I know I'm a bit late on this story, but...
Sarah Palin's unmarried teenage daughter is pregnant.
I guess that abstinence-only education really worked, huh? Of course we can't talk about it because it's a 'family matter' and an 'issue of privacy'. Funny, I thought the whole pro-life no sex education thing was premised on the idea that privacy was a myth created by liberals to hide their own depravity.
Let me tell you, if Barack Obama had an unmarried pregnant teenage daughter you can bet we'd be hearing aabout it 24/7. His political ambitions would be over. I guess the rules are different for one side of the aisle.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Opera Curse Continues
One of the more serious disappointments from my time in Buenos Aires was that the Teatro Colon was under construction, forcing me to go to the smaller Coliseo - or out to La Plata - to get my opera fix.
The situation in Saigon, however, seems much more dire:
This pinkish French confection used to house the National Legislature, but after the RVN government collapsed it reverted to being a musical venue and was given the uninspiring name of the Municipal Theater.
For my entire time here, however, it's been closed and undergoing repairs. The doors are open but the interior is blocked off, with cobwebs and a dusty notice board advertising long-past concerts.
One can't expect too much in terms of live classical music in most third-world countries, but sheesh, throw me a bone here.
The situation in Saigon, however, seems much more dire:
This pinkish French confection used to house the National Legislature, but after the RVN government collapsed it reverted to being a musical venue and was given the uninspiring name of the Municipal Theater.
For my entire time here, however, it's been closed and undergoing repairs. The doors are open but the interior is blocked off, with cobwebs and a dusty notice board advertising long-past concerts.
One can't expect too much in terms of live classical music in most third-world countries, but sheesh, throw me a bone here.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Teaching: the Only Hard Part is the Students
So I'm pretty well into the rhythm of teaching. Three of my four classes are fairly easy. The students are bright and willing work, and so class is not too demanding and actually rather fun.
One class, though, is rapidly becoming a nuisance. It's an unfortunate truth of Vietnamese English students that they have excellent reading skills, excellent writing skills, and at least passable listening skills.
But they cannot speak to save their lives.
Partly because they haven't had the practice. Most of them have had Vietnamese teachers, and since speaking is the hardest part they tend to skimp on that in favor of grammar and reading.
Beyond that, however, they just don't try. They won't risk being wrong. If they don't understand something they won't ask for help. They'd rather sit like in silence like zombies, hope someone else will say something, and then complain that the class is boring. I'll show them.
One class, though, is rapidly becoming a nuisance. It's an unfortunate truth of Vietnamese English students that they have excellent reading skills, excellent writing skills, and at least passable listening skills.
But they cannot speak to save their lives.
Partly because they haven't had the practice. Most of them have had Vietnamese teachers, and since speaking is the hardest part they tend to skimp on that in favor of grammar and reading.
Beyond that, however, they just don't try. They won't risk being wrong. If they don't understand something they won't ask for help. They'd rather sit like in silence like zombies, hope someone else will say something, and then complain that the class is boring. I'll show them.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
A Room With a View
My new apartment is up on the 16th floor, which gives me a fine view of downtown Saigon:
The first thing I noticed: no skyscrapers to speak of. I'm living in one of the tallest buildings in the city and it's only 17 floors high. THE tallest building is the Saigon Trade Center and that reaches 33 stories tall and is still shorter than the Washington Monument.
Saigon is a city of about 7 million people and the amount of available space is rapidly declining. Logically the only place to go is up, but development of high-rises and other tall buildings has been very slow.
Why that is I couldn't really say; it may have something to do with inflation or the very high cost of real estate.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
I found an apartment with a great view of the city. It's not the nicest building but it's a pretty good location and the apartment itself can be made nice and it has a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and spare bedroom/study.
My landlord demanded one month's rent up front plus two months' rent for the security deposit, for a total of $1200, or 20,000,000 VND. In cash.
It is difficult to exaggerate what a momentous sum $1200 US is in Vietnam. That's roughly the national per capita GDP. Demanding it in cash is like asking for a suitcase full of money.
But, when in Rome...
From the beggining, there was trouble. The money I thought would be in my account on Sunday wasn't there on Monday. Then I couldn't take out enough from the ATM on Monday. The I still couldn't take out enough on Tuesday. The nadir was having my Vietnamese motorbike driver take me from bank to bank seeing if they would dispense the necessary cash (they did not).
Finally I had my Vietnamese fixer show up in the middle up the night with the last 4 million VND. I was finally able to pay him back today.
So I survived. But it wasn't easy.
My landlord demanded one month's rent up front plus two months' rent for the security deposit, for a total of $1200, or 20,000,000 VND. In cash.
It is difficult to exaggerate what a momentous sum $1200 US is in Vietnam. That's roughly the national per capita GDP. Demanding it in cash is like asking for a suitcase full of money.
But, when in Rome...
From the beggining, there was trouble. The money I thought would be in my account on Sunday wasn't there on Monday. Then I couldn't take out enough from the ATM on Monday. The I still couldn't take out enough on Tuesday. The nadir was having my Vietnamese motorbike driver take me from bank to bank seeing if they would dispense the necessary cash (they did not).
Finally I had my Vietnamese fixer show up in the middle up the night with the last 4 million VND. I was finally able to pay him back today.
So I survived. But it wasn't easy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)