All year I've been collecting the hilariously quotable things that my Middle School ESL students say or write. Here is a sampling for you. Some of the things are easy to understand. Some are totally incomprehensible. Do your best and may you laugh out loud with me.
"God sent the flood because he was very hungry-I mean! …very angry…"
-J
"In case I don't return on Monday, Miss Foster, I want you to know that I think you're a good teacher."
-AH, as we discussed ParentTeacherStudent conferences
Question: What do you think a good writer needs to do to write well?
-Paper and pencils for handwriting
-Because if he do messy he get confuse-Now all the puntuation rules, now how to express and nows how to correct his own mistakes by himself
-To correct hes mistake, writer heary necia, and now go the page go
- A writer needs good capitalzation
A writer needs good pluraration
A writer needs clean papers
Directions: write your own sentence using the vocab word:
Overalls: "Overalls are the coolest pants ever."
Pungent: "After P.E. I'm pungent."
"I think Miss Foster is the best teacher that I never had."
-J
"Miss Foster, I have a little question of your life for you…if that is ok…"
-J
"I slept like a little tree yesterday."
-DB
"When we returned to Quito in new year's eve, I burned my mom, my dad, and I."
-journal entry by G
[editor's note: it's a tradition here to burn effigies of people at New Year's. Usually they burn family memeber or friends. I haven't really figured it out yet, but I know it's not a mean thing]
Question: What is something you do to help yourself study within your learning style?
"I like to be with a cd player while I'm studying."
-AD
Question: Write a mnemonic device to help you remember these words: cardinal directions- north, south, east, west.
Answer: Never eat slamy warms
-AP
"I told him that I felt in the floor because the horse shake it up and because he did not tide him to the tree."
-part of an original story by CP
"That is part of the teacher ecosystem..."
-JA
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Baby in a Butt Sling
In my home country when a person has a baby, that person almost certainly has a stroller. A stroller is the commonly accepted means of transporting one's baby or toddler from point A to point B.
Not so here. In Ecuador there are two popular baby-toting options. The first is carrying the baby. Can you imagine? Just...carrying the baby around....in your arms. It seems a little crazy to US-minded me. Quite inconvenient. And even little babies get heavy. Those women must have some impressive biceps.
Anyway, the other possibility is also the title of this post- the butt sling. Now, I've never carried a baby around in a butt sling, but I've watched the process a lot. Here's how it works:
-Materials needed: a baby; a large square of material
-bend at the waist and position the baby on your back, with his head peeking over one of your shoulders. If the kid's old enough, he can climb up there. If not, you either have to sling the baby up or get a partner to help you (I personally recommend a partner, especially if you're a beginner, though I've never seen a baby be over-slung)
-Once the baby's in place, put the cloth over your back, with the baby about in the middle of the square. The bottom of the cloth should be parallel to the ground.
-Scoot the material down enough that when you pull the corners up, the baby's butt is nestled in a little dip of material (I know- I think you might have to be indigenous in order to be able to do this)
-Once the baby's weight is settled in the cloth, pull the two top corners of the cloth around your shoulders and tie them together in front of your neck
-Straighten up slowly, making sure your baby butt sling is secure
Ta-dah! Now you're hands-free, ready to take on the city without a care, and your cute little baby can peek out by your ear and make the passing gringos (white people) smile.
*Sidenotes*
A. It occurs to me that the sling might be a better option here because the sidewalks are so hilly and in such terrible condition. No doubt they would be a nightmare to maneuver with a stroller.
B. I saw a variation on the baby butt sling in China. It's basically the same process, except that instead of tying the corners around their neck, the Chinese women tied the material diagonally, in the middle of their chests, with one end coming from over one shoulder and the other end coming from under the opposite arm.
Not so here. In Ecuador there are two popular baby-toting options. The first is carrying the baby. Can you imagine? Just...carrying the baby around....in your arms. It seems a little crazy to US-minded me. Quite inconvenient. And even little babies get heavy. Those women must have some impressive biceps.
Anyway, the other possibility is also the title of this post- the butt sling. Now, I've never carried a baby around in a butt sling, but I've watched the process a lot. Here's how it works:
-Materials needed: a baby; a large square of material
-bend at the waist and position the baby on your back, with his head peeking over one of your shoulders. If the kid's old enough, he can climb up there. If not, you either have to sling the baby up or get a partner to help you (I personally recommend a partner, especially if you're a beginner, though I've never seen a baby be over-slung)
-Once the baby's in place, put the cloth over your back, with the baby about in the middle of the square. The bottom of the cloth should be parallel to the ground.
-Scoot the material down enough that when you pull the corners up, the baby's butt is nestled in a little dip of material (I know- I think you might have to be indigenous in order to be able to do this)
-Once the baby's weight is settled in the cloth, pull the two top corners of the cloth around your shoulders and tie them together in front of your neck
-Straighten up slowly, making sure your baby butt sling is secure
Ta-dah! Now you're hands-free, ready to take on the city without a care, and your cute little baby can peek out by your ear and make the passing gringos (white people) smile.
*Sidenotes*
A. It occurs to me that the sling might be a better option here because the sidewalks are so hilly and in such terrible condition. No doubt they would be a nightmare to maneuver with a stroller.
B. I saw a variation on the baby butt sling in China. It's basically the same process, except that instead of tying the corners around their neck, the Chinese women tied the material diagonally, in the middle of their chests, with one end coming from over one shoulder and the other end coming from under the opposite arm.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ecuadorian Potato Chips
Potato chips are one of my favorite junk foods. They have them here, even Lay's brand, but they taste different. And by "different" I mean "worse". So finally I tried the local kinds and settled on a particular brand that I like. If you buy a personal-sized bag of these chips, there is no writing at all on the bag. It's just a small, clear plastic bag, sealed across the top.
Today I was noticing the information on the bigger version. Its simplicity (or lack of information) made me laugh. Therefore, I shall reproduce said information here for your enjoyment. I hope that it makes you laugh, too.
(translated by me. sorry)
(on the front of the small paper label which is stapeled to the top of the bag)
Potato Chips
"The Flavorful"
weight: 200 grams
(backside)
Ingredients: potatos, oil, salt
Lot: 068
Sanitation Registration: 08114INHQAN 0607
Date produced: March 7, 2009 [note: this was only 11 days ago]
Eat within: 1 month
Form of conservation: to the atmosphere (I guess that means, store at room temperature]
Made for: The Flavorful
Telephone: 262-8529
Quito, Ecuador
Suggested Retail Value: $1.77 (actually I paid $1.62 plus tax)
Nutritional Information (includes 12 items)
That's it! That's all you need to know about Ecuadorian Potato Chips. If you come visit me, I'll buy you some. We'll see if we can find a bag made a week earlier.
Today I was noticing the information on the bigger version. Its simplicity (or lack of information) made me laugh. Therefore, I shall reproduce said information here for your enjoyment. I hope that it makes you laugh, too.
(translated by me. sorry)
(on the front of the small paper label which is stapeled to the top of the bag)
Potato Chips
"The Flavorful"
weight: 200 grams
(backside)
Ingredients: potatos, oil, salt
Lot: 068
Sanitation Registration: 08114INHQAN 0607
Date produced: March 7, 2009 [note: this was only 11 days ago]
Eat within: 1 month
Form of conservation: to the atmosphere (I guess that means, store at room temperature]
Made for: The Flavorful
Telephone: 262-8529
Quito, Ecuador
Suggested Retail Value: $1.77 (actually I paid $1.62 plus tax)
Nutritional Information (includes 12 items)
That's it! That's all you need to know about Ecuadorian Potato Chips. If you come visit me, I'll buy you some. We'll see if we can find a bag made a week earlier.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
In the Middle of the Night...I Go Walking in My Sleep...
This morning I am awakened at 3:41 by the sound of my roommate sobbing. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I fumble for my glasses on the lampstand and shove my feet into my waiting slippers. As I shuffle clumsily to the door, I realize through my sleep-induced metal fog that the sobbing is not getting louder. About the same time a female voice began speaking in Spanish.
My roommates do not speak Spanish.
Confused, I stop and listen. I'm a bit more awake by now and I realize someone, or rather two someones, are having an emotional discussion in the parking garage of my apartment building. I look out my window and see a woman and a man sitting on the cement ledge, two stories below my window.
Sigh. Well, she's obviously upset, I tell myself unnecessarily. Maybe they're just on their way into their own apartment.
I lay back down, close my eyes, and will myself to go back to sleep. I listen to the sounds of their speech; his deep voice, an indiscernible bass, obviously trying to soothe. Her higher tones, obviously not being soothed.
I begin to rehearse in my mind how to say, "Miss, please. We would like to sleep. It is very early." I even practice the whiny voice (aforementioned in this blog) that will make me sound minuscully less like a gringa and more like I might have some grasp of the language.
I decide I'm ready. And I wait. Maybe they'll finish and go away. Alas. Even the most confrontational among us have these hesitations.
"What if something really terrible just happened?" I argue with myself. "Not like she broke up with her boyfriend [in truth, my first guess] but like someone died or just just got mugged in the street or she lost her job? Am I really so heartless as to interrupt this conversation?
I decide to let it run its course.
Fifteen minutes later, my practical side wins out over my compassionate side. I'm very awake by now. "Don't these people have an apartment? Or at least, go outside. People are trying to sleep here, after all. Maybe they don't even realize that others can hear them."
It's this false sense of civic duty that finally wins the battle. They deserve to know they can be heard, and we (the people in the bedrooms above and below me) deserve for them to be told. What this distraught couple DOES with their newly acquired information is up to them.
And so, waiting for the next swell of volume in the drama below, I stick my head out the window and say in my best sing-songy whine, "Senorita, por favor! Queremos dormir..."
I have forgotten in the moment the line about it being early. But I think the rest went well. It's too dark to see the woman's face, but I can tell she's looking up at me when she says in English, "I'm sorry."
Slightly disgruntled at the backhanded insult of replying to my Spanish with English, I settled back down into my bed. I console myself with the thought that, perhaps if nothing else, this poor woman will get a bit of joy from giggling at my poor Spanish. And I snuggle down to go back to sleep.
But I cannot. Sadly, I am wide awake by this point in my mid-night drama and hence, I sit at my dining room table, posting a blog at 4:42 on a Saturday morning. All is quiet in my apartment save the hum of the refrigerator and the far-off noise of someone's dog barking. The lights in the city are less pretty at this hour. They all seem orangey and worn out, like they know morning is coming and so have ceased to give their full effort.
I think about my life here. Sleepless four AM is a good time for pondering. How strange it seems that I live in South America. How much I love it and miss home at the same time. My love/hate relationship with all cities I've experienced. My summer trip home and all the people I'll get to see. Next year, how I want to change and improve my classes. My students, the funny things they did this week and what I need to teach them next week. My family, warm in their beds in chilly Ohio.
Birds are starting to chirp, which is my cue. I'm going back to bed. The plan is to read until I get sleepy. I'm in the middle of my second reading of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien. And it's Saturday, so I can sleep until I wake up.
Or am awaken by another mid-night crisis. :)
My roommates do not speak Spanish.
Confused, I stop and listen. I'm a bit more awake by now and I realize someone, or rather two someones, are having an emotional discussion in the parking garage of my apartment building. I look out my window and see a woman and a man sitting on the cement ledge, two stories below my window.
Sigh. Well, she's obviously upset, I tell myself unnecessarily. Maybe they're just on their way into their own apartment.
I lay back down, close my eyes, and will myself to go back to sleep. I listen to the sounds of their speech; his deep voice, an indiscernible bass, obviously trying to soothe. Her higher tones, obviously not being soothed.
I begin to rehearse in my mind how to say, "Miss, please. We would like to sleep. It is very early." I even practice the whiny voice (aforementioned in this blog) that will make me sound minuscully less like a gringa and more like I might have some grasp of the language.
I decide I'm ready. And I wait. Maybe they'll finish and go away. Alas. Even the most confrontational among us have these hesitations.
"What if something really terrible just happened?" I argue with myself. "Not like she broke up with her boyfriend [in truth, my first guess] but like someone died or just just got mugged in the street or she lost her job? Am I really so heartless as to interrupt this conversation?
I decide to let it run its course.
Fifteen minutes later, my practical side wins out over my compassionate side. I'm very awake by now. "Don't these people have an apartment? Or at least, go outside. People are trying to sleep here, after all. Maybe they don't even realize that others can hear them."
It's this false sense of civic duty that finally wins the battle. They deserve to know they can be heard, and we (the people in the bedrooms above and below me) deserve for them to be told. What this distraught couple DOES with their newly acquired information is up to them.
And so, waiting for the next swell of volume in the drama below, I stick my head out the window and say in my best sing-songy whine, "Senorita, por favor! Queremos dormir..."
I have forgotten in the moment the line about it being early. But I think the rest went well. It's too dark to see the woman's face, but I can tell she's looking up at me when she says in English, "I'm sorry."
Slightly disgruntled at the backhanded insult of replying to my Spanish with English, I settled back down into my bed. I console myself with the thought that, perhaps if nothing else, this poor woman will get a bit of joy from giggling at my poor Spanish. And I snuggle down to go back to sleep.
But I cannot. Sadly, I am wide awake by this point in my mid-night drama and hence, I sit at my dining room table, posting a blog at 4:42 on a Saturday morning. All is quiet in my apartment save the hum of the refrigerator and the far-off noise of someone's dog barking. The lights in the city are less pretty at this hour. They all seem orangey and worn out, like they know morning is coming and so have ceased to give their full effort.
I think about my life here. Sleepless four AM is a good time for pondering. How strange it seems that I live in South America. How much I love it and miss home at the same time. My love/hate relationship with all cities I've experienced. My summer trip home and all the people I'll get to see. Next year, how I want to change and improve my classes. My students, the funny things they did this week and what I need to teach them next week. My family, warm in their beds in chilly Ohio.
Birds are starting to chirp, which is my cue. I'm going back to bed. The plan is to read until I get sleepy. I'm in the middle of my second reading of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien. And it's Saturday, so I can sleep until I wake up.
Or am awaken by another mid-night crisis. :)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Birthday Treasures
This is the bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper (aka, liquid gold) that my friend Sasha mailed to me for my birthday. There's something to be said for a friend who is illogical enough to spend $15 in postage to mail a $1 bottle of soda to her friend in Ecuador. Thanks, Sasha! I'm savoring the idea of it for awhile before I actually drink it. Every time I see the bottle in my cabinet, it makes me happy.
This is one of the set of two lampstands that I bought at a rummage sale a few weeks ago. They were purchased with birthday money from my grandma. Thanks, Gramma Nell! I think of you when I see my lampstands!
(sidenote: yes, the lamp looks a little sad. The wind blew it off the stand this weekend. But never fear. I'm pretty sure I can fix it as soon as I find some superglue here.
This is me with my new (used) guitar, which I purchased this week with birthday money from my dad (Thanks, Dad!). I can already "play" (loose use of that term) three songs. My fingers are starting to get callusey, which makes me feel happy. I'm excited to be able to play well enough to accompany myself when I sing. Someday.
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