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Today was a fairly typical day. I’m teaching an upper intermediate class right now and the topic is adjective clauses. To make things more exciting, I decided to do a “Friends” episode with them. I had a vocab worksheet and a grammar worksheet as well as some comprehension questions. The students really enjoyed it and were able to catch so many more of the jokes than I expected them to. I have one student from Saudi Arabia and I was kind of worried about his reaction to some of the content- it was the episode that tells about how Monica and Chandler hooked up for the first time. He seemed to take it all in stride. That’s not to say that there haven’t been other challenges with that student. During a discussion on capital punishment, I heard him advocating cutting off people’s hands for stealing. I guess it’s a cultural learning experience from everyone involved. It really puts into perspective how small the gap is between some cultures and the vast difference between others.

The weather here has been totally phenomenal lately, but I feel like I have been taking advantage of it. Every morning as I walk to work, I plan all the things that I’m going to do after work. I usually imagine going Mt. biking or attempting to go for a jog outside. In the end I usually come home from work and want noting more than to chill out on the couch or on the internet. By the time I start feeling antsy, it too dark and at most Cohen and I go for a walk. It’s such a bad cycle. I’d like to think that if I didn’t have to drive to Mt. Bike that I’d do it.

I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since 9/11. I remember my friend Mike calling me and saying, “turn on the TV, the states is under attack.” I remember thinking, “I hope that a white American is responsible for this.” It’s hard to imagine what it was like before 9/11. I can’t help but wonder whether Barack Obama can really make any difference in the world. It will be interesting to see. It will be interesting to see if he even gets elected.

That was a lot more lengthy that I intended.