oh boy do i need a vacation. i've got 2 weeks off. i'll be spending 5 days in chicago with no real plans other than seeing faces i've sorely missed, catching some chicagoland professional sports and partaking in mischief that can't be done the same in macau. then on christmas eve, i hop on a plane with the familia and head to costa rica for our bi-annual family reunion of all-inclusive glory, relaxation and hopefully some scuba on the side. then straight back from costa rica to macau for the rest of the year. i'll give a recap upon my return.
on the school side of things, there are a few updates and positive ones at that. i've mentioned this, but i'm in charge of teaching a bunch of creative writing workshops to generate some writing for the school's 80th anniversary publication. this has probably been the saving grace of my entire semester, and probably the big thing that i will point to once my time here is complete to future potential employers. after break i'll really start to grind out the majority of these workshops, but i've basically had my test group these last 2 weeks. the theme of the writing workshop is ekphrastic poetry, using a visual stimulus to generate a creative written response that becomes its own art in the process. i chose this style for 2 reasons: first, for some reason, at ill wesleyan, ekphrasis beat me over the head. i had 3 classes that were almost completely dominated by the concept of taking something that you see and turning it into words, including a class called "ekphrastic poetry" AND my senior seminar where i wrote my 25 page paper on inferno and the role ekphrasis played in dante's composition of it. anyway, the second reason is that i think that ekphrasis can work particularly well for esl students, because sight is a common "language" if you will. they see what they see, then they write about it. also, giving something to write about is much easier than just telling these kids, "write whatever you want." it helps them focus their writing. so far, it's paying dividends. many of the students chose some really cool pictures and paintings and are asking themselves a lot of good questions in the process and creating some really cool stuff. i'm helping them out and guiding their work, but many of the students are really creating some solid work. i'm excited to work with them more and really
shape their writing.
the second awesome thing has been my work in english club. we had out christmas party the other day and my group was the students that learned christmas carols and lead the rest of the club in singing them. i absolutely loved it. i chose the songs and learned the chords on the piano, actually making it almost a mini-music class. and the kids learned the songs and it sounded good. there's now a little part of me that regrets not seriously considering teaching choir rather than english. i was at a school where i could have learned from the best and instead i chose something else. but regrets are stupid. if anything, i got a little bit of my choir fix i've been without for entirely too long.
just one short beautiful week. see you out there chicago!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
gargoyle sweaters and faux-mullets
well, it's yet another 70 degree day of sunshine in macau. i'm starting to think my computer's thermometer is frozen. not even a 71 or a 69 -- just 70, every day. i had a moment this morning where i was in bed and just got the feeling that it was 30 degrees outside. it must just be the holiday season.
anyway, as part of the holiday season, my mother sent me a package this last week that included all of my sweaters, because i forgot them at home. i was thrilled. NOW, i can start feeling the holiday spirit. i got a chance to have a massive skype session with my family, who are down in Tejas for thanksgiving. it was really great to talk to them. what's even greater is that i'll be home now in 3 weeks. 3 WEEKS i say! can you tell i'm counting down? anyway, the funniest part of my skype sesh with the family was that my uncle said that he really liked my gargoyle sweater. he clearly meant argyle, but gargoyle was what came out. i found this quite amusing, but then i thought about it. how awesome would it be if it WAS a gargoyle sweater, like a sweater with a sweet menacing gargoyle magnificently stitched in. once you get past how nerdy it is, it could be really sweet. in theory anyway. i googled gargoyle sweaters to see if there were any already in existence. there were not. oh well.
anyway, i have been ripping on my school a lot these last couple weeks (deservedly so), so i should probably throw it a bone. in just about every high school in the US, there are young adolescents finding their ways around young love and relationships. i'm not talking about all of them though. there is a specific demographic of high school relationships i'm thoroughly pleased i don't have to regularly witness. these are the really awkward kids who have really awkward relationships with each other. NOT the popular kids. the popular kids and the school's IT couples have the process down. they wait until the weekend parties to loosen up and get scandalous. the students i'm referring to walk from class to class holding hands and then share this really uncomfortably long hug before one of them goes into class and the other strolls off to his/her class. sometimes it's a strange kiss, depending how in "love" they think they are at that age. you never really see them with any other students. MAYBE they've buddied up with an equally strange couple, but for the most part, these two students are each others' only friend it seems. i don't know why, but these relationships always bugged me. i mean, i guess it's nice that they have each other, but it just seems sad. so, thankfully adolescent PDA hasn't made it to china. there's borderline inappropriate touching between students here, but not in the romantic sense. more crotch punches than anything. the students just have little concept of personal space. but it doesn't seem to phase them. i guess it's just the norm.
so one of the things about china is that people have some ridiculous hairstyles. strange colors. strange cuts. it's just odd. if i saw these people in the US, i would mock them incessantly (not to their face of course; that's just rude). some things cannot go unsaid though. a few weeks ago, i saw a man sporting the mythical faux-mullet. faux hawk in the front, PARTY in the back. and not a high school party where you take turns taking pulls from mad dog/mad dog or a stolen bottle of gin. an OOM-TSS OOM-TSS rave where everybody's on E swinging glow sticks from old shoelaces. it was epic! ---side bar--- while i haven't fooled around with my hair at all, i did go the entire month of october and some of november without shaving. not by choice, but because my razor got shorted out. i manned up and got a new one a few weeks ago, but just to trim. it's no bobby guise beard; it's more kyle orton level. i'll be returning to the states with it, but will go clean a few days after. chinese people can't grow facial hair, so in comparison, it's the best beard ever.
lastly, this just in, for the english club christmas party, yours truly is in charge of teaching a group of students christmas songs. we're going with: we wish you a merry christmas, jingle bells, silent night, and hark the herald angels, because the students have heard of them, or at least some of them. we may have to ditch hark because it has the biggest range, and i still stand by my previous statement that chinese people don't sing very well. anyway, i'm very excited. in the next 2 weeks, i'll actually get to do some of the things i actually wanted to do with teaching, teach writing (i'm in charge of the school writing workshop next week to generate student writing for the english writing 80th anniversary book) and dabble in some singing stuff. i have high hopes for both. building the resume. building the resume.
anyway, as part of the holiday season, my mother sent me a package this last week that included all of my sweaters, because i forgot them at home. i was thrilled. NOW, i can start feeling the holiday spirit. i got a chance to have a massive skype session with my family, who are down in Tejas for thanksgiving. it was really great to talk to them. what's even greater is that i'll be home now in 3 weeks. 3 WEEKS i say! can you tell i'm counting down? anyway, the funniest part of my skype sesh with the family was that my uncle said that he really liked my gargoyle sweater. he clearly meant argyle, but gargoyle was what came out. i found this quite amusing, but then i thought about it. how awesome would it be if it WAS a gargoyle sweater, like a sweater with a sweet menacing gargoyle magnificently stitched in. once you get past how nerdy it is, it could be really sweet. in theory anyway. i googled gargoyle sweaters to see if there were any already in existence. there were not. oh well.
anyway, i have been ripping on my school a lot these last couple weeks (deservedly so), so i should probably throw it a bone. in just about every high school in the US, there are young adolescents finding their ways around young love and relationships. i'm not talking about all of them though. there is a specific demographic of high school relationships i'm thoroughly pleased i don't have to regularly witness. these are the really awkward kids who have really awkward relationships with each other. NOT the popular kids. the popular kids and the school's IT couples have the process down. they wait until the weekend parties to loosen up and get scandalous. the students i'm referring to walk from class to class holding hands and then share this really uncomfortably long hug before one of them goes into class and the other strolls off to his/her class. sometimes it's a strange kiss, depending how in "love" they think they are at that age. you never really see them with any other students. MAYBE they've buddied up with an equally strange couple, but for the most part, these two students are each others' only friend it seems. i don't know why, but these relationships always bugged me. i mean, i guess it's nice that they have each other, but it just seems sad. so, thankfully adolescent PDA hasn't made it to china. there's borderline inappropriate touching between students here, but not in the romantic sense. more crotch punches than anything. the students just have little concept of personal space. but it doesn't seem to phase them. i guess it's just the norm.
so one of the things about china is that people have some ridiculous hairstyles. strange colors. strange cuts. it's just odd. if i saw these people in the US, i would mock them incessantly (not to their face of course; that's just rude). some things cannot go unsaid though. a few weeks ago, i saw a man sporting the mythical faux-mullet. faux hawk in the front, PARTY in the back. and not a high school party where you take turns taking pulls from mad dog/mad dog or a stolen bottle of gin. an OOM-TSS OOM-TSS rave where everybody's on E swinging glow sticks from old shoelaces. it was epic! ---side bar--- while i haven't fooled around with my hair at all, i did go the entire month of october and some of november without shaving. not by choice, but because my razor got shorted out. i manned up and got a new one a few weeks ago, but just to trim. it's no bobby guise beard; it's more kyle orton level. i'll be returning to the states with it, but will go clean a few days after. chinese people can't grow facial hair, so in comparison, it's the best beard ever.
lastly, this just in, for the english club christmas party, yours truly is in charge of teaching a group of students christmas songs. we're going with: we wish you a merry christmas, jingle bells, silent night, and hark the herald angels, because the students have heard of them, or at least some of them. we may have to ditch hark because it has the biggest range, and i still stand by my previous statement that chinese people don't sing very well. anyway, i'm very excited. in the next 2 weeks, i'll actually get to do some of the things i actually wanted to do with teaching, teach writing (i'm in charge of the school writing workshop next week to generate student writing for the english writing 80th anniversary book) and dabble in some singing stuff. i have high hopes for both. building the resume. building the resume.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
holy crap, thanksgiving is this week...
one of the side effects of working in another country that doesn't celebrate the same holidays and repetitious days of 70 degree weather is that i have lost complete track of where we are in the year. i looked at the calendar today and had the epiphany that thanksgiving was 4 days away, a holiday that i usually count down the weeks to because of the lack of school/work and the bevy of incredibly delicious food to look forward to. this year, out of sight/out of mind really took over.
anyway, it's been a generally irritating week, so i could really use some holiday comfort food. my frustration with my school is at an all time high. it's almost laughable (if it weren't for the tears) how terrible my school is at communication. it's 2010 and my school doesn't have a school e-mail. shocking! i'm pretty sure "thou shalt not effectively communicate with your employees" is not one of the 10 commandments, so there's no excuse. as usual i have the dreaded english club on saturday morning, but i found out on wednesday (3 days warning) that all of the junior 1 (7th grade) classes have parent teacher conferences on saturday afternoon. did i mention that i also was not ever told what i needed to prepare? nor could anybody answer the question for me. the good news, which i found out 5 minutes before it started, was that i didn't have to do anything. i had to sit in the front row with the other teachers as the administrators spoke to the parents and then stand up when they refer to me and bow to the parents. simple enough. i missed my cue though and had an awkward late bow because they introduced me in chinese and not by name, so i only knew to stand when all the administrators were staring at me, nodding at me to coax me to stand. very awkward. then i just got to go home after the speech. not as painful as i thought it would be, but working all day on a saturday blows. i don't recommend it.
my classes are kind of going better, one anyway. J1A is making me happy. the other day, i was talking, and i had to pause for a split second, because they were actually silent. i was blown away. i didn't even have to say anything. J1B is still horrible. they are fun ruiners. they ruin fun. every lesson i do goes substantially worse with them because they won't shut up. they're really making me get creative with my punishments. every game i play is ruined because they won't shut up. even the students with good grades are bad.
which brings me to my next topic of anger. my contract situation. i was thoroughly amused at the simplicity of the contract i signed. it looked like a microsoft word document that a 5th grader put together. very basic and to the point. as a wide eyed young teacher fresh out of college, i shut down my cynic button. i should have known better. my school doesn't really care about the contract. they just do things, usually without telling me or giving me short notice. for example, my contract says i'm only supposed to work 5 days. i work 6. the thing that is really under my skin is that 2 days ago, i found out that i'm supposed to work all summer for summer school too. not just the single school year. i have other plans, like, being in the US interviewing and looking for a real teaching job. the job i want. the reason i became a teacher. my department chair is the one that dropped this bomb on me. basically, she told me it's fine and to just quit in june before summer school. very nonchalant. sounds like a plan. the repercussions though (which i don't have the answers to yet) are how this will effect my references and recommendations from the school AND my paycheck. i'm not too worried about my references. there are people in the school that will write me good ones regardless. also, i probably won't get my full year's salary if i have to quit in june. this is all speculation, but still they are very real concerns. i hope to find out more soon, but (as is the ongoing trend) i probably won't.
anyway, so i mentioned that i've been watching a lot of tv shows on my computer and i feel now is a good time to ask for more suggestions again. i'm just going to go down the list with some brief thoughts trying to avoid spoilers
dexter - a staple in my weekly schedule. i'm enjoying the season so far. not as good as last, but john lithgow is almost impossible to top. they've made up for it by enlisting the services of Robocop (peter weller). the original robocop is one of my favorite movies. it's incredible. weller plays a great bad guy. he's also probably going to get killed off because of his story arc, probably in a sweet way. he's learning too much.
boardwalk empire - the first show that i've followed from the start in quite a while. i love organized crime and the roaring 20s and prohibition, so it's really interesting. i recommend it. i don't really like steve buscemi though. he's just so ugly, i can't really take him seriously, especially in a lead role. i just think there had to have been better choices. apparently the guy he portrays was like 6-4 too. buscemi's like 5-10 and very unthreatening. he's just not very badass. it really is good though. check it out if you haven't already.
it's always sunny - i openly complained that i thought the first couple episodes were weak. they must have heard me, because the last couple weeks have been excellent. lethal weapon 5 was marvelous. so good.
modern family - i watched it a little last year and didn't really care for it. i didn't really give it a fair shot though. i've given it that shot and am completely on board. it's a great cast. and they work really well together. i admit that i'm partially on board because sofia vergara is a total knockout. those that know me and know my tastes know that i've always had a thing for beautiful latino women. perhaps it's just tan brunettes. but she is a specimen.
bored to death - got back into this. it's very funny. i always hated ted danson, but he brings it hard. zach galifianakis is always good.
eastbound & down - started weak, finale was awesome. solid sophomore season, not as good or shocking as the first.
psych - caught up pretty quickly. i have a slight crush on jules. she's just so girl next door. i also like it when shows call themselves out in their episodes when something gets annoying. psych does it very well. also, i got a kid in my conversation class to choose gus as his english name. dave, for the win!
south park - season highlights...lampooning snooki and ripped the new lebron commercial. good work trey and matt.
mad men - don draper's getting married to a french canadian girl? that has about as good a chance as lasting as greg oden's knees.
community - caught up recently. i'm down. who knew racism was the key to chevy chase's comeback?
that's about it. californication starts again in january, which will be fun. i am looking for new shows again. i've been looking to get into the wire for a while, so as soon as i find a site that has all the episodes i'll get on that. i'm torn between giving a shot to how i met your mother or the big bang theory. any other suggestions are welcome. happy thanksgiving everybody!
anyway, it's been a generally irritating week, so i could really use some holiday comfort food. my frustration with my school is at an all time high. it's almost laughable (if it weren't for the tears) how terrible my school is at communication. it's 2010 and my school doesn't have a school e-mail. shocking! i'm pretty sure "thou shalt not effectively communicate with your employees" is not one of the 10 commandments, so there's no excuse. as usual i have the dreaded english club on saturday morning, but i found out on wednesday (3 days warning) that all of the junior 1 (7th grade) classes have parent teacher conferences on saturday afternoon. did i mention that i also was not ever told what i needed to prepare? nor could anybody answer the question for me. the good news, which i found out 5 minutes before it started, was that i didn't have to do anything. i had to sit in the front row with the other teachers as the administrators spoke to the parents and then stand up when they refer to me and bow to the parents. simple enough. i missed my cue though and had an awkward late bow because they introduced me in chinese and not by name, so i only knew to stand when all the administrators were staring at me, nodding at me to coax me to stand. very awkward. then i just got to go home after the speech. not as painful as i thought it would be, but working all day on a saturday blows. i don't recommend it.
my classes are kind of going better, one anyway. J1A is making me happy. the other day, i was talking, and i had to pause for a split second, because they were actually silent. i was blown away. i didn't even have to say anything. J1B is still horrible. they are fun ruiners. they ruin fun. every lesson i do goes substantially worse with them because they won't shut up. they're really making me get creative with my punishments. every game i play is ruined because they won't shut up. even the students with good grades are bad.
which brings me to my next topic of anger. my contract situation. i was thoroughly amused at the simplicity of the contract i signed. it looked like a microsoft word document that a 5th grader put together. very basic and to the point. as a wide eyed young teacher fresh out of college, i shut down my cynic button. i should have known better. my school doesn't really care about the contract. they just do things, usually without telling me or giving me short notice. for example, my contract says i'm only supposed to work 5 days. i work 6. the thing that is really under my skin is that 2 days ago, i found out that i'm supposed to work all summer for summer school too. not just the single school year. i have other plans, like, being in the US interviewing and looking for a real teaching job. the job i want. the reason i became a teacher. my department chair is the one that dropped this bomb on me. basically, she told me it's fine and to just quit in june before summer school. very nonchalant. sounds like a plan. the repercussions though (which i don't have the answers to yet) are how this will effect my references and recommendations from the school AND my paycheck. i'm not too worried about my references. there are people in the school that will write me good ones regardless. also, i probably won't get my full year's salary if i have to quit in june. this is all speculation, but still they are very real concerns. i hope to find out more soon, but (as is the ongoing trend) i probably won't.
anyway, so i mentioned that i've been watching a lot of tv shows on my computer and i feel now is a good time to ask for more suggestions again. i'm just going to go down the list with some brief thoughts trying to avoid spoilers
dexter - a staple in my weekly schedule. i'm enjoying the season so far. not as good as last, but john lithgow is almost impossible to top. they've made up for it by enlisting the services of Robocop (peter weller). the original robocop is one of my favorite movies. it's incredible. weller plays a great bad guy. he's also probably going to get killed off because of his story arc, probably in a sweet way. he's learning too much.
boardwalk empire - the first show that i've followed from the start in quite a while. i love organized crime and the roaring 20s and prohibition, so it's really interesting. i recommend it. i don't really like steve buscemi though. he's just so ugly, i can't really take him seriously, especially in a lead role. i just think there had to have been better choices. apparently the guy he portrays was like 6-4 too. buscemi's like 5-10 and very unthreatening. he's just not very badass. it really is good though. check it out if you haven't already.
it's always sunny - i openly complained that i thought the first couple episodes were weak. they must have heard me, because the last couple weeks have been excellent. lethal weapon 5 was marvelous. so good.
modern family - i watched it a little last year and didn't really care for it. i didn't really give it a fair shot though. i've given it that shot and am completely on board. it's a great cast. and they work really well together. i admit that i'm partially on board because sofia vergara is a total knockout. those that know me and know my tastes know that i've always had a thing for beautiful latino women. perhaps it's just tan brunettes. but she is a specimen.
bored to death - got back into this. it's very funny. i always hated ted danson, but he brings it hard. zach galifianakis is always good.
eastbound & down - started weak, finale was awesome. solid sophomore season, not as good or shocking as the first.
psych - caught up pretty quickly. i have a slight crush on jules. she's just so girl next door. i also like it when shows call themselves out in their episodes when something gets annoying. psych does it very well. also, i got a kid in my conversation class to choose gus as his english name. dave, for the win!
south park - season highlights...lampooning snooki and ripped the new lebron commercial. good work trey and matt.
mad men - don draper's getting married to a french canadian girl? that has about as good a chance as lasting as greg oden's knees.
community - caught up recently. i'm down. who knew racism was the key to chevy chase's comeback?
that's about it. californication starts again in january, which will be fun. i am looking for new shows again. i've been looking to get into the wire for a while, so as soon as i find a site that has all the episodes i'll get on that. i'm torn between giving a shot to how i met your mother or the big bang theory. any other suggestions are welcome. happy thanksgiving everybody!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
***SPORTS*** 2.0
so last week, i just spent 4 days at the sports stadium over in taipa (again, the island next to macau) for the intra-catholic school track and field meet, which i'll comment on. and in the spirit of sports, i'll take a bit to comment on the world of sports, since i haven't for a while.
so this sports week, was one of the most boring weeks i've had in a while. i tried to watch when my students were running or jumping, but i basically just sat reading books for 4 days. yeah, me, reading books. for those of you that know me well, know that i probably set the record for the least amount of reading done for pleasure by an english major. when i was growing up/homeschooled i wasn't really aloud to watch tv, so i did read a lot. but then i reached the age where i got to be a bit more mischievous and figured out how to make the tv in my room get a tv signal. then i was hooked on the formerly forbidden fruit. to this day, i just like tv more. i'm a product of my generation you can say. in the last 6 years, i've read maybe 2 books for pleasure. yeah, the internet has made actual book reading less popular and in college there's not a whole lot of time to read anything BUT all the texts for class, but still. this is a habit i've been actively trying to kick though. i came to macau with a bunch of books so i can try to force myself into a new habit. since i've arrived, i've now finished 3 books and am on to my 4th. in less than 3 months. i'm somewhat proud. aghh, that was a monster digression.
so sports day offered little excitement. to make things less interesting, most of the races were done on the other side of the track from where my school had to sit, so i could barely even tell if my students were even running. the highlight of every day though was right after lunch. on our side of the track, there was a relay race between some students of a primary school (elementary school) and their parents. the kids would go halfway before passing the baton to their parent to finish the race. why was this hilarious? because at least 1 parent ate it in the homestretch every day, guaranteed. the first day, at least 5 parents face planted, hooking me for the rest of the week. it was glorious. other than that, nothing happened, but it was a week free of my stupid students, so for that, i'm grateful.
************************************************************************************
now for some much needed commentary on the world of AMERICAN sports.
BASEBALL
congratulations to the san fransisco giants for removing themselves from the "chicago cubs/cleveland indians" club of hopeless losers. you are also safe from the "worst team to win the world series" conversation, because the 2006 cardinals will hold that title for quite a while. honestly, i didn't care who won. some of you thought that i would be pulling for the rangers with the whole born in TEJAS thing working for me. but, i don't care for the rangers or most anything that comes from big D. also, i'd be lying if i said i wasn't happy that the rangers didn't capture a championship before my Astros did. so the baseball season is over right? god no. the hot stove is one of my favorite times of year, where i can fantasize about how improved my teams' rosters will be going into next year. (please trade carlos lee. please trade carlos lee. please trade carlos lee) when i was bored in class, i used to put together a full astros offseason plan of available players, potential trade candidates, and other things. then i would project the stats over a 162 game season. yes, i'm a huge baseball nerd. and i know it.
FOOTBALL
i'm not nearly as in the loop with the season so far for obvious reasons, but i think that so far i can say that i definitely picked a good year to miss. it's a cliche, but the parity in the NFL is out of this world. this is the first year in a while that there isn't a well-defined super bowl favorite. hell, the last unbeaten team was the kc chiefs. THE CHIEFS! and they're sure as hell not looking super this year, regardless of how many former patriots are running things over there. week in and week out there's seemingly a new top team, when then promptly goes the next week and loses to an inferior team. it reminds me of the 2007-08 college football season where there was a new BCS number 1 team every week because the current number 1 kept losing right away. it's good because most teams still have a chance i guess (cough, the bears). it will definitely make for a whirlwind end of the season with teams fighting for wild card/division bids, which will be fascinating to watch.
speaking of los OSOS, what a stupid roller coaster they're taking me and the rest of the Chi on. while they are technically easily still in it, i can't ignore the quality of their winning record. the first win was to detroit (a L everywhere but the scoreboard). the second win was against dallas (bottom 3 team). the third was against green bay (fueled by hester, but most legitimate of the Ws), the fourth was against carolina (bottom 3 team). and the fifth was the buffalo (bottom 3 team). so you can understand my skepticism. if they beat the vikings, i could be singing a different tune. needless to say, only 1 team is walking off the field sunday with hope for the season. i almost hope the bears tank so they can just clean house and get a good draft pick to fix one of their glaring holes.
finally, i just want to weigh in on the hot topic of the season. big defensive hits. i can't describe how annoyed i am with the commissioner right now. first, changing rules midseason is ridiculous, period. these are players of habit. they've been playing the same way all their life. asking them to change on the dime is unfair. i understand how big of an issue concussions are (you'd have to be foolish to ignore the facts), but these mammoth fines are absurd. especially, coming down without an impartial player opinion. there are hits that are malicious and hits that are accidental and unfortunate. there has to be a difference. also, why just defensive players? plenty of RB lead with their helmet, without consequence. finally, how DARE the nfl plan on expanding the season, subjecting their players to even more wear and tear than a grueling 16 game schedule, and then turn around and say they only care about the players' well being. unfortunately, this is an issue that will haunt the league for many years, and it will not end well.
BASKETBALL
david stern must be the happiest person in the world right now. i can't remember the NBA being this popular and exciting since jordan and the 90s. it's really quite fantastic. there's more drama day-in/day-out than an episode of the hills. it's phenomenal entertainment. the best reality tv out there right now. there are so many talented teams out there, each one matching up differently with the other great teams. the west is ridiculously stacked with great teams with championship pedigrees, but the east features some of the most electric/dominating players out there thirsty to finally put it together.
the bulls are looking good so far, but the daunting circus trip is around the corner. i do think they can get home with a 4-3 trip though, which would be great. even 3-4 would be acceptable. rose has stepping things up to another level so far. joakim noah has been a beast everywhere. thank god he wasn't traded. barring injury, he'll be owning the paint in chicago through the decade. as the season continues, basketball will get more face time. especially once the trade winds pick up and the booze cruise finally joins the lineup.
i can't end without commenting on the early cloud over south beach. the heat are looking extremely flawed so far, and it doesn't appear as if the flaws will go away any time soon. the heat of lost 4 games so far. the common trend...each team featured an electric point guard and a big man that had their way and abused the heat. bodes well for the bulls right? rondo/garnett twice, paul/okafor, deron/millsap. especially with boozer back, i think the bulls match up incredibly well against the miami HATE. joakim/boozer should maul bosh/joel anthony up front. rose will abuse arroyo/chalmers. it should be interesting to see if any team will consider working a trade to help out the heat if pat riley calls, or if they're just ignore him and say screw you and good luck. i'm hoping the latter.
HOCKEY
blackhawks...to quote the great vince lombardi, what the hell's going on out here? i think all of chicago expected a little more this season, even with all of the roster overturn. things just aren't clicking yet, anywhere. it's still very early in the season and i do expect them to start turning things around soon, but there's a lot of work to do. the prospects that we thought were going to be around to fill in the depth haven't done it yet. it's not as exciting a time. this team is too good to keep muddling around though. they'll get it clicking in a month or so. i'm confident
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
just a weird year for football in general. can we really be looking forward to an Oregon/Boise State national championship? i say that because i can see auburn getting thumped by 'bama at the iron bowl in 2 weeks, and TCU will probably drop after a tough game against SDSt and with Utah getting crushed by the haplessly mediocre ND. i do like seeing new faces atop college football. i'm thrilled actually. it just sounds a little odd. i'll maybe weigh back in a few weeks from now to see if some of these things work themselves out and give a BCS preview.
phew, that was long.
so this sports week, was one of the most boring weeks i've had in a while. i tried to watch when my students were running or jumping, but i basically just sat reading books for 4 days. yeah, me, reading books. for those of you that know me well, know that i probably set the record for the least amount of reading done for pleasure by an english major. when i was growing up/homeschooled i wasn't really aloud to watch tv, so i did read a lot. but then i reached the age where i got to be a bit more mischievous and figured out how to make the tv in my room get a tv signal. then i was hooked on the formerly forbidden fruit. to this day, i just like tv more. i'm a product of my generation you can say. in the last 6 years, i've read maybe 2 books for pleasure. yeah, the internet has made actual book reading less popular and in college there's not a whole lot of time to read anything BUT all the texts for class, but still. this is a habit i've been actively trying to kick though. i came to macau with a bunch of books so i can try to force myself into a new habit. since i've arrived, i've now finished 3 books and am on to my 4th. in less than 3 months. i'm somewhat proud. aghh, that was a monster digression.
so sports day offered little excitement. to make things less interesting, most of the races were done on the other side of the track from where my school had to sit, so i could barely even tell if my students were even running. the highlight of every day though was right after lunch. on our side of the track, there was a relay race between some students of a primary school (elementary school) and their parents. the kids would go halfway before passing the baton to their parent to finish the race. why was this hilarious? because at least 1 parent ate it in the homestretch every day, guaranteed. the first day, at least 5 parents face planted, hooking me for the rest of the week. it was glorious. other than that, nothing happened, but it was a week free of my stupid students, so for that, i'm grateful.
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now for some much needed commentary on the world of AMERICAN sports.
BASEBALL
congratulations to the san fransisco giants for removing themselves from the "chicago cubs/cleveland indians" club of hopeless losers. you are also safe from the "worst team to win the world series" conversation, because the 2006 cardinals will hold that title for quite a while. honestly, i didn't care who won. some of you thought that i would be pulling for the rangers with the whole born in TEJAS thing working for me. but, i don't care for the rangers or most anything that comes from big D. also, i'd be lying if i said i wasn't happy that the rangers didn't capture a championship before my Astros did. so the baseball season is over right? god no. the hot stove is one of my favorite times of year, where i can fantasize about how improved my teams' rosters will be going into next year. (please trade carlos lee. please trade carlos lee. please trade carlos lee) when i was bored in class, i used to put together a full astros offseason plan of available players, potential trade candidates, and other things. then i would project the stats over a 162 game season. yes, i'm a huge baseball nerd. and i know it.
FOOTBALL
i'm not nearly as in the loop with the season so far for obvious reasons, but i think that so far i can say that i definitely picked a good year to miss. it's a cliche, but the parity in the NFL is out of this world. this is the first year in a while that there isn't a well-defined super bowl favorite. hell, the last unbeaten team was the kc chiefs. THE CHIEFS! and they're sure as hell not looking super this year, regardless of how many former patriots are running things over there. week in and week out there's seemingly a new top team, when then promptly goes the next week and loses to an inferior team. it reminds me of the 2007-08 college football season where there was a new BCS number 1 team every week because the current number 1 kept losing right away. it's good because most teams still have a chance i guess (cough, the bears). it will definitely make for a whirlwind end of the season with teams fighting for wild card/division bids, which will be fascinating to watch.
speaking of los OSOS, what a stupid roller coaster they're taking me and the rest of the Chi on. while they are technically easily still in it, i can't ignore the quality of their winning record. the first win was to detroit (a L everywhere but the scoreboard). the second win was against dallas (bottom 3 team). the third was against green bay (fueled by hester, but most legitimate of the Ws), the fourth was against carolina (bottom 3 team). and the fifth was the buffalo (bottom 3 team). so you can understand my skepticism. if they beat the vikings, i could be singing a different tune. needless to say, only 1 team is walking off the field sunday with hope for the season. i almost hope the bears tank so they can just clean house and get a good draft pick to fix one of their glaring holes.
finally, i just want to weigh in on the hot topic of the season. big defensive hits. i can't describe how annoyed i am with the commissioner right now. first, changing rules midseason is ridiculous, period. these are players of habit. they've been playing the same way all their life. asking them to change on the dime is unfair. i understand how big of an issue concussions are (you'd have to be foolish to ignore the facts), but these mammoth fines are absurd. especially, coming down without an impartial player opinion. there are hits that are malicious and hits that are accidental and unfortunate. there has to be a difference. also, why just defensive players? plenty of RB lead with their helmet, without consequence. finally, how DARE the nfl plan on expanding the season, subjecting their players to even more wear and tear than a grueling 16 game schedule, and then turn around and say they only care about the players' well being. unfortunately, this is an issue that will haunt the league for many years, and it will not end well.
BASKETBALL
david stern must be the happiest person in the world right now. i can't remember the NBA being this popular and exciting since jordan and the 90s. it's really quite fantastic. there's more drama day-in/day-out than an episode of the hills. it's phenomenal entertainment. the best reality tv out there right now. there are so many talented teams out there, each one matching up differently with the other great teams. the west is ridiculously stacked with great teams with championship pedigrees, but the east features some of the most electric/dominating players out there thirsty to finally put it together.
the bulls are looking good so far, but the daunting circus trip is around the corner. i do think they can get home with a 4-3 trip though, which would be great. even 3-4 would be acceptable. rose has stepping things up to another level so far. joakim noah has been a beast everywhere. thank god he wasn't traded. barring injury, he'll be owning the paint in chicago through the decade. as the season continues, basketball will get more face time. especially once the trade winds pick up and the booze cruise finally joins the lineup.
i can't end without commenting on the early cloud over south beach. the heat are looking extremely flawed so far, and it doesn't appear as if the flaws will go away any time soon. the heat of lost 4 games so far. the common trend...each team featured an electric point guard and a big man that had their way and abused the heat. bodes well for the bulls right? rondo/garnett twice, paul/okafor, deron/millsap. especially with boozer back, i think the bulls match up incredibly well against the miami HATE. joakim/boozer should maul bosh/joel anthony up front. rose will abuse arroyo/chalmers. it should be interesting to see if any team will consider working a trade to help out the heat if pat riley calls, or if they're just ignore him and say screw you and good luck. i'm hoping the latter.
HOCKEY
blackhawks...to quote the great vince lombardi, what the hell's going on out here? i think all of chicago expected a little more this season, even with all of the roster overturn. things just aren't clicking yet, anywhere. it's still very early in the season and i do expect them to start turning things around soon, but there's a lot of work to do. the prospects that we thought were going to be around to fill in the depth haven't done it yet. it's not as exciting a time. this team is too good to keep muddling around though. they'll get it clicking in a month or so. i'm confident
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
just a weird year for football in general. can we really be looking forward to an Oregon/Boise State national championship? i say that because i can see auburn getting thumped by 'bama at the iron bowl in 2 weeks, and TCU will probably drop after a tough game against SDSt and with Utah getting crushed by the haplessly mediocre ND. i do like seeing new faces atop college football. i'm thrilled actually. it just sounds a little odd. i'll maybe weigh back in a few weeks from now to see if some of these things work themselves out and give a BCS preview.
phew, that was long.
lord i was born a gamblin man
not really, it's just been stuck in my head and i haven't been able to think of a better post-casino...uh...post.
so yes, i finally made it out to the casinos. my buddy woody came to visit with some of his friends from his teaching program in shenzhen so we went out to the casinos. first we went to the venetian, which is over in taipa (the part of macau that is across the bridge). my main focus of the night was the drink in my hand, since i consider spending money on drinks the safest bet i could make. either way, i win. i let the people i was with do most of the gambling. they bounced between poker, roulette and other machine games. it was the night before halloween, so we actually suited up, which i enjoyed because i brought about 6 ties with me and hadn't worn one yet. they were looking for the cheapest minimum bets, so we actually bounced around to some other casinos. the city of dreams, the next casino we went to, featured a buy 1 get 1 free oktoberfest deal when you got to drink out of a sweet beer steins, so needless to say, i was hooked.
anyway, we headed back over to macau, since i wanted to show them some of the other casinos in the area. we stopped by the grand lisboa (which is the casino that all of the locals HATE because they think it's really ugly. it kind of looks like a giant lit up turnip. i like it.) then we swung over to the wynn, where i actually did some gambling. maybe because the wynn gave gamblers free drinks. i lost ha, but it was ok. i really don't know how much i'll really be frequenting the casinos unless i have guests visiting. there's just something about going to a casino alone that rubs me the wrong way. i went looking around for sports betting, since i would do that, but they don't really gamble on real sports here. at least the sports i know enough about to feel comfortable placing a good bet on. i'll get more into sports in the next post
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it's been a while, but not much has been new, probably why i haven't posted in a few weeks. that and laziness. and, i haven't had as many hilarious movies to watch. i've watched sister act twice the last few weeks and now we're watching freedom writers. both aren't as fundamentally hilarious and flawed as some of the other movies.
i'm firmly in a weekly routine around here, which is making time roll by. i mean hell, in just 5 weeks i'll be back stateside for christmas break. i'm brimming with anticipation. after graduating, i definitely thought that is would be nice to get away and remove myself from the routine i established in college. i just didn't think it would be in china. to be honest, i always wished i could have done this exact same job, but in europe. china's interesting and all, i just like europe way better. i'd kill for a chance to go back to spain or italy, or finally visit motherland germany. if nothing works out in illinois again, i'll probably turn my attention to the european side of things.
i'm already practicing integrating my experiences here into interview questions for when i start bombarding illinois school districts with resumes this summer. for example, during my interviews this last summer, i could never really answer questions about classroom management tactics, because during student teaching, i didn't have any problems at all. now, classroom management is a daily focal point. also, i going to severely over hype my duties as an english club sponsor as well as my role in editing and publishing the school's writing publication. i mean, i am doing work and all, but in the end it will sound better than it actually was. never say never, but there's a very slim chance i return to macau for another tour of duty.
that being said, if the stupid job market doesn't heat back up soon, it will almost be time to start thinking about grad school to get the good old MFA in writing. hmmmm, college, i'm really beginning to miss you, except for the whole actually having money thing. i like that.
so yes, i finally made it out to the casinos. my buddy woody came to visit with some of his friends from his teaching program in shenzhen so we went out to the casinos. first we went to the venetian, which is over in taipa (the part of macau that is across the bridge). my main focus of the night was the drink in my hand, since i consider spending money on drinks the safest bet i could make. either way, i win. i let the people i was with do most of the gambling. they bounced between poker, roulette and other machine games. it was the night before halloween, so we actually suited up, which i enjoyed because i brought about 6 ties with me and hadn't worn one yet. they were looking for the cheapest minimum bets, so we actually bounced around to some other casinos. the city of dreams, the next casino we went to, featured a buy 1 get 1 free oktoberfest deal when you got to drink out of a sweet beer steins, so needless to say, i was hooked.
anyway, we headed back over to macau, since i wanted to show them some of the other casinos in the area. we stopped by the grand lisboa (which is the casino that all of the locals HATE because they think it's really ugly. it kind of looks like a giant lit up turnip. i like it.) then we swung over to the wynn, where i actually did some gambling. maybe because the wynn gave gamblers free drinks. i lost ha, but it was ok. i really don't know how much i'll really be frequenting the casinos unless i have guests visiting. there's just something about going to a casino alone that rubs me the wrong way. i went looking around for sports betting, since i would do that, but they don't really gamble on real sports here. at least the sports i know enough about to feel comfortable placing a good bet on. i'll get more into sports in the next post
......................................................................................................................................
it's been a while, but not much has been new, probably why i haven't posted in a few weeks. that and laziness. and, i haven't had as many hilarious movies to watch. i've watched sister act twice the last few weeks and now we're watching freedom writers. both aren't as fundamentally hilarious and flawed as some of the other movies.
i'm firmly in a weekly routine around here, which is making time roll by. i mean hell, in just 5 weeks i'll be back stateside for christmas break. i'm brimming with anticipation. after graduating, i definitely thought that is would be nice to get away and remove myself from the routine i established in college. i just didn't think it would be in china. to be honest, i always wished i could have done this exact same job, but in europe. china's interesting and all, i just like europe way better. i'd kill for a chance to go back to spain or italy, or finally visit motherland germany. if nothing works out in illinois again, i'll probably turn my attention to the european side of things.
i'm already practicing integrating my experiences here into interview questions for when i start bombarding illinois school districts with resumes this summer. for example, during my interviews this last summer, i could never really answer questions about classroom management tactics, because during student teaching, i didn't have any problems at all. now, classroom management is a daily focal point. also, i going to severely over hype my duties as an english club sponsor as well as my role in editing and publishing the school's writing publication. i mean, i am doing work and all, but in the end it will sound better than it actually was. never say never, but there's a very slim chance i return to macau for another tour of duty.
that being said, if the stupid job market doesn't heat back up soon, it will almost be time to start thinking about grad school to get the good old MFA in writing. hmmmm, college, i'm really beginning to miss you, except for the whole actually having money thing. i like that.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
on chinese hospitals...
so the last 2 days, i've had to go to one of the hospitals in macau to get a physical for work. i've had plenty of physicals in my life (at the same doctor's office i've been going to since i was 7), but clearly none in a hospital in another country. so this was my first experience with foreign medicine. the physical entailed a blood pressure reading, height/weight, surgical history, chest x-ray, urine test, and a tetanus shot. to be honest, i haven't been to a doctor/hospital since college when i went to health services when i was having my lung and chest illnesses in the winter of 08, so i haven't been in a while. even then, i've always known that when my blood pressure is taken, it always runs on the high side, always. while i'm no doctor, i always figured that this high blood pressure has always had a direct correlation with how much i sweat, so i've basically had it all my life, although doctors always say that it's nothing to really worry about.
then i get to china, where they obviously haven't had too many americans in there with high blood pressure. so i take my blood pressure first. they say it's on the high side (no news to me). i do all of my other things, and they ask to take it again, because it was high. it's even higher the second time. they seem worried, so they ask me to come back in the next day to test it again. since they seemed worried, it actually starts to worry me. i even went home and googled high blood pressure to see what i was in for. something about strokes. anyway, so i went back in today where i have to sit on the couch for 15 minutes before they can take it. i'm called back, i take it again. the nurse is utterly shocked. it's higher than yesterday. all she can say is "why?" like i know the answer. "i went to mcdonalds after the hospital and got 10 orders of fries with extra salt and a gallon of moonshine!" i just started to laugh. so they ask me to go back out to the waiting room and sit for 20 minutes and maybe drink so water to do it again.
then another nurse comes out to ask me whether hospitals make me nervous which would raise my blood pressure. really? who likes hospitals? i don't. i've never had a good experience in one. well, birth was probably pretty cool but all the screaming in the room probably scarred me somehow (thanks mom), but my first actual memory of being in a hospital was when i was 3 and had to get stitches in my forehead after i cracked it open on my headboard when i slipped while jumping on my bed. not good. the next one was probably when i accidentally split my little brother's head open with an aluminum baseball bat (seriously, an accident, my little brother hit my in the nether regions with a tennis ball when we were playing outside and as he was running away, i whipped the bat across the yard and it somehow zeroed in a hit him square in the back of the head. freak accident). but as punishment, my mom made me watch as the doctor stapled the wound shut. (again, thanks mom). then all my ER trips for soccer induced ankle injuries, concussions, broken nose and other things along the way. yeah, i don't like hospitals. so maybe that raised my blood pressure. that and them making me think i actually had serious health issues and would have a stroke soon (which inevitably got billy squire stuck in my head).
anyway, 20 minutes pass, i do it again. surprise, surprise...higher. so the nurse dusts off the manual blood pressure thing, with the hand pump and all. and do it. what do you know...lower. stupid machines. just when i thought chinese technology was supposed to be the best. EHHHH! (that's my best wrong answer onamonapia). anyway, i really hope i don't have to see another doctor while i'm over here. cheers to american medicine and mainstream high blood pressure!
then i get to china, where they obviously haven't had too many americans in there with high blood pressure. so i take my blood pressure first. they say it's on the high side (no news to me). i do all of my other things, and they ask to take it again, because it was high. it's even higher the second time. they seem worried, so they ask me to come back in the next day to test it again. since they seemed worried, it actually starts to worry me. i even went home and googled high blood pressure to see what i was in for. something about strokes. anyway, so i went back in today where i have to sit on the couch for 15 minutes before they can take it. i'm called back, i take it again. the nurse is utterly shocked. it's higher than yesterday. all she can say is "why?" like i know the answer. "i went to mcdonalds after the hospital and got 10 orders of fries with extra salt and a gallon of moonshine!" i just started to laugh. so they ask me to go back out to the waiting room and sit for 20 minutes and maybe drink so water to do it again.
then another nurse comes out to ask me whether hospitals make me nervous which would raise my blood pressure. really? who likes hospitals? i don't. i've never had a good experience in one. well, birth was probably pretty cool but all the screaming in the room probably scarred me somehow (thanks mom), but my first actual memory of being in a hospital was when i was 3 and had to get stitches in my forehead after i cracked it open on my headboard when i slipped while jumping on my bed. not good. the next one was probably when i accidentally split my little brother's head open with an aluminum baseball bat (seriously, an accident, my little brother hit my in the nether regions with a tennis ball when we were playing outside and as he was running away, i whipped the bat across the yard and it somehow zeroed in a hit him square in the back of the head. freak accident). but as punishment, my mom made me watch as the doctor stapled the wound shut. (again, thanks mom). then all my ER trips for soccer induced ankle injuries, concussions, broken nose and other things along the way. yeah, i don't like hospitals. so maybe that raised my blood pressure. that and them making me think i actually had serious health issues and would have a stroke soon (which inevitably got billy squire stuck in my head).
anyway, 20 minutes pass, i do it again. surprise, surprise...higher. so the nurse dusts off the manual blood pressure thing, with the hand pump and all. and do it. what do you know...lower. stupid machines. just when i thought chinese technology was supposed to be the best. EHHHH! (that's my best wrong answer onamonapia). anyway, i really hope i don't have to see another doctor while i'm over here. cheers to american medicine and mainstream high blood pressure!
Monday, October 18, 2010
into the wide RED yonder
after a month and a half of being cooped up in macau, i finally got my chinese travel visa and headed to shenzhen for a long weekend to visit my buddy, woody, from home. he's over there teaching as part of a program of some sort. it was probably the best weekend i've had since i've been over here. while i've been having a good time in macau, it's not until you head out to the mainland to really find out what you're missing. macau, despite the giant gambling ring, isn't that hopping outside of the casinos. there's a bar strip near the coast and some bars inside the casinos, but there were way cooler places to go in shenzhen, which maked the streets of macau look like a ghost town. it was also thoroughly enjoyable to chill with people my own age who loved to have a prolonged night of fun. when i go out in macau, i always wind up hanging out with some randoms between the age of 28 and 50. anyway, i took a ferry into the shekou ferry station, which is the closest one to woody's house, but still an hour and a half bus ride away, which sucked a tad. anyway, the first night we actually crashed at one of his friend's houses who lived close to the beer garden that we began our night at. after a club and getting my long island game on, we headed back to call it a night.
digression...i don't remember if i've mentioned this here, but i made a discovery over the summer by complete accident, and i hope that you readers take my advice on this one. if you are ever ordering a long island, instead of a lemon, ask the bartender to throw in an orange wedge. over the summer i was at a bar in chicago and got a L.I., but they were out of lemons. i asked what they had and they said an orange and i told them to toss it in. it was delicious. way better than the lemon version. if you thought a regular L.I. went down smooth, try it with an orange slice. it's not even fair.
and we're back. anyway, woody's house is pretty close to the beach, so we spent a couple hours in the afternoon at the beach and then went back to his place to shower and clean up and start our night in earnest. the whole teaching crew showed up from all around china, because there was a beach party going on. by beach party i mean, there's a gated section of the beach near the beginning and you would buy a ticket to get in that included 5 drink vouchers. there were a few DJs, which we made friends with. overall, just a super swell night and a kickass weekend. i had been needing a trip like that ever since i arrived here. unfortunately since i have english club every saturday morning, i'm not going to be able to make mainland trips nearly as often as i'd like. woody and some of his compadres are going to head over here sometime in the next couple weeks, for what should be comparably fun. i also have a feeling i'm gonna try to miss a couple english club saturdays here, since i really just show up, sit there and drink water for 3 hours doing the occasional activity when i'm asked.
anyway, yeah, 2 thumbs up for red china! (except for the ideals, pollution, and using the street as a personal toilet)
lastly, this upcoming week should be pretty fun too though. downtown macau has a grand prix formula 1 race every year, the winner of which gets to join the formula 1 circuit, so i'm gonna try to check that out. also, the mgm grand is celebrating oktoberfest all week. maybe now i'll find some hearty beer from the motherland.
digression...i don't remember if i've mentioned this here, but i made a discovery over the summer by complete accident, and i hope that you readers take my advice on this one. if you are ever ordering a long island, instead of a lemon, ask the bartender to throw in an orange wedge. over the summer i was at a bar in chicago and got a L.I., but they were out of lemons. i asked what they had and they said an orange and i told them to toss it in. it was delicious. way better than the lemon version. if you thought a regular L.I. went down smooth, try it with an orange slice. it's not even fair.
and we're back. anyway, woody's house is pretty close to the beach, so we spent a couple hours in the afternoon at the beach and then went back to his place to shower and clean up and start our night in earnest. the whole teaching crew showed up from all around china, because there was a beach party going on. by beach party i mean, there's a gated section of the beach near the beginning and you would buy a ticket to get in that included 5 drink vouchers. there were a few DJs, which we made friends with. overall, just a super swell night and a kickass weekend. i had been needing a trip like that ever since i arrived here. unfortunately since i have english club every saturday morning, i'm not going to be able to make mainland trips nearly as often as i'd like. woody and some of his compadres are going to head over here sometime in the next couple weeks, for what should be comparably fun. i also have a feeling i'm gonna try to miss a couple english club saturdays here, since i really just show up, sit there and drink water for 3 hours doing the occasional activity when i'm asked.
anyway, yeah, 2 thumbs up for red china! (except for the ideals, pollution, and using the street as a personal toilet)
lastly, this upcoming week should be pretty fun too though. downtown macau has a grand prix formula 1 race every year, the winner of which gets to join the formula 1 circuit, so i'm gonna try to check that out. also, the mgm grand is celebrating oktoberfest all week. maybe now i'll find some hearty beer from the motherland.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Let's break down some stereotypes
some of you (my friends/readers) have sent me questions, either as jokes or actually because you want to know the answer. i'll take this time to respond to some of them. i actually had to go on wikipedia and search for asian stereotypes to research. there are several that i was not even aware of, but the ones that i am aware of, i'll try to tackle/explain/dispel. these are all meant to be explanatory, not derogatory. if anything i say sounds offensive, i'm sorry. i don't intend to, but i'm just calling it as i see it.
1. first, let's break down this "asians are bad drivers thing." is it true? well, not really, but i fully understand why western society would think so. here's why. over here, everybody drives very normally. the thing is though, driving etiquette is completely upside down here, and i'm not just referring to driving on the other (wrong) side of the street. i assure you that if i (or any of you for that matter) got behind the wheel of a car here, within 20 minutes i would have hit another car, a person on a little moped, a pedestrian, or some terrifying combination of all of three. first, there are practically no stop signs. people stop (or slow down) when somebody jettisons in front of them in the middle of the street when they want to go through, pedestrians and other drivers. everybody is constantly jaywalking, because that's just how you do it. i usually wait for somebody else to start this movement so they get hit first (survival of the fittest still translates here). the worst are the moped people, ugh. they're everywhere, cutting of buses, trucks, and cars. the only things they really yield for are pedestrians, probably because if there's a collision, that's the only thing that will be their fault. a personal example...i live on a one-way street. i was being dropped off by another teacher. i opened my car door to get out and nearly hit a moped trying to whiz by the side of the car. collision averted, but valuable lesson about moped drivers learned.
i'm also fairly certain that nobody uses blinkers to merge lanes. i've constantly found myself in cabs and buses that are clearly in the wrong lane for the direction we are supposed to be going, then magically moving into the correct lane before continuing in the wrong lane. i am still dumbfounded by this. in my little world, when you are in the lane that goes right, you should follow your lane and not just drift into the correct lane at the last possible second without coming close to a collision. it seems to me that all drivers are constantly prepared for a collision, so they all somehow avoid it when the opportunity presents itself.
so, in my opinion, there is so much inherent chaos in the streets with the lack of well-defined traffic laws and strict traffic patterns, that everybody expects it and deals with it astonishingly successfully. would this chaos fly in the west? absolutely not, which is where the "reckless" unsafe driver stereotype is born from. but over here, we would be the "horribly overconscious", unsafe driver.
2. the short thing is true. i can't hold on to the belt thing on the bus anymore because we lurched to a stop and i elbowed some dude in the side of the head. i think he understood "i'm sorry" and the embarrassed grimace i made in apology. i now hold on to the metal bar the loop hangs from. my elbow is not as lethal from that height. no accidents since that day.
3. i have not seen 1 martial arts facility. only basketball courts and ping pong centers. (so no, i have not mastered karate since i've been here) (a master of friendship for everyone though...)
4. 1 month here...still haven't seen anybody rocking the fu manchu mustache. i'm not mad, i'm just disappointed...
5. to close, i thought i might throw a new one into the ring. we can file this under the "thoughts by dave" section. i'm not sure how good of singers we have in these parts. i've stepped in a handful of karaoke bars (not to participate of course) and can honestly say that i have only heard 1 good singer. yes, i know that i am an extremely harsh critic and my ear has been spoiled singing under j.scott.ferguson, but when i am severely disappointed by a vast majority of the singing i encounter, i have to wonder. i feel like i'm treading on thin ice with this one, so we'll just wrap it up with that.
if you have any questions that you are dying to know the answer to, throw me a facebook message and i'll either respond honestly there where the forum is less public (not that these aren't honest, but some things are better said behind closed doors), or i'll collect enough to have another future post.
1. first, let's break down this "asians are bad drivers thing." is it true? well, not really, but i fully understand why western society would think so. here's why. over here, everybody drives very normally. the thing is though, driving etiquette is completely upside down here, and i'm not just referring to driving on the other (wrong) side of the street. i assure you that if i (or any of you for that matter) got behind the wheel of a car here, within 20 minutes i would have hit another car, a person on a little moped, a pedestrian, or some terrifying combination of all of three. first, there are practically no stop signs. people stop (or slow down) when somebody jettisons in front of them in the middle of the street when they want to go through, pedestrians and other drivers. everybody is constantly jaywalking, because that's just how you do it. i usually wait for somebody else to start this movement so they get hit first (survival of the fittest still translates here). the worst are the moped people, ugh. they're everywhere, cutting of buses, trucks, and cars. the only things they really yield for are pedestrians, probably because if there's a collision, that's the only thing that will be their fault. a personal example...i live on a one-way street. i was being dropped off by another teacher. i opened my car door to get out and nearly hit a moped trying to whiz by the side of the car. collision averted, but valuable lesson about moped drivers learned.
i'm also fairly certain that nobody uses blinkers to merge lanes. i've constantly found myself in cabs and buses that are clearly in the wrong lane for the direction we are supposed to be going, then magically moving into the correct lane before continuing in the wrong lane. i am still dumbfounded by this. in my little world, when you are in the lane that goes right, you should follow your lane and not just drift into the correct lane at the last possible second without coming close to a collision. it seems to me that all drivers are constantly prepared for a collision, so they all somehow avoid it when the opportunity presents itself.
so, in my opinion, there is so much inherent chaos in the streets with the lack of well-defined traffic laws and strict traffic patterns, that everybody expects it and deals with it astonishingly successfully. would this chaos fly in the west? absolutely not, which is where the "reckless" unsafe driver stereotype is born from. but over here, we would be the "horribly overconscious", unsafe driver.
2. the short thing is true. i can't hold on to the belt thing on the bus anymore because we lurched to a stop and i elbowed some dude in the side of the head. i think he understood "i'm sorry" and the embarrassed grimace i made in apology. i now hold on to the metal bar the loop hangs from. my elbow is not as lethal from that height. no accidents since that day.
3. i have not seen 1 martial arts facility. only basketball courts and ping pong centers. (so no, i have not mastered karate since i've been here) (a master of friendship for everyone though...)
4. 1 month here...still haven't seen anybody rocking the fu manchu mustache. i'm not mad, i'm just disappointed...
5. to close, i thought i might throw a new one into the ring. we can file this under the "thoughts by dave" section. i'm not sure how good of singers we have in these parts. i've stepped in a handful of karaoke bars (not to participate of course) and can honestly say that i have only heard 1 good singer. yes, i know that i am an extremely harsh critic and my ear has been spoiled singing under j.scott.ferguson, but when i am severely disappointed by a vast majority of the singing i encounter, i have to wonder. i feel like i'm treading on thin ice with this one, so we'll just wrap it up with that.
if you have any questions that you are dying to know the answer to, throw me a facebook message and i'll either respond honestly there where the forum is less public (not that these aren't honest, but some things are better said behind closed doors), or i'll collect enough to have another future post.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Film Review: Frozen
i honestly could have written this review a week ago when we had only seen half of the movie, but i really thought i owed it to the awfulness of the movie to finish the entire thing to see how ridiculous it can get. you know the sign or a really good horror movie? when the students are scared and the teacher is cracking up laughing after each thing that happens. oh, wait, NO! after reading the jacket cover of the movie, i already knew what i was in for: "open water" but substitute skiing/snowboarding for scuba diving. i'll kill 2 birds with one stone by exposing the plot to open water, because almost the exact same movie.
both movies come from the script line that takes murphy's law -- anything that can go wrong, will go wrong -- and plugs it into a recreational activity with a mild risk factor, making it a bizarre, this will NEVER actually happen "horror" movie. in open water, what's the worst that could happen? your boat SOMEHOW miscounts the number of people on the trip and those on the boat and leaves 2 people behind. then sharks show up. then somebody get hysterical because of the predicament. then somebody dies, leaving the last person with a life or death decision to make about themselves.
now to the hilarious details of Frozen...
***SPOILER ALERT***
ok, so the start of the movie is based on this awkward 3rd wheel situation. these 2 "bros" (one of which is iceman from the x-men trilogy; OH THE IRONY!*%*&) have had this yearly tradition of going to this one mountain and having quality bro time where they clear their heads and just be with the snow. (i'll be referring to our fateful threesome as iceman, non-iceman, and girlfriend) this year though, non-iceman his girlfriend along, who SUCKS at snowboarding. the pathetic dramatic tension that carries the first 30 minutes is all based around these boring, awkward 3rd wheel conversations, such as iceman criticizing the girlfriend for smoking cigarettes and then complaining to non-iceman that they haven't been able to get any sick runs in all day because the girl sucks at snowboarding (iceman's a skier, btw). so, the hill is about to close. the lift chairs are being folded up, but the gang - because of the lack of sick runs -, convinces the lift chair guy to let them go up for 1 more run, which he finally agrees to do. so, they are on their way up. now murphy's law starts to beat our threesome in the face like a whack-a-mole and annoy any intelligent viewers to the bitter end. so the ski lift guy, 5 minutes before our soon-to-be-screwed threesome has to take a piss, so he gets some other guy to replace him so he can relieve himself, telling him to wait until the 3 people he sent up get down the hill. in classic Home Alone miscounting fashion, the new guy sees 3 other people arrive at the bottom of the hill and, thinking these are the three people he's supposed to wait for, shuts the lift down with the threesome stuck on chair the middle of the lift.
they joke about being stuck until the lights on the hill shut off, then the girl now gets hysterical when they realize that if nobody helps them, they will be out there for 5 full days, because it's a sunday night, and this clearly is one of those weekend-only mountains that is completely abandoned m-f. (the funny part to me was when they actually mentioned dying from sharks while on the lift; priceless cap tip to open water) THEN an ice storm starts. oh, and non-iceman decided to wear, not a winter coat, but a hoodie with a poofy vest over it. i know that when i go skiing, i wear those ninja neck/face masks with a beanie over it, because being cold in the snow sucks, so normal people dress accordingly. anyway, they're sitting in the ice storm complaining, BUT HELP IS ON THE WAY, or so it seems. a truck is driving up the hill to check the slopes for the night. as he gets right under the threesome, he gets radioed to screw it and come back because of the storm. he pauses for a second, then turns around. while he was right underneath them, none of the three thoughts to drop a ski/snowboard on the truck to get his attention. they thought yelling from above in a windy ice storm would get the man's attention from inside the truck. (yeah, i know. they're stupid; they deserve to die).
so now they start to get desperate. chivalrous non-iceman decides that the best thing to do to save everybody is to jump to the ground and head down the hill for help. they're oh 3 stories high, you know, the usual ski lift height, and non-iceman jumps straight down, trying to land on his feet (clearly bad form if you want to lighten your fall) so what do you think happened? broken legs! compound fracture; bone through skin, which they graphically show. so as non-iceman is sitting there, bleeding out, girlfriend throws her scarf down for a tourniquet, which promptly gets stuck in a tree on the way down. THEN a WOLF shows up next to non-iceman! the two up top drop girlfriends snowboard scaring off the wolf. seeking an alternative route out, iceman contemplates climbing across the cable to the pillar that has a ladder down. (this should have struck most people as the first option) as the two talk this out, they look down to now see a pack of wolves which start to rip non-iceman apart as iceman and girlfriend stay close to not watch the carnage. (chivalry is dead. BOOM! i built up to that one) now, let's break this down...at this ski mountain, there is a resident pack of killer wolves. killer wolves...at a public recreational facility. ok then.
so 1 down. to backtrack a little, as everybody was still with us, the girlfriend dropped a mitten while trying to light up a cig. (smoking will kill you!). fast-forward till now --> because of non-iceman getting eaten by wolves, they ditched the climbing the cable plan and they both fell asleep overnight. girlfriend intelligently fell asleep with her hand on the guardrail. she wakes up with her hand stuck to the rail. think dumb and dumber, hand instead of tongue and actually losing a layer of skin instead of a rubber prosthetic tongue. idiot! you lost your glove and you have a perfectly good coat pocket. why would it ever leave the pocket if your hand is unoccupied? anyway, they are both horribly frostbitten and then the sun comes out giving them sunburn (another laughing moment for me). anyway, iceman attempts the cable plan again. as he climbs on the cable, somehow the screw of the chair begins to come loose, so the girl in the chair has that subplot going for her. as he's climbing, duh, the pack of wolves come back and circle underneath (this time, during the day: the time skiers usually occupy the mountain. seriously, killer wolves) since they're due for some good luck, iceman actually makes it across to the ladder. girlfriend throws his ski pole at the bottom to use as a weapon. iceman starts to get mauled by a wolf, but stabs it in the face to fend it off. then he sits on non-iceman's vacant snowboard and starts to slide down the hill with the pack of wolves following him. he promises help. the girl sits for a while, and help is taking a really long time. hmm, i wonder what happened to the help? she finally gets sick of waiting, so attempts to jump down as well (because this plan ended so well the first time...). as she positions herself, the chair falls, but not all the way because of some cable that held, so she has a much shorter drop now. she jumps, but the chair falls on her foot, so she can't walk. she army crawls down the mountain. on her way down, what does she find? iceman being ravaged by the wolves, intestines out and everything. but, the wolves (having eaten 2 grown men) are no longer hungry, and after a dramatic staredown from head wolf continue feasting on iceman as girlfriend continues down the mountain. she gets picked up on the side of the road by a minivan. the end.
both movies come from the script line that takes murphy's law -- anything that can go wrong, will go wrong -- and plugs it into a recreational activity with a mild risk factor, making it a bizarre, this will NEVER actually happen "horror" movie. in open water, what's the worst that could happen? your boat SOMEHOW miscounts the number of people on the trip and those on the boat and leaves 2 people behind. then sharks show up. then somebody get hysterical because of the predicament. then somebody dies, leaving the last person with a life or death decision to make about themselves.
now to the hilarious details of Frozen...
***SPOILER ALERT***
ok, so the start of the movie is based on this awkward 3rd wheel situation. these 2 "bros" (one of which is iceman from the x-men trilogy; OH THE IRONY!*%*&) have had this yearly tradition of going to this one mountain and having quality bro time where they clear their heads and just be with the snow. (i'll be referring to our fateful threesome as iceman, non-iceman, and girlfriend) this year though, non-iceman his girlfriend along, who SUCKS at snowboarding. the pathetic dramatic tension that carries the first 30 minutes is all based around these boring, awkward 3rd wheel conversations, such as iceman criticizing the girlfriend for smoking cigarettes and then complaining to non-iceman that they haven't been able to get any sick runs in all day because the girl sucks at snowboarding (iceman's a skier, btw). so, the hill is about to close. the lift chairs are being folded up, but the gang - because of the lack of sick runs -, convinces the lift chair guy to let them go up for 1 more run, which he finally agrees to do. so, they are on their way up. now murphy's law starts to beat our threesome in the face like a whack-a-mole and annoy any intelligent viewers to the bitter end. so the ski lift guy, 5 minutes before our soon-to-be-screwed threesome has to take a piss, so he gets some other guy to replace him so he can relieve himself, telling him to wait until the 3 people he sent up get down the hill. in classic Home Alone miscounting fashion, the new guy sees 3 other people arrive at the bottom of the hill and, thinking these are the three people he's supposed to wait for, shuts the lift down with the threesome stuck on chair the middle of the lift.
they joke about being stuck until the lights on the hill shut off, then the girl now gets hysterical when they realize that if nobody helps them, they will be out there for 5 full days, because it's a sunday night, and this clearly is one of those weekend-only mountains that is completely abandoned m-f. (the funny part to me was when they actually mentioned dying from sharks while on the lift; priceless cap tip to open water) THEN an ice storm starts. oh, and non-iceman decided to wear, not a winter coat, but a hoodie with a poofy vest over it. i know that when i go skiing, i wear those ninja neck/face masks with a beanie over it, because being cold in the snow sucks, so normal people dress accordingly. anyway, they're sitting in the ice storm complaining, BUT HELP IS ON THE WAY, or so it seems. a truck is driving up the hill to check the slopes for the night. as he gets right under the threesome, he gets radioed to screw it and come back because of the storm. he pauses for a second, then turns around. while he was right underneath them, none of the three thoughts to drop a ski/snowboard on the truck to get his attention. they thought yelling from above in a windy ice storm would get the man's attention from inside the truck. (yeah, i know. they're stupid; they deserve to die).
so now they start to get desperate. chivalrous non-iceman decides that the best thing to do to save everybody is to jump to the ground and head down the hill for help. they're oh 3 stories high, you know, the usual ski lift height, and non-iceman jumps straight down, trying to land on his feet (clearly bad form if you want to lighten your fall) so what do you think happened? broken legs! compound fracture; bone through skin, which they graphically show. so as non-iceman is sitting there, bleeding out, girlfriend throws her scarf down for a tourniquet, which promptly gets stuck in a tree on the way down. THEN a WOLF shows up next to non-iceman! the two up top drop girlfriends snowboard scaring off the wolf. seeking an alternative route out, iceman contemplates climbing across the cable to the pillar that has a ladder down. (this should have struck most people as the first option) as the two talk this out, they look down to now see a pack of wolves which start to rip non-iceman apart as iceman and girlfriend stay close to not watch the carnage. (chivalry is dead. BOOM! i built up to that one) now, let's break this down...at this ski mountain, there is a resident pack of killer wolves. killer wolves...at a public recreational facility. ok then.
so 1 down. to backtrack a little, as everybody was still with us, the girlfriend dropped a mitten while trying to light up a cig. (smoking will kill you!). fast-forward till now --> because of non-iceman getting eaten by wolves, they ditched the climbing the cable plan and they both fell asleep overnight. girlfriend intelligently fell asleep with her hand on the guardrail. she wakes up with her hand stuck to the rail. think dumb and dumber, hand instead of tongue and actually losing a layer of skin instead of a rubber prosthetic tongue. idiot! you lost your glove and you have a perfectly good coat pocket. why would it ever leave the pocket if your hand is unoccupied? anyway, they are both horribly frostbitten and then the sun comes out giving them sunburn (another laughing moment for me). anyway, iceman attempts the cable plan again. as he climbs on the cable, somehow the screw of the chair begins to come loose, so the girl in the chair has that subplot going for her. as he's climbing, duh, the pack of wolves come back and circle underneath (this time, during the day: the time skiers usually occupy the mountain. seriously, killer wolves) since they're due for some good luck, iceman actually makes it across to the ladder. girlfriend throws his ski pole at the bottom to use as a weapon. iceman starts to get mauled by a wolf, but stabs it in the face to fend it off. then he sits on non-iceman's vacant snowboard and starts to slide down the hill with the pack of wolves following him. he promises help. the girl sits for a while, and help is taking a really long time. hmm, i wonder what happened to the help? she finally gets sick of waiting, so attempts to jump down as well (because this plan ended so well the first time...). as she positions herself, the chair falls, but not all the way because of some cable that held, so she has a much shorter drop now. she jumps, but the chair falls on her foot, so she can't walk. she army crawls down the mountain. on her way down, what does she find? iceman being ravaged by the wolves, intestines out and everything. but, the wolves (having eaten 2 grown men) are no longer hungry, and after a dramatic staredown from head wolf continue feasting on iceman as girlfriend continues down the mountain. she gets picked up on the side of the road by a minivan. the end.
Monday, October 4, 2010
the bus, chinese holidays and random thoughts
it's been a couple weeks, some are macanese things, others non.
my 2 film/music classes didn't have the same movie in each class and because of the holidays, didn't finish either in the last 2 weeks, but they will be coming soon. and trust me, they suck. i hope you're as excited as i am.
- so the best way to get from A to B is to take the buses. there are small ones that go on the small side streets (i'm not even close to being able to stand up straight on these) and big ones that use the main roads. i take both often. anyway, the seats towards the front are reserved for the elderly and women with small children. in principle, i absolutely have no problem with either reservation. the problem i have is when there is an old guy that rudely pushes and shoves people aside in line to get on so he can get on first and snag these seats. if you're strong enough to push through a crowd of people like that, you don't deserve the damn seat. and the same goes for the women that similarly barge through the line using their baby as a shield/battering ram.
- i made my first home-made chinese dish. it was basically mixed veggies, mushrooms, seafood (which is pretty damn cheap here) and noodles in broth. i'm sure i butchered some sort of traditional recipe (since i didn't follow one), but it turned out pretty good. so i'm chalking that one up to success.
- i've had my first 2 chinese holidays so far, mid-autumn festival and chinese national day, which gave me some time to extra time for myself away from my rug-rat students. mid-autumn festival is the day in the lunar calendar where the moon is brightest and most full. there's a myth attached that has to do with this dude shooting down 9 suns from the sky with arrows (you know, back when there were 10 suns in the sky. that's not a little much or anything.) in payment, he and his wife got these immortality pills. then the story splits into 3 different versions, which all end with the dude's wife eating the pills herself and winding up alone on the moon. cool story! it's basically a day to share with family. traditionally, they eat these things called moon cakes. they may sounds delicious and looks delicious on the outside, but the inside is filled with some sort of seed past and an hard egg yolk. just what i want in my cakes too! it was raining so there was no moon. my family's not here to hang out with, so i went barhopping. chinese national day is the day the chinese republic was founded. i'm not chinese and there were no cool cultural things going on, so i went barhopping. great way to spend my holidays if i do say so myself.
- so i guess illegal immigration is a big problem here in macau. you don't need a visa to get over here like regular china, and there is a lot of work in the casino industry. i was at the immigration office with carlos (the chinese peewee herman - pictures still coming -) who started ranting about illegal immigration and the problems that he sees in macau due to so many illegal immigrants. carlos is old school macanese, half chinese/half portuguese, and he's been here for a while. just to be conversational, i mentioned some of the US problems with illegal immigration, and then carlos suggested the following punishment for illegal immigrants...10 years in prison, automatically, if found to be living in macau illegally. because "that will stop them." this is around the time i stopped talking about it and kind of chuckled to myself. the funniest thing was, the biggest things that bothered him was the way they dressed and looked, because the immigrants from taiwan, phillipines, thailand, etc... seemed to just have goofy, dyed haircuts and wore odd clothes. if you could only see the suits that carlos wears every day, you could share in my amusement.
- i'm really sick of seeing people post pictures of themselves next to the stupid Bean in millennium park. especially, when they decide that it's soooo cooooool that they need to turn it into their profile picture. if you're from out of town, doing this is still dumb, but excusable. if you're from chicago, you should know better. stop it.
- there should be an age limit to when you stop having all of your status updates be depressing music lyrics about searching for happiness. and that limit is somewhere between freshman and sophomore year of college, because that is the point where you should grow up and realize life kind of sucks sometimes and buck up. make your own damn happiness instead of bitching and moaning using somebody else's crappy lyrics to express yourself.
- cee lo's hit new song "fuck you" is the ultimate male anthem for being spurned. i think that it should be a rule that after every annoying song that girls love to sing together when it comes on in crowded places (i'm specifically thinking, "put a ring on it" by beyonce), cee lo should be blasted for a little male perspective.
my 2 film/music classes didn't have the same movie in each class and because of the holidays, didn't finish either in the last 2 weeks, but they will be coming soon. and trust me, they suck. i hope you're as excited as i am.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
a little perspective
well, we're a month into my little adventure here, so i think it's about time a revisit my reasons for coming here: the life experience from the adventure of world travel as well as my professional development as an educator. unfortunately, for varying reasons, these factors have been quite underwhelming in my first month. first, there's the adventure of world travel. since i still don't have my stupid visa (until october 8th), i'm still unable to leave the friendly confines of macau. macau's fun and all, but being that it takes less than 20 minutes to get from one side to the other, it doesn't take that long to get the full macanese experience.
second, is my professional growth. i was approached after my freshman year at iwu and asked whether i would like to get my middle school endorsement as well as my secondary endorsement. i had just spent the semester observing a 6th grade class and had gotten a good review from my cooperating teacher, so the ed department asked. i promptly responded, no. why? because i am thoroughly not a fan of that age group. i've been a day camp counselor before, and the headaches with that age group (painful immaturity and general annoyance) were plenty to make me decide i never wanted to deal with them for an extended period of time again. i'm not saying i accepted this job in macau under false pretenses, i just thought i would be teaching high school students. miscommunication i guess. oh well. too bad.
the thing that has bugged me the most about teaching these kids is i feel like half the time i'm talking to 5 year olds, or a dog, or alien, or a 5 year old dog-like alien, because i have to dumb down everything that i say so that hopefully it can be absorbed by students. i have this huge problem with stupidity and ineptitude in that, well, i hate stupid people. i can honestly say that the few human beings that i hate to the very core, i do so because they are just that dumb in that they simply "don't get it" no matter how much you try to explain something to them. i'm not saying that my students are stupid by any means, not even close. i would never say that. but when you tell somebody in the only way you know how in the easiest way you know how and they still don't understand it, you can't help but feel like you're talking to a stupid person, because if they spoke your language, they would have to be stupid to not get it. on the other hand, i referenced the dog earlier, which i think is the decent analogy. you can yell at and get mad at a puppy when it pisses on the rug, but in the end, it just doesn't know any better yet, so it's useless to get mad. as an english major and as somebody who wants to pursue his masters/phd in english, dumbing down my rhetoric to a neanderthalean level is not appealing to me in the least. but, the kids have to learn and i have to teach them, so i have to fight through no matter how many times the kids "piss on the rug."
a friend told that this experience will make me a more patient teacher. perhaps. for this situation, my patience is growing. it does no good to do anything else but be patient. i'd go nuts. i'm just fairly certain that i don't want a teaching job that requires this extended level of patience. i ultimately want to be an educator that extends and grooms knowledge and skill, rather than trudging at the level of building the base of that knowledge. the base is certainly important. without the base, there is no extension to be made. to get to the top you have to trudge through the trenches first though. i guess this job is just my first trench. and hopefully one that will be parlayed into one of those other jobs i eventually seek on my way up the ladder.
second, is my professional growth. i was approached after my freshman year at iwu and asked whether i would like to get my middle school endorsement as well as my secondary endorsement. i had just spent the semester observing a 6th grade class and had gotten a good review from my cooperating teacher, so the ed department asked. i promptly responded, no. why? because i am thoroughly not a fan of that age group. i've been a day camp counselor before, and the headaches with that age group (painful immaturity and general annoyance) were plenty to make me decide i never wanted to deal with them for an extended period of time again. i'm not saying i accepted this job in macau under false pretenses, i just thought i would be teaching high school students. miscommunication i guess. oh well. too bad.
the thing that has bugged me the most about teaching these kids is i feel like half the time i'm talking to 5 year olds, or a dog, or alien, or a 5 year old dog-like alien, because i have to dumb down everything that i say so that hopefully it can be absorbed by students. i have this huge problem with stupidity and ineptitude in that, well, i hate stupid people. i can honestly say that the few human beings that i hate to the very core, i do so because they are just that dumb in that they simply "don't get it" no matter how much you try to explain something to them. i'm not saying that my students are stupid by any means, not even close. i would never say that. but when you tell somebody in the only way you know how in the easiest way you know how and they still don't understand it, you can't help but feel like you're talking to a stupid person, because if they spoke your language, they would have to be stupid to not get it. on the other hand, i referenced the dog earlier, which i think is the decent analogy. you can yell at and get mad at a puppy when it pisses on the rug, but in the end, it just doesn't know any better yet, so it's useless to get mad. as an english major and as somebody who wants to pursue his masters/phd in english, dumbing down my rhetoric to a neanderthalean level is not appealing to me in the least. but, the kids have to learn and i have to teach them, so i have to fight through no matter how many times the kids "piss on the rug."
a friend told that this experience will make me a more patient teacher. perhaps. for this situation, my patience is growing. it does no good to do anything else but be patient. i'd go nuts. i'm just fairly certain that i don't want a teaching job that requires this extended level of patience. i ultimately want to be an educator that extends and grooms knowledge and skill, rather than trudging at the level of building the base of that knowledge. the base is certainly important. without the base, there is no extension to be made. to get to the top you have to trudge through the trenches first though. i guess this job is just my first trench. and hopefully one that will be parlayed into one of those other jobs i eventually seek on my way up the ladder.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Film Review: Meet Dave
ok, so i am now co-teacher for the english elective class "film and music appreciation." awesome, right? yeah, and then you walk in and find out that the first movie we're watching is eddie murphy's p.o.s. "comedy" Meet Dave. (the one with the tagline "eddie murphy IN eddie murphy). i have the horrible feeling that when the teachers heard i was teaching it with them, they decided this would be a fitting move. ugh, we all know that the only good thing eddie murphy has going for him is the chance that they resurrect beverly hills cop. (look man, i ain't fallin for no banana in my tailpipe) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HktV2yGtLv8&feature=related
i digress.
anyway, so on to the only time i'll ever tell somebody that they never want to "Meet Dave." **Spoiler Alert** so quick plot, eddie murphy and his team of lilliputian aliens travel to NYC in a spaceship shaped like eddie murphy in search of this tiny water absorbing meteorite that falls in the hands of a little kid whose mom is the foxy -brunette- elizabeth banks. the tiny aliens become susceptible to "human emotions from planet earth" from within the murphyship that they try to make funny (love, alcoholism, fiery rage, and gay). "andy from the office" overthrows eddie murphy for being too soft on the humans, but eventually gets thwarted before he can destroy the planet earth. the crew leaves earth from the emergency pod in murphyship's shoe. the end.
all the laughs come from the aliens not knowing how humans react. they look up things on the internet and typically get incorrect, yet legitimately popular results. (not surprising eddie murphy takes a job about not understanding how people on earth will react {he thinks people still find him funny}) so there's some bathroom humor (the robot craps out $20s and hotdogs on two respective occasions) and some physical comedy (it's a robot spaceship that doesn't know how to move like a human, duh?). anyway, the things that bugges me: the terminator already covered the "human boy teaches alien robot to give a high five" plot line. if an alien robot gets taken to the hospital and administered an mri, it should be exposed, not skip to the next scene. also, when asked of a good spot to take elizabeth banks for her birthday, a 12 year old shouldn't suggest a salsa-dancing bar. how does he know it exists, and what is a virgin mojito? i think that's it.
the perks: gabrielle union is super foxy. she doesn't have to be funny. she just is, and she's fine. also, scott caan is an acceptable add-in in any movie/tv show.
we're done here. if i continue to watch crap movies i wouldn't otherwise see, expect some similar posts. cheers, readers!
i digress.
anyway, so on to the only time i'll ever tell somebody that they never want to "Meet Dave." **Spoiler Alert** so quick plot, eddie murphy and his team of lilliputian aliens travel to NYC in a spaceship shaped like eddie murphy in search of this tiny water absorbing meteorite that falls in the hands of a little kid whose mom is the foxy -brunette- elizabeth banks. the tiny aliens become susceptible to "human emotions from planet earth" from within the murphyship that they try to make funny (love, alcoholism, fiery rage, and gay). "andy from the office" overthrows eddie murphy for being too soft on the humans, but eventually gets thwarted before he can destroy the planet earth. the crew leaves earth from the emergency pod in murphyship's shoe. the end.
all the laughs come from the aliens not knowing how humans react. they look up things on the internet and typically get incorrect, yet legitimately popular results. (not surprising eddie murphy takes a job about not understanding how people on earth will react {he thinks people still find him funny}) so there's some bathroom humor (the robot craps out $20s and hotdogs on two respective occasions) and some physical comedy (it's a robot spaceship that doesn't know how to move like a human, duh?). anyway, the things that bugges me: the terminator already covered the "human boy teaches alien robot to give a high five" plot line. if an alien robot gets taken to the hospital and administered an mri, it should be exposed, not skip to the next scene. also, when asked of a good spot to take elizabeth banks for her birthday, a 12 year old shouldn't suggest a salsa-dancing bar. how does he know it exists, and what is a virgin mojito? i think that's it.
the perks: gabrielle union is super foxy. she doesn't have to be funny. she just is, and she's fine. also, scott caan is an acceptable add-in in any movie/tv show.
we're done here. if i continue to watch crap movies i wouldn't otherwise see, expect some similar posts. cheers, readers!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
***SPORTS***
Football season is underway friends!!! unfortunately, since most bears games start around 2 am on mondays here and i have to wake up for school by 7, i'll be missing most. primetime games will be my savior though. and if the bears are any good (although i am still very doubtful), i'm sure i can find some days to sacrifice sleep for a competitive game. and tuesday morning football is the new monday night football.
not that anybody probably cares, but my first season participating in fantasy sports came to a fiery end as my number 3 seed baseball team got upset this weekend. i never played before, because i couldn't stomach the thought of cheering for a player against my beloved teams. in review, the pros outweigh the cons. while i was always an expert on my own teams, playing fantasy made me a geek about the whole league, and i love it. i desperately love football, but my love for baseball runs just a bit deeper. and my first fantasy season felt like an explosive love affair with my national past time. ***and the astros crawled from the NL cellar to 3rd place in the division. they don't get any national love (downright disrespect in fact considering what they've done), but i've been raising my glass weekly to my boys in houston. you're a scrappy bunch; i'm proud of you.
not much basketball news. kevin durant took the summer of lebron and eclipsed him. good job. although i can't say anything that bill simmons hasn't already said in his most recent column. i got a surprise these last few weeks by finding out i'll be in chicago december 19-24 before going on a family vacation. i did not expect to be home before june, but there's 1 game in that time span the bulls are in town (21st vs. 76ers). i plan on being there, so should you. talk to me if you're interested. (derek, neil i'm banking on you two)
no, i'm not forgetting about hockey. the blackhawks are at home during my chicago visit as well (22nd vs. Predators). i may have to make it back to back nights at the UC. also, countdown to kyle beach is on.
i am in macau, and at the aforementioned roadhouse, i watched the new zealand all blacks pull out a late match win over australia in national play. i may start playing rugby here soon.
not that anybody probably cares, but my first season participating in fantasy sports came to a fiery end as my number 3 seed baseball team got upset this weekend. i never played before, because i couldn't stomach the thought of cheering for a player against my beloved teams. in review, the pros outweigh the cons. while i was always an expert on my own teams, playing fantasy made me a geek about the whole league, and i love it. i desperately love football, but my love for baseball runs just a bit deeper. and my first fantasy season felt like an explosive love affair with my national past time. ***and the astros crawled from the NL cellar to 3rd place in the division. they don't get any national love (downright disrespect in fact considering what they've done), but i've been raising my glass weekly to my boys in houston. you're a scrappy bunch; i'm proud of you.
not much basketball news. kevin durant took the summer of lebron and eclipsed him. good job. although i can't say anything that bill simmons hasn't already said in his most recent column. i got a surprise these last few weeks by finding out i'll be in chicago december 19-24 before going on a family vacation. i did not expect to be home before june, but there's 1 game in that time span the bulls are in town (21st vs. 76ers). i plan on being there, so should you. talk to me if you're interested. (derek, neil i'm banking on you two)
no, i'm not forgetting about hockey. the blackhawks are at home during my chicago visit as well (22nd vs. Predators). i may have to make it back to back nights at the UC. also, countdown to kyle beach is on.
i am in macau, and at the aforementioned roadhouse, i watched the new zealand all blacks pull out a late match win over australia in national play. i may start playing rugby here soon.
Oh, Twilight. I thought you said your favorite movie was Toilet.
1. Yeah, so long story short, asians pronounce Twilight and Toilet almost exactly. I'm not surprised; they're synonyms. both are filled with shit.
2. Chalkboards Suck! My average of sneezes per day is up 500%. I volunteered to take the smaller, less ventilated/air conditioned room for a few classes, just for the dry erase board.
3. i saw a lady cradling her 2 year old as it pissed right into the drain in the middle of the sidewalk the other day, in the middle of the afternoon, on a busy street. that was interesting.
4. a 7th grade girl took a condom out of her wallet in the middle of class today. that has never happened to me in my class before. after my double take, i quietly asked her to put it away. in retrospect i don't know whether i should have confiscated it and thrown it out. i mean, at least they're being safe. china isn't really hurting in the population department.
5. i'm about to get hit with the whirlwind of fall television premiers (dexter and it's always sunny are my primaries, can't wait), but i've been catching up with mad men. at my current rate (1-2 episodes a day after work, depending) i'll be done in a 2 weeks or so. it's pretty phenomenal. i'm currently taking suggestions for my next show to blitz through. i'm leaning towards breaking bad or the wire, but those can wait if any of you think of anything there's a can't miss that i'm not thinking of.
6. some pairs of pants are fitting better, others are fitting worse....in the good way. i loved my time in collegiate fantasy land, but i was looking forward to the graduate weight loss.
2. Chalkboards Suck! My average of sneezes per day is up 500%. I volunteered to take the smaller, less ventilated/air conditioned room for a few classes, just for the dry erase board.
3. i saw a lady cradling her 2 year old as it pissed right into the drain in the middle of the sidewalk the other day, in the middle of the afternoon, on a busy street. that was interesting.
4. a 7th grade girl took a condom out of her wallet in the middle of class today. that has never happened to me in my class before. after my double take, i quietly asked her to put it away. in retrospect i don't know whether i should have confiscated it and thrown it out. i mean, at least they're being safe. china isn't really hurting in the population department.
5. i'm about to get hit with the whirlwind of fall television premiers (dexter and it's always sunny are my primaries, can't wait), but i've been catching up with mad men. at my current rate (1-2 episodes a day after work, depending) i'll be done in a 2 weeks or so. it's pretty phenomenal. i'm currently taking suggestions for my next show to blitz through. i'm leaning towards breaking bad or the wire, but those can wait if any of you think of anything there's a can't miss that i'm not thinking of.
6. some pairs of pants are fitting better, others are fitting worse....in the good way. i loved my time in collegiate fantasy land, but i was looking forward to the graduate weight loss.
9th Anniversary of Terror; 23rd of Me
first, a shout out to my new home away from home, The Roadhouse Macau. i only had classes monday-wednesday, so i went out exploring by myself wednesday night. what i found was a hole-in-the-wall blues shack. i arrived for happy hour (every day 5-9, buy 1 get 1 free. BOOM!) and proceeded to mingle with the bartenders and other common folk. most everybody in there also spoke english, either ex-pats, australians, or chinese that spoke english well. i immediately started requesting songs that i haven't heard in a while that would only be acceptable in a blues joint, so not your umST umST umST dance music the kids are listening to these days. anyway, i made my way back there friday night, where they had a kick ass blues band wailing. (they played me a 7 minute jam version of sweet home chicago for my birthday at midnight) a dude i met the last time was also there and bought me a midnight cigar. it's not america, so i could smoke inside the bar. then i went home for saturday mornings are the aforementioned club activities.
anyway, the actual birthday festivities. after dinner with my two new teaching friends, we went back to the roadhouse to catch the end of happy hour. (seriously, buy 1 get 1 free. duh?) then we ventured out and about, because as much as i love the blues, the ladies, ehh, not so much. so a fun little tidbit i learned is that this time of year in macau, on saturdays for the next couple weeks at 9 & 10 pm, the international firework competition commences. so we went to another bar that had a view of the fireworks, which were pretty freakin awesome, as you can imagine an international firework competition being around the birthplace of fireworks. This bar had a pretty decent band (can you believe a cover band didn't know a single bon jovi song though? i thought that was low hanging fruit? they went and totally redeemed themselves with highway to hell and sweet child o' mine back to back, which are way better tunes, but still...you're a mediocre bar cover band, PLEASE!). anyway, this is the bar where the night really takes off. my compadres hit the drinking brakes a little, but that didn't stop them from piling shots on me before we left. (ooo, other digression...if you order chicken wings in a macau bar, ask for a picture first, or else you may get a plate full of the little scrappy ends of the wings. you know the things most people throw out when they make chicken wings, because there's practically no meat? yeah, a full plate of those).
anyway, then we made our way to the lion's bar at the mgm grand. i'm at the point of no return (no not parlor...inside joke), so i head to the bar and order "the lion's iced tea," because i thought it was a long island. BAD assumption on my part. if a long island impregnated a mojito and it was aborted after 6 months and dumped into a glass, that's what they gave me. (are cocktail abortions too graphic? sorry) anyway, every other nasty sip was accompanied by a shredded chunk of mint leaf. not what you want late into a birthday: minty leaf chunks in a drink you expect to be chunkless. but i finished it, the champion that i am. right around then, the live band calls me and these two other girls who share the same birthday as me on stage, where we had a 42 oz glass filled with an orange drink. we were assigned a straw and i think they said "Go." - now in the past, i've shared some large drinks with people (X!), but everybody carried their weight in those events; not so much this time - the drink was delicious; it wasn't there long (no thanks to those 2 birthday girls). taxi drive home shortly thereafter, and that was my birthday!
anyway, the actual birthday festivities. after dinner with my two new teaching friends, we went back to the roadhouse to catch the end of happy hour. (seriously, buy 1 get 1 free. duh?) then we ventured out and about, because as much as i love the blues, the ladies, ehh, not so much. so a fun little tidbit i learned is that this time of year in macau, on saturdays for the next couple weeks at 9 & 10 pm, the international firework competition commences. so we went to another bar that had a view of the fireworks, which were pretty freakin awesome, as you can imagine an international firework competition being around the birthplace of fireworks. This bar had a pretty decent band (can you believe a cover band didn't know a single bon jovi song though? i thought that was low hanging fruit? they went and totally redeemed themselves with highway to hell and sweet child o' mine back to back, which are way better tunes, but still...you're a mediocre bar cover band, PLEASE!). anyway, this is the bar where the night really takes off. my compadres hit the drinking brakes a little, but that didn't stop them from piling shots on me before we left. (ooo, other digression...if you order chicken wings in a macau bar, ask for a picture first, or else you may get a plate full of the little scrappy ends of the wings. you know the things most people throw out when they make chicken wings, because there's practically no meat? yeah, a full plate of those).
anyway, then we made our way to the lion's bar at the mgm grand. i'm at the point of no return (no not parlor...inside joke), so i head to the bar and order "the lion's iced tea," because i thought it was a long island. BAD assumption on my part. if a long island impregnated a mojito and it was aborted after 6 months and dumped into a glass, that's what they gave me. (are cocktail abortions too graphic? sorry) anyway, every other nasty sip was accompanied by a shredded chunk of mint leaf. not what you want late into a birthday: minty leaf chunks in a drink you expect to be chunkless. but i finished it, the champion that i am. right around then, the live band calls me and these two other girls who share the same birthday as me on stage, where we had a 42 oz glass filled with an orange drink. we were assigned a straw and i think they said "Go." - now in the past, i've shared some large drinks with people (X!), but everybody carried their weight in those events; not so much this time - the drink was delicious; it wasn't there long (no thanks to those 2 birthday girls). taxi drive home shortly thereafter, and that was my birthday!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Early Musings
1. Just when you didn't think that I could get any sweatier, I move to macau, where the humidity here makes Houston feel like the ice tundra. And yes, I do keep a spare shirt in my office.
2. Well this is new... In China, I'm apparently a heartthrob. 5 female students have already expressed their love for me. Hot female teachers, I guess I know how you feel.
3. I found out that there's a morality clause in my contract, since I work in a Catholic school. If I'm caught doing anything blatantly immoral, I can be fired. Good thing no school official will ever be out with me on the weekend.
4. Tofu is gross. In America. In China. I've done my best to try everything since I've been here. The steamed tofu made me want to vomit. It's dessert form is vile. It's even pretty bad deep fried. 3 strikes, you're out. (chicken foot though...not bad at all)
5. I blame Bill Simmons for his 9/02/10 podcast, but I have a inexplicable craving to watch all 10 seasons of Beverly Hills 90210.
6. China has yet to get the memo that Lebron is no longer on the Cavs. Or don't care to bring in any new advertisement until he gets a ring. Kobe reigns supreme here, well, after Yao i guess.
7. I'm amused that manikins in China are in the image of Caucasians. They're dressed in very Chinese looking clothes though. It's the little things that amuse me.
8. Don't wear a suit to the casino in Macau. Nobody else does, and you'll get really sweaty.
9. I miss good beer. Although alcohol is cheap as dirt here (22 oz tsingtao is ~75 cents), China wouldn't know a dark beer from dirty river water.
10. Google and Youtube both work here. Pandora and Hulu do not. I'm not suffering though...
2. Well this is new... In China, I'm apparently a heartthrob. 5 female students have already expressed their love for me. Hot female teachers, I guess I know how you feel.
3. I found out that there's a morality clause in my contract, since I work in a Catholic school. If I'm caught doing anything blatantly immoral, I can be fired. Good thing no school official will ever be out with me on the weekend.
4. Tofu is gross. In America. In China. I've done my best to try everything since I've been here. The steamed tofu made me want to vomit. It's dessert form is vile. It's even pretty bad deep fried. 3 strikes, you're out. (chicken foot though...not bad at all)
5. I blame Bill Simmons for his 9/02/10 podcast, but I have a inexplicable craving to watch all 10 seasons of Beverly Hills 90210.
6. China has yet to get the memo that Lebron is no longer on the Cavs. Or don't care to bring in any new advertisement until he gets a ring. Kobe reigns supreme here, well, after Yao i guess.
7. I'm amused that manikins in China are in the image of Caucasians. They're dressed in very Chinese looking clothes though. It's the little things that amuse me.
8. Don't wear a suit to the casino in Macau. Nobody else does, and you'll get really sweaty.
9. I miss good beer. Although alcohol is cheap as dirt here (22 oz tsingtao is ~75 cents), China wouldn't know a dark beer from dirty river water.
10. Google and Youtube both work here. Pandora and Hulu do not. I'm not suffering though...
Week 1 Ventilation
Have you ever pictured me throwing a little chinese boy out of a window? I have!... MULTIPLE times a day. No, it's really not that bad; it's just a WAY different animal than teaching in the states. There are clearly just some growing pains. I teach Junior 1A and Junior 1B English, which includes 5 blocks a week of English and 2 blocks of Conversation. I also have Junior 2A and Junior 2B for 2 blocks of Conversation each week. I'm also volunteering to help out another teacher with the English elective, Film and Music Appreciaiton, but that doesn't start until next week. I'm aslo going to eb paritally in charge of the English Club (club activities take place on Saturday mornings 9-noon. {English Club? More like Hangover Club...}). Junior 1 is the equivalent to 7th grade, Junior 2 to 8th grade. Junior 1-3 students have class in the morning, and Senior 1-3 students have class in the afternoon; so on a typical day, I'm done teaching class by 12:50. Since I'm required to stay at the school until 4:45, I have plenty of time to get all of my lesson plans done at school. My desk is in the "English Office," which is basically the room in the corner of the building where they've put the 3 Americans (which is next door to the big office where all the Chinese English teachers are). Both of the Americans have worked at the school before, so they offer a great deal of help and invaluable suggestions (Collaborative Relationship Standard anyone???).
The classroom is where things get a tad hectic and frustrating as a teacher. If anything, this week has filled me to the brin with empathy for all of my foreign language teachers (Spanish in high school/Italian in college). Supposedly, the students have been taking various English classes thre last couple years, because it is a requirement to pass an English exam as well as an English interview if they want to attend the university when they graduate Senior 3. You remember in foreign language classes though when you came back on the first day of school and forgot almost everything you learned the last year, becasue you haven't been speaking and practicing it regualrly all summer? (that's why I dropped Spanish 3 on the first day of junior year). Anyway, every lesson I've planned so far has BOMBED the first time. The students will not SHUT UP! You can get the quiet for about 30 seconds MAX, but as soon as you restart the lesson, they start chatting again with their friends in CHinese, because they have no clue what I'm saying for the most part. I've resorted to grabbing a chair and sitting in the middle of the talkative students, which works for a bit longer. Soon after though, they start talking around my back. God knows what they're saying, because I certainly don't, adn the students know it. It horrifies me to think of the kind of crap that I pulled in foreign language class with the teacher understanding English. What would my friends and I have done if the teacher didn't understand any English. Hell cracked a bit loose just thinking about it. They also have no concept of what a whisper is, that is until you ask them to speak in English. Then I can barely hear them. There is a silver lining to this... For each bombed lesson I've had, I've tweaked it before I teach it to the next class, where it has gone exponentially better (Assessment Standard!!!) Hopefully now my lesson plans will go a little smoother. As for the chatty kathys across the room, well, there's a reason that homework was created: 1. To reiterate the precious lesson to help cement it into memory; 2. To scare students into behaving upon the consequence of getting more homework form misbehavior. Say what you like about homework as punishment or negative reinforcement; it's a proven method, one that's about to strike my classes like Hurricane Earl (or that almost typhoon that happened here yesterday). Aside from the growing pains, I'm still very excited about my next year here in Macau (yeah, it still probably won't be more than a year). I hope that this is the last one of these that is drenched in frustration. We'll be right back after the commercial break...Thanks for listening.
The classroom is where things get a tad hectic and frustrating as a teacher. If anything, this week has filled me to the brin with empathy for all of my foreign language teachers (Spanish in high school/Italian in college). Supposedly, the students have been taking various English classes thre last couple years, because it is a requirement to pass an English exam as well as an English interview if they want to attend the university when they graduate Senior 3. You remember in foreign language classes though when you came back on the first day of school and forgot almost everything you learned the last year, becasue you haven't been speaking and practicing it regualrly all summer? (that's why I dropped Spanish 3 on the first day of junior year). Anyway, every lesson I've planned so far has BOMBED the first time. The students will not SHUT UP! You can get the quiet for about 30 seconds MAX, but as soon as you restart the lesson, they start chatting again with their friends in CHinese, because they have no clue what I'm saying for the most part. I've resorted to grabbing a chair and sitting in the middle of the talkative students, which works for a bit longer. Soon after though, they start talking around my back. God knows what they're saying, because I certainly don't, adn the students know it. It horrifies me to think of the kind of crap that I pulled in foreign language class with the teacher understanding English. What would my friends and I have done if the teacher didn't understand any English. Hell cracked a bit loose just thinking about it. They also have no concept of what a whisper is, that is until you ask them to speak in English. Then I can barely hear them. There is a silver lining to this... For each bombed lesson I've had, I've tweaked it before I teach it to the next class, where it has gone exponentially better (Assessment Standard!!!) Hopefully now my lesson plans will go a little smoother. As for the chatty kathys across the room, well, there's a reason that homework was created: 1. To reiterate the precious lesson to help cement it into memory; 2. To scare students into behaving upon the consequence of getting more homework form misbehavior. Say what you like about homework as punishment or negative reinforcement; it's a proven method, one that's about to strike my classes like Hurricane Earl (or that almost typhoon that happened here yesterday). Aside from the growing pains, I'm still very excited about my next year here in Macau (yeah, it still probably won't be more than a year). I hope that this is the last one of these that is drenched in frustration. We'll be right back after the commercial break...Thanks for listening.
Monday, August 30, 2010
greetings from the not-so-distant future!
not enough in the future that plutonium is available on every corner drug store and the chicago cubs have a world series winning club, but enough to get to begin my tuesday when the west is still trudging through monday. i'm not sure what this blog animal will become, but i expect it to become a potpourri of comedic takes on my own culture shock, fables of mischief, and other cool stories from my side trips around asia. stay tuned amurrica.
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