Skatepark!

Kids in the village want a skateboarding park.  I think that's a brilliant idea, and I also think that it should be done.  They take up very little space, and are great for the kids to have a place to tool around.

The nearest one is in the next town.  The big disadvantage of this is that when they break their wrist/ankle/nose, they aren't quite so far away from family members who can help them, also they don't have to skate all the way to the next town and skate back (sometimes in the dark).

One of the kids is getting signatures together, he's one of my students.  I said I'd sign it too, and indeed I'm going to say to him that I'd be willing to help him out with getting a proposal put together to take to the city council.  Sort of direct them towards a more-likely-to-succeed plan....

Hope they get it done.  I may go off and do some research on skate park designs right about now.

Know what makes for a really cool half tube?  Me neither.  Gonna have to find out though....

duh......

Something I continue to find odd is the sheer number of students I have met in all walks of life who want to do almost anything they can to avoid thinking.

That sounds weird, particularly in an educational setting, but the fostering of original thought and investigation seems to be trying.  Maybe it is the fields I am in, but the curiosity and desire to rumble things around and work them through are sometimes somewhat lacking.

Just the facts ma'am. Just the facts.

That's what so many of them want, they simply want the chip inserted.  Slide it in here please and I'll be on my way.

I find this so very odd.

I can understand why some of them feel this way.  I have students, in Canada as well as here, who are being sent to my courses by their workplace.  They do not necessarily want to learn the material, but are required to do so.

They tend to be quite diligent, but definitely want to take the easiest route.

That rarely involved thinking.  Memorisation, sure.  Creative process.  They perceive not.

There is also something about becoming a student that engenders a passive relationship to the material.  This I believe strongly is trained into us by the schooling system that fundamentally views children as empty vessels into which we are obliged to pour a certain body of knowledge, attitude and experience rather than viewing them as active driving forces of the learning process.

This bites us in the butt later as well.  Instead of engendering life long learners, we are engendering life long passive viewers.  A self-definition that is inherently receptive and without engagement. Something to be thought about.

I acknowledge that everyone has their own way of learning, but I think every manner of effective learning should involve a certain amount of active thoughtful engagement.  No?  Yet shy away from it they all do.  I was listening to a Yale University class and the prof was urging the students, these may I remind you are Yale students, that exams are a time when they get the opportunity to truly grasp, possess, master and manipulate the material.  To think about it in new and creative ways.  To search for connections and relationships that they otherwise might not have forced themselves to have gained sufficient knowledge to allow to happen.  Not a sticking noise of delight in the background, but I do fundamentally agree with her sentiments and long have.  A well written exam, if you have studied for it, gives an opportunity to manipulate and focus the material that does not happen at other times.  Fun in fact.

Delightfully, my kids seem to agree (in general).  Eldest was checking out a book about paintings at breakfast, and loving it.  Youngest's teachers have also commented that she is not satisfied with simply completing the exercise, but rather wants to master and understand it, even in topics she dislikes.

Makes me utterly happy.

On another note.  Eldest, who as I am sure you have discerned is a teenager, came home and stated loudly and clearly that she is officially embarrassed to be a teenager.

So sad ;-)

books and fruitcake! I am Mr Putter, only younger and female. Oh, and I have a dog.

.....my folks are here, life is good.

......they brought fruitcake.  Life is extremely good.

......I am really quite pleased with today's canvas a day submission, especially after yesterdays rather dreary effort.

.....I think I should have gone for a stitch in my finger.  Or two.  Ouch.

.....went down to the next town and got a package of books.  SWEET!

    Two Kingsolivers, Nikolski from Canada reads, McPoems, and a couple of others...titles to come.

.....I have so very many great books to read, how can life be bad?

.....I ate fruitcake at 12:09 am.  Life is great.

.....my folks are here, maybe they'll help with the Mona Lisa puzzle that is killing me, it may take me longer than it took him, and he took YEARS at it.

.....I love books.  Time to go read.

.....I love that I can read a book in another language too.  Sweet sweet sweet.

.....if you have never met Mr Putter, you simply must.

.....I just found out that she has written more!!!  I am so going to have to buy them.  So what if they are for 6 year olds.  They are simply perfect.

Location, location, location....for your grandkids.

Fascinating aspect about living in a village.

You see, a lot of people here are still living in the self-same houses that their grandparents lived in, and their grandparents before them.  This leads to a rather different attitude to real estate.

The idea to renovating with an eye to resale value is simply bizarre.  Indeed we have been, lightly, ridiculed for the idea of considering this.  Upon mentioning the possibility that we might someday sell the house people have done double-takes;  they have looked at us with stunned expressions and mentioned that our kids and grandkids would most certainly like to live there.   They have looked at us and said that doing one construction idea over another would be a good idea for when our kids are living there with their kids.  They have let fly spontaneous loud and scornful snorts and guffaws. They have looked hurt.   We have, largely stopped mentioning this possibility.

We have discovered something of a cultural gap.

I have personally moved over 25 times, I think, and lived in 4 different countries, albeit for short periods in some of them.  The longest I have ever lived in one place, I believe, is around 10 years.

Cultural gap indeed.

I was supposed to do WHAT???

You know that work/family/self dance?

Yeah, that one, where you try and keep all the plates up in the air at the same time?

It's a bit of a btich, no?

I have promised myself that I will read more, that I will paint a canvas a day, that I will write/blog/reflect every day and that I will walk the dog in the mountains more often.

Nice.

Pulling some of it off.  Then comes that feeling that the plates are starting to get a little out of control, and some of them seem to be appearing out of thin air because you forgot they were there....you know those ones?

I find it easier in Canada.  I am working very hard with very long hours on a single focussed work place.  My childcare issues are usually straighforward, in that no one is doing projects that need supplies to be purchased (by me) and there are no birthdays etc. Personal life is somewhat paired down.

Here, not so much.

Chaos.  I teach more than 10 different classes, each of which has their own needs, requirements, markings and updates to stay on top of.  Two kids, each of with a never ending stream of odd requirements.  Having to by electrical wire, teach division with decimals (which are commas here just to make it more confusing) confirm visits, print documents etc etc etc......then there is basketball, the architects, the house, the garden....Then there is the man, and his work schedule and now his running schedule too.....gads.  My work in Canada and marking, booking tickets for trips and scheduling that - akin to a royal visit for all the different timetables involved.

The plates are coming at me like balls out of a hyperspeed batting cage machine.

I can manage that, IF I don't try and do any of those other things, like paint and write and read and go to the mountains.

Balance.  Such a challenge.

Survival techniques?

I have worked with a daily agenda, which is fine up to a point, but if something doesn't get done in a day I have to rewrite it for a subsequent day.  If I forget to do that, the chore disappears from the Universe until it bites me on the you know what.

I also have a calender hung in the kitchen where everyone can see it, but not too many people look and I am the only one who writes.

I also need to have a master list.....so that things do not disappear.  It is so depressing when I see it all totted up together though....

Solutions?  Techniques?  Ideas?

That don't involved losing some of my own time?

Yours sincerely,

Juggling in Spain.


...............later..............

1.  Went into a meeting at work that I sooooo did. not. want. to. attend, and it was great.  I sat to one side and whipped  through a mass of work.  Now, while I am still up to my nostrils in chaos, I am slightly more in control anyway.

2.  Note to self.  On a day when feeling overwhelmed and with too little time, possibly, just possibly, it is not a good day to tackle a portrait for the canvas a day.  THAT didn't work out too well.  The right eye? Just got too wet.  Nothing I could do.  Out Of Control.  I may go back in tomorrow with some acrylics if I have a chance and try to rescue it.  Or not.

Idiocy, part 2 or is that 20. or 200.

Went into BCN today.

Forgot the camera.  WHAT an idiot I am.  We went to the Ceramic, Textile and Decorative Arts Museum. (they are all in the same building) and then walked through town.

BEAUTIFUL day.

A ka-billion wonderful opportunities for photos and they are all on the stupid little dinky camera phone.

I will SO have to go back.

The phone camera took these images...they are passable, but bad.....

Imprints on an ENORMOUS jug....came almost to my shoulder and it would that three people to get their arms around it.

How many fish do you see?

He's a he in person.....

Lovely tile work everywhere.....

This was actually from a museum in Calella, but fits the theme. Honestly, the stuff is everywhere.

This however is a different topic.  Remember a while ago I talked about Chuck having to squish through the bars of a fence after he ran onto a farm property to avoid the shepherd's dogs?

Here below, he is sitting right infront of the gate he squashed through.  Those bars are some close together, no?

grizzle

Yesterday was not the easiest of days.  The problem was not external, it was me.  It was one of those days, where you cannot, however hard you try, feel the beauty around you.  You can be consciously aware of it, remind yourself of it, but nada.

I remember when we were on the boat, living pretty much a perfect life in paradise, and there would be days like this.  Crap happens, and crappy days happen irrespective of what is going on around you.  The thing about living expat, that one must guard against, is laying it at the door of where you are.  This god awful country and these horrificly stupid people, etc etc etc......Of course some things are difficult.  You simply don't know the system and you have to ask every stupid question you can imagine, and there will still be something you couldn't imagine having to ask about and it will come up behind you and bite you in the ass.

That is frustrating.

You get better at asking the stupid questions, and figuring out which stupid questions to ask.  But still.

Yesterday I failed to ask a stupid question.  One I had not imagined possible.  The Catalan course I was signing up for.......well, it isn't actually a course.  Despite that is it's name, 'Curs de distancia' it is not.  You pony up your money for the chance to take an exam.  You have to buy the book separately, there is NO online component. Not even a stupid chat session. NOTHING.  No teacher, no assignments, no explanations,  you and a book.  Every two weeks you can send in a writing assignment and get it marked!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!  You even have to buy the answers for the exercises in the book separately.

I looked through the book.  Having taken a number of language courses at this point, and having given them for years, I am reasonably fluent at figuring out what makes a good book and what doesn't.  This is not a great book.  Not even a good book.  The explanations are not brilliantly clear and there is nothing but exercises.

You and I all know that between blogs, messenger, twitter, flickr/picasa and youtube very high quality courses can be produced very nearly for free.

I should have figured something was wrong when I had to sign up for a distance course in person.

Ho hum.

Yesterday was not the easiest of days, but I have to send a big fat shout out to Nomad who read the first line of yesterday's post, never got any farther and simply picked up the phone.  LOVE the girl!

Sun's shining today.

Cheers,

O




......................later...................


Spent most of the afternoon slogging away in the new garden.  MOST enjoyable!  Worked hard and there are improvements......except I seem to be too strong.  The brand new shovel I bought this morning?  Busted the handle this afternoon.  Didn't think I had it in me, did ya!

Coral reefs and crochet

Black cranky nasty grumpy day......'nuff said.

MOVing right along, this talk  will let all of you crocheters out there realise that you were actually doing intensively advanced mathematics.

Nothing I don't love about TED talks, and this presentation is amazing.  16 min well spent.  You'll learn something about everything.

big google brother

Here's hoping that blogger doesn't afflict me with the weird and endless formatting problems I got yesterday!

Did a Catalan test today to see what level I have.  She so very kindly put me at the 'Cataloparlant' level.  That is Catalan speakers!!!!!!  Well, that was a nice little gift!  I am at the very lowest level of Cataloparlant, but I'll take that to be sure!  I'm now going to be signed up for an on-line Catalan class!!!!  Yahoo!!!!  Finally I will start to improve again!

I have to start on Spanish now.

I did want to ask if this has happened to anyone else.

Yesterday I got junk mail from Google.  It was mailed from France, but written in Spanish (OH NO!  The freaky formatting is coming back!).  It offered me 75 Euros prepaid if I bought google word ads for my site!

Now, first of all, this is not exactly the site with the most traffic in the Barcelona area....so I cannot imagine how I got the nudge.....but what really freaks me out is that it was sent to my name and my home address.

OK, I know that google is as close to omnipotent as it gets these days, but still.....a little obviously big brother-ish, don't you think?

Anyone else out there getting spied on?

Freaky.

What is the what

JG and CS over at the Hotchpot Cafe have a reading challenge up.  They love these.  This one sounds like fun.  It is a birth year challenge.  The books you read should all have been published in the year you were born.  

I was initially dismayed, but things are looking up.  One of my comments to them was this after moaning and whinging about what a crappy year my birth year seems to have been.  Then I came up with these two: 

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud won both the National book award and the pulitzer.....a list may be forming...., something by this guy Miguel Angel Asturias...still, gonna think about this a bit. Such an unpromising year.

Then they so very kindly came in with some help:
CS said:  
Don't despair, Oreneta. Here are a few others:
The Confessions of Nat Turner (Styron)
The Chosen (Potok)
A Garden of Earthly Delights (Oates)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Marquez), which was first published in Spanish in 1967.
Hope that helps.


Then JG said:
I looked for some for you, too, Oreneta. How about:
Tom Stoppard's "Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead" (it's a play, but it comes in book form)
V.S. Naipaul's The Mimic Men
Wilder's The Eighth Day
I did a little research on these and they sound possible.


Another commenter came up with the site, The books of the Century, from which I chopped out this section:

Fiction Bestsellers 1. Elia Kazan, The Arrangement 2. William Styron (tie), The Confessions of Nat Turner 2. Chaim Potok (tie), The Chosen 4. Leon Uris, Topaz 5. Catherine Marshall, Christy 6. Thornton Wilder, The Eighth Day 7. Ira Levin, Rosemary’s Baby 8. Irving Wallace, The Plot 9. Mary Stewart, The Gabriel Hounds 10. Henry Sutton, The Exhibitionist

Critically Acclaimed and Historically Significant Harold Cruse, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual John Kenneth Galbraith, The New Industrial State Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology Jacques Derrida, Writing and Difference William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude Peter B. Medawar, The Art of the Soluble Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle

Nonfiction Bestsellers 1. William Manchester, Death of a President 2. Johnny Carson, Misery Is a Blind Date 3. Eric Berne, Games People Play 4. Rod McKuen, Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows 5. Father James Kavanaugh, A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church 6. Sam Levenson, Everything but Money 7. Stephen Birmingham, Our Crowd 8. Jess Stearn (tie), Edgar Cayce—The Sleeping Prophet 8. Better Homes and Gardens Favorite Ways with Chicken (tie) 8. Phyllis Diller (tie), Phyllis Diller’s Marriage Manual .

Book-of-the-Month Club Selections Jan de Hartog, The Captain Cornelia Otis Skinner, Madame Sarah Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory John Gunther, Inside South America Thornton Wilder, The Eight Day William Manchester, The Death of a President W. S. Kuniczak, The Thousand Hour Day Harold Nicholson, The War Years, 1939–1945 Dennis Bloodworth, The Chinese Looking Glass Gwyn Griffen, An Operational Necessity Sarah Gainham, Night Falls on the City Will and Ariel Durant, Rus and Revolution William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner Svetlana Alliluyeva, Twenty Letters to a Friend George Kennan, Memoirs, 1925–1950

Here's where you come in. I'm hoping that you may have some background on some of these books.  Nabokov, I will confess to a prejudice against him, though maybe that is a good reason to try it.  Phyllis Diller's Marriage Manual is just to ridiculous, I may have to read that......I think I would like to try and read both the Marquez book and the Nobel prize writer's book in the original Spanish.  Now there is a truly psychotic goal, but one must dream big.  Naipul, again, haven't read enough of his.....


Any words on that?  Who the heck was Nat Turner anyway.  Feel like I should know....he makes it on three times.


On another note, Dave Eggar's What is the What came in the mail today.  I have never walked home so slowly from the post office, and it is only with the greatest difficulty that I have done anything else today.  Eggars is an amazing guy.  If you haven't seen his Ted Talks lecture, you should....wish it weren't so late, I'd like to see it again.  He is writing the auto-biography of another man.  A Sudanese man who managed to escape the horrors of what has happened there.  It is an utterly compelling bit of stunningly beautiful writing.  Cannot recommend it highly enough, and I am only at page 36.


All of the author's proceeds from the book belong to the man who tells the story, Valentino Achak Deng and are to benefit the Sudanese, both in Sudan and elsewhere.


Amazing in every single little way.