English Me This

Sign #1 my students are finally learning to understand and speak English: 2 students can almost completely correctly translate my words into Mandarin for the rest of the class;  all except 2 of the rest of the students can understand me 3/5 to all of the time, whether or not they can speak in English. :-)

Sign #1 that we still have a long way to go:
         T--'There are three red ducks and an apple.'
               (repeating student's choice of spelling words to form a coherent sentence)
         S--'There are three red ducks and a apple.'
         T--'No.  There are three red ducks and an apple.  "An."
               Not "A".' (something like 2nd or 3rd explanation use of "a/an")
         S--'An?'
         T--'Yes, an.'
         S--'There are three red ducks and apple.'
         T--'No.  You must say, "and an apple.' (with full explanation--again)
         S--'There are three red ducks an and apple.'
         T--'No, "and an apple".'
         S--'Erase the "d"?'
         T--'Yes, erase the "d".'
         S--'There are three red ducks an apple.'
         T--'*Sigh*.........'
              (rework mental process--think like a 7 yr old who is learning English)

Learning the writing process is going to be...........a process; some more comprehension skills as well.  :-)

Haole

At present, I have felt like an idiot pretty much every day I have been in this country.
Ergo, it is time to deal with my annoyance of feeling like an idiot, and act more like an idiot, so that eventually I won't be such an idiot.
A.K.A.: straighten up kid, deal with it.

Addiction to Personal Transportation

Sign #1 that I am an American: my need for a car (or at least a motorbike).
Having owned a car since age 16 (and driving well before that) I never imagined life without a car until I moved to Europe for a year.  I thought my despondency was because I was stuck on the side of a mountain in the dead of winter with little money and very few job offerings.  Then, on the island of Oahu, I assumed my frustration was simply island fever, as I had never lived in such a water-locked place before.  Now, I realize that maybe my problem stems much deeper to my independence.
Simply put, I am craving a motorbike of my own.
Unfortunately, I am terrified of these crowded streets, the road rules (or lack thereof), the police (who I hear like to pick on the foreigners), and gas stations (as I will then have to learn specific vocabulary-like: gas tank, etc., as well as locate them-I think there may be one semi-close to my area...).  I will have to obtain a motorbike license and pay a rental fee each month.  I am also complaining, as in the States, I would have made sure to locate a car, an insurance company, and the local license center within the first month in town.
I am a foreigner.  The local language and the local ways make me feel like an idiot enough of the time, so that I forgo what I need most: to get past my fears and get a motorbike so I can get lost and see more of the countryside, the way it should be.

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Antz

Every place in the world I have lived has some sort of ant issue.  In America, I have found recently, our ants are actually quite large compared to other areas of the world.  I am sure there are bigger ones to be found somewhere.  However, I had no idea how large the American ants are until I visited for a month recently.  In Hawaii, the ants are fairly smaller than the mainland ants, but I still was unaware at the size of the American ants until this visit.  The American ants looked like giants.  Tumbling, lonesome giants.  This was very odd for me as I had never had that conception about them before.  The difference is, that now, I am used to miniature ants that never leave their string of warriors, even if it kills them.  Well, I have seen a few scatter when faced with chemical warfare.  And these little guys will eat....anything.  And they're overly curious......  The sad thing is, I was actually scared by the American ants, based purely on their size.....like they could totally eat me....or....something......

God bless the geckos.

No Water Season

In many parts of the world one will see a variety of seasons throughout the year.  I have personally lived through: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Hot, Hotter, Cold, Colder, Wet, and Dry.  Now I can add a new season; I call it No Water.
This new season came a bit of a surprise.  I was always quite aware that I was in the Dry season.  However, I had not heard (nor realized by all the greenery or usage of water around me) that there was quickly becoming a shortage of water.
The gov't gave orders for restricting the water.
So.
Within a day and a half, water was cut off from: most of the school and dorm as well as my apt.
:-D
Whoo-hoo!  It's almost like camping!........
Except that I must make myself presentable every day to a full school of students as well as parents.
And this is no American land where I could at least think about rinsing off in a river, etc.
No.  Mme is now restricted to activities that create little to no sweat.  Wait.  That means no breathing either.
The roomies and I have set up some buckets (which may last us another day...) to use before we head for the hotels.  I am not looking forward to spending money in order to shower (even if it means I can work out!! Yay!!).
However, as the gov't has also (within a very short time) decided to jack up the electricity rates by 49% (yes, you read that correctly), a hotel also means we an use the AC with no worry :-)
So much for living cheaply in order to pay off the bills.....

History quiz: what building are we standing in front of?  I can do this as the lit sign blurred in the flash  :-)

This is a view from the top of one of the local hotels looking down on what is basically the main street and one of the main squares of downtown.  Aside from the massive amount of motorbikes, it reminds me a little of paris  :-)  As the architecture is considerably French or based on the French style, this should not be surprising.  Mmmm lit night-streets, one of the things I do love about cities  :-)

Run Time

After almost 2 months of solid experience, I have learned many things.  Many which I never wrote down.  Many which I will never forget.  Many which I am reminded about on a daily basis.  Most everyone is well aware of my love for running.  Even when I get burnt out, my new goal is to get myself back to the point of loving the run again.  :-)  Most everyone is also aware that I enjoy running in the morning, before the rest of civilization becomes alive.  This is my 'me' time, my 'conversations with God' time.  In America, I can usually get away with seeing only a handfull of lives out at ungodly hours of the morning (which in reality, in the past, was only about 6am).  However, in my land of Koreaville (yes, most of my neighbors happen to be Korean), a morning walk/jog is the normal routine.  Fortunately, I must be up much earlier than 6 if I would like to get to breakfast on time, so I have learned to wake up even earlier to avoid both a hungry stomach as well as the street crowds.  My first Sabbath run out on the streets introduced me to 6am foot traffic and questioning eyes to the new white foreigner.  As I do not think I will be able to force myself to wake up before 6 on any given Sabbath, I have given in to dealing with the crowds or just enjoying my Sabbath rest.  :-)  It is no worries---I am finally starting to get used to the staring eyes as well as the massive amount of people in this city......sort of.....  I must gratefully thank my lovely younger sis for the Nike+ipod, though---it has given the most motivation for getting myself out on foreign, healthy-ambitious pedestrian-packed roads!  Yay for the comforting addictions to technology :-P

After 18 some odd hours of flying, to me this was the most beautiful sight--looking out of Hong Kong Int'l Airport to see the mountains, as well as the underside view of the clouds. It looked like it was about to pour, and I was ready to get drenched. Unfortunately, I a 2hr that turned into 3 1/2hr layover and a 2hr flight before I'd be able to step out of an airport; and rain didn't come to Saigon for another few days....