What Are Teachers Doing In Their Free Time?

Let’s get starteddd!!

Dr. Mo

When we asked what Dr. Mo does in his free time, you can be sure that spending time with his beloved cats was high on his list! As a proud cat dad, Dr. Mo smiled immediately at the mention of his two cats, Boris and Natasha, both displayed in the photo. Besides spending time with his cats, Dr. Mo has a variety of other interests, from basketball, to watching sports such as football at college events, to cooking and baking. As our local JV boys’ basketball coach, Dr. Mo’s enjoyment of basketball does not come as too much of a surprise; he plays in a league (as the tallest player!!) and also often in pickup games with his friends. Other than physical sports games, you may also find him enjoying the occasional board games. Lastly, although most BISV students are unaware of this, Dr. Mo is actually known among his friends for his delicious pancakes, along with the steak he makes!! Stating that he also enjoyed cooking, Dr. Mo cracks a smile at how he finds cooking techniques scientific and likes the fusion of both science and cooking in this hobby (with his use of the sousvie, which he described as a water circulation bath machine used for cooking). We love a master (or hobbyist) of all arts!

Mr. Hansen

To quote: “I have a dog named Rosie, who is 14 years old, and my feelings towards her are best described as ambivalent, ambiguous, complicated, complex, and dynamic. I used to have a dog named Roscoe, whom I loved dearly, and because I was enjoying dog ownership, I decided to give Roscoe a puppy named Rosie so that he could also appreciate the joys of dog ownership. But Roscoe wasn’t a very responsible dog owner, and Rosie was not raised to be a good dog. She is, in fact, what many people would describe as a fool. But when Roscoe died in 2020, responsibility for Rosie fell to me, and so I am caring for her, but she is not really my dog. She is actually my dead dog’s dog.” Mr. Hansen’s words perfectly describe the relationship between him and his dogs. Being raised on a working farm, Mr. Hansen still enjoys planting and growing his own food in his free time. His garden consists of a range of crops, from fruit trees to vegetables, and he enjoys listening to audiobooks while gardening. With his favorite hobby being reading, Mr. Hansen says that he’s really “lucky enough to collect a paycheck” for doing this hobby (AP Lit students!!). 

Ms. Silva

As expected from our local bear enthusiast and artist. Ms. Silva, whose bear pun doodles appear on the board to those that come into Intro to Business class every day, dabbles in oil painting. Her artwork, Pebbles the Great, displays her cat with its favorite mouse toy held in hand. Ms. Silva’s inspirations for the medieval themed painting were the famous paintings of powerful women, Elizabeth the Great or even Catherine the Great, as, she added, Pebbles was “kind of a dictator.” In addition to these, Ms. Silva’s vast artwork collection includes many bear paintings, whether in the woods, theater, or in a canoe. When asked if she used any pictures for inspiration, Ms. Silva casually demonstrated her bear-y extensive business knowledge by stating that she usually used pictures taken by her or people she knew because of the potential copyright issues when taking a picture from online as inspiration. She later specified that she also liked oil painting on wood, not canvas, often painting on coasters consisting of themed animals to make nice gifts for friends (P.S. they’re really cute!). 

Dr. Huet

It seems cat and dog pets are favorites of our BISV teachers!! Dr. Huet, an avid physics fan, and—you guessed it—one of our Physics teachers, loves walking his dogs Moose Mousse and Athena in the hills near his home daily. Other than walking his dogs, he enjoys reading physics books and contemplating advanced topics in his free time. Dr. Huet has also been a hobbyist astrophotographer since age 16! In addition to science-related hobbies, Dr. Huet said that he does woodworking or wood carving whenever he can. His works range from chess to salad pieces, and one of his favorites is a large salad bowl, inspired by a fusion of his passion in wood carving and science (the golden ratio and the Möbius band).

Mr. Meyerowitz

Mr. Meyerowitz, like his fellow teachers, also shares the joy of raising pets. “Agrippina (a.k.a. ‘Aggie,’ a.k.a. ‘How could you!’), a Belgian Malinois mix, and Padawan (a.k.a. ‘Paddy,’ a.k.a. ‘Little Scheisskopf’), a long-haired cat,” are both Mr. Meyerowitz’s very loved and chaotic fur children who always fight but rarely hurt each other, and only sometimes stop feuding and cuddle instead. Their names are derived from historical/fictional events (living up to his name as a history teacher!): Agrippina was named after the Roman Empress who was the mother of Nero (and was later assassinated by him as well), and Padawan is what young Jedis are called in Star Wars. While Aggie— “a hulking Dire wolf with a heart of gold”— likes to eat everything even to the point of medical emergencies, Paddy— “a quick, darting little devil from the streets”— likes to knock her family’s precious antiques off the shelf. In his rarely found free time (partly due to his habit of adding countless unnecessary images to his slides), Mr. Meyerowitz enjoys taking Aggie to the beach, watching Suns and Warriors games, reading (he’s currently rereading Great Expectations in anticipation of the stage adaptation during the school trip to London!), globetrotting from Paris to Beijing to many other places, and so much more. He also loves talking to students as he plays sentinel in the hallway and spending time with his wife, Dr. Van Dusen, who he describes as “the world’s best human.” 

Ms. Randa

Let’s start off again with animals and pets! Though Ms. Randa used to be afraid of cats, with the help of her animal-activist cousin, she overcame her fear in a tiny kitten called Bonosh, who would later have a dog called Rolex as a companion (fun fact: they were best friends and would eat from the same bowl). While Ms. Randa enjoys a variety of activities, one of her favorites is counseling as a Church service. In Egypt, you’re allowed to do counseling without a license, which is what she did (family counseling, personal coaching, etc.), but since it’s different in the US, she now just does  church service. Something Ms. Randa is passionate about but doesn’t do as much in the US is swimming (her eyes were shining when talking about this). Unfortunately, the ocean in the US is always cold, and what she loves is the warm water in Egypt. Her favorite beach there is the Marsa Matruh, where the water is clear and warm. According to her, another cool place in Egypt is Dahab, which is famous for scuba diving. It has a blue hole (speculated to be a result of something hitting the earth and making a hole) with a side of pretty reefs, and a grove in the reefs named el Bells; when divers go down, they hit the reefs and make bell-like sounds, coming up from the blue hole. In her free time, Ms. Randa likes to read mostly psych books. Her starting recs are Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus; His Needs, Her Needs; and Boundaries.