Advertisement
Published: November 16th 2007
Well, I had thought of this for a long time, you know, to catch up with you in a better way, so now apart from my travels, whenever I have the time, I will try to write sth here so that you, my friends, know exactly what I am currently doing.
And the lights went out...
On a different point, I had been told last year that in order to prevent students from playing computer games till 3:00 am, the university's new policy will have students' electricity cut out at 11:30 pm every day; I thought it was quite strict but again, I thought procrastination would get in the way; and just now, I 'm hearing lots of noise, people shouting on the streets, so I rushed to the balcony to learn that the shouts came from the students' buildings, I think the new system starts today on our 5th week so the commotion is right now as their lights went suddenly out. The noise actually lasted for 10 minutes and it is quite impressive as students are customarily very calm, but here you go, maybe they didn't know about it and it came as a shock.
Some of my old students in London
I was very proud to see Andy there, I think I talked about her in another entry, she is such a hardworker and a very good friend.I feel a bit sympathetic, while I am writing to you, there are still some students arguing in their buildings; now, let's look at the good side of this... well, there were candles lighted on some of their flats, it reminded me of 'Les Choristes' a lovely French film, there is a scene when their very beloved music teacher was kicked out of the school and the children started making paper planes and throwing notes out of their windows as a way of protesting and sending good wishes to the teacher. Why am I telling you this? I don't know, I am too tired, going to bed now, bye.
Wait... their lights came back up, many of them are on their balconies now, which is a bit uncommon; so it only lasted for 15 minutes, I will let you know about the end of the story.
Between us, some students have informed me that they still use their computer till 2:00 am as their battery lasts for long. Wow, what a saga, keep tuned, I will inform you.
The Karaoke Competition
First, I just arrived from the annual karaoke competition organised by
students, normally, they have a group of 15 students singing Chinese songs; I was there, but thought the contest was getting less popular among teachers, I found myself being the only foreign teacher there and merely spotted 4 Chinese English teachers. Or it is probably the fact that they run it on a Sunday evening and everybody is working on their lessons. Anyway, to cut the story short, I stayed there till they said there would be a second round, which was too much for me to take, apparently they wanted to put the students' voices to the test again, so I thought I'd better head home and finish my lesson preparation instead. For those who might be wondering again, NO, they didn't ask me to sing!!!
My student: 'I don't know what to do with it...'
Frank: 'Oh, I do Know'
A student gave me his oven last week, apparently he bought a lenovo computer and he won a free oven with it; he said 'I don't know what I can do with that', and guess who did know! for the moment, I'm having toasts at every meal, jammy so and sos! a
shame he didn't say the same about his computer, or maybe I can ask him if he's using it :-) WHO KNOWS IF HE KNOWS?
No more Golden Weeks in China...sniff
In China, the government had decided to create the Golden Weeks, I think I explained it in one of my entries already, remember? to boost travelling in the country, but we have them no more... sniff!!!
Yeah, one of my students told me, apparently, people complained that the airlines were taking advantage of the situation (too many people travelling during those weeks) and increased the ticket prices, which is true, so the government took the draconian measure of cancelling both golden weeks. Come on, let's get some perspective here... I was very disappointed myself as I had already planned my holidays, but hey TIC. Anyway, now I have to make the best I can of that month in February.
Sorry if that concerns you, join the club
The City Cow
Some teachers from an American university came to see my lesson today, apparently they want to cooperate with our university and offer some programmes for our Chinese students abroad. I was
doing a Speaking lesson, which is normally very lively as I want the students to be completely at ease! sometimes, I might even overdo it...oops, the moment they came in my classroom, I was having a discussion with my students about living in the countryside; so, I was telling them I could still live in the city with the priviledges of the countryside and to ilustrate my idea, I told them I had a cow in my flat, which was supposed to be very handy for my everyday coffee. (nice one, don't you think?) I even showed them a picture of the cow.
When the group (like 15 people) entered my classroom, I hesitated but decided not to change the topic; funny thing was I carried on talking while going back to the picture of the cow, students sort of bought it and asked me questions about the downside of having a cow at home...and some said they wanted to come to my flat and meet her, I laughed, we laughed, they laughed, though most of the guests were laughing, I suppose I came across as a very mad teacher. But I don't give a damn, as far as
I get my objectives which are centred on having them talk in English, that's what I want. They only stayed for like 7 minutes as they had other things to do and made good comments at the end; so, teachers out there, if you ever happen to be observed, use a funny topic and create a very funny environment.
By the way, I'm having my students for dinner at the weekend, yes, you guessed right, they want to see the cow, I already told them, she might be away for she wanted to have some beauty treatment, so she left to Guangzhou. It works :-)
Frank, you are very famous!!!
One of my Chinese friends told me today he had found my own brand of clothes in town and said it was exactly as my last name; I thought it was a Spanish brand or something and tried to find out by myself so here's the photo of the brand. Definitely my last name is difficult to misspell for a Chinese person, but he did well, don't you think? I can't see myself remembering the last name of a Chinese person due to my short-term-Chinese-Character-Pinyin
memory.
Nunca digas: 'De esta agua no bebere'
Amigos, siempre dije que evitaria ir a un hospital en China, y heme aqui posando en esta silla de dentista; hoy, debido a un malestar en un diente (se me estaba cayendo una calza hecha en 1993) tuve que ir al hospital para ver a un dentista; la espera no fue tan larga como yo pense, el doctor muy atento y gracias que tenia un traductor. Definitivamente, estos Chinos nos tratan como si fueramos de la familia royal, a big thank you to China!!!
Estas frutas tan raras de Asia
Hoy mis alumnos me hicieron conocer dos nuevas frutas que no recuerdo haber comido antes, tengo que decirlo, una de ellas es pasable, se llama Fruta del Dragon, pues la parte de afuera se parece a un dragon, con un color rosadito bastante agradable, el interior me recuerda las pecas de la chilindrina. ya veran ustedes la foto; pero la otra, Dios, se supone que es muy cara, me dijeron que habian pagado 60 yuan por ella, los pobrecitos, y si hubieran ustedes sentido el olor tan repugnante de la fruta, creo
que lo voy a tener conmigo todo el mes. El sabor ni hablar, ni dulce ni agrio pero lo describire como repugnante, a ellos les fascina bastante y parece que todos tuvieron la misma reaccion mia cuando la provaron por primera vez; para completar, es disque muy saludable, pero aqui entre nos, yo prefiero mis pequenos malestares.
Que orgulloso me siento de ser un buen Colombiano!
Siempre me he sentido muy orgulloso, claro, pero esta vez mas, pues le danamos el invicto a nuestro mayor contrincante en materia de futbol: Argentina; rapidamente, me traslade al 5-0 que le metimos hace ya algunos anos para la clasificacion de otro mundial, se vienen a mi memoria las camisetas que se imprimieron en Colombia y que estuvieron de moda por algun tiempo: jugadores Colombianos muy orgullosos de pie y Maradona de rodillas pidiendoles perdon; que cosas, ah? definitivamente los Colombianos sabemos como anadirle picante a cada situacion. Esta vez, no fue tanta la goleada, pero bueno, el 2-1 va a sonar durante mucho tiempo en mi cabeza y desde aqui les mando mucha buena suerte a mis paisanos, pues extrano nuestro nombre melodioso en el mundial de
futbol y ya es hora de que volvamos a estar presentes y ver nuestro condor brillar en los estadios extranjeros. Suerte, Colombia!!!
A proposito, y que coincidencia, la euforia del futbol me llevo a escoger sin pensarlo el libro que estoy leyendo ahora; se trata de los libros mas famosos de todas las epocas, y ahi pude encontrar que las reglas de la Fifa se hicieron en un pub de Inglaterra; tambien mencionaron las peleas que el deporte ha desatado durante tanto tiempo, no es sorprendente entonces, que en el pais donde se crearon las reglas, se muestre tanto descontento cuando no se puede conseguir la victoria;
Haircuts in China?!!! (Dec 6th-07)
Bien, tenia que venir a escribir algo pues lo que me sucedio anoche fue bastante gracioso. Uno de mis estudiantes cambio de look anoche; y hay que ver, que cambio: El normalmente es muy timido y casi nunca dice nada en clase, si no se le pregunta; anoche, sin embargo, nos sorprendio a todos, llego con nueva ropa, unos jeanes super apretados y una chaqueta que brillaba mas que mi piso cuando lo lavo; su pelo era una mescla de peinados
entre Tina Turner y Chris, un profesor Americano de aqui. Total que todos nos quedamos callados cuando entro al salon; ni siquiera me miro, y mi reaccion fue instantanea: 'wow, tenemos un nuevo estudiante hoy'; El, ignorandome completamente se sento en un rincon y evitaba mi mirada o mis comentarios; yo me dije, pues este que tiene? decidi dejarlo y terminar con mis comentarios, El continuo la clase y se la paso pensativo toda la clase, le hice algunas preguntas y sus respuestas eran si y no, asi que no me explico sus razones, talvez tenia un problema grande, o lo que es mas posible estaba apenado por su nuevo estilo, comprensivo como soy, le dije a lo ultimo que le quedaba muy bien, y su semblante cambio completamente, sonrisas aparecieron en su cara y ya comento sobre su peinado, dijo que no le pasaba nada, pero que tenia un problema (?!), contradiccion? parece que si, pero bueno, mejor en estos casos, no decir nada; me hizo recordar cuando en uni, me raspe completamente el coco, me acuerdo mi hermana no me hablo por dos semanas y las penas que pase con mis parabolicas fue algo que me marco; menos
mal que Emma, una asistente Inglesa estaba alli y me acompano en mi sufrimiento (sniff). Bueno, luego ya, el pobre estaba mejor, pero hey, estos cortes de pelo a veces son un problema...
Holidays, at last (January 22nd, 2008)
Wow, though time is flying, I was still looking forward to enjoying peaceful days alone in my flat sleeping late and getting over the difficult decision of which film to watch, which obviously takes me too long due to the fact that I have lots of dvds :-). By the way, I saw the list of Oscar nominees and it dawned on me, I haven't seen any recent films for some time now, the only one would be Ratatouille, which I adored. Incidentally, I did not find our lovely Shakira in the best original song nominations, she only made it to the Golden Globes and again, she didn't win, sniff. Now, if you ask me, although her Spanish song 'La despedida' evokes the unbearable sadness of losing that beloved being, the lyrics are not that deep to make it into such a big contest, I think, so that was fair.
This time, however, I
have promised myself to be wiser and after almost one week of being on vacation, I am mesmerised by how useful the free time is, if spent wisely, that is. So, I have been able to catch up with things I was doubting I would do in this life's time, therefore you should all be fairly proud of me.
On another note, soon will be the arrival of the new year for Chinese people; we're supposed to be starting the year of the Rat which is known to be very hardworking -no problems with me as I feel this will be one of my most positive years as far as my career is concerned; loyalty, love and charm are some other features of the people born in that year, and you and I must say, although I am not a rat, I have all those features myself, do you agree...to differ? never mind!
Students have finally left campus; I felt extremely sympathetic, their last week was quite busy; you see, they had to sit for their mid-term exams, an experience which is extremely fearful for them; as a matter of fact, the Chinese education system is packed with
exams, therefore students are sort of fed up with the whole thing and as it is obvious, they hate this period. It is customary to see them studying at the library, some even sleeping there for they spend almost their whole day inside those four walls; you must understand that as there are far too many students, the seats in the library are not enough, thus some of them have to stay there the whole day if they do not want to give up their place. You can also see them walking and reciting at the same time, I don't know, it seems that this Chinese way of studying works for them in a good manner, they sort of learn by rote everything and off they go to sit their exams.
Now that they have left, campus is deserted, I went to one of the supermarkets today and what it is customarily full of students, turned into this sad place with 7 sellers walking around or making jokes -good for them- and this nice Colombian buyer, that's me, who happened to be the only shopper, and what is sad is that they didn't make up for the money lost
as I only grasped some milk for my coffee and a couple of chocolates for... me. No wonder why the shops will be closed next week for more than a month, understandable it is, why should they have full time staff on holidays? no way.
So, anyway, I have decided to drop you a line today and wish you all the best for this new year, for those who are on holidays, enjoy every bit of it, I am myself having a great time and for those who happen to be working, remember this is the year of the hardworking rat, I don't want any moaners as I moaned too much on my last entry.
I love you, take care!!!
Chroniques d'un cauchemar annonce: Fevrier 2008
Bon, mes amis, les vacances que j'avais planifie tellement n'ont pas marche de la facon dont je voulais, NON.
Au lieu du sightseeing que j'attendais au nord de la Chine, mes vacances se sont transforme dans un cauchemar de sante; d'abord, j'ai dit 'annonce' car meme si je me sentais vraiment mal: mon dos me faisait mal depuis deux mois, moi, Super Frank,
j'ai encore decide d'aller faire la queue avec un grand baggage dans mon dos et un petit sur mon epaule, mon dos n'a pas apprecie... Maintenant, les consequences il faut que je les assume, et je le merite! par contre, il faut apprendre des mauvais experiences, ce qui m'est arrive, je ne veux pas que ca vous arrive.
Le message c'est pour vous tous, il faut faire attention, ne pas travailler trop, prendre des choses calmement avec de recul, faire de l'exercice regulierement, ne pas manger trop de sucre, et surtout ne pas avoir la phobie des medecins, ils sont la pour nous aider (ca, je l'avais appris a l'ecole, mais apparemment je l'ai oublie et il faut que je me le repete tous les jours) si vous ne voulez pas finir comme moi, je dois vous dire, ca fait du mal.
Voila, excusez moi, je sais que mon dernier blog sur Manila et ce commentaire sont un peu trop negatives, mais malheureusement c'est ca que je vis pour l'instant. Les bonnes nouvelles: Je me sens un peu mieux et peu a peu, je peux mieux marcher. Il faut que je me couche maintenant, Je verrais le medecin
Frank at work
A lovely group, very active and funny, un regalo para mi demain matin. Vous me manquez tous!!!
Que pasa con mis paisanos? Dejen tranquila a Shakira 27th-03-08
Bueno, este comentario lo escribo en referencia al 'Concierto sin Fronteras' organizado por nuestro cantante Juanes en la frontera Colombo-Venezolana. Si, un aplauso para El y los otros cantantes que se unieron para demostrar que no queremos guerra: los Colombianos, Venezolanos, Ecuatorianos, Espanoles y Dominicanos. Fue un gran gesto, teniamos que mostrar al mundo que somos pacificos a pesar de los problemas tan graves que esta viviendo el pais. El concierto genial, lo vi por internet y de verdad que todos se fajaron en tan magno evento, felicitaciones a todos, cantantes y audiencia pues me hizieron vivir uno de los mejores momentos de mi vida, el saber que todos estabamos unidos por la paz es algo que no se puede cambiar por nada en el mundo.
Hasta ahi, todo va bien... si, yo como muchos, extrane la presencia de nuestra figura mas internacional, Shakira, yo tambien, la hubiera querido ver cantando y bailando en la tarima del puente nacional, pero en fin, no vino, no pudo venir, lo que sea, pero... no vino. Se que la queremos
y que nos sentimos orgullosos de lo que ha hecho a nivel mundial, el pasar de ser una figura nacional a mundial sabemos que no es nada facil y que toma trabajo y perfeccionismo, dos cualidades que son innatas en nuestra hermosa barranquillera.
Comento esto, pues estoy ya aburrido de los comentarios que escucho y veo sea en la radio o en el internet de Colombianos que quieren vetar a Shakira por no haber asistido al concierto. Por favor, YA BASTA!!! Que son esas pendejadas de llamarla 'platera', o que no quieren que regrese al pais, hasta cuando esta mediocridad y envidia hacia los pocos que triunfan en el exterior? Lo que me alegra es que afortunadamente, no es la mayoria la que se expresa asi, a Dios gracias, solo unos pocos que estan pendientes no mas de criticar el trabajo de otros, esos si estan presentes ahi. Tambien me extrana, que cantantes de nombre como Carlos Vives, quien se atreve a juzgar y a criticarla por cantar en Ingles, te imaginas? entonces ser Colombiano significa quedarse en el pais o utilizar solo nuestra lengua? No estoy de acuerdo pues es asi como podemos tratar de cambiar el nombre del pais. Dejemos de un lado las envidias y mas bien tratemos de superarnos a nosotros mismos para tal vez copiar el exito de otros, y no disfracemos con insultos y apodos los celos que tenemos de otros compatriotas.
Parece que muchos de nosotros tenemos una memoria muy corta... No se necesita sino ver un poco lo que Shakira ha hecho en su organizacion 'Pies Descalsos' para apreciar todo lo que ella ha ayudado al pueblo Colombiano; aparte de eso, no se ustedes, pero cada vez que leo sobre sus exitos alrededor del mundo me siento mas orgulloso de esta paisana. Es por esto que, aunque Shakira no haya asistido al concierto nunca la vamos a marginar; oi rumores de que estaba en China, espero que cantando pues aqui casi no la conocen, yo he mostrado su musica, incluso aqui podras ver a mis alumnos Chinos bailando uno de sus grandes exitos que les ensene; Shakira, me haces sentir orgulloso, lo mismo que Juanes, Vives, Marques, etc. o que si estaba en Uruguay, a mi me da lo mismo, lo unico importante es que nunca dejara de ser Colombiana, Shakira te admiro, sigue con tu trabajo y por favor si algun dia escuchas esos malos comentarios no te desinfles, que tu eres muy inteligente para eso.
Bien, pues ahi les va mi mensaje, y si hay paisanos que llegan a leer mi mensaje, espero PASEN LA VOZ! Actuemos como gente adulta, y sintamonos orgullosos de ser Colombianos!!!
When will all the hullabaloo about China's Olympics end? April 17th, 2008
Yes, that's my question this month. Tired I am of the whole thing, protests everywhere: in France, England, Australia, America, etc. The topical subject these days is exactly this: The world doesn't want China to hold the Olympics Games, isn't it sad? Are we forgetting that China outdid other bidders with strong hopes of becoming the Olympic country and won the right to hold the 'friendly' games in 2008? So, shouldn't these protests on human rights be focused on the Olympic Committee? or why did you wait for this moment when the Asian country is preparing itself to welcome the world? It seems to me that The Olympic Committe is a well organised association with very intelligent members who can respond to all the questions and accusations you have.
It is true, everybody has the right to express their opinion and many of you did in many ways, not only has the pride of China suffered but also the Olympic torch has been tainted as a consequence. To be honest, I think we should draw a line somewhere? Some governments are talking of even boycotting the Olympic Games here in Beijing, many people are ready to come and spoil the event, but in that case, I reckon you won't be protesting against China but the Olympic Games themselves. Enough of this, yes, China has its problems, yes, 5,000 years of history are not easy to forget but do believe me, the government are doing what they can to make things right. It will take time, though, let's be fair and give them a chance to adapt! The world has made their points clear and yes, the Chinese heard it, so let's give them some time to sort problems out.
I suppose there's also been lots of misinformation going on about China. Many people still think that China is living in the old system of an Emperor in a forbidden city. The expatriates living here can prove you wrong. The Chinese people are getting ready to embrace the world, the Chinese people are far too busy to be dealing with protests elsewhere, they are all hardworkers trying to succeed in this competitive world. It is not easy to do it when you live in an overpopulated country, it is not easy to succeed when job opportunities are so limited, and yet, they are trying and believe me, they seem to be happy. For what is worth, I just hope that the Chinese end up being the winners of this Olympics event and show to the world their capacity and willingness to succeed! We will all be amazed.
Last but not least, I think sabotage and condemnation were not the values Pierre de Coubertin wanted to inspire in all of us. I am sure everybody will love the opening ceremony, I am sure everybody will admire the perfectionism of the Chinese, I'm sure the athletes will feel so safe in such a peaceful environment. So, it is time to stop, the world heard you and if you want to protest about human rights, please think of other ways to make yourself heard, do not use the Olympics, this is friendship games and fun not war.
Wow, I didn't write anything last month, sorry. June 17th, 2008
Well, things in China are coming to an end for this lovely Colombian guy. Yeah, that's why last Friday, I organised what I called: Frank's Farewell Merengue Party, you always need a theme for these parties, so why not merengue? as it makes me feel so happy, specially now that I can dance 'a bit' again.
The only problem was that as dogs and cats continue to fall from the sky in Guangdong province, the guests were a bit wet that night, I even doubted that they were coming to dance. But my fears soon disappeared as I saw the first guest, Ina, she came early to prepare her own punch, which she beautifully served using the skin of the watermelon as a lovely jug. Well done, Ina, but I must confess, I shouldn't joke so much, as a result, she didn't believe I was trying to compliment her, never mind.
Some other teachers came too, Phil and Michelle, two American TAs who will be employed in UIC as teachers next year; Chris, the loyal one, whose girlfriend spent the whole night admiring everything from pictures to fans in my flat. Francis, a Guyanese guy who is now working in business, he brought two lovely Chinese dancers, Stella and Neng; Sarah, an outstanding dancer; four more guests, two foreigners and two Chinese, and although they told me their names, I cannot recall them, sorry, it is my age again; and Ina, a very good friend and a remarkable cocktail maker, even if she doesn't believe it. All of us got together and danced for some time.
Not only the rain was a problem, we actually had a power blackout two hours after we started the party, we tried to flip the switches a couple of times but it didn't work; apparently, I cannot connect too many appliances in my flat now, as the electricity is not powerful enough. So, as the handyman put it, I have to decide whether to connect the TV set and DVD or the computer, or the kettle, you see, you can't have everything in life, sometimes we have to make choices :-) Anyway, thanks to Chris's language ability, we managed to have one of the handymen come to my flat and fix the problem, which spoiled the dance, by the way, seriously, as my friends were a bit apprehensive and we didn't play any more music later.
But, all in all, I had a good laugh, I needed to have this kind of party to feel that I was leaving for real. I could've waited a bit more, you see, I'm not leaving China yet -we still have two more teaching weeks plus one week of exams- but the thing is some of the TAs are already travelling so it was better to do it now.
Ok, that will do for now, stay tuned there is more travelling planned.
Happy New Year to everybody
Wow, it seems such a long time since I last wrote anything here. Never mind, you've always been in my mind, it is just that I'm taking a sort of sabbatical 😊
I've spent most of these days, reading about French and English history. As a matter of fact, one of my nephews has to resit one of his highschool exams, which has 'indirectly' given me some trouble. Well, not that I don't like history, I love it, but it sometimes takes too much time. Don't get me wrong, I like studying with my nephew, although he is lazy, you cannot help sympathising with him as he is so polite.
The good thing is I needed a refresh to my history knowledge so that I stop pretending that I know the answers of 'Quien quiere ser Millonario', that popular contest with tons of questions about highschool stuff. I might be able to hold a short conversation on one of these topics, so if you buy me a Colombian coffee, you surely benefit from my wise comments and get a lot out of it 😊. He also has to revise Biology but that...it is far too boring for me and I don't have the stamina to sit and read that stuff. Last week, I read one of the pages of his textbooks and I felt the same sensation I had when I first read 'A Short History of Almost Everything' by Bill Bryson. I wanted to give up at the very beginning but then I struggled and I enjoyed it later, I knew I was far from getting the same result with the biology studies, so I didn't give it a chance 😊, so I did give up and I'm helping out in history, that is more fun.
Now, we are having a break and we are about to watch Mama Mia, the film with Meryl Streep. I bought it today as I read a lovely review, let's see if they didn't get it wrong. Well, got to go, see you later.
August 27-2009
Long time without writing anything, which shouldn't be like this as I now have more spare time... It must be that I succumbed to laziness again, never mind, here I am and I promise to be more constant from now on. I will write shortly about a topical subject, that of Miss Universe and also one of my present headaches, my computer.
I have told you these beauty contests are quite important in South America and to our surprise, Venezuela has won again, which is fair in a way, as they have always worked very hard to be at least in the best five batch. I must say, although she was not my favourite, she looked stunning and her confidence worked miracles, loved her answer to the question; now as for our Colombian beauty, I’m quite happy about the results, our Michelle should know better... Very beautiful, well prepared, trilingual doing studies in Canada, what else can any country ask for to be at least a runner-up... and yet, she goes and had her hair cut in that short way. The favoritism didn’t serve her at all, she was not even chosen in the first batch. I read an interview about her and she said she had done it for she wanted to stand out and feel free, that it was high time the misses competed in the way they wanted, so stupid she was, right, she stood out but no for the good reasons... I mustn’t deny that she’s still beautiful but her look is more for top models rather than the one they are looking for in a Miss Universe contest; no wonder she was the only one with the hair so short, she even looked older than she was but that’s how we Colombians are sometimes, no respect for standards! Never mind, at least, she’ll learn. Well, I was happy to see the French beauty dazzling on the catwalk, and to no surprise, a nice country China was chosen Miss Congeniality, I’ve always said it, Chinese are so nice.
On another note, my personal work is being delayed and becoming annoying because of the computer. Last Tuesday, I downloaded ‘Google Earth’, a software for having maps of around the world and on that very same day, I got a sort of virus called ‘Total Security’ which comes up with threatening pop-ups, eg. Your computer has been infected and they named faked viruses, they want you to pay $70 dollars for reparation. I searched on the net to find out that it is a most common virus as it is well hidden in the system, I have tried their advice but to no avail, worse thing is it keeps getting me out of internet pages, so I’ll take the computer to a friend to see if he can do sth about it. The good thing is that I scanned the computer with my own antivirus and some others from the net, and the review was always the same: there are some threats (that must be the ones created by the annoying virus) but that they are of low risk.
Apart from that, the weekend was very relaxing, I even had time to make a pizza at home, yeah, my first home-based pizza which I had with a very cold Poker beer, nice. And now, I have to teach in two hours’ time. So long my friends, I will write some more later, take care.
About my work here... September, 5th 2009
Not in China anymore, I left last year and I am now teaching here in my country. The work is far less interesting than what I did in China but at least it allows me to be at home for some time. The overall level of English is quite low in my country and I am somehow trying to make the difference, I have had small triumphs that keep me going and motivated. I am adapting to the environment as I was taken for a very strict teacher at the very beginning of my work here... Which is not a surprise for someone having worked in China, having students who really want to learn and always have a purpose.
Here in Colombia, we can be too relaxed and lazy.
Last semestre, I worked in 4 different universities, which was a tough experience as I had to rush all the time, let alone some lack of class preparation. This semestre I thought better and decided to opt for the university whose open policy resembles that of an European institution. I don't know you but once you know what you are doing in your classroom professionally and more importantly, you care about students, you hate the fact of being so scrutinised as if you were a highschool student, that I hate.
I still feel that I haven't been given the opportunities I deserve, there is so much to do in Colombia as far as teaching is concerned and I have so much energy to change things... but I have the feeling that when you have such passion, some people -without any reason- might feel threatened and consequently, try to cut your wings or else I can't quite put my finger in it. However, with the small triumphs I've had with my students, I feel rewarded and that counts a lot.
April 2010
Shakira's Waka Waka takes us to the Worldcup!!
I feel extremely proud that Shakira is flying our Colombian flag and is taking us to the worldcup. YES!! Or else, we wouldn't stand a chance...Don't get me wrong, we have very good football but due to politics and disorganisation, our teams are just good to compete with other neighbouring countries. Lack of stamina, discipline and planning are the essential ingredients that is missing in our football recipe.
Shakira, on the other hand, has that and a lot more to offer. I really admire her career and dedication, she knows how to work hard which adds to her professionalism and her intrinsic desire of perfectionism. No wonder why she's achieved what no other latin singer has. I would give all her performances my thumbs up.
And yet, for some of my students' and youtube's comments, I might seem to be one of the few ones believing in her success... It is so sad that some of my mere compatriots are not used to seeing somebody make it to the top; instead of feeling proud, they keep on criticising her new style and longing for the old Shakira. The old Shakira? Whatever! Come on, people, Heraclitus once said: "You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are flowing on to you". The same for Shakira, she couldn't stay just catering to our latinamerican public, always singing in "Sabado Sensacional" or "Show de las Estrellas", when she could go even further than that. Music evolves and so do the singers, thanks God, or else, we would see so much talent being wasted.
I've never thought of saying this but, having worked for some years here, I feel that we are afraid of change and whenever there is something standig out, we just act like the flock of seagulls in Jonathan's Livingstone: Those with power want to stop that change for that would menace them somehow. It is such a shame that as a result, so much potential is lost, just because of the fear of some of being outdone.
Juanes, our second Colombian music pride says it in a song, whose chorus is in English: "It's time to change." Let's stop debating on her so-called demerits when we know that she's achieved so much and that her songs are now sung all over the world. I know change is not something that can happen in one day, but if we really want to make something out of our entrepreneur spirit, let's live and let live and let's grow up.
Shakira, you make me very proud! I've always followed your career, you've combined different sounds and rhythms to create a pleasant music fusion. As a result, I feel you have evolved as a more reassured artist, with excellent performances and I always look forward to your amazing surprises.
I would never understand how your last album "She Wolf" didn't go straight to number one; unfortunately it was underrated, but it is a brilliant cd which has not been completed valued: Songs like Men in Town, Long Time, Good Stuff were born to be videos and I can't tire of listening to all the songs. You know what you should do? Hold on and stick with this album before releasing the Spanish one, well, just a thought.
Here, I have a lovely anecdote to share with you: Back in the Olympics in Beijing, I was with a French friend with whom I was doing the Silk Road. On the night after the world cup opening -if you remember Shakira's performance in Germany-, we met some Chinese people at a restaurant, so we introduced ourselves, etc, and I told them I was Colombian, how happy I was when one of the guys told me: "Oh, you are from Colombia then?" I said: Yes, fearing the English question: "Where's your gun?" and then he went like: "You dance like this" and he started moving his hips imitating Shakira. I said, that's right. We all laughed as it was so unexpected. I don't know you but it is such a change that people remember my country, not for cocaine or other social problems, but for somebody who should be part of our heritage and pride, Shakira, I love you.
I just hope I'll have the chance to meet you to congratulate you personally and show you a French song I wrote for you, who knows, you might like it and record it. In the meantime, thanks for all the music, thanks for allowing us to hear such mixed sounds and thanks for Africa, that Waka Waka is fascinating, only you to mix that rhythm with so engaging lyrics. The lovely song hasn't stopped attackers to say it was a Wilfrido Varga's song and you might go to court, but here again, they might be too busy to google it 😊 May all your old fans stop that nonsense and enjoy your songs again.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.089s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 12; qc: 37; dbt: 0.0507s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
dawninshenzhen
Dawn Byers
What??? No more Golden Weeks???
Seriously, they got rid of Golden Weeks? I left at the right time, it seems! I bet the end of your entry was interesting too. Too bad I can't read it... :)