Monday, July 07, 2003
Whew!
Well, among other things, I've safely arrived in Chester. I did end up getting sideswiped by an 18-wheeler in an incident of Road Rage, but both the car and the self are okay (other than a damaged mirror and tire skids along my passenger side). I tried to follow him to get his insurance info, but he saw me behind him and delayed just long enough at a yellow light to leave me behind. Of course, I did end up getting his tags, so I called his state's DMV, which gave me the name of the owner of the trailer. I then called that person, and they told me to which company they'd leased it. I've filed a report with the police, so we'll see what happens.
My roommates, Barry and Andrew, were gone when I arrived, returned later, and are now gone again for two weeks to New Mexico with some of the kids on a mission to the Navajo. Their house is a pigsty (yes, it's bad when I say that about a place), and I've been tidying it up a bit.
I ended up visiting Philadelphia Biblical University, which seemed like a nice enough place, without that eerie Fundamentalist tinge that some schools have. I mean, it's good to have a strong Christian influence, but sometimes it's just taken a little far. It's something between endearing and a little pitiful when the admissions person (a very nice girl, by the way) talks about things their school has of which your school has about three, and they're all bigger. It reminds me of when I was looking at colleges and some school from the Midwest used "pretty campus" as a major selling point. I looked at them, and essentially told them that this is Virginia, and most of the schools have pretty campuses. Still, PBU seems like a very nice, non-eerie school. Of course, I'd have to take classes in Bible before I'd be able to attend, which would up the cost of the education, so I may simply try and go for Penn State or something like that.
On July 3rd, Barry, Andrew, Erin, Renee (other missionaries), and I went to the Phillies-Cubs game. I can't remember the last time I saw a game where I had absolutely no stake in either team, and it was an interesting experience. The Phillies won by something like 11-2, and then there were fireworks. I'm younger than all the regular missionary teachers, as most of them are between 26 and 29, discounting Vicki and Barry, who are respectively 23 and 24. Luckily, most of them are even less mature than I am, so things work out well.
Today was extremely tiring. I want a nap. It's hard to be a disciplinarian, but if you start hard, you can ease up later on. If you simply give in all the time, the kids are going to take advantage of you. The biggest thing was making them walk up and down the stairs several times until they got it right, which they hated, but which eventually worked. Of course, being very tired, I had some interesting exchanges.
Student: "[another student]'s trying to kill me out there [in the gym]!"
Me: "Well, come get me if they succeed."
What Another Teacher Said: "Who can tell me about serving size?" [they were learning about the Food Pyramid]
What I Heard: "Who can tell me about being circumcised?"
Again, I need a nap. Probably some Ramen and some Tropical Sprite Remix, too.
Well, among other things, I've safely arrived in Chester. I did end up getting sideswiped by an 18-wheeler in an incident of Road Rage, but both the car and the self are okay (other than a damaged mirror and tire skids along my passenger side). I tried to follow him to get his insurance info, but he saw me behind him and delayed just long enough at a yellow light to leave me behind. Of course, I did end up getting his tags, so I called his state's DMV, which gave me the name of the owner of the trailer. I then called that person, and they told me to which company they'd leased it. I've filed a report with the police, so we'll see what happens.
My roommates, Barry and Andrew, were gone when I arrived, returned later, and are now gone again for two weeks to New Mexico with some of the kids on a mission to the Navajo. Their house is a pigsty (yes, it's bad when I say that about a place), and I've been tidying it up a bit.
I ended up visiting Philadelphia Biblical University, which seemed like a nice enough place, without that eerie Fundamentalist tinge that some schools have. I mean, it's good to have a strong Christian influence, but sometimes it's just taken a little far. It's something between endearing and a little pitiful when the admissions person (a very nice girl, by the way) talks about things their school has of which your school has about three, and they're all bigger. It reminds me of when I was looking at colleges and some school from the Midwest used "pretty campus" as a major selling point. I looked at them, and essentially told them that this is Virginia, and most of the schools have pretty campuses. Still, PBU seems like a very nice, non-eerie school. Of course, I'd have to take classes in Bible before I'd be able to attend, which would up the cost of the education, so I may simply try and go for Penn State or something like that.
On July 3rd, Barry, Andrew, Erin, Renee (other missionaries), and I went to the Phillies-Cubs game. I can't remember the last time I saw a game where I had absolutely no stake in either team, and it was an interesting experience. The Phillies won by something like 11-2, and then there were fireworks. I'm younger than all the regular missionary teachers, as most of them are between 26 and 29, discounting Vicki and Barry, who are respectively 23 and 24. Luckily, most of them are even less mature than I am, so things work out well.
Today was extremely tiring. I want a nap. It's hard to be a disciplinarian, but if you start hard, you can ease up later on. If you simply give in all the time, the kids are going to take advantage of you. The biggest thing was making them walk up and down the stairs several times until they got it right, which they hated, but which eventually worked. Of course, being very tired, I had some interesting exchanges.
Student: "[another student]'s trying to kill me out there [in the gym]!"
Me: "Well, come get me if they succeed."
What Another Teacher Said: "Who can tell me about serving size?" [they were learning about the Food Pyramid]
What I Heard: "Who can tell me about being circumcised?"
Again, I need a nap. Probably some Ramen and some Tropical Sprite Remix, too.
