New Drawings, New Skills

Posted on November 4, 2011 by PapaTrio

I have to say that I have always thought La Petite Fille is an incredible artist. Maybe it is just me, I don’t know, but when I look into the expressions that the characters she draws make, I am just overwhelmed with joy & pride. She seems to catch a look in the eye or a set to the mouth that expresses a depth of emotion that is well beyond her years. It seems to represent true insight into the human condition.

Just check out today’s photo gallery! There are several things I love about these drawings! One, she has become so careful with her coloring & lines. Two, the texture that she creates with the colors. And three, the details that surprise in the most unlikely of places. Have a look & tell me if you agree!

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Time Flies Like the Wind!

Posted on November 3, 2011 by PapaTrio

Oh my goodness! How time gets away from me. I was gonna post about Halloween. I was gonna post about some drawings that La Petite Fille did. I was gonna post about our job search. I was gonna… You get the idea.

Well, sir, here is a post about a few things. Namely Halloween 2011!

What a successful night it was. Melanie Cattrell, La Petite Fille’s recess friend, Remy’s, mother, planned an amazing Halloween night! We started with a spaghetti dinner that couldn’t be beat at their house. Then we boarded buses. That’s right BUSES! B-U-S-E-S! And drove around Phu My Hung visiting the households of generous SSIS faculty members to have our trick-or-treating fun!

La Petite Fille had so much fun! And she was intrepid, too! She was out of the bus and down the street before I could say BOO! She followed the crowds, got up to the front, said her trick-or-treat & thank you, appreciated her haul, & was on to the next house with the best of them. She also mixed it up on the bus & made a couple of new friends.

Next year, Maman Trio can go!

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Messy Messy Day

Posted on October 28, 2011 by PapaTrio

It was a day where Papa Trio had his hands in messy things all day long!

First was the pig brain dissections that he did with his AP Psychology students today. They did a great job in spite of having really terrible brains to work with. We get them from the butcher, so (a) they have not been prepared in formaldehyde so they are squishy and melt really quickly especially if handled too much; (b) they are usually hacked so that they are missing the dura matter, pineal gland, & olfactory blulbs and often they’ve had bits of bone & pig hair driven into them; & (c) they can be old which makes them even more formless & messy. These were the worst I’d seen in three years! But, the students did a GREAT job!

Second was the puppy food that I had to dish out to the two little Phu Quoc pups that Giang, the illustrious housekeeper, left here for the weekend. Her sister had had two new puppies delivered to our house so Giang could bring them to her; I don’t know why. But, Maman Trio & I saw them and knew we wanted one. So, Maman Trio suggested that we make a trial run of it & babysit them over the weekend. Canned dog food smells bad, is squishy & gross, and is messy!

And third was puppy pee! Luckily there hasn’t been any puppy poop which other than being squishier than pee for obvious reasons is equally as gross as pee. Either puppy poop is not as gross as other kinds of poop are or puppy is grosser than other kinds of pee are. I don’t know which. Still, if you have puppies you’ll have both.

Now, that is a messy day. Give me a piece of chocolate… oh wait, I guess there is that fourth puppy mess to discuss after all!

The dogs seem to be a Phu Quoc dog & Shar Pei mix. Just for comparison’s sake, here are some pics of each kind of dog.

The Phu Quoc dog is from the island of Phu Quoc & is considered to be the national dog of Vietnam. There is not a strongly established pedigree, but typically they have the ridge back and curled tail, and a short hard coat. They can have many colors, but tan seems popular. The snout is mostly long and pointed. The Shar Pei, on the other hand, is very well established. What I like about the mix is the gentle wrinkles, short hard coat, tan coloring, & whitish mussel.

Unfortunately, the Shar Pei is not suitable for children as they are aggressive & intolerant. La Petite Fille being an especially clumsy & unaware is probably not a good candidate for us.

These two seem to have been taken from their mom a little early. They aren’t quite thrilled with solid food, are very uncoordinated, and listless.

 

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A Star is Given!

Posted on October 27, 2011 by PapaTrio

And now, she’s a star! Today La Petite Fille earned her first ESLR Star! ESLR stands for “Expected School-wide Learning Result” and the teachers hand out these ESLR Star certificates if a student does something that fits in one of the five categories.

She got her STAR for “having a sense of self.” Students can show a sense of self by doing things that express their convictions or viewpoints, display that attributes of a lifelong learner, or exhibit positive character & moral convictions.

I don’t know what she did, but Ms Heather saw & slapped her with an ESLR Star! Maman Trio & I couldn’t be more proud!

Our rising ESLR Star!

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“I Got Sneaky”

Posted on October 24, 2011 by PapaTrio

The Trio returned to school with thousands across HCMC after both AIS & SSIS’ fall breaks ended today. It was a day of rude awakenings & culture shock: “What time is it? I have to be where? When?” The only good thing to happen today: Giang, the illustrious housekeeper, returned to work after a week in Hanoi visiting her just-recovered grandmother. I didn’t have to make my own coffee or breakfast this morning.

While my day at school was great, I always enjoy my students and my classes, La Petite Fille’s day was less than spectacular. The weest Trio is not a strong swimmer; not only does she love it more than any other Trio member, but also most of the people living on the earth. Today was swimming class, but they asked her to go swim in the shallow pool because she’s not a strong swimmer. She was so upset by this that she cried, sat down, and refused to do anything. Then she was uncooperative throughout the rest of the afternoon.

She loves telling stories, but getting a detailed chronological narrative out of her about anything that happened during her day is like, well, pulling teeth to use an old cliche. Eventually, she told me that she had to sit at her desk during “sharing time” (I guess this is what my generation called show-and-tell) and she was to listen to the other children tell about whatever they brought. But…

“That’s when I got sneaky,” she said. Ulp! I thought. All of those “Henry & Suzy” stories are having a bad influence. I was, literally, afraid to ask, but I did. “I made a map!” Whew! Not so bad, I guess, but did your teacher know, I wondered. “No. I hid behind the desk.” Okay, that sounds like every other student I know, so what was the map of? “Home.” What? Home? The way home? From school? “Yes, the way home… from school.” Well, relief is not too strong of a word to use here.

“I’m going to say ‘I’m sorry to Miss Heather tomorrow,” she promised.

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Of Swimming Clouds

Posted on October 22, 2011 by PapaTrio

During Fall Break we’ve tried to swim as much as we could which means we went once. You know Maman & Papa Trio both hate swimming as much as La Petite Fille loves it, so there is a constant tension between Maman Trio setting Papa up to take La Petite Fille swimming and Papa Trio trying to wiggle his way out of it. I don’t know why, though, because I always love it. We have so much fun swimming.

Today, though the focus is on clouds. As we sat next to the pool drip drying, we lay back & looked up at the clouds.

“Those are cumulus clouds,” La Petite Fille pointing up at the great fluffy clouds just beginning to clear the surrounding apartments. “And those are cirrus clouds. They always bring good weather. They’re my favorite!”

“I like cumulus clouds,” I said to her. “They’re so fluffy.”

“Cirrus are the highest,” La Petite Fille continued. “Stratocumulus always bring bad weather.”

It was like talking to an adult. Whatever they’re doing in first grade science, they should keep it up! The things La Petite Fille knows is amazing!

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LOL

Posted on October 21, 2011 by PapaTrio

La Petite Fille was on the computer tonight at one of her favorite sites, brainpop jr. (you’ll have to create an account to access the media she was watching). She was watching a video about email. Annie, the hostess of those videos, explained that we use lots of abbreviations when writing email like these:

  • Laugh out loud: LOL
  • Just kidding: JK
  • Talk to you later: TTYL

Next thing I knew, La Petite Fille was at her desk and asking me how to spell “laugh!” Well, here’s the result:

email abbreviation dictionary

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Fall Break Outing

Posted on October 21, 2011 by PapaTrio

It is Fall Break here at Trio Central! Both Maman Trio, La Petite Fille, & Papa Trio are off of school this week! We haven’t done a whole whole lot, though. We are looking to change schools next year, so Maman Trio & I have been busy preparing applications for various schools that have jobs for the both of us. We’ve prioritized our needs this way: 1) a safe country, 2) a good school for La Petite Fille, 3) a family friendly environment (this is pretty close to 2), and 4) schools that will help us professionally. The permutations are mind boggling, though!

La Petite Fille has had two play dates this break! She went to her friend, Mehar’s house and Mehar came here! She had a lot of fun playing with her.

In today’s photo gallery:

  1. La Petite Fille loves to pretend to be a hamster! Here are several pictures of her hamster pose & face. Check out those teeth! And
  2. In case you were ever wondering about Vietnamese style coffee, here is a photo essay Maman Trio put together.
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Blogging Up a Storm!

Posted on October 19, 2011 by PapaTrio

We’ve been blogging up a storm at Trio Central, just not here where you’d expect it:

  1. Maman Trio has made a site for our eportfolio that isn’t exactly a blog, but it is close enough. Let me know what you think: Marshall Trio eportfolio
  2. Maman Trio has been blogging for a class she’s been taking. She’s working on her IT certificate through SUNY Buffalo. It is a fantastic blog. I swear someone would pay her for this content: Maman Trio’s CoETail Blog
  3. Papa Trio has had his AP Psychology students blogging away on a site. Unfortunately, I keep it by invitation only, so it cannot be linked to.
  4. The Trio had a contest for the e-portfolio. I put up a WordPress site for it. You can guess how the contest ended.

All this blogging, though got me to thinking and feeling guilty about this blog. So, here I am AGAIN! But this time it is different! I have pictures from our travels to share! First, take a blast to the past & check out our athleticism. Then it is on to Europe 2010 & New Zealand 2011!

 

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Hot on the Trail…

Posted on July 23, 2011 by PapaTrio
  1. If you want to watch Home Alone 3, you’ll have to find it! Look where the kiwi’s beak is pointing!
  2. Go to the box with lots of colors!
  3. Where do the fishes swim?
  4. What’s under a party hat?
  5. Find the Monkey Tree.
  6. What room is for two?
  7. Where do you rest your head?

And with that little scavenger hunt, a new obsession was born. La Petite Fille was hooked and thousands of clues were generated and small bits of paper hidden all over the house!

What amazed me the most is that she immediately got the logic and sequence of it. Each clue had to point to the next and at the next place a new clue. Too often, I’ve seen people want to put the clue, look where the kiwi’s beak points, where the kiwi’s beak points. Of course, that won’t lead you to where the kiwi’s beak is pointing.

But, the last laugh is on me. To find Pengi, the Little Blue Penguin, she had to put on her pajamas, brush her teeth, & get into bed to get clues. Ha! Ha! She was happy to put on her pajamas & brush her teeth for once.

I felt like a genius.

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