Elke, why did you have to post that? Here's mine...

OK, it's your turn!

I admit. The title of this entry is a bit misleading. I just wanted to use it since it's something I learned while I was in Colorado listening to NPR. It's snowboarding lingo for doing some tricky, playful, showing off move around a structure with style and ease. Roger keeps saying that if we move there, we'll have to pick up some snow activities. I've never snowboarded before, but I'd like to try. I do like sledding and snow tubing too! Apparently there are some really cool snow tubing hills near Denver.

 

Still hungry, we walked over to the Wynkoop Brewing Company - Denver's first brew pub.  Wings for me, gyro for him, and another beer flight for the both of us! Can you tell we like beer tastings?

Larimer Square Historic District and 16th Street Mall. The mall area is a long pedestrian walkway filled with restaurants, bars, and stores. Roger and I spent some time walking up and down this area since our hotel was close by.

The Union Station is under development now to house bus, commuter rail, and light rail stations. The blurry photo on the right is of the Denver Courthouse

The next day, Roger treated me to a birthday massage at the Woodhouse Day Spa while he went running. On a side note, Roger is currently training for the Boston Marathon in April. He's running for an agency called Housing Families that fights to end family homelessness in the Northshore area. I'm sure you'll see an e-mail from me soon about making donations for his run! Anyway, back to the trip! The spa was excellent! It was quite early in the morning, but there were complimentary mimosas that I gladly accepted. The deep tissue massage was unbelievable. It also helped that the woman I had was an aspiring teacher, so I knew I was in good hands!

For brunch, we headed to Dazzle's jazz brunch buffet! Yelpers raved about this place, so we had to check it out. The place was PACKED with families, elderly, young professionals, and college students. There was a live jazz band playing while we feasted on some yummy brunch for only $17.95, and for an extra $8, you can participate in the bottomless bloody mary and mimosa bar.  My favorite thing to eat there was the pork shoulder and the chocolate fondue. YUM!

After brunch, we were off to Boulder, CO. We weren't originally going to visit there, but after Jeff's recommendation, we decided to check it out. The drive to Boulder was absolutely beautiful. These pictures were taken from the car and just don't do justice for how these mountains really looked. Our jaws dropped. It was breathtaking.


Our first stop in Boulder was Celestial Seasonings! This was a nice surprise to find out that we could actually visit the headquarters and take a tour. The coolest part of the tour was just walking through the various rooms of the factory. There was a part when you walked down this hallway of different spices and literally within seconds you could smell a different spice. They also showed us the peppermint room in which if you stayed too long in there, your eyes would start to water. We ended up purchasing a couple of boxes of white tea because supposedly, they're hard to find and have the same amount of caffeine as Mountain Dew.


After the tour, we headed to Downtown Boulder towards the Historic District of Pearl Street Mall. It's just a long pedestrian walkway of restaurants, bars, and stores. There were a lot of other bars and such In the streets surrounding Pearl Street too. There were a lot of families out and college kids walking around. We ended up at one of the more popular breweries in Boulder - Walnut Brewery and tried more beer! They have this cool beer club. If you drink 250 beers at the bar, you have the privilege of bringing in your own beer mug to be displayed above the bar. When you come in to drink again, you can use that beer mug to drink out of for the night!



That evening, we headed back to Denver for the National Western Stock Show. It's held in Denver every year. When I looked up events in the city, I immediately bought tickets for this show. How could I miss a real live rodeo? Who knew that there were dog-show-like events for cows! Although the cows don't run around the ring like they have dogs do. HAH! Instead, they march out the cows and have them stand there while they're judged. Seriously though...I've never seen such beautiful cows in my life. There were some huge, crazy-looking bulls too. The coolest part of the show was the rodeo though.


The next day, we checked out Fort Collins. One of my coworkers at MATCH is actually from Fort Collins and her mother still lives there. She owns some property and knows the history of the area, so we wanted to meet up with her. So, Roger and I treated her to lunch at Rio Grande, this yummy Mexican restaurant. I'm actually not a huge Mexican food fan, but the burrito de carne was sooooooooooo good. The plate was HUGE, but I completely finished it. I did read on Yelp that Colorado has some of the best Mexican restaurants. Also, supposedly the margaritas are yummy but deadly. They limit you to two per visit! Oooh! After lunch, the mom gave us a walking tour of Downtown Fort Collins and even showed us some of the property she owns (a combination of apartment and retail spaces). We then jumped in the car, and she showed us the different neighborhoods.  Overall, Roger and I didn't think Fort Collins stood out to us. The area has really good schools, safe neighborhoods, a thriving downtown area filled with restaurants and bars because of the college students, but it didn't wow us. It's a good place for retirement but not when you're still young and new to Colorado.

Driving back to Denver, I took this picture from the car - the Denver skyline. It's nothing spectacular, but it's cool when you're in the city and you can see the mountains behind the tall buildings.

That evening, we went to Sushi Den. I'm so predictable, right? Sushi Den is considered one of the TOP sushi restaurants in Denver. We had to try it and compare it to what we have in Boston. We were quite surprised to find out that the food and service was amazing! We had Japanese Tofu (which I thought was going to be agadashi tofu, but was something completely different but delicious), miso soup, salad, Chirashi, Sukiyaki, and washed it all down with Sapporo. It was a memorable experience.


For our last morning before we headed to the airport, we checked out another restaurant called Devil's Food - another Yelper favorite for breakfast. I had the eggs benedict and he had the breakfast burrito. This restaurant was located in Washington Park, this cute area with a lot of small eateries. We learned from the previous night from our waiter at Sushi Den that Washington Park is where a lot of young professionals reside. Driving around, you would see a lot of houses and apartments and then all of a sudden you see a street full of shops and restaurants. There were a few pockets of these in this area which I thought was neat.

The Colorado trip was great! It's definitely not what I originally imagined myself relocating to, but I can see myself there. Unfortunately, there's no Chinatown. There are 2 areas that are known for good Asian food, and Asians only make 2.6% of the state population. However, there are a number of Asian-related groups and activities I would love to check out if we move there.  They have the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival that they say over 100,000 people attend annually. It would be great to get into dragon boating or even help out with the planning/organizing. Then there's NAAAP-Colorado. NAAAP stands for National Association of Asian American Professionals. Boston has a chapter and so does DC, but Denver is a pretty new site. They haven't done too much, but I would love to get involved to not only meet other Asian Americans in the Denver area, but to just continue my involvement with the organization. Then there's the Colorado Asian Cultural Heritage Center Lion and Dragon Dance Troupe. I actually did some research on them, and it's definitely a troupe that I'd like to check out.

So as you can see, making sure that I continue my involvement with the Asian community is important to me. At first, Denver's lack of Asians deterred me a bit, but then I realized that it just means there may be a need for more outreach and recruitment.  I would love to get involved with Asian organizations to find out what they are doing to reach out to the Asian Americans in the Denver area.

Anyway, that's the entry for my Denver trip. I apologize for the length of this entry, but if you made it this far, you're OK in my book! So, what's the plan now you may ask? I've been job searching in Denver. I originally thought I wanted to take a break from teaching and/or working in a school, but I recently found something that intrigued and inspired me to apply. We'll see how it goes. Cross your fingers for me!

Where do I begin?

When you first think about Colorado, what comes to mind? Snow? Cold weather? Maybe even cowboys? Be honest. That's what you thought, right? Before the trip, I spoke to several people who've either lived or visited there before, and they only had good things to say about the place. I was excited to see this great state they were all talking about, a state I thought I would never have even thought of visiting.

Before I go into detail about my trip, I need to give you a little history lesson on Denver.  I only read about the history after I got back from my trip, but it makes Denver more appealing to me now. This history comes from Denver's official tourism website. In 1858, a group from Georgia were crossing the great plains heading west until they realized they found gold at the bottom of the Rocky Mountains. They set up camp there, and more and more people from all over the country started settling in the area seeking fortune. There was so much land that people just came in, claimed land, and actually sold it to those who came in after them. A guy named General William H. Larimer claimed a bunch of land and laid out the city. He hoped that he would gain political power and named the city after Kansas governor James Denver. By 1859, just when the city was bustling, gold was discovered in a nearby town in the mountains and people quickly left Denver leaving the city practically deserted. However, people returned because they couldn't handle the weather conditions in the mountains and decided that they were going to figure out other ways to make money. They soon realized that Denver's climate was pretty mild throughout the year and helped grow the city. As the city grew, Denver experienced a lot of challenges. During the Civil War, a Confederate army from Texas seized the gold areas.  A volunteer army in Denver was quickly put together and even though they weren't really trained and outnumbered, they still beat the Confederates. In 1863, a fire burned much of Denver's business district down, the year after that, a flash flood swept through a part of Denver that killed many people and caused a million dollars in damage, and after that, an Indian war broke out which left Denver with very little food. Something positive came out of all of this though. Because of these hardships, the citizens of Denver only became more determined to keep the city alive. For example, when the railroads were built, Colorado wasn't included on its route.  Denver raised $300,000 and built their own railroad to connect to the transcontinental railroad in Wyoming. Soon after, during the construction, there was the discovery of silver and Denver became bustling again.

The determination the Denver citizens experienced back in the 19th century is the same feeling I get from Denverites and the city today. According to the Denver Office of Economic Development, Metro Denver has a population of 2.7 million. It has a growth rate that has beat the national rate every decade since the 1930s. They say that by 2030, Metro Denver's population will grow to 3.9 million with 800,000 new jobs being created. Colorado even has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country (about 7%). Before we visited, NPR was doing a bit about how Colorado was flying airplanes over California to attract big companies to move there. Driving around the Denver areas, Roger and I noticed a lot of new developments - retail/office spaces, condos, housing. Although this city is not as bustling as say Boston, New York, or San Francisco, you can tell this city is determined to thrive.  It's actually exciting to imagine getting into Denver now knowing what the future may look like for the city. Think: Way more affordable and new opportunities! When we talked to people there about us moving, they were genuinely interested in why we were thinking Colorado and encouraging us that this is the state to be in.  They were all so passionate about what they do and where they live that it was a bit contagious.

So, I apologize, but this isn't the blog entry where I tell you all about my trip to the Mile High City.  Think of this as the introduction!

I turned 29 yesterday. I don't feel any different, but why should I right? I'm only one year away from the big 3-0! It just seems too strange to me since I look like 22.  At least that's what my students tell me.  And I don't feel like a 29-year old either.  It just makes me more aware of time though. I can't believe it's January 2010! It actually makes me feel nuts inside. Time really flies. I've also realized that there's really no point in making New Year's resolutions. I don't keep track of them anyway, but for fun, let's take a trip back to January 2009, and see what I thought I could accomplish:

1.  Blog more.  I completely and miserably failed this. I believe I've blogged less this year than I've ever blogged before. I don't exactly know why.

2.  Keep my room clean.  It's hard after a long day or a long week to put away things where they belong. Things and clothes just pile up. So, I failed this as well although I try to make an effort and clean at least once a month.

3.  Go to bed by 11:00pm on a school night.  I think the break messed me up so I've been sleeping past 11pm lately, but in 2009, I did go to bed by 11pm and many times by 10:30pm on a school night. YaY for me!

4.  Delegate more.  I'm a way better boss now to my assistants. I actually have stuff for them to do so I won't drive myself crazy doing everything on my own. I've especially been better about this school year. I don't feel as overwhelmed as in the past years working here.

5.  Go to church.  Roger and I go to the Arlington Street Church, but not consistently. It's a UU church right next to the Boston Public Garden.  The last time we went was last month. I really like it. It's actually nice to go on a Sunday before a full work week to peacefully sit in there with Roger and my thoughts.

Not bad. So, here we are in 2010. Roger and I feel the excitement in the air. We hope 2010 will be filled with opportunities to explore new places and be the beginning of living on our own as husband and wife.

On a side note: Yesterday,  I received a birthday card that a bunch of my students signed.  One of them wrote: Ms. Liu The World. That absolutely made my day.

YaYcation was nice! Traveling to Michigan and Toronto by car is crazy, but Roger and I had tons of fun. We didn't want it to end, but I kept telling myself that in two weeks, we'll be traveling again! I can't wait for Denver!

Last night, my assistant contacted me from DC to tell me that she was stuck there and couldn't get a flight back to Boston until around noon today.  So, I covered one of her tutorials for her today.  She works with a repeating freshman who has been diagnosed with an emotional disability. He's quite a loner, doesn't have too many friends, and is very quiet.  He will voluntarily raise his hand and participate in class, but when it comes to socializing, he isolates himself.  Today's activity involved him creating a character who has a challenge using as many adjectives as he can and then create a story based on that character who has to overcome that challenge. The student only had enough time to write the beginning of his story, but this is what he wrote:

The starting of the night sky sleeping is when the isolated bread owner 39 year old John closes his shop and covers it with a metal blanket and locks up for the rest of the night.  The red color door of his apartment that reveals the emptyness of his life is what greets him in his daily routine.  The same channel, the same bedroom and the same frozen microwave dinner product that accompany his loneliness. Those are his friends. They contribute to his shyness and his inability to walk free. John has a part of himself that is hungry for female companionship.

This student has come a long way though despite what his writing argues.  When he came to us last year, he hardly spoke or smiled. He came to us with what appeared to us as low skills in all academic areas.  With the help of his amazing tutor last year who pushed and pushed and finally got him to care, this student turned himself around by almost getting honor roll by the end of the year.  Unfortunately, that wasn't enough since his grades from the beginning half of the year were abysmal.  He came back as a repeating freshmen stronger than ever though! Although he's still not at honor roll level, he's shooting for it.  Before break, he missed a day of classes and came to me asking for help to collect the homework/classwork he missed. That would've never happened last year. I will miss seeing these transformations.

When I was in elementary/middle/high school, I absolutely LOVED snow days.
Who knew that my teachers loved it even more?

I had my weekly meeting with my principal this past Wednesday. We usually talk about how I'm doing, student updates, and other important topics that involve my department. This time, I also asked him if I could take a day off next month because Roger and I are planning to visit Denver, CO during Martin Luther King Jr, weekend. We're scouting the place out since it may be the destination for our future move.  This led to a conversation about me leaving next year.  He told me that ideally, I would stay on through the summer and a little bit of the fall (September and maybe October).  As much as I'd like to move during the summer, I always knew I would stay on until the school and I felt confident that the transition of my job goes smoothly.  So, it doesn't surprise me that he would bring this up. I immediately told him that I would support MATCH and would gladly stay. 

Later on, the conversation got me thinking. When do I tell the students that I'm leaving? It would be different if it was the end of the year, and everyone was saying good bye because of the summer.  However, I'm going to leave at the beginning of the next school year.  I always thought I would tell them in June, but now that I'm definitely staying on until the fall changes everything. I was driving to the mall today when I started thinking about my students. Who knew when I took this job back in 2006 that I would grow to love the school and the students this much? MATCH is an incredibly special place to me and leaving is going to be harder than I imagined.

Tomorrow, if this snow doesn't trap me in, I'm having lunch with one of my students.  She's a repeating sophomore and almost didn't come back this year because of that. Last year, at the end of the school year, she assertively told us that she wasn't happy and that she wasn't coming back. Her mother kept telling her that MATCH was the best school for her, but my student, who can be extremely stubborn, didn't give us any hint on whether or not she was coming back to the school in the fall. At the end of the meeting, I pulled her aside so that we could speak privately. You see, this student and I had grown close to each other during that year.  She invited me to her AKA debutante ball, and my mom taught her how to cook a few Chinese dishes. Students like her make me love what I do. It's amazing how as a teacher, you feel as if some of your students are your own kids.  I actually ended up imploring her to stay and told her how worried I would be if she wasn't at MATCH. I told her how confident I was that people would care for her and that she would receive the best education at MATCH, but if she left, who knows which school she would end up in.  I acknowledged that MATCH is hard, but because she didn't pass, she's not ready to be the most successful person she could be.  By the end of that conversation, we were both in tears.  It's moments like these that I will remember forever.

I took this student to dim sum for the first time in September.  It was hilarious watching her eat tripe, chicken feet, and fried squid. She loved it all but said to me, "Miss, this is like Fear Factor!" Tomorrow, I'm planning on taking her for Fear Factor experience #2 - SUSHI!

I know I post this cartoon every year!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I can't wait to see you all soon!

Anyone else admiring how cute the November "nice" calendar picture is? Get ready guys! We're going to take pictures for the 2010 calendar next month! I can't wait to be all together again!