Happy Birthday, Andi!

I love you!

I love movie day

possibly even more as a teacher than I did as a student!

Olé olé olé olé

On Tuesday, I got to go to my first major soccer game in a real live stadium and everything. It all started when my cousin Jen and I were in the park on Sunday buying nativity sets at a little stand. All of the sudden, she bumps me and says, "Check out the cute tall guy, four o'clock." Within seconds, however, cute tall guy was next to us at the stand and started talking away in English to Jen. Turns out, he and his friend were Brazilian soccer players (hence the matching green training outfits). They said they were in town to play a game on Tuesday, and we should come.

At first, I thought it was Ecuador's national team against Brazil's national team, but it turned out to be for the South American Cup, so it was a normal club team from Brazil (Palmeiras) against a normal club team from Quito (Liga). But we decided to go anyway.

It was a blast. Jen has better pictures and a video of what happened after the local team (Liga) scored. And as far as soccer goes, it was quite the offensive slaughter: 3 - 2. Anyway, I really want to go again.

Why I count

4 weeks till I leave, 3 more teaching classes of Level III, 5 more Sundays of Spanish church, etc. I think I've spent all my life counting down to the next closest exciting thing in my life. I also think I've been chewed out for it nearly as much as for cracking my knuckles. People assume I'm living too much in the future and spending so much energy on future things that I'm not enjoying the present.

I won't say they're always wrong. Sometimes I count down because I can't wait to leave whatever situation I'm in, but usually the opposite is true. I count because it HELPS me to enjoy the present. For some reason (probably a TCK trait - Sheryl?), it helps me to bookend things. Knowing exactly when something will end or how many days I have to enjoy something reminds me to live it out to the fullest, to take advantage of opportunities, and to be pro-active in building relationships and things. In fact, seeing no end in sight to something is downright depressing and completely unmotivating to me. So, there's another MK quirk for you all.

4 weeks from tomorrow till my adventure in Ecuador expires.

Hippopotamuses

Even though I have never been to Africa or lived anywhere remotely near a hippopotamus, I have been selected the "Hippo Expert" among my blogging friends, so here's what I know:

Firstly, being the English nerd that I am, the plural is NOT Hippopotami despite the word's origin being Greek. The plural is in fact Hippopotatmuses, (yes, like that annoying Christmas song). Hippo means horse, and potamus means river. They do spend a lot of time in the water, which is also where they exert territorialism, never on dry land. To mark their territory, hippos poop and swish their tails to spray it around as much as possible. Lovely.

Obviously, they're huge. They average 11 feet long and between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds! And they typically live 40-50 years.

Apart from eating, they do pretty much everything else under water, including sleeping. Adult hippos have to rise to the surface every 4-6 minutes to breathe, but while they sleep, their bodies do it automatically for them. They don't even wake up. Baby hippos can actually swim, unlike their too-heavy parents, which is good because they need to breathe every 2-3 minutes. But they do still suckle under water.

One thing I'd always heard was that hippopotamuses are dangerous, causing more human deaths than any other animal except the mosquito. Apparently exact statistics are "hard to come by," but no one would doubt it. Even crocodiles run when they see hippos coming. Steve Irwin considered a film he made from a boat surrounded by hippos the most dangerous thing he filmed (clearly before the stingray incident).

So, there's my knowledge, Rachel, thanks to Wikipedia and Google Images.

How to regain control as a teacher

at least at the college level.

Yesterday, I was explaining the word "soon" to my Level 1 class. So I sang a little bit of "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King." They started whistling and shouting "Sing more," and I turned so red that they started laughing. And of course, the more they laughed, the redder I got until tears were streaming down my face. I kept trying to move on to the next word, but they were still whistling and ow-owing, and I just got redder and redder. I couldn't compose myself. So, finally I quickly said "Pop Quiz!" and they immediately calmed down.

This was also right after I thought one of my students was going to kiss me, he was standing so close.

Wonderings

Sometimes I wonder...

... why I get sick on the most beautiful summer-like weekend we've had since December?
... why the compliments that I look pretty today come on the day I feel gross and ugly?
... why things like driver's licenses and credit cards expire when I'm out of the country?
... why a Twix bar tastes better in a foreign country?
... why God created so many stars?
... why I keep losing the flashdrive with the important information, never the other one?
... why there are no Crepes and Waffles in the states? (the restaurant)
... why mountains cause me to worship?
... why I crave carrots?
... why my Mac won't connect to the i-tunes store?
... why Reported Speech is so difficult to teach?
... why God loves me even when I mess up so often?

Ideas?

I feel I've run out of things to blog about. Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday, Jen!

So glad you're in our family!