Mother's Day Weekend/Last Week

I hope all of you have enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend and that you've had a Happy Mother's Day with or without your mothers. My husband, daughters and I celebrated at a Mets baseball game last night. It was a great game, especially since the Mets won! It's really starting to seem like the summer is beginning now that I've been to a game!

I was a little down today since my own mother is not doing that well these days. The combination of her birthday (3 days ago) and Mother's Day made me wish she still understood what those special days mean. My family tried to help cheer me up, though, so I got through the day OK.

I'll see you all tomorrow for the beginning of our last week! It's hard to believe we'll be done so soon. It has been a pleasure being your teacher. You're an incredibly cooperative class and each of you has made so much progress in the past 14 weeks. All of you should be proud of your progress! You are also extremely nice, respectful people. I've enjoyed coming to work every day. THANK YOU!

A Taste of Summer

On Saturday, my husband, my younger daughter and I went to Brighton Beach and Coney Island in Brooklyn. Those communities are right on the beach. There's a boardwalk that connects them to each other, and one of my favorite things in the world is to walk along the ocean. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sky was blue, and the sun was warm, but not too warm. We ate some Russian food since it's a very Russian neighborhood, and we had ice cream, of course. We also rode the huge ferris wheel that is in the amusement park there. I was terrified because we went in a swinging car, but I'm sure most of you would think it was the least scary ride in the world! All in all, we had a day that felt like summer. I recommend that you try out these neighborhoods, especially in the spring before the boardwalk and beach get incredibly crowded.

The Homestretch

Have you ever heard of "the homestretch"? It's an expression that describes the last stage of a project. We are getting to the homestretch of our semester. This is the point when I get a little sad about leaving you and some of you will get a little sad about leaving each other.

It is sometimes tempting to work less hard at the end of the semester, but please don't. There is still time to improve all of your English skills. Please let me know how I can help you the most in the last 3 weeks of school. Specifically, if there is something you want to work on in lab this week or next week, let me know. Let's make the end of the semester the best three weeks of all! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again tomorrow and hearing about your vacations (even if they were boring like mine!)!

Passover

Tomorrow night is the beginning of an important Jewish holiday called Passover. I've been spending the weekend, and I'll spend the next two days, cleaning the house and cooking for the holiday. It lasts 8 days, but the first two nights are the most important. Those are the nights we get together with friends and relatives and have a huge meal that lasts for many hours. We eat, but we also read a book that has the story from the Bible about the Jews' escape from Egypt 3,000-4,000 years ago. Although I have to do so much work to prepare for the holiday, I love it. I get to see my close relatives and friends, eat good food, and think about how lucky we are to be free and how we hope all people will be free some day.

Impulsive Trip

I am definitely not an impulsive person. I am a planner. Yesterday, though, I suggested that my husband, daughters and I take a trip to Philadelphia. My daughter had just decided to go there for graduate school in September. I knew she would enjoy walking around the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, which she will be attending. She got home from work at 2 p.m., and we all hopped in the car. It took around 2 hours to get there. We walked all over the campus and the surrounding streets. We were all impressed by what we saw and had a wonderful time being outside in the beautiful weather. There are more trees in bloom down there. I guess the slightly more southern location makes the flowers bloom earlier. The whole experience made me think I should be more impulsive more often. I wonder where I'll go next week. Any suggestions?

Autism

Have you ever heard of autism? It's a disorder that affects the social and communication parts of the brain. There's a new documentary about two autistic men who learned to communicate for the first time by using a typing device. I "listened" to these two men and the director of the movie at a lecture last week. It was fascinating to hear their stories and to learn how relieved the men are that they can finally communicate. They only started typing in middle age, so until then they could never say what they were thinking. Can you imagine being locked in your own mind like that? Their stories give hope to all the parents of children who have autistic children. Maybe their children will be able to communicate someday, too. If you want to see a trailer for the movie or find out more, you can go to http://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/

Hospital Care

I hope none of you has had much contact with hospital care in the U.S. or in your countries. I haven't had much contact myself, but in the last few years, my mother has been in and out of the hospital. She went in again last Tuesday, and she's still there. She went in with a minor stomach problem, and just can't seem to get out. This is partly why health costs are so high in the U.S. The medical system orders unnecessary tests and keeps people in the hospital for too long. Some of the professionals who are taking care of her are wonderful, but some seem very neglectful. She has Alzheimer's Disease (that means she has lost most of her memory), and so she can't ask for help. That means the nurses have to remember to take care of her. They don't always do it. I know some of you want to go into health care professions. I know you'll do your best to improve the system and patient care!

The World

Does it seem to you that the world is falling apart? I know this is a depressing topic, but I can't seem to think of something more cheery to write about. Between the problems in Japan and what seems to be a new war in Libya, the world is in bad shape. I'm looking for some good news. If anyone has any, please let me know!

Talent

Talent is something I really don't have. I am competent at some things, but I don't really have a talent like in sports, dance, art, music, etc. I really do admire those who do have those talents, though. That's why I had a good time this afternoon. My daughter and I went to the Metropolitan Opera to watch a competition between 8 young opera singers (from 22-28 years old). They were competing to win a national young opera singer contest. It was like American Idol, but for opera singers. The performers were amazing. It was very exciting because we got to be in the room when they announced the winners. I feel so happy for the 5 people who won. They will probably have very successful careers in the field they love-- singing.

My Weekend

This has not been the best weekend. I've had a minor cold, but my younger daughter has had a severe cold. When she gets a cold, her asthma usually starts up. That's what happened this time. When her asthma bothers her, it means she can't breathe very well. Luckily, she doesn't have severe asthma. She's never been hospitalized. I still get worried every time she has symptoms, though. Suzan mentioned on her blog that she has asthma. Does anyone else in the class suffer from asthma? I hope not! Anyway, because she's sick, my husband is busy with work, and my older daughter is away for the weekend, I haven't had a very exciting time. I guess life can't always be exciting! Maybe next weekend will be, though. There's always hope!

I'm Back

I hope you are still enjoying your vacation. I came back last night from a trip to Rhode Island and Connecticut. We took my 17-year old daughter and a friend of hers on a college visit trip. They will be applying to colleges next fall, and most families visit colleges that the children might want to go to. These visits help the kids see whether the school is as good in person as it seemed when they read about it. We visited 3 different schools, so we went on 3 tours and sat in on 3 information sessions. It was tiring but fun. Deciding on a college is a very exciting (but scary) time for American teenagers, so my husband and I might have enjoyed it all more than the girls did! It will be interesting to see where my daughter ends of applying.

Vacation

I hope everyone is enjoying vacation so far. I've definitely been enjoying mine (although I miss you all, of course!). I've been sleeping more, seeing my parents, and spending time with my husband and kids. I've also been correcting papers and working on the class, but in a more relaxed, leisurely way than usual. I went to see a Broadway play on Saturday. It was the same one Elly saw a few weeks ago: The Phantom of the Opera. Engin is reading the novel that the musical is based on. I totally enjoyed it. Parts of it were scary, and the music was beautiful. If you ever get a chance to go, I think you would enjoy it. Have fun for the rest of the week, and get some rest!

Awards Shows

I love awards shows! I've been watching (or at least listening to) the Grammy Awards all evening. Those are the awards for musicians. I've been enjoying some, but not all, of the music, and I also just love seeing who wins and what the winners say when they accept their awards. The clothing tonight has been a little odd. I don't think I'll be wearing the clothes I've seen tonight to school this week! In a couple of weeks, the Oscars (the film awards) will be on TV, and I'm looking forward to that show, too.

The Super Bowl

I just finished watching the Super Bowl. I watched most of it, more than ever before, but while I was doing other things around the house. Even though I don't care about either of the two teams playing, and even though I don't know very much about football, I was interested. I guess I get caught up in the excitement that other people feel. I'll be curious to see what you thought of the game (and the commercials) if any of you watched a little. I want to know if any of you can understand why Americans like football because a lot of Americans don't understand how the rest of the world likes soccer!

Egypt

Have you been reading about or watching what's going on in Egypt these days? The Egyptian people seem to be rebelling against their president and are demanding democracy. I hope that they achieve their goal of more democracy and that it happens soon before too many people are injured or killed. I also hope the new government that results is not too radical or anti-U.S. We don't need more enemies than we already have around the world. I know a lot of the anti-U.S. feelings are justified, but I still worry about our security when we have too many enemies.

Movies

I saw two good movies this weekend. One was an old one that I really love. It's called Bridget Jones' Diary. It's a romantic comedy. The other is a new movie that is still at the movie theaters. It's called The King's Speech. It's based on a true story about the former King of England, George the VI. It's about how a speech therapist helped him to gain confidence and feel comfortable being King by teaching him to overcome a speech disability. The acting was amazing! I recommend it to anyone who likes a good story, but if you like a lot of action, it is not the movie for you!

Welcome to My Blog

Hi, everyone. Welcome to my blog and to the process of blogging. I hope that all of you will enjoy your blogging experience. In past classes, I have had some students that do not enjoy blogging, but most of them do. If you do not enjoy it, I hope you at least find the experience helpful for your reading and writing of English. Remember, the more you read and comment on your classmates' blogs, the more fun the experience will be. Thanks to those in the class who helped their classmates set up their blogs in the lab today. I appreciate it.

HAPPY BLOGGING!!!