MontanaRon

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

Category: Baseball (Page 12 of 12)

Thailand Ticket

March 1, 2006 /

I got my Thailand airplane ticket from the travel agent the other day. I’m flying out of Casablanca on the 23rd of March at 10 a.m. on Qatar Airlines, so I’ll have to go up a day early or catch the 3 a.m. train out of Meknes, putting me in Casa around 7:30, close enough. I’m not too sure, though, about walking the deserted, silent streets of Meknes at that time of day. The railway station is about a 5 minute walk from my apartment, so it’s not too far away. Still . . .

From Casa I fly to Doha, the capital of Qatar. There I’ll stay overnight, being put up in a 5-star hotel, according to my travel agent, and furnished with 2 meals. But, I won’t get into Doha until around 10 that evening, and my flight to Bangkok leaves at 8 the next morning, so I won’t get much benefit out of the stay. I suppose it’s better than hanging around the airport for that length of time (more on that below).

The flight arrives in Bangkok at 6:50 p.m. The next evening I’ll hop on the overnight train to Nong Khai and meet Nai there the next morning. I haven’t really got anything concrete planned, but I’ll probably visit lovely Vang Vieng again and, hopefully, Luang Prabang. On the 14th of April I’ll take the train back to Bangkok, stay in the City of Angels for a day, then fly out of there on the 16th, with a long stay (12 hours!) in Doha on the 16th, but no hotel furnished this time. It’s a daytime stay, so I suppose I’ll wander around, read a book, eat and do whatever else I can find to stay out of trouble. I’ll get back to Casa on the morning of the 17th, jet-lagged and with classes to teach the next day. I’ll definitely have all my lesson plans finished before I leave!

We had a few nice days, but now the forecast calls for 2-3 days of rain. After that, though, Meknes is supposed to have sunny days with temperatures approaching 70. Fantastic!

Speaking of good weather, I got email notification about my Major League Baseball TV subscription today. I’ll be able to watch spring training and regular season games over the computer again this year, so I’m looking forward to the start of another baseball season. Go Yanks!! More later.

Yankee World and CALL Class

February 24, 2006 /

Once again today I noticed that the large number of baseball style caps that have American baseball logos on them exclusively sport the Yankee logo. I have seen no other caps in Meknes, and in the other, admittedly, limited parts of Morocco I’ve visited, that have another baseball team’s symbol represented. None. Seriously. This is also a phenomenon that I noticed in South Korea. Though there were other teams represented on caps in the Land of the Morning Calm, the overwhelming majority of baseball caps had that famous NY on them. Boston fans may wishfully and mistakenly refer to Red Sox “Nation,” but Yankee World is a reality. When my friend Karen, a Bostonian to the core and, regretfully but understandably, a devout and worshipful fan of that “other” team, reads this, I’m sure I’ll get an earful. But, dear Karen, it’s true about the caps. Red Sox fans must console themselves with their ONE World Series win since 1918. I’ll bask in the glory of the (still) Great Dynasty that the Yanks are. There’s also a young lady, Jill, from the Northeast, teaching at the American Language Center in Meknes who is a Sox fan. I showed her my Yankee cap the other night and she immediately got into “that” attitude that all of us Yank/Sox fans have. Thus, I’ll have someone to jibe at this season. I love it!! (However, if both teams end up like they did last season, perhaps we’ll be commiserating with each other.)

I started the new CALL class today at Moulay Ismail U. and it went ok. Despite the lack of access to the technology that I am supposed to be teaching, I think the course will be beneficial to my students. They’re an older group than my CPR students, but only by a few years; I would guess their average age at between 28-32 years. Some are English teachers, some teach other disciplines, and some are there to learn about the subject matter. More interesting, though, is that 6 of the 25 students are from other countries. There are four students from Mauritania (a country to which the Peace Corps had assigned me in 2002 but to which, unfortunately, I was unable to go to due to physical problems), one from Chad (information here and here) and another from Yemen. To me, that’s exciting and motivating. I gave them a short political spiel about how they should use the knowledge that they will learn and take it, from a position of authority, to their administrators and bureaucrats and push for funding to incorporate the technology into their schools and universities. It’s one of the few things that I get political about in a formal classroom setting. Too many governments, including the U.S., say that they need funding for military budgets, or for corporate tax breaks, both of which are b*ll sh*t excuses for not funding education like it should be funded. In other locales, corruption steals the money from the people. (Benin Peace Corps friends know what I’m talking about, though this particular practice is not confined to the nations of Africa.) Ok, I’ll get off my soap box now, but the subject of the paltry amount of money provided for education is really one of my pet peeves.

Still raining quite a bit in Meknes. Montanans, enjoy your wonderful weather. Where’d all the snow go? More later.

Football, CALL and Chinese New Year

January 28, 2006 /

Tonight might be the final match for the Moroccan team in the Africa Cup. They could only manage a 0-0 tie against host Egypt last Tuesday, but they needed to win. Only a miracle puts them in the quarterfinals. Cote d’Ivoire (already guaranteed a spot) must beat Egypt soundly and Morocco must trounce Libya. However, since Egypt is the host country, the chances of them not advancing are pretty slim, my students tell me. Politics, it seems. Both games are tonight, being played at the same time (5 p.m. local) in different stadiums. I assume the Morocco-Libya game will be shown here. (I wonder of Khadafy will be attending.)

Lots of rain and wind the last 3 days, chilly but not cold. Not a tropical monsoon type of rain, just a steady drizzle most of the time. The forecast calls for more of the same the next couple of days. I suppose that’s better than a foot of snow and 30 below. As Karen, my friend in Boston, reminds me, the start of baseball spring training is getting closer. It seems not that long ago that both her and I were down in our cups when both of our favorites were knocked out of the playoffs. Ahhh, but this year . . .

Mohammed wants me to teach a 10-week course at one of the local universities on the subject of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). It would be just one two-hour class per week, and I think it would be fun and interesting to do. I’ve already planned to do a CALL module at the CPR, so it’s not really an extra burden. I have to get John’s approval first. There are certain guidelines about where I can and can’t teach.

I talked to my friend Nai in Laos earlier today and found out that his brother Pui (pooey) got into a motorbike accident and had to go to the hospital. Geez, these guys and their motorbikes. Nai’s had a couple of accidents on his and he tells me about accidents that members of his extended family have had. A few of his relatives and friends have died riding these things. Fortunately, Pui will be ok. Right now they are celebrating the Chinese New Year (Year of the Dog), so there are probably a lot of folks riding around with more than a few Beer Laos under their belt. Even though Nai is not a big drinker, I told him to be careful, especially of other riders, who will swerve to avoid the numerous potholes found on most of the Laos roads. More later.

Volubilis, Peace Corps Training

October 17, 2005 /

First off, I noticed just a moment ago that my home page was reflecting only entries through the month of September. Hmmmmm. So, I had to change, temporarily, back to the old page. I’ll try to set it up later so that the blog works ok as the “front door.”

Last Sunday, John, Evelyn and I went to Volubilis, site of the ancient Roman provincial capital. The ruins are located somewhat above a fertile valley, offering sweeping views of the surrounding farmland. It was an overcast day, lending a colorless sameness to the ruins and the surrounding area, especially now during the dry season. In spring, when everything around here greens up, the site is supposed to be very beautiful. I can imagine that during Roman times, with a few more trees than there are now, the city must have been lovely. There is actually a lot to see–the remains of bakeries and wine and olive presses, the baths, the capitol building, the marketplace, the sacrificial altar in front of the basilica and many houses with their tiled, mosaic floors still relatively intact. Some of the houses have been given quaint or evocative names, like The House of the Labors of Hercules, House of the Athlete, House of the Dog, House of the Golden Coins, House of the Bathing Nymphs, House of the Columns and House of Dionysus and the Four Seasons. All in all, it’s an interesting site.

There weren’t a multitude of other tourists here, though there were a couple of tour buses that left shortly after we arrived. Volubilis is only about 30 km (18 miles) from Meknes and could be a nice day trip by bicycle. Except that it is 1/2 downhill and 1/2 very much uphill! Maybe in the spring I will give it a try.

For larger photos, just click on the image.

In the mountains to the south clings the small town of Moulay Idriss, one of Morocco’s holiest sites. John tells me that it was only recently that it was opened to non-Muslims. According to one of my guide books, Idriss I fled the caliph in Baghdad in the 8th Century and came here. He founded the first Arab-Muslim dynasty in Baghdad and is buried in the town that took his name.

Last Friday, the 14th, John, Nabila Moussamin (the other Fellow in Morocco, based in Tangiers) and I went to the Peace Corps training site at Imouzzer, an hour and a half drive south-east of Meknes. There we trained the volunteers in the use of “Books in a Box,” literally boxes that come with 32 English Language-Teaching books packed inside them. It was great fun working with the PCVs, since I’m a former volunteer myself. They were very enthusiastic about having the books and the workshop was very well received. Imouzzer, over 4,000 feet up in the Middle Atlas mountains, is a smaller version of the nearby resort town of Ifrane. We started the workshop around 12:30 p.m., and as the afternoon progressed, it started to get a bit chilly. Being from Montana, I wore only a short-sleeved shirt, but it wasn’t too bad. I also met a fellow Montanan there, a volunteer named Brian (sorry, Brian, I forgot your last name) from Denton. He also attended the U of M, so we had a lot in common to talk about. It wasn’t all that surprising to meet another Montanan, since the U of M always ranks high nationally in the number of PCVs it recruits.

Let’s see. What else is happening . . .?
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On Second Thought

October 8, 2005 /

LA 5, Yanks 4, bottom of 4th. I just hope the construction workers aren’t outside my apartment with their jackhammers going at 8 a.m., like they have been the last 2 days.

Time Check

September 17, 2005 /

I just noticed that my blog entries still reflect Korean time, so I’ve changed the configuration file so that the correct local time is shown.

I also just purchased Major League Baseball Gameday Audio, so I can listen to the Yanks on the radio over the computer. This wireless network I’ve tapped into is just not fast enough to run the video that I’m already subscribed to. Hopefully when I get my regular connection, it’ll be fast enough to handle the video. Until then, I’m content to listen to the games. Go Yanks. Only 1 1/2 back from Boston and closing fast!

Matsui Fantasy

March 31, 2004 /

I must admit I was feeling a bit chagrined last night after the Yanks lost to Tampa Bay 8-3. I’m more smug tonight after the 12-1 shellacking they dished out. Matsui had a fantasy game by hitting a home run, a single, and driving in 3 runs in his old home park in Tokyo; the fans were ecstatic, watching their hero, “Godzilla,” rise to the occasion. One thing I had forgotten from the last time I watched baseball on Korean TV is that the announcers give the ball-strike count backwards from what I’m used to in the States. Instead of saying 2 and 1 for a 2-ball, 1-strike count, they say 1 and 2. Takes a little getting used to when you first hear it. Yes, they actually say “3 and 2” or “Oh and 1” in English. Just about everything else is in Korean.

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