MUSIC

Here is my top ten for 2008:-

1. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

2. Portishead – Third

3. Sigur Ros – Meo Suo I Eyrum Vio Spilum Endalaust

4. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

5. Kings of Leon – Only by the Night

6. Foals – Antidotes

7. The Kills – Midnight Boom

8. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

9. Beck – Modern Guilt

10. Glasvegas – Glasvegas

<> Discuss!

In the face of the week’s extreme, -32, cold (this is the kind of cold that digs through five layers of clothes and settles in the bones for hours after you get home. It’s the kind of cold Chicagoans like to assure themselves happens in much colder places … like Anchorage!), why is it exactly we continue to live in Chicago?

1. Too heavily invested in North Face gear to quit now.

2. When the time comes, planning to save money on cryogenics by doing it myself.

3. Wouldn’t want anyone thinking I’m soft.

4. I am an idiot.

5. Barack Obama; you’ve got to love a man who invokes History the way Barackraham Oblincoln does.

6. Ground Beef joints, from Naperville to Chicago, in order of preference; Sonic Drive-In, The Counter, Five Guys and, ladies and gentlemen, the first Burger King, in the world, in Naperville.

7. Bulls and Bears and Wolves, oh my.

8. Snow days – two so far, and wishing on many, many more because I’ve Tivo’d every episode of Dexter.

9. Snow days – because I’ve still to make up resources for the next five months.

10. Sledging, cross country skiing, ice-skating and riding around on Uncle Dan’s quad bike.

Three days ago it started raining and it hasn’t yet stopped…apparently, Ike has arrived!

The steady downpour led to flooding in Naperville where the Emergency Operation Centre kicked into ‘operation’ on Saturday afternoon and they CLOSED THE TOWN!!! We were politely directed back to our car, presumably before it sailed down the river.

Five inches of rain fell on Saturday alone! Numerous high school sports, park district and athletic field events were cancelled, along with the Naperville Wine Festival (boo) and (and this is really, really catastrophic), the ‘Half Way to St. Patrick’s Day’ White Sox Game we had tickets for on Friday. We were told after we’d made the long trip there and (luckily) after we’d received our special edition 1/2 way to St. Paddy’s Day baseball caps!

How cool are we!

 This was the best museum we’ve ever been to including the smithsonian museums in Washington and the Chamber’s Street Museum in Edinburgh! We spent five hours at the museum and didnit see half of it. Highlights were:-

(1) the U505 – Unbelievable, but, they have a whole SUBMARINE in the basement. The tour was great, we really got a feel of what it would have been like during the war. NO THANKS!! The men who served on the subs really had it rough, can you imagine 60 guys, no showers, 115 degree heat 24 hours a day for three months. The exhibit was amazing and we took our time, especiallly at the Enigma machines (recovered from the sub)

(2) Also good was the Farm Tech, it isn’t every day you get to sit in a combine, watch chicks hatching and ‘play’ with the day old chicks through the glass

(3) the model train was really cooland what did that take to build!

(3) Earth revealed was a suspended 6 foot globe with projections on it showing the variuos effects of global warming, we spent ages finding Scotland in it’s various stages of flooding! (4) the planes! Full size, actual planes suspended from the ceiling,including a Spitfire and one of only two German fighters to survive the war.

Phew! Just as well we had a picnic and a frisbee to chill out with afterwards.

Well into teaching now. The set up is, I have five classes (one US History and Four World History), I see them at the same time every day … yes, I teach the same lesson four times in one day and by the end of the day, I’ve just about got it right! My knowledge base is thankfully sound, though I have to do a lot of homework to make up resources to teach, or get my head round/adapt ones I’ve begged for, every minute kicking myself for not having hauled my backside into the good ship MGS in the summer and putting resources on disc … boo.

  Delights : There are seven minutes between lessons, it was decided that that is how long it takes for a student to get from the north building to the south building this is (a) unrealistic, it takes long than that, I’ve done it just to test the theory and (b) accompanied by music! Cool music! Today, I was being jostled along by Mr. Brightside! The best part is when the music stops, that’s when you have one minute to physically get your backside onto a seat, in a class, the right class. This phenomenon led to a class discussion about ‘requests’ (my idea for Disco Friday was a real winner) and my ‘teaching’ them musical chairs … as well as the concept of democracy, of course.

  Shocks : The library is on a mezzanine level above the dining room, where up to 1,000 may be having lunch at any one time. This makes it very difficult to read quietly, concentrate, talk to the class, talk to the person sitting next to you, stop your stomach rumbling!

I’ve become a bit of an old hand at the driving here now and I’ve even driven into Chicago during rush house! We’ve got a Saturn, it bears no resemblance to the car I looked up on the internet at him, that’s because it was manufactured before the internet was invented. It’s a 1.6 engine, runs a 3 speed auto box and has much needed airconditioning. Going over the viaduct at the Oil Refinery on the way to work, slows her down a bit and I have 3 ton, 8 litre V8 Dodge Ram pick-ups growling at me in the rear view mirror, but it gets us there and we love it!

Robyn and I spent the last week seriously looking forward to Chris’ arrival; to see hime, smell him and get him started on his American adventure. However, he’s too jet lagged and bunged up after the longhaul flight, and four weeks of bib sis’ dugs and fags that he’s not in ‘play’ mode just yet … more like ‘pause’! In any case, loving him being here, it sure is lonely in a new place without someone (around the same age as you) to bounce thoughts, shocks and delights off of.

Life is settling down somewhat though, just in time for summer cooling down; it was 98 degrees yesterday and we ate dinner outside while watching the clouds churn up the most amazing electric storm. Anyhoo, it’s time for some ‘fall’ rejuvenation, with Bookgroup, French, Hip Hop classes and Volleyball training on the agenda (and to keep the old mind and every increasing backside in order!).

Robyn isn’t turning into a ‘mindless prom queen’ just yet but is thoroughly enjoying school, especially her new six foot tall basketballer friend (Baron!). Don’t know if Chris approves … oh, that’s because we haven’t told him! He ’s in no fettle for leg shaving, Benefit makeup lessons and love interest all in the same week! Robyn can be spotted throughout Chicagoland reading the Twilight series, she’s on book two (in a week!) and has blushed her way through it … it’s a love story, apparently, about vampires!

Keep well and keep in touch, ya’ll

TTFN

Weekends are wonderful aren’t they, particularly when the sun relentlessly shines, the heat is in the 90’s and you’re a thirty minute (double decker!) train ride away from the most beautiful, buzzing city.

This weekend we headed for the ‘beach’ (the sand’s imported and there’s no waves) to watch the Triathlon, I do insist on watching sweaty, fit men run, etc. on a Sunday morning, particularly as the Ginger Prince is still a week away. Afterwards, we headed for the Lincoln Park zoo – first to the sea lion pool, then the big cats (and there are lots of them) then the polar bears; two off, neither of whom look pissed off and demented like the one at Edinburgh zoo.

Right next door is the Lincoln Park Conservatory, it’s enormous and we spent a bit of time in the palm room trying to work out how you could possibly fit such huge trees in such a tight space.

Found the absolute perfect spot for Brunch, overlooking a pond filled with turtles and the lakefront with even more walking/biking/roller blading fit, sweaty men. Do the joys of this city never end?!

Monday morning began very, very early with a manic dash around the house making sure I had the keys, the directions, the lunchboxes, the school resources and, and, oh yeh, Robyn! Won that race though because we managed to install her in Summer Day Camp and make it to school by 7.30am. In school, the first person ran into, on my first day as an American High School Teacher was an actual Cheerleader, an actual Cheerleader! Pom poms, ribbon in the hair, the works. This is definitely not MGS!

<>This prompted me to make a This is definitely not MGS! list, I have warned my work colleagues that I will be making this list and any/all of their strange ways will be on it. So, this week we’ve had:-

LUNCH can be anytime between 1034 and 1316, in the lunch ‘hour’ the teachers have to take either Homeroom or Lunch duty for 30 mins, leaving 20 mins to actually have lunch. As a result no-one eats and if they do, it’s porridge in a cup.

HOMETIME is more like sportstime; every student takes part in an after school activity, be it Football, Cheerleading, Tennis, Soccer, Volleyball, etc., and this happens five days a week, on top of their mandatory PE every day. The students are seriously fit and would not look out of place on the Disney Channel.

And that’s all before the fun begins in the classroom … watch this space.