News flashes
I have been severely lacking in the newsy blog posts lately, and I am way overdue for a rant, but time has been in short supply lately … as well as internet I can depend on. The latter problem seems to have been resolved; as for the former … not so much. But for now, here are a couple news bites that caught my attention this week.
- Another foot has washed ashore in British Colombia. This is the seventh in two years to show up on a random beach in a sneaker. Police are still puzzled as to where they are coming from and what caused the death of the people the feet used to be attached to. I blogged about this last spring when a few feet washed up within a couple weeks of each other. It’s a disturbing trend and quite the mystery.
- An Ekos poll was released yesterday, showing the Conservatives are still on the upswing while the Liberals are doing worse than the NDP in a couple provinces. Here’s Kady O’Malley’s analysis of the new numbers.
- There’s a pretty good chance the National Post is going to fold due to its massive losses over the last few years, unless CanWest can shift it to another part of the company that can support it financial. Apparently the newspaper with 277 employees has never made a profit since it began printing 11 years ago.
And that’s all for now, folks. What news have you been reading lately?
News flashes
Here’s some recent headlines that caught my interest:
- We all knew it, but this week Canada was once again recognized as one of the best places in the world to live. My home and native land turned up forth on the UN human development index. Norway topped the list, the US of A came in 13th, and Afghanistan was second last with only Nigeria behind it.
Former British president Tony Blair might be the new EU leader.
- Last week, Ireland ratified the Lisbon Treaty, bringing the agreement much closer to reality in the European Union. Among other things, the treaty will create the position of EU president and make the group more like a federal nation. There’s a pretty good chance former United Kingdom president Tony Blair will be given the first term as leader.
- Brazil was awarded the 2016 Olympics on Friday, with Rio de Janeiro beating out Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid. It was a big moment for the nation and especially its president, the much-loved Lula da Silva. I, for one, am thrilled to see the Summer Games coming to South America for the first time. I’ve heard the argument that the millions of dollars to be spent on building projects and other preparation for the international event could be spent on poverty and crime initiatives for the country, I think the construction and other jobs this opportunity will create will be a huge plus. The Olympics will put the spotlight on Brazil and South America as a whole, both highlighting its positives and hopefully offering new solutions to its problems.
- Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is in trouble. Today, a judge overturned a law granting the leader immunity from prosecution, a law that got him out of a corruption trial in 2008. The court decided the legislation was unconstitutional, as it gave special privileges to specific politicians – an opinion I heartily agree with. Just because someone is a head of state does not mean they should not have to face consequences of their actions, or even alleged actions. In fact, being in that position should mean they provide additional transparency; after all, they make decisions for the entire country and must possess a measure of integrity. There is a lot of pressure on Berlusconi to resign because of the charges against him, but so far he’s said he plans to stick around.
Let me know what you think and leave your opinions and/or other interesting news bites in the comments section.
Recap: Sept. 27 – Oct. 3
Here’s a quick recap of the events of my week:
Sunday – had a skype conference call with my entire family … we’re currently in four different countries, four time zones and three continents.
Monday – forgot to collect homework I assigned my eighth grade students. I was handed two pieces of mail when I arrived at school in the morning – yay!
Tuesday – helped kindergarten kids build sand castles.
Wednesday – had a mini Bible study with ninth grade and was impressed by their insights.
Thursday – met with the other high school teachers after classes to talk about how to prep the graduating class for the national exam (the Colombian version of the SATs). After a diagnostic test, we discovered they are all struggling in physics but rocking the mathematics. As for English, I have almost a completely split class – half are practically bilingual, half can barely carry a conversation. It will be interesting.
Friday – played a game in the English elective in which I had to chose the ideal job out of five options; I picked president. In the evening there was a lightning storm that lasted nearly three hours and I set a new personal record: 1,800 photos in 45 minutes. Four or five of those captured lightning, and there is one I’m super proud of (to be posted at a later date).
Saturday – the day isn’t over but I’ve spent most of it so far writing out my class plans for October. I’m really hoping I have some internet tonight so I can listen in to the Ottawa Senator’s season opener. GO SENS!
No confidence
Members of Parliament are voting on a Liberal no-confidence motion today. It won’t pass, since the NDP has already promised to support the Conservatives until the EI bill is through.
Michael Ignatieff says he believes Canadians deserve a better government, which is why he is trying to bring down Stephen Harper. It may be true we deserve better, but I also think we deserve a year without an election.
What do you think?
If I had 36 million dollars
If I won the lottery, say $36 million or something like that, I know exactly what I would do with it.
I would travel to space.
The billionaire founder of Canada’s Cirque du soleil will rocket to international attention after blasting off into outer space to host one of the most unique spectacles in human history …
He started as a street juggler and fire-eater and, because he was the best at math among his group of performing friends, Laliberte was put in charge of a little performing troupe that would eventually become the world-famous Cirque du soleil.
That business venture helped Laliberte become wealthy enough to plunk down $US35 million for a seat on an old Russian spacecraft and a stay aboard the International Space Station.
This guy is definitely my hero of the day. How cool would staying on the International Space Station be? Even just the travel to and from earth would be freakin’ amazing. I may have to make my list 101 things to do before I die … or 102, cause I don’t actually play the lottery.
The only problem with an adventure like this: you could never do anything to top it.
Good news and bad news
I’m still alive, I promise. That’s the good news. Bad news is …. daily blogs are now a thing of the past. Sketchy internet and time-consuming lesson plans have officially seen to that.
But that’s not really the news.
The good news is France is considering introducing a law that makes it illegal for magazines or advertising companies to alter photos without saying so. They want health warnings on all publications that have been adjusted to make the subject look more appealing – which could lead to people adopting unhealthy body image. I think it’s a fantastic idea. Hopefully it will go through in France and set a precedent for other countries to follow.
The not-so-great news is that Vancouver is also considering a law – to force the homeless into shelters. Sure, it will clean up city streets during the Olympics, but it’s impractical and absurd. I’d be all for this if I thought it would actually benefit the homeless in some way, but deciding where to sleep at night is one of the only things some of them have control over, and it won’t go over well if that option is removed. Politicians might have the right idea with this proposal, but money spent on enforcement of this rule would be much better used for affordable housing or social programs.
Another news item I’m not happy about it is that polygamy charges against two Mormons in B.C. have been dropped. A couple of prosecutors refused to take the case and finally a provincial supreme court judge threw out the charges. There’s the possibility of an appeal, but for now it looks like the polygamous are safe. The thought of wanting to be married to more than one person is completely ridiculous, but beyond strange I think the arrangement is absolutely wrong. Especially when the multiple wives are very young and forced into the marriages. I don’t care what your religious views are, polygamy should not be okay in this country, or anywhere else. For someone generally considered “religious” (though I dislike the term), I am not a fan of so-called religious freedom when it means outrageous things like polygamy is overlooked or condoned.
To end on a happy note, a Vancouver library has banned a suicide workshop. The realization that those things even exist made me feel a lot like throwing up, and I was glad to hear someone decided the seminar on methods and resources for committing suicide could be considered illegal. I would be all for workshops on how to deal with fatal diseases or life-threatening events, but to actually teach how to end life is completely disgusting. Who attends those things? Can you imagine: “Bye, honey, I’m off to the suicide workshop.” Do people really want to plan ahead by purchasing “the right end-of-life drugs”, cause that is seriously morbid. Free speech is great and all, but not when it means providing suicide suggestions to who knows who. I’m glad the library decided to ban it, though I’d rather it was because of moral and ethical reasons than just because they didn’t want to break the law.
Well, that’s enough ranting for one night. Let me know what you think about one or all of the above news bites and we’ll see what kind of debate we can get going on.
Teaching English, learning Spanish
Here’s an article I wrote for the newspaper I used to work for in Ottawa, to give you a glimpse into my world of teaching English in Cali, Colombia.
Nine students in maroon, grey and white uniforms sat neatly at their desks, eyes wide, as the door closed on the tiny classroom.
I was probably just as wide-eyed as I faced my seventh grade pupils for the first English review class of the year at Colegio Ekklesia. It was 7:30 a.m.
I wrote my name on the whiteboard with my brand-new red marker, hands shaking and sweating a little – but I hoped not so they would notice. I picked up the course textbook and flipped to the first page.
It might have been a normal review class, with games and introductions, like those happening all over the world as the academic year began, except there was an extra teacher in my classroom.
He was the translator between me – a first-time, inexperienced instructor – and the Spanish children.
It was intimidating, to say the least.
I made it through 50 minutes, allowing the other teacher, Jacob Roggero, to jump in when necessary to urge me to slow down my instructions or add explanations.
When the bell rang to signal the end of the first period, I gathered up my papers and books for the trek to my next class, which was on the second floor of the concrete school building.
I felt a little like a failure, but strode through the hallway with my head high anyway.
Thankfully, the day improved from there.
Roggero followed me from class to class, helping with misunderstandings and keeping the largest class – 15 students in Grade 6 – in some sort of order.
Grades 10 and 11 were advanced enough that Roggero wasn’t needed; students with better English translated for those with less knowledge and we made it through the rest of the day at the small Christian institution.
I was able to breathe a little easier when the final bell rang at 2 p.m., but was still overwhelmed by the realization that I completed just one day out of 10 months of my teaching commitment in South America. And Roggero was only available to help me during the first few days before he began his own English and computer classes.
By that evening, my back ached and my head hurt, but I finished my notes from the day and preparation for the next with a strange sense of accomplishment. And a new respect for the teachers that instruct classes of 30 kids at a time, year in and year out.CALI
I left my job as a reporter for the Kanata Kourier-Standard in July, and jumped on a plane for Cali, Colombia, ready for an adventure of gigantic proportions.
Since my arrival more than three weeks ago, I am more thoroughly convinced that gigantic is definitely what I got myself into.
There are numerous challenges in teaching over 60 students from grades 6 to 11 (which constitutes high school in Colombia) how to speak my native language while being able to communicate just barely in their own. Nevertheless, I am completely thrilled to be here.
I am living in a little brick house mere steps from the school building, with palms growing outside my bedroom window and mangos, bananas and oranges picked fresh from trees on the same mountain acreage. Lights of the city – which nearly three million people call home – twinkle across the valleys and hills after the sun goes down around 6 p.m.
The school staff and affiliated church congregation have welcomed this gringo with open arms – and as they do here, a kiss on the cheek with the obligatory “Buenois dias. Como estas?”
The beauty of the people and geography have captured me already.
Though I have only been here a few weeks, I already look forward to Colombian staples like sancocho, rice and arepa at our 2 p.m. lunchtime, and the cool mountain wind (viento) in the evening.
I have picked up some of the rapid-fire Spanish of my surroundings, but have far to go before I could consider adopting the title “bilingual”.
For now, my English – as well as my blonde hair and blue eyes – makes me stand out among the black-haired and dark-skinned students and teachers. The smaller children stare unashamedly, asking me in speedy Spanish who I am and where I’ve come from.
I’m sure the novelty will wear off sooner or later.
When it does, I’ll be just another profesor.
The carnival of city hall
It has been weeks since I was in Ottawa city council chambers, but I am hearing about the chaos and dysfunction all the way in Colombia.
Mayor Larry O’Brien is back in his chair around the table, but it sounds like not much is being accomplished. Flooding in the west end isn’t being addressed properly, taxpayers will be hit with the bill for councillors’ decision to cancel the previous light rail transit plan, and everyone is talking about the mayor’s choice of Jasmine MacDonnell for his new communications director.
Columnist Randall Denley is calling for a completely new slate of councillors to be elected next November. Here’s a little of what he had to say:
Not all councillors are immature and irrational, of course, but even the better councillors are disappointing. The few capable of leadership too seldom offer it and far too many sit on their hands contributing nothing, as if staying out of the worst nonsense constitutes a job well done.
The rot starts at the top, unfortunately. O’Brien’s return was a reminder of just how bad he is at managing a council meeting. This was a session with only two items and no major decisions to make, and yet it ran for more than 12 hours. That can’t possibly make sense. Typically, O’Brien failed to outline how council should proceed at the beginning of the session, didn’t keep control and wasn’t even in the chair for much of the meeting. The fact that he clearly does not respect some councillors and they don’t respect him just adds to the difficulty. During a break in the meeting, O’Brien came up to where the reporters sit and suggested some of his colleagues would benefit from an enema. Sound medical advice, but probably not the kind of gravitas one would expect from a mayor.
What do you think about the happenings in Andrew Haydon hall lately, and what do you hope the next municipal election will accomplish?
Cheryl