MontanaRon

An English teacher's blog about his travels and his digital art.

Month: March 2005

Earthquake

March 20, 2005 /

Just a few minutes ago I noticed some of my plants and the cord that opens my curtain swaying, and my fan, standing on the floor, rattling. I thought “earthquake somewhere.” Sure enough, there is a report that a magnitude 7 quake has hit in southern Japan. No damage here, but it is interesting that you can feel these things this far away.

I put in another online application yesterday, this one to United Arab Emirates’ Higher Colleges of Technology. I’ll probably send in a few more to Middle East institutions and another for a worldwide fellowship sponsored by an organization in the U.S., with openings in Africa and Indonesia that I am interested in. I’ll also keep my options open in Korea; there are plenty of good jobs here,too. I am also becoming more and more interested in the Lao-American College in Vientiane, Laos. One of the new teachers at ANU is Eugene, and he spent a year teaching there recently. He tells me that the pay is not very good, but the experience is very worthwhile. I might pop in while I’m visiting Nai this summer.

The weather is very nice today, so I think I’ll sign off, grab the bicycle and give it a spin. More later.

Dokdo Island Controversy

March 18, 2005 /

A recent legislative decision by Japan’s Shimane Prefecture has raised the blood level of most Koreans. (Read an article about the controversy here) A member of my adult class asked if we could discuss “Takeshima Day,” as the Japanese are calling it. I said yes, not knowing if it would interest too many of the learners, but it turned into a big discussion hit. All of the students, being Korean, despised this attempt on the part of the Japanese to try to legitimate their claims to Dokdo Island and its surrounding rich fisheries. Quite the controversy in the “Land of the Morning Calm.”

One of the other big South East Asian stories, and one that concerns me more than the Dokdo sparring, is the continuing drought in Thailand, Laos and other countries in that area of the world. Because my good friend Nai lives near the drought-stricken Mekong River and his farming family depends on the rain, I worry about his livelihood. I keep meaning to ask him how his family’s farm has been affected, but I’m not sure he would understand the concept in English. I’ve got a Lao phrase book and I ordered a Lao language book and cd package yesterday, so perhaps in a month or so I’ll be able to communicate with him more effectively.

As a further sign of impending spring, some of the ANU shrubbery is turning green. Now, as long as the “jealous spirit of winter,” as one of my Korean history professor friends puts it, does not blast us again, warm weather is imminent (I hope). This weekend is supposed to be nice, so I hope to haul the bicycle out of the apartment and give it a workout around town.

Update

March 16, 2005 /

Well, there is really nothing to update. One day flows into the next: we’re already into week 3 of the new semester. The weather is finally beginning to become more springlike, with temperatures climbing into the 50’s and occasional rain wetting the ground. Everything is relative, though. I occasionally talk to my friend Nai in Laos. He sometimes complains that it’s cold; when I check the weather for Vientiane on the Internet, I find that the low temperature is in the mid-60’s or low 70’s. That would be quite balmy here, but I suppose that seems cold to Nai. I have an international calling card that, for about $14 for 180 minutes, is pretty cheap to use, so I call him frequently.

The students in my classes are, for the most part, well-behaved and enjoyable to teach. I’m teaching 7 freshman English classes 3 times each per week, so, for the math-challenged, that’s a total of 21 classes. I also teach evening adult classes 3 nights per week. It’s keeping me busy and, again relatively speaking, out of trouble. I dream of the Tropics. More later.

Back to Work

March 2, 2005 /

Today marks the beginning of the new semester, so it’s back to work, regular university classes starting after yesterday’s Independence Movement holiday. So far this morning, I’ve had no students come to class, due to the fact that department orientations are taking place. As the day rolls on, more and more freshmen will sign up, so the afternoon classes should be relatively full. But Wednesday is my easy day anyway, with two morning classes and only one afternoon class.

I made a new Korean friend last week, Charlie, who spent 6 months in Australia recently. He’s from Seoul and has very good English skills. He’s visiting his family here for a while until he goes back to school. He and a couple of his cousins visited my apartment Sunday night and brought me some special rice made for the Full Moon Festival, which is a celebration of the first full moon of the lunar new year. Except for the fact that the rice was sticky and sweet, it almost looked like Cajun red bean and rice. Mmmmmmm! There’s something I miss. Perhaps my next trip up to Seoul I’ll buy some smoked sausage (very pricey) and ham hocks (if I can find some) and cook up a pot.

The weather is finally beginning to moderate, with highs in the upper 40s and lows in mid 20s — nice enough to go bicycle riding yesterday afternoon, though going against the wind along the river was still unpleasant. In addition to keeping the weather for various Montana towns on my Yahoo personal page, I also have the Bangkok and Vientiane weather available for a quick glimpse. Mostly the temperatures in those two cities are in the 90s. I can hardly wait for July to roll around. More later.

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