Today a school group from Friendship Children's Center in DC came to the Lego exhibit at the NBM. This school brought a group on Tuesday too. Both days they followed the same routine and it went something like this: Bring the kids upstairs and wait while one of the chaperons goes down to the info desk to buy tickets. Fine? Fine. Chaperon returns with enough tickets for the chaperons only. Fine? Not sure. On Tuesday at least, we were unsure. There were fifteen kids in the group whose age was debateable. At the NBM anyone three and older has to have a ticket. Some of these kids could have been abt 3, but the age range was probably more like 3-6. We figured there was some mistake with the front desk because my co-worker and I had only seen the kids walk by from inside the gallery. We discussed if we should say anything to the chaperons and decided against it, as the fault was probably with us. We noted the name of the school for future reference, let our boss know what we did and then went on with life. (which, now that we're on the subject, this week was crazy, that reminds me of another story).
So anyway, we let Tuesday slide. But today, the school group came back! They followed the same procedure. The chaperons brought the kids upstairs and someone went down to get tickets. Well we were on to them now. We radio'd ahead that a school group had come and that if anyone with the care center t-shirt came to buy tickets they should ask them about children in the group. Chaperons came back and started shuffling kids into the gallery. All the chaperons had tickets but none of the kids. I jumped up and asked the first chaperon 'How old are these kids?' He looked away and mumbled '2' (horrible liar). I looked at him skeptically (thinking to myself, you've got to be kidding me, these kids are as tall as my chest!). They kept shuffling the kids in and I asked all the other leaders how old the kids were, one didn't even look at me or acknowledge the question. Finally one said 'We didn't buy the tickets, you'll have to talk to her' and pointed at the head teacher. Finally my co-worker asked one of the kids in line 'How old are you?' and the kid said boldly 'Four!' (what kid who is four is going to pretend to be 2, I ask you!).
My co-worker pulled the group leader aside and luckily our substitute manager 'happened' to be on the scene, because he had heard our radio call to the ticket desk. So they had a little 'discussion' where the chaperon acted dumb, and I had to chase all the kids around and corral them until everything was sorted.
We looked up the school online later and these kids parents are paying upwards of $1200 a week for tuition. That's about $64,000 a year. It's not like they are scrimping pennies to take the kids out to do nice things... so what is their deal? I really don't get it.
The second story happened on Wednesday. The co-worker who had been with me in the gallery on Tuesday was at the info desk this day. Since the gallery was slow at the time, I had gone back to the Lego build area so start cleaning up. I looked up and saw two women with about 4 kids and two strollers enter the gallery. We have a 'no stroller' policy for the lego exhibit so I hurriedly walked over to the women and explained that they would have to leave their strollers outside. The woman nearest to me didn't seem to understand what I meant, she looked confused and was pointing at her wrist band. The other woman clearly understood and was about to take her stroller out when the other woman started to throw a fit. She threw slanders at me like 'Policy, what is this policy? You don't care about me and my child. I just want to play with my child and I can't (pointing at her child who appeared to be sleeping in the stroller) if I have to hold her, I can't play with my child." blah blah blah. Finally, the woman took her stroller outside.
Later that day, we went back in the play area to tidy some more and there was a huge puddle near where these women had been sitting. The women clearly knew about the puddle b/c they were actively keeping their children from crawling in it, but they didn't inform any of the staff that the puddle was there. I can't promise that the puddle wasn't water, but after what happened with a small "accident" we had in the play area last week, I'm not optimistic.
At any rate what the hell is up with either this woman or this school? What values are they teaching their children about living in a community, about integrity, and about other values that are necessary to get through life successfully? Plenty of kids and parents come through the exhibition every day, they pay their admission fee, they park their strollers outside, they listen politely to the rules, they help their children obey the rules and they don't complain about any of it. They clearly have certain standards that they require themselves and their children to live up to. In fact, the Friendship Children's Center claims its aim is to " instill in its students the values and awareness necessary to build a community of active, aware, and compassionate citizens." So, what are these values they are claiming to espouse? Lying gets you stuff? There's no harm if no one knows? Stealing is ok? What I really had a problem with where this school is concerned is that it wasn't just the boss that was lying and cheating the system, they were expecting it of the other staff, and even the children to some extent. When we asked the first leader in the door how old the kids were, he lied obviously, but in a way, the children lied by not correcting the leader when he said they were two. What the hell is this school doing teaching children and employees to lie? I wish there was a way I could complain without getting the museum in trouble. I'm gonna let my mind tinker about that. What I really want to know is whose idea this was in the first place? The school's? The head leader's? I would want to know if my kids were going to a school like this, that was espousing such LOW, low standards. I'm pretty sure I've seen them come through before this week too. Poop on them and may the culprits be plagued with bad karma and many dirty, explosive diapers.
Chicken or Egg Theory...
Tonight I had a nice dinner with my sister and her husband. We were chatting about a variety of things, but in the course of our discussion my mind came back to an idea I’ve been playing with for a long time. In the lego exhibit a bit part of my job is taking apart the buildings the kids make. Every day there are one or two buildings that are truly creative and unique, but for the most part all the buildings are built using the same methods and “design” patterns that I see every other day. Sometimes I wonder, if the child who designed this buildng has never seen another lego building, can I call this creative even though it looks exactly the same as most other buildings that kids build? Is it the materials (the intuitive nature of a lego, for example) that are influencing this builder, or the culture, or human nature or what? If everyone else uses the same techniques and lego pieces to build a house, yet none of them have ever seen anyone else build a house, is what they are doing creative, or something else?
This led me to think about a concept I have pondered a lot through studying archaeology—this phenomenon that ancient cultures who lived totally independently of one another all developed the same tools and weapons and buildings as each other, though they never had any contact with one another. For example, every culture went through a ‘stone age’ in which they developed tools made of stone to perform simple tasks such as cracking nuts, eventually their skills developed to make knives, and at some point the figured out how to knap. At some point the hunters and gatherers decided they needed more permanent housing and began designing structures with walls and roofs, the majority of hich were square, rectangular or circular. For the most part they used the same tools—branches for roofs at first and then progressing (in many cultures) to cut stone and then eventually tile. Many used dried mud for walls and then progressed towards learning to work with wood and stone. At some point these cultures all decided to form communities, and most interesting to me, to build monuments and commemorate their dead. In some cases these things became so important and intrinsic to their cultures that they hauled 1,000 pound stones over hundreds of miles to build tombs, temples and other monuments. What taught them to commemorate their dead? What taught them to build monumental buildings at all? Why would they feel so strongly about it that they put so much effort, time and resources into completing these tasks? Language also has examples of this, look at how many cultures have a word similar to ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ for the female and male parents in a family unit.
What is it that causes humans to act so similarly to one another and yet so independently of each other? My brother-in-law joked about the ‘common consciousness’ or ‘aliens’. But seriously, is it something about human nature that functions in a way in each one of us to the point that we process problems, questions and ideas in the same way? Are we first influenced by the problem or idea, or the materials at hand? What makes us do such similar things independently of one another? Are we creative? Or just responding to some natural instinct and the materials at hand?
As a Latter-day Saint I have to give a nod to my belief in a divine connection between each of us. I also believe everyone is a child of God and that everyone has a portion of his spirit dwelling with in them. I believe in a Holy Spirit which influences and teaches us, brings things to our remembrance and gives us ideas. In Alma 30:44, the prophet Alma testifies that all things denote there is a God—the movements of the earth, the animals and trees, the stars. I’ve always used this as a way of proving evolution, for example, or the movement of the earth or what have you. I firmly believe that everything on this earth has developed in such a way because of the hand of God. But here is another question, is he personally responsible for directing us in –everything- and telling us what to do in every situation, or is he merely responsible for providing us with the materials we need to be successful and the appropriate encouragement to ‘be creative’ and to solve our own problems. Is he responsible for every answer himself, or does he leave some of that up to us?
This reminds me of the story of the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon who God instructed to build a ship. What is key in this example is that the scriptures do not say that God told him exactly how to build a ship, he just told him that he should build a ship. After the brother of Jared was told what to do, he was left to his own resources to figure out how. Jared came up with an idea and then asked God for advice on where to get materials for his ship. Isn’t the superior teacher the one who knows when to be completely involved in a student’s learning, and when to let the student learn for himself? Don’t we learn more after hours of tinkering and working things out then we do if someone just tells us what to do?
I wonder if this has any bearing on God’s relationship with us. I know that we believe that God leads us in all things, but does that necessarily mean he tells us everything we should do and how we should do it? To me, this idea makes me more in awe of God and his perfect abilities by believing that he –doesn’t- in fact instruct us in absolutely every detail of our lives, but he allows us to use our divine attributes and talents to figure things out and to work through things. I mean, when we are making decisions we are taught to work things out ourselves through study and prayer and hard work and then to go to God for his input, isn’t this kind of similar? By allowing us to be individuals he allows us to progress and to develop—what would it be like if God told us how to do absolutely everything? We would have no confidence in our accomplishments, we would defer to God in every instance—I’m not sure this is totally bad, but how are we ever going to learn to be like God if he micromanages our every action? We wouldn’t even have agency, would we? I mean, even in religious things God does not expect that everyone will believe and act in the same way. He provided different heavens for a reason—because he –doesn’t- expect us to work out all of our problems in the same way and to defer to him in every instance.
So what is the connection between all of my thoughts here? Are we creative people? Or is everything we do a product of our circumstances, human nature, or resources? I’m not sure I have a well-developed idea here. I think it must be a combination of things. I do believe that we are instructed by the Holy Spirit, I do believe He enlightens us to help us solve problems and that he instructs us in certain things like teaching us about our divine heritage. But there is part of me that believes he must leave a lot up to us, in which case there must be something about human nature, and the way we respond to our environment and process problems that means that we come to such similar conclusions even though we live independently of each other. I don’t think God instructs us in all ways, but rather, that he is with us and gives ideas here and there like a teacher might, and then just encourages us in our development. What do you think?
Vegetarian Peanut Soup
This is peanut soup with tofu in it instead of chicken. I know what you are thinking, tofu is gross, well that's only b/c you've never had tofu prepared properly.
Here is the key to cooking with tofu, get the firm kind! Not soft, not medium soft, FIRM. Ok. Another good thing to do is to brown it on at least one side. This requires something that many cooks (including myself) have a hard time with. Dice the tofu, put it in hot oil and then leave the tofu, by itself, just sitting, to brown, leave it for like ten minutes. You can check it every once in a while, but don't get impatient and be stirring the pot all the time, if you want it brown (and you do), then leave it alone.
Ok, so here is how I made my peanut soup.
Ingredients:
few dashes cajun seasoning and chili powder (red pepper is best, or pepper paste, but I didn't have any)
1/2-1 medium onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
a few dolops of peanut butter (the stir in kind)
8-10 oz tofu
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 c water
Pour peanut oil mixed w/ vegetable oil in your pan, turn stove on to medium/high. Let sit for a minute until the oil is very viscous and if you put your hand over it to test the heat you can feel obvious warmth emanating from it.
Put the finely diced onions and garlic in the oil and cook or a couple minutes-- just until they are starting to get glassy. Push all the onions to the side of the pan and place the tofu in the center of the pan to brown. Stir the onions around and on top of the tofu. When one side is sufficiently brown you can turn the tofu onto another side. Put in spices, including freshly ground pepper. Put in as much as you can handle. When the tofu is of the browness you desire, dump a few spoonfuls of peanut butter on top and pour in the whole can of diced tomatoes, water and all. Add a little extra water, stir it all together, bring it to a simmer, turn down heat, and then just cook it until its the consistency you want. You can serve it over rice, but I just eat it plain. Its delicious and nutritious. You could add carrots, potatoes, zucchini, whatever you like, its just a standard soup/stew. Eat with sour dough bread or anjera, would be delicious.
Enjoy!
Here is the key to cooking with tofu, get the firm kind! Not soft, not medium soft, FIRM. Ok. Another good thing to do is to brown it on at least one side. This requires something that many cooks (including myself) have a hard time with. Dice the tofu, put it in hot oil and then leave the tofu, by itself, just sitting, to brown, leave it for like ten minutes. You can check it every once in a while, but don't get impatient and be stirring the pot all the time, if you want it brown (and you do), then leave it alone.
Ok, so here is how I made my peanut soup.
Ingredients:
few dashes cajun seasoning and chili powder (red pepper is best, or pepper paste, but I didn't have any)
1/2-1 medium onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
a few dolops of peanut butter (the stir in kind)
8-10 oz tofu
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 c water
Pour peanut oil mixed w/ vegetable oil in your pan, turn stove on to medium/high. Let sit for a minute until the oil is very viscous and if you put your hand over it to test the heat you can feel obvious warmth emanating from it.
Put the finely diced onions and garlic in the oil and cook or a couple minutes-- just until they are starting to get glassy. Push all the onions to the side of the pan and place the tofu in the center of the pan to brown. Stir the onions around and on top of the tofu. When one side is sufficiently brown you can turn the tofu onto another side. Put in spices, including freshly ground pepper. Put in as much as you can handle. When the tofu is of the browness you desire, dump a few spoonfuls of peanut butter on top and pour in the whole can of diced tomatoes, water and all. Add a little extra water, stir it all together, bring it to a simmer, turn down heat, and then just cook it until its the consistency you want. You can serve it over rice, but I just eat it plain. Its delicious and nutritious. You could add carrots, potatoes, zucchini, whatever you like, its just a standard soup/stew. Eat with sour dough bread or anjera, would be delicious.
Enjoy!
Is just wondering
Who the heck reads my blog?! I'm really curious here. Every time I log in there are 10-20 more people who have viewed it. Who are all you people?! :)
Happy Summer!
Happy Summer!
New topic-specific blog
Check out my new blog at friendingferdinand.wordpress.com-- it is tracking my journey to achieving financial independence and a providential living.
Leftovers
A great thing to do with leftovers? Make pizza pancakes out of them! In Korea Kimchi pizza/pancakes are very common and delicious. I also had an Indian friend whose mother would make us pancakes out of leftovers after school. Its very simple, take whatever leftovers you have, mix with 1/2 cup or so of flour or pancake batter, or a mixture of both, add an egg and fry. Its delicious. Tonight, mine are made from an eggplant-vegetable stew thing I made. Watery things are fine, b/c you have to make it somewhat soupy anyway! Like pancake dough. :P
Mmmm...
Mmmm...
Delicious Summery Drink
I did this intentionally, and was totally surprised about how delicious it was.
Steep four bags of herbal mint tea in a pot of just-under-boiling water until you have a nice dark brew. You don't want to steep mint tea for too long, or in boiling water, because it can burn and give you a bitter flavor.
Add this brew to a pitcher of Target brand pomegranate crystal lite, add a touch more water, chill, enjoy.
Its so good, its unbelievable. Would also be delightful with some lemon slices, or strawberries floating in?
Steep four bags of herbal mint tea in a pot of just-under-boiling water until you have a nice dark brew. You don't want to steep mint tea for too long, or in boiling water, because it can burn and give you a bitter flavor.
Add this brew to a pitcher of Target brand pomegranate crystal lite, add a touch more water, chill, enjoy.
Its so good, its unbelievable. Would also be delightful with some lemon slices, or strawberries floating in?
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