Street Crossing and Scallop Dating

I could write about motorbikes every single day. I just spent an hour trying to upload a video of me crossing a street, but the video would not load. Actually, pictures just barely load, so I was thinking positively. If you had been able to watch me cross the street, you would have said, "That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen Marjie do."

So I will just have to talk about motorbikes a little more: parents wear helmets and kids do not. Sometimes you see three kids on the back of a bike. Or one really little kid standing on the baseboard in the front. Or a mother driving with one hand and holding her child with the other. Or someone text messaging or smoking with a free hand.

Oh! I just found two YouTube videos that will help you understand my world...do not pass up this opportunity to click (the first is 12 seconds and the second is two minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR5fr0v5QwE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJK0l3PWoBI&NR=1

Still, I want you to see MY intersection.

This past summer, Dennis made me buy a scooter. Here they are (mine is the cute little one, a 125 Yamaha Vino, his is the big mean Bergman 650):

Every time we rode somewhere together, he would advise me on how to ride more safely. He was of the opinion that I turned in front of oncoming traffic in a risky way, or that I didn't use my peripheral vision when crossing intersections. Here the kids are not taught to look both ways before crossing the street. They just look the way they are going, which is what drivers do, too. You are in front, you have the power. Turn in front of anyone if there is room. Dennis, like Jaci regarding bathroom napping, did not understand that I was connecting with my future culture.

Now, about school, today is better. The jackhammer is quiet for a few hours, and I make some decisions that I feel pretty good about, which I will get to in a second. But the highlight of my day is when four of my cute girl students come in during their lunch and say, "We want to have English ALL day long. We don't want to have math or social studies or science, just English." Well, it's not because I am following the IB protocol, that is for sure. It's because we played "Around the World" with their vocabulary words. At one point, two boys were competing against each other and the word was "revolting." One kid, Tommy, wanting so badly to win, points at me and says, "Disgusting!" I say, "I have never had a student point at me and yell "disgusting" before!" Now THAT is an example of sixth grade humor. They love it. They get so wound up I have them practice "silent cheering." Then I make up a tongue twister out of the story. They must stand and say it twice, quickly, without messing up. "Some silly people slurp soup and some silly people slurp shakes" (from "The All-American Slurp"). There are four groups of tables and tables get points. All I have to say is, "The first table to have books and notebooks out gets a point!" and it's chaos to make it happen. "Anyone who can say this tongue twister twice quickly without messing up will win a point for his/her group" and the hands all go up and they whine to be chosen. Such enthusiasm. That never happened at Scriber.

As for Decisions to Make My Life Better: My first priority for next week is to find a gym. I need endorphin released. Secondly, I'm having my mom send my pants. I did not bring any of my professional pants from home and I hate wearing skirts and dresses every single day. Pants are hard to come by in my giant size and I'm not too excited about having pants made. Can't tell you what a relief this is. It's not too hot to wear them, either, because of the air conditioning. Another decision: I'm going to keep a low profile, not complain or draw attention to myself, but I'm also not going to post things every day on that awful site (until they make it more user friendly) and I'm not going to worry too much about my weekly plans. If the kids are learning, then I will be happy. If the admin is really worried about it (and they have a lot keeping them busy right now), then they will come to me I guess. But like I said, I'm not heading toward IB, so I have no one to impress. How does that sound, principal Kathy?

Now, about that date with the scallops...Katherine and I go to Rug Street after school today. It's not just me that names these streets thematically, the Vietnamese women in the copy room that I have befriended also call it Rug Street. They also tell me where to find Lamp Street and Plant Street. So we find a rug after visting about ten rug shops, one after another, all with the same product but with different prices. I do feel like I am in college again because nothing in the castle matches. We have pink curtains, baby blue design below the curtains, rainbow colored pillows, a Mexian tablecloth that Tarn contributed, and now a traditional blue flowery livingroom rug. Who cares?

After rug street, we return to our grid and stop at the seafood place that caught our attention last night. All kinds of mollusks sit outside the restaurant in a cart, and the cheery waitress brings us a "Photo Album" of all the ways you can have them prepared. We choose four: scallops on the half shell with peanuts and green onions, mussels in tamarind sauce, clams dipped in lime, salt and chili and another kind of clams I have never seen that come with a side of spicy fish sauce. They put a big waste basket under the table and you just chuck your shells into it. All of it=delicious. The whole meal costs us three dollars a piece, and our waitress is so passionate about showing us how to eat them.

As we wander the few blocks home, we gaze into the lives of our neighbors. Everyone has open doors on the bottom floors of the Lego stacks. We can see what they are eating and what they are watching on TV. We see them playing cards or badminton right outside. We see their shrines and pictures of their relatives. I want this kind of community in America.

And guess what? It didn't rain today, so we take beer to the roof and I get to swing in my hammock. That's all I ask, really, is for four good plates of seafood, a beer and a hammock. And possibly the return of my TRCL. And for four girls to say they want to be in English ALL day long, and for a 12 year old boy to point at me and say "Disgusting!"

Glass half full, glass half full...

Do you recognize this person eating at Pho 2000?


Remember a few posts ago I told you that the motorbikes outside my classroom window sound like a never-ending loud Scriber lawnmower? I long for that lawnmower. Construction on the building right next to my window started on Tuesday. The jackhammer goes all day long. All day long. Every day. The jackhammer operator must eat while he is jackhammering. I can't hear my students and they can only hear me if I yell. By the end of the day...well...

Today I started at 7am and ended at 6:30 pm and didn't get everything done. We have to enter lesson plans into a computer system every single day for every single class; even though I teach only two preps, I have to reenter information five times every day. I must turn in weekly plans to my principal with all copies of work attached (plus student work). Every time we enter a grade for a student we must save that individual grade. I can't read the Vietnamese names of the kids so it takes forever just to find who turned what in. We started clubs today (we are supposed to lead a club after school on Thursdays) and they weren't organized so I made up games for an hour and a half. It's been raining for five days straight. The picture of my toes in my hammock, well, that was the first and last time I have had to enjoy it. It's monsoon season. And the rice cake lady is still MIA. And the ants still crawl up my wall.

Just to set the record straight, not once have I second-guessed being here. I haven't wished to be home (OK, maybe just for two days and then come back). My students are angels. But those of you who know my work style, it's to leave work and have a life. I don't really like to work that much...I mean, I like teaching, but yes I would rather be exploring and eating and...I hope it will get better...it has to get better. I haven't even had time to research a gym yet, so it will be three weeks without exercise...there is nowhere to just walk, let alone run, in this city. Running does not coexist with the motorbikes.

In the words of my mom, "You can do anything for ten months." When I think of her saying that, I try to picture her crossing the street of motorbikes. On the way to school, just before we get there, we have to negotiate a roundabout. Sometimes it takes the taxi ten minutes alone just to get through it, so now I get out and cross it by foot. It saves time and money (the taxi ride doubles sometimes just getting through it) but it just may cost me my life. (That last sentence was not meant to get back at you, Mom.)

After all, I knew it would be chaos, starting this new school and trying to head toward International Baccalaureate and all. The thing is, I don't care about IB. I'm not so into it. And when I'm working so hard I think...what am I doing this for? I have enough good recommendations...

But then things get better and my attitude shifts. Like tonight. Katherine and I discover a new alley in the grid and it seems to be "The Alley of Dreams." Many many rich houses and little restaurants serving fresh seafood. K and I have a date with some scallops tomorrow night, then we are coming home and watching a pirated movie (you can get them for under a dollar). Can't wait. Everything is an effort--everything we want to buy takes a whole trip, and we must ask, "Where is the best place to find a lamp?" "Where is the best place to find a rug?" Then we take a taxi and they let us off at the entrance to the grid and we carry things the rest of the way. In the rain. Oh, the rain. Wow, Seattle.

So, anyway, we find another turmeric rice cake place, a restaurant. They are very good -- they were covered with a rice milk cream or something this time-- and I was very happy with them, only I miss HER. And SHE charges only 6 cents per cake; this guy tonight charges us $2.40 for 8. Those high restaurant prices!! After the cakes, we wander some more and find a fruit juice stand a bit different from the many shake stands and we both order an original combination--I get carrot, orange and apple and it costs only 70 cents.

There are so many things to discover in this city. I know things will get better. Now everything seems insurmountable. Working eleven and a half hours at something I find tedious and meaningless is a thousand times worse with a jackhammer in the background.

So, #1 Fan... (she sent me a personal email, which seems so strange...I don't really know how to talk to her outside of the blog), your perceptions were right on. I am struggling a bit. I guess you can tell when I don't post for two days. Tomorrow is Friday and I am so so so happy. Good night everyone. You wouldn't believe how hard it is raining!

School, not Rice Cakes

I was going to write about the Turmeric Rice Cake Lady and how I think she was just an apparition or an angel because we haven't seen her since that first night we came to look at the castle -- but...everyone is asking me to write about school. I got three emails about that very topic just now.

By the way, my brother signed me up for a blog counter. It has a variety of measurements, but the one that really surprised me: 273 people visited my blog from separate computers last week. I just want to say: 1) who are all of you? and 2.) wow...thanks for stopping by!

Anyway, school. I'm not writing about how worried I am about my Turmeric Rice Cake Lady returning to the alley very soon...I'm writing about school. OK. I teach five sixth grade classes, which means that I teach every single sixth grader in the school. Three classes are Language Arts and two are Ancient History. They are labeled 6A through 6E and travel together through all of their classes. I teach on the fourth floor and the copy room is on the first floor (which, by the way, is not the ground floor). The elevator doesn't work and so I do a lot of running up and down the stairs. The copy machine doesn't work, either, but the copy girl runs all of our requests across the street. I guess this is OK, but we don't have the textbooks in from the states yet and we are supposed to rely on copies until that time. Oh, the internet is very slow and doesn't work half the time, either. But we do have LCD projectors that are hooked to our computers, so I have been using lots of visuals.

Let's see...the schedule is a bit crazy. We teach either four or five hours per day, but have at least two hours for breaks or planning, too, which means I arrive at seven and usually leave at five because Tarn (librarian) and I share a taxi back to the castle. Each week, each class has one block period which means they have one hour long class, a five minute break, then another hour long class. It's hard to get used to. And this morning I completely spaced on the fact that I was starting with a block and had only planned for one hour. So I recalled Amy's comment in the last blog about just playing games and using the language and I faked my way through the second hour with fun fun fun. We reenacted Otzi the Iceman's death: I put sticky notes on the foreheads of volunteers (all boys) and had them fight and stab each other and die. They loved it, and the kids had no idea how lame their teacher was. Maybe they even learned something~ However, I can't do that too much because the school is on the fast track to reach IB (International Baccalaureate) level. We are told to push them as much as we can...that is why this particular principal was hired; he specializes in opening new international IB schools. Here is a shot of my floor: pretty exciting, huh?

Things seem to be running rather smoothly, considering how much change the school has experienced in the last year. Many of the new students were required to attend summer school, so their English is OK. Some are so difficult to understand, though. One in particular, Minh, is so darned cute...the most prominent feature on his face: big teeth with even bigger (dirty) braces. He loves to talk and every time he raises his hand I try so hard to understand what he is saying, but I just can't. It doesn't help that the constant drone of motorbikes outside my window drowns out most of what he says. It sounds like the loud lawnmower that would always visit Scriber at the worst teaching moments, the times that you really just wanted to make a point. Plus, construction on a building started today and poor Minh might as well be a big set of clattering braces for all I can understand.

Sixth grade is interesting. I found that they didn't get my witty sense of humor the first day, so I am adjusting it with some success. Breaking things down to this low level is difficult for me, but I am great at thinking of fun games to play, especially at the last minute. And the kids love to get me to pronounce things. Minh loves to act as a conductor to get me to understand intonations...he sweeps his hands up and down, up and down. When I get it right, the whole class says "YES!" (This happens rarely and I usually cannot repeat it.)

What else? The girls hate sitting by the boys and vice versa, but I made a seating chart doing just that. The girls want to gossip with me and be my friend. The boys are polite but distant. I don't have one discipline problem yet. Like I have said a few times, the kids are cute and eager to learn. I tell you what...if you ask me direct questions about school and details you want to know, I will address them. But right now I am going to go peek around the corner to see if she is there and then I'm going up to my hammock. I will try to get pictures of the kids soon...that's what you will really like!

Good morning to you, good night from me! Isn't it strange that I am saying goodbye to Monday and you don't even know it's Monday yet~

The Good, the Ant and the Ugly (take note Chris Brown)

Part I: The Good

I don't even have time to write about all of the good, but let me start here: Hammocks=Happiness.

I find this hammock on furniture street first thing during our Saturday shopping day, and now all I want to do is sit on my roof. I don't want to go anywhere except for small trips to the alley for food. Maybe I can even blog up there.

We three castle dwellers have a united vision for our rooftop and are rapidly making it happen; last night we had our first guests over and all of them responded the same way..."We want to live here...we should have waited a bit longer to find something like this..." It's cool up there in the evenings...a breeze is something I never felt in China. Here it's hot, but there are periods of respite.

It's hard to stop thinking and writing about the hammock, but here's more good: our alley grid mornings hold the most magnificent markets. Every day we walk past baskets of fresh fish, vegetables, cuts of meat, noodles, bread...and yesterday we discover that the weekend market is ten times bigger and better. I will not spend the time to list all of the things offered, but I will mention a highlight-- I take a favorite brown Gap dress over to my neighbor the seamstress this morning and, just like she said, we walk down the street and choose some material (a lovey purple cotton) and next Saturday she will have my dress replicated. It will cost me $12 total. (Yesterday I did go with Alice and her mother to their seamstress and she is also making me two dresses this week.)

One woman selling coconut cakes speaks good enough English to ask me, "Are you living in the foreigners' house?" "Yes" I say. "You, your husband and your friend?" I clarify that we are three friends. "What are you doing here?" and so on...but this conversation confirms what we already know: the alley grid is a buzz about the Foreigners' House. People are beginning to wave and invite us to sit with them at the little plastic table and chairs in the evenings. We haven't done this yet.

Our castle space works great. When I am in my top chamber, I don't really even know if the other two are home. We do things together a lot, especially now because we are getting the house ready, but today we just debrief our adventures at the end of the day. I love it.

Part II: The Ant (dedicated to Chris)

Chris and I had a big problem with some medium sized army ants (and some very large beetles) on our Costa Rica trip last May and were forever changed by it. That experienced helps me with what happens in my castle chamber the other night. I notice that a string of miniscule ants are crawling up the wall into the corner before I go to bed Friday night and I think, well, I guess it's something I can deal with in the morning. Which is exactly what happens. I deal with hundreds of these miniscule ants in my bed, crawling all over me. What a way to wake up after a rough week. So what about the Costa Rica ants? I'm just grateful that my bed ants did not have ugly wings like those ones did. So I fight a good battle and I think I have conquered them. I'm telling you, living in a castle is rough! (Chris, maybe you can learn how to post a comment for this one??)

Part III: The Ugly

So I haven't seen a rat yet, anywhere, in this city. Friday night I'm walking home and I sense movement around a lovely Buddhist shrine sitting on a lovely balcony. On second take, I see it is a rat's tail, wrapping itself right around Buddha's belly. What a juxtaposition. And here are a few more "uglies" from our walk around Chinatown yesterday: a cart selling "Dogs and Dusters" (your guess is as good as mine) and now just check out these mannequins:

Well, it's Sunday night and I need to plan for tomorrow. Ancient history, Brian, that's where Ozti fits in. You know...how do archeologists put the pieces together... And "Eleven" -- you really want to hear about that? Well, the girl's name is Rachel and she has a problem with a big ugly sweater. My students don't know if Rachel is a boy's name or a girl's name. They don't know what a sweater is. But they are awfully cute. There... how's that? Yeah, so, I have to plan, and all I want to do is to go to my rooftop and swing in the breeze in my hammock...

"...like a tiny o in the sky"

My Language Arts classes are reading "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros -- a story about a girl who experiences an extremely humiliating day. At the end she says she wants "today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it.

I couldn't say it any better. During my taxi ride home in the monsoon yesterday, I considered telling the driver (who was listening to Metallica and who showed the first sign of road rage in this city that should be showing road rage for every thousand close calls during every drive home) to take me straight to the airport. No one would know what happened to me...I could just disappear like that runaway balloon.

Then I went to bed at seven and slept for ten hours. Today I feel happy. My mood had nothing to do with the students...I really like them. I think I feel this way after every first week of school...like I can't possibly do this job. This week, though, moving into a castle that isn't quite finished and trying to figure out where to start this curriculum with kids whose English levels are all over the place and working from 7 to 4--it's rough. Thank goodness the sixth graders were entertained by my presentation about Otzi the Iceman and "Eleven." More about them later.

I still just want to tell you about my neighborhood and my castle. Tonight we walk outside to find dinner and stop in to see the seamstress two doors down. She doesn't speak any English but through pantomime and writing down many figures, I know that Sweetie's shop over by the hotel is way overpriced-- fortunately I was too busy to go back. My alley seamstress points to a stack of catalogues for Katherine and me and then to one for Tarn. We point at dresses and blouses and skirts and ask how much? She writes figures ranging from $3 for a shirt for Tarn to $8 for a dress for me. I ask her if she can make "anything" and she nods a definite yes. All we do is pick the style and they measure us. Then I point at the material for the clothes hanging on the wall. Where do we find that? Again she nods and grabs my hand and pretends we are going out for a walk. She points down the street. I make a little walking gesture with my fingers...yes, she takes us shopping for the material, brings it back and makes it.

Katherine and I are ecstatic. We want to browse through all of the catalogues, but we are so hungry. We tell her we'll be back SOON and walk down another alley where two guys are making fried chicken and fried rice. One is stir frying a huge wok full of rice and vegetables; the other is tending a portable deep fryer. The chicken looks great, so I place an order. And...let me think about this for one second...yes, it is in the top five best fried chicken pieces I've ever had. Juicy on the inside with just enough crispy exterior. This meal cost $1.20.

Katherine and I also find a noodle soup guy on the main street that connects to our alley. He is Chinese and has three kinds of hand-cut noodles and a stack of wontons on his cart. You pick the noodles and he drops them into broth to boil them. His pork is carefully sliced without a trace of fat. His partner stands next to the cart to collect money. He is also Chinese, and he speaks enough English to let us know that here, at his cart, he will charge us only $15,000 dong (90 cents) but that most places would charge tourists so much more than that. He is a talker and distracts me from watching the soup man. OH. Is it tasty.

I haven't even mentioned the ubiquitous Bahn Mi stands. Bahn Mi are Vietnamese sandwiches that come with all kinds of veges and your choice of meat. In Seattle's International District (go to either Seattle Deli or Saigon Deli, both off of 12th and Jackson--little Vietnam), you can get tofu or pork or chicken with cucumber, daikon, cilantro, peppers. The stands here, three to a corner in some cases, serve the sandwiches with the above mentioned options plus pate, fried eggs and crispy onions. This morning I find the best one yet, just a few blocks from our alley (our neighborhood is on a grid of five wide alleys and five narrow alleys) and have a shredded chicken sandwich made for lunch (about fifty cents).

AND...almost every day I get an avocado shake at the corner (60 cents). You've got to try one!

Tomorrow the three of us are going shopping to make our castle somewhat cozy. Priorities: deck hammocks, deck plants, a deck strobe light, speakers (for my DJ's), pillows, floor mats, Chinese lanterns, pans. We are very excited...we think we might go to Chinatown and get rides on "Cyclos" --kind of like pedicabs (And here is another view from the deck- the other way). We have so much to buy. Also, Alice and her mother are going to take me to their seamstress, who is also in District One. Alice's mother is a very classy French woman and I can't believe my luck that she is sharing her seamstress with me~

I told you I would write more about school, but, well, I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow?

"Hello Teacha"

Move in yesterday, first day of school today, chaos, chaos, chaos...as I write one man installs a countertop gas stove, another installs wireless (I guess it's working) and another installs hot water heaters (no hot water this morning). Nothing is working quite right, but each of them says it will all work "tomorrow." That's a word everyone knows well.

The kids are cute (the girls pictured are not my students...they are from my alley and the flags in the background are from National Day-yesterday). AIS students wear a yellow and blue uniform...they come in and say "Hello teacha" and give a little bow. They are smart in knowing things, but need lots of work on pronunciation (they don't get consonants) and writing. Thanks to Amy and Karrie, I just did "Get to Know You Bingo" and a PowerPoint on Seattle, etc. The day was good. Wow it's a long one, though - 8 to 4 and 8 to 5 Thursdays. Sixth graders. Holy cow- the energy.

What I really want to write about is my castle. I love it. But I don't have the energy to write about anything, so tonight I am only going to share pictures from the roof (from five stories up):

and around my neighborhood. Here's an example of the stacked houses:

And here is our local temple:

Did I mention that sixth graders have a lot of energy?

Tamarind Tree

Does reading my sister's blog make you as hungry as it does me? Do you wish you could be a Vietnamese Food Olympian too? If you live in the greater Seattle area and want to try Marjie's favorite Vietnamese restaurant (and trust me; Marjie would know!) you can find the Tamarind Tree here:


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