We're In The Pipeline

Today, in the mail, we received the confirmation from the Dept. of Homeland Security that they have officially received Onions application for permanent residency! 

This my receipt that I am his spousal sponsor.

His application for work authorization.  This should come in January or February.

And his application for his transit document, although our lawyer advises he doesn't leave the country until he has his permanent resident card in hand.  The next step is a biometric exam.

Cranes, Walnuts and BBQ

Weekends are for adventure.  This past Sunday, Onions and I got in the car and drove east into the Central Valley.  As fall rolls around, the Sand Hill Cranes are beginning to arrive for the winter.

We went out to a reserve, which was basically a flooded field, and saw the cranes just lounging around.

Mornings and sunset are the best times to see the cranes do their fly-ins. And apparently, we need to come back and watch them "dance."

The impetus for the trip to the Central Valley was to visit Kendra and Brian, who were down visiting Brian's grandmother's house and farm.  Doesn't this house look totally classic American?

About 7 years ago, the farm was turned into a Walnut tree orchard.  So we spent part of the afternoon walking around the farm.  Three weeks before, the walnuts had been harvested.

We also took a trip to the walnut processing plant.  I LOVE this kind of machinery.

Here trucks of walnuts (these seem to have their husks already shucked) along with all the leaves and sticks are loaded into the machinery.

Lots of blowers and separators....

This is the final belt where workers pick out the bad looking walnuts.

And then they are set to dry for a few weeks.  The walnuts are sold to a distributor who actually shells them.

That afternoon, after I took a nap on the lawn, it was BBQ time.

Ribs, BBQ Chicken, Sausage, fish, pesto penne.....

The BBQ was in honor of the family that helps Brian with the walnut growing and harvesting.  A perfect early evening in Central California.

The BBQ gang.  Brothers Kelly sitting on the steps in the middle!

I-130, I-485, etc.

No, these aren't interstate freeways, these are the numbers of one of the many forms that Onions and I needed to fill out for the Department of Homeland Security to begin to apply for the immigration process for his hopefully, eventual citizenship.  So, this will part of the documentation of the process as it goes along.

About a month ago, we contacted my high school friend, who is also an immigration lawyer in Seattle. We explained to her our situation and it's nice to hear from her, that things appear, for us to be fairly straightforward.  We signed a contract to work with her, and her firm, and the process began.

She sent us a link to fill out forms and questionnaires on her website and to upload documents. The forms included historical and biographical information from both of us. This was fairly straightforward except when it came to the fact that Onions must reveal he's a member of the Chinese Communist Party when the form asked, "have you ever been affiliated with or a member or a political party." So, it turns out that we had to write an additional statement explaining that being a member of the party in China, at this point, is an honor and that it gave him a leg up in getting a job in Beijing. By getting a job in Beijing, his employer would be able to sponsor him for a Beijing residence permit. Only with a residence permit, would he be able to purchase real estate and get his services (medical and children's education) in Beijing. So, by explaining that being in party is an honor not everyone is entitled to (you have to be a top university student to apply and then get accepted) and from that he obtained direct personal benefit that it only made sense for him to join.  Plus we stated explicitly that he was never involved in any political activity.

These questionnaires also asked about former residences and family information as well as work history.  Turns out that my forms were much more difficult and challenging to fill out considering that I have moved around so much in the past five years.  My forms were full and all these different addresses and employers.  Once these were filled out (it took over a week to get them all correct as Onions had to go back and ask his parents their birthdays and stuff, HA!) and for the forms to look right. 

At the same time, we had to submit a lot of documentation. For instance, we had to submit copies of our passports (makes sense), Onions current visa, our marriage certificate, my most recent tax forms, my employment contract to make sure I have income, his birth certificate and my birth certificate.  We're not done yet.  We had to submit documents that verify our lives together, for instance a document from the utility company that has both our names on it, we had to get onto the same phone plan (we finally are both on AT&T and have internet at home, woohoo) and lots of pictures from friends with dates, names and locations. Then we also had to send copies of selected plane tickets from different trips to verify that we traveled together as well as a letter from each of us explaining how we met and what we love about each other.

Not done yet.  Onions had to get an official medical report from a DHS approved doctor. The doctor had to verify that he had all his shots, and so we had to have him go get shots. It turns out that Onions also had to go get a chest XRay to confirm he doesn't have TB. Once that was all confirmed and we had documentation, we were able to get a sealed medical report from the doctor to submit.

Then the office in Seattle send down these forms with our information on it to us and we spent a half hour signing and dating many copies of these forms. I had to also sign an affidavit of support stating that I would support him for 10 years even if we divorce. Onions also signed documents for a temporary work visa as well as an application for a travel document.

We sent this all in with the medical report, a passport photo of me, six of Onions and two checks, totally around $1,500 to the Department of Homeland Security back to Seattle.  Hopefully, we have dotted all the proverbial i's and crossed those t's correctly that everything can be submitted and the process can begin.  His tourist visa expires in early December and for about six weeks, he's going to be in limbo before his work certificate comes into effect.  It was made abundantly clear that he can't travel outside the country until all the paperwork goes through. 

Cross your fingers that things go smoothly and that no major world event happens for the US to radically change the immigration process in the next year. And let's hope that we've done everything correctly. More news to come when it happens, but hopefully it will be good news in early to mid-January.  It might not be until February with all the holidays and the fact that we are filing in San Francisco, which is a notoriously busy office and has longer wait times to handle the mass of applications.

Impressions of My New Teaching Job After One Month

I sit here on a Saturday morning after four weeks of teaching at Lick and taking some time to reflect on my first month at the school.  This reflection actually is congruent with a huge push in the Mathematics Department. After working by myself for the past six years, I've joined a department that has a very strong focus on teaching mathematical (and it turns out schoolwide) habits of mind.  IMAGINE, INQUIRE, COLLABORATE, PERSIST and REFLECT.  These words are posted throughout the school and we in the Math department have brought those words into the classroom.  I've always claimed that I've worked on teaching students how to think, and in someways I do, but in comparison to many of my colleagues, I've got a long way to go. I simply don't have the patience to observe my students struggle through the process of self-discovery...and so I very often jump in and "tell" them. Part of it stems from my desire to "get on to the next topic" but a lot of it is also how excited I am to teach them interesting things that I think are cool.

On the collaboration portion of the habits of mind, in teaching my 10th and 12th graders, I am seeing how their teachers on the other classes (both Math and other subjects) have really done a fantastic job of teaching students to work together effectively.  I am teaching a 9th grade Algebra 1 class and when I ask students to collaborate, it doesn't look like what it does in my other classes.  It's clear that I need to teach this skill and I don't really know how.  I'm experimenting and I'm learning (in my reflection upon this first month) that I really have to EXPLICITLY tell students, "do this." I need to do this as it's the Lick way, to have a great deal of collaborative learning and I need to join the team on this one.

In teaching Algebra 1, I was worried that I would run out of things to teach because it's really so simple in my mind.  But we, meaning my teaching partner who teachers the other section, are really working on teaching students to write out their answers and to explain more deeply their understanding.  For instance, 4-(-6), why is the answer 10?  Well, in the past, I would have just let students get away with knowing what to do, but for the first time I have taught it on the number line and it comes from understanding. In fact, I've now officially learned why as well.  So my understanding of the material is deeper than it used to be.  This has also happened in my 10th grade Algebra 2 Accelerated course. In teaching with my partner, we have shared perspectives on problems and I am teaching more difficult material, because I'm being pushed to do so, than I ever have.  So, remember when I said it was important for me to teach again with other colleagues, this is exactly what I wanted.  I'm learning from my colleagues and teaching them as well, at least I hope.  I'm being challenged in my teaching for the first time in years.  And that's a good thing.

As for the school itself, the focus of the school is different that Head-Royce.  At least I think it is...I can't discern if things have just changed so much in schools in the six years I've been gone, or whether it's the school cultures themselves.  If I were to have to say one thing that is a truth, it's that HRS admits first on academics. For instance, at least when I was there, every 9th grade student was expected to have finished Algebra 1 upon entering the 9th grade. The fact that there are 21 out of 128 in the 9th grade that are in Algebra 1 is a sign to me that Lick admits on the whole student. It's a clear statement on the fact that equity of access is at the heart of the mission of the school.  I like it as it's challenging to teach a student population that is so heterogeneous. In fact, it challenges me to face the fact that I might just not be sensitive to issues of economic diversity and race. I have also realized how abundantly clear that I am a product of independent, private education and that it's the only thing I've known.  In many ways, I'm like one of those wealthy people know doesn't know what it's like NOT to be in the world in which I've lived.  Also, I've found that the faculty, unlike HRS, comes from all different places in the world and educational backgrounds. Nowhere have I found that document stating where teachers got their degrees. Many of the teachers on the faculty come from public teaching backgrounds and a number from parochial backgrounds and because of the Technical Arts requirement, many of those teachers come from the professional world.

Lastly, what's amazing, and am not sure if this would have happened at another school, but this fall, we had a students come out as transgender. The support from the administration and the subsequent faculty meetings to answer questions and to field suggestions as to what kind of training we might need to better support this student as well as other potential transgender students in our midst is amazing. Part of this is the school but the fact that the school is in San Francisco makes it a liberal haven within the incredibly liberal haven of the Bay Area.

This is a fascinating place to work....and my eyes are wide, wide open.  My ears are always picking up on things that make me go.....WOW.  I will try to remember them and report back in future reflections on this new teaching position.  It will be interesting to see how, in time, they become the norm to me.

Slate's Political Gabfest Comes to San Francisco

Somehow when I was in China, right after I got my iPhone, I stumbled across my first podcast and the one that I remember making an impression on me was Slate's Political Gabfest. So, when I heard they were coming to San Francisco, I snapped up a couple tickets.

I took Onions and to his credit, he kept up with most of it but then got a bit bored.

Face The Nation's and Slate's Political Correspondent, John Dickerson, had us give a greeting to his kids.

BONUS!  Roman Mars of 99% Invisible was the emcee.

So what is the Gabfest?  It's just three people (Dickerson, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz) sit around talking about current events.  This evening's topics were the upcoming second Republican candidates debate and the impending government shutdown.  Listening to the podcast when I was in China was one of the main ways I kept informed on what was going on in the US.  This was one of the reasons I moved back to SF, the fact that I the big city would attract such events that I could walk to.

Temporary Digs in the Mission

Since our move back to the Bay Area, Onions and I have been housing nomads as we wait to move back into my house.  We started for 8 days in Oakland, then three weeks cat and housesitting down in San Bruno and now, as we wait for the call from my agent telling us the tenants at our place have moved out, we are here in the VERY hipster and gentrified Mission, on 22nd Street at Valencia.

How trendy?  We are staying in an apartment above an art gallery!

Tonight, there is an show opening and so we were hanging out downstairs, looking at the art.  One of the installations (yeah, can you imagine me using that word?) was one of Russian nested dolls.

The opening party spilled out into the backyard.

The gallery has a "parklet" space that was constructed this week.  Think beanbags!

Here's the living room of our very nice apartment.  It's expensive, but after living with cats (and their massive amounts of fur EVERYWHERE) for three weeks, it's nice to be in a clean and tidy place.

Modern Kitchen.

The bedroom....with a back sunroom! 

The peaceful and light filled sunroom (more beanbags) looks into the trees of the backyard.  Happy digs for the next few weeks, but looking forward to stop being nomads.

Lick-Wilmerding

For the many years I lived in SF, I often drove by Lick-Wilmerding when driving down to go shopping in Daly City.  Never did I ever think that I would actually be teaching there.

The Upper Hallway of the Main Academic Classroom Building. 

Three of my four classes are taught in the first classroom....Room 1.

Downstairs, tucked away in a back corner, down a small hallway....The Math Department Office!

The view from the Math Office.

All eight of us full time Math teachers have our desks in the Math Office.  It's fun to be in a big office again with my colleagues.

My desk!  Yes, you see two laptops.  One of them is my personal laptop, the other, the one given to me by the school.  I keep a "separation of work and school" policy with my computers.

The classroom building opens up into the more modern portion of campus.  Here's the dining hall, or in Lick speak, "The Caf"

Usually filled with tables for the students, this was taken on Back to School Night.

Full Sandwich bar.

The salad bar in the foreground, and the hot lunch line in the background.  Free lunch!

The library on the top level, and photo labs, classrooms a drafting studio on the bottom level.

Lick was started as the California School of Mechanical Arts by James Lick.  Students still must take shop, electrical, metal and computer arts as a graduation requirement.  Head, Hearts and Hands.

Down on the lower level of campus are the studios.

The Design Studio Building, which also houses the Theater Tech

I wish I could take these classes with the students...but it's not allowed.  Boo.

The view from campus with Bernal Heights hill in the distance.  It's a 5 minute drive, 15 minutes by bike and about the same by trolley.