Last week, a good friend and I decided to watch a movie, and we chose The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
I forgot how much I absolutely love that movie, and that story in general. So, in the past week, I've reread a wonderful biography I have on C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, as well as watched the movie adaptation of the latter (for the first time...and then twice more. Yes, I watched the same movie three times in a week. It was really good).
Narnia is a classic story, and it deserves to be right where it is with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as the heralds of the epic fantasy series genre. I love Lewis' style. It paints such a beautiful world so simply, through children's eyes, and yet, it becomes so much more reading it from an adult perspective. As a kid, you skip over lines like "I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been - if you've been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you - you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness." (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe page 158). As an adult, you find a sort of a twinge of longing and pain in them.
Lewis' life was full of pain and that kind of longing, a sensation he called simply "Joy", the feeling of desire for something just out of reach mixed with a deep kind of happiness. I think it's a beautiful concept, and one I definitely relate to. It's almost painfully beautiful, that feeling of looking forward to a place that is better, somewhere and something beautiful.
Another reason I can't wait to go to London (92 days left!): Lewis loved to take long walks in the countryside, and that is what he based some of his beautiful scenic descriptions on. I can't wait to walk in such a wonderful place, right when everything is blossoming for the spring!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
First Days
"I love first days. Oh, they terrify me. I hardly sleep the night before. I spend hours wandering my apartment before, worrying. I plan meticulously. This is especially true if I'm nervous. Last night was no different.
Today was my first day observing classes. It's one of the first steps towards me becoming a teacher. I woke up at six this morning (I haven't gotten up close to that early since high school seminary). I had to wear a skirt, something I do not do normally. I was feeling...not very much like me."
(I wrote that right after that first day. What follows came a week later.)
When I walked into the school that first day, I will admit I still wasn't sure if teaching was right for me. I had put myself in that direction because I felt like there was nothing else I could do with what I love that would be practical.
Now, after this first week, I know that this is what I want to do. I love those kids. They are difficult, but they are wonderful. They are just starting to learn about the world, how hard it really is, how marvelous it can be. Every day, something new is opened to them. Oh, the drama is the same (I nearly started laughing when I heard "So, he asked me to be his girlfriend", and "I'm not speaking to her" from those ninth graders, because how many times did I hear those phrases in high school?)
They are ingenious. they come up with so many clever ideas and questions, I wonder why society doesn't utilize them more. Every science fiction plot was right; any bad guy looking for a clever solution just has to use the brain of a teenager!
I can't wait for this week. It is going to be even better. Hopefully, I'll get to teach at least part of a lesson at some point this week...my first time really teaching kids! I can't wait to see each of the days to come.
Today was my first day observing classes. It's one of the first steps towards me becoming a teacher. I woke up at six this morning (I haven't gotten up close to that early since high school seminary). I had to wear a skirt, something I do not do normally. I was feeling...not very much like me."
(I wrote that right after that first day. What follows came a week later.)
When I walked into the school that first day, I will admit I still wasn't sure if teaching was right for me. I had put myself in that direction because I felt like there was nothing else I could do with what I love that would be practical.
Now, after this first week, I know that this is what I want to do. I love those kids. They are difficult, but they are wonderful. They are just starting to learn about the world, how hard it really is, how marvelous it can be. Every day, something new is opened to them. Oh, the drama is the same (I nearly started laughing when I heard "So, he asked me to be his girlfriend", and "I'm not speaking to her" from those ninth graders, because how many times did I hear those phrases in high school?)
They are ingenious. they come up with so many clever ideas and questions, I wonder why society doesn't utilize them more. Every science fiction plot was right; any bad guy looking for a clever solution just has to use the brain of a teenager!
I can't wait for this week. It is going to be even better. Hopefully, I'll get to teach at least part of a lesson at some point this week...my first time really teaching kids! I can't wait to see each of the days to come.
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