Rachel K. Interview

On Friday of last week I found out that I was moving on up to the interview stage of the UW Masters in Teaching Program. I am PSYCHED that my application worked out so well. After spending almost an entire year trying to prepare for the basics of the program, it's nice to have some validation.

Of course I spent the entire week panicking about the interview and having my stomach in knots.

Well the interview is over now. I won't know how it went until November 12th (the countdown begins!) For anyone whose goal it is to apply to this program, I will explain how the interview went:

1. The first half hour was a briefing by a woman who runs the program (whose name I cannot remember) and a current grad student named Marina. They told us about the program, reassured us that if we are at the interview stage, we should probably all be teachers regardless of being accepted into this program or another. 
2. Part two was a 25 minute free write. We had a topic related to teaching and a topic related to a book or passage we had selected for the interview. However, we never ended up reading this aloud as we were supposed to, so I'm not sure what the writing was for in the end. Maybe nothing.
3. I had a group interview with five other candidates. We met in a conference room with a 5th grade teacher and one of the UW faculty. We discussed pedagogial "issues" and trouble shooted possible solutions. It was fairly relaxed. 
4. My final interview was a fifteen minute individual interview with two faculty members. One of them works with ELL (English as a learned language) programs and the other works with administration (like principals.) They were very nice and the interview didn't feel too nerve-wracking.

And that was all! I feel like I represented myself well, but my stomach is still in knots as I wait the three weeks to find out the final decision. If I get into this program, my life is going to be on a CAREER TRACK. If I don't get in, it's going to be hard to recover from the rejection. No two ways about it. 

When the interview was over, I finished out the day's classes and took a very long nap at home. Kevin took me out to celebrate the "done-ness" of the interview and we had delicious crepes at Citizen's in Queen Anne. I recommend crepes to anyone who has just gone to an interview. They have healing properties. 

Rachel K Meals on Wheels

I woke up at a decent hour this morning and proceeded to shower and then [gasp] study for the GRE!

Not only that, but I managed to REGISTER for the GRE, which was an easy process, but will be a grueling commute. Why can't they have a test center that is bus accessible? The closest bus stop to the center is still about a mile away so I'll have to walk after taking two buses, or rent a car from Zipcar. I'll figure it out; I'm sure it'll be the least of my worries that day, anyhow.

General financial panic is setting in as my Japan money still hasn't arrived and I'm not sure if the checking account correction I made and sent back to Tokyo ever made it. I trust in Japanese bureaucracy almost entirely, but when it comes to the postal service, I'm never sure. I just need those thousands of dollars so I can do things like buy real bed-side tables, get a coffee table, and go to the dentist. I still have enough in my savings account to last me more than the next few months of unemployment, but I want my Japanese pension refund already! I want it! Gimme!

Now begins the ides of March! Today after studying for a solid three hours (aided with TV in the background, coffee, tea, lunch, a snuggie-cape that I made complete with belt, and colour coded notes), I'm off to Kumon for tutoring! Then I will scurry off to meet Kevin at Chipotle for our weekly tradition; burrito Monday. It makes Mondays bearable and delicious.

The weekend was relaxing and exhausting. Kevin and I visited my old Starbucks to pick up my last batch of tips and to say hi to the weekend girls (Hilary, Ashley, Ally etc) who I miss now that I don't work there. Kevin said it was cute to see me with all the tittering girliness of the store -- and I was happy to have him see that I had friends outside of Megan and Sarah. Friends who I miss! We spoke to Hilary about joining us for rock climbing on Sunday and went off to the Mobile Food Festival near Safeco Field.

The food festival should have been cooler, probably. There were too many people, the lines were too long and there wasn't enough seating or shelter. The temperatures ranged between a chilly, sunny day and a blustery cold one. Kevin and I trouped through three lines total; pizza, hamburgers and finally hot dogs (after meeting up with Sarah and Ian from Fremont). The food was good, but in the end it was just too cold and crowded.

Kevin and I later played board games at his friend Greg's house and then we went home early for rock climbing with Hilary on Sunday! We sprinted for the bus to Ballard, which we then had to wait for, and met Hilary at Stone Gardens around noon.

We climbed and climbed! Kevin had gone climbing the previous day, but went again with me because he is a trouper and loves climbing fake rocks. Hilary turned out to be a BEAST. She did most of the bouldering routines with ease and grace and went to work out in the gym after Kevin and I were ready for naps and death. I wore myself out, but I feel like I'm making a little progress considering the dearth of times I have tried it. I'm able to do routines more quickly, although I still can't finish a lot of them. I need more upper arm strength and then I will be able to do things more easily, I think. In any case it's nice to have an 'athletic activity' that I do once in awhile. How unlike me!

After grabbing food at Zak's burger place on NW Market Street, we grabbed a bus downtown and tried to catch another bus to a game store in upper Queen Anne so Kevin could find this game called 'agricola' that he wanted. I was looking for 'Mexican Train' anyway, so I decided to join him. We sprinted for another bus, catching it narrowly and with awesomeness, and went to the game store. The store was really decked out in all sorts of games, but they did not have the ones we were looking for. A bit disappointed, we returned to my condo to nap until hunger struck again.

Kevin had the idea to take us out for pasta at The Old Spaghetti Factory, where we got to sit in the fake trolley table area and dine on delicious spaghetti and something called a 'strawberry citrus fizz', which was mostly high fructose corn syrup in pretty colors.

I came home on Sunday night to hang out with Megan and we watched the newest episode of America's Next Top Model. I'm not sure if that show is getting stupider or I'm just getting older, but it's probably some combination. O Tyra, why are you so crazy?

Rachel K. Caprese

Megan's friend, Cheryl had a belated birthday party for herself. Whereas a party for myself would involve cake, wine and board games, Cheryl decided she wanted to cook for about twelve people. The results were first-rate. I'll let most of the photos speak for themselves, but Cheryl managed to cook Brussel sprouts with bacon, a roast, garlic mashed potatoes, a caprese, basil and tomato plate, and various side dishes involving cheese and general swankiness.


The ambiance was calm and affable -- I got to spend more time with Megan's friends from the Jet Program alumni association, to which they all belong and for which they all organize events. While I am still not sold on the idea of joining an alumni association (it goes against my James Dean "I aint a part of no organization, man" persona), it's always nice to hang out on someone's couch while eating cheese.

After a few hours, the conversation turned into Japan-talk, which I'm still not quite ready for. My experience in Japan will never be the crazy city-life, dancing-til-3am-with-my-teachers, fun-fest that it was for a few others. I do my best not to feel bitter or unapproachable about the subject, but I'm still not ready to have a conversation about my feelings on Japan or my two years spent there in general isolation. I also still have no idea who any Japanese pop singers or actors are, which made it a little difficult to follow along with most of the conversations going on.

This was all solved when the home-made pumpkin cheesecake was brought out and my insecurities were drowned in baked goodness.


Now that all my coworkers are female and all of Megan's friends are female... it's about time to start making some male friends. I'll put that in my wishlist to Santa this year.