Achoo!

When I was reading this cool article about sneezing recently, I learned that infants sneeze mostly through their noses. As we get older we learn to sneeze through our mouths, and apparently, that's not as effective at clearing your sinuses. So when I got that familiar tickle in my nostrils today, I thought that I might try the baby way.

The resulting blast sounded so funny that I ended up with more giggling than sinus-clearing. And then I had to explain to the students within earshot why my sneeze made me laugh.

Happy Faux Birthday to Me!

Today is my faux birthday. When you write May 12 in the Indonesian way (day/month), it looks like December 5 in the American way (month/day). It's not really that exciting, but cool enough to make me smile when I wrote the date for checking stuff out at the library this morning.

AND, I'm not really allergic to mangoes. Just to unripe mangoes. That's faux birthday gift enough for me.

Teachable Moment and Lesson Learned!

I had a minor victory today.

My classes have been giving oral/PowerPoint presentations for the last few days, and today everything was going well in class 11.2 (not the case in another class where I tried two computers and two projectors before I got all the technology working). Of course, that's a lead-in to what went wrong, but I should first explain that giving a 3-5 minute oral presentation in English is pretty intimidating for most of my kids. They cope by burying their heads in their papers, mumbling, looking everywhere except the audience, or speaking so softly you can't hear them. To help them out, I keep the rest of the kids as quiet as possible, and I get frustrated on behalf of the presenters when the class is disruptive.

It's hard enough to keep 30 youngsters in the class quiet, but when a group of students from another class started making noise right outside the door, talking, applauding, and peeping in (distracting the presenter, the rest of the class, and me), I started to get angry. When the presentation was over, I went to the door to have some words with them, but I must have had my "angry walk" on because by the time I got to the door, they had scattered, sprinting down the hall like zebras fleeing a hungry lion. By that time, I was really POd, and I roared down the hall at them. (I don't really remember what I said, but it was loud and mad-sounding).

The trouble was that I only saw one face, and while I could make some guesses about the other identities, I wasn't sure enough to do anything. But I was pretty sure that they had come from class 11.1, so when I got there I made a "that was really disrespectful, but I'm sorry I yelled" speech in a "I know who you are" way. And then I suggested that they write a letter of apology to the student whose presentation they disrupted.

And here's the amazing part: THEY DID.

One kid wrote the letter, and the rest of them signed it. I don't know what felt better, solving my own little whodunit, or watching them do the right thing when they didn't have to.

Today was a good day to be a teacher.

Mangoes vs. Laura

First of all, I should clarify that my complaint letter was a work of fiction. But next time my flight is delayed, the staff won't listen to me, and I miss an important meeting because of it, I know exactly what to write.

And now to the bad news. I think I may have an allergy to mangoes. I've had a weird chapped lip and itchy feeling around my mouth before, but I only connected it to my love of that beautiful fruit when my first mango in a while produced an itchiness that went all the way down my chin and neck and lingered.

It only takes one Google search for "mango allergy" to supply you with all the horror stories and paranoia you need, gruesome pictures included. Turns out mangoes produce a chemical similar to the irritant in poison oak and poison ivy. Poison ivy and I have already had a long and turbulent history, so I was starting to think that my beautiful relationship with mangoes would have to come to an unwilling end.

Two things give me hope. First, I learned that the allergen is mostly in the skin, so I'm hoping that if I'm more careful about that, I'll be in good shape. Also, I read at least one anecdote that said that unripe mangoes are worse, and the one I ate most recently was on the sour side.

In the meantime, I'm a bit wary of the last mango ripening on my counter. If I believe everything the Internet says, I should be treating it like a chemical weapon, if not evacuating my now contaminated apartment. Instead, I'm going to eat that sucker. Just as long as I know where the Benadryl and anti-itch cream are.

I can write in Indonesian

This is my first real composition in Indonesian. I wrote it today in my Indonesian class. It's a little bit sad that it's a letter of complaint, but I'm very proud that I got all the words right.

Dear Manajer,
Saya kecewa dengan pelayanan Garuda Indonesia. Penerbangan saya (GA 432) ditunda lima jam. Staf Anda tidak dengar waktu saya mau minta. Karena ditunda saya terlambat presentasi penting sekali. Saya mau ganti rugi untuk waktu hilang saya.

Translation:
Dear Manager,
I am disappointed with Garuda Indonesia's service. [Garuda Indonesia is Indonesia's national airline.] My flight was delayed five hours. Your staff didn't listen when I wanted to ask a question. Because of the delay, I was late for a very important presentation. I would like compensation for my lost time.

Tomorrow Ami and I are going to Ancol, which is kind of like Indonesia's Disneyland. I'll let you know what it's like. Expect a picture post soon.