Giuliano Rap

I found this written on the bottom of a paper an 8th grader turned in...

My name is 'big G' from the Medici
I have a big brother and he's quite wealthy
His name is Lorenzo and he's my bro
I got stabbed to death and I fell on the floor.

My idea for a royal gift...

Copyright Infringement: Kosovo Edition

Our tour guide/graphic designer at the Peja Brewery said that in the marketing world of Kosovo, copyright infringements are not a big deal.  Pretty much anything goes in terms of gaining inspiration from any other sources... as we saw for ourselves the rest of the day:

 Meg Donalds?

And my favorite, the Facebook cafe-

Oh how deep the snow doth go...

This is a park bench, Xiao Mei, and a trash bin.  We have a lot of snow here.

Today's temperature forecast: -11*F/-24*C

Inspired by Moscow

I have a lot more I'd like to say about Manila, but today I am surrounded by winter.  It's good to be back.  Now excuse me while I remedy the explosion of suitcases in my room...

The How I Feel ABCs

I spent the night in the Amsterdam airport on Friday.  It's a long story that involves winning the longest-time-ever-spent-sitting-on-the-runway award from Delta and standing in a lot of lines.  I had a lot of free time, so in 26 letters, here is how I was feeling that night:

Annoyed
Bored
Come on!
Drained
Exasperated
Forgotten
Going to stay
Here all night!
Icky
Journaling
Keeping watch
Lost
Money can't save me
Noise, noise, noise!
Overwhelmed
Personal space
Queues a mile long
Runway for 6 hours?!?!
Stuck
Tired
Unbelieveable
Vigilant
Waiting
X-ray machines (hey it's an airport!)
Yawn
Zzzzzz

How I Met Your Mother

...in Russian?

I'm assuming it's the same storyline with different actors... looks like there's still a Barney though!

These posters just appeared all over the city.  Sorry this is such poor quality; I took it from a distance.

Sharkey Resurrected

Look who's back... again!  

For those of you from Taylor who were fortunate enough to know this little guy, my class LOVES Sharkey.  I first got Sharkey many years ago and has been my travel companion through many, many phases of life.  And now he has big celebrity status in my classroom. 

Personality tests

My Bloginality is ENFP!!!

As a weblogger, you may not be consistant in posts. Although, if you find a specific focus on their journal or a very flexible manner of writing, it may be more fufilling. Because you are warm and see so many posibilities in life, you may inspire others to follow in your footsteps with a journal.

I'm planning for my Autobiography elective and I thought the first day we'd do some fun personality tests to warm up and get to know each other. I've been trying out different ones all morning, but I've decided with the 6th graders to tweek and use the Golder Retriever/Otter/Beaver/Lion one.  But, if they were a bit older, though, might be temped to try out the Coffee Personality Types (CPT)...

A couple of quizzes

Just to help you waste time :-)

Are you a Hipster Christian?  (I got 87)

and

How Millennial Are you?  (I got 76)

Do you know any more quizzes?

MORE Zebra on the Metro

I was supervising a class in the library today.  They were all seniors and don't think they need help with anything, so I started browsing through the Moscow Times when I saw something that made me actually drop an OMGosh and almost run over to show a student (almost- I learned a long time ago that the things that I find wildly fascinating usually do not interest them).

THE ZEBRA IS REAL!  Someone else saw him at the SAME metro stop that I did!

Adventures in Babysitting

I watch a brother & sister from time to time, who are 6 & 7.  The little sir's name is Paul and I always call him Paulito.  The other night as we were eating dinner, I was being silly and started rhyming random words... Paulito, burrito, necesito, chico... and Paul looks up at me with wonderfully inquisitive eyes and says, "Wow you know a lot of Spanish!"

We three later cuddled on a loft bed and made up songs while I played the guitar.

Just one of the many reasons I love my life.

Raising terror threat levels

This was posted in the high school teacher's lounge and I think it's pretty funny, but let me know what you think...

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the English issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588 when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability. It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

And in the southern hemisphere...

New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!" Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the airforce being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "I hope Australia will come and rescue us".

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Zebra on the Metro

Ok I was coming home from my friend's place on Saturday and a giant zebra stood beside me on the metro.  I tried to take pictures, but I'm afraid I couldn't quite grasp the full effect of the absurdness.  It took all my will to remain stoically Russian...

Nightmare in My Bedroom

If the title of this post sounds ominous, it's because my story is true and what happened was terrifying. 

Actually it's kind of funny now that I can look back on it.

My 9-year-old cousin Emmy and I were in my bed just about to fall asleep when we heard a little rustling sound on the floor.  Now, I should just say right now that I live in a farm house in Iowa that was built in 1917 and had a kitchen/utility room addition put on in the 1950's.  So it's quite old.  My room is in one of four upstairs rooms that each fill a corner of the house.  In my room, the head of my bed is pushed into a narrow space in a corner that has windows on two sides and the door to the attic on the third.  The only time I remember that door ever being open was when I was about 8 and one of my great-grandparents who lived there passed away and the kid cousins were exploring the upstairs.  Right behind the door are some dusty stairs covered with dead bugs and I never got further that a couple steps, so I really have no idea what all is up there.  I have a Philippine flag covering the door and can't even get it open, which is why it's so close to my bed. 

Back to last night, around midnight.  We heard a rustling next to my bed on the side with the closet door.  "What's that?" asked Emmy, "A rat?"  I wasn't sure, so I said no.  The house makes strange sounds all the time.  A couple minutes later we heard something above us, on the other side of the bed.  It sounded like it came from inside, but I thought it could have been a squirrel or snow on the roof.  But then.  I saw.  Something shadowy was darting back and forth on my ceiling.  Emmy and I put the covers over our head and screamed as loud as we could for my brothers to turn on the lights.  Yes, dear readers, there was a BAT in my room!

Ben turned on the light and didn't see it at first, but Emmy jumped out of bed and ran across the room, and the bat started flying again.  I screamed and put the covers back over my head.  Ben ran and got the video camera.  When the bat stopped above my dresser, the kids told me and I darted out of the room.  We turned off the light and closed the door, and I slept downstairs.

When my mom woke me up at about 7am, my dad and uncle had already been up there and got the bat out with tennis rackets.  That's all I want to know about what they did.  We're guessing it came under the door out of the attic, but the space is so small I can hardly believe it.

And I'm sleeping downstairs again tonight.

The KGB and Me

While I was studying abroad in Russia my cousin came to visit me and while he was there, the kids I taught English to wanted us to come to one of their PE classes. They set up a makeshift shooting gallery in the basement of the school and were learning how to shoot bebe guns and put together AK-47s. I only last night got these pictures... priceless.

23

\\\Yeah, that's how old I am.  I read a book on the plane and signed my name on the 22nd page for the last time.  

My clothes have yet to arrive, but at least I have my toothbrush!

It was 58*F today

Even so...

A new favorite.

Tu Madre