Feelin' the Fall

'Tis the season of falling leaves, changing colors, Thanksgiving, pumpkins, children dressed as Native Americans, Pilgrims and the odd ghoul an gobblin. Here are some shots:

The anonymous Native American for the Thanksgiving feast at school.

Some of our cool pumpkin heads for the scarecrow we made.

The door of my classroom... those falling leaves are their handprints.... clever, huh?

The picture graph we made of the fall vegetables that we like.

The scarecrow that we made!!

Dealing with Dialects

One thing I've been dealing with here, that I hadn't thought I would is the dialects. I am aware that there are loads of different dialects in a country this big with this many people, but I really hadn't thought that my kids would have such a wide variety. Most of the kids speak with little to no accent but then I have one special little guy that has a thick accent and uses some southern dialect words that I don't always understand. Here is a prime example:

Me: Okay, "Joseph" why don't you try writing your name.

"Joseph": 'Kay

He proceeded to write a backwards J and then say to me: Dat mai naaaaame!!!

Needless to say, I almost fell off my chair.

Elections USA

I know it's a lot late to post my thoughts and observations about the elections in the US, but here you have it. I've been watching this race for the last 2 years from Korea and here in the US and it has consumed my attention at times. Being a Canadian, where our elections are not so much of a celebrity event as a political event, it's been odd to see the fanfare, the rallies, the commercials, the hub-bub as it were. The only thing I can compare it to, that may come close is the elections in Korea where there are trucks blaring campaign messages in the streets both day and night, where candidates are colored-coded and followers wear that color to show support, flyers are handed out and so on. But still, it doesn't come close to what it was here.
Personally, I am glad that Obama won... I know, my Christian friends are now praying for my soul because Obama is NOT a Republican... but you have to understand that I don't view it on party lines, I've never held to a party for political issues, I hold to the issues and the people I think have the answers that make sense to me. And for me, Obama made more sense. And being more of a global citizen, it made an impression on me that he was raised internationally, in a bi-racial environment...
However, I will tell you what does get to me... it's the reference that Obama is the first "black" president... hm... did I miss it? I am pretty sure that his mom was WHITE. So, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he is the first bi-racial president of the United States of America? I think so... But that brings me to another observation about this country that I am living in: Race is everything here. People are continually asked and made to identify their race, like it is what defines them as human beings.
Okay, I know that this has been one rambling post, but that is kind of where my mind is these days... rambling.

Over-taxed and under-paid

Okay, so we all know that when you leave the international scene you take a pay cut. When you teach in Korea at least, they pay for your housing (utilities are cheap and you pay those yourself), cell phones are inexpensive and you can nab a used car for about $400 (and the insurance is about $500 all year), the school also pays for you to come and go at least once a year, they pay some shipping costs and have all kinds of amenities you can use at the school (like the gym, the field, the swimming pool and so on). So I knew things would be different when I came to the US, I knew I'd be paying rent and I knew my utilities would more expensive. I knew my brand new car would cost me a little more and that the health care would suck in comparison (I don't mean the doctors, I mean the costs)... but I thought I was prepared. But I wasn't prepared to be taxed to death!! There are state taxes on everything (they make Canada look like a tax haven) and there is even a personal property tax on my vehicle. I just found out that I am going to have to pay $300+ by December in personal property taxes because I own a new car... never mind that I already paid sales tax on it... never mind that I have NEVER heard of being taxed on a car (okay, not true, in Korea they tax you on owning a car, but it amounts to about $120 a year total).... The actual yearly total for my car is over $500 but since I came halfway through the year I have to pay just $300... *sigh* and people wonder why people in the US aren't surviving this recession... all the money they earn goes to gas, taxes and the government... sad, so sad...

American-sized....

So, in the normal world chairs are meant for one person to sit in, but not so in the US. Everything here is bigger... this is the chair my boyfriend bought for his living room. I love it and helped to pick it out, but we can both sit in it without even touching. So, this is an American-sized chair... bigger (and I have to say it's better in some ways, we actually fell asleep in it and didn't even notice until WAY later!!). Another picture of me being swallowed up by it is soon to follow. :)

American Football

This weekend I went to my first ever NFL game in Baltimore, MD. It's not quite the same as Canadian football, but it's close. But I think that the fan attitude is more like Canadians are with hockey (the best dang game ever!!).... anyway, here are the pics... enjoy!!


The Raiders playing the Ravens.

This crazy fan painted his head silver...

The Raiders right before the game....

The Ravens band... the biggest band in the NFL.

Kelvin and I at the game.

The stadium before the game starts...

The stadium on the outside...

The tailgate party outside the stadium.

Coffee Shops

Another comparison for you... in Korea when we had our base passes, we (we=Raymond, J-9, April and other cool teachers) could go on base to the little coffee shop to do our grading or some random school work in a somewhat quiet environment.... however, those passes didn't last and we had to beg our way on most of the time through sports or some other random organization or event. So we had to resort to Starbucks or some other Korean coffee shop, which can be the LOUDEST places on earth. They are consistently packed and never, EVER quiet. However, in the US, you can go into the coffee shop, set up your computer and be relatively undisturbed and in a somewhat quiet environment. I am at one now and loving it... relishing in it really... *sigh* This is a good comparison, one where I side with the US...