It Gets Better

...and then I get cards like this one, from one of my eleven year old Japanese students:

Dear Alex,

Thanks a lot for helping my English. I think I am better in English because of you. If I wasn't met with you, maybe I'm still very shy that I don't have friend except for Japanese.

This girl is moving back to Japan in a few weeks, and I'm so sad. I've been with her one year, and she went from being such a shy girl who would not talk at all to a girl who reads Harry Potter out loud with different character voices and gestures. She was making such strides, and is so much fun to talk to.

I told her to practice English when she got back to Japan, because she has a gift. Then her mom tells me that I have a gift as a teacher, and of course I started crying, and she started crying, and then we took goofy pictures and I promised to visit them in Japan.

Teaching is so rewarding, even when it's challenging. I love it.

The Long Walk to English

This is the hallway that I walk down to teach English to two (sometimes three) kids. Every time I see this hallway I want to call out, "Dead man walking!" or I feel like I'm in a funhouse.

When I arrive, there are two boys, aged eight and eleven, and a girl, aged five. The girl is always happy and excited. The boys are less than thrilled. I have never experienced such a lackluster response when I enter a house, but these boys are so shy and seemingly not interested, I wonder what I can do to get them excited. I can usually get them involved when I bring a game, but it's like pulling teeth.

Today the eight year old simply walked away, and I talked to the eleven year old. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that he was tired because he played soccer.

Me (in Japanese) What's wrong?

Him (in English) Tired.

Me: Why?

Him: Soccer.


I asked him if he liked English lessons, and he looked up a word in his electronic dictionary and showed me: ordinary, common. The eight year old said so-so. I can't tell if they really don't like it or if they're too cool for English lessons. It's not like I sit there and drill them. We play games! The thought just occurred to me that maybe they don't like starting with homework. I like to see what they're doing in school. Oh well.

Finally I brought out my game and told their mom that I would play with the five year old, and when I did, the other two got interested. We had a good time, but then when it came time to say goodbye, not a word out of them. It's puzzling, but I'll keep trying.

Dilemma

Both Kid Nation and America's Top Model are having their series premieres tonight at the same time and I don't have TiVo!!!

English Makes No Sense

I teach English conversation to Japanese kids and adults. Last week I was with an eleven year old girl, discussing the difference between "desert" and "dessert". We went through the pronunciation: DEsert...deSSERT. We did it a few times for fun, and all was well.

A few minutes later I was reading a book to her, and came across the following sentence:
"Don't desert me!" Sounds like the treat, spelled like the hot place! English can be so frustrating...

Cool Chair

There's this upholstery shop up the block from my house, and they put newly done chairs in the window about once a week. Saw this one yesterday. I love it! Reminds me of my tattoos.

And Now For Dessert

Lest you think all I do is eat fresh bananas and cauliflower, I give you...the Double Decker Oatmeal Creme Pie, courtesy of Little Debbie. Have you ever seen something so deliciously sinful, for only 50 cents?

Backstory: When I was growing up in Brooklyn, I used to eat all sorts of snack cakes. One of my favorites was the oatmeal creme pie, by Drake's. When I moved to Boston, I discovered they didn't have Drake's, but Little Debbie is the closest I'll get. I started getting oatmeal creme pies just for old time's sake, and then I started eating them on a semi-regular basis. And then I started noticing that I could pinch an inch around my midsection.

I went to a nutritionist, and told her that I needed to eat something sweet every day, so give me some choices. She told me to keep my sweets to 100 calories. A regular Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie is about 300 calories. Guess how much a Double Decker is? A whopping 470!!! I make sure I can still enjoy it by cutting it up into fourths and eating only one of those fourths. Only 117 calories!

I'm off to eat organic fruit for breakfast before it goes bad, unlike my Little Debbie's. They never go bad.

Eating Right...for now

Remember awhile back when I was complaining about organic food? My friend Mike noted that it might not be an organic problem, but a locally grown problem. Fruits and veggies may be organic, but by the time they are flown from wherever and then sit on the shelf, their days are numbered. Better to buy local, and they'll last longer. Visits to our weekly farmers' market are good. One other issue for me is that my fridge is teeny tiny, a little larger than a college dorm cube type. I do my best.

I'm going to do very well for the next three weeks, as it turns out. My across-the-hall neighbors are on vacation, and they get organic food , mostly local, delivered to their place once a week. They're not here, so guess who gets to enjoy the goodies?

Got the box today, and I felt like Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol when Scrooge turns kind. God bless us, everyone! In the box were:

apples
bananas
basil
red peppers
cantaloupe
cauliflower
celery
nectarines
pears
plums
potatoes

I split the box with our upstairs neighbor, and I got a phone call. My friends wanted to go out to dinner. Say what? Go out to dinner, when I'm just gettin' ready to try the new recipes enclosed in the "Good For You" box?

Yeah, I went. We had gourmet pizza. Hey, a girl can't change her eating habits overnight. I did eat 1/4 of the cantaloupe.

Another Great Idea!

I was just shopping at Trader Joe's, thinking, "I live by myself, I don't need six onions in a bag or two quarts of grape tomatoes", and suddenly I had an epiphany: Make a new section at the supermarket called Single Aisle. That's where you find food packaged in small containers, enough for one, perhaps two if you get lucky. Your food wouldn't go bad after non-use, and who knows, you just might meet that special someone shopping in the same aisle!

Sugar Shock!

Oh my god, I did it again. What is it about me and spilling sugar? And the funny thing is, I was on my way to get a healthy snack. I was going to pull down my container of almonds when my hand flicked the sugar bowl spoon, sending the sugar bowl cascading down, spilling sugar mostly all over the (thank goodness) empty dish drainer. It hit the floor too, making that terrible crunching sound I detest. I emptied the kitchen and cleaned it up. Made me want to throw everything in my house away. All the surfaces are constantly cluttered!

I was so frustrated by my spill that I forgot about the almonds and ate a Little Debbie's snack cake instead. More on that in a new post...

Whodunnit?

So Gerry and Kate McCann are going home to England, after being named as suspects in the disappearance of their 4 year old daughter, Madeleine. This story has gotten huge press since day one. Celebrities have given millions of dollars to the cause. Supposedly, this couple left Madeleine, along with her twin siblings, alone in a hotel across the street from where they were eating dinner. They went frequently to check on them. They've stayed in Portugal to find her, till now.

Now they want to go home. To what? Hire a lawyer? Get out of the public eye all of a sudden?

Here's the thing: police found traces of Madeleine's blood in the couple's car. My first thought was, "So what? The kid had a nosebleed/scrape and got blood on the car. Doesn't mean her parents murdered her." But I guess it was found months after her disappearance. But can that mean that the police just overlooked it the first time? Are they being framed? Or did the parents do something to her?

Usually in cases like this, I think the father did it. It's always the father. But for some reason, I don't think they did it. I mean, they have gone through a lot to publicize this case. If they did do it, my god, are they working hard to cover their tracks. So who did it? What happened? I don't know, this is a tough one. Looks like another JonBenet Ramsey, unfortunately.

Mayberry

I grew up in NYC. I am a city girl, through and through. I live in a town right next to Boston now, a town that I have nicknamed "Mayberry". Remember The Andy Griffith Show? That's the town they lived in. I call Brookline "Mayberry" because I see someone I know at least once a day, and many times I see a few people I know, especially if I'm walking past the playground. It's just a nice neighborly place to be.

The town really earned it's nickname this evening. At 4:00 today I was at the playground with one of my kids. We went back to my house, had a snack, her mom picked her up, etc. At 6:45 I went to look for something in my backpack (i.e. my life), and it wasn't in my house.

I retraced my steps and went to the playground, and there it was, nearly 3 hours later, still sitting at the bench where I had left it. Everything was still there. That's Mayberry for you.

I remember once I was in a movie theater in NYC, and when the movie was over, I walked out. I got to the last row of seats before the exit door, and I suddenly remembered that I had left my windbreaker on my seat. When I went back to get it, it was gone.

I just got off the phone with a friend who told me that her son's bicycle helmet and pair of Crocs was stolen from that same park where my backpack was. Okay, guess I was just lucky today. But another friend told me she left her baby Bjorn there overnight and it was still there. So I'm lucky and I live in a nice town.

Important Business

Readers, let me give you some advice. Today, tomorrow, at some point in the next month, sit down with your parents and have "the talk". I'm talking about the death talk, people. It is very very important. Find out if they have a will. Find out who will be responsible for taking care of things when your last living parent dies. Even if you are not the one responsible, make sure you know where the important information is. You never know if you will have to do something.

My most important piece of advice when your last parent dies is: Order a lot of death certificates, at least 20. They're not cheap, something like $15 each, but you'll need a lot for different accounts. Every company that you contact to tell them your parent has passed wants a copy of the death certificate.

Be prepared to get the runaround. This is not something you will want to deal with at such a delicate time, but it will probably happen. I'm dealing with small little details that can drive a person insane. Closed one bank account, only to find out it was automatically re-opened because my dad had set up an automatic payment at the end of every month. I didn't know where that payment was coming from, so his bank gave me the number of the bank they thought was involved. I called that bank, only to find out that it was from an IRA account. Now I have to call that place.

If you know all the accounts of your parent, perhaps it will be easier. Who is this organized, though? Not many people. In any case, the more you know, the better. I knew one piece of information, but I'm learning so much more. What a process. I'm going to make an envelope called, "What To Do When I Die". It will have all the numbers of people to call, or email addresses. All accounts, who gets the cat, etc. Only problem is, if I ever get my house broken into, it will be a thief's dream come true. Gotta think about that.

Thanks for reading. I needed to vent.

What's the Address?

I'm looking for number 40; Is this it?