I love making them, as you all know.
I'll make them for you, because one's not enough.
Let me know if you're interested.
--gs
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Oh my God, the preciousness
So there is a child in the courtyard outside my window singing "We wish you a merry christmas" along with his radio. It is the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life. I want to bottle that sound and carry it around with me for when I'm sad.
In other news on the adorable singing children front, on Monday I took a group of five primary kids to play a game during class, and as I left I heard the teacher promising the rest of the class that they would get to do something fun to. When I come back with my kids at the end of the class, the (hilariously sprightly) teacher bounds across the room and goes "look what I taught them!" She turns on a CD player and all the little children start singing along with Yellow Submarine. It was amazing.
In other news on the adorable singing children front, on Monday I took a group of five primary kids to play a game during class, and as I left I heard the teacher promising the rest of the class that they would get to do something fun to. When I come back with my kids at the end of the class, the (hilariously sprightly) teacher bounds across the room and goes "look what I taught them!" She turns on a CD player and all the little children start singing along with Yellow Submarine. It was amazing.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
because
hi, so i´m at work right now doing a covert blog entry becasue i´m a.)bored, and b.) becasue i want the adventure and have increasingly come to regret my lack of getting into trouble. not that i would get into trouble if they even did know i was writing a blog, i´m supposed to work three days per week, but i don´t think ive done so yet and were half way through the experience. so what´s new with me.
having finally had enough of my spanish roommate and incredulous dueña, i have decided to move out and into a dorm style residencia. it has internet, a good kichen, a large sofa, and french girls all of which were lacking at my previous apartment. i am however, scared about breaking the lease/rent but luckily i dont pay until the middle of the month.
homework has finally...well i wont say increased becasue that would imply prior existence, homework has come home. ususally i do my grammar HW in another class but yesterday i forgot my grammar book so instead made a menu of all the dishes i know how to cook. Actually, i looked at it when i was done, and i could probably open a bad restaurant, you know, those restaurants that are pretentious and snooty but the food isnt actually that good, they just have sulfites in the wine to make you hallucinate and want more.
Wow i have been typing on one of those ancient keyboards, the really loud ones, and no one has looked over or asked what im doing. I guess if you look busy and intense about what youre doing no one will question you...that´s a good life lesson, you should write that down--movie, anyone? Van Wylder.
Ok thats about it, ill probably update on the situation when i move in. i think my new roommate is going to be australian, which is sweet. later, boss.
having finally had enough of my spanish roommate and incredulous dueña, i have decided to move out and into a dorm style residencia. it has internet, a good kichen, a large sofa, and french girls all of which were lacking at my previous apartment. i am however, scared about breaking the lease/rent but luckily i dont pay until the middle of the month.
homework has finally...well i wont say increased becasue that would imply prior existence, homework has come home. ususally i do my grammar HW in another class but yesterday i forgot my grammar book so instead made a menu of all the dishes i know how to cook. Actually, i looked at it when i was done, and i could probably open a bad restaurant, you know, those restaurants that are pretentious and snooty but the food isnt actually that good, they just have sulfites in the wine to make you hallucinate and want more.
Wow i have been typing on one of those ancient keyboards, the really loud ones, and no one has looked over or asked what im doing. I guess if you look busy and intense about what youre doing no one will question you...that´s a good life lesson, you should write that down--movie, anyone? Van Wylder.
Ok thats about it, ill probably update on the situation when i move in. i think my new roommate is going to be australian, which is sweet. later, boss.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Quickly.
Sorry for the last (un)post. It was a drunken mistake of mine, made when I wrote an incomprehensible entry (a) detailing how much you all need to come back, soon, and (b) declaring that I'm withholding an endorsement of any Pres. candidate, b/c I'm still stuck b/w Clinton and Biden. Both these things are true, but--
--it was a dumb post that I only understood when I reread it b/c I had written it. Also, since apparently this blog is on Greenwich Mean Time, I write a drunken article and it says "posted at 9:05 AM." And that is not a good idea for anyone, except maybe Lucille Bluth.
But, besides that, and this applies to Miles and Frazar BECAUSE THEY WATCH THE WEST WING, I found my Bartlet, and I'm making them SGA President next year, if they submit to running.
ciaoooooooooooo
--gs
--it was a dumb post that I only understood when I reread it b/c I had written it. Also, since apparently this blog is on Greenwich Mean Time, I write a drunken article and it says "posted at 9:05 AM." And that is not a good idea for anyone, except maybe Lucille Bluth.
But, besides that, and this applies to Miles and Frazar BECAUSE THEY WATCH THE WEST WING, I found my Bartlet, and I'm making them SGA President next year, if they submit to running.
ciaoooooooooooo
--gs
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Witches are purple?
Fraz here. I realize that it´s been a while since my last update, so I thought I´d add a little bit, if only so that my most recent post isn´t full of whining about my tummy hurting. Though I´m still reeling that they don´t have pepto bismol here.
Classes at Carlos III are...how can I put this delicately? Bad. They probably form the worst part of my experience here. It´s an annoying ass commute to get to them, and lectures seem to just be in exercise in learning the obvious and not having work. While this is, in some ways, kind of the answer to my prayers, it just makes going to class all the more annoying, since it seems so pointless once I get there. I also just kind of feel like a listless bum in general, and at the same time, have an intense fear that I´m going to fall into that "easy class" trap, where you so blow off an easy class that you still manage to fall below standards.
But I´m not that worried. And I don´t mind it that much, since I´m doing a great practica, which feels more like my main academic pursuit here. I´m an assistant in the english department of a local school, teaching kids ranging from 8-17. It´s really awesome, because I have so many different roles to play depending on which class I´m with. When I´m with the youngest kids, I speak mostly spanish, and we really just go over vocabulary and do "cultural activities," which means that I got to spend all of last week doing Halloween activities from elementary school, like drawing pumpkins and making masks, and that kind of thing is good for the soul. I also work with the older kids, who speak great english, and I just kind of act like one of our language TA´s with them, holding conversations about whatever so they can practice their english. This was kind of terrible the first couple of days, though, because I didn´t know I was going to start so soon, so I first had to do it with no conversation topics, so had nothing to fall back on when there was an awkward silence, and then with a list of conversation topics that the teacher gave me, except that they were made for adults learning english in Canada, so they were all about southeast asia and raising children (Have you ever worked on a farm? How do you feel about teenagers today?).
My most academically rewarding students, however, are the ones who are like 14, because I get to do focused work with the remedials, and it´s awesome. I have to talk with them in spanish, because they´re really behind in their english, and so we go over english grammar in spanish, which is 1) pretty trippy, in and of itself, 2) making me realize how impossible to explain some of our grammar and phonics are, and 3) really teaching me a lot about how to teach english to non native speakers, which is incredibly interesting, and makes me really wanna do teach for america even more.
The other fun part about my practica is recess, when all the teachers go to the cafe, and I get to shoot the shit with them. No real stories to relate here, but it´s just a fun opportunity to speak with some natives, all of whom are very nice, and very complimentary of my spanish, which provides a much needed ego boost on certain days. My favorite teacher so far is the primary english teacher, who is also the religion and art and science teacher, and whose english, as you might suspect, is hilariously bad. Imagine your spanish teacher from second grade. She´s a blast, though, and we have a good time.
Hmmm...on the social front, not a whole lot to report that Mile´s hasn´t. We have a good time, but nothing too exciting to relate. My family had another big dinner the other day, and it was a blast. I sat next to the funny uncle (funny as in he´s a blast, not as in the creepy one) and I was pretty much cracking up the whole time. Coincidentally, there was some procession going on that day in the church we live across from, where all these peruvians come out and parade their little Mary idol or whatever. Anyways, we were watching it from the balcony, and everyone was pretty much adopting their mildly condescending "oh, how cute" attitude, except the funny uncle, who was sufficiently drunk enough to start making fun of catholicism and the procession march, which sounded suspiciously like the Godfather theme, my screaming "Vito Corleone!" over and over again. Then he started talking about immigrants. Which reminds me, earlier at dinner they were all joking that they needed to act more civilized in front of me, or I´ll "think we act like Africans!" I love it.
I´m also thinking of coming back next semester, but, despite a brief moment of clarity last week, I´m still very much on the fence about it. I love the city here so much, and I´d love to have another semester to get to know it, and the cultural expereince is great. What it kind of comes down to is whether I can take another semester at Carlos III. I mean, I can mentally justify one semester of laziness for a cultural experience, but a whole year is harder, which is why I´m also considering transfering to the sede next semester. And, of course, I miss all of ya´ll, but, honestly, I´m so pigheaded about not letting that influence my decision that it´s probably doing more to make me stay here than to come home. At the same time, I´m really realizing that my time left at Middlebury is finite, and if I miss a semester I can never have it back. And I miss my sunday schoolers. Meh, I dunno, I´m very conflicted. I´m talking with the academic advisor here on monday; I´m guessing this is a fairly common phenomenon and I´m hoping she can help me out.
Classes at Carlos III are...how can I put this delicately? Bad. They probably form the worst part of my experience here. It´s an annoying ass commute to get to them, and lectures seem to just be in exercise in learning the obvious and not having work. While this is, in some ways, kind of the answer to my prayers, it just makes going to class all the more annoying, since it seems so pointless once I get there. I also just kind of feel like a listless bum in general, and at the same time, have an intense fear that I´m going to fall into that "easy class" trap, where you so blow off an easy class that you still manage to fall below standards.
But I´m not that worried. And I don´t mind it that much, since I´m doing a great practica, which feels more like my main academic pursuit here. I´m an assistant in the english department of a local school, teaching kids ranging from 8-17. It´s really awesome, because I have so many different roles to play depending on which class I´m with. When I´m with the youngest kids, I speak mostly spanish, and we really just go over vocabulary and do "cultural activities," which means that I got to spend all of last week doing Halloween activities from elementary school, like drawing pumpkins and making masks, and that kind of thing is good for the soul. I also work with the older kids, who speak great english, and I just kind of act like one of our language TA´s with them, holding conversations about whatever so they can practice their english. This was kind of terrible the first couple of days, though, because I didn´t know I was going to start so soon, so I first had to do it with no conversation topics, so had nothing to fall back on when there was an awkward silence, and then with a list of conversation topics that the teacher gave me, except that they were made for adults learning english in Canada, so they were all about southeast asia and raising children (Have you ever worked on a farm? How do you feel about teenagers today?).
My most academically rewarding students, however, are the ones who are like 14, because I get to do focused work with the remedials, and it´s awesome. I have to talk with them in spanish, because they´re really behind in their english, and so we go over english grammar in spanish, which is 1) pretty trippy, in and of itself, 2) making me realize how impossible to explain some of our grammar and phonics are, and 3) really teaching me a lot about how to teach english to non native speakers, which is incredibly interesting, and makes me really wanna do teach for america even more.
The other fun part about my practica is recess, when all the teachers go to the cafe, and I get to shoot the shit with them. No real stories to relate here, but it´s just a fun opportunity to speak with some natives, all of whom are very nice, and very complimentary of my spanish, which provides a much needed ego boost on certain days. My favorite teacher so far is the primary english teacher, who is also the religion and art and science teacher, and whose english, as you might suspect, is hilariously bad. Imagine your spanish teacher from second grade. She´s a blast, though, and we have a good time.
Hmmm...on the social front, not a whole lot to report that Mile´s hasn´t. We have a good time, but nothing too exciting to relate. My family had another big dinner the other day, and it was a blast. I sat next to the funny uncle (funny as in he´s a blast, not as in the creepy one) and I was pretty much cracking up the whole time. Coincidentally, there was some procession going on that day in the church we live across from, where all these peruvians come out and parade their little Mary idol or whatever. Anyways, we were watching it from the balcony, and everyone was pretty much adopting their mildly condescending "oh, how cute" attitude, except the funny uncle, who was sufficiently drunk enough to start making fun of catholicism and the procession march, which sounded suspiciously like the Godfather theme, my screaming "Vito Corleone!" over and over again. Then he started talking about immigrants. Which reminds me, earlier at dinner they were all joking that they needed to act more civilized in front of me, or I´ll "think we act like Africans!" I love it.
I´m also thinking of coming back next semester, but, despite a brief moment of clarity last week, I´m still very much on the fence about it. I love the city here so much, and I´d love to have another semester to get to know it, and the cultural expereince is great. What it kind of comes down to is whether I can take another semester at Carlos III. I mean, I can mentally justify one semester of laziness for a cultural experience, but a whole year is harder, which is why I´m also considering transfering to the sede next semester. And, of course, I miss all of ya´ll, but, honestly, I´m so pigheaded about not letting that influence my decision that it´s probably doing more to make me stay here than to come home. At the same time, I´m really realizing that my time left at Middlebury is finite, and if I miss a semester I can never have it back. And I miss my sunday schoolers. Meh, I dunno, I´m very conflicted. I´m talking with the academic advisor here on monday; I´m guessing this is a fairly common phenomenon and I´m hoping she can help me out.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
My Midd Experience
I hope you guys are still enjoying what are now your closing months abroad. While I am aware of the plural insinuations that I'm doing naught but pulling teeth here, I must kindly chide all a' y'all; Middlebury is, in fact, neither boring nor exasperating, but stimulating in a salad of ways.
For example, Balanced Debate is getting off to a good start. After going through hell choosing its initial members, we've already got three faculty debates in the works. Katie Hylas (our Senator,) is working on getting a sociologist to debate a psychologist over the origins and nature of gender. The sociologists seem to be all over this, while the potential psychology professors so far approached have all seemed squemish to debate a sociologist. Dan Roberts, also a member of the committee, is planning a debate between an Art History and an English professor over perspectives on art. Specifically, "does context matter to a work?" Finally, Colette Van der Ven, whom we all know, is getting two, maybe three, Political Science professors to debate international development: helpful or hurtful? On one side we have our very own Nadia Horning!
Just so that I won't be accused of nepotism, only appointing the three people, all of whom I already knew, I must add that I've also appointed to strangers, who are not as active as my friends.
We're also planning student-only Soapbox Debates! Hopefully making them a biweekly thing, getting the Ross Fireplace Lounge at 7:00 PM, to get the out-of-dinner crowd. The first one is planned for Nov. 13, and the topic: "Should the U.S. be the world's moral policeman?" Specifically, universal human rights versus cultural relativism. Future topics would probably include current events that make people angry.
Finally, Dr. Mr. President Max Nardini and I are planning a "Great Debate" for J-Term or the Spring, bringing in outside speakers to a real, Lincoln-Douglas-style debate. We're meeting Tuesday to discuss topics and specific speakers.
The biggest mistake I made with this subcommittee was to have three of the five people be going abroad next semester. Therefore, I need new applicants. Eddie's expressed interest. And, while I love you all forever already, that feeling would be magnified if you all applied (when the time comes, of course.)
Secondly, Debatable deadlines are coming up, soon. Being an editor, I have something invested in this, and am politely requesting that, if you guys have time, you could submit something. Topics include, but are not limited to: Politics, Diversity, Academic Affairs, Pop Culture, Sports, etc. etc. Submissions should be limited to 850 words (3 - 3 1/2 pages,) or "blurbs," which are just two paragraphs.
I got two tests back, today, and on both, I received an 89.75 ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!? OMG OMG OMG OMG WTF>!?!?!?!
They really couldn't spare a quarter-point, each?! I didn't even know we graded in quarter points in this country/world/dimension.
Anyways, I'll go to bed now; I wanted to write to kill time, let you guys know how I'm doing, hope you're all doing well and make a note of the fact that I am not morbidly bored.
Love you all. enjoi.
--gs
For example, Balanced Debate is getting off to a good start. After going through hell choosing its initial members, we've already got three faculty debates in the works. Katie Hylas (our Senator,) is working on getting a sociologist to debate a psychologist over the origins and nature of gender. The sociologists seem to be all over this, while the potential psychology professors so far approached have all seemed squemish to debate a sociologist. Dan Roberts, also a member of the committee, is planning a debate between an Art History and an English professor over perspectives on art. Specifically, "does context matter to a work?" Finally, Colette Van der Ven, whom we all know, is getting two, maybe three, Political Science professors to debate international development: helpful or hurtful? On one side we have our very own Nadia Horning!
Just so that I won't be accused of nepotism, only appointing the three people, all of whom I already knew, I must add that I've also appointed to strangers, who are not as active as my friends.
We're also planning student-only Soapbox Debates! Hopefully making them a biweekly thing, getting the Ross Fireplace Lounge at 7:00 PM, to get the out-of-dinner crowd. The first one is planned for Nov. 13, and the topic: "Should the U.S. be the world's moral policeman?" Specifically, universal human rights versus cultural relativism. Future topics would probably include current events that make people angry.
Finally, Dr. Mr. President Max Nardini and I are planning a "Great Debate" for J-Term or the Spring, bringing in outside speakers to a real, Lincoln-Douglas-style debate. We're meeting Tuesday to discuss topics and specific speakers.
The biggest mistake I made with this subcommittee was to have three of the five people be going abroad next semester. Therefore, I need new applicants. Eddie's expressed interest. And, while I love you all forever already, that feeling would be magnified if you all applied (when the time comes, of course.)
Secondly, Debatable deadlines are coming up, soon. Being an editor, I have something invested in this, and am politely requesting that, if you guys have time, you could submit something. Topics include, but are not limited to: Politics, Diversity, Academic Affairs, Pop Culture, Sports, etc. etc. Submissions should be limited to 850 words (3 - 3 1/2 pages,) or "blurbs," which are just two paragraphs.
I got two tests back, today, and on both, I received an 89.75 ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!? OMG OMG OMG OMG WTF>!?!?!?!
They really couldn't spare a quarter-point, each?! I didn't even know we graded in quarter points in this country/world/dimension.
Anyways, I'll go to bed now; I wanted to write to kill time, let you guys know how I'm doing, hope you're all doing well and make a note of the fact that I am not morbidly bored.
Love you all. enjoi.
--gs
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