All that I can't leave behind

Last week, one of my students was telling me she felt so frustrated that she spoke English so well back when she was in college, and that she couldn't believe she had just forgotten most of it by now. 

"And it's not like it's been forever, this was just twenty years ago!" 

She covered her mouth, almost shocked, and then laughed all embarrassed, saying she couldn't believe she hadn't realized it had been twenty years, and that apparently it had been forever. 

Then today my teenager class and I were discussing technology in every day life.  At some point, the fact that I grew up in a world without cable, where some TV stations were only on the air for a few hours a day, came up.  The kids were shocked.  

Just now I found myself thinking about it, and how they must have thought I was as old as the dinosaurs based on everything I told them today.  

"But it's not like it's been forever, this was just twenty years ag--" 

I was so shocked I could have covered my mouth.   And it is embarrassing when you think about it, and twenty years really sounds like forever.

I got the following email this morning:

You've seen the following 12 shows:

· 2005-04-15 - Glendale, Arizona, USA - Glendale Arena (22 songs)
· 2005-08-07 - Barcelona, Spain - Camp Nou (24 songs)
· 2005-08-11 - Madrid, Spain - Estadio Vicente Calderon (23 songs)
· 2005-08-14 - Lisbon, Portugal - Estadio Jose Alvalade (23 songs)
· 2005-11-21 - New York, New York, USA - Madison Square Garden (22 songs)
· 2006-02-12 - Monterrey, Mexico - Estadio Tecnológico (22 songs)
· 2006-02-15 - Mexico City, Mexico - Azteca Stadium (24 songs)
· 2006-02-16 - Mexico City, Mexico - Azteca Stadium (23 songs)
· 2009-09-12 - Chicago, Illinois, USA - Soldier Field (23 songs)
· 2009-09-23 - East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA - Giants Stadium (24 songs)
· 2009-09-24 - East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA - Giants Stadium (23 songs)
· 2009-10-23 - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - Sam Boyd Stadium (24 songs)

We found 52 different songs played during these shows.

· Vertigo (15 times)

· Beautiful Day (12 times)
· City Of Blinding Lights (12 times)
· Elevation (12 times)
· One (12 times)
· Sunday Bloody Sunday (12 times)
· Where The Streets Have No Name (12 times)
· I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (11 times)
· With Or Without You (11 times)
· Pride (In The Name Of Love) (9 times)
· Bullet The Blue Sky (8 times)
· Love And Peace Or Else (8 times)
· Mysterious Ways (8 times)
· Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (8 times)
· Miss Sarajevo (7 times)
· New Year's Day (7 times)
· The Fly (6 times)
· Until The End Of The World (6 times)
· All Because Of You (5 times)
· I Will Follow (5 times)
· Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of (5 times)
· Yahweh (5 times)
· Zoo Station (5 times)
· 40 (4 times)
· Bad (4 times)
· Breathe (4 times)
· Get On Your Boots (4 times)
· I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (4 times)
· Magnificent (4 times)
· Miracle Drug (4 times)
· MLK (4 times)
· Moment of Surrender (4 times)
· No Line On The Horizon (4 times)
· Original Of The Species (4 times)
· The Electric Co. (4 times)
· The Unforgettable Fire (4 times)
· Ultra Violet (Light My Way) (4 times)
· Walk On (4 times)
· Unknown Caller (3 times)
· Fast Cars (1 time)
· Gloria (1 time)
· Happy Birthday (1 time)
· In A Little While (1 time)
· Instant Karma! (1 time)
· Norwegian Wood (1 time)
· Party Girl (1 time)
· Running To Stand Still (1 time)
· She's The One (1 time)
· Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (1 time)
· The First Time (1 time)
· The Ocean (1 time)
· Your Blue Room (1 time)

We found 53 different snippets played during these shows.

· The Hands That Built America (8 times)

· When Johnny Comes Marching Home (8 times)
· Blackbird (6 times)
· Bullet With Butterfly Wings (4 times)
· Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (4 times)
· You'll Never Walk Alone (4 times)
· Amazing Grace (3 times)
· Cielito Lindo (3 times)
· Please (3 times)
· See Me, Feel Me (3 times)
· Stand By Me (3 times)
· All You Need Is Love (2 times)
· Here Comes The Sun (2 times)
· In God's Country (2 times)
· Mofo (2 times)
· Rock The Casbah (2 times)
· She Loves You (2 times)
· She's A Rainbow (2 times)
· Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (2 times)
· 40 (1 time)
· All These Things That I've Done (1 time)
· Barcelona (1 time)
· Birthday (1 time)
· Desire (1 time)
· Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (1 time)
· El Rey (1 time)
· Far Far Away (1 time)
· Fight For Your Right (To Party) (1 time)
· Fix You (1 time)
· Fool To Cry (1 time)
· Get Up Stand Up (1 time)
· Happy Birthday (1 time)
· In The Garden (1 time)
· It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (1 time)
· Love Will Tear Us Apart (1 time)
· Miss You (1 time)
· No Regrets (1 time)
· Ol' Man River (1 time)
· Oliver's Army (1 time)
· People Have The Power (1 time)
· Pinhead (1 time)
· Rock 'n' Roll High School (1 time)
· Rockaway Beach (1 time)
· Rocks (1 time)
· Send In The Clowns (1 time)
· Stories For Boys (1 time)
· The Black Hills of Dakota (1 time)
· To The Fire (1 time)
· Torna A Surriento (1 time)
· Two Tribes (1 time)
· Unchained Melody (1 time)
· Van Morrison's Gloria (1 time)
· Viva Las Vegas (1 time)

Songs from 13 U2 albums have been played during these shows.

· How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (9 songs)

· No Line On The Horizon (7 songs)
· Achtung Baby (6 songs)
· All That You Can't Leave Behind (5 songs)
· The Joshua Tree (5 songs)
· Cover songs (4 songs)
· The Unforgettable Fire (4 songs)
· Boy (3 songs)
· War (3 songs)
· Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1 (2 songs)
· Zooropa (2 songs)
· B-Sides (1 song)
· October (1 song)

Note: No Pop :(

Opening songs

· Vertigo (4)

· City Of Blinding Lights (4)
· Breathe (4)

Closing songs

· 40 (4)

· Moment of Surrender (4)
· Vertigo (3)
· Bad (1)

source

You know what's embarrassing? Yesterday someone asked me what songs they'd played in Las Vegas, and my answer was something like this: "Uh... Vertigo... Elevation... a bunch of the new songs... um..." (Any of the old stuff?) "Yeah! The Unforgettable Fire... uh..." (Did they play Pride, in the name of love? That's off the Unforgettable Fire...) "Um... I can't-- did they? Well, they played the song The Unforgettable Fire... Hmm... With or without you, One... Ultraviolet! They played Ultraviolet!"

My friend made a gesture to mean I was drunk.  I'm not sure whether he meant yesterday or the day of the concert.  I guess if you don't know me well enough, it would be easy to think I was at both times, ha!

For all my complaining, the truth is this year I really lucked out with the kids' groups I got. 

To start, both groups are in level 4.  After two years of teaching beginners, it's really refreshing to be able to have an actual conversation with them.  Then, they're all pretty willing to participate, and even though they complain a lot (though who am I to judge, heh), they get their work done and rarely ever miss homework.  

Last week we were talking about armchair shopping.  Students had to read this paragraph:

"You just got home after a long day and realize there's nothing in the fridge.  You're really hungry, but it's already dark out, and it's raining.
Do you:
a) go to bed hungry?
b) go to a restaurant and order something there?
c) have pizza delivered to your home?"

Now, in Merida, *everything* is delivered by a guy in a motorcycle.  I do mean everything, from sushi to TGI Friday's.

One of my 11-year-olds, who was really really hyper, was pretty much going OOH! OOH! MEMEMEME!, so I asked him to answer the questions.  He goes:

a! *buzzbuzzbuzzbedhungry* NO! I can't go to be hungry, that's ridiculous!!
b! *buzzbuzzbuzzbuzzrestaurant* NO! It's raining, I'm not going out!!
c! *buzzbuzzbuzzbuzzpizzadelieverd* NO! It's raining, people can't ride motorcycles while carrying umbrellas!! 

I think that was the first time I've laughed so loud in class.  Maybe you had to be there, but we were all cracking up.

Then on Thursday, my 15-year-olds left me this little present on the board:

Some days I really love teaching.

If you could be fluent in any language (that you don't currently read or speak), which one would it be?

I really want to say Japanese, but if knowing what I know counts as reading or speaking it, I'd say Portuguese, Greek or Arabic.

I went to the Nike store today and bought a pair of running shorts. 

I wasn't actually planning on getting them, just looking at them and trying them on to buy them online, but they were a lot cheaper in the store, PLUS they were 20% off!  It was like it was meant to be.  I would have gotten another pair but the only other one in my size was a weird grey/purpley color that I didn't like.  I also tried on a top that I *loved*.  It was a little bit more expensive, so I do have to check online to see if I can get a better deal. 

So as I'm paying, the guy puts the shorts in a bag. 
"I don't need a bag, thank you" I said, because I hate plastic bags and my purse can fit two small children or seven cats.   He stared at me, HORRIFIED. 
"You don't want it?"
"Um, no, I don't need it."
"But it's biodegradable!"
"Um... Okay then"

I never saw such a passionate pro-bag reaction. 

So I'm going running tomorrow, yay!

*Lame! But at 33°C/91°F at 11:30pm, I figure I can get away with claiming it's too hot for creativity.
Fuggity, 33°.  I'm dying over here. 

My car is dirty again. 

My dad voices his opinion on the matter:

It made me laugh.  I love that I can see it on the rearview mirror. 

Some time ago, a teacher was hired at our school.  We'll name her Gee, just because I don't want to be bothered typing her name right now. 

When Gee was hired, and for the months that followed, I noticed she wasn't the saying hi type.  More than once she'd just walk past me without even acknowledging I was there.   For a long time I figured she was maybe shy, so every time I saw her I said hi/hello/good morning/good afternoon/good evening.  Sometimes she'd look at me (sometimes not even that) and just repeat whatever I said.    That went on until one day I said "Good morning", and she looked at me and said "Yeah", and then went on her way.  That day I decided I wouldn't be bothered to greet her in any way anymore.  So we never spoke again.  

Now she's become the supervisor's favorite.  Even though she's much newer than me, most of the time she gets more hours, but you know what? Since there isn't anything I can actually do about it, I stopped caring a long time ago.  

Recently, however, we started "sharing" a group, meaning both of us are the only teachers assigned to it.  This group takes class five times a week, at night.  Because of the teacher rotation at  our school, we use files to keep track of what the students did and are supposed to do each class.  Before your class, you check the folder so you'll know where to start.  After class you fill in all the information and you leave it in a bin, where they're sorted alphabetically.

So on Tuesday afternoon, two hours before I'm supposed to teach this group, I notice their folder is missing.   I go into the supervisor's office, where she just happens to be, and I tell them I'm looking for this folder.  She immediately answers: It wasn't me, so don't you even think about it.  I'm like, fine, whatever.  I just need the damn folder.   The supervisor suggests maybe it's been misplaced.  It wasn't.   I already checked in all of the bins.   Ok, Gee, just tell me what I'm supposed to do with them tonight and I'll just write my own information on a postit note for you tomorrow while the folder turns up.  The supervisor made a new folder and asked me to MAKE UP the information that's supposed to go on it, so when it's time to make their monthly progress report there's information to go with.

Blah blah blah fishcakes. Long story short, it so happens that a student mistakenly took the folder and gave it back yesterday.   But before that happened, Gee actually went and told the supervisor she was SURE I HAD TAKEN THE FOLDER AND HID IT t

Remember what I said about this birthday feeling different than others? I was right.  You have no idea just how different this birthday felt, compared to the two previous ones, which were a total bummer for no reasons other than the super high expectations I placed on the people around me, and some of the people that were around me back then. I guess.

On Sunday my family and I went to a very nice Argentinean restaurant and had what was probably the best brownie I've had in my entire life.  Then I had sushi for dinner, with my sister.  On Monday, my actual birthday, everything was just normal, I mean, I had to work normally and everything, but I had a pretty good day anyway.  A lot of people remembered and dropped a line, Pedro called from Spain, the kids I teach kind of behaved...

And after work, I came home and found this:

 

 

Too beautiful for words. 

Then yesterday I went to a bar with friends, and honestly had a great time and five or six mango margaritas. 

See blog title.