Have you ever wondered what happens on Facebook when you go to bed? If you are not in the same time zone—in my case half way around the world—and all your friends are in another time zone, when you wake up in the morning you might be surprised at what has happened while you were asleep.
You know, you go to bed thinking that everything is right with the world and right with Facebook but when you wake up in the morning and log on, suddenly you are one or two friends down than you were when you last checked your status the night before.
What happened? Where did they go? Did I say or do something wrong? I know this is not like Eliot’s Prufrock where the “women come and go talking of Michelangelo” or The Bard’s Scottish Tragedy with a “poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.”
I find it amusing on these social networking sites how people really do come and go, where you might not hear from someone for some time or someone who once befriended you, has suddenly “un-friended” you.
Last night when I went to bed I had 314 friends on Facebook. Okay, that’s probably more than enough friends to have and it’s not like I am keeping in touch with all of them every day and vice versa, but when I woke up this morning I was one friend short. Hmm, I wondered when I noticed that I was now at 313 friends. Who is that missing friend? More importantly, why doesn’t that person want to be my friend anymore?
Someone was gone this morning. Well, I could go through all my friends and try to remember who you were but that might take some time. So, I will just have to say good bye to whoever you are and wish you all the best.
don’t get me down. In fact, I love rainy days and Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday…I think you get the picture.
My first full week of teaching after a light schedule last week. The next semester begins on March 2, but until then I have a couple of English institute classes to teach. It’s a still light schedule with plenty of quality time to work on my novel.
This coming weekend is Sollal or Lunar New Year when the entire country will be on vacation mode.
Saw a sign at Mickey D’s today that they will be open on Sollal. Cool. I’ll be able to have my Big Mac and Bulgogi Burgers.
Came across an interesting article in the LA Times today about English teachers being stalked in South Korea. This topic has been making the rounds a lot on expat blogs in South Korea since it first appeared and for it to be written about outside of Korea gives one the impression that it is quite serious. It’s all about this Anti-English Spectrum and the rumors that have been spread about English teachers in South Korea. This should be mandatory reading for anyone who is seriously thinking about coming to Korea to teach English.
And here I thought becoming a father for the first time after 50 was a little unusual; well not so according this article I came across in the New York Times the other day.
Well, maybe it wasn’t that unusual becoming a father. Of course, it was a good thing that I worked out a lot at the gym last year before I went to Laos to be with Aon and the boys. I needed to get in shape and to stay in shape just to keep up with Jeremy Aaron who was running me everywhere.
More fun on the inflatable funland for Jeremy Aaron. What’s really interesting about this is that when he was only a year old he wanted to play on one of these “big toys” as Aon likes to call them. To be sure, as soon as Jeremy Aaron saw this one in Savannakhet, he started screaming and chattering away in babyspeak.
Here’s a real photographic blast from the past for you!
Bud Tristano, this guy I was stationed with at Howard Air Force Base back in 1978 sent this photo to me the other day of us standing next to Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side of the canal.
I’ve seen a lot of Tuk-tuk drivers detail their Tuk-tuks with some awesome colors and artwork in Laos–like this one, outside a busy market in Savannakhet that caught my eye the day Aon and I were there shopping.
As an English instructor in Asia for the past 21 years, one of the things that I have done a lot in the classroom is correct language mistakes—in most cases, incorrect translations or incorrect verb or other vocabulary usage. Sometimes it is like being a “language mechanic”—fixing some of these common mistakes and language that gets lost in translation.
Of course, not of all these mistakes get fixed, especially when someone thinks they know English well enough not to consult with a native speaker or even someone with better English proficiency to check their English when writing a menu, directions on how to do something, or even the name of a restaurant or other establishment.
For example, back when I lived in Seoul there was this chicken place called Kenturkey Chicken. Obviously, the owner was keen on some name recognition—Kentucky Fried Chicken—to attract more customers; just didn’t see the humor in the misspelling of Kentucky I guess.
I know it’s not in the acme of good taste to laugh when you come across an incorrect translation or misuse of English—especially when you are an English teacher and should be sensitive and compassionate to those who make such mistakes—but darn it, sometimes this stuff is just too darn funny.
Take this list of rules and regulations for a hotel that I stayed at in Savannakhet. My favorite one is in Part II Number 2: “Visitors will not be laundered, cooked in the room, smoked cigarettes on the bed and made a noise to another visitor.”
The irony is that even though we know the English usage is appalling, we still understand what they are trying to say. Not everything gets lost in translation.
Starts with having to say goodbye to your family at the Savannakhet Bus Station.
The way this is going to work is that Aon and Jeremy Aaron are going to leave first on a local bus headed toward Pakse and later, at 9:30 I am going to board a VIP bus bound for Vientiane. If I wanted, I could leave first on a local bus to Vientiane like I have done before, but I am not too keen on a 10 or 11-hour journey not to mention the used Korean buses that look as though they are on their last wheel.
Aon wants to wait as long as she can before she gets on a southbound bus to Pakse—so she and Jeremy Aaron can spend as much time with me before we head off in our separate directions—but when she hears that some people have been waiting three hours for the bus to Pakse, she’s worried that if she doesn’t take the next bus, she might have to spend another night in Savannakhet. She decides to wait and another bus comes.
Jeremy Aaron does not want to sit on the bus and instead runs around outside. Where does the little fellow get all his energy?
And then it comes time to say goodbye. What exactly is the hardest part of saying goodbye? Is it that last kiss and hug you will have for the next couple of months until you are together again or is it looking into the eyes of your loved ones one last time before having to leave? Goodbyes were never meant to be easy and each time I have to say goodbye to my family they get harder and harder.
