It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye

Normally I'm rather proud of my near-complete indifference to pro sports, but...I must add in my hurrahs for the Red Sox. There's nothing like seeing a losing streak end!! I can't even remember the last time I actually looked forward to reading the sports page.

Now that the Curse of the Bambino is gone, let's see about that whole thing with Northerners never getting elected president anymore. Geez, people, you'd think we'd won the Civil War or something...

Two out of three ain't bad

Well, the mini-crisis of recommendations came to a close this morning. I finally heard back from one of the back-up professors I had approached. His response couldn't possibly be any more lukewarm (i.e. "I don't know how helpful it would be to you, the class was five years ago," etc.). But it is a recommendation from a respected professor at a well-known university (which I prefer to keep anonymous on the blog, as y'all have probably noticed by now), so I suspect it'll help me about as much as anything would at this point.

I must say, this week has made me appreciate the two other professors I already have on board even more than I already did. They both agreed without any reservation to help out, and never gave the slightest indication that I was unworthy in any way. In a field where ego seems to reign supreme on a level you see with surgeons and pro-athletes, that's a nice surprise. I hope, if lightning strikes and I ever end up in their shoes, that I'll remain humble and willing to help others.

In the meantime, I'm back hard at work on the remaining applications. It's hard not to get discouraged when you look at the statistics (600 applications a year for 18 slots?!), but you'll never know unless you try. Still, I guess it's a good thing I like my current job as well as I do!

Teacher! You say Chinese!!!!

I found a new way to amuse my older students last week. Just throw in a Chinese word or two.
That's strictly forbidden for the students, since the only way you're going to learn a foreign language is to practice it as much as possible. (This can be a sticky situation for the teachers, who need to enforce the rule without looking like we hate their culture. But I like to think I'm pretty good at it.) It's not usually much of a temptation for me to speak Chinese, since there aren't very many things I can say in it.

But last week, I did have a kid ask what "thank you" meant. That's a fairly tough one to explain in simple language, if you think about it; and besides, he'd been studying English long enough that he really should have known anyhow. But, seeing as I was at a loss of how to explain it, I just said it in Chinese. (The most common Anglicized spelling is Tze Tze, two identical syllables starting with "sh" and almost rhyming with "pay," but not quite.)

And the kids loved it. "Teacher!" "Chinese!" "You can't speak Chinese in class!" "Say sorry!"

The kid who said the last one (the same one who'd asked what "thank you" meant, as it happened) was particularly insistent, so I said sorry. In Chinese. "Deibuchi." More laughs. Lots of them.

Since then, those kids have tried to encourage me to speak a lot more Chinese, including a number of phrases I don't know and which probably shouldn't be said in a classroom full of kids anyhow. It's come to be something of a running joke. "Teacher, say 'thank you' in Chinese." "Thank you in Chinese." They think that's pretty funny too.

Still waiting on a Third Recommender, by the way. I just love organizing this garbage from halfway around the world. At least most of my applications are ready to be sent as soon as I know whose name I can put in that third slot.

Been nice knowing you too, sir!

There are certain possibilities in life we all know exist, but don't ever really expect to happen.

Among these is asking for a letter of recommendation and getting turned down. Sure, it could happen, but you know, you're most likely to ask for recommendations from a professor who was happy with your work. And why would such a person decline to help you?

I now have that quandary to wonder about this morning, after receiving just such an e-mail from a prof who gave me an A (or the equivalent thereof) in his class three years ago. He explained that if our school had allowed for it, it would really have been an A- rather than an A (which I knew, as he'd explained it to me at the time). Heaven knows, a PhD program is no place for an A- student.

To be fair, I can't entirely blame him. His area of expertise is quite different from the one I wish to become an expert in, although the two are somewhat related at least. He also wasn't among my top three choices to ask for letters, and perhaps he suspected as much. (Of those three, two said yes but the third never bothered to reply to me. I think he would say yes if I pursued the matter, but then I don't trust him to write the letters on time if he can't even get back to me without pestering. That's why I needed to ask someone new in the first place.) And he did offer me some well-intentioned - if not really helpful to my particular circumstances - advice on who else I could ask.

Still, it wasn't a very nice surprise to get this morning. I learned a lot from the guy, enjoyed the experience and got a grade I was pleased with, even if it wasn't the highest grade possible (although officially speaking, it was). This hasn't destroyed that for me, but it does leave me feeling a bit irritated all the same. I always have hated that rather large segment of the academic community which considers an A- as good as an F, and this only adds to that. Also, it means I didn't make nearly as good an impression on the guy as I had thought. Plus, there's the hassle of still having to find one more recommender when my applications are otherwise mostly done.

I have already sent off another request to another professor, who is probably a better match for my interests anyhow, and I have several other options even if he says no. This is probably just a minor bump in the road, and to tell you the truth, it just makes me want to try that much harder so I can prove the arrogant bastard wrong. Thanks for the memories anyhow, professor.

I feel the earth move

Regardless of the other highs and lows of my time in Taiwan, it appears that I am likely to leave here having borne witness to more minor natural disasters than at any other time in my life.

Just after kindy today, I and a few other teachers dropped by the computer room to check the e-mail, political gossip from home (so the Kentucky Senate race is suddenly in play, eh?), and such. The computer room is on the second floor and the first floor is currently being renovated, so I wasn't too surprised when I noticed the room shaking slightly.

Then I noticed that the heavy machinery downstairs was silent. And that the shaking didn't stop quickly the way it did when they had the big hammers and drills going.

After 15 seconds or so - which somehow seemed longer - someone finally asked, "What is that?"

"Earthquake," one of the Chinese teachers said calmly, as if it happened all the time.

It was a mild one, just strong enough for me to get up and head for the door-frame the way they always tell you to. By the time I got there, though, it was over. Trina and I went out for lunch shortly afterward, and there was no sign of any disruption in downtown Longtan.

Back home, even a mild quake like that would have been big news, I think. Apparently Taiwan is one of those places where it just happens now and then and it's part of life. There was a pretty big one here about four years ago, easily within the memories of most Taiwanese (albeit not most of the Taiwanese I know personally!). Today, of course, was nothing compared to that one.

There is a slight chance my next stop after Taiwan will be the San Francisco area. (I never count on winning the grad school jackpot, but you never know.) I guess it's just as well that I get used to these things!

No matter how old I get...

Writing "personal statements" for university applications still sucks. After forcing myself to write at least one paragraph every day since Sunday, this one is starting to come together, though. Thank heavens. It's amazing how long a two page paper can take when the stakes are high!

Had a heart-attack moment in kindy yesterday when I was reprimanding a couple of kids for talking nonstop during the lesson...and I glanced out my classroom window to see the branch director and regional manager observing me. I felt compelled to go downstairs and apologize after class, explaining that it was otherwise a great class today.

Their response: "No, no, it was great! We like your communication with the kids."

They do like discipline here, I guess.

EDITED TO ADD: The "reprimand" in question was entirely verbal. After reading one of the attached comments, it occurred to me that my use of that word coupled with my last line made the episode sound quite a bit uglier than it really was. Oops!

William Shatner is a ****

Even if my ties to the state of Iowa are somewhat faded at this point (and were admittedly tenuous in the first place), this is just wrong. I think Shatner is Canadian - I wonder how it would go over if someone like Tom Cruise pulled a stunt like this in a small town in Saskatchewan.
This makes his singing look good by comparison.

Doing my part from beyond the sea

I mailed my absentee ballot in yesterday, doing my bit part to send Dubya back to the ranch.
Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer's driver's license gets revoked? Patty and Selma take turns stamping it with their "CANCELLED" stamp (or maybe it's "REVOKED" - I'm sure one of my ex-roomies will correct me if he happens to read this) again and again, each of them sighing deeply as if she'd just had an orgasm and saying things like, "Oh, I never thought it'd feel this good!"
Yep. It was kind of like that.

The same, but different

That's the theme in kindy this week, in keeping with lessons on the English words for body parts. (I.e. we all have two hands, two legs, etc., but our hair and eyes look different.) It also reflects my thoughts on Taiwan after last week's holiday, Moon Festival. Also called Mid-Autumn Festival, it's a day off to celebrate the harvest moon. I'm not entirely sure why the harvest moon matters when they actually harvest the rice at least twice a year; but apparently it does.

And the vehicle of choice for celebrating Moon Festival: moon cakes. They come in elaborate packages, and people buy them by the dozens at this time of year to give to friends, co-workers, etc. I received quite a few of them from colleagues and the parents of some of my students. Some of them were pretty good, but quite a few of them are awfully heavy and filled with some, er, unique tasting food paste.

I found out just after the holiday that I wasn't alone in that view of the moon cakes. There was an article in the paper detailing how many younger Taiwanese people don't like them much at all, but they feel compelled out of tradition to give and receive them at this time of year. Just like fruitcakes back home.

We only think it's a different world over here.

I guess, on both sides of the Pacific, there must be some people who like the holiday grub of choice, eh?


By the way, I believe my blogging hiatus is over. I don't know how much time I'll have to play on here for the next month or so, but I don't think I'll be going silent for three weeks again either!