tararehrig.com

two and half months.  hundreds of volunteers.  thousands of man hours.  a little bit of blood, sweat and tears.

a house became a home.

this morning, i joined dozen of other well wishers at the perez’s, to dedicate their new house to the Lord.

my heart swelled with pride and joy as i stood in the freshly painted kitchen and watched as they accepted the keys to their very own home.  as i walked through the rooms, i recalled the saturdays i spent.  building walls, tacking weather proof, hanging sheet rock, painting ceilings, chopping trees, laying sod.

from the ground up, i watched a plot of land transform from a bare foundation.  to a beautiful.  perfect.  home.

what a gift i received to be a part of the process.

“a house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”

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to see past posts on this habitat house, go here.

and if you would like to be a part of making dreams come true.  and build a home, go here.

recently, my brother ethan did some research on our family names to find out our heritage.

now when i say research, i basically mean google.  so don’t be thinking we did anything extensive, like look at charts or family trees or genealogy.  or anything else that would have taken more than trivial effort.

he typed in our name into the search engine to see what would pop up.  and after that extensive digging, found out that we are irish.

i always knew i was irish.  i could just feel it in my bones.  that and the fact that i want to do a jig every time i see a pot of gold.  when i was in china, i tried to convince my team mate, mr. kilpatrick, that i was from the land of ire.  he never would believe me.

ha.  he feels stupid now.

but i digress.  let me take you back.  you’re probably thinking, how in the world is rehrig an irish name?  just by the fact it can’t be pronounced means it has to be german.  right?  well, you are correct.  but here’s a little fun fact you may not have known:  rehrig is an adopted name.  the surname of my father’s stepdad, who adopted him and his brother when they were young.

i’m a rehrig.  and i’ll always be a rehrig.  couldn’t be more proud of that name.  but it’s not original.  sorry to disappoint.

here’s the kicker.  my dad’s birth name:  pilgrim.  how awesome would that have been to be tara pilgrim.  yeah, not so awesome.  i’d have to find another job.  you’d know why, if you knew my school.

anyway, the history lesson in all this.  neither of those names are irish, as you can probably tell.

my mom, however.  bless her little heart.  she was an abbott.  and that’s how the luck runs through our veins.

but don’t tell my gramma.  apparently there’s some bad blood there.

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if you want to read the real story of st. patty’s day.  go here.

it’s the year of the… rabbit.  ok.  it doesn’t have quite the same ring as the badly drawn boys’ song,  Year Of The Rat.  but you get the idea.

it’s chinese new years, yo.  well, tomorrow is.  technically.  but tomorrow is already today.  or today is already tomorrow.  in china.  so here we go.

first, a history lesson:

the origin of the chinese new year is itself centuries old – in fact, too old to actually be traced.

days before the new year, a huge clean-up gets underway and chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom, sweeping away any traces of bad luck.  door and windows are given a coat of paint, usually red, and decorated with paper cuts and couplets with themes of happiness, wealth, and longevity.

the eve is perhaps the most exciting, as anticipation creeps in.  traditions and rituals are carefully observed.  dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying good wishes.

at midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks.

on the day itself, an ancient custom called hong bao, meaning red packet, takes place.  this involves married couples giving children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes.

then the family begins to greet from door to door, first to their relatives and then their neighbors.

the underlying message is one of peace and happiness for family and friends.

thank you, internets.

and now on to something more exciting.  in honor of the holiday, i bring you a collection of my chinar moments.  lessons i learned along the way.  in snap shot form.

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chinese babies are the cutest.  with their 20 layers of mismatched clothes, their spiky black hair,and their split pants.

who can resist?

the locals know the best food joints.  this is syd, bady, and cathy.  and some yummy, yummy grub.

when foreigners try the point and order technique, they sometimes end up with bugs for lunch.

the forbidden city really isn’t forbidden anymore…

… to us, or the rest of china’s population.

students are students….

… and friends are friends.  no matter what country you come from.

sometimes you’re asked to do really embarrassing things for the sake of those relationships.

but it’s those things that build trust.  and give you an opportunity to speak Truth into their lives.

happy chinese new year to you all!

新年快樂!

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a few months ago, i went on a spending freeze.  cutting out all non-essential money sucking conveniences.  coffee was not one of them.  and neither were little chocolate waxy donuts.  i have my limits.

i do, however, decide i was wasting money on cable tv.  not that i wasn’t watching it.  oh i was. the food network and i were so close, i started asking myself what would racheal do.  and screaming “ala cuisine” each time i opened the refrigerator.

but a necessity, it was not.

the problem with canceling cable was that i had not upgraded my television set to the magnum HD 368 low glare high volume ultimate watching machine.  or whatever the names of those things are.  i just have a silly little normal tv set.  embarrassing, i know.

without the cable, my set is as worthless as a bloodhound with a sinus infection.  (i like similes.)

i tried the magic box.  you know, the one they told us for months and months and months.  and then extended for another couple months.  to get.  without which our world as we know it would fall apart.

it didn’t work.

maybe i hooked it up wrong.

so my tv sits idling in my living room.  looking normal.  taunting me to turn it on.  and not doing a dang thing.

at first, i thought it wouldn’t matter.  i mean, who needs tv when you have the internets.  hulu anyone?  netflik anyone?  illegally downloaded pirated sitcom episodes anyone?  uh… just kidding on that last one…

but it does matter.  i miss my tv.

for three reasons:  weather, news, and quality of life.  especially weather.

it’s in an oklahoman’s blood to sit and watch the weatherman for hours on end.

oh.  i have the internets.  the information is at my finger tips.  i watch the weather radar.  and know the seven day forecast.

but i miss the drama.  the passion.  the off the cuff commentary.  gary england’s famous quotes.

all those things i hated.  and took for granted.

the goods?  the data?  the info?  it’s all there.  just in a boring.  one sided.  and disconnected kind of way.

but i have to tell you, it takes the joy out of a big storm.  and if i feel this way now, you can only imagine what it will be like come tornado season.  i may have to move back to my parent’s.

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for the first time in several weeks.  feels like years.  i didn’t have anywhere to be this saturday.  i could sleep in.  piddle around.  do to my pleasing.  on my own timetable.

i was vacuuming my floor.  admiring my clean bedroom.  why does my bedroom never stay clean?  when a text came through on my phone.

“up for an afternoon run in a bit?”

since nothing was on my schedule but baking, cleaning, grading, and solving world hunger.  i jumped on the offer.

i missed my runs with holly.  they offered much needed girl time.  besides, it was 70 degrees outside.  i needed vitamin D like a mouse a needs cheese.

so out i went.  to our park.

after we made our loop.  caught up on the latest rehrig/smith gossip.  and planned our next running adventure.  i jumped into my car to head out.  i was short on food.  and short on cash.  but had just found a walmart gift card from christmas while cleaning my room.  score!  i was off to wally world with the rest of the known world.

we have an “arctic blast” coming through in a couple days and i knew a pot of chili was the thing to tide me over through the storm.  i’m famous for my chili.  it once got me asked out on a date.  no joke.

but once in the car, my phone beeped with a new text message.

“what are you doing?  i’m bored and don’t want to work.” from my brother, ethan.

“wanna go to walmart with me?  i’ll pick you up in ten.”

luckily for him, he lives across the street from the super center.  i pulled up to his house and honked.  he jumped in.  and we were off.  operation:  chili makings.

meandering our way down the aisles.  as well as you can meander when they are full of half the population of your city.  we picked up the beans, meat, and seasons.  and snacked on the free samples of cheerios and fruit chews.  when we spotted a sample stand of pizza and pop, we made our way over.  no pizza was out, so i asked the kid attendant when it would be ready.

“i don’t know i just got here.”

“well, can you look at the timer on the over?”  seriously.  what is this world coming to?

“oh yeah.  it looks like about 12 minutes.”

“alright!  guess we’ll be back in 12!”

and off we went, down the back rows of walmart.  we had some time to kill.  between now and our pizza.  no biggy. we’re pretty good at entertaining ourselves.
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with our appetite quenched and our food paid for, we loaded into the car.  with me, once more, thinking i’d be heading back home.  but ethan had other plans.

“lets go to the pawn shop.”

“ok.  but we have to be quick.  i don’t want my sour cream to… you know… sour.”

the pawn shop was pretty cool.  and specials.  i mean… speacials… were pretty amazing.

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dropping ethan off, and turning my mind towards home.  the cleaning, cooking, grading.  i needed to do.  i got one last text.

” you should come party with us tonight.  there will be pizza.”

who can pass that up?  not me!

no plans saturdays, you’re the best!  i guess i’ll solve world hunger tomorrow.  but not sure when i’ll get to that grading…
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setting:  ninth grade english, 6th hour.

characters:  one young(ish) teacher and 23 fifteen/sixteen year old students.

names have been changed to protect the innocent.  mainly me.

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me:  alright, i’m giving you five minutes to work on your exercises due tomorrow.

half the students: we have homework tomorrow?

bill: you haven’t given us classtime for this in forever.

me:  i know.  aren’t i nice to give it to you now?

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john:  miss rehrig, i’ve noticed that you always wear everything in one color and then one piece in a bright color.  like today, you have on all black and then a purple sweater.

me:  mmmhmmm…

i try my best not to engage.  because really?  what could i say?  thank you?

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a few seconds later.

john (again):  did you cut your hair?

me:  nope.

john: really?  it looks different.

me:  well, i did change conditioner.

john:  that’s it!  it looks full and bouncy.

me:  i guess the advertisement was right.

rest of the class chimes in.  at this point, everyone has an opinion about my hair.  and my outfit.

me:  ok.  you need to get back to work.

john:  we can’t.  we’re too distracted by your bouncy hair.

oh brother.  can you say:  fishing for an A?

day three, work on the habitat house.

today’s agenda:  clear brush in the backyard.

and paint the eaves of the house.

we have next week off so the plumbers, roofers and electricians can come in.  i’m not sure why they won’t let us laymen do those jobs….

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friend:  did you go to north dakota state?

me:  oh, no.  i went to goodwill.

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boom.  roasted.

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before i go on, i must interrupt this post with a little background.  for those of you not in my school/life bubble.  here you go:

in order to raise the quality of education my school offers, they have committed themselves to teacher education.  you’re only as good as your teacher.  or so the saying goes.  …that’s scary…

to provide the opportunity to train the teachers, our students are dismissed at 12:25 on wednesdays.  and the remainder of the day is devoted to teachers.  meetings.  meetings.  meetings.  oh.  and lesson planning.  unless another meeting has been scheduled.

it’s actually pretty cool.  and i applaud and appreciate the time.  even if most days i want to run home at noon like the kiddos.

sigh.  alas.  i am a grownup.

end of background information.  continuation of what i came here to tell you:

today.  after, yes, a meeting.  i hopped in my ghetto mobile to secure myself some lunch.  i drove across the street and pulled into the mcdonald’s drive through.

i was running short on time.  i had to be back for a… you guessed it… meeting.

pulling up to the ordering machine. (what are those called?)  the following conversation ensued.

mcd: *static squawk* (you know how it is) order when you’re ready.  (what ever happened to “how are you?  what can i get for you today, kind ma’am?”)

me: hi.  do you still have the homestyle burger?  (i ask because they don’t list everything on their menu. why?)

mcd: no, we don’t.

me:  oh ok. do you have the all american burger?  (they had this burger last time i was there – just a simple burger with lettuce and tomatoes.)

mcd:  yes we do.  the all american burger meal?  hamburger?  or cheeseburger?

me:  hamburger please.  and with a dr.pepper.

mcd:  pull forward. (again.  where’s the please?  or thank you?)

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next scene at paying window.

mcd:  that’ll be $1.92.

me:  oh.  for the meal?  i ordered the all american burger meal.

mcd:  no. we have you down for two cheeseburgers.

me:  what?  no.  that’s not what i ordered.  can you change my order?

mcd:  no, we can’t.  (and then he motioned like i should go back around through the drive through again.)

me:  um.  well, can you get that lady (the lady who took my order) to change my meal?

mcd:  (rounds the corner and brings back a manager)

me:  hi.  i didn’t order that.  i wanted the all american burger meal.

mcd manager: we don’t have that.  we have hamburgers.

me:  yeah, i know.  i want a hamburger.  but i wanted the one that has lettuce and tomatoes on it.

mcd manager: um.  this is mcdonalds.

me:  yeah, i know.  that’s why i ordered…. nevermind….

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i pulled away and went next door to wendy’s.  should have gone to burger king.  they’ll do it my way.