Keep Moving Forward
Last Thursday I didn't know what to do for my class without being boring, so I decided not to fight it and do a class on boredom. It went pretty well. I gave them each a piece of paper and said that they had to use it to keep themselves entertained for the class period.
Honestly, I was really impressed. Those kids made some super impressive origami, drawings, and paper airplanes (the latter of which I accidentally through into the ceiling fan... definitely not boring). It felt appropriate because even though it wasn't grammar, or conversation, or remotely connected to what I'm supposed to teach, I connected pretty solidly with my time here. The lesson was basically the one that I've been trying learn myself here. That if you're bored, it's because you're boring. It's not up to the world to entertain you, it's up to you to be entertained by the world.
This comes into play since we're now out of all the good TV, and all the TV factories seem to shut down for this thing called "Summer," a word that means nothing in this part of the world unless it's on a detergent bottle and coupled with the words "breeze scented ." But if my kids can get through a poorly-thought-out lesson plan using only a piece of paper, I'm pretty sure I can get through the next 47 days without new episodes of Top Chef, 30 Rock, or Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane (that last one is mostly a joke. You get stupider every time you watch it, so I can't recommend it that highly.).
In light of the excellent movie, "Meet the Robinsons," which now both Sarah and I have brainwashed our kids with, it's important to keep moving forward. It's not enough to count down the days, keep my head down, download Wimbledon matches and... uh... down bottles of 100 Plus. Oh, and watch Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man! In order for me to be happy I need to feel like I'm working towards something. So at our last trip to Mydin I bought a guitar. Like all great guitars it's blue, from China, cost $24, and is sold alongside lampshades and curling irons.
I feel good about the purchase, since it's like Mike said to me, if there's one thing the world needs more of, it's amateur guitarists. So now Malaysia has one more and he's pretty amateur. I've yet to complete a song and have it sound good, but Sarah and I have been enjoying our freestyle jam sessions where we sing about everything this country is doing to us. The only really memorable part was the chorus, which was "Mal-ay-sia, Mal-ay-sia, [explicative]ing Mal-ay-sia." Ooh! I need to learn a blues chord progression so we can complain and have more time to think of the lyrics as we do it. Right now there's just been a lot of thrashing on the three chords I can switch between quick enough.
So it looks like my answer to boredom through paper was:
1. Use paper to buy a guitar.
2. Print out every chord imaginable on 12 pieces of paper.
3. Try to play a bar chord and crumple up the paper in frustration.
4. Keep moving forward.
Honestly, I was really impressed. Those kids made some super impressive origami, drawings, and paper airplanes (the latter of which I accidentally through into the ceiling fan... definitely not boring). It felt appropriate because even though it wasn't grammar, or conversation, or remotely connected to what I'm supposed to teach, I connected pretty solidly with my time here. The lesson was basically the one that I've been trying learn myself here. That if you're bored, it's because you're boring. It's not up to the world to entertain you, it's up to you to be entertained by the world.
This comes into play since we're now out of all the good TV, and all the TV factories seem to shut down for this thing called "Summer," a word that means nothing in this part of the world unless it's on a detergent bottle and coupled with the words "breeze scented ." But if my kids can get through a poorly-thought-out lesson plan using only a piece of paper, I'm pretty sure I can get through the next 47 days without new episodes of Top Chef, 30 Rock, or Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane (that last one is mostly a joke. You get stupider every time you watch it, so I can't recommend it that highly.).
In light of the excellent movie, "Meet the Robinsons," which now both Sarah and I have brainwashed our kids with, it's important to keep moving forward. It's not enough to count down the days, keep my head down, download Wimbledon matches and... uh... down bottles of 100 Plus. Oh, and watch Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man! In order for me to be happy I need to feel like I'm working towards something. So at our last trip to Mydin I bought a guitar. Like all great guitars it's blue, from China, cost $24, and is sold alongside lampshades and curling irons.
I feel good about the purchase, since it's like Mike said to me, if there's one thing the world needs more of, it's amateur guitarists. So now Malaysia has one more and he's pretty amateur. I've yet to complete a song and have it sound good, but Sarah and I have been enjoying our freestyle jam sessions where we sing about everything this country is doing to us. The only really memorable part was the chorus, which was "Mal-ay-sia, Mal-ay-sia, [explicative]ing Mal-ay-sia." Ooh! I need to learn a blues chord progression so we can complain and have more time to think of the lyrics as we do it. Right now there's just been a lot of thrashing on the three chords I can switch between quick enough.
So it looks like my answer to boredom through paper was:
1. Use paper to buy a guitar.
2. Print out every chord imaginable on 12 pieces of paper.
3. Try to play a bar chord and crumple up the paper in frustration.
4. Keep moving forward.
Comments
a ballad about mold, a crappy car, and sardines