Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Little Things


Isn't it strange how a person starts to develop routines? Every day after work, I stop at the chicken stick stand. I buy two chicken sticks with mustard sauce. The first bite is always the best. I breathe in the mustard and it stings my throat.

I like to get food from the corner market, and I always buy some chocolate, but I can never seem to wait to eat it. So I fumble with the grocery bag until I find the chocolate, and then I eat it while I walk back to my apartment.

I have finished the text book in a couple of my classes. I told the students I would write them a story to read next time. So I wrote a story about some school kids that meet a monster. The monster becomes their friend and later saves them from a Bad Guy who is trying to steal their ice-cream. The story ends with the students getting to school and falling asleep in Ryan Teacher's class. I wrote it all in "play" style. Each kid reads the lines for a certain character.

Apparently it was a hit because they wanted me to write another one. I asked them what they wanted it to be about... they said "Two princesses, a prince, a snake, a thief, two magicians, and a hunter." So I got to work, and I created a tale. A thief steals a magic choco-pie from two magicians. While he is escaping, he decides to hide the pie inside of an Isaac's sandwich. Later, a prince accidentally eats the pie and turns into a snake. After a lot of adventures involving a fire-swamp, a sword wielding princess, a hunter that knows a secret, a violent dinosaur attack, and clever dialog, the prince eventually locates some magic lotion. He puts it onto his nose and turns back into a prince. The story ends when the magicians use their magic to make a playground sized pizza and everyone goes on a picnic.

Random thought... Strangely, I am not homesick at all. And I don't really miss anything from home. Except one thing... I miss riding my bike.







What do you see when you look into the mirror? Do you see love? Do you see joy? Do you see peace? Do you see patience? Do you see kindness? Do you see goodness? Do you see faithfulness? Do you see gentleness? Do you see self-control? Do you see beauty? Do you see God's child?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's very wonderful(Korean say 훌륭한, 멋진) in your photos.

katie said...

i was driving with a friend in downtown portland today and these crazy stories kept coming to my mind. she thought i was crazy. then i thought it might be true. then i read your blog and smiled really big, because i remembered i wasn't crazy.
you are a fabulous story-teller and i look forward to reading your blogs every week. thanks for sharing your heart and your life.

Ginny said...

Your stories make me happy. I still remember many of them and I'm glad that you are writing some for your students. I know they will remember them and they will remember how awesome of a teacher they had and how much he cared about them.

Anonymous said...

Ryan, I read your blog every week...it's awesome! I'm glad you're doing well over there. Tomorrow we leave for the Happiest Place on Earth! :^) The kids are so excited. We miss you tons!

Father Dane said...

Ryan,

I hear you wanted to sell your bike...I want to buy it from you when i get back...we will go riding together...

Miss you man...things are good here...long, but good. You know I love this stuff. Have to pull a twelve hour shift tonight for an exercise.

Take care,
D