This week in tidbits I am going to do something different. Partly because I have nothing to talk about and partly because I have everything to talk about. Let me explain. My mind, currently, is filled with different thoughts that I want to share. Some may make you think, some are relevant only to my life, some are just random things that you may not find important but I want to mention—it’s a mix, is what I am trying to say. But the bottom-line is that I have topics I want to talk about, but not to the extent that I can write an entire column on one said topic. So this will just be a random assortment of topics. Think—a buffet. When you go to a buffet, you hardly ever get just one food. You’ll instead fill your plate up with some meat, some vegetables, some pizza, some pasta, some dessert, some fruit—just, everything. And so this tidbits is going to follow a similar format. To do away with any confusion, each different story will be sectioned off from the others. So let’s dive right on in, shall we?
I’m starting with the case of Madeline McCann. Have any of you heard of her? The reason I ask is because, when I have spoken to anyone about her, the response has been “who?” In the shortest terms, she was a 3-year-old girl who disappeared from her hotel room in Portugal in 2007. There have been several theories about what happened to her, but the bottom-line is that it has been 11 years and there has been no sign of her. I mean, we don’t even know if she is alive or not, because she has completely vanished without a trace. Now, there are a lot of missing persons cases out there—many of which are unsolved—but there is none I have been as invested in as this one. For other cases, I’ll read up on them when I find out about them but that’s pretty much it. But this one I have been invested in from the get go. And I know this is because I remember exactly where I was when her disappearance was first announced. It was May 3, 2007 and my family and I were on vacation in Paris for a long weekend (which happened to coincide with my dad’s birthday). I was sitting in the hotel room, playing a game with my sister, and my parents were watching the BBC (the British news channel). Since the child was British and—at the time of watching—it had only been an hour or so since her disappearance was first realized, it was being heavily covered. So I’ve literally been keeping up with this case from the beginning. And I used to look up stuff daily regarding it, which eventually ended up being weekly checks, followed by monthly and then turned to yearly. So, after a break of a few years, I recently spent hours reading articles and watching documentaries about the case (with the hope of finding new information and recalling everything I had previously learnt), but—despite there being a few leads—nothing has come of them. She’s still missing but I really hope they find her soon. I mean I hope she’s alive and I hope they find her in my lifetime. All I know is that, if and when she is found, it will be a big deal. And for an idea of how long it’s been since she disappeared, think about this: she was three when she disappeared and is now 15. Let’s hope they find her, safe and alive, very soon. She deserves to be back with her family and they deserve to have her back. It’s been 11 years. Bring Madeline Home.
Next I would like to give a shout-out to Drum Direction. Who are Drum Direction, you ask? They are an up and coming British band who may or may not be really close family friends of mine (they’re my cousin’s cousins, in fact). They play the dhol (basically an Indian type of drum), and they played it at my cousin’s wedding (yes THE wedding that I have been talking about for months). The first time I heard them was when we were having a rundown of how the wedding day would play out and they were practicing in the living room. Their playing had me tapping my feet in my seat and getting really excited for the wedding day. On the wedding day, they played during the jaan (an Indian tradition that involves dancing before the actual wedding ceremony) and not only got the bride’s side of the family dancing and celebrating, but even the groom’s! And this is a big deal because, as mentioned in a previous tidbits, the groom’s side is not Indian so this was their first time experiencing a jaan. After the wedding I told them (there are two members) that I want to book them for my wedding—whenever that is. So if you are looking for good music to complement any party you may be having, let me know and I’ll contact Drum Direction.J
So now a little update on my educational life. Most of you will know that I am currently earning my Masters of Science in Early Childhood Education. I am due to finish the program in December and, on August 27th, I will be starting my practicum at the College Of The Mainland Child Development Lab. So yes, this does mean I will be leaving The Post but, don’t worry, tidbits will continue. After I finish the program in December and graduate, I will have a Master’s Degree but I will not be certified to teach. So, in order to get certification, I have decided to start a new program that is starting in the school in the Fall, but which I won’t start until the Spring. This program will get me a Master of Arts in Teaching (so I’ll have two Master’s Degrees) as well as teaching certification. It will be an extra one year of schooling but it’ll be worth it in the long run. I mean I hope I won’t have trouble finding a job with two Master’s Degrees and a certification. And I could have just gotten this Master’s Degree I am currently working on and applied for jobs but, in the education world, you can’t really do anything without being certified. And while I do want to teach, that is just the beginning of my goals. I would love to move up and up in my career. That could either be in the educational field itself or in terms of having a job where I can utilize my communications degree and my education degree. Potential jobs I am thinking of include something in the educational administrative field (like a principal), a job as Communications Director or working for an organization like NASA or The Children’s Museum (where I can use the skills I gained in my graduate classes regarding how kids learn and think to design programs for them). Of course this list isn’t exhaustive. A professor of mine actually told me that one of her former students is a consultant for the PBS show, Curious George. And that got my head turning. I mean how INCREDIBLE would it be if I got to write for a PBS show? I used to LOVE watching Arthur as a child. I had toys of all the characters, I watched every episode multiple times, I even got to ‘meet’ him once when he was at our local mall. I mean I was OBBSESSED to the point where, when my sister was born, I was in the waiting room watching Arthur and—when told to come meet my new sister—I said “I’ll come after this episode is over.” So you can imagine how amazing I would feel if, as a child I watched Arthur and as an adult I wrote for it. Wow, I’m getting giddy just thinking about it. But, of course, I am also very passionate about teaching. The more experience I get in field experiences, the more I realize that, yes, I do want to teach for a couple of years (maybe even a few years). But I need to get certified in order to do anything and I am going about it through this program as they will teach me how to teach elementary (since my current program is only for early childhood). So yes, I do want to teach, but teaching is just the first step in my long term goals. And, in the meantime, I will be studying hard to pass my certification exam by December (which I need to pass before I can get into the program) and applying for jobs. Since the classes are mostly in the evening, I could easily work in a school in the daytime. The only problem is that it’s hard to get a teaching job without being certified but I could always go for paraprofessional jobs, assistant jobs and there is always substituting.
And I would just like to end by saying the following. Lately I have been stressed about my future and aspects of my future to the point where it has been keeping me up at night. Which isn’t a good thing because I love sleep. But I have also remembered that, everything that has happened in my life, has been what is best for me. So I will continue to work hard to go after what I want in my life (professionally and personally) but I will also trust in God’s plan for me. I know a lot of people will find me silly for saying this, and that’s okay, but I believe a lot in destiny and fate and the idea that whatever is meant for you, will find you. So that’s how I will try to live my life from now on. No stress, just hard work, going after what I want and having faith.
Photo Sources: The Daily Mirror, UHCL, The Best Master’s Degrees
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