Love is a teacher

"... love is a teacher, but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to acquire; it is dearly bought; it is won by slow, long labor."

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Teacher must be a damn good learner

It came to my mind yesterday, after a class which didn't go very well, that I will possibly never be the teacher I want to be. Why? Precisely because I always want to be the best. After a little thought, however, I realized that if I fail to give myself time, be patient and learn, how can I expect my students will hang out there for long enough and persevere? Being the distinguished and foremost learner of the class isn't it my utmost responsibility to lead by example?

If I fail as a learner I inevitably fail as a teacher, too.

Bridge the gaps - with your hands!

 
 
What has George, an 80-year-old English dyker, to say to the little Chinese boy? I've got the job to find out.
 

Cultural Diversity and Adversity

"... ve společnosti, podobně jako v individuálních mezilidských vztazích, pravá tolerance není založena na vlažné lhostejnosti, ale naopak lásce k jinosti, schopnosti milovat druhé právě takové, jací jsou, a třeba právě proto, že takoví jsou. Láska, která se nezmůže na víc než milovat stejné, je pouhou extrapolací narcismu. Společnosti, které ještě nedorostly k této aktivní toleranci, nejsou svobody hodny a jsou zřejmě odsouzeny k tomu, aby o ni přišly."
 
Lubor Kysučan
Source: ECONNECT (in Czech)
 
"In the United States, a study has shown that people are willing to pay more for services like education if they can live with people more like them in ethnicity and class. In other words, people place a value on being with others like them."
 
Source: Economist.com

Everything here is big

It's been now for some time a source of amusement to see how some people in this culture strive for bigness. Yet again, it dawned on me today that it may have much to do with the environment.
 
I was reading a book outside our house when I spotted a lizard crawling undisturbed along the road. It was well over 1m long and I could hardly gasp in utter amazement at the sight. When it disappeared I recalled another incident with local fauna.
 
It was just another morning in Alor Star. I switched on the aircon in my office and it gave me a weird sound in response. After a second, however, a centipede perhaps 15cm big fell out of it. I drew back immediately and called for help. They took it and killed it. I remember I wasn't sure if it was good but they said it was poisonous...
 
I think, after all
that with my height
this place for me
is the one and right.
 

I believe in man

This is what I put down into my diary two years back:

"We have an almighty father in heaven. Trust him and you will experience miracles." MB

"You have an ordinary friend on earth. Trust him and you will experience miracles." JB

Without knowing it I was at that time already a far more convinced Buddhist than ever.

"We don't believe in a god because we believe in man." Ven. S. Dhammika

I sincerely think that if one is ever to believe in God then she must first believe in man. Therefore, to become a Christian one has to become a Buddhist of a sort in the first place.

I've been empowered

I want to take up piano classes and become a Buddhist monk for a while. Back home I mean to start English classes for underprivileged children. I feel powerful and resourceful. I can always draw on my gifts to observe and learn and fall back on the unwilting commitment... Yet I realize that as I learn more and more, the big picture, the meaning, is getting ever harder to grasp.

Children run around, playing a game, talking to each other and using the target language. Teenagers dare at last to ask, to complain. Young adults talk naturally over delicious Dim Sum. My boss says businesswise he feels 'more self-confident'.

The little bits and pieces make up the meaning because...

"The only purpose of power is to empower others." M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond

What colour are you?

VIOLET You surround yourself with art and music and are constantly driven to express yourself. You often daydream. You prefer honesty in your relationships and belive strongly in your personal morals. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

The colour is nonsense, the rest might be true.

Dictionaries

I used to think that Cambridge Dictionaries Online are by far the best you can get... until I came across this awesome Webster's Online Dictionary. For those with childish wonder Wordsmyth Children's Dictionary might come in handy too.

We've been just talking with some of our students about long-term plans and it occurs to me that there is an awful lot ahead: Jiri in Nepal or Jiri in Korea. I'll play it by ear.