japanese subs that were found off of the coast of Australia. These were kamasaki submarines: the pilot climbed in, they clamped the door down, and "that was your casket".
(American B-25)One day, John received an order to join a small grouping of soldiers on a mission. They were issued warm weather clothes, but no further details. They headed to their little B-25 plane with a group of 13 soldiers: an engineer, pilot, co-pilot, and 10 soldiers. They began to fly and headed into the night and began to island hop as they flew west. As they were flying, they headed straight into a huge thunderstorm with lighting shooting on either side of them. However, they were never struck by lightning because the plane itself was not grounded. This continued with close calls and constant lightning flashes for another half an hour. Then suddenly, the clouds opened, you could see the stars reflecting on the ocean, and they flew out into clear moonlight. 
(Japanese Zero)"The Japs had planes called Zeros. They could take out B-25s right and left. But then we got P41s & P47 ad those could do something!"
(American P-41 & P-47)"McArthur and Patton were tough SoBs. They were mean, but with good educations. There's smart people, and then there's intelligent people. Those two were intelligent." And speaking of education, John also mentioned that he had taken the pilot's test for the Air Force with no training to speak of. But, despite the fact that he passed, he was not accepted because he did not hold a high school diploma. John Bell served his country from 1941 - 1946. He was on his way to the Philippines when the war ended. Overall, there were 16 million soldiers who were drafted into the service.Thanks, Grandpa.
A got a letter this fall at school informing me of a poetry contest that my students were invited to enter. I recently got a letter informing me that one of my 6th graders has been selected to be published in the book of all the best poems from the contest! I don't think I can quite describe the feeling of having one of my students (my students!) published.. heck, I'm not even published. So, here is the poem, enjoy!
Love
My dove in the clefts of the rock
In the hiding places on the mountainside,
Show me your face,
Let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely.
Each time he yelled about his spirit,
A part of his soul came out of him
And it was so painful.
It felt like a bird was eating
A little part of his heart every night.
When I see a smile as beautiful as yours,
I can go to space
And bring you every single star
Just to see a smile on your face.
And our love was so beautiful
That we can invent images of it.
Addendum August, 2008.
I am outraged. I was at a wedding and I heard the first stanza of this poem being read as one of the readings. It is Song of Solomon 2:14. The other 2 stanzas are original, but now I must figure out what to do about this. No wonder he wasn't very excited when I told him he was going to be published! He knew what he had done. I will see him in one week, now I must think about how to handle this situation. Argh...
Jazz Fantasia by Carl Sandburg
Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes,
sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy
tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go husha-
husha-hush with the slippery sand-paper.
Moan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome treetops,
moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, cry like a
racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop,
bang-bang! you jazzmen, bang altogether drums, traps,
banjoes, horns, tin cans -- make two people fight on the
top of a stairway and scratch each other's eyes in a
clinch tumbling down the stairs.
Can the rough stuff... now a Mississippi steamboat
pushes up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo... and
the green lanterns calling to the high softs stars... a red
moon rides on the humps of the low river hills.. go to it,
O jazzmen.
As of November 29, I have officially completed teaching my first trimester of Language Arts at Aurora Middle School. So, we are well underway with trimester 2... and Christmas break is only seven days of school away! Here's a quick overview:
- I am teaching Middle School Language Arts to five sections of students: two sections of 6th grade, two of 7th, and one of 8th. Every morning we have homeroom for 15 minutes and I have the privilege of having the 8th graders. They are an amazing class of young men and women and must be described as resilient. They have been through far more in their first 14 years of life than most people. They were the premier class, and have always been
- My school is a bilingual charter school. For our school, the younger grades are taught in Spanish and they gradually are introduced to more English. So, by the time they get to me in Middle School everything is in English. The practical side of things is to get them ready for high school. It's pretty cool being able to teach in English to a bunch of kids who are all bilingual.
- I haven't had the need to use my Spanish a ton, but it's still helpful. I teach completely in English, but I am surrounded by Spanish all day. The times when "Spanish situations" come up are mostly when communicating with parents.
Whew! Let me think back to five months ago. There's no way that I'll remember everything, but here's a glimpse into that month of my life.
I went to teach English in Zibo (tzee-bwah), China with my friend Sara Honetschlager from Morris. I was literally living on the other side of the world, with a 13 hour time difference. We spent our first couple days here in the huge city of Beijing (population around 15 million). We spent one day in the Forbidden City and at Tianamen Square. On the Fourth of July we hiked the Great Wall of China. We were only there for a couple of hours, but man was I beat! There are certain points along the wall where you can begin to climb. From where we were, you could go in either direction. I led the charge of 6 other people up the more difficult side. Whew! The steps were designed to make it difficult to climb for invading armies: they did a good job! Each step is at a different height ranging from a few inches to two feet. What a work out, but the view was worth it!
Zibo is a city of about 4.15 million, but is only considered to be a "medium-sized". I created an American-style classroom. I even had my students recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning! Luckily my advocating "liberty and justice for all" did not get me into any trouble in this communist, socialist country! :) I taught twenty-two students all about 8 - 9 years old (2nd - 3rd grade). It was quite a bit harder than I had anticipated actually, but we had lots of fun. Some highlights: bonfires, teaching dance in the studio, nature walks, teaching about Oregon, playing Field Games, BINGO, crazy Olympics, puddle jumping, talent night, having two dresses custom made for me, and literally stopping traffic because the drivers were staring at me! (It was beyond crazy.)
On the first day of school, I gave my students all English names. By the end of the month, they gave me a Chinese one! So, my name is Man Yu Jie. Chinese names are reverse of ours, so I'll start the explanation from the right. I told them Karen meant "pure one", so my first name is "Jie" = "purity". My second name (Yu) means jade, as in the stone. My "family name" is taken from Coleman, and it (Man) means "full". So, I guess you could say that I am "filled with purity and a little jade on the side". :) I like it!
The food took some getting used to and I was sick for a good while, but eventually I adjusted to the idea of having Chinese food 3 times a day for a month. They eat the same types of food for breakfast as they do for lunch and dinner! It was super difficult to be away from my life here in MN, especially my new roommates. But technology was a blessing, and this was clearly where the Lord wanted me for this month. Glory!
Three days after I graduated from UMM, I had an interview at Aurora Charter School in Minneapolis (follow link). It's a bilingual charter school, with a 99% Latino student body of all native speakers of Spanish. The interview went very well and the next day I left for Europe with 40 others from my Concert Choir.Our tour first took us to Norway, which was beautiful. We were able to tour in Bergen, Alesund, Lillehammer, Otto, and Oslo. Well, you can't very well go to Norway and NOT see the fjords, so that is exactly what we did. It was not an infrequent experience for us to have to take a ferry across a fjord in between cities. We were also able to take a 1.5 hour long ferry ride throughout the Geiranger Fjord, the second largest fjord in Norway. We started inland and worked our way out to another mountain town. It was a great time of year to be there, because the melting snow caused the waterfalls to be spectacular. I could go on and on, but you'll just have to ask me to tell you more when you see me next. :) Lots of Scandinavia is covered in forests and their buildings are made out of wood. That is also why the countries have burned down a few times. Here's what Norway looks like (city view of Alesund, a bit o' climbing, the Geiranger Fjord, and having fun in Lillehammer):
While I was in Oslo, I got an e-mail from Aurora offering me a teaching position for Language Arts, grades 6 - 8. I am super excited and this is an amazing way that the Lord has continued to bless me. It was fun to celebrate having a job in Europe as well!
After a couple of days in Goteborg, Sweden, we moved onto Copenhagen, Denmark. It is such a beautiful city! My father has been to Denmark four times (once with my mom), and my oldest sister Sarah studied abroad there as well. It was fun to finally be there myself and explore the beautiful streets with friends. Here's a peek at Denmark (buildings near the Nyborg canal, with the Little Mermaid statue):
Then, we went back to Sweden, where we were able to tour Linkoping and Stockolm. I really enjoyed Sweden, it's just a beautiful country. The feeling of landscape that I get from all of these countries is if you were to combine Minnesota with Oregon (at the latitude of Anchorage, Alaska). That's the best description I can give. While we were in Stockholm, we were able to stay in a hostel that was on a boat (two actually)! We pretty much had both boats to ourselves... it was great. Take a gander at Sweden (Stockholm, bikes everywhere, a token "singing" picture, and a picture with my director at our last dinner):
We finished off our tour in Iceland. After spending a night in Reykjavik, we headed to the Blue Lagoon for a few hours. Since Iceland is a volcanic island, there are many natural, hot, mineral springs. The Blue Lagoon is basically a 2 acre hot tub in its natural setting. It is unlike anything I had ever seen, and it was a great way to end our Scandia adventure. Here's a final picture of that (notice the swimmers heads peeking out of the steamy water by the bridge):
So, now I am back in the states, anxious to start planning for this upcoming year. I moved into Dinkytown last night (at the Parsonage) and am very excited for everything that the Lord has in store for me. China will take up my entire month of July and then the school year will be here before we know it. Only this time, I'll be starting it as a teacher! Yes, I'm a bit nervous / scared, but I also know that I am ready, which makes me excited. Lord, come in power!
Sorry it has been so long. We'll just catch up with the craziness that is my life one piece at a time. The last three weeks of Spring semester found me back up in Morris, in the craziness of trying to finish everything before they would let us Education majors graduate. In the nine days that I had class, there were ten essays and two half-hour presentations to complete. But, I survived with flying colors, little sleep, and great memories. Here's a picture of the Elementary Education class of 2007 and our professors. (Yup, only two guys... they have put up with a lot from us and were a great asset to our class.)
May 12th proved to be a beautiful day. Beautiful enough, even, to have the Commencement ceremony held outside on the mall. It was so nice! Each year the seniors vote whether we will march in alphabetically or randomly (so we can sit with our friends). This year, as usual, we marched randomly, so I was able to sit with a bunch of my closest friends and it was an awesome experience to share.
Throughout my four years at Morris, each week I have gone over to my friend Dorothy Sayre's house for Christian fellowship, making good food, and having lots of fun. This year, there were EIGHT of us who graduated that call ourselves "Dorothy Girls". These are the ladies I was privileged enough to spend the last few years with, share amazing lives in the Lord, and also walk through graduation with. They are an amazing group. We're spreading all over the globe: throughout Minnesota, Colorado, and even Kenya! The Lord is good and will continue to bless us as we grow.
So, it was a great day. I was blessed to have my parents, sisters, and even my grandmother from Iowa there. The Lord additionally blessed me by letting me be fairly un-emotional. I realized what was happening, but was able to say goodbyes without breaking down. It felt weird, but I realized that this peace was from Him. That evening we had an Open House at my parents. That was a wonderful way to celebrate the Lord's goodness with all of my friends in the Twin Cities as well. Thank you all for your support and shared life that you have given me throughout my four years in the prairie. Glory!
(American B-25)
(Japanese Zero)
