the terrible and the terrific

Today my 5th graders were surprisingly marvelous. I handed their tests back and maybe they either realized that they needed to whip it in shape or that I was nicer than they thought. Two of the words we worked on today were 'terrible' and 'terrific.' We worked together as a class to come up with a list of things that were terrible (homework, math, etc.) and things that were terrific--Ms. Hawww got included in this list. Ha! They've learned something ;).

We had different students show up to English lunch today. Cora and Swiky joined us at the table, and somehow we talked more about nutrition than anything. I shared many of the facts that my brother taught me as a result of his exercise science classes.

The motion in debate this evening was, "This house would give the Confucius Peace Prize to Hello Kitty rather than Vladmir Putin." Interestingly enough, Putin is actually in the center of controversy right now because he's being presented this peace prize for his 'peace' in not supporting the bombing of Libya by NATO. We got to hear some interesting perspectives on the issue...and other weird 'facts.' One student mentioned that President Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize to prevent him from going to war as a result of the financial crisis. ...What?? It's true, one of the students claimed he read it in a Chinese newspaper. This then led to a rant by an unnamed colleague about how Chinese press is what the Chinese government says it is because there's no freedom of press, so it's always tilted a certain way. I took what my colleague said and tried to restate it a little better by saying that the students should always look at multiple, reputable sources because there are varying opinions across issues. I used the Courier as an example of a paper tending to lean one way.

Dinner tonight was Italiano from my own kitchen. Marvelous! I found green peppers, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes all on a good sale last night, and after buying onions and garlic today was ready for a marvelous dish--and marvelous it was! I love when I can have something warm, healthy, and tasty.

Pictures of the day: These are also things I pass on my way into work. I would like to call this set of pictures "cause and effect." On the left, you see the Grand Lisboa Casino--probably the largest and most noticeable of the casinos on the Macau Peninsula. On the right, you see Cartier--the place where loaded men send their demanding wives while they gamble, the place where gamblers blow any money they may have won after they've won it, and/or the place where Richard Gere buys things for Julia Roberts...oh no, wait most prostitutes aren't that pampered....darn you, Pretty Woman! Prostitutes can be acquired right next door though...unfortunately.

Tonight we have a couchsurfer staying with us from Canada. She took a year off to travel and apparently owns her own film company. I'm amazed by all these people taking a year off just to travel the world and not work while traveling. Lauren was explaining to me that this is not actually that uncommon for Europeans. Well you learn something new every day.