Since moving into my condo here in Bangkok, I no longer have easy access to public transportation. This therefore means that I spend an exhorbitant amount of time in taxis. Using a taxi as a primary means of transportation most definitely has some negative aspects to it: taxis pollute significantly more than, say, the SkyTrain; taxis are significantly more expensive than, say, the SkyTrain (but SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than taxis in the U.S.! You can spend an hour in a taxi in Bangkok and spend less than five bucks); and traffic in Bangkok is just about the most horrific thing you can imagine. Not only are the streets crammed with cars, but they are also crammed with tuk tuks and daredevil motorcycles that threaten to snap off car mirrors and food vendor carts trying to cross at a busy intersection and elephants and chauffeur-driven SUVs with no regard for traffic signals.
BUT....when life hands you lemons, y'know?? I am currently choosing to dwell on the positive side of the street. To be perfectly honest, some of the most fascinating, surprising, and yes, frustrating interactions that I've had in Thailand have occurred while riding in a taxi. Taxi drivers have taught me phrases in Thai (in fact, I learned to count to ten during a ride from the airport!), been concerned for my well-being, tried (and succeeded) to screw me out of extra cab fare, and put me tremendously at ease with sweet attempts at conversation in broken English. Most of them also call me "sir."
Being a passenger in taxis has given me a unique glimpse into Thailand and the beautiful, friendly souls that dwell here. The interactions with cab drivers--set against a backdrop of Bangkok as it bustles past my window--have engendered a deep affection for this place and its people within me. These interactions also serve as very powerful, very human reminders that I am incredibly far from home. That I am the stranger here. That I still have much to learn about the way things are done here. That unexpected beauty and kindness are more abundant than I had ever expected.
I have therefore decided to document my most memorable experiences as a passenger in Bangkok's taxi cabs. It is important to note here that, while encounters with taxi drivers have served as fertile ground for cultivating awareness about Thai culture, I do not intend to document them as a means of making blanket statements, or drawing incomplete conclusions about the Thai people and Thai culture. Culture, after all, is a complex, intricate, and hearty thing. It is also important to note that , while some of my interactions with taxi drivers are amusing and/or frustrating, it is not my intention to criticize or make fun of taxi drivers. I actually regard them with utmost respect, and I hope the affectionate lens through which I view them is apparent in my writing. They have, after all, been tremendous teachers (and, at times, saviors!) to a sometimes-clueless farang who is navigating her way through this big, bright city all wide-eyed and tongue tied.
Please stay tuned! You will be able to access all of the taxi posts by clicking on "The Bangkok Taxi Project" in my sidebar. I hope you enjoy this little journey. If nothing else, I hope it makes you want to visit this incredible place and take a ride in some taxis! Just make sure you ask them to use the meter first....
***I would like to dedicate this project to Peter: Boyfriend Extraordinaire and occasional guest writer . Peter has been known to strike up many a conversation with a taxi driver--sometimes in French or Spanish!--and I basically got this idea during a (slightly drunken) conversation with him last night. Thanks for the inspiration, baby!!!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
kap*KHUN*ka........thank you
I woke up this morning with a terrible cold. The kind that descends on you in your sleep and feverishly sets to work scratching up your insides and turning you into a mucus-spewing machine. In other words, the kind that absolutely SUUUUUUCKS.
I didn't have much appetite today, but I forced myself to wander over to my new favorite restaurant. This place is generally more popular for dinner and is therefore desolate during the lunchtime hours. During lunch, most hungry people tend to make use of the panoply of street vendors stationed right in front, rendering the restaurant nearly invisible through the scented smoke arising from their pans and woks and charcoal fires. This restaurant has some incredible vegetable fried rice--not greasy, not too eggy, and chock full o' veggies--and after some unfortunate incidents with street vendor fried rice, I gladly pay the extra 60 baht without compunction.
Today I found myself alone, as usual, and hacking/sneezing/sniffling up a storm. Clearly the sounds of my sickness were cause for alarm among the restaurant staff, as a few minutes into my meal a waiter emerged with a bowl of hot soup. I looked at him and shook my head--"no, I didn't order that"--and he just pointed to the soup, pointed to his throat, and pointed at me. He had brought me some soup to soothe my scratchy throat. And he didn't charge me for it, even when I insisted.
After lunch--as my food digested, aided by the incredibly warm feeling that I had--I walked back to the school to find that my employer had replenished my supply of Tiger Balm (a.k.a. the most miraculous thing in the world ever! EVER!!), left a list of numbers for taxis, and wrote a note saying that I "shouldn't be walking around in the hot sun" if I have a cold.
I heart Thailand.
I didn't have much appetite today, but I forced myself to wander over to my new favorite restaurant. This place is generally more popular for dinner and is therefore desolate during the lunchtime hours. During lunch, most hungry people tend to make use of the panoply of street vendors stationed right in front, rendering the restaurant nearly invisible through the scented smoke arising from their pans and woks and charcoal fires. This restaurant has some incredible vegetable fried rice--not greasy, not too eggy, and chock full o' veggies--and after some unfortunate incidents with street vendor fried rice, I gladly pay the extra 60 baht without compunction.
Today I found myself alone, as usual, and hacking/sneezing/sniffling up a storm. Clearly the sounds of my sickness were cause for alarm among the restaurant staff, as a few minutes into my meal a waiter emerged with a bowl of hot soup. I looked at him and shook my head--"no, I didn't order that"--and he just pointed to the soup, pointed to his throat, and pointed at me. He had brought me some soup to soothe my scratchy throat. And he didn't charge me for it, even when I insisted.
After lunch--as my food digested, aided by the incredibly warm feeling that I had--I walked back to the school to find that my employer had replenished my supply of Tiger Balm (a.k.a. the most miraculous thing in the world ever! EVER!!), left a list of numbers for taxis, and wrote a note saying that I "shouldn't be walking around in the hot sun" if I have a cold.
I heart Thailand.
Friday, January 25, 2008
If I had a bell.....
Yesterday I had a bunch of errands to run around town. As I was making my way between the copy center and the bank, I noticed a really lovely shop that was sort of tucked away between two very large, very posh furniture shops. I walked in to find an American woman chatting animatedly with the store owner. Apparently the American woman comes to Asia every year to buy sapphires from Cambodia, silks from Thailand, and rubies from Burma, and then carts them all back to the U.S. in hopes of making a profit. This woman did not seem like your typical world traveler with refined tastes. She was a bit rough around the edges, had a tremendously thick Boston accent (she lives in Boston full time and, in addition to selling her Asian treasures, she also owns a bait and tackle shop), and the cadence of her voice was thickened with decades of cigarette smoke. She seemed as out of place in that meticulous, pricey little shop as a samurai at a biker bar. However, in spite of her surprising presence (or perhaps because of it), she was just absolutely enchanting. I realize that that word is very cheesy, but she had this particular way of drawing you in, making you feel completely comfortable, and, if you appeared to be sitting a little too high on that horse of yours, even knocking you down a few pegs with her dry--but somehow well-meaning--sense of humor. She showed me the latest addition to her owl collection that she was purchasing in the store (the owl collection having been a tradition that started in her childhood--her mother worked nights, and would give her owls to watch over her), told me about how she gave the diamond her ex-husband had given her to her son's "girl," and complimented the store owner to no end. She made the energy in the store completely human and accessible and unpretentious, and I was overwhelmed with an urge to buy something, anything, to solidify that energy into something that I could hold in my hands and display in my home.
I found an absolutely gorgeous bell. Absolutely gorgeous and absolutely superfluous. Who needs a random bell?? However, this bell was carefully carved out of copper, and the different shades of it gave away its age. It was old and elegant and made a lovely sound. AND.....it had elephants on it! I had fantasies about using it as an exotic "dinner bell" to let my future children know that their food is ready. Food that I had oh-so-lovingly prepared without so much as mussing my hair in the process.
As I brought the bell up to the counter--against which both the American woman and the store owner were leaning, still wrapped up in their conversation--I felt like I was about to become a member of the cool kids club. "Wow, that bell is beautiful!" said the American woman in her smoky voice. "Yes, that bell antique!" said the store owner. I jumped in on their conversation and chatted away while the store owner wrapped the bell for me. When I left the store I felt energized and couldn't wait to get home and open up my pretty new treasure. I knew just the spot for it--right next to my Buddhas on the bookshelf.
I got home, tore open my bell, rang it a few times for good measure (a hearty, clear sound), and set it on the bookshelf to admire it. Oh, the intricate carvings! Oh, the different shades of green! Oh, the beautiful elephants.....wait......what the hell is going on with the elephants???
It appears that I had been so absorbed in the energy of the shop and the excitement of buying the bell that I had failed to notice a critical detail: the elephants, um, appear to be DOING IT. I am going to spare you the details of how I know that they are doing it, but I will say this much: there is no room for interpretation there. They are not "playing," or "fighting," or "giving each other a playful massage." They are straight up GETTIN' THEIR FREAK ON. Damnit. I have no idea how I possibly could have missed that, and I have no idea who in their right mind would ever see this as appropriate material to put on a bell. And yet, I find myself the proud owner of what is literally known as "my fucking bell."
Needless to say, I probably won't be using it as a dinner bell to summon my future children to meals.
Ding dong!
(I tried to post a picture, but it didn't turn out very well)
I found an absolutely gorgeous bell. Absolutely gorgeous and absolutely superfluous. Who needs a random bell?? However, this bell was carefully carved out of copper, and the different shades of it gave away its age. It was old and elegant and made a lovely sound. AND.....it had elephants on it! I had fantasies about using it as an exotic "dinner bell" to let my future children know that their food is ready. Food that I had oh-so-lovingly prepared without so much as mussing my hair in the process.
As I brought the bell up to the counter--against which both the American woman and the store owner were leaning, still wrapped up in their conversation--I felt like I was about to become a member of the cool kids club. "Wow, that bell is beautiful!" said the American woman in her smoky voice. "Yes, that bell antique!" said the store owner. I jumped in on their conversation and chatted away while the store owner wrapped the bell for me. When I left the store I felt energized and couldn't wait to get home and open up my pretty new treasure. I knew just the spot for it--right next to my Buddhas on the bookshelf.
I got home, tore open my bell, rang it a few times for good measure (a hearty, clear sound), and set it on the bookshelf to admire it. Oh, the intricate carvings! Oh, the different shades of green! Oh, the beautiful elephants.....wait......what the hell is going on with the elephants???
It appears that I had been so absorbed in the energy of the shop and the excitement of buying the bell that I had failed to notice a critical detail: the elephants, um, appear to be DOING IT. I am going to spare you the details of how I know that they are doing it, but I will say this much: there is no room for interpretation there. They are not "playing," or "fighting," or "giving each other a playful massage." They are straight up GETTIN' THEIR FREAK ON. Damnit. I have no idea how I possibly could have missed that, and I have no idea who in their right mind would ever see this as appropriate material to put on a bell. And yet, I find myself the proud owner of what is literally known as "my fucking bell."
Needless to say, I probably won't be using it as a dinner bell to summon my future children to meals.
Ding dong!
(I tried to post a picture, but it didn't turn out very well)
100 Things.....
Here is the current list of 100 things about me. This list has had various incarnations in the past, but this is its most current version. I figured that this would be a good way to introduce myself to the Blogger world and help me to feel more at home in this space.
Enjoy!
1) I love to teach more than just about anything. I believe teaching is a tremendously potent form of activism and a powerful means of creating social change. Plus, it’s fun.
2) I also love elephants, bunnies, and horses.
3) I have ridden an elephant, and I rode horses competitively through all of high school and college. I have yet to ride a bunny….
4) I taught for four years in inner-city schools and I think about my former students every single day.
5) I have freakishly sensitive skin and frequently break out in unexpected rashes.
6) I am left-handed and have double-jointed thumbs in both hands.
7) I am on Facebook, MySpace, and I have a blog.
8) I can be a tremendously pedantic snob. I also have an extremely immature sense of humor and absolutely love a good pun.
9) I currently have no tattoos or piercings.
10) In preschool, my teacher yelled at me because I was taking too long to put on my snowpants. I was completely traumatized and refused to wear snowpants after that.
11) In third grade, my teacher told me I was never going to get multiplication. To
this day, I suck at math.
12) I would never do either of these things to my students.
13) I write every day. I write and write and write until my writing gets scrawled and scribbly and my hand is smeared with ink. Writing is like a drug I crave all the time.
14) I am becoming an excellent belly dancer.
15) I’ve lived in Minnesota, New York, Ireland, Arizona, and Massachusetts. I currently live in Thailand. I’ve traveled to most states in the U.S., England, Scotland, Amsterdam, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, and Laos. I am about to add several more countries to this list and will try my best to keep the list updated!
16) If writing and teaching are my top two favorite things to do, then traveling is number three. I currently have a job that allows me to teach, travel, and have plenty of time to write.
17) I believe in soulmates. However, I think we have many, many soulmates. I also believe that a soulmate is something that is built and takes work.
18) I am obsessed with boots, bags, and necklaces. I have many of each.
19) I have several dozen pictures that I’ve taken of random strangers with mullets. Business in the front, party in the back. Can’t get enough of ‘em….
20) My aunts and uncles--on both sides--have played an incredibly significant role in raising me. I hope to do the same for my nieces.
21) I can do Reiki and energy work. I believe we all have tremendous healing powers within us
22) I’ve had several encounters with ghosts and I’m a firm believer in them.
23) I’m still learning how to be friends with girls. The funny thing is that most of my very close female friends are learning how to do the exact same thing.
24) I am a liberal with a bit of a bleeding heart.
25) I’ve found a lot of liberals to be far more close-minded than their Republican counterparts. Reverse discrimination is still discrimination. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
26) I’m a tremendously visual learner and have a photographic memory. Sadly, my auditory memory is not so strong….
27) I’ve been in several relationships that can be very accurately described as abusive.
28) I love making lists (obvs). I wouldn’t be able to get through life without them.
29) I was diagnosed with ADD in high school and medicated briefly. I hated being medicated and have taught myself coping strategies instead.
30) My hair has been blue, green, red, dark brown, and pink. Not at the same time.
31) I once broke my wrist while visiting my sister at her college. I got drunk and fell out of bed. By far my dumbest injury.
32) I’ve ridden in an ambulance twice. Once after falling off of my horse and being knocked unconscious, and once after fainting while volunteering in a soup kitchen.
33) I frequently embarrass myself.
34) Things I collect: Buddhas, stones, keychains, shot glasses, anything with elephants on it, and postcards.
35) I used to drive a lime green Volkswagen Beetle named Petunia. She was awesome. I had to sell her when I moved to Thailand and I cried the day she sold.
36) I hate crying in front of other people, which sucks because I cry at the drop of a hat.
37) Some things I love: my family, my friends, lip balm, martinis, ballet flats, ankle bracelets, writing poetry, mangoes, salads, ice cream, avocados, devouring fiction, mashed potatoes, my Sevens, Uggs, and the beach.
38) Some things I can’t stand: tomatoes, mushrooms, jean shorts on guys, Hemmingway, mom jeans, chipped nail polish, Ann Coulter, stomach parasites, the misuse of apostrophes, “sexpats,” and shoes with wedge heels.
39) When drunk, I tend to: ramble on and on (loudly), accuse people of being Republican, describe in detail the cleaning of a horse’s sheath, flash people, get emotional, and make out with strangers.
40) I met my boyfriend at a bar in Cambridge called the Hong Kong. I was drunk and we made out.
41) My students have been my best teachers. I am amazed at the wisdom of children.
42) If I could only hang out with three people for the rest of my life, I would choose my boyfriend and my nieces.
43) People often feel compelled to take care of me. While I always appreciate this, I’m a lot more independent than people usually suspect.
44) When I was little I wanted to be just like Wonder Woman, Scarlett O’Hara, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
45) I was three months premature and weighed only 2.5 pounds at birth.
46) One of my dearest friends in the whole wide world was also a preemie and we were delivered by the same doctor.
47) I have a great singing voice.
48) I didn’t go through my wild, crazy, party phase until after college. In college, I was a very cautious, serious, uberdork who read Derrida for fun.
49) I’m still an uberdork who reads Derrida for fun.
50) The years between 22 and 25 were a rough few years. I made a lot of mistakes, hurt a lot of people, and let a lot of people hurt me. I was a total drama queen and did not take care of myself. When I turned 25, my brain clicked into place.
51) I want to learn how to knit, sail, cook, scuba dive, sew, be a gemologist, speak Thai fluently, speak French, and become a good photographer.
52) I sometimes forget what I was talking about in mid-sentence.
53) I am not very good at remembering birthdays. I am also not good at sending stuff to people. I have a closet full of stuff that I need to send to people.
54) I do not handle loss or goodbyes very well. I know few people who do.
55) I have so many guilty pleasures that they require a whole ‘nother list. Some of them are People Magazine, Us Weekly, sushi, ‘80s music, Googling people, and The Girls Next Door.
56) I am not impressed by nice cars or name-brand stuff. I am impressed by cooking abilities and beautiful eyes.
57) I was fortunate enough to have had a privileged upbringing. For some reason, a lot of people I knew in high school (I went to an arts high school) held that against me. Apparently you can’t be artistic or creative or suffer from teenage angst if you also own a horse.
58) My horse, Tex, died the same day I started college (see? I have angst!!!!!!). He was my best friend and soulmate. Riding was never the same after that. I still haven’t recovered and I don’t know if I ever will.
59) I constantly talk on the phone, send text messages, and send e-mails.
60) I vehemently nod my head when other people are talking.
61) I’m learning how to say “no,” which has been very difficult.
62) Teaching children to read has been my greatest accomplishment.
63) I am a terrible test taker.
64) Three different strangers--one painter and two photographers--have approached me and asked me to pose for them. Nude. I declined all three offers, but did agree to be in a commercial for some condominiums. Fully clothed.
65) I have an abnormal fear of birds and people touching me with their feet. I think if a bird touched me with its feet, my head would just explode.
66) During my first year of teaching, I won a prize at a Teach For America retreat because I had had the most students throw up in my classroom.
67) I can’t HANDLE vomit-mine or anyone else’s.
68) Body acceptance has been an arduous process and I still struggle with it. I still dislike my chin and my cankles, but I looooove my eyes and my B Donka Donk.
69) I have very vivid dreams and I always remember them.
70) I’m a terrible liar.
71) I drool in my sleep. A lot.
72) I smoked through high school until my senior year. I quit, and then started again in college when I lived in Ireland. I quit for good during my senior year of college, but I’ve been known to light up in moments of unbearable stress or drunkenness.
73) I make this noise when my ear itches. I sound like what I would imagine the lovechild of a pig and a frog to sound like. There is NOBODY who finds this sound appealing.
74) It takes very little to earn my respect. Trust, however, is a bit of a different animal….
75) I am physically unable to eat breakfast unless it is the weekend and I’ve been able to let my tummy wake up slowly.
76) I’ve lost almost every single piece of jewelry my mother’s ever given me.
77) I was never afraid of heights until I climbed the Duomo in Florence and made the mistake of looking straight down. For some reason, ever since then I get god-awful vertigo. That still doesn’t stop me from climbing things, mind you….
78) I am a Dervish in a Sufi community in New York. And, yes, we whirl…
79) I have a giant teddy bear named Edward that I got for my 7th birthday. 20 years later, he still sleeps next to me.
80) I love anything pink. This obsession with pink did not start until my mid-20s. Before then, I found it slightly nauseating.
81) My celebrity crush is Angelina Jolie. I met Oprah when she spoke at my sister’s high school graduation.
82) My nicknames are: Tiny Walkers, Goon, Alice, Arnold, and Baba. Except for my nieces (they call me Baba), everyone in my family (and a few friends who are like family) calls me Brookie.
83) I can be very black and white about things.
84) I’ve had my heart broken three times.
85) I am a ridiculous animal lover. If I didn’t love children so much, I would have been a vet instead of a teacher.
86) My Aunt Dana and I have had a “Christmas Tea” tradition since I was 10. We get together every year, drink tea, and just talk. Except now it’s a “Christmas Wine and Cocktails” tradition and we gab until the wee hours. Families rock.
87) I am not at all good at managing my money.
88) I am deathly, deathly allergic to bees.
89) I had a betta fish named Puppy who lived with me for three years. I named him Puppy because he could do tricks and he would let me pet him. Seriously. I bawled hysterically when he died.
90) I was a mentor teacher and also provided professional development for Teach For America corps members.
91) My dad and I have stockpiles of stories and inside jokes that only we find funny.
92) I love cross-country road trips. I’ve taken several by myself and almost enjoy the solitary ones more than those with companions.
93) I am a tremendously social person, but I also need a lot of alone time.
94) I have a tendency to exaggerate when I’m telling a story.
95) I have neither the patience nor the desire to write fiction. I will never write a novel. A book of poems and a children’s book series, however? Certainly.
96) I do not consider myself to be a feminist. I FULLY believe in equality for women, and women's rights, and I am most definitely pro-choice. However, I find some aspects of feminist theory just as destructive to women as male dominance and oppression.
97) I believe in second chances.
98) Biggest pet peeve: When slow walkers block the sidewalk and you can’t get around them.
99) I acquire new vocabulary and new languages ridiculously fast.
100) I am a creature of habit. Once I find something I truly like, I eat/drink/wear/watch/purchase/use it forever and ever.
Enjoy!
1) I love to teach more than just about anything. I believe teaching is a tremendously potent form of activism and a powerful means of creating social change. Plus, it’s fun.
2) I also love elephants, bunnies, and horses.
3) I have ridden an elephant, and I rode horses competitively through all of high school and college. I have yet to ride a bunny….
4) I taught for four years in inner-city schools and I think about my former students every single day.
5) I have freakishly sensitive skin and frequently break out in unexpected rashes.
6) I am left-handed and have double-jointed thumbs in both hands.
7) I am on Facebook, MySpace, and I have a blog.
8) I can be a tremendously pedantic snob. I also have an extremely immature sense of humor and absolutely love a good pun.
9) I currently have no tattoos or piercings.
10) In preschool, my teacher yelled at me because I was taking too long to put on my snowpants. I was completely traumatized and refused to wear snowpants after that.
11) In third grade, my teacher told me I was never going to get multiplication. To
this day, I suck at math.
12) I would never do either of these things to my students.
13) I write every day. I write and write and write until my writing gets scrawled and scribbly and my hand is smeared with ink. Writing is like a drug I crave all the time.
14) I am becoming an excellent belly dancer.
15) I’ve lived in Minnesota, New York, Ireland, Arizona, and Massachusetts. I currently live in Thailand. I’ve traveled to most states in the U.S., England, Scotland, Amsterdam, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, and Laos. I am about to add several more countries to this list and will try my best to keep the list updated!
16) If writing and teaching are my top two favorite things to do, then traveling is number three. I currently have a job that allows me to teach, travel, and have plenty of time to write.
17) I believe in soulmates. However, I think we have many, many soulmates. I also believe that a soulmate is something that is built and takes work.
18) I am obsessed with boots, bags, and necklaces. I have many of each.
19) I have several dozen pictures that I’ve taken of random strangers with mullets. Business in the front, party in the back. Can’t get enough of ‘em….
20) My aunts and uncles--on both sides--have played an incredibly significant role in raising me. I hope to do the same for my nieces.
21) I can do Reiki and energy work. I believe we all have tremendous healing powers within us
22) I’ve had several encounters with ghosts and I’m a firm believer in them.
23) I’m still learning how to be friends with girls. The funny thing is that most of my very close female friends are learning how to do the exact same thing.
24) I am a liberal with a bit of a bleeding heart.
25) I’ve found a lot of liberals to be far more close-minded than their Republican counterparts. Reverse discrimination is still discrimination. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
26) I’m a tremendously visual learner and have a photographic memory. Sadly, my auditory memory is not so strong….
27) I’ve been in several relationships that can be very accurately described as abusive.
28) I love making lists (obvs). I wouldn’t be able to get through life without them.
29) I was diagnosed with ADD in high school and medicated briefly. I hated being medicated and have taught myself coping strategies instead.
30) My hair has been blue, green, red, dark brown, and pink. Not at the same time.
31) I once broke my wrist while visiting my sister at her college. I got drunk and fell out of bed. By far my dumbest injury.
32) I’ve ridden in an ambulance twice. Once after falling off of my horse and being knocked unconscious, and once after fainting while volunteering in a soup kitchen.
33) I frequently embarrass myself.
34) Things I collect: Buddhas, stones, keychains, shot glasses, anything with elephants on it, and postcards.
35) I used to drive a lime green Volkswagen Beetle named Petunia. She was awesome. I had to sell her when I moved to Thailand and I cried the day she sold.
36) I hate crying in front of other people, which sucks because I cry at the drop of a hat.
37) Some things I love: my family, my friends, lip balm, martinis, ballet flats, ankle bracelets, writing poetry, mangoes, salads, ice cream, avocados, devouring fiction, mashed potatoes, my Sevens, Uggs, and the beach.
38) Some things I can’t stand: tomatoes, mushrooms, jean shorts on guys, Hemmingway, mom jeans, chipped nail polish, Ann Coulter, stomach parasites, the misuse of apostrophes, “sexpats,” and shoes with wedge heels.
39) When drunk, I tend to: ramble on and on (loudly), accuse people of being Republican, describe in detail the cleaning of a horse’s sheath, flash people, get emotional, and make out with strangers.
40) I met my boyfriend at a bar in Cambridge called the Hong Kong. I was drunk and we made out.
41) My students have been my best teachers. I am amazed at the wisdom of children.
42) If I could only hang out with three people for the rest of my life, I would choose my boyfriend and my nieces.
43) People often feel compelled to take care of me. While I always appreciate this, I’m a lot more independent than people usually suspect.
44) When I was little I wanted to be just like Wonder Woman, Scarlett O’Hara, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
45) I was three months premature and weighed only 2.5 pounds at birth.
46) One of my dearest friends in the whole wide world was also a preemie and we were delivered by the same doctor.
47) I have a great singing voice.
48) I didn’t go through my wild, crazy, party phase until after college. In college, I was a very cautious, serious, uberdork who read Derrida for fun.
49) I’m still an uberdork who reads Derrida for fun.
50) The years between 22 and 25 were a rough few years. I made a lot of mistakes, hurt a lot of people, and let a lot of people hurt me. I was a total drama queen and did not take care of myself. When I turned 25, my brain clicked into place.
51) I want to learn how to knit, sail, cook, scuba dive, sew, be a gemologist, speak Thai fluently, speak French, and become a good photographer.
52) I sometimes forget what I was talking about in mid-sentence.
53) I am not very good at remembering birthdays. I am also not good at sending stuff to people. I have a closet full of stuff that I need to send to people.
54) I do not handle loss or goodbyes very well. I know few people who do.
55) I have so many guilty pleasures that they require a whole ‘nother list. Some of them are People Magazine, Us Weekly, sushi, ‘80s music, Googling people, and The Girls Next Door.
56) I am not impressed by nice cars or name-brand stuff. I am impressed by cooking abilities and beautiful eyes.
57) I was fortunate enough to have had a privileged upbringing. For some reason, a lot of people I knew in high school (I went to an arts high school) held that against me. Apparently you can’t be artistic or creative or suffer from teenage angst if you also own a horse.
58) My horse, Tex, died the same day I started college (see? I have angst!!!!!!). He was my best friend and soulmate. Riding was never the same after that. I still haven’t recovered and I don’t know if I ever will.
59) I constantly talk on the phone, send text messages, and send e-mails.
60) I vehemently nod my head when other people are talking.
61) I’m learning how to say “no,” which has been very difficult.
62) Teaching children to read has been my greatest accomplishment.
63) I am a terrible test taker.
64) Three different strangers--one painter and two photographers--have approached me and asked me to pose for them. Nude. I declined all three offers, but did agree to be in a commercial for some condominiums. Fully clothed.
65) I have an abnormal fear of birds and people touching me with their feet. I think if a bird touched me with its feet, my head would just explode.
66) During my first year of teaching, I won a prize at a Teach For America retreat because I had had the most students throw up in my classroom.
67) I can’t HANDLE vomit-mine or anyone else’s.
68) Body acceptance has been an arduous process and I still struggle with it. I still dislike my chin and my cankles, but I looooove my eyes and my B Donka Donk.
69) I have very vivid dreams and I always remember them.
70) I’m a terrible liar.
71) I drool in my sleep. A lot.
72) I smoked through high school until my senior year. I quit, and then started again in college when I lived in Ireland. I quit for good during my senior year of college, but I’ve been known to light up in moments of unbearable stress or drunkenness.
73) I make this noise when my ear itches. I sound like what I would imagine the lovechild of a pig and a frog to sound like. There is NOBODY who finds this sound appealing.
74) It takes very little to earn my respect. Trust, however, is a bit of a different animal….
75) I am physically unable to eat breakfast unless it is the weekend and I’ve been able to let my tummy wake up slowly.
76) I’ve lost almost every single piece of jewelry my mother’s ever given me.
77) I was never afraid of heights until I climbed the Duomo in Florence and made the mistake of looking straight down. For some reason, ever since then I get god-awful vertigo. That still doesn’t stop me from climbing things, mind you….
78) I am a Dervish in a Sufi community in New York. And, yes, we whirl…
79) I have a giant teddy bear named Edward that I got for my 7th birthday. 20 years later, he still sleeps next to me.
80) I love anything pink. This obsession with pink did not start until my mid-20s. Before then, I found it slightly nauseating.
81) My celebrity crush is Angelina Jolie. I met Oprah when she spoke at my sister’s high school graduation.
82) My nicknames are: Tiny Walkers, Goon, Alice, Arnold, and Baba. Except for my nieces (they call me Baba), everyone in my family (and a few friends who are like family) calls me Brookie.
83) I can be very black and white about things.
84) I’ve had my heart broken three times.
85) I am a ridiculous animal lover. If I didn’t love children so much, I would have been a vet instead of a teacher.
86) My Aunt Dana and I have had a “Christmas Tea” tradition since I was 10. We get together every year, drink tea, and just talk. Except now it’s a “Christmas Wine and Cocktails” tradition and we gab until the wee hours. Families rock.
87) I am not at all good at managing my money.
88) I am deathly, deathly allergic to bees.
89) I had a betta fish named Puppy who lived with me for three years. I named him Puppy because he could do tricks and he would let me pet him. Seriously. I bawled hysterically when he died.
90) I was a mentor teacher and also provided professional development for Teach For America corps members.
91) My dad and I have stockpiles of stories and inside jokes that only we find funny.
92) I love cross-country road trips. I’ve taken several by myself and almost enjoy the solitary ones more than those with companions.
93) I am a tremendously social person, but I also need a lot of alone time.
94) I have a tendency to exaggerate when I’m telling a story.
95) I have neither the patience nor the desire to write fiction. I will never write a novel. A book of poems and a children’s book series, however? Certainly.
96) I do not consider myself to be a feminist. I FULLY believe in equality for women, and women's rights, and I am most definitely pro-choice. However, I find some aspects of feminist theory just as destructive to women as male dominance and oppression.
97) I believe in second chances.
98) Biggest pet peeve: When slow walkers block the sidewalk and you can’t get around them.
99) I acquire new vocabulary and new languages ridiculously fast.
100) I am a creature of habit. Once I find something I truly like, I eat/drink/wear/watch/purchase/use it forever and ever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
