A Roadbump on the Information Superhighway

It seems as though Murphy's Law is still in full effect, even half way across the globe... Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

My Xbox is working... and the wireless internet breaks... of course. It's not so much that I'm surprised, or mad, or really anything other than that feeling where you just want to roll you eyes at the near perfect ironic timing of it all... irked? No. Bemused? A little. Annoyed? Somewhat.

Maybe it's bemoyed. Regardless, until I figure this thing out (or more precisely. whoever I've been leeching wireless gets his shit together), or I give in and hook up my own wireless router in my apartment - really the more intelligent option, as I hate the shoddy service mystery router "yh" gives me sometimes - My neat-o, gee-wiz laptop will sit quietly shut unless I'm at the school.

Thank God I have this desktop, though - slower than frozen molasses it may be. It's a little harrowing to realize how dependent you become on something like the internet - the instant gratification of it all, that feeling of being always connected to a great, vast "Other" - only once you think it's been taken away. For a while I almost broke my connection on this computer, and I began to panic. Though I think I have a little more reason than most to have done so... after all, this is the only link I have to everyone back home. If it's gone I'm really alone out here... scary...

I think I know how a bee feels when it loses its hive... or maybe more like a borg drone once he's cut off from the insidious collective.

Regardless, I had one class of my freshmen today (one, not the previously stated two... I know, I was as surprised as you are), making it a very painless day, indeed. Of course, that means tomorrow I'll be up at the buttcrack of dawn just like fridays, teaching 3 classes per day. But really, there's sometihng nice about that prospect, in its own strange way. After 3 consecutive iterations of the same exact content, I find that my presentation becomes rather polished. I don't get afraid standing at the head of a class. Quite the opposite, in fact. I almost put on a performance... the kids seem to enjoy it (though they may just be laughing at how dumb the foreigner is making himself look). My only real hope is that they're learning in the process.

Case in point, I showed up early to class today, and the students seemed *particularly* shocked that a foreign teacher was walking into the room. Now they're always surprised, this this was doubly so. What's more, they seemed especially bad at basic English... yes this was they "lower tier" class, but they didn't seem to understand even me saying hello...

It became obvious. however, when none of the name on my list were names of the kids in the class that a grievous error had been made, and I was the one who'd made it. I had asked, quite specifically, if this was the "English Writing" class, and they had replied in the affirmative. It was only at this point, though, that I realized how similar "English Writing" and "Environmental Science" apparently sounded to them. Yes, I was in the wrong class.

And so I showed up a good 15-20 minutes late to my real class... What a way to introduce oneself! Still, after catching my breath - like the actor who misses a line on opening night - I was forced to just go with it. As Richard Gere sings in Chicago "As long as you keep 'em way off balance, how can they tell you got no talent? Razzle-dazzle 'em and they'll beg you for more!" It went fine, ultimately... but I'm hoping tomorrow goes a bit more according to plan.

(CS)WC Out.

Out there and sober as well from loneliness