Friday, January 30, 2009

25 Random Things About Me

So... I've gotten tagged I think 5 times now.  No one need feel obligated to post, but if you're reading this and feel inspired to tell all about yourself, please consider yourself tagged. :)

1. The longest I have ever been at the same school was college- Furman for four full, expensive years. :)
2. I've been to every type of school I can think of: U.S. public, U.S. private, homeschool, classical school, bi-lingual (French-English), foreign public (Ecole Elementaire Publique de Chateaugay), foreign private Catholic (St. Cecile in Cebazat, France), and boarding school (college). I also commuted to college from my parents' house one year.
3. My favorite model of education is the classical method, especially when combined with home-schooling in the primary and middle school years. I now teach in a classical home-school/school (we have the kids 2 days a week, and tell the parents what to teach them 3 days at home).
4. I completed the Pre-Health Certificate requirements in college even though I was a music education major.
5. I still dream of becoming a nurse-midwife (Master of Science of Nurse Midwifery) -- I even know what schools I want to go for for my second bachelor's (BSN), and my master's.
6. All of my closest friends are older than I am, including my husband.
7. In college, my roommate and I shared our first name, telephone, classes, textbook, major department (music), clothes, and shoes. Is it any wonder we picked nicknames for ourselves?
8. My college nickname was Jocelyn, and a good many college buddies still refer to me and call me that. (My roomie took on the name Trinity. I still call her Trin, usually.)
9. I currently am a preschool teacher as well as a middle-school and high-school choir teacher. I'm about to step in as the high school chemistry substitute.
10. I want to have lots of children, and pray often about adoption and foster-parenting as a part of that. Ryan says "we'll see." =D
11. I enjoy writing curriculum.
12. I believe correct grammar and a grasp of how grammar works is absolutely essential to good communication and grasp of a language. Yep, that's why I'm a classical school teacher... and it helps that I've had to learn several foreign languages and understand their grammar.
13. A huge pet peeve of mine is misplaced apostrophes.
14. I speak/read/write English, French, and Spanish fluently, and can take on an Argentine, Castillian, or Guatamalan accent for the latter. I can read and translate Latin fairly well (especially with my handy dictionary close-by). I also can understand and stumble along in Italian, Catalan, and Portuguese (on my study abroad in Italy I somehow wound up translating at times... scary).
15. I'm super-excited that my husband's in seminary, mostly because I plan to read and learn along with him.
16. I dream of learning Greek and Hebrew. Irish Gaelic, too. :)
17. I also dream of one day hiking the entire Appalachian trail.
18. My senior year of college, I worked three jobs (only one of them paying), and commuted half an hour one-way to both my student teaching site and my university. The three jobs were: student teaching intern in an elementary school, student chaplain on-call at Greenville Memorial Hospital, and catering assistant at Furman's catering business (I HATE Aramark). I was also planning a wedding, trying to spend some time with my family, taking my last college class, and job-hunting 4 states away. The Lord showed His power to sustain-- me, and especially my poor fiance who bore the brunt of my exhaustion!
19. Countries starting with the letter "I" hold a special fascination for me; Israel, Ireland, Iceland, India, and Indonesia all beckon me. I want to backpack across Iceland. Ryan, are you reading this? :)
20. I have Celiac's disease (I can't digest gluten, the protein in most grains), as well as a severe soy intolerance. Thank the Lord I'm no longer lactose-intolerant, too. Yeah, the fact that I'm allergic to life doesn't stop the Szrama-mobile from gallivanting around the globe. :)
21. My dad's paternal family has a lot of Irish blood (my dad, his brother and his sister all have or have had red hair)-- I blame that for my love of all things Irish. I research Irish myths and history, and in college won a contest for my research paper on early Irish music. If you ever want to get me fired up about it, you're in for a long conversation!! :)
22. My new hero in the faith is "St." Patrick. That man was zealous for the Savior he loved, and a deeply committed pastor of his people. His writings drip Gospel and Christ-centeredness. He reads like the Apostle Paul, Augustine, CS Lewis, CJ Maheny and John Piper, when it comes to deeply enjoying and finding satisfaction in the Triune God.
23. Green beans still make me shudder.
24. As a child, my greatest disappointment was finding out that there was no frontier anymore. I really wanted to be a pioneer. I make up for it by still trying to do everything "in-house" that I can. Waste not, want not, you know!
25. I am at heart an introvert, despite being tagged as an extrovert by everyone when they first meet me. Hey! Just because you can talk to anyone doesn't mean you really are eager to share your inmost soul to them, or that you want to talk when you're thinking through something!

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