The Harry Potter book is coming along. So far Harry has scheduled Quidditch practise so he has an excuse not to go to Slug Club. Seems a bit like me, by the sounds of it.
And there is an awkward romance developing between Hermione and Ron and between Harry (although Harry's not acting on it, yet)and Ginny (Ron's sister).
Harry is apparently too embarassed to talk to an Asian girl he likes, someone called Cho Chang. Hmmmm.
I bumped into Rowan just before I caught my 9700 bus to work today. He'd just come back from a run, and some shopping. He pointed to where a sauna is (never been to one yet)almost right next to my building. He sent an email last night with a lot of pictures showing exactly how his marathon in Chungcheon went. The running shirt they gave the competitors looks damn nice. I tried to enter that race but missed the deadline. There's another marathon that I've entered though, and that one's coming up this Sunday.
I bought W5 000 worth of nartjies at a street vendor today. It may seem like a lot but I think I got ten of 'em.
I have been teaching without textbooks for over 2 weeks now.
But today the new books finally arrived, and the director almost walked into me when they did, boldly declaring, "Books are here!"
I'd prepared some materials about the Amazon Rain Forest, so I decided to teach the easiest classes these (and use up the photocopies already made). I decided to launch the new books on the hardest classes to teach (just two really), because the book does all the dumbing down, and even talks to itself (when I play the CD).
The material I produced today was interesting, if for no other reason than because I taught the students how to Google Search Images. I asked them to google 'macaw', 'sloth' and 'anaconda' and bring me pictures of those creatures (handdrawn), tomorrow. If there's a really quick way to learn english, you type in a word, and google images, and you very quickly match a word with an approximate image. That's also pretty much how our brains work. Google is good, but I'm quite sure if you google 'sloth' you won't necessary have a slightly mossy colored Amazon creature hanging from a tree.
We'll see if those efforts fell on deaf ears or not. It's ideas like this, that for some children, can cause breakthroughs in their education.
When I elected to use the new books, it turned out the director had ordered the same books we're already using. WHAT A BOZO!
I sprinted after school to catch the 3300 airport bus. Very comfortable bus, and filled with some interesting people. One air hostess with ribbons in her hair was playing with an iPod...it's screen glowed with a rosy pink hue.
I recently read that Apple has not been able to penetrate the Asian market, and especially Korea, with their MP3 players, and that Samsung are going to vigorously launch their own product. It was interesting to see this world traveller, in this Korean air hostess, who had obviously been to a few shopping malls and made her pick.
I also got a note from Rachael on my desk today. She's a Kiwi girl I met 3 months ago. I called her after school, somet time after 10pm tonight. She said she wanted me to teach 3 middle school privates from 7pm to 8pm. Perfect. Except for one thing. So I gave her David's number.
David says I missed out on a fun night on Sunday. I imagine I've missed hundreds. The point though, is, I miss me. I wrote to a friend recently to say that after becoming an Ironman, it may be okay for everyone else to be merely human, by how do you think it feels for me. It's like...ummm...Superman (in my case, Ironman) wandering around being Clark Kent/Nick Teacher. If you want to know, it's not that bad, but also, it's that bad. Just watch Smallville. It creates all sorts of problems with Lana, and he has to duck and dive to get things done, and he ends up being everywhere and nowhere.
I'd like to ask Clark one thing: "Wouldn't it be better to live just the one life? And wouldn't you chose that life to be the life of Superman?"
I think Superman found at at some point, when he gave up his powers, that things weren't quite the same with Lois, and life is, after all, a lot better as Superman.
I'm not very happy with the person I have to be in Korea. Overweight, doing pretty much nonsesensical work, struggling to do nonsensical exercise workouts (which are more like dodgem or bumper car than actual training), having nonsensical conversations (with no one listening to anyone else). I guess my life is moving according to certain forces, and with environmental factors becoming increasingly urgent, I'm seeing my happiness in a different order of things.
I'm a believer of The Party's Over, a book by a fella called Heinberg. Now wouldja really want someone who scrutinises material like this, who delves into why The Party's Over back to front, coming to your party? What if I ("Call me PK*")said something and someone actually heard what I said? Having some real conversation could be a potential Party Over. So I am supporting all the (handful)people who invite me to these things by not attending them. If I did attend them, they wouldn't invite me any more, and then where would I be?
Now there's a marathon this Sunday and I'm not certain if I'm going to run it. I know I CAN. I'd prefer to race in an event where I have trained properly.
I am considering , at the moment, running half or three quarters, and then catching the subway home. I don't want to force myself to go the whole distance and then get sick or hurt. So I'm listening to my body and trying to see what will inspire me most and be the best... At the moment I see it as a festive way to do a long fat burner and then pull out when I feel it's been a decent workout. I just need a better idea of the route before I make a final decision. So hopefully I'll get clarity from Rowan before then.
*Party Killer
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