Saaga

I now have a better understanding of a couple of phrases I had head often in the past:

1. Baby shit yellow.
2. Sticks like shit to a blanket.

I don’t understand why Jokes made to someone at the airport about bombs are a criminal offense. I can only think of a few reasons:
1. Terrorists like to joke about the bombs they are carrying.
2. Airport security have no sense of humour.
3. The government is trying to keep us afraid and therefore easier to control.
4. A joke about a bomb (in extremely rare cases) actually creates a bomb in the same way that lies make baby Jesus cry.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but not changed enough so that anyone that knows my class well will know of whom I speak.

I was watching the kids interact with one another during a group activity yesterday and instead of focussing on what they were doing, I got caught up in viewing their social organization. They were meant to be doing a spelling activity that required all of them to be completely involved for it to work. The conversation went as follows:

Abby and Gabrielle look up from choosing words to write and see Nick fooling around with his paper and Toshiro looking out the window.

Gabrielle: Hurry up guys.
(Toshiro looks at Gabrielle. Nick straightens his paper and picks up his pencil. Gabrielle goes back to work. Toshiro looks at Nick.)
Abby: Toshiro?
(Toshiro looks at Abby. Nick taps his pencil on the desk. Gabrielle looks up and frowns.)
Gabrielle: Guys, seriously, we have already wasted a whole minute.
(Gabrielle points at the word list in front of Nick. Nick slowly starts writing. Gabrielle goes back to work.)
Abby: Toshiro?
(Toshiro looks at Abby again. Gabrielle looks up and glares at the boys.)
Gabrielle: Nick, hurry up!
(Gabrielle looks at me sheepishly after yelling at Nick. Nick writes furiously. Toshiro looks at Gabrielle. Abby goes over to Toshiro and starts writing his words for him.)

Clearly the kids are falling into the gender stereotypes we see in adults. I work with nine year olds, but I see the same thing with the five year olds in our reading buddy class. The girls boss the lazy boys around. Get used to it boys.

She has started smiling inside the last week or so. This video was taken last weekend in Strasbourg.

Everywhere I travel I notice a particular kind of local. They are generally dressed poorly, have bad haircuts and shout at their own kind on a regular, albeit intermittent basis. I have posted about these ‘people that fashion forgot’ a number of times before and have always referred to them as ‘bogans’, however on our recent trip to Strasbourg we saw quite a few. In fact there are so many in Strasbourg that the locals have a name for them…Strasbogans.

Jerry Seinfeld put out the idea that once you wear sweat (track) pants in public to do anything other than play sport, you have given up. I tend to agree with this, despite not being much of a Seinfeld fan, but I think it could have been taken a step further. The sweat pants are bad, but what is worse is when they are twinned with the bum-bag.
The worst part of this is the dependence that occurs:

1. My wallet falls out of my crappy fleece pockets so I need somewhere to keep it safe.
2. The crappy elastic isn’t strong enough to stop my pants sliding off my hipless waist. I need something to keep my pants up.

I suppose what I am really probably doing here is inspiring someone to create the perfect hybrid of fleece pants and waist pouch, thereby becoming a millionaire overnight. I suppose I will be fired from the bureau* for this.

The bum-bag is an ugly device and should be done away with, even for tourists. The best way to accomplish this would be to have a six month amnesty, where bogans and older tourists could come into the office*and hand the offending article in and receive a Holden shirt or a dolphin key chain or some stone washed jeans or maybe even some white high heels.

*This bureau is yet to be named

Rob and Irena sent us something to make soup out of:

We have just spent a grueling 8 weeks without a break at school with the kids and have now earned a week off. We are going to Stasbourg for a few days, but will be spending the most of our time back in the ‘dorf. The good thing about Strasbourg is that it is only nominally French. All the locals speak German, so we get French cuisine, but are able to speak to people. Huzzar!

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