Some more pics and explanations2006 09 26

Just a few comments on these pictures.

The three wheeled blue trucks are everywhere..and some have four. But they carry everthing. I thought that they might be government trucks but haven't found anything definitive yet.

Buggered up an sent one of these already so I will go and delete the first one.

Notice the motorcycle. The helmet is optional....many do not wear them. The bike is seen all over too. All sizes, colors, styles and drivers. The motorcycle with the carrier at the back....that too is seen regularly. This one just pulled into the market as if it should be there. And you just walk around it. The guy with the big load actually forced the bus to slow down almost to a stop but the driver of the bus was blasting on his horn...the size of the fellow's haul is not unusual and it is a pedal bike....I have seen many piled higher than this. Looks like a fairly old guy too.

Terry Fox run with Mike and I ...the two hairless joined at the head twins. 4 of our staff trying in my hats. We were the hit of the run....tattooed with maple leafs, Terry Fox tattoos and generally having a good time. One student actually filmed me with his camera dancing to the beat of 3 girls on stage who were trying to get the crowd going. he posted it to the internet and told me that I was now world famous.....as if I didn't know that already.

We got paid yesterday. Just in time for the trips of the National Holiday in China. Most are going away somewhere. Even the kids do. Will be spending some of the money on a few items that I have found that are fairly cheap....according to our standards...golf clubs, bikes, some electronic stuff....we'll see how far it goes.

Had a very frustrating day at school as the students didn't know the first thing about conducting a simple survey of students in their class. The language barrier really begins to show some times. I have to find a way to stop them from speaking so much Chinese.

Others are finding out the same thing. They go to classes so late that some fall asleep in class. We are told to mark them absent...and let student services deal with them. Don gave a LCD presentation and had 13 of them fall asleep....that is the record so far...beating the 8 of his wife a few periods earlier...like I said....different. Have one student in GRADE 11 who is so far advanced, he has his calculus mastered, is reading about Karl Marx and wants to talk about Aboriginal rights in North America...he is doing a power point presentation on the Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a Dream" speech. It took hime one day to do the research and set it up...Christ he could be teaching my classes....just a brilliant kid..... the smartest I have ever encountered....
I am trying to see if he can skip the 12 and get accepted into university as an exceptional student.....kind of funny too because he tips his glasses so he can see the board but doesn't want to buy new ones because he is afraid his dad will worry about his eyesight...go figure.

Enough talk to you before I head out to Mongolia...if I have finished correcting all the test and stuff.