Monday, February 24, 2014

Pomp and Circumstance and more Pomp

"All right, all right, all right" -
Wooderson, Dazed and Confused


Random stuff this week, you guys.

Salad Fingers
The other day I was about to eat a salad I bought from the market near the school. As I poured Italian dressing on it, other teachers looked on in horror. They quickly asked me why I was putting shampoo on my salad. After reassuring them that Head and Shoulders wasn’t on the lettuce, I showed them the bottle. They were fascinated by it. Most salad dressing here is sort of like a thick and sugary mayo. That mayo dressing/concoction is almost universally given with all salads. Even though the supermarket sold Italian dressing, I guess it isn’t that popular. Minds were blown in the English department that day.

Six Simple Rules
Very soon, Dylan Shearer will replace me in the Lenz household as the son in the age 22-23 demographic. I want Dylan to have a long and fruitful stay in the house while he is job hunting. I’ve composed a brief list for how to avoid getting kicked out of the home.

1.      Complete every crossword before Mom gets home from work. Frequently mention that Will Shortz just isn’t what he used to be.
2.      Come in at 3 AM every night. Instead of telling my parents that you are home and safe, loudly sing every word to “We can’t stop”/”We’re not gonna take it” as you walk upstairs.
3.      Before 5:30 AM, shower, make coffee, do a bible study, and journal. As Dad gets up, remind him that, “The early bird gets the worm.”
4.      Ignore that fact that Daniel has a driver’s license. Wake him up early on Saturday mornings and give him driving lessons in the Northwestern parking lot.
5.      Put all the tomatoes in the refrigerator. Inform the family that it gives them a better taste if they stay in the fridge.
6.      Leave cups everywhere. Leave them in the living room, bedroom, bathroom, everywhere. That’s probably the worst thing you can do.

There you have it Dylan. Dodge these and you rule the home.

Closing Time
Similar to American schools, M6 students (Seniors) finish school before everyone else. The English program performed a skit to send them off on their last day. In the skit I played an M6 student, which had me dress up in a Thai school uniform. The school thought this was hysterical. I couldn’t pass a student without them bursting out into laughter. They had a lot of fun with it and I got to pretend to be in high school for an hour, which isn’t a bad place to be.




I was also asked if there are any traditional American graduation songs. The first thing that popped into my head was “Graduation” by Vitamin C. The last time I heard it was at Tims the night before I graduated college. I remember half the bar sobbing into each other’s shoulders during its four minute runtime. Vitamin C truly was a powerhouse of the early 2000's.

They declined to use it in the ceremony. It didn’t quite have the same emotional punch, probably because of the whole language barrier thing. Oh well.

This week is my last week of teaching! It’s very bittersweet. I’m ready for a break but I’ve also gotten to good level teaching-wise with my students. It’s frustrating that the classroom dynamic has gotten a lot better and now it ends. On the plus side, I recently subbed one of the sections that will teach next year. They cheered as I walked in. The future is bright.

Mark

P.S. I feel inclined to give updates on Davis since Cambridge has consumed his soul (In a good way. He’s learning a lot!). He’s wrapping up his term soon and has five weeks off. He’ll do some Euro travelling and get to see the Pope give Easter mass in Rome. I’m incredibly jealous. Judging from how cool the new pope is, I’m guessing his Easter celebration will look a little something like this:





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