Well, I get one thing right each Work Year, and that's the fact that December whizzes by - and then it's March.
I know, I know, it's not March yet, but it is the middle of December, and it feels darned good not to be part of the frenetic Christmas mass spending frenzy, albeit, unlike 98% of Christmas's spent since 1992 - in non-Christmas celebrating destinations - I'll be having my second true Christmas in a row, which is nice because I do like the Eggnog and all the food that I am going to prepare, and fck off turkey gizzards this year, so yah, I feel excited right now, even though I initially woke up with the usual sick feeling in my stomach, which hasn't left me for one day this year. Oh, cry me a fcking koi pond.
And I woke up later than usual - 5am, not 4am - after having a long sleep that started around 10pm, and and and, this is a really boring post, and yes, I agree with R about how I am also amazed that I can be in the boondocks somewhere, and the people I meet will totally put to shame the English disability of the thousands of students in Japan and the tens of Japanese English teachers, I have met over the years whilst creeping between the classrooms.
Which reminds me of the time I stopped two small boys on a bridge on the outskirts of Kathmandu, as one does.
It was a cold day but they were wearing nothing more than thin, holey sweatshirts.
I was carrying a bag with some of the clothes I had brought with me from Japan to give to needy folks, and knew that I had two warm sweaters in the bag.
I asked the boys, in English, if they'd like a sweater.
They jumpered at the idea.
I then said that, to win a sweater, they had to tell me the capital of France.
They gave me a look that said, 'You think we're fcking stupid!!!' and immediately reeled off 'Paris' in unison.
It usually takes days for the Japanese to figure this one out, even though I consider it a capital they are most familiar with, beyond Tokyo, what with their travel radars often straying no wider than the Eiffel Tower, Koalas and Mickey Mouse.
But back to the 11 year old, flip-flop wearing boys on the bridge, looking cold in threadbare clothing.
'Hmmm, you got that one, how about Canada, what'..'
They cut me off short and impatiently replied 'Ottowa', again giving me that 'You think we're fcking stupid!!' look.
'Okay, okay, I get it, you're good at capitals, well try this one. What's the capital of Nigeria?'
'Abuja'.
I was like WTF.
I often reap great delight in shaming my Japanese students with this story, especially when they show their ignorance about capitals such as Seoul, Peking and Bangkok, all in their relative 'hood.
I tigressed.
I had nothing else to write about.
Here's one of my destinations this coming winter vacation.
It looks so pretty.
I know, I know, it's not March yet, but it is the middle of December, and it feels darned good not to be part of the frenetic Christmas mass spending frenzy, albeit, unlike 98% of Christmas's spent since 1992 - in non-Christmas celebrating destinations - I'll be having my second true Christmas in a row, which is nice because I do like the Eggnog and all the food that I am going to prepare, and fck off turkey gizzards this year, so yah, I feel excited right now, even though I initially woke up with the usual sick feeling in my stomach, which hasn't left me for one day this year. Oh, cry me a fcking koi pond.
And I woke up later than usual - 5am, not 4am - after having a long sleep that started around 10pm, and and and, this is a really boring post, and yes, I agree with R about how I am also amazed that I can be in the boondocks somewhere, and the people I meet will totally put to shame the English disability of the thousands of students in Japan and the tens of Japanese English teachers, I have met over the years whilst creeping between the classrooms.
Which reminds me of the time I stopped two small boys on a bridge on the outskirts of Kathmandu, as one does.
It was a cold day but they were wearing nothing more than thin, holey sweatshirts.
I was carrying a bag with some of the clothes I had brought with me from Japan to give to needy folks, and knew that I had two warm sweaters in the bag.
I asked the boys, in English, if they'd like a sweater.
They jumpered at the idea.
I then said that, to win a sweater, they had to tell me the capital of France.
They gave me a look that said, 'You think we're fcking stupid!!!' and immediately reeled off 'Paris' in unison.
It usually takes days for the Japanese to figure this one out, even though I consider it a capital they are most familiar with, beyond Tokyo, what with their travel radars often straying no wider than the Eiffel Tower, Koalas and Mickey Mouse.
| These are not my photos of Nepal. All my photos were lost in the burst pipe incident at my flat in Turkey this year. Sniffle. |
'Hmmm, you got that one, how about Canada, what'..'
They cut me off short and impatiently replied 'Ottowa', again giving me that 'You think we're fcking stupid!!' look.
'Okay, okay, I get it, you're good at capitals, well try this one. What's the capital of Nigeria?'
'Abuja'.
I was like WTF.
I often reap great delight in shaming my Japanese students with this story, especially when they show their ignorance about capitals such as Seoul, Peking and Bangkok, all in their relative 'hood.
I tigressed.
I had nothing else to write about.
Here's one of my destinations this coming winter vacation.
It looks so pretty.
9 comments:
It's spelled "Ottawa".
But I did enjoy the story and the use of the word "jumpered".
Ok, you could ask in some parts of the country you could ask a 9th grader (who was born and raised in the US), what city was capital of the state right next door to their home state and they wouldn't know it. Hell, some of them would say New York is the capital of the US! And not New York City, just New York. Very few of them know the name of the country to the north of the US and they couldn't find Portugal on a map of the world if their life depended on it. Geography is NOT taught in the US anymore. You know why? No one gives a shit about visiting any other country. So sad. And as these kids get older they know less and less about other countries and their people. The more Redneck their part of the state is the worse it is. Inbreeding hillbillies.
sorry about the crappy editing....
I've often thought that the absolutely crap English curriculum in Japan is deliberate, that the govt. doesn't want the people to be able to speak and understand English, because then they would be open to ideas from other cultures and societies, that might mess with the blind acceptance of so many rules here.
In the case of The States, it is in the governments best interests to have an ignorant population desensitized to other cultures, especially those in those sandy, Arabic regions, because this enables the Tinned War On Terror, TWOT for short, to keep getting stronger.
It's all fcked.
Apologies for my crappy punctuation, too.
I will disagree with you on many things, but I agree that the U.S. government isn't so interested in actual democracy that it wants an educated electorate.
Are you saying that we disagree about things like Inside Jobs, illegal invasions of sovereign nations, like what Libya was, and table manners?
Major things like that?
Or just about the small stuff, like coffee enemas, drinking before 5pm, drinking every day, and running traffic signals?
Or all of the above?
Some of the above. You've been living alone and isolated for too long and I find some of your ideas reflect that.
Spend a year in sunshine and good company with well-travelled folk who've had experience with a wide range of humans instead of a small range of conspiracy-oriented websites and we'll review.
How you choose to treat forks and your bottom are largely your own concern, but were you to start an irrigation at the table, I would likely feel free to loudly munch my utensils in protest.
(I also run some traffic lights, but usually just when they are barren and are on the long side of a "T-junction")
Anyway, an ignorant populace is a docile populace. That's why your more up-to-date oligarchies are very careful to gate Internet access and foreign broadcasts, like Syria and China do. Orwell's 1984 is a field manual to such mentalities.
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