I want my muffin. please.

I have been working lately... doing a great deal of work actually... and it seems that no matter how much of this work I finish, there is still work to be done. Been there before? Everyone has their own experience with this, for me and my English Literature comrades it is now the few weeks before our essay deadline. My essays, one for each of my modules, 4000 words each... are due on May 11Th. That is two weeks from yesterday!! not a lot of time. Essays alone would be fine, but coupled with completing reports from my work in Connecticut, researching my thesis, course work for my modules, revising my resume (Brit: reviewing my CV) writing cover letters and applying for jobs... all this has necessitated that I am more efficient than usual with my time management.

Which means, when I stop in the coffee shop for a muffin and juice, I am not looking for a laugh. I am looking for a muffin. food. hungry. am in library for hours on end. Just sell me the muffin as quickly possible please. Yesterday when I went to buy this muffin and juice I came across someone who thought it would be fun and playful to joke with me whilst withholding my food. Anyone who has ever met me knows that this is a bad idea in general, the withholding of food, but especially these days. Turns, out, it isn't funny. It caught me off guard because I am not used to banter or much customer service in England, you ask for it, they give it to you, you pay and say thank you and goodbye. perfect. But NO.

Here is an approximation of the exchange I had yesterday with Mr. Funny Man:

me: Can I have a blueberry muffin please?
man behind the counter puts the muffin on a plate
me: I would actually like that muffin to go please.
man behind counter puts muffin in bag and says: that is 2.00 for the bag
me: then I don't want the bag
man: is too late
me: are you serious
man: yes it is 2.00 pound for the bag and 1.95 for the muffin
me: (blank stare)
man: I am just kidding
me: don't do that. not when people have essays due. I can't process that right now.
man: Are you from Germany?
me: no, i just have blonde hair.
man: really? huh.. most people from Germany don't get that joke. are you German?
me: yes
man: see, I can tell.

I mean REALLY? The thing is, that in this country, they do have different prices for to-go and to eat in, so it is not out of the question. But Tim pointed out that the joke he may have been trying to make was the whole, "oh that's 2 pounds for the bag but we'll give you the muffin free" key to that joke, is to not raise the price. I think also it was a factor that he was a non-native speaker of English, so the tone of the joke was not brilliantly presented. To be fair, making jokes in a second language is one of the more difficult levels of language acquisition.

Good news is that the muffin was tasty but I will most likely wait until I am under less pressure to eat in that cafe again.

Okay. Off to do those essays that I previously mentioned. hugs.

update one week later: I reluctantly brave this same cafe where the muffin fiasco took place the previous week, and the same muffin man was working. I ventured forward to obtain some much needed coffee and was greeted with "Guten Tag!"

I don't know much German, but neither does he,; I know enough to respond to basic greetings and make small talk... he thinks I am German, and so I am. That is very amusing to me.

I've had a very successful day

accomplishing next to nothing... the weather was too beautiful to keep me indoors to read any of the books or essays I have with me... or tempt me to write a single word on a report of any of my students. Instead, I went running on a trail through the woods. It was so lovely that after I ran back to the car, I picked up my camera and walked the same trail taking some pictures.

Then returning to my motel room (as a side note I don't know what I am going to do when I have to start cleaning my own room everyday, and making my own bed again) I showered and grabbed my journal and some poetry, walked around the quaint town of New Milford and settled on a bench in the park until the sun began to slip behind the trees.

It was a really good day.

The kind that makes you want to read Robert Frost... so I will help you with that. I am mad for this poem at the moment:

Flower-Gathering

I left you in the morning,
And in the morning glow,
You walked a way beside me
To make me sad to go.
Do you know me in the gloaming,
Gaunt and dusty gray with roaming?
Are you dumb because you know me not,
Or dumb because you know?

All for me And not a question
For the faded flowers gay
That could take me from beside you
For the ages of a day?
They are yours, and be the measure
Of their worth for you to treasure,
The measure of the little while
That I've been long away.

Thank you, Thank you very much

"Drew the cafeteria pizza maker extraordinaire by day and Elvis by night."

I had lunch with Elvis last year, but I don't think he remembers. This is probably the reason that he gave me his business card again and invited me to Karaoke tomorrow night at the local pizza joint. Ordinarily I would jump at the chance... I mean, it is not every day that Elvis lives (unless you are in Tennessee) and I know if Eryn's dad, Denny were here, he would go in a heart beat.

Seeing as I am flying away in a few days, have reports to write and essays for which there is an endless amount of reading, I am not sure that I would have made it. Beyond these scheduling constrants, I made a rule that I will space my enjoyment of watching Elvis impersonators out in intervals, with a minimum of five years between each performance. Thus, because I saw a show last year at Jessi's uber fun wedding (yes! appletinis!) I will have to respectfully decline.

However, I did appreciate Elvis setting me up for the following dad joke:

Elvis: "So you are headed back to England on Saturday? Here's my card, in case they need an Elvis over there."
Me: "Well, they already have the queen, don't see why they wouldn't want the king as well."

*polite laughter*

Then I walked away from the pizza bar, and made a quesadilla.

Susan Boyle, well done!

The past few weeks I've read many an essay from my SAT students regarding 'not judging a book by its cover.' Most of them were painfully boring, some were delightful.. all led to good discussions about what makes an interesting thesis... and thus.. essay.... I stressed the importance of being UNIQUE.

Today, my sister sent me a link to a video of a woman who performed recently on Britain's Got Talent. Like the other audience members, and I am sure people watching at home, I was thinking that she would take the stage and be a complete flop. Instead, her performance is beautiful, really.. it is awesome. I think what was so moving about the video, for a 7 minute youtube video is it captures Susan Boyle living her dream; one can't help but find that moving.

I would like to show this video to all my SAT students, though I won't have the opportunity. They find it difficult to discuss unique experiences in their essays. These are students that attend a prestigious boarding school; are from all over the world; have traveled all over the world; have had every advantage available to young people; 99% of them will go to university. They are a unique group and I feel really lucky to be teaching them. The past few weeks we have discussed multiple facets of grammar, writing skills, reading comprehension tricks; yet, I think that the most important idea I would like them to absorb is the confidence to go into the SAT, and any situation with confidence.

Susan Boyle says that she is going to 'make that audience rock' and boy, does she. I have never watched or enjoyed reality talent shows... I may start to make an exception.

Planes trains and automobiles...

I am no stranger to long trips and in particular long and arduous trips in sometimes cramped and uncomfortable situations; from night trains in Thailand, buses across the Egyptian desert to my miraculous two car rides, three flights and two trains that I took to arrive in England last September. To date, the latter mentioned journey is the greatest amount of different vehicles (planes, trains, automobiles) I had experienced in a single journey. Yesterday, I topped that. woo! I rule.

Yesterday morning I left Chester on a train around 10:30 in the morning. After my two hour train ride (on which I was very tired) I went up and down the stairs in the underground system of London. Not too bad here, only two underground trains, and I did manage to find the lift in the Green Park station which made life a little more happy :o) On the way to Heathrow, there was a delay at one point because... according to the announcements, there was 'an intruder' on the tracks between two of the stations. No worries, only a few minutes lost and she/he was apprehended (said the conductor) and we were off again to the airport. At the airport I went through a more strict security check than I have recently experienced whilst flying. I think this is probably to do with the G20 summit recently. Alright! Then onto my flight!

I was booked a seat in the very middle of the plane on this Delta flight, but luckily there was a really lovely family traveling to New York to celebrate their daughter's 18th birthday and they asked if I would switch to the aisle so that they could sit together. yes please! That worked out well. In addition to giving me a better seat, the time past more quickly in their company as we discussed culture and education and educational systems etc. Great people. I am glad because our flight was delayed in the take off and also upon our arrival to JFK, where we circled around the airport for an hour. That was a little less fun. But hey... got another 15 minutes of sleep, which put me at about an hour and half of sleep for the day. not bad... not bad...

Finally arriving to the terminal I went through customs and was one of the few Americans, so that was nice because they let me go first. Good to be home, wish it was that easy always. I then took what is called the air shuttle to the place where my enterprise shuttle was waiting to take me to the rental car place to pick up my car. This was all a pleasant experience, the people were very friendly. I forgot how nice customer service and genuine conversation with strangers can be. After loading up my car and heading out I got a little turned around ( multiple factors are at play here including but not limited to the fact that I have not driven in months and passengering on the other side of the road in England, it was night, I was in New York, with not the greatest directions). I finally made it to the White Stone Bridge and ALMOST got stuck in the easy pass lanes and yelled at by a cop (again... that happened last year as well... not okay. not fun) but instead I cut a bunch of people off and went through the cash only lanes like I was meant to do in the first place.

Of course, I think cutting people off while on that bridge built up some bad travelling Karma because then I proceeded to get very lost on my way to New Milford, and ended up on New Haven. After a few frustrated moments, I bought a map and a coffee and navigated my way through the back roads west to my destination. Stopping a few times to ask things like... what town is this? What road am I on right now? (not too well marked in this part of the country and it was really dark) So four hours after leaving the airport I arrived at my motel safe and sound and feeling pretty good for having navigated my way in an unfamiliar area after being awake for almost 20 hours (hour and a half nap) with just a map. woo! Very satisfying, though I did wish for a GPS and a cellphone a few times... but went the old fashioned way. I am actually really grateful that I was lost because I think if I had been on auto pilot to where I was going I may have fallen asleep at the wheel. As it was, being lost makes me hyper alert to everything around me, and that kept me going all the way to the Rocky River Motel. That, and deep thoughts like... hey if I while I am in America I only drive, and while in England I only ride shotgun, then I will always get in on the correct (and same) side of the car. whoa....

After a car ride, train ride, underground ride, plane flight, air shuttle, regular shuttle and four hours of lost back road driving... here I am in Connecticut/New York area for the next two weeks to teach the writing and reading portion of a SAT preparation course at the Kent School. hooray!