You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2004.
Photos online
I put my photos of the Olympics online last weekend, and they can be found here. Some of them are a bit blurry because they’re shots of people in action (diving, gymnastics, etc).
You can view my photos of Herakleion (Crete) and Brussels on my normal Webshots account. My Santorini ones should be up next weekend.
The best way to view them:
1. Click on the name of the gallery you want to see
2. Click ‘View slideshow’
3. Click on the play button (3rd one from the left).
4. Sit back, relax and watch the photos go by.
Back to school
Today was the first day of the school year for our day classes. It started off at 8h30 with a teachers’ meeting/breakfast (rolls, croissants, salami, cheese, butter, tea, coffee, orange juice) and going over the administrative procedures. I also met our two new English teachers, Kerry (a 28 year old female from Scotland) and David (a 38 year old Englishman from the London area). David W (not to be confused with my boss David O) is the same age as me, but I thought he was about 45 when I first saw him. His hair is totally grey and his face looks much older than mine.
At 10h, we all went up stairs to room 32 and met the three daytime classes (about 45 students) and introduced ourselves to them. We were free to go after that, but I decided to stay around, get some administrative things done and talk to the secretaries about my holiday.
I arrived home around 11h30, planned my lessons for the three classes I had later that day, went back to the school to pick up Kerry to go to the company in which we both had to teach at 15h.
Kerry seems quite nice. She’s from Shetland Island, Scotland, a very rural island of about 600 people. She’s afraid to drive in Germany because:
1. She’s used to driving on the other side of the road
2. She’s used to driving on the other side of the car
3. She’s never driven in a city before (Koblenz is a big city to her).
4. The mere thought of the high speed of the Autobahn frightens her to death.
However, she’ll have to get over that fear to work at our school. All of us are required to drive (sometimes on the Autobahn) to teach at companies from time to time.
I talked to Claudia, the head of the German department today and am going to resume German lesson on Wednesday. Sandra will be my teacher, and it ought to be interesting. Sandra and I have a playful, love/hate relationship, but have agreed to keep that completely seperate from the classroom. She thinks it’s going to be odd teaching a friend and colleague. I hope it goes well for both of us.
David told me today that all of the English teachers are going to have to start teaching 7h30 classes, so I volunteered for a Tuesday one. I normally have to work at 9h45 on Tuesdays, so this’ll nicely slot into my schedule (the earliest I have to work on other days is 11h50). However, the idea of working at 7h30 again doesn’t thrill me. I did it Feb – Oct 2003 three times a week. Hopefully, this’ll just be once a week.
An observation from my holiday
Parking Tickets
Greece – The driver of a car parks in a no parking zone, leaves the car there, goes to a nearby cafe and sits down with friends. Five minutes later, the traffic warden that saw him do it walks over to the car. He whistles and waves his arms for the driver of the car to move it, waits a few minutes, but no one comes so he gets out his pad and opens it to start writing a ticket. The driver sees he’s about to get a ticket, yells “Hey” and runs over to the car. The traffic warden talks to him, points out the “No parking” sign, the owner gets in car and moves it.
Germany - The driver of a car parks in no parking zone, leaves the car and runs into the post office for a few seconds. A traffic warden comes along and starts writing a parking ticket. The driver runs back to the car, traffic warden yells at him for parking in a no parking zone, gives him the ticket and moves on.
(Part 2 was posted yesterday. I’ve decided to make it a series). The straw that broke the camel’s back was last night. I went out to a restaurant for a few beers with good food that I frequently patronise at lunchtime. I had two on the patio, then moved in to the lounge because it was getting cold. I met a couple from North America and we started talking. I finished my beer and ordered another one. An hour later, I was given a bill for four (they had been drinking wine and had paid for it before that). I questioned it and was told that I had drunk two outside and two inside, which was totally wrong. It turns out that the reason they had charged me for four, was because the waiter had heard me tell the the couple (who had asked about it) that we round up to the nearest Euro here, not tip 25% like they do back home and the waiter had been expecting (after hearing their North American accents). I told the manager if she was the desperate for my extra € 3.30, she could have it (and she took it). I won’t be going there again, which is a shame because I really liked the food and atmosphere. Anyway, Part 1 of the series: People are very unfriendly here. They eye each other suspiciously as they walk down the street with blank stares on their faces. If they bump into someone, ‘Sorry’ is rarely said, they just glare at each other. Heaven forbid people would actually smile at each other. If that happens, people think, ‘What do you want from me?’ A few weeks ago as I was walking into the supermarket, I glanced to my left and saw someone smiling at me. It’s such a rare occurrence in this country that I got scared! It turned out to be one of my students (that I like). Customer service people are so unfriendly here that it makes the words ‘customer’ and ’service’ oxymorons when used in the same sentence. In most shops, including supermarkets, and restaurants they treat you like you’re inconveniencing them as they launch your purchases off the end of the belt and glare at you while you put them in your trolley.
Why I hate Germany Part 1
What brought this series on?
Bedtime from hell, oops, I mean Germany. Don’t ask. I’ll post about it tomorrow.
How much I hate Germany. More tomorrow (actually.later today).
You have no idea
AAARRRGGGGHHH! I can’t do anything!!!!
It’s now 20h09 here (8:09pm) and I’ve just realised that all the shops are closed. According to German law they have to close Mon – Sat by 20h (8pm) at the latest and are forbidden from opening on Sundays. That means I can’ do ANYTHING NOW. Buy shampoo, soap, a bottle of water….NOTHING. I hate it.
Why do they close so early? Heck if I know. Probably so Germans can go home and spend time with their family IN FRONT OF THE TV IGNORING EACHOTHER (as in the USA).
Of course, staying open til 22h (10pm) would be a sin, even though it’d stimulate the dismal economy. Perish the thought.
I’ve just finished going through the emails I received while I was on holiday, and got one from a former student in Poland, Mateusz Ezlakowski. His family is moving to the USA on Saturday, 28 August 2004. His mother won the Green Card Lottery this year and the whole family is able to go. They’ll be living in Des Plaines, Ill – near Chicago. If I remember correctly, they have family in the area. Good luck to all of them.
Green Card Lottery
I participated in this in 1998. It was a great time.
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Tons of Flying Tomatoes Paint Spanish Town Red
Yahoo News
Wed Aug 25, 4:36 PM ET
By Emma Graham-Harrison
BUNOL, Spain (Reuters) – Tons of flying tomatoes streaked the streets of Bunol red and left 20,000 visitors wallowing in a pond of pulped fruit as the tiny Spanish town celebrated the world’s largest food fight Wednesday.
Locals boarded up windows and locked their doors as drunk and determined revelers donned goggles to prepare for the arrival of six trucks carrying 130 tons of the edible missiles that give the annual “Tomatina” festival its name.
The red frenzy began in 1944, when Dr. Paco Garces Sanchez and some friends tried to throw tomatoes into the trumpet of a passing musician. The next year they pelted balloons launched for the town fiesta.
“The year after that we decided not to wait for balloons or anything, we all set out with our tomatoes… but the mayor got very angry and called the Civil Guard,” Garces told Reuters.
The hour-long pelting session Wednesday turned the town square into a mass of slimy bodies, with some paddling in a waist-high pool of frothy tomatoes.
“It’s fantastic, the most fun I have ever had. I’ve been waiting for this day since January,” pulp-smeared Irish tourist Clarissa Hills shouted as tomatoes whizzed past her head.
TOMATO FUNERAL
The festival was banned in 1948 after an unlucky government official arrived in the town 25 miles west of Valencia on Tomatina day and was greeted by a hail of tomatoes. Grieving residents held a symbolic funeral for their festival by burying a giant tomato.
“All Bunol came along, dressed in black. There was a procession with a band at the front playing funeral marches and a band at the back playing paso dobles (a style of dance music),” Garces said.
The mayor eventually relented and agreed to reinstate the festival.
But not all Bunol is happy with a fiesta that costs the town nearly $60,450 and attracts a flood of heavy-drinking outsiders.
Garces said its growing popularity has ruined some of the fun. “Now you can’t even throw a tomato, there is no room to aim because people are right on top of each other,” he said.
Younger locals also worry about foreigners’ techniques.
“People from outside don’t know how to throw them; you have to squash them first so they don’t hurt when they hit,” said Irene Recueroaquila, 18, a student from Bunol.
And some tourists were overwhelmed by the mess.
“This is absolutely disgusting, I wish I had never come. I hate tomatoes,” said 23-year-old Australian Joel Gorth.
“I’m never eating a tomato again,” said 26-year-old London lawyer Laura Janes, pulling seeds from her hair.
I participated in this in 1998. It was a great time.
————————————————————–
Tons of Flying Tomatoes Paint Spanish Town Red
Yahoo News
Wed Aug 25, 4:36 PM ET
By Emma Graham-Harrison
BUNOL, Spain (Reuters) – Tons of flying tomatoes streaked the streets of Bunol red and left 20,000 visitors wallowing in a pond of pulped fruit as the tiny Spanish town celebrated the world’s largest food fight Wednesday.
Locals boarded up windows and locked their doors as drunk and determined revelers donned goggles to prepare for the arrival of six trucks carrying 130 tons of the edible missiles that give the annual “Tomatina” festival its name.
The red frenzy began in 1944, when Dr. Paco Garces Sanchez and some friends tried to throw tomatoes into the trumpet of a passing musician. The next year they pelted balloons launched for the town fiesta.
“The year after that we decided not to wait for balloons or anything, we all set out with our tomatoes… but the mayor got very angry and called the Civil Guard,” Garces told Reuters.
The hour-long pelting session Wednesday turned the town square into a mass of slimy bodies, with some paddling in a waist-high pool of frothy tomatoes.
“It’s fantastic, the most fun I have ever had. I’ve been waiting for this day since January,” pulp-smeared Irish tourist Clarissa Hills shouted as tomatoes whizzed past her head.
TOMATO FUNERAL
The festival was banned in 1948 after an unlucky government official arrived in the town 25 miles west of Valencia on Tomatina day and was greeted by a hail of tomatoes. Grieving residents held a symbolic funeral for their festival by burying a giant tomato.
“All Bunol came along, dressed in black. There was a procession with a band at the front playing funeral marches and a band at the back playing paso dobles (a style of dance music),” Garces said.
The mayor eventually relented and agreed to reinstate the festival.
But not all Bunol is happy with a fiesta that costs the town nearly $60,450 and attracts a flood of heavy-drinking outsiders.
Garces said its growing popularity has ruined some of the fun. “Now you can’t even throw a tomato, there is no room to aim because people are right on top of each other,” he said.
Younger locals also worry about foreigners’ techniques.
“People from outside don’t know how to throw them; you have to squash them first so they don’t hurt when they hit,” said Irene Recueroaquila, 18, a student from Bunol.
And some tourists were overwhelmed by the mess.
“This is absolutely disgusting, I wish I had never come. I hate tomatoes,” said 23-year-old Australian Joel Gorth.
“I’m never eating a tomato again,” said 26-year-old London lawyer Laura Janes, pulling seeds from her hair.
