Guilty

Normally I never feel guilty about anything. The reason for this is that I usually don't do anything to feel too guilty about...and when I do it's an honest mistake or misunderstanding and I apologize. But yesterday was different...3x.


1. I bought some ice cream for about $1. I paid with what I am pretty sure was about $2. The girl gave me change for $13 (the largest bill here). Now the reason I didn't correct this mistake was because I gave her the benefit of the doubt and just assumed that I was mistaken. The bills here kind of look the same and they are old and crappy due to a lack of wallets (I shove my money in my pocket). And what was I supposed to do? Ask her if she made a mistake? I tell myself that even if she was correct she would have said she wasn't just to get my money. I also tell myself that my Spanish isn't good enough to communicate this to her. And lastly, if she figures out her mistake later she will without a doubt be more careful in the future and thus I was preventing her from further more important loses. Either way, I still feel kind of bad.

2. I had a library book. I am in a different city now...but I still have it. After school I walked by the place to give it back but they were closed. They didn't have those handy drop-off boxes and I coulnd't just set it on the sidewalk. To check out the book all I had to do was write down my name on a list.

3. The dog always jumped on me and barked at me. I would always kick it. Last night it was doing the same thing. It was late at night so all the lights were off and I could only see from the street lights. I grabbed the broom and I took a big swing at what I thought was it´s butt...only it was it's head. She started whimpering and running in circles. She was crying so much that my host mom came all the way from downstairs to ask what happened. This morning I looked at it and one eye was half closed. I'm glad it was my last day there because I really wouldn't want to explain to a 6 and a 12 year old what happened to their dog. It really is hard to teach and old dog new tricks. I don't feel bad for hitting it. I just feel bad that the family is going to have to just guess as to what their foreign exchange student did to their dog. But in all honesty I think the adults will get a good laugh out of it.

In Mark news...I'm still in Guatemala. At Panejachel on Lago de Atitlan. I leave tomorrow.

Monterrico

I went to Monterrico this weekend with a bunch of other drifters. Highlights include..

sitting on the beach in a hammock drinking smoothies
jumping around in waves
eating food that didn't contain any beans

mentionable things...

minor sunburn
taking a big whipe out while walking
buying sandals that say Italy all over them
not getting as many mozzy bites as Rob
seeing more wildlife in our hotel rooms and restaurants than on our wildlife boat tour

strange/scary things...
Sara fainting in the restaurant.
Me trying to dig sand out of Diego's eye with a toothpick (I got it).

And finally one story. I was sitting on a hammock next to Myrna. She was writing, I asked her if she had a diary (en espanol). She thought I said diarrhea. We then had what we each thought was a normal conversation (well except for the part where I would have been asking her all these personal questions about her digestive system). The whole time I just thought she was talking about her diary and she thought I was talking about diarrhea. I was laughing so hard. It's kind of one of those you had to be there moments that I will think of everytime I hear the word diary. The toothpick story is for another day.

Antigua

Well, I've been in Guatemala for just over two weeks. So far I've come to a few conclusions...well I'm kind of thinking of them as I type but oh well.

No matter how hard I try, I will never be able to learn Spanish. I fall back on the "I'm too old to learn a language excuse."

No matter how hard I try I will never be able to spend all my money in 3 months.

And, ice cream here is like ice cream back home.

Really, not much has been going on here. I have a cool family that likes to cook beans and onions and watch soap operas...but for kids. I am not sure if we have that equivalent in the US. I sit on a hammock all afternoon and nap, read or stare at the huge volcano that is visible from my roof. I live with a dog and it hasn't been trained very well. Over the next two weeks it's training should be complete. I prefer the shoe or broom to the face method...for the dog, not me. Other than that, there isn't really much to say. I've been taking pics but forgot my cord to upload them. I'll put them on a CD eventually and upload that way.

This weekend I'm going to the ocean for some relaxing. Basically I'll be comparing the hammock and volcano view with the hammock and ocean view...I hope. Two weeks from now I will hopefully be getting my PADI cert. and then cruising around in Lake Atitlan - a collapsed volcano.

I will not be learning to salsa and I have a farmers tan that any farmer would envy. Today I walked around looking for a tailor to sew up the hole in my pocket but I couldn't find one (I had a map with the X). I also withdrew money from the bank with out any problms. I can't think of anything else now. I tried to ask my teacher if he'd ever been robbed but I asked him if he'd ever robbed anyone. I didn't know what I'd said until he started explaining to me how he has morals etc. So that, more or less, is what i've been up to.

hasta luego, marcos

Not comment worthy

Jordan, this is for you in case you ever feel like having a video to help prove your points. Well, it may not help but it's funny and when I saw it I thought of you. Then right after it I found this one. I was hoping to find a video to help Nicole prove a point but instead I think it just shows a man knowing when to wear a helmet. Oh well, I don't think she reads this blog anyway.

Chris, I miss you.

Edit: Here is one for Nicole even though I don't think she comes here and I don't think I know who she is. Warning: the title says it all.


Back to semi-blog retirement
Mark

Huge increase.

So I have this weird student. He never seems like he wants to be there. He dozes off, text messages and spends the rest of the time looking out the window. So I was kind of messing with him one day, I can't remember all the details, but we ended up talking about girl problems. I guess when he was 14 he was talking to a girl he liked and one of his friends came by and said "ohhh, is that the girl you like?" Since then he hasn't been able to talk to a girl (he's in uni now).

So being the creative and caring teacher I am, I played the part of the girl. His job was to try and talk to me. Since he is afraid to talk, I told him to just end everything with a question. He kept forgetting so I had this big question mark on a piece of paper that I would hold up. And before you even start, yes, I know I am the last guy on Earth to be giving advice on how to speak with girls. But teaching someone how to order Hawaiian pizza gets old after about...1 time. Our conversation went something like this:

Him: Hi.
Me: Hello.
H. Do you like math?
Me. No, I like art.
H. I don't.
Me. (holding the ? sign)

Me. (as the teacher again, telling him he just messed up.)

Take 2

H. Hi.
Me. Hello.
H. Do you like (some J TV show).
Me. What's that?
H. A tv show.
Me. I've never seen it. What's it about?
H. It's about robots.
Me. (reminding him about the ?'s and telling him to never talk about robots with a girl)

Our staff is made up of a bunch of young J girls so I gave him some lines on a piece of paper to say as he left. "Hello, how's it going?" and "I like your haircut." I was standing behind the staff as he checked out frantically jumping up and down and waving my hands in that sort of encouraging type of way. He didn't even make eye contact with her. I failed.


And from a different lesson:

So let's say we are telling stories. I give my students a couple seconds to brainstorm and think up a true story. Of course they never have any. I always do the story lessons because then I don't have to talk. When they can't think of a story I have to assign them one. Then I get to hear funny quotes like:

-you have to train your bunny.
-maybe she just touched the bunny somewhere the bunny didn't want her to.


And from yesterday, a guy was reading to me from his book.

Him. ....this will result in a hug increase.
Me. What?
Him. I don't get it.
Me. What? A hug increase. Read it again.
Him. (reading it again, the same.
Me (laughing at him)

No hablo espanol

I just bought a ticket - Mpls to Guatemala. $287. May 2nd. The only problem will be leaving at 6am. I of course will have to arrive early. Which means I might be asking someone with nothing to do for a ride at a very odd hour. It's at moments like this that I am glad I have such loving and caring friends back in MN!

hahaha

What's that fuss?

This one just amazed me.

Dude: People in America all ride the train.
15ish yr old girl: No they don't, some ride buses. Don't you know Rosa Parks?


I wonder where he got the train idea from. I would have thought SUVs or something. Funny.

Mountains

So this is what it is and what I will have to do. There are 3 parts of this I will have to go through. But first, the vocab.

Prosthetic technician. They make limbs. Thats all (I think). No patients, white coats or liability. For this I will need a two year tech degree. I am counting on this being fun, interesting and not too hard.

Prosthetist. These are the guys that boss around the technicians. They also deal with the patients (sizing, fitting, adjusting etc.). And they can also make limbs too (no surgery). Getting this position will take a little more work.

There are a couple other positions but all the language and education paths just confused me, but those seem to be the main two.

To be a prosthetist I will first have to do the 2 yr tech degree followed by a 1 year residency. Then I will have to do another 2 yr program for the prosthetist part with a 1 yr residency again. So one could start and finish their residency in six years (well add a few more because a 4yr deg is req). The part that will complicate everything is that to get accepted into the second program I will have to first complete the following

Biology Minimum 3 semester hours
Chemistry Minimum 3 semester hours
Physics Minimum 3 semester hours
Psychology Minimum 3 semester hours
Algebra or higher Math Minimum 3 semester hours
Human Anatomy and Physiology (with Lab) Minimum 6 semester hours


So far I have 1 semester of bio and a 4 yr degree...and the math I guess. I think a very motivated person could mix a lot science classes into the first 3 yrs. I think if I do choose this path I will end up taking 20 credits for the first 2 years - the reg 15 for the tech plus 1 science class each sem - then a load of science in the summer. This decision would of course depend on the difficulty of the tech degree but for some reason I'm not too worried about it. I am not even sure what 3 semester hours means. Someone told me it equals 2 semesters. The other thing I will have to find out, prolly by talking to someone in person, is what admissions is like into the last part. It says a "C" or better is required in all of the classes. Does that mean you get in then? Geez, I could take 25 credits a semester then! haha

Well I am getting way ahead of myself. Well, now you all know the strange things that have been running through my head for the last two weeks. Also I am trying to find the cheapest ticket home, a ticket to Cent Am., figure out when to leave and what to do when my fam is here for 2 weeks.

Also, Jordan, I had this really witty comment typed up about the STD song and then I hit enter and my internet disconnected!!!!!!!!!!

And FYI I live on the side of a mountain. Tonight I ran up to this temple. 480 steps. Started off with street lights and then turned into lanterns! The last couple of times I tried and failed - these pics are from a few months ago. It's a nice night trip. I counted the steps on the way down cause I'm a nerd.

phase 1

I want to be a prosthetist. I think it is feasible...except I will finish up with it when I am in my early 30's. As sad as it may seem, it is the first time I've wanted to be something since I was like 6. Well, I've always wanted to be "something," I just never knew what that was. It's annoying because anytime I make some important life decision it's always one that I could just have easily made five years earlier had my head been screwed on a little tighter (or is it straighter?).

Anyway, I am really anxious to do some job shadowing. Hopefully this isn't just a phase if it is my life will be back to directionless.

My plans to live in Central America have not changed...well except for the part where I job shadow down there. yeah, that will be cool. I'm excited.

Classifieds

If you or anyone you know needs/wants to borrow a laptop for the 06/07 school year let me know. It has a wireless card and everything else you could ever want....except for a huge harddrive, dvd burner or expensive graphics card. Also the battery is shot...I think they are around 50 bucks.

Shirts etc.

The Policeman Style
The importance of the life the very light
children think. It is sometimes learned
By bringing up a creature not only oppose
But also think once when children say it
"I want to keep a creature."

The thing that sucks about these shirts (besides the obvious) is that when they cram in so much writing it makes it hard to read. It's hard to look attentive and try and figure out these proverbs at the same time. Here is a better one:

Big Baby on the me.
The baby is riding on my back now.

Me: What does your shirt mean?
Seiji: The baby is a symbol of my pressure.

OH Canada!

This isn't even Mark blogworthy. The fact that it's on CNN International is just as ridiculous.

"Of more than 2,500 university and college students polled across Canada, 87 percent of them are having sex over instant messenger, Webcams or the telephone, according to results of a national survey released on Monday." And "eighty-seven percent of those polled claimed to be sober at the time."

Now something confuses me about this report. I am sure there is a perfectly logical explanation. But why is "Webcams" capitalized? Is it a proper noun? That is what I would assume but to me it has always been the generic term for any camera you plug into your comp with the purpose of recording/sending some type of video. And if so, why isn't "instant messenger" also capitalized. To me, "instant messanger" is AOL Instant Messenger. It is not a general term for all online chat programs. The popular ones all have their own respective names such as MSN/Windows Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger.

Well, the other problem I have is that CNN makes it sound like this is a kind of ultra safe sex. But still, if you get virtually engaged, how are you going to tell your virtual wife that you've had virtual sex with all sorts of virtual girls (aka dudes)? And what about all those computer viruses? Oh no!

Cameras, futures and guns.

Mark! Thank you so much!!!! I love it! I was totally expecting like um... a tshirt or something... I'm super excited! And it fits in my pocket for this summer!!

Thank you!!!

Karen


That was an email from my sister. I bought her a digital camera off of ebay. Every year for Christmas she gets me something. Probably for many of my birthdays too. I've never really kept track of the plus/minus ratio but I am pretty sure this is the first time I've bought my sister anything for Christmas or her Bday...EVER! It has always been a combination of being broke and selfish I guess. And it's easy for me to fall back on the old "Christmas isn't about presents" thing (which is still true - I think). Anyway, it feels good to do something nice for someone once every 25 years, at least now she will know not to expect anything for the next 5-10.

In more important news, last night/early this morning I decided what I want to do for the rest of my life. After 25 years of being clueless, it feels nice just to feel like I have some kind of direction or goal. And of course it coincides nicely with the giving of my first ever Christmas gift (well one worth more than a couple $'s). I should have given her a present when I was 18.

The good thing is that I'm very optimistic as far as my chances of going through with everything. The bad news is I will have to take another 100 credits AND the wonderful Chem/Phyisics combo. Oh, and psych, but that shouldn't be a big deal. So, 115 credits plus after the first 60 I have to work for a year before I can get accepted into the second 40 credits. I think I can fit the first 60 credits into one year if they'll let me...cause I am so darn ambitious. I'll let y'all know what it is in a week if I still want to do it.

two birds

Long after I'd arrived home from Ghana I began to regret not sending my bulk emails to myself. I updated everyone on what was going on but never kept a copy. I plan on doing this in Guatemala. I think I will just be adding them to my blog. Two birds with one stone you know. Or something like that. Here is an email I just sent to my aunt's. It basically sums up my entire 10 months here. Note to self: you were in a bad mood when you wrote it...and you still are. I had a long NOTE TO FUTURE SELF blog planned. That will be later............



How come I never hear from any of you? Where are the "aunt updates?" I get the Nate email updates like once every six months...and when I graduated Nate didn't even know how to work a computer. I think he wrote all his papers with a pencil he whittled. Anyway, you have probably been wondering where all the "mark updates" have been over the last year (ok maybe not). Well, there has been nothing to update on. But I am sending one along anyway.

I teach English to Japanese people, since I have a very small frame of reference I can't be sure if it's this job or work in general....but I am currently wondering how people work for their entire lives, work sucks. As I sit in the staff room cutting and pasting "resources" that will hit the trash before they ever get used for anything - I stare at the folder containing the "resignation slips" and ignore its taunts and insults. But lately it has been teasing me a lot. The only reason I haven't quit is because I have loads of cash in the bank and nothing to spend it on.... no wait, it's because my parents want to come visit at the end of my contract...in about 2 months.

I just emailed my dad and asked him if he would prefer to backpack around India for a month as opposed to two weeks in J land. We'll see what he says. I am anticipating either my mom deletes it or he replies with "I would love to but...I must work for 4 hours a week." I also invited my mom...I know she could only come for 2 weeks though. Oh well. Next time you hear grandma talking about how adventurous her son is, just remind her that he shot down a month long chance to bond with his eldest. Wanna come? we never hang out anymore

Well, outside of teaching for 35 or so hours a week, commuting for the 50 min each way and trying to meet girls on the internet I spend most of my free time at martial arts. Four days a week. It is my only real hobby here...maybe ever.

Well, a few weeks ago Nate emailed me one of those "so mark, I heard you.." emails. It was a little off, so... I plan on heading back to MN around mid april to visit MPLS, Duluth and (drumroll) LP. I have to renew my drivers license. And then I will be boarding a plane to Guatemala. I plan on staying there (or in that region) until I speak spanish. And that's about all.

Hope all is well. In case you ever have those childish "I'm his favorite aunt" competitions...well I can't confirm anything...except that my address book only has 3 aunts in it from the Terwey side. hahaha. Tell Ann I say hello. I hope everything is going ok in the West. I'll see you around someday.
your fav nephew
Mark

Bored?

Jordan, you might find this site interesting, you just strike me as the type...I don't know why. You other bored folk might also. It's some dude's list of common English mistakes. I only clicked on a few. I guess I am alright...or all right. Most of the words/phrases he lists are not ones that I use but I guess it's interesting to read them anyway. Well for about five min, depending on your boredom level.

The Twister

None of you will enjoy this. But I do. It's what I spend all my time trying to do. When I get it, it makes me happy. I'm a looser. Jiu Jitsu - The Twister. All except the last move.

Japanese values

My 5th post in 4 days. That has to be a record. I just found this funny. The thing about shirts here is they all say something in English, and as I've talked about before...they rarely make sense. I believe most people can read them, they just don't understand what they say. I've had students wearing weird stuff and I ask them about it and sometimes they say they know it doesn't make sense but they just don't care. Well my phone camera makes it a little blurry but if you can read the sign on the left side you might find it funny. Or I am lame.

Greenpeace

I like the environment. I like being outside. Trees, wild animals, some bugs, the sun, clouds and moutains. All that stuff is great.

People in Japan like whales. I haven't tried them but I guess they're quite tasty. The problem is, lots of other people like whales better in the ocean. I am not sure if this is news anywhere else in the world...it's not even really news here. But somewhere out at sea there is a Japanese whaling boat cruising around with Greenpeace boats following it, trying to disrupt its whale killing mission. I have no problems with whales, whalers or people who want to protect them. The thing is, when you combine all three, you just get a big mess. A big mess of conflicting ideals usually results in one of two things, a lot of dead people or a funny story. In this case it's the latter...with a bunch of dead whales.

Well I don't really know that much about the whole thing. I read the pro and con articles for both sides and they were as expected:

Whales are special, they have feelings, they're smart. There aren't many left so we should save them so they can reproduce and be plentifull.

Whales taste good and we are hungry. Too bad your western parents and grandparents killed off all the whales in the first place...along with all the wolves, sharks, bison etc etc etc. Please pass the salt.

Well, I have no problem with the anti-whaling ideology, but I have to say the way they are going about it is ridiculous. They are following the ship, trying to scare away the whales and then positioning their rafts inbetween the whales and the harpoons. Well, the whole point of this blog is that the pictures are funny...in a strange sort of way. Both are from the GP website, official I think. One is the sign on the J boat which hilarious. The other is the J boat spraying the GP rafts as they follow it, also hilarious.

Beginning of Mark's 2 month weight loss program

I planned on going on a diet starting in Dec. It lasted one day...just enough time to blog about it. Then I got sick and went to Hawaii where I ate all the free food I could. So I'm starting over. 81.8kgs. I have just over two months left here, we'll see how it goes.

I can't believe I just typed up this blog about nothing

I used to have these sweatpants that I got my freshman year. I had them for about 5 years and I wore them all the time. The other day I was like "where are my sweatpants?" I somehow managed to not bring them to Japan. Not only that but I don't remember putting them in a safe place. I only left one little tupperware box thingy back at home...full of photos and crap like that that I don't need to carry with me. Did I put them in there? How odd. I think I started wearing sweatpants all the time around 6th grade. That's about when I got rid of my blankie. In my 6th grade class pictures I am wearing sweatpants...I look ridiculous, everyone else is all dressed up. Well, the point of this story is just to let everyone know that I miss my sweatpants. It's cold here (well like 30F) and my heat doesn't really do much other than ring up a big bill. The other night I was freezing and as I left for work in the morning I realized that my door was an inch open. Good one Mark.

Mark news: I am not renewing my contract. So I will finish at the end of March. My parents are coming to see Japan and I will get back to MN mid-April sometime. From there the plan is to visit peeps for a couple weeks then I am off (hopefully) to the wonderful land of Guatemala. Since I have been trying really hard to save money I will basically be the richest unemployed person there...which probably means I will just get robbed.

Back to my original pointless post: does anyone else think girls are more attractive when they are wearing sweatpants? It seems so superficial to judge one on their clothes, but all the expensive jeans in the world will never equal cheap sweatpants. But if they're pink, say anything on the butt or they are too tight, well that is just stupid. Return those. Oh yeah, and another thing I mentioned in my fashion blog...no tucking in your shirt, unless you want to be shunned by all the cool kids.

Also I schooled that little 14 year old again tonight. I can rest easy, there is no way that he will get good enough to beat me in the next two months.