New Year, Same Me

 

 It's a New Year. At least, it is where I am (in Vietnam).

For my family, it is still 2022 for the next few hours. I don't have the heart to tell them that I have seen 2023 and it is, at most, meh.

Yesterday, I popped my blog open (that's this blog for those of you reading along at home) and discovered that I only posted ONE TIME last year. It was on January 3^rd. It has almost been an entire year since my last post. That doesn't really mean anything and this is not a post to claim I will do better this year. It just made me realize that a lot has happened this year.

First, my wife I have started a new business. We opened an English center here in Hội An. We are partnered with a wonderful local woman and we opened the school in June.

Grand opening

Some of our first students

Classroom for the small kids

Little bit older

Field trip to a folk museum

We partnered with a local school for a day

Me giving a student her admissions test

Having Fun

Learning the basics

We opened with a little over a hundred students on the first day. Over the course of the next month, the novelty of the new school in town wore off and we lost a few, but the number has been steadily growing ever since. The students we have now are here because they like us and our methods. It's a lot of work, but it is scary fun 🤡 also. 

 

  

NOT SO FUN: We've had COVID twice. TWICE! It sucked. The second time wasn't too bad. It was just a bad cold, but the first one was terrible. However, being sick at home is still safer than braving the Vietnam traffic. We take our lives in our hands every time we leave the house.

Driving here is like playing Russian Roulette, but with highly-caffeinated squirrels.

Forced Homeschooling

In the midst of this worldwide crisis, I feel almost guilty in knowing that my wife and I have it pretty good. Living in Vietnam, our country only has about 200 cases of COVID-19 and most of those have already recovered. There has not been a single death. AND this is a country that borders China. This is not by chance. Vietnam has been on top of this thing from the beginning and is not taking any chances.

And while everything is shut down and people have to stay home, we already worked from home. AND we just happen to be in online education. The whole world is now doing school at home and that is exactly what we do for a living. Our income actually went up when the world started falling apart.

Despite the fact that this is what we do for a living, I see a lot of stress being caused by this new life that has been suddenly thrust upon everyone. Forced homeschooling is not working for many many families.

For those of you who are nailing it, good for you. And I mean that. It's great, but for most people, it is not working. And there is a variety of reasons for that. First off, believe it or not, the majority of adults are not teachers and never wanted to be. Raising your kids to be a self-sufficient, responsible adult is not the same as trying to help him understand the symbolism of Henry's journey in the Red Badge of Courage.

Unless you are a teacher or work in a specific field, much of the stuff you were taught in school you haven't seen in decades. Not many parents remember how to do these things:

• Diagram a sentence
• Know the precise meaning of the grammar terms - present perfect tense, past progressive tense, gerunds, participles, helping verbs, phrasal verbs, indirect/direct object, etc.
• Solve math problems using the Quadratic Equation or Pythagorian Theorem.
• Understand the implications of the U.S. involvement in the War of 1812
• Outline a term paper
• So many other things that were forgotten after you left school

And that doesn't even take into consideration the fact that not all households have a parent at home to do this work with their kids. Many people are still considered to be "essential" workers and have to go to work. Or they might be at home but have their own work to do. Work-at-home is not vacation time. It means there is work to do. A large percentage of the population is having a very difficult time finding the time (and patience) to get their kids' schoolwork done.

Let's also not forget the number of households who do not have adequate internet. Or only have one computer when there are three kids who "need" it or dad needs it to do his job. What about the households that just don't have a conducive atmosphere for learning?

• Older kids having to babysit younger kids
• Abusive, neglectful or alcoholic parents
• Noisy environments
• Little space
• Illness in the home
• Chaotic atmosphere

All of these things make it very difficult for the schoolwork to actually happen. And, even if it is being completed, the strained environment means that nothing is actually being learned for many students. Plus, this insistence on completing the school year is putting the population at risk of further infection.

I have seen multiple Facebook posts by people noticing school-aged children sitting in corners at Wal-Mart with laptops to take advantage of their free Wi-Fi so they can get their homework assignments. The same is happening in McDonald's parking lots and many other places. In South Carolina, some districts have parked buses in rural areas that transmit a Wi-Fi signal to help those students who may not have internet at home. These buses are meant to help, but…

At the same time, people are being told to stay home and there is a reason for that. No child (or anyone) should have to leave their home and put people's lives on the line just to complete homework.

Many suggest that kids who do not have internet should contact their teachers so they can have packets sent to their house.

Once again, not safe. Cardboard and paper have been proven to be able to hold onto the virus for days. Exchanging packets back and forth is just another way of potentially spreading the virus.

Is all of this stuff worth the risk just so little Johnny doesn't fall behind?

I have news for everyone.

Your child is not falling behind when the rest of the entire world is in the same situation!

If they don't get their work done, it will not be a disaster when they go back to school because there will be tons of other kids who didn't get it done either. Or kids who got it done, but didn't actually learn the material. Or kids who have so many questions or holes in their learning.

Plus, I know teachers from several different states and the expectations are different everywhere:

• Some schools aren't even keeping track of grades right now
• Some schools are requiring teachers to still report to school during school hours (unsafe and irresponsible practice)
• Some schools have dismissed classes until next year 
• There is no national or even state-wide standard for any of this. Each school is scrambling to make it work.
• Teachers are doing an awesome job tackling a situation they were not prepared for, but there is no consistency in learning because every home is different.

I have a friend who works all day. Her older children (still children themselves) have to try to school the younger children during the day and can't even begin their own schoolwork until Mom gets home to take care of the younger kids.  Their life is just babysitting and schoolwork on top of all this other stress. There are lots of tears in that house all day.

The world is very scary right now and incredibly stressful. For the children also. They may not really understand what is happening depending on their age, but they know things are not right. Adding to that stress by insisting that all this extra stuff has to be done as well just makes things worse. Plus, it's not going to really matter when they all go back to school anyway. The teachers will be scrambling to even things out once again and try to fix this.

I am not suggesting that children should not be engaging in academic activities. I am only saying that school is not and should not be a priority right now. If it gets to be too much, let it go or cut it back. We're going to be locked in our houses for much longer than most people (including our leaders) want to admit. It is very important that our homes be as happy and stress-free as possible.

Love your kids during this time and make them feel safe. If when this is over they haven't learned how to recognize adverb clauses when used as adjunct adverbials, is it really going to matter?

T - Mr Tracy

I was never what you would call an exemplary student. In my graduating class of 27 students, I was ranked #14. Exactly in the middle. Now, this only considers the GPA of the students. It's the only tangible number that can be used for measurement.

Despite my ranking, I believe I can honestly say that it did not reflect my intelligence. Of all the students in my class, I tied with another student for the highest score on the ACT. When the military came to our school and gave us all the ASVAB test, I scored well beyond the person who came in second. I spent the next two years fending off recruiters who wanted me to work in their nuclear program.

NOTE: I am pro-military. I just know me. I would never have survived the rigors of military life.

I was the epitome of what adults and teachers like to call "wasted potential." The potential was there and they saw it now and then, but it was rarely tapped into. Although I hated hearing the motivational or shaming speeches at the time, I now know there were two huge reasons for me not striving to achieve.

1. My extreme apathy
2. My even more extreme laziness

It was as simple as that. As a teenager, I just didn't care that much. I could not realistically see far enough into the future to understand why the grade I received on a freshman geography pop quiz would negatively impact my chances of getting promoted in corporate America.

I was very good at memorizing stuff, so I nailed those Shakespearean monologues we had to perform in class.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

I scored a 100% on that monologue and an ovation from the teacher because I performed it so well, but I've never once been asked to do it in a job interview. Which is a shame because I was really good at it for some reason.

I was quite content with my C average. It never bothered me, but sure bothered my parents. In fact, any time I pushed a little in class for the better grade, it was because my parents wanted me to.

I am not getting down on my parents. They were right and I was wrong. I just did only as much as I had to do to stay out of trouble. It was my life philosophy concerning basically everything. Yet, there was one teacher who did not accept it.

Mr. Tracy was the bane of my existence throughout my high school career. He was my biology/botany teacher.

An additional misfortune I possessed was a mother who worked in the cafeteria at my school. With her so close, it was incredibly easy for any teacher to visit her. In fact, they didn't even have to make a special trip since they would just see her at lunch time. Mr. Tracy was quite adept at this practice. He kept her informed of every assignment and my grade on each. One year they even had a standing weekly appointment for her to come in and go through my work for the week. It sucks to have a parent who cares about your future so much.

Mr Tracy would keep me after class at least three times a month to discuss not only my poor excuses for homework but also my personal life. He wanted to know what I found so important because it certainly wasn't school.

Mr Tracy was a big believer in the importance of developing your brain, getting a good education, striving for a lifetime of learning. At least once a week he would get frustrated with his class and lecture us about the importance of being a critical thinker. And then, the even bigger importance of having enough information in your head to give you the ammo to be able to think critically.

He pushed and pushed and pushed and never let up. No matter how well you did, he showed you that he thought you could do even better.

One year, the night before the semester exam, I crammed with Stephanie (also in my class) late into the night. We drilled each other on the parts of a plant, photosynthesis, genus and species of various local flora and almost memorized entire chapters of the science book. I knew that material. The next day, I confidently turned in my exam (which was all essay questions; Mr Tracy did not believe you could check understanding with multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank).

Two hours later, Mr Tracy shows up in PE class and asked to see me. I cautiously approached him and he showed me the test. I HAD SCORED A 98! I was ecstatic…until I saw the look on his face. He was not happy.

He drug me out in the hall and told me how disappointed he was. I told him I was happy that I was only two points away from perfect. And he should be too.

He took off his glasses and lowered his head. It looked like he was trying to hold back tears. He said, "You still don't get it. You have carried a 'D average' in my class all semester. And then because of one night of actually putting in a little effort, you get a nearly perfect score. How can you not see what you are capable of if you would only try?" He dropped my test on the floor and walked off.

That was the last time I ever talked to him. I graduated a few days later.

I went to community college the next year and flunked out in the second semester. His words had done nothing for me.

Over the course of the next 10 years, my life just ambled along. I did alright but never accomplished anything noteworthy. Got married, divorced and married again while I bounced from job to job. Eventually, I decided to go back to school, but this time it was different. This time I wanted to be there. After a few papers came back with 'reasonably acceptable' results, a professor left a note on a paper telling me that he was surprised I had not scored better due to the quality of my discussions in class. Suddenly, the despised words of Mr. Tracy came flooding back to me.

All of those speeches and disappointed looks he had given me for four years in high school hit home. I got it. Someone next to me could have probably seen the figurative light bulb go off over my head.

In that moment, my entire approach to school completely changed. The lowest score I've gotten for a class since then was a 97.6. I even went on to get my Master's Degree and graduated with a 4.0.

It took 15 years to kick in, but Mr. Tracy finally got into my head. I am living a dream life today (on the coast in Vietnam) because of the lessons he never gave up on teaching. I did not appreciate it at the time, but for the last 20 years I have always named him as my favorite teacher. It just took me a while to recognize it.

Mr. Tracy, wherever you are, thank you.

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This month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. Each day this month, people around the world are writing blog posts and working their way through the alphabet. Each person decides their own personal theme. I am writing about people who have affected my life.

Life is Good

Several years ago, I made the fateful decision to combine my gift for teaching with my love for foreign culture and entered into a graduate TESOL program. I started working on my Master's Degree to teach English to speakers of other languages. I had always been fascinated by people from other countries and thought this would be a great way to get to work with them on a regular basis.

This decision led me to move to a bigger city where there would be more opportunities to work with foreigners. Soon after updating my Facebook profile about my intentions (not only for a job, but for school requirements also), I got the attention of someone in China.

After completing my degree, I accepted that job and the adventure began.

Five years ago, the furthest I had ever traveled was Puerto Rico. I had never even needed a passport. In the time since I made the above Facebook post, I have been to Germany, China, Canada, Turkey, Taiwan, Vietnam and Hong Kong. My wife and I have spent the last two and a half years living outside the United States. We currently live on the coast in central Vietnam.

My life is far from perfect, but I love it. This is the happiest I have been in my entire adult life. I love the house we live in. I love that we are in a small coastal town where it never gets cold. I am one of the lucky few in the world who actually loves his job. And I am married to a beautiful, intelligent woman whom I adore. Life is good.

Chinese Lessons - 中文课

Summer is almost over and I start teaching again on Monday. All my free time is about to evaporate. It will be nice to have something outside the apartment to do again. However, it really takes away from the task I have poured myself into all summer.

Red and I have been taking Chinese language lessons.

After living in China for almost a year and being essentially clueless about everything the entire time, we've decided to finally tackle the language.

I've made and memorized hundreds of flashcards.

I have notebooks filled with pages
of practiced Chinese characters

As I mentioned in a previous post about learning Chinese (click here), there are literally thousands of characters to learn. And so many of them seem to make the same sound when pronounced. The difference is very subtle. And for the many that actually do make the exact same sound, you just have to pull the correct meaning from context. From context. In a language I am already clueless about. This seems more and more like an insurmountable task, but I'm tackling it anyway.

Despite its difficulty, learning Chinese definitely has it moments. For example, last week I learned the character 太. This is a very simple character that pops up quite often. It is an adverb that basically means 'too'. If something is too much or too loud, you would use the character 太.

However, almost every character can be paired with another character to create an entirely different word. For example, the character 天 (day or sky) when paired with the character 气 (air) produces 天气 (weather). It makes sense.

Here are a few others:

女(female) + 人(person) = 女人(woman)
买(to buy) + 电(electricity) = 买电 (power bill)
长(long) + 大(big) = 长大 (grow up)

Pairing two characters together to make another word prevents having to create a separate character just for that one word. Since there are already thousands (have I mentioned there are thousands?) of characters to learn, I am less suicidal very grateful for that. Especially when you see some of the entertaining pairings. Earlier, I explained that 太 means 'too; overly; excessive', but what happens when you pair it with itself.  e.g. "overly excessive.

太 (too) + 太 (too) = 太太 (wife)

There is no explanation needed here.
The joke writes itself.
The married guys get it.

Since I can now recognize some (0.0000417%) of the characters, all the signs and ads around the city have words that jump out at me. This means that they are starting to make a little more sense.

This is one of the stops on a subway near my house.

Before taking Chinese lessons, I only saw this as Dawanglu, but I have since learned that 路 (Lu) is a word for street or road. So, it's Dawang Street. I've also learned that 大 (da) means 'big'. That means that this subway stop is for Big Wang Street and who isn't curious about a big wang? And whose wang was SOOOOO big they named a street after it?

Because I can only recognize some of the characters on a sign, I have to try to infer the meaning through context. For example, here is a sign that is outside a construction area near our apartment.

Now, I can't tell you exactly what it says, but knowing enough of the words paired with the context of the surroundings means I can deduce the general meaning.

In the middle of the day,
a person who is 21 must go out to get beer.

It is good to know that the construction company takes care of its workers, but does it in a legal way.

For weeks, I've seen this (↓↓↓) advertisement on the wall in the subway station and never had any idea what the product was for.

After this week's lesson, I now recognize the last two characters on the ad. I'm not positive about exactly what each word is, but I feel that I finally understand its purpose.

人 (person)

生(to be born)

This ad seems to be urging people to consider traveling to the mountains to have their babies on this beautiful waterfront. It's an excellent marketing campaign.

Until I can read and speak every word that I see, I must keep my nose in the books and practice with every Chinese person I meet. And there is no shortage of Chinese people in Beijing.

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Here's how most lessons seem to go.

I Think I'm Back

You know, it's really easy to maintain a blog when you are only posting once every few months.

I feel that I owe you all an apology. My writing has really slacked off in the last year. I do have a reason for this, but most people don't want to hear excuses. That doesn't mean I won't offer any, it just means most people don't like hearing them and fortunately for me, I am not most people. I am only me and me has been busy.

However, I have reason to believe that my writing is about to start up again. Mainly, because the thing that has kept me so busy has just come to an end. After several years of hard work, I finally completed my Master's Degree. This means that I have a lot of spare time now as compared to the last 30 months.

DISCLAIMER: It's pat myself on the back time.

Plus,  I graduated with a 4.0 GPA. I got straight A's through the entire program. This means the very thing I am always telling my family, neighbors, co-workers, and students:
I AM A GENIUS!

Since I am a genius, I have a social responsibility to share my intellectual insights with the rest of the world. Therefore, I will start writing again this week. Plus, a woman at my new church just discovered my blog and I need to produce some new stuff for her to read. I wouldn't want to give her the wrong impression before she gets to know me personally.

Around the World (not quite) in 80 Days

80 DAYS!!!

Eighty days is how long it has been since my last blog post. That's a long time considering that shortly before that post, I vowed to post at least twice a week. Let me try to catch you up on my world a little bit. Some major changes have happened in my life since I last wrote.

I have mentioned many times that I'm working on a graduate degree for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I am now sixty percent of the way through my degree and should graduate in August. However, there has been some concern over my graduation date for the last several months.

In addition to my classes, I am required to do 100 hours of practicum in this field. In other words, I have to find a place to start teaching English before I graduate and start doing it. I have now been in this program for a year and have yet to acquire a single hour. But this is not for lack of trying.

My problem was due to living in a small town with little cultural integration. My hometown has a small population of Spanish speakers and a Chinese restaurant whose employees who do not seem to have a decent grasp of English. There are virtually no English language classes anywhere in the area. I called the local community college to see if I could assist in their ESL (English as a Second Language) courses. They told me they only offer one ESL class every year and no one ever signs up.

Only one high school in the area had a foreign student. That one student had moved from India with his family and only spoke Kashmiri. In the entire world, less than 6 million people speak this language, so it's not easy to find translators for this language. Especially in Southern Illinois.

When I went to the high school to offer my assistance (my FREE assistance, by the way), it was met with much excitement in the counseling office. They basically had no system in place to help this kid who was months away from having to take his ACT and could not speak a word of English. My daughter said he just sat in class and nodded when anyone spoke to him. There would be some legal hoops to jump through, but they were very excited that someone from this field was offering to help. One of them even said that my walking into the office was an answer to her prayers for this kid. Since I was already certified to substitute teach in the school and had been doing so for over a year, I didn't expect it would take very long. However, after a few months, I still couldn't get into the classroom.

Not again!

I finally gave up and talked to the district office for the elementary schools in the area. They showed the same exuberance as the high school. They had a few students who really needed help and were excited to have me available. They even contacted my college advisor to properly coordinate and be sure I would get my credits. However, they never actually made it happen either. Every time I checked in, they would tell me to come back later or explain that it was taking longer than expected. Once again, I had lost several months and was running out of time.

Not long ago, I was sitting in Red's apartment in Indianapolis when someone knocked on the door. He wanted to know if there were any Spanish speakers in the apartment. They were starting an English language course at the apartment complex and wanted to make sure anyone who might be able to benefit from it was aware.

Unbelievable! I had been unsuccessfully struggling to get into one of the extremely limited courses back home and in Indianapolis the opportunities just come knocking on the door. The only thing keeping me from getting my hours was where I lived. A few weeks earlier, my advisor had jokingly made a comment suggesting the same thing. I had just become convinced that she was right.

It took some effort to pull it off, but two weeks ago, I moved to Indianapolis. Two days later, I found a place to start teaching three blocks away from my apartment. It took almost no effort and there are teaching opportunities all over this city.

Plus, I now live in the same city as my girlfriend! No more 200 miles commutes every other weekend.

For those of you who have been following our story, I guess this is our next big step. We started out 900 miles apart. Almost two years ago, it dropped to two hundred miles. And now, she is a 10 minute drive from my apartment.

Life is pretty good right now. Now, I just need a job.

"M" is for Master's Degree

From the time I started my Bachelor's Degree to the time I received it was fourteen years. I lost my focus there for a while and even moved out of the country during that time. However, as soon as I finished (finally), I immediately started on my Master's. This one I am not getting distracted from.

Whatever life may throw at me, I will finish without interruption. On my current schedule, I should be finishing my last class in September of 2014. That will be just a few months after my daughter graduates high school. She will go off to college and I will move away never to talk to her again.

She insists that I have to tell her where I am going so she will have a place to stay in the summer time. I takes me a while to stop laughing. She hasn't yet decided if I am joking or not.

The truth is…I don't know where I'm going when I graduate. Ideally, I would like to move close to Red so we can be close enough to become a part of each other's daily routine. However, life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. Once I have my degree, I will want to start working in that field as soon a possible and will need to go wherever the work is. I don't yet know how, but I'm sure we'll work it out.

I may have graduated high school 25 years ago and am just now getting my education, but my future is starting to look exciting. I don't know where this will take me, but I am glad to be on the journey.

I feel like I am cheating with these short posts.

macrocephalous
malacissation
manganiferous
microspectrophotometries 

Now I feel a little better about it. 

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Happily participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For the entire month of April, 1,861 bloggers are working their way through the alphabet. One letter every day but Sundays for a total of 26 days.

Click here to visit the website and get more information to see if you might want to join in next year. It's a lot of fun, introduces you to hundreds of new blogs and gives your writing some fantastic exposure.

"I" is for Internet

I live on the internet.

I really do. I do it all on the internet. I have always been pretty computer savvy, but you don't have to be anymore for the things that are available to basically anyone with a decent internet connection. I have heard some people complain that using their computer is too complicated, but I beg to differ. When I can sit down at my computer and take care of things in an hours that before would have taken me a few days, I don't think their argument is valid.

• Shopping
• Banking
• Travel plans
• Reservations
• Order Pizza
• School
• Information on everything
• Television
• Read

Prophetic movie about the future
difficulty of finding Twinkies.

As far back as 2001, I stopped renting movies at the video store because I could get on Netflix and have them shipped straight to me. Plus, it was much cheaper. It also removes the annoyance of walking up and down the aisles of a store trying to find what you want and then praying that it is in. Plus, the service helps me to not miss the movies I really want to see. As soon as I see a trailer for something I want to see, I put it in my queue to be sent to me as soon as it comes out on video.

If for some reason I hear about a movie LONG before it is to come out, it may not be on the Netflix site to schedule it yet. If that is the case, I go to a site called DVD Later and sign up for the movie there. That site (which is free to use) will put the movie in my Netflix queue as soon as it is available. Now with streaming, I can watch the movie immediately. In fact, there is no need to even have cable because everything is online.

No longer is there a need to actually meet with teachers. My daughter goes to a rather large school and I could never get proper time with them anyway. I can now log onto the school's website and see her current grades, teacher's notes for assignments and even scans of some of her work. An email to a teacher is promptly returned as compared to phone calls that often took days or sometimes not at all.

I am getting my Master's Degree right now and do it all from the convenience of my laptop. I interact with the teacher and the other students almost daily. I read, research, and write papers in front of a computer screen.

This may be my favorite of internet conveniences. I pay ALL my bills online. Every single one of them. Even places that don't have online billing, like my local water company. When a bill comes due, I receive an email. I log onto my bank site and tell them to send a check. I haven't had my own checks for years and never even buy stamps anymore. I just don't need to.

All my banking is done online as well. I have a special account that rewards me for never walking in and disturbing a teller. I get kickbacks on every purchase. I get into museums, amusement parks and zoos for free. I get great discounts at hundreds of locations and all I have to do is keep all my banking online. My checks are directly deposited and I pay everything through my computer. Since the bank is saved on manpower, they reward me.

I am also an avid reader. Once I bought a Kindle, I knew I could keep books on it, but soon learned I could even check out books from the library without leaving my house. Sitting at home I visit the library site, download the book, and it works for two weeks before it deletes itself.

Doing research on any topic has gotten easier as well. The misguided people who think using the internet for research is not as effective, apparently don't know how to use it to its potential. The only reason someone would argue that a person needs to go to the library is because it was the way they were taught. I have nothing against books, I love them. However, what is the advantage to searching for hours in a library to find the books you need when I can find that same book online in a matter of seconds. I can have the information of a hundred books at my fingertips within moments while someone else is still searching through the card catalog. Almost any scholarly work has been uploaded to the internet and can be found easily by anyone who knows how to search.

From the comfort of my home, I also order pizza while searching for the best coupons at the same time. I make reservations for restaurants, book airline tickets, make hotel reservations, grocery shop, buy electronics, find people, research companies, apply for jobs, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. I even met my girlfriend online.

A few months ago, I landed a job I could do from my home. It had officially reached the point that I never needed to step outside my house for anything. I could even buy my clothes online and have them shipped to me. Of course, if I wasn't going outside, then I didn't really need clothes. I don't even need to consult a doctor because I have WebMD.

Some may be concerned that this much dependence on technology will cut back on social interaction, but we have Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for that. If you think you have to actually be face to face with someone, then buy a webcam and Skype with them.

I know that I am addicted to technology. Many addicts will deny their addiction and scream, "I can quit any time I want." I am not making that claim. I love my internet and artificial connection to the world and don't plan to ever give it up.

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Happily participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For the entire month of April, 1,897 bloggers are still working their way through the alphabet. One letter every day but Sundays for a total of 26 days.

Click here to visit the website and get more information to see if you might want to join in next year. It's a lot of fun, introduces you to hundreds of new blogs and gives your writing some fantastic exposure.

"E" is for ESL

In about another 15 months, I will have my Master's Degree in TESOL.

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Sometimes it's called ESL, which stands for English as a Second Language. Basically, my job will be to teach English to people who do not speak English. Whether it is because they have moved to an English speaking country and need to learn to better communicate in their new surroundings or they are still in their home country, but need to learn for another reason, I will have the tools to help them.

English has spread throughout most of the world and continues to grow rapidly. English has become the major language of international commerce and a number of other fields. English language teacher is the second most high demand job in the entire world second only to computer technology jobs. I am not concerned with being able to find work once I graduate, but am really curious as to where I will end up.

Qualified English teachers are needed in literally every country in the world and I have no reservations about leaving the country to accept a job. In fact, I think I prefer it. I love culture and would love to settle down in some remote corner of the world. It would be better than just passing through as a tourist.

In my studies, I am learning that it is about much more than just teaching language. Since up to 80% of our message is nonverbal, I have to ensure that my students can properly communicate with more than just their words. Plus, every culture has hundreds of customs that have nothing to do with language that do not translate from one country to another.

How to eat spaghetti in Japan

In some countries, shaking the head means 'yes' while in other countries it looks almost like a shrug.In Kazakhstan, sitting on the edge of a desk or table is incredibly rude. The 'thumbs up' gesture so common here in the States is offensive in most of the rest of the world, as is the sign for A-OK. In Thailand, you should never touch a person's head or pass something over it. In many countries, people touch more than us Americans are used to. This includes holding hands. Here, that is usually reserved for couples, but in some Latin American countries men hold hands and it means nothing romantic.

I have to teach my students about eye contact, how to shake hands and even give them lessons on history, politics, cinema and literature to help them better understand the American mind. I am quickly learning that speaking a language is only the tip of the iceberg for being able to successfully navigate another culture. I'm so ready to get out there and get started.

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Happily participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For the entire month of April, 1,968 bloggers are working their way through the alphabet. One letter every day but Sundays for a total of 26 days.

Click here to visit the website and get more information to see if you might want to join in next year. It's a lot of fun, introduces you to hundreds of new blogs and gives your writing some fantastic exposure.

Test Your Funny Bone #10

It's that time of week again to see how funny my readers are. I supply the picture and you come up with your funniest caption.

Here is this week's picture:

Leave your funniest caption in the comment section and I will post all the responses later in the week.

Why I Want To Teach

Two days ago, I asked my readers to pose questions for me to answer. That post and their questions can be found here. Rachel of When a Lion Sleeps, Let It Sleep asked me five questions. I addressed four of them yesterday and will be tackling the last one today.

Rachel asked me why I wanted to be a teacher. This same question was also asked by Brandie Boddie of Penning Praises back in August 2011 and I never properly addressed it.

Addressing flood relief workers
in Eastland, Texas

For the last 15 years, I have been a teacher in some capacity. Whether it was through jobs I've had, working at my church, summer camp or volunteering somewhere. I have taught kids and adults. I am often asked to lead meetings at my places of employment. I am usually the one who gathers information to share or teach to the other employees. In 1990, before people had the computer familiarity they have today, I was put in charge of the college computer labs because I had a talent for helping people understand what needed to be done. These are practices that have been part of who I am since I left high school.

When I moved to Puerto Rico in 2001, my job had two primary responsibilities. I was the pastor of a church and the administrator of a school with over 300 students. During this time, I taught on a regular basis and loved every minute of it. However, for some reason, it never occurred to me to become a "teacher."

A couple of years ago, when I moved to Moweaqua to finish my degree, I immediately sought out the minister and youth minister of my new church to introduce myself and get myself plugged in so I could start working with people and begin teaching. This was just a natural train of thought for me, but I still wasn't thinking of teacher as a profession.

It wasn't until my last semester of school that I finally figured it out at forty years old. I was reading a magazine article about the age of most public school teachers. According to this article, almost a quarter of today's teachers will be retiring within the next 10 years. As I continued to read, something stirred inside me. Over the course of the next couple of days, I continued to think about this article and began looking up more information. It was slowly occurring to me that I was built for this profession. By the end of the week, I couldn't figure out why I hadn't made this decision years before.

I started the process at school to be able to transfer to a school of education as soon as I graduated the following semester. I got my Bachelor's degree at Lincoln Christian University and started on my Master's at Greenville the next year. I have made a couple of changes since then as I try to decide exactly what I want to teach, but teaching has stayed at the center of my education.

I started out with the intention of being a high school math teacher since I am good at math but was never really excited about it. I have since veered away from the public school focus and am pursuing a degree in ESL. (English as a Second Language) This will combine my love of teaching with my passion for missions and interacting with people of other cultures. ESL is also the second largest job in demand worldwide. Not only will I be in a field that I love, but in this competitive and difficult job market, I have an excellent chance at finding work.

Ideally, I would like to work in a university setting, but I will see where this takes me. I expect to graduate in May of 2014.

Irregardless, Let Me Acks You A Question

I was just checking my Facebook wall and weeping for the education system in America. It is amazing to me the number of people, including adults who have graduated high school, that have no grasp of the basics of their native tongue. I am not a spelling or grammar Nazi. I do usually notice, but don't feel the need to correct someone when they make a mistake. However, there has to be a limit.

I understand that misspellings will happen occasionally. I've been called out on errors in this blog on more than one occasion. I am not claiming to be a perfect speller and most people cannot make that claim.

I am also not referring to the way youth type today. UR for your, U for you, PLZ for please, etc. I get it. The kids typing that way know it's not correct. It's similar to the way each generation has their own lingo. While I don't like to read it, I have no problem with it.

I am also not addressing the people with learning disorders (i.e. dyslexia) or the common misspelling of words like friend (i before e). It's the normal every day words that are covered in the third grade that should not be confusing people. I have a few Facebook friends that never use punctuation or capitalization. I have to read their status several times to figure out which words to group together into sentences. Reading their statuses gives me a headache.

I have to wonder if it has always been this way. It is very possible that it's no worse than it was before, but we didn't have Facebook and Twitter around showcasing everyone's poor grammar and spelling. Now that it's out in the open, it is easier to see.

However, it's not really fair to judge people on their inability to spell when there are so many people that don't even know how to pronounce common words.

When a six year old asks to go to the liberry, it is understandable. He is still learning to speak, but when a thirty year old still hasn't learned about the extra 'R' in the word library, it's hard not to question his intelligence.

Mispronounced words I have heard this week:
CHIMLEE (chimney) - The apparatus that dispels smoke from a fireplace.
NUCULAR (nuclear) - The type of energy released by splitting atoms. Our last president was guilty of this one.
ILLINOIZ (Illinois) - The state Chicago is in. This is most unnerving when said by someone who actually lives here. The 'S' is silent, genius.
RECUHNIZE (recognize) -  Identifying someone you have encountered before.
EXCAPE (escape) - To get away from something

These mispronunciations are so common, I don't even catch it sometimes when someone says them, but it always grates on my brain stem when someone says supposibly. I can feel the tension throb at the base of my skull. There is no 'B' in the word supposedly!

Years ago, I dated a girl whose mother pronounced the word oil as oral.  "The car is a quart low on oral. Could you put some in?"  I still don't know where that one came from.

I know I will get several people defending their butchering use of the English language. I am not writing this to try to offend, although some will be offended. It is not my intention, but I am not apologizing for it. When it is pointed out to someone that they speak like a child, they have the opportunity to correct it. They are not obligated to. They can speak however they want. I would never demand that someone change. However, if they want to continue in their practice, they cannot be offended when others snicker at them.

I had a college professor that used to always tell us, "It's your native tongue. You've heard it your entire life. By now, you should know how to use it."

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My rant is over. I feel better. What words drive you nuts when said or used incorrectly?

Worst Day of the Year

Everyone has tasks to perform that they don't look forward to. Every April, we have to do our taxes. We have to brave the crazy crowds in the stores for the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas just to get household necessities. We have to spend time with our children. We have to visit the DMV to renew our plates or license. A couple of times a month, we have to talk to the police officer knocking on our door. We have to dart to our car every morning to avoid being seen and caught in a conversation with our neighbor. We all have these things in our lives that are less than pleasant, but must be done. It's just part of life. However, yesterday was the day I dread more than any other. It was my daughter's high school registration day.

It started a month ago when I received the New York phone book sized registration packet in the mail. I've spent a few hours every night since then, filling in the thousands of blanks on over a ream of paper including:

• Medical permission slips
• Emergency contact information
• Parking permits
• Class schedules
• Free/reduced lunch forms - whether you expect to qualify or not
• Year book orders
• Internet access permission
• Racial profiling forms - not a joke. Apparently, they must know the race of your child. The form states that if you decline to provide this information (I always mark Asian so she can get an 'A' in math), they will make a determination based on visual observation.
• Bus route slips
• Rules of conduct booklet
• Parent/Guardian's full name, address, phone number, place of employment, employer's phone number and hours of work
• Extracurricular clubs and organizations
• Immunization records
• School picture packet
• ACT/SAT registration
• Etc., Etc., ad naseum

As much as I hate all this paperwork, it is even more frustrating knowing that they already have 90% of this information from when I gave it to them last year. Plus, the top third of every page asks for the same information as the other pages. Name, address, phone number, student ID, social security number, etc. Since there is some information I refuse to provide, I know that half my time during registration will be spent arguing with administration as I have every year in the past. 

Protect it!

Let's start with the social security number. A social security number is for tax purposes. There is no valid reason to ask for it. The school gives each student an ID number. That should be sufficient for tracking the student. I don't even put my social security number on job applications, because unless they actually hire me, they don't need it. There is too much identity theft out there to be careless with your number. However, every year some school administrator on a power trip insists that they have to have it in order for her to go to school.

I got my son all the way from kindergarten to high school without ever giving up his number and Kirsten is now a junior. I have registered a kid for school every year for the last 15 years. I know it can be done and I ask why if they have to have it she was allowed to go to school last year since I have never given it to them. They eventually give up and let her enroll.

My next argument takes place with the bursar, who generally has to call in the principal or school superintendent. There are a few fees that I refuse to pay. The book fee is one of them. I have only paid this fee one time. It was my son Christian's freshman year. I paid $70 for books and discovered a few weeks later that he hadn't been bringing his books home to study. He explained that he wasn't allowed to take the books out of the classroom. They didn't have enough books for all the students, so had to leave them in the classroom for the next class to use them. They could not bring them home for homework or to read over a chapter. All students had to rely on their notes.

I went to the school to demand our books. After all, I had paid for them. I got nowhere. The following year, I went to eBay and purchased all the books he would need. I then refused to pay the fee since we already had the books. Since he would be bringing his own books from home and would not be using theirs, there is no reason to pay the fee. It seemed reasonable to me. The school disagreed and argued that the money goes to other places as well. It is just called a 'book fee.' I pointed out that I was well aware of that, since they obviously weren't using the money to buy books. I then turned and left. I haven't paid a book fee since, but have had to argue my point again every year. This year marks the sixth year that I have gone without paying that fee.

I also have to argue about the fact that I will not give them my work phone number. They don't need it despite their insistence that they do. They have my cell number and the contact information for three other people. Last year, I worked at the sheriff's office. Personal calls did not need to happen. They can call my cell.

Keep in mind, that I hadn't even gone in yet. This is just a recollection of what I have had to go through every year. However, this year wasn't looking to be any easier.

Kirsten attends a large school with a few thousand students. They have registration scheduled for three separate days. Yesterday was for students whose last name begins with letters A through I. My daughter's scheduled day would be the next day. However, my new job starts on that day and I would be unavailable to go in. My job hours were a last minute change that I had not anticipated. I suddenly would not be available on the correct day, so called the school to ask if I could come in now ('A' through 'I' day).

I was told that was not possible since they wouldn't have her proper paperwork there to register her. Because they wouldn't know she was coming, it wouldn't work. I stated that since I was calling in, they would know she was coming and could have the paperwork ready. She didn't agree.

She explained that I could register late, but not early. If I couldn't come in Tuesday (her scheduled day), then come in Wednesday, the last day of registration. That didn't work for me either. My job starts on Tuesday, so I will be working on Wednesday also. I was free now, on Monday.

I was told they had a late registration day the following Monday for the people who were not able to get in on the scheduled days. I tried in vain to get her to understand that once my job started, I would be working. I have this Monday off because I haven't started yet. I will no longer be available during the week.

"Well, then you will have to wait and register her on the first day of school."

ME: (Trying not to scream): I will be at work! I am free today and you are doing registration today! How can you not see the simple solution to this problem? We need to register today!"

"But today is not your scheduled day." 

She attempted do transfer me to school administrators who might be able to come up with a solution, but being registration day, no one was in their office. As the day clicked by, I began to realize that no one would return my calls until they were free, which would be after registration was over. I grabbed Kirsten and we went to the school. I fought to register early and won. I fought against paying the book fees and won. I fought to protect her social security number and won. I fought to make them use the immunization records I had provided the year before and won. I fought to get the yearbook we had purchased the year before, but they did not have a record of. I had my receipt and won that one too.

We spent over three hours in registration surrounded by huge crowds of frustrated parents and students. I was so happy to get out of there and have the day behind me. It's the same scene every year. Registration at this school has never been without incident. As I was driving home and the stress was slowly lifting off my shoulders, I suddenly found myself grinning from ear to ear as I realized that I only had to do this one more time. My daughter will be a senior next year. I'm almost done.

I Need More Hours in the Day

I had a leisurely day planned for today. Physical therapy at 9 a.m. and a graduation to attend tonight at 6. I wanted to mow my yard, do a little house cleaning, some reading and maybe hit the gym. However, it did not turn out that way. I got done with therapy at ten and called Adam to see if he wants to go to the gym with me. He informs me that we just got hired to do a show at a local school that starts at noon. It was the last day of school and after the awards ceremony the school wanted to throw a party for the kids.

I flew home to get changed and we headed out to get the equipment. We get to the school and set up. They had a bouncy house, a jousting ring and obstacle course for the kids. The students ate outside, ran around like mad, danced to our music and requested a bunch of songs that we could never play at a school function.

At this event, I was told of an open house that afternoon at the homeless shelter I have been working with for the last year. After breaking down, I had time to go home, get showered from sweating outside all afternoon and go pick up my daughter before heading back to pick up Adam and go to the shelter.

After shaking a few hands and eating a few brats, we took Adam home to get to the school for the six o' clock graduation. On the drive over, I was explaining to Kirsten how the day had not gone as I had planned and I was looking forward to this graduation being over and getting back home. I was worn out.

The great thing about this graduation was that it was at a small private school. Very small. The high school graduating class consisted of two boys. Between handing out the diplomas, a commencement speech and a little Pomp & Circumstance, we should be back home by 6:30. My unexpected long day was moments away from being over.

When we got there, I noticed that there were an awful lot of people there to watch two kids graduate. I soon learned that there were four graduates, not two. Another kid who had completed the off-campus studies program and would be crossing the stage with these kids he had never met and a 75 year old man who had never graduated high school and started taking classes to get his long awaited diploma. That was actually pretty cool. However, it still seemed like a lot of people for only four graduates.

We took a seat next to a couple that we knew but hadn't really seen in a few years. They had a daughter who was about to turn three and I had never met. She was immediately taken with Kirsten and wanted to sit by us and talk.

Two minutes after meeting me,
she is telling me her life story.

A lot.

She talked and squirmed and crawled under the seats and tried to lick her finger to stick it in Kirsten's ear. Her dad said that at home she has her own version of the Wet Willy. It's called the Butt Willy. I'll leave you to figure out how that works for yourself.

Once the ceremony started, her dad made her sit in his lap. He said it was because he didn't want her to be a nuisance, but I couldn't help but notice it was right after I asked her if she would get in my car if I gave her some candy. For the next few minutes she kept asking me when we could go get the candy.

The principal stepped up to the mike to welcome everyone, said a quick prayer and stated that he would announce the graduates. I checked my clock: 6:07. We would be out of there in no time. After announcing the first name, a 4 foot person approaches the stage.

THIS WAS A KINDERGARTEN STUDENT!!!

Apparently, due to the size of the school, they do all the graduations at once. This would take a little longer than I thought. They gave the precious child her diploma and then had several children come to the stage to sing a song. A very loooong and slow song. When it was over, they moved to the 8th grade graduates. There were three in this class. They walked the stage fairly quickly and then brought up the singer to commemorate their achievement.

Here is one of the things about small schools...or any small organization. There is not a large talent pool to pull from. I know that not everyone is good at everything, but when you have 1,200 people to choose from, at least a few will be exceptional at any given talent. When you only have abut 20 people to choose from, you may end up with this:

I understand that she should be commended for having the courage to get up in front of everyone and sing, but courage will only impress people to a degree. Since this song was rather long and I was slowly coming to the realization that I was not getting out of here any time soon, I needed something to entertain myself.

Looking for something to do, I noticed the little girl from earlier staring at me. Every move I made caused her eyes to follow me. So, I turned off the flash to my camera and decided to have some fun.

I stuck out my tongue. She quickly followed suit.


I sucked in my lips and she did the same.


I pushed my nose up like a pig and she pushed hers up as well.

I crossed my eyes and she did this.


We had great fun for several minutes until something she did caused me to laugh.

She did not appreciate it and screamed at me.


I was able to escape her father's detection and played dumb.

That outburst caused her to have to go sit with Grandma.

With my entertainment gone, my attention was shifted back to the stage. The graduating seniors were brought to the stage and given their diplomas. The senior citizen and off-campus student were both recognized and the on campus graduates each addressed the crowd. No mention was made of valedictorian or salutatorian, but when there are only two people, does it really matter?

After their speeches, we were treated to a slide show set to music that chronicled every picture that had ever been taken of each of these boys.

Being a Christian school, it was followed up with a sermon and then finally concluded. This ceremony for one kindergartner, three 8th graders and four seniors (total of 8 people) had taken one hour and 37 minutes. I promptly told Kirsten to say her goodbyes and head to the car.

The principal jumped on stage for a last announcement.

"The families of the graduating seniors have prepared a meal and you are all invited to stay and eat."

Well, that changed everything. The main reason I wanted out of there so fast was to get some food. We fought the crowd to get to the tables in the back. Once sitting, the allure of food and good conversation distracted me. When I rose to leave, over two more hours had passed.

I never did make it to the gym.