feeding, dreaming, and teaching (not at the same time)

Well, I finally have put in the RSS feed link in my right column (thanks Paola!). I had done the FeedBurner thing a while ago, and when I saw the little icon pop up in the address bar, I figured that was enough. But maybe only people with Firefox could see that? Not really sure, but now it should be much easier for anyone who would like to keep current with all the exciting things that happen around here.

Hey, sooner or later, something exciting is bound to happen.

No pressure, um, but, subscribe, would you? It'll give me a warm fuzzy and all. And a warm and fuzzy blogger is a good blogger.

Or, ain't nobody happy if the blogger ain't happy. So do oblige. Please?

In other news, to balance my crazy bomber dream, I recently dreamed that two white doves flew into my house (male and female). I picked one up and stroked its head, but then when I put it down, it couldn't stand. I thought I had injured it, but no, she was giving birth, thus the trouble remaining upright. Understandable, especially because she was birthing an entire bird.

Yes, I'm well aware that birds lay eggs, but in my subconscious, birds give birth to little birds, fully formed. Maybe this is because I'm so freaking tired of seeing all these eggs around my house. Not that I don't love them, too. Yes, I'm also well aware that I'm all over the place.

Anyway, the male was nearby helping her along, and, in case you're wondering, all of this is supposed to signify a happy family life for P and me. I'll spare you the corresponding lottery numbers, but if you really want to know, send me an email.

Honestly, the best part of the dream was that I was neither a killer nor the target of a killer. A good night by anyone's standards, I would think.

On the teaching front, all continues to go well. I've even gained a student by word of mouth spreading, so I must've made a good impression during my first week. Of course, I've also been scolded for giving too much homework, i.e., exactly what the book provided by the school tells me to assign.

Apparently some of the kids are having difficulty working in time to do a page of exercises after each lesson. This despite the fact that I've told them just to give it to me when they're done and most certainly don't browbeat them if they haven't finished by the next class. I don't grade them or anything, so if they don't feel like doing it, hey, it's their parents' money, right?

I know. I'm a big meanie. I'll try to cut back.

But on the lighter side, yesterday, in the more advanced class, we did an exercise in which we were stressing the use of relative clauses to describe something when you don't know the actual word. For example, if you don't know the word "waiter," you would say something like "It's somebody who works in a restaurant and brings your food to the table."

From my Italian experiences, I know that your phrasing can get rather creative (buying superglue the first time was awesome!), so I figured this would be good for some laughs.

Ooh boy; I had no idea.

When we got to the last word, one of my students really took it to another level. I'm paraphrasing, but the exchange went something like this:

Student A: OK, this can be a verb or a noun. I *think* that everyone here has done this with another person that you like very much....

*raised eyebrows*

Student A: You know, when you are happy, and you want to express how you feel, that you enjoy being with that person, or maybe they've done something nice to (she meant "for") you....

*snicker snicker, eyebrows raising off foreheads*

Student A: I mean, you can also do this with people you don't know at all, but....

*raucous laughter*

Student A: No! It's something nice...and...oh! We do this when we meet someone, on each cheek!

(Finally) Student B: KISS!!

Me: See you next week! (replacing eyebrows to usual position)

Mwaaaaaaaaaaah!