Day 23

A week from today, Müs is leaving for an Epic Adventure in Chile. It will involve astronomy, data that I do not understand, nerds (probably), and hopefully Chilean beer. It will also involve 30 hours of travel, which sucks a lot. I've done similar trips, though when I've traveled that long, it usually involves extended stretches of time sitting in airports. So I was mentally compiling a list of helpful travel tips, which may or may not be obvious, and then I thought, 'Hey, I can use this as a blog post!' And here we are.

Travel Tips (mostly for international travel):

• Bring food. This may not apply to those of you with normal metabolism. My brother and I share the same crazy hyper metabolism, and if we don't eat on a regular schedule (for me, it's 4 hours), heads will roll. I am not kidding. People don't take this seriously, and then I get all snappy and hurt people's feelings and then I'm like, SEE I TOLD YOU. Good travel food: granola bars, dried fruit, nuts, pretzels, peanut butter sandwiches. Stay away from: fresh fruit (unless you're going to eat it in the airport; customs people frown upon taking fruit across borders), yogurt, salad, sandwiches that can't handle being squashed or lack of refrigeration.
• Buy a huge bottle of water once you get through security. If you're cheap like me, you can also get a normal-sized water and refill the bottle from water fountains. (This applies only in the US; not all countries enjoy their water fountains as much as we do.)
• Do not get sucked into the in-flight entertainment. This inevitably happens to me; I always think I'm going to sleep on the plane, but wait, I wanted to see this movie when it was in the theaters, and this movie looks good too, and ooh, a trivia game! Next thing I know, we've landed, it's 5am and I haven't slept. Awesome.
• Time your in-flight meals and sleep accordingly. Make sure you get food when the flight attendants come around with it (meals or snacks); it's a pain to try to flag them down. Also, when they're finally finished with snack/food/duty free liquor and perfume service, take the opportunity to stretch your legs in the aisle and take a nap. You're less likely to be bothered by carts going back and forth if you wait until they're all done... until breakfast, anyway.
• While on the plane, get up and walk around once in a while. Otherwise, you get really stiff. As an added bonus, you get the mildly creepy sight of all the passengers with their headphones on, staring into screens that are emitting a bluish light. It's very '1984'.
  
• Sleep on the plane. It's hard, but try to zone out, at least. I only recently found out that the sides of the head rest fold towards your head, which gives you something to lean on and a chance to avoid an awfully stiff neck. I also put my backpack in the leg space and stretch my feet underneath the seat in front of me, to pretend I have extra leg room. And I put the pillow they give you at my lower back. It's all planned out. I always feel sort of bad about leaning back into someone's space, but I usually go part of the way. Besides, I always get stuck behind someone who leans ALL THE WAY back as soon as we take off, so it's all about fairness. Right?
• Other vital things to bring: iPod + earphones (can be used for the inflight movie/radio, too), books, puzzles, neck pillow, crappy magazines bought at airport newsstands, possibly a toothbrush so you can brush your teeth once you get off the longest flight.
  
• Don't wear contacts. It's not worth the hassle.
  

Any other tips? Comment away!

Day 14

My friend and former German buddy Carolyn is in her second year of teaching English in Bulgaria, and she keeps a blog, which you can find here. Bulgaria being a former Communist state, Carolyn has an interesting perspective on the fall of the Berlin Wall and how people view the old communist state with nostalgia, real or imagined. Her last couple of entries have really gotten me thinking about life in East Germany, and the relationship between capitalism and communism -- for example, how symbols of the DDR are now marketed on t-shirts, coffee mugs and refrigerator magnets. (Life would be a much more boring place without the Ampelmaennchen, let me assure you.) Go read her blog if you are interested, and if you want to know my (random) thoughts, I posted a few comments on there. Also, Carolyn shared this photo essay via her Twitter feed, and it is phenomenal. Go look at it now, I'll wait.

The DDR was a weird, amazing place, eh? Now I'm the one who's nostalgic.

Day 13

Segueing a bit from yesterday's 'Glee' post.. Wednesday's particular episode also reminded me of a reason why I want to live in the US, rather than Germany or elsewhere: American schools try exceptionally hard to mainstream kids with disabilities. I'm sure viewers the other night didn't think twice about seeing a student with Down syndrome or a kid in a wheelchair. But in Germany, special ed students are completely segregated from their peers at an early age. Since kids are funneled into schools on different tracks (college prep, technical school, etc.) starting in fifth grade, I'd say segregation definitely is set by then, if not before. I mean, they have entire special ed schools so that these students aren't in the classrooms with their peers. During my two years working at college prep schools, I didn't even encounter anyone in a wheelchair, let alone students with other disabilities. The homogeneousness (?) was a bit frightening, actually. Americans may have other faults, but our treatment of kids with disabilities reflects our respect for all students and our commitment to treating people equally. If you don't teach that by example starting in elementary school, where do you expect kids to learn it?

In other news: Happy Friday the 13th! Don't walk under a ladder, cross a black cat's path, or break a mirror. Or perhaps do those things in pairs so they cancel each other out.

Addendum 2: I had a job interview today. It went pretty well, I think, though you can never tell with these things. The position is not specifically my interests but is in my field. The pay is pretty low, but some salary is better than no salary, I suppose!

Addendum 3: I am in love with NBC's Thursday night lineup. Expect a post on 'Community' sometime soon, it is brilliant.

Day 7

Following up on yesterday's 'Office' post, here's a very interesting article comparing four countries' versions of 'The Office'. It's a couple years old, but still pretty accurate, I think; the author describes how each country's version of the show reflects that nation's culture, sense of humor, and attitude towards work. Having seen three of the four shows (though when in Germany, I never realized 'Stromberg' was their version of TO and only saw it once or twice), I'd agree with the points made. It also helps me better articulate why I like the US version better than the UK version, though I like both for different reasons.

Day 2

Even though Halloween was two days ago, I feel some observations are in order (apologies to folks on Facebook, who got one of these rants from me already):

1. Has Halloween etiquette changed since the mid-90s? Since when is it appropriate to ask for a specific type of candy during trick-or-treating? This happened twice at our door; one girl wanted Almond Joy and another wanted SweeTarts. (They were in separate groups.) So.. if you ask for a candy and I don't have it, does that mean I don't have to give you anything? The kicker is that we always have awesome candy for Halloween -- results in better leftover candy to eat after it's over -- and let the kids choose at least two pieces. Last year, I even started giving them three because there weren't many kids around. If you can't find your favorite sweets among a selection of Kit Kats, Almond Snickers, a variety of Clark Bars, Reese's, and York Peppermint Patties, then (a) you are one picky child and (b) just be happy to not receive pennies, apples, or those horrible orange and black wrapped taffy things that nobody likes. Also, this phenomenon doesn't seem to be confined to my section of suburbia. What is going on, are kids becoming spoiled brats?! Get off my lawn.

2. Moving on from "what is wrong with kids these days", what is wrong with grown-ups these days? Halloween has become more and more sheltered, and it seems like adults are bent on sucking the fun out of it. While I do agree with some rules for school parties (for example, no weapons, toys/props or masks in school), many restrictions are just over the top. Does "no culturally insensitive costumes" mean no Indians? (There goes my 4th grade costume.) Why discourage scary monsters or horror movie costumes, instead asking kids to dress as their favorite historical figure or healthy snack? Hate to break it to you, but that is the making of the lamest Halloween ever. Also, crazy new-age parents who are anti-junk food and give out things like toothbrushes or books deserve to have one of their life's pleasures taken away. Not that I'm anti-children's books -- I'm extremely pro-book -- but Halloween is the one night of the year when kids can eat enough candy to send them into a frenzy and subsequently a sugar-crash-induced coma. They're pressured and badgered enough for the other 364 days, let them have some fun.

3. I was going to go on about the sluttifying of Halloween, but all that ranting wore me out. Go read this, and tell me that's not ridiculous.

That's right, I hate everyone. Now you know.

10 more things

That Facebook "25 Things About Me" craze recently made me go back and reconsider those 50 things I posted here about two three years ago. (sidebar: holy crap, it's been that long?!) Some of those aren't strictly true any more -- I'll leave it up to you to determine which ones I'm talking about -- but instead of editing them, I'm going to add a few more. And maybe I'll put these in my Facebook list, since the one that I posted there is admittedly pretty lame. So here goes:

Ten More Things About Me!
51. I love words: crosswords, reading, word puzzles, using words in daily conversation that most people don't use, ever. I'm not trying to sound pretentious; I just think it's fun to use semi-obscure words that'll get across exactly what I mean. This is probably the main reason why I don't want to live in Germany; though I suppose I'm pretty fluent in German, or at least could definitely get by, the nuance isn't there. My sentences in German come across (to me) as a simplified version of what I'm actually thinking. I miss being able to pick from a variety of slightly different word choices for a given situation, instead of going with the one German word I'm familiar with.
52. I'm a beer snob. The hierarchy goes: Belgian > German > other imports > microbrews > domestics. A particular microbrew may move up the list (case in point: Saranac Caramel Porter). Also, ale always trumps lager. Lager is vile.
53. I'd take beer over wine any day. Caveat: Said beer must be good (see above). Caveat #2: This does not apply to certain meals, like pasta.
54. I've been compared to Liz Lemon from "30 Rock", from the way she talks to the Tina Fey smirk. I think this is awesome.
55. I'm a blue cheese fiend. When I was little, I used to use celery sticks to fish out the blue cheese chunks from the dip that comes with wings -- and not eat the celery. I never get sick of blue cheese. Also, I still hate celery.
56. I like:
a. mushrooms: raw
b. broccoli: cooked
c. tomatoes: both
d. olives: neither
57. I think the concept of "boneless wings" is both fallacious and a huge scam. If they're boneless, they're clearly not wings now are they? Call them chicken fingers/tenders/nuggets/strips/whatever, but if you can eat the entire thing at once, that is NOT a chicken wing. The day Bocce's or Duff's starts advertising "boneless wings" is the day I shoot myself.
58. I'm a dog person. In my younger days, to the consternation of my parents, I was a cat person. I guess nurture wins out over nature.
59. The furthest east I've been is Athens, Greece. The furthest west I've been is Minneapolis, Minnesota.
60. Breakfast is vital to my ability to function in the mornings. It's got to be within a half-hour or so, or else heads will roll. You do not want to be around me if I've missed breakfast.

So much for that "must post more often" sentiment.

Heh. Funny how life can go from "way too busy to update the blog" to "not nearly enough to talk about to update the blog", eh? There hasn't been much of note to report: I'm living at home, in a town where none of my friends live, applying for jobs at places that aren't contacting me back. (thanks, recession!) Oh, and I'm unable to drive, since the car is a stick shift. So I'm pretty much 15 again. Needless to say, it's pretty awesome.

At any rate, I'm thinking of participating in NaBloPoMo again this year, so I guess I'd better start stocking up interesting stories. It'll probably be a month-long slideshow of those pictures that I took while traveling from June to August, because everyone loves looking at pictures from other people's vacations. Stay tuned!

Also, I was randomly thinking (!) the other day that October is practically the pivotal month in my life; it sets the tone for the rest of the year. Forget New Year's, it's all about October first. To wit:

• October 2003: Began teaching English in WB, filling vast amounts of free time with naps and traveling Europe.
• October 2004: Began teaching English in K-Town, met Scottish TAs and began 9-month-long odyssey to try the hot chocolate at every cafe in town. Also, began (near-)weekly Irish pub trips.
• October 2005: Had just begun teaching kindergarten. Work was pretty awful, and continued to be for the entire school year.
• October 2006: Had just begun teaching first grade. Learned to lay down the law for the first few weeks of school, and this turned out fantastic! Also, sent in my application to Cambridge.
• October 2007: Began school year at Cambridge by having a few nervous breakdowns. The rest of the course was intense and zero fun; however, some good times were had in the few minutes between working and feeling guilty for not working.
• October 2008: Lazing around, futilely job searching. Feeling useless and unsuccessful. Also, large amounts of self-pity.

So... let's hope that October 2008 doesn't set the pattern for the upcoming year, shall we?

Know what I just realized?

My undergrad honors thesis, the one I spent the entire year on, was just over 9000 words.

I have had five weeks to write this 8000-word paper.

Soon, I'll be writing 16,000 words in the space of two weeks.

Hmm.

Hmm.

Sometimes, no matter how long you’re in a country, and no matter how accustomed to their ways you think you are, you still revert to old habits. To wit: I decided to take the bus back from Irish dance tonight, since it’s kind of dark and creepy walking back alone at 9.30. (Usually I have my bike, but the chain came off the gears, so that’s on my list of things to do tomorrow.) So I got out of dance and went to the bus stop across the street, only to find that I missed the bus by three minutes. Well, crap. I started walking, and after about two minutes… the bus passed. On the other side of the road. Because they drive on the left here. Duh.

On the plus side, I saved 50p.

In other news, there are a few interesting job postings by the Cambridge University Press, in Cambridge as well as in New York (City). The ones I’m looking at require an advanced degree in applied linguistics, conveniently enough. But do they hold jobs eight months? Would I like editing? (I think so, I can be picky. Shut up, Müs.) Would they even hire me? Do I want to go for a PhD? Would I even get into the PhD program? All good questions. Also, I’m getting tired of starting something new every two years; it’s time to find something good and stick with it. So there’s lots of pondering going on here at Windsor Castle. Where the Internet sporadically breaks down. Grr.

Kindergarten, first grade and now third grade

So I'm the third grade teacher for the week. They had gotten someone else to do this, but I just found out on Friday that there'd been a change of plans and was I still available. Uh... sure? I'll be one of four (!) adults in the room, but basically I'm in charge of setting the routines and rules and generally laying the smack down. Because that's what I do best.

It's funny how I feel about this; I'm not exactly thrilled, but I'm not dreading it either. Actually, I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. Of course, I did spend about an hour and a half tonight, writing plans to the minute detail (because, again, that's what I do), but I just want it to go well. I've got no personal investment in this class, since I'm leaving in a week; I'm just in it for the paycheck. Is that shallow? Perhaps. But it's saving me a lot of stress. I wonder if teaching is like this for people who do it their entire lives. And I wonder if that's a good or a bad thing.

Anyway, I should go to bed, and brace myself for tomorrow. Just figured I would post these thoughts for posterity.

Feeling accomplished, for once

One of the only advantages to moving is that it gives you the incentive to clean out your closet. Which I absolutely hate doing, but it's either that or pack up and move extra pounds of stuff which I will probably not wear again anyway. So that was today's project, along with packing up my winter things and replacing them with tank tops and shorts. One less box I'll have to pack when I move, yay! Also, yay for donating stuff. Now it's just a matter of taking the bags down to Goodwill, along with the other bag of stuff that has been riding around with me in the trunk since October...

Also building my self-esteem: clothes that I bought for my first trip to Germany (5 years ago!) still fit! Awesome. Does this mean I need new summer clothes? Possibly.

Also, what is this?? Hi, WB, are you ripping off ideas from foreign films now? I have two main gripes with this: (a) The original movie is fantastic! and (b) Judging from the trailer, the directors have just ripped off the ideas from other directors. I mean, the shots are taken exactly from the original film, down to the one of the girl sitting on the counter, eating spaghetti, and the one of the chef bringing out a raw, bloody steak on a knife and impaling it to the table. It makes me want to go watch the German original again, just so I can recall how great it is.

Also, one of my students is moving to India on Tuesday. And she's one of the really great ones: hard-working, does everything without complaints, gets along with everyone, is just generally a happy person. Having taught her for almost two years, I'll miss her.

Also, no more 'also's. Get out there and enjoy the lovely spring weather.

Lessons learned this weekend

1. When playing at a friend's colleague's wedding, always drive yourself. Do not carpool, no matter how much fun said wedding will supposedly be.
2. Practice may not make perfect, but you should definitely run through the music at least once before the wedding. Receiving the music earlier than two hours before is key.
3. When playing at an outdoor wedding, wear pants. No skirts, especially none that can be caught by the wind.
4. Cold medicine + Alcohol = NOT GOOD.
5. Try not to overanalyze things. At the very least, don't think about 200 steps in advance.
6. I am a mean-spirited, bad person. *frowny face goes here*