Finally another blog post---I guess....

Well, I guess it has been way too long since I have posted anything, but I have been really busy here lately. The university students have been preparing for their final exams, and as part of that, the teachers had to give them "oral exams." This actually consisted of having them, in groups of two and three, read a passage, answer some questions about their own passage and also about what the other people read. Then they had to choose a topic on their own to talk about and then answer questions about that.

Unfortunately it wasn't set up as well as I would have liked, and even with the sections (reading and speaking) being broken into sections and having a rubric, it wasn't quite clear enough for my liking; it was still too subjective. The other teacher and I mostly agreed on the scores, so it wasn't too much of an issue outside of my own head. We have to do a report on this for the dean and probably for the head office as well. The passages were too long, the students tended to memorize their topics, and they really were unsure of what to expect as they have never done this type of thing before. All in all it was alright, but we do have a bit of refining to do.

In other news, I have been trying not to go crazy, though this is not as easy as it sounds. I have managed to get myself into trouble with some of the people in the office. I basically let the dean's assistant have it today when we talked about the upcoming test. The other teacher and I made the writing and comprehension portion, but the company wants to set the main portion of the test at the head office so they can have it standardized in order to be able to compare them across all the schools they have across the world, or some nonsense like that. As of then, we had not received the test, and we have to have the test for Thursday morning. As this test is over 4 books, I told him that we need to know if we are getting the test or not as we would need to set the test starting now if we are to finish in time. I also told him that there needs to be better communication between us and the main office as well. I let him know that I was not going to set the test and then not be able to use it; if it were just a weekly test, I would have no problem with it, but I am not putting as much work that is required for this in to see it wasted. And what would happen would be that the head office would be able to use our tests to put into their databases, so they would send one later that we would have to regive to the students. Obviously, I was a little perturbed.

He then called the head office and found out that the dean did in fact have the test with him, so all would be well. It was good that he came and told us. Communication breakdowns are too common, and I guess I have become just a little frustrated because of it. I guess this is all part of the game.

My air conditioner had been broke the past couple of days, so I was sleeping in a sauna. Luckily they came to fix it last night, and it is cool again. I guess they had to refill it. The 40 degree Celsius temperatures are a bit much, so I have to have it at least a little bit. Hmmmm...All is well now.

I am still waiting to hear about my vacation, so I am not sure what I am going to do. Hopefully I will hear soon. Summer school will start in a week or so, and then June and July will be over. Ahh the days are starting to go by so fast. Hopefully things are not so fast that I miss the good things that come with them.

I have also been quite the coward lately, but that is the way I am. I hate being shy, and I do what I can to overcome it, but I will always be shy and selfconscious. I have learned to deal with it and do things that are outside of my comfort zone, so I do not miss out on things, but I find that I am missing out on things that I really want to not be missing out on now. And even now that I know the other side, it still doesn't seem any easier.