Crazy dream

I am in Spain, Madrid I think, trying to find a hostel for the night. I walk into one and they say they are all booked up for the day, but that I should come back the next day. They say, "We have free cake after 6," and I say, "Some hostels have free champagne after 6." Then I walk out, wondering if my data plan works in Spain so that I can post about the incident on facebook. Then I think about calling my friend in Madrid and see her on the street right away. Next, I keep walking and for a brief moment I see St. Petersburg's skyline in the distance. It is so beautiful glistening in the dark, I start to wish that I was there instead, and decide to make a movie about the city set to this one particular song.

Next, I walk up to the waterfront (back in Spain) and a bunch of people are crowded up there. Out of nowhere a huge black and white ship appears, as if from the past. And people are yelling "Teddy Roosevelt is on that ship!" The ship starts moving and I start running after it. It gets faster and faster, turns into a train, and I am flying really fast to keep up with it. Finally the train gets too fast, and I can't keep up. I stop, turn around, and wonder how I'm going to get back into the city.

beautiful!

Polyresin Elephant

Girl in the Rain

Dancing at 2 years old. Amazing.

Watch "2 year old dancing the jive" on YouTube

Japanese Scholar

NYT: With Citizenship, Japan Embrac

"Dr. Keene was accepted by Japanese scholars because he has what Mr. Tsujii described as a warm, intuitive style of thinking that differs from what he called the coldly analytical approach of many Western academics."

My first smartphone :-)

I got a new phone and I'm trying out the speaker option. It works perfectly wow. So my first thought on the smartphone - it makes it much easier to do everything at the same time.  You don't have to switch devices. It really makes it easier to get things done. 
Impressed!!

They can't put anything on the internet that isn't true.

My favorite commercial :)  It is quite funny.

- Чего, Мась, преподносит?

- Жизнь, как говориться, преподносит нам сюрпризы.
- Чего, Мась, преподносит?

Students and Teachers

After I started teaching, I began to understand why my own teachers had always conducted classes in a certain way.  I always thought of myself as a good student - I did my homework, and I was never disruptive.  Nevertheless, I did so many little things, that broke the flow of the class, without ever realizing it.

One of those things is covering your paper as you work on individual assignments during class.  When I wasn't sure of my answers I always tried to hide my paper as the teacher walked around the class.  I felt embarrassed if my answers were wrong.  Now I realize how important it is for the teacher to see how the students are understanding the material.  As a teacher. if I see that the students are struggling, I think that I have described the material badly.  If I see that several students are struggling, I might interrupt the activity and explain the material again.  I only one or two students are struggling then I try to work with them, so that by the time the others are finished, everybody is on the same page.  Either way, the reason teachers assign individual work in class is to have the time to make sure every student is understanding the lesson.

On the other spectrum from not understanding - is working ahead.  When you understand the new topic and catch on to the concepts, you think - I'll just keep working, the teacher is just repeating herself anyways.  But for a teacher, one of the most important factors is to keep everybody together.  When students work ahead, they stop paying attention, and they might miss directions on a group activity or something like that, causing unneeded breaks in the class, and taking away attention from others.

Pay attention to your teachers!  They are there to help and only help!

Look - it's a scientist!

In San Francisco's famous science museum, California Academy of Sciences, exchibits are spread in globes and rooms separated by transparent glass walls.  As you walk around you see butterflies, rainforests, penguins, and all sorts of spectacular exotic things.  However, besides being just a museum, the Academy provides science laboratories and functions as a place for scientists to do their research.  To keep in style with the rest of building these laboratories are also shiny and high-tech, and visible to all through glass walls.  As tourists stumble from parrots to penguins you inevitably hear parents telling their children, "Look! It's a scientist!"