The Diary Of John

Saturday, April 12, 2003

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
Malcolm X

Oh i cant believe that its already morning, it feels like i only went to sleep twenty minutes ago lol. The party last nite was great, the students looked as though they had alot of fun. Kareoke dance music films and all sorts of stuff although dancing for me was out as im too old for it and watching some of the dance moves the teens were doing made my bones ache lol. I didnt stay till it ended though as i had to get back to get stuff ready for classes today and also to get ready to meet the owner from the new school i will teach at. Its going to be fun... Dead cow on the bbq and for me will be cola as i dont drink lol and i am really looking forward to seeing the new material we will use to see how different it is from the material i use now.

**Stops again to drink more coffee**

As you can see i need a few cups of coffee in the morning to get me going :-) Just looking through the stuff i did yesterday for the Emma page as i uploaded it yesterday... well the parts i have done. I will add the link to this site in a minute or two but it only has a few sections up at the moment. City Desk is nice to use and uploading is very simple, just set the ftp stuff in and click publish and off it goes. Very similar to blogger once its set up :-). City Desk really is best for texts, lots of texts that change very frequently but i like for just the text stuff and the more i use it the more i get the hang of it. The template thing i think is probably the worst part of it but you soon get the hang of it. Of course the site is a Work In Progress and it will change and improve as i work more on it to make it a bit more colorful :-) I was going to look through the Romeo And Juliet book this morning but i cant be bothered so it sits there on the side where it has been since the day they gave it to me lol. I wonder what book they will give to my saturday group as i am not going to be given a copy of their book, why i dont know but i was told another teacher is going to do it with them. This i dont understand because they will never see this teacher so how will they get help if they need it?? Luckily they have my email address so they can easily get in touch with me so i will give them a hand. Maybe it will be a book that i already have, we will have to wait and see i guess right? :-)

I found a few interesting sites online so ill check them out now and if they are good will add them to my links list for you guys to try out :-)

posted at 9:51 AM by john |

Friday, April 11, 2003

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
Moshe Dayan

Just got in from work as i had to go there this morning to correct some late stuff and drop off some other things because the midterm exams start here on monday. Im on top of all my stuff now though so next week i will just have the exams to deal with and correct which is good as i should also have the material from the other school to look over next week so the more free time i have the better :-) Tonite there is a party for the students at the school in Sobradinho which will be good fun and then tomorrow evening the bbq with the boss from the new school to talk about contracts etc :-). Some people told me they are going to teach me some of the brasilian dances, Oh my god i cannot imagine how terrible my dancing is going to be lol. Itll be good fun though and nice to have a break from correcting things for a little while :-) Brasilian people love to dance.. but of course im not brasilian am i? lol we will see if i will dance or not later on ;-)

I was going to get a haircut today but i cant be bothered to walk around the estancia to the hairdressers lol. Maybe tomorrow if i get time or feel motivated :-) I only had a trim the other week but i think all the good food and sunshine here is having a strange reaction with my hair and it has mutated into this sort of lifeform with a mind and will of its own lol.

I have managed to get quite alot done now with the site about the Austen book and have uploaded some of it to the internet and it is here hosted at Tripod for you guys to have a look at if you like but remember that its only texts okay? :-) I might do Romeo And Juliet too if i get time but to do them both before the end of this semester will be very hard as i have only so much free time. I dont really like Jane Austen but i enjoy finding the hidden meanings in her words and in the story in general. Too see what i mean you have to go to the site and of course having the book will also help right? lol.

Got Capital Inicial playing at the moment, i tend not to listen to brasilian music alot but this group actually arent too bad even though i only understand a little of what they are actually saying. The song playing at the moment is Musica Urbana from the Mtv acoustic cd but i guess it must have been Mtv Brasil it was recorded on as i had never heard of this group until i got here over a year or so ago.

Time for me to get back to the Austen book and get some more done before i get ready to go to the party or i will get none of it typed up today :-)

posted at 11:18 AM by john |

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

hi guys, guess where i am.... yeah im at work using their terrible computers lol the keyboard is like something from the ark but at least the connection is nice and fast lol. The worst thing is that the keyboards arent set up properly and that they have this terrible program called protect it that refuses to let people access their hotmail so i will still have to use it at home instead of here :-(

On a lighter note though i just finished my first conversation class and it was good fun and also got a couple of good ideas for the next lesson as well in a couple of weeks. I have to get some more english films though so i will try getting in touch with my brother in the uk and get him to send some for me to use in the classes. I will run the film billy elliot past them though as i think it is an excellent film and they will love listening to the northern accents :-) Other films are reign of fire and also Red Dragon and just in english with no portugues subtitles.

More good news today too.... I have to meet the owner of the other school at the weekend to sort out a contract etc to teach at the new school :-). I was told today that it is a childrens school so this should be very good fun as i have never taught children before. I hope that it will b good experience for me and them too and i will look over the methodology at the wekend to see what is involved and if there will be any things that i have to get for the classes :-). Of course the extra money will pay for my new computer as i order it this weekend finally, it will be nice to have something faster to do things on and i am looking forward to trying out the linux program as well :-) Still deciding though which program to get but there will be alot of choice for pirate stuff when i go to the fair so its not really all that big a problem :-). There is alot of sites online that give help with linux too so i will probably use these alot while i am getting used to linux although there will also be Windows just in case i need to use it for something.

I hope they are going to get this hotmail problem sorted out as i wanted to be able to email myself stuff to use here at work but if there is no access then i cant use the computer. This bloody program they have installed seems to be blocking the site and of course this is Brasil so there is no tech support :-( I wonder if there is a way around this or if the secrataries have a password to let me access my email. A shame really as it would have been a good tool for me other wise..... Nevermind i guess.

Well i guess i had better head home as i have loads of stuff to correct and also have to work on breaking that book down more too, just for my Mec groups though not the others bcause i am very tired of them complaining about me just because they want a teacher they can talk to in portugues :-( Theyre very narrow minded i think..... But at the same time it makes me sad that they have a native speaker to teach them yet they want someone who can translate into portugues instead.

anyway sports fans in outta here and off to get a bus to take me home. I wonder what there is for dinner tonite Mmmmmmmm something delicious i am sure lol.

posted at 1:20 PM by john |

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
--Galatians 5:22-23

Wow this mornings OM2 group were really cold, i guess they must be really pissed at me. As you can see i am really bothered about this right? lol. I never let work get me down or ruin my day, after all its just a job that takes up a few hours of my whole week and the rest of the time i smile and have fun :-). This afternoon i have Mec so i know my afternoon will be just wonderful and later on conversation classes too. I have already thought up a game for them to play so this will be a good start for the first conversation class this semester :-)

My groups now have books to study for the end of the semester as they will have an oral test based on them. To be honest i dont find the books all that interesting but breaking down the books into something more easy to understand is a little more fun than just reading the books. They have Emma By Jane Austen and Shakespeares Romeo And juliet which are real fun exciting books to get into arent they? lol. I am going to break down the Austen book i think and post a site online with this, i will probably do a chapter at a time but the other book will have to wait as the Mec students i always do first. I will shove the site on here once its up and running properly.

On a good note i managed to get City Desk up and running and i will use this to make the Austen site. Once i had the template thing figured out it was alot easier to see how it all worked but at first i was literally pulling out my hair as i tried to figure out why i couldnt change some things but then it all gelled together and off i went lol. I´ll set the template for the site later and try to get a few pages started although it may be a while before i get anything online as breaking down the book will take me a while. At work yesterday i started on this with a pencil and paper to get a few ideas down.

My archives seem to have disappeared from my site, i wonder where they have all gone too as there is just one link????? I hope that if i just republish them it will all go back to normal lol. Let me try it now, okay ??? Hahahahaha it worked and they are all back again. I wonder if this is something that i have to do once in a while? still its easy enough so not to worry :-). anyway time to go and get ready for work.... See Ya!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted at 11:31 AM by john |

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

Saddam Hussein has raised the amount going to suicide bombers from $10 thousand dollars to $25 thousand. What's next, a health care plan?
--Jay Leno

I didnt get any time to get online last nite, i had a busy day at work and loads of stuff to correct too. The directors of the school also came up with a new idea for the students of intermediate and advanced and master english groups... they have given them all a classical book to read and at the end of the semester they have an oral test about the book. Sounds thrilling doesnt it? lol. Guess whos groups fall into all these levels?... yeah thats right all my groups are in these levels. Do you want to know which author by Mec groups have been given? Jane Austen..... As you can tell i am so pleased right? lol. I have no idea what the other groups will have i will find out tonite when i am at work. This will be something else for my bloody OM2 groups to complain about, i think these groups take pleasure in the childish complaints they make or maybe for some reason these people simply do not like me as the other teachers tell me they have the same programs with some groups no matter what they try with them.

I had a quick look at some new software earlier on called City Desk. Its web content software and a free download from the website and comes recommended by alot of weblog sites i visit. I will have to mess around with it a little as the templates seem a bit confusing but should soon get the hang of it. I really want to use it to make some sort of online newspaper for my students but i havent decided exactly what i can use it for yet.... I will think of something though rest assured lol. Perhaps something for the Austen book?? Maybe i will get some templates from the net as they always make it easier to see how things are done, the one that comes with the program is a bit basic.

**Trying to decide whether to correct stuff or pick up the austen book**

**Decided to shove a Bon Jovi cd on instead lol**

I must get around to getting some more music cds in english, metal especially because i have only a few cds here that are mine in english. I never have time though to go and get any as i am either working or have stuff to correct or something else pops up lol. I need to go to the paraguay fair in a week or so and will have to get some from there. The main reason for going to the fair is because i want a copy of a good linux program and i am not going to pay the unreal prices they want in the stores here, pirated stuff is good enough for me lol. Anyway i thought linux was supposed to be free right? lol.

posted at 3:39 PM by john |

Sunday, April 06, 2003

Okay, Mulder, But I'm warning you if this is monkey pee you're on your own
--Dana Scully

Well i was hoping that Rubens would do well in the grand prix today but with all the rain it was more fun than i thought it would be but never mind :-). Here it rained just a little earlier on but now its fine and cooled down just a bit.

Today i spent the evening first checking out a website for my new computer and got my ex wife to ring the guy too and it turns out he is the cheapest person i have found in Brasilia for building pcs so next week it will be off the the store to order mine and to get it all built as soon as he can manage it. The computer we use now is slow but has done really well but its time for an upgrade to something a little faster so we can use more powerful software. You wouldnt believe how much a copy of Windows XP costs here in brasil so as you can see it will be a quick trip to the paraguay fair to get either a pirated copy of XP or more than likely i will get a copy of linux and windows too and double boot the computer until i know enough about linux to not have to use Windows any more but will figure that out next week i think.

Also this evening i have been messing around with Blogrolling to make it easier to update and alter the links on my weblog. Setting up with them was easy and also adding the links too on their very easy to use site. The copying of the code to the blogger template also was enough as its just one line. Then came my little problem... all the links were justified to the right where everything else is to the left lol. It took a little while to figure out that i needed to add a simple bit of html and then published and it is all done and looks okay. A nice thing too is that there is a link in blogrolling that i added to my links bar and its similar to the Blogthis link called Blogrollthis that saves having to go to the site to add new links :-) I will tidy it up a little more when i get time too i think later in the week :-)

Okay time for me to hit the hay as i have to be up at 6am for my first class of the day in the morning :-) Night Night lol

PS Remember i told you about Josephines site? well i read her updates for the last few days and there is this really beautiful letter that she has written to DR Martin Luther King so please go check it out okay???? :-)

posted at 9:07 PM by john |