In Which Something Important is Created

I heard on the news a few days ago a good reason to buy an iPhone. It has a program you can download called "Got2P". Using GPS, it tells you the location of the nearest bathroom and how to get there. How cool is that?

In Which I Start a New Fashion

After spending 4 hours taking practice tests, I went out. First I changed into more appropriate clothes and put on make-up and jewelry. I spent an hour reading professional journals at Starbucks, then ran a few errands at stores and the library. At my last stop, I caught a glimpse of myself in my car window. Apparently, I had put on two different earrings. One was a dangling fuchsia flower. The other was a dangling blue and white oval on a gold background. This could catch on....

In Which I Study

....and now for an "I hate Virginia" moment.

I think I have discovered why Virginia has to import qualified teachers.

I have spent today (and will spend tomorrow) studying for the three state licensing board tests I will be taking next Saturday. Two are tests of basic reading and writing. The practice reading test was straight-forward, if oddly weighted down with passages about non-WASP cultural practices.

The practice writing test was bizarre. It requires writing a summary of an article because, apparently, summarizing in written form is essential for Virginia teachers. I can honestly say that I never, in 5 years, wrote a summary while teaching in New York. The test also requires the standard 5-paragraph persuasive essay, the bane of college professors everywhere. It is by far the most boring form of essay writing. The funniest bit, though, was the the example of a strong response. Besides being woefully informal (I was taught NEVER to use contractions in an essay), it has several major grammatical defects, including at least 1 run-on sentence.

One wonders, "Shall one eschew the use of poly-syllabic verbage in favor of a more simplistic rendering of one's opinion in order to facilitate accessiblity to the text by those grading (who undoubtedly graduated under the afore-mentioned flawed educational system), thus maximizing the potential for successfully navigating the clearly inadequate system, yet betraying the principle of always performing to the maximum of one's potential?"

One sighs. Then one inevitibly answers, "Yes."

In Which I Go Barefoot and on Vacation

I tried to go out for coffee on Wednesday with a woman from church. It was a warm and sunny day, so I was excited to pull my flip-flops out of my closet. Then my washing machine went berserk. It moves across the floor during the spin cycle. This time, it moved a little too far and pulled the drainage hose out of the wall. Ooops.

After cleaning up that mess, I finally put on my flip-flops and headed out the door. I pulled into Starbucks, got out of the car, took one step and tripped. The thong of my sandal broke! It's very hard to walk in flip-flops without the flip. I sort of skated across the parking lot without lifting my foot off the ground.

I ordered a decaf coffee, it being late in the evening, and was told I would have to wait, as they only made decaf by request after 4:00 pm. (Huh? Why would you want decaf before 4:00 pm?) While I waited, a wizened little old man from Vietnam proceeded to tell me that I had beautiful feet, and he knew it was because I wore open-toed shoes. Sandals would prevent me from getting in-grown toe-nails or black nail fungus. Sandals are great shoes, as long as they are intact. At least, I think that is what he was said. About half of it was in Vietnamese.

By the time I half-skated over to the table where the woman from church was waiting, she was a very confused. It seems she has never received complements from unknown old foreign gentlemen with heavy accents. It happens to me frequently. I'm not sure why.

This week, I also went to a meeting of the Optimist International Club. A teacher I work with was getting an award for dedicated service to children. Apparently the only optimists in this area are Indian, as nearly all of those attending who were not connected with this teacher had moved from India in the past 10 years. I suppose Americans are too pessimistic right now to be optimistic? It was a bit surreal to go to a meeting where everyone was smiling, shaking hands, and clapping at each other for 90 minutes; rather like a vacation to Disney World.

License Plates

For all you Harry Potter fans, I saw a license plate yesterday that was: RAVNCLA.

In Which I Visit the Arab World

The John F. Kennedy Center has a celebration of arts in the Arab world going on right now. I went to a concert last night of songs from the golden age of Egyptian cinema, which happens to coincide with the golden age of American cinema around the early '40's. Musicals were very popular in the Arab world, just like in the English-speaking world, apparently. Live musicians and singers performed several songs from the movies that must be very well-known and loved in the Arab world, judging by the wild applause and humming along of the Arabic-speaking people around me.

I'm not a great judge of Arabic vocal music, being more familiar with the instrumental side of things, but I could tell the singers were very talented. I wish I could understand what they were singing about. It was certainly a break from the ordinary, and a welcome one.

There were also many displays of photogtaphy and jewelry, as well as a large collection of wedding dresses from many Arabic-speaking countries. They were quite beautiful. I promised to post a few, and here are a couple of favorites.

Snow Day Continued...

I was right. School is closed tomorrow due to extreme (15 degrees?) temperatures and ice. Instant long weekend!