change in focus

Ok, so I know that I've been a bad blogger this year - my posts have fallen off considerably from when I lived in Holland but that's the way things go sometimes. Its not that I've been completely ignoring the fact that I have this place to chat with whomever what to read, I actually have been thinking about posting here, its just that I've always found a way to distract myself after coming up with a good idea.

So with the time that I have today, I thought that I would sit down and write something since I've not done so in a long time. At first I thought I would write about the upcoming space shuttle mission, STS 118, in which Barbara Morgan will finally be the first teacher in space. She was the backup to Christa McAuliffe on the Challenger mission in 1986 but never got the chance as the program was canceled after the accident. Since I am a NASA junkie, this seemed liked the way to go...

But then I realized that I should be doing something else with this blog. Plenty of people can go online and read about the launch that is going to take place on August 8th and the AP and NASA can do a better job of talking about the launch and this mission than I can. So I decided to focus on a different topic - the idea that goes into the name of this blog - the fact that I am an expatriate.

An expatriate is someone who is born in one country and lives in another. I am an American by birth but have spent many years of my life (almost 10) living in countries other than the US. This is something that most of the world doesn't have the opportunity to experience and I figure that it is here that I should focus my thoughts more often. I've been known to go on rants in the past and while I still will rant from time to time, I should start going with a more unified theme. So the theme is now going to reflect more about the life that I've led as an expat and how that differs from the culture that most people recognize on the TV as being American.

But that brought me to a mental block to start off with - just what exactly should I talk about? There are so many things that are different about living in another country that its hard to put your finger on one specific topic to talk about. And I've not had anything too "Peruvian" happen to me in the last 48 hours or so that I can comment on so I decided to go with something else - what it feels like to go home.

As an expat, we all get the opportunity to go home to our native culture sometimes and when we do, it can be a mixed bag of emotions. For me, my 'round the US tour that I did in July on my motorcycle was an interesting experience for me. I spent 3 weeks riding from California to Ohio and back, spending the time riding on small highways and seeing old friends. As I did so, I tried to get back in touch with my American roots as I will be leaving Peru at the end of this academic year. I didn't want to be too much of a stranger in my own country when I return.

The trip was magnificent and I can hardly wait to do something like that again. Riding on the open road is more a zen experience than anything else. You are so concentrated on riding and the road that most of the mundane things that float through your head when driving a car just don't exist. The problems I had in my head made their way back to my subconscious for processing there while I spent my time making sure I didn't get hit by any cars or fall off the twisty roads (like Colorado) I was riding upon. A truly cleansing time for me.

What I noticed and remarked upon my return to Lima was the ease of which I had with being in the US. I even felt a bit guilty for how easy it was; I don't know why, I just did. I made sure to challenge myself a little when I was in Manitou Springs, CO by speaking in Spanish to a Peruvian whom I met there - just to refresh myself as to the language I was going to return to and also to let this vendor feel a little more at ease by speaking in his native tongue. I know I appreciate it when people speak English to me here in Peru, so I thought I would return the favor.

But when I got back to Lima, I chatted with some of my friends who had returned to their places of origin and they made the same comment that I did - being home was very easy. In a way, being an expat is difficult in that there is a challenge to the way you live on a daily basis. You are immersed in a culture that is foreign to yours, speaking a language that isn't native to you, and dealing with people who have a different set of norms and values. It can be a little scary at times and I will admit that it can be overwhelming occasionally in trying to deal with that every day. But in another way, we all get into a rhythm and tend to forget about the differences we feel day to day. You get accustomed to a new routine and that's what makes this all feel so normal even though its so different. Its when you return to a place where you don't have to think about the differences that you begin to realize just how easy life can be.

My life has been enriched as a result of being an expat and I cherish the fact that my father had the gumption to leave rural Illinois and make a choice to try something different. I hope to give my children the same opportunity (when I have them) and allow them to see what the world has to offer. There's something gratifying about knowing that you've been able to experience and grow from something that most would dislike and can't even fathom trying. I'm not trying to pat my own back and say how wonderful I am; rather I'm saying that I feel lucky to have had the chances to make the choices that I have over my life so far. And from those choices, I've become a more knowledgeable person who has a set of unique experiences to share. My goal for the next year is to share more of these expatriate experiences with the world, wherever my readers may be. So tune in for "Life in Peru" over the next 10 months, I'll see what I can share with you.

living off the land

I'm currently on a road trip around the US on my motorcycle and visiting old friends along the way. One such stop in Amesville, Ohio put me at Brad and Svea's house (Svea and I knew each other from our days as undergrads) and my stop there was quite an eye-opener.

Brad and Svea have a farm and really do live off the land. The meat comes from cows and pigs that they feed and maintain, the veggies are in a garden that are less than 20 meters from their backdoor. There are trees planted for apples and pears (maybe more, I can't remember) and soon fruit will be abundant for their family's use. The food is all homemade and comes from what they have and truly is organic in every way, shape, and form. Meals are made completely from scratch and love goes into everything that goes on the table. It is something that completely amazed me.

Grocery shopping doesn't happen very often and when it does, its nothing too dramatic - just grains and things that they don't grow at the house. I am in awe of this family of five in what they do and how they do it. It comes mostly from necessity but I'd like to think that they'd continue to do it no matter what; its just wholesome living. People who live in cities (such as myself) would love to have such amenities as having a garden with fresh food to eat but alas, that isn't the case. We rely on others to do it for us and pay them in return. The exchange of money seems to take the love out of food and somehow lessens the nutritional value of what makes it to the stores (or maybe its the pesticides...).

Whatever the case, Brad and Svea are rock stars in my opinion for doing what they do and it makes me wish I could do things a little different with my life. With this being said, I'd probably flop at the notion of doing a garden myself and would kill everything in a garden of my own if given the chance. But at least I got the chance to see someone doing it for real and doing it the way it was done less than a hundred years ago. Its amazing how technology has changed our world in so many ways.

Alternative Rugby Commentary - The Tri Nations

Since I've not posted in forever, I thought I would put a little something that's grabbed my attention lately. A short that highlights a little about the ongoing Tri-Nations, which the All Blacks took the first match 26-21 over the Springboks in SA. In any case, I've enjoyed all of these shorts that were put out and I'll be posting more of his work (Frasier Davidson) later. Enjoy!

a day without english

So yesterday was a day that I learned so much while being completely out of my comfort zone. I wanted to sit down and write about it last night but didn't have the mental capacity to put the words together that I wanted to. Why? I was out of my native tongue for pretty much the entire day.

A friend of mine named Erica is a Peruvian and she invited me out to the local zoo with her son, Joaquin, who is 4. I was a little uneasy about it but eventually said yes to the date and headed off into the unknown. I didn't know what I was getting myself into but that's part of the fun of trying a new experience - jumping out of the comfort area and seeing how things turn out. The key to my trepidation was the fact that she speaks no English and my Spanish isn't exactly the best; ok, its worse than that and I just don't want to take responsibility for it being as bad as it is.

We met at a nearby gathering place where she promptly got a cab to the park that would have cost me triple the bargained price. Being a large white man in a Hispanic populace means that I tend to pay more for things that what locals do and I was grateful for her expertise in that regard. When we got to the zoo it became rapidly apparent that the attraction that day wasn't to be the animals, rather the Peruvian woman who was walking with a pale Sasquatch next to her. I think I was stared at for the majority of the day but after the first hour, I stopped noticing as I was too busy trying to keep my brain from melting. Was it hot? Not even close (its winter here) but rather it is because I was trying to make conversation in a language that I'm not very good at speaking.

Erica was nice and patient with me for the day but the day didn't end after just a few hours. Her son was getting ready to meltdown (he's 4 and needs time to do such things) so we grabbed a cab and I was taken to her place for an introduction to the family. I wasn't anxious about meeting them at all, I really wanted to see what living conditions were like for a middle class Peruvian family. So I headed in to meet the 4 generations of people that lived in their tiny 3 bedroom apartment.

Grandmother, mother, daughter (Erica), and her son (Joaquin) all live in what would be considered "low income housing" in some cities in the US. The conditions aren't the greatest but they make the best of the cramped living spaces that they can afford. I was quickly introduced and welcomed into the house where I was inspected by the family, for reasons that need not to be mentioned. In any case, it was only a few minutes before the decision was made to go to dinner at a local restaurant - I'll let you guess who was doing the buying (my choice actually, I wasn't going to let them pick up the tab!). And during dinner, it was more Spanish and more fumbling for words, the status quo for the day. But it was getting easier as Erica did a decent job of helping me out and I was understanding more and more as the day progressed.

When the day was done, I got into a cab and headed home - having not spoken a word of English in the entire day. I felt relieved to get home as I no longer had to think about what I was going to say but also grateful for the experience of being able to truly be immersed in a foreign culture. That is one of the things that I truly enjoy about being an expat - being able to do things just like that. There is just something unique about being in a completely foreign environment and not only surviving but enjoying the experience.

The spell was broken however, after I got home. I just needed to do something in my native language and so I called my sister so I could catch up with her, and speak a little English. So while it wasn't a complete day without English, it was pretty darn close and while I enjoyed the experience of immersion, I gotta admit that sometimes hearing your own language can be quite soothing...

the domain name is mine!

Well, it took me some time because I just wasn't sure if I wanted to do it or not but I finally made the choice to visit Go Daddy and buy the name of my blog. Effective immediately, this blog is expatnomad.com!

So change your links and come on back when you wanna see if there is something new here. I've been a little lax with posting this year but that will happen. Welcome to a new name with an old look.

- Expat

baseball and the life of being an expat

I was having a discussion the other day with a friend of mine and we came up with an interesting analogy about two topics that I never really thought would go together but we managed to come up with a pretty solid.

The baseball season in the US just started a few weeks ago and I'm realizing just how much I did miss watching the sport when I lived in Holland. Granted, I coached the softball team there for two years, but its just not the same. And now with MLB.com broadcasting the games via the internet, I get my chance to keep up with baseball - especially the hometown faves, the Cleveland Indians. What can I say, a glutton for punishment and enjoy the moments of promise (the late 90s) where the team shines. In any case, I appreciate the game and what it takes to play it.

As a spectator's sport, it isn't the most energetic or exciting to watch. The game is exceedingly slow with brief moments intense drama. But the game isn't about the brief moments when the ball is in play, its so much more than that. Baseball is mostly mental and knowing the strategy of how to really play the sport is akin to being a chess master. Its not just a game where a guy goes out there and hurls the ball at 80-95 mph and another guys hopes to hit that ball to a place where one of nine defenders isn't. Each pitch influences how the game transpires and how each pitch is played depends on how the next one will go. Appreciating the strategy and athleticism of baseball is what keeps me coming back (even though I'm a hockey fan through and through).

During the conversation I had with Ilse, we got to talking about baseball and eventually it turned into how it is somewhat reflected in life as an expatriate. Baseball is played in many different stadiums around the world and none of them are the same, each field has its own feel. People who play on that field grow accustomed to those conditions and have home-field advantage (not to mention fan support). Traveling to another stadium means you have to adjust to those conditions and play your best under conditions that may not suit you. Maybe left field has a giant wall to hit over or maybe the bullpen is in foul territory and fielding fly-balls is more difficult. Whatever it may be, you have to adjust or fail miserably.

And then the parallels to being an expat started to take shape. Living overseas is like being on the road for baseball. A new country requires you to adapt to the conditions and learn how to play your game "on the road" if you want to succeed with your goals, whatever they may be. Not only do you have to adapt to the new surroundings, you need to adapt to the game as it goes along. You may see the same pitch more than once but when the timing of that pitch can dramatically change how you react to it. There is a strategy to being successful in baseball just as there is a strategy to being successful as an expatriate.

I've noticed in life that we rarely make HUGE life-changing decisions, rather we make a series of small ones that influence how our present plays out. I'm a product of those small decisions that I've made and as it turns out, I've made some good, small decisions (or else I'd be somewhere else in my life at the moment). A small decision to go to a party when I was a sophomore in college has turned me into the teacher that I am today (believe it or not, yes). Baseball is similar in that the small decision of whether to throw a fastball for the first pitch of an at-bat can dramatically affect how the rest of the AB goes and the cascade effect of the rest of the game. A small decision to start off with a fastball that just misses on the inside corner may determine how the game turns out for you.

Now just as one pitch doesn't decide the outcome of a game, neither does one decision in your life. Winning a game in baseball may mean that you must make another choice to correct a decision that you don't like the outcome of, like walking a batter. So you work hard to concentrate into trying to make a better pitch so the current batter grounds into a double play. The same can be said of living overseas (or just living in general) - sometimes you need to need to really concentrate on making the next choice to improve your situation rather than ride a bad decision into oblivion. Little choices turn into what our lives will be remembered as...

So at the end of our chat, she said that I should write this down as a way to let others in on my new-found knowledge and insight (a topic that I'm sure has been written about infinitely before) and so I did. In doing so, I made the choice to ignore my homework and write a blog that only a few people read. But hey, its my choice and that's fine with me. I'll just need to make sure that my next pitch is a slider that nibbles the outside corner for the strike-out.

mrs. smith, can bobby come out and play for a national championship?

This rant comes at the suggestion of a former roommate of mine from Rotterdam. I agree with his stance on this issue and have decided to bring it to light. MO - I've got your back!

Its the time of year that I really like - the end of March is also the end of the regular season for the NHL. Its the time of year when the games take on different significance as teams become more desperate to make themselves eligible for the playoffs. *A classic case of people not performing when they should and now are panicking to get done what they should have done months earlier - win games.* Whatever the case, its a great time to watch hockey - too bad its not on TV since the NHL's commish screwed up and lost ESPN as a broadcaster (fuck us very much Gary Bettman...). However, if I were to be able to watch it on the tele, I would be presenting the same argument - even though my team is on the cusp of NOT making the playoffs.

Right now in the NHL there are 30 teams in two conferences (properly called the Campbell Conference and Prince of Wales Conference, but those names were stripped by the magnificent shithead known as Gary Bettman for easier names like Eastern and Western). In any case, there are 15 teams in each conference and of those 15 teams, 8 make it to the playoffs. In case you didn't do the math - that's over 50%.

That's right, the chance to play for the Stanley Cup - the championship of the league, is contended by over half of the people who play in the league. Wait - isn't a championship tournament supposed to bring the best teams together to vie for the ultimate prize? If that's the case, why is it that 53% of teams in the NHL make the playoffs? Oh yeah, I forgot - more revenue for the owners...

Don't be fooled, expanding the playoffs to 16 teams was done on purpose and that reason isn't going to change anytime soon. The owners realize that the more games their team plays, the more money they get. Believe it or not, there used to be a time when there were only 6 teams IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE!!! And of those 6, only the top 2 regular season performers squared off for the Cup.

Its not exclusive to just hockey though, there are plenty of other money-hungry whores out there dying to get their hand on your money. Oh no, there is far worse than the NHL out there - at least the players in the NHL have a chance to earn some of the proceeds. The worst part is the NCAA and its plethora of bowls.

Last year there were a total of 118 Division I (now called NBS as to not confuse it with the D1 AA schools which will now be the NCS) that put a team into the NCAA football game. *Football is an expensive sport to run and as a result, not every school out there that is of the proper size can afford to run a program. Basketball is much cheaper and therefore more school participate in it.* Of those 118 schools that had a football team last year, 64 of them made it to a bowl game.

64!!!!

That's a greater percentage than the NHL puts into its playoffs. And the kicker is - only one bowl game decides the championship! The rest of the bowl games are just a way for schools to make more money on the athletes that play at those schools, many of them play for free. (I can hear people saying that they do get money in the form of scholarships and illegal contributions, but the majority of players aren't on scholarship and aren't getting money from scouts or shoe companies)

So why is it that this is happening? The NFL and MLB only take the top 4 in each conference (league for baseball), what's wrong with that model? Why is it that everyone thinks that they DESERVE to play in "the big game"? Why do people get mad when their school is "left out" of a bowl game when the team was barely won more than it lost? Does every Tom, Dick, and Harriett need to go play for a championship?

NO. Not everyone is a winner - deal with it. You're team had a lackluster season and should just go home and think about what you can do to make it better for next season. And this is coming from a person who went to a university that had its first bowl game since 1968 this year (and we lost that game just like the Tangerine Bowl of '68). I loved the fact that Ohio University made it to a bowl game - it made me proud to be a Bobcat but the simple truth is that the team lost in the MAC championship game and was only 2nd best in the conference. Simply put, they weren't the best and why should they have been rewarded with an additional game for not being the best?

Easy - money. Companies make fortunes off these games and Americans go farther into debt trying to do whatever they can to be a part of another Americans life. They want EVERYONE to feel special, EVERYONE to feel like a champion; ya know what? Get over it and go home! Stop paying so much money for all this crap and get a handle on your life. Spend the holidays with your college son/daughter rather than flying to Orlando to watch a team that plays for the school that you went to 22 years ago. Save some money on the fan gear and invest the time you would spend going the game with your family. Stop feeding the machine that is hyper-consumerism.

Alas, this rant has gone on long enough. Just thinking out loud...

consumerism takes a break

I was logging on to my MSN Money account today when I came across an article that I really enjoyed reading. I plan on sending it to my friends that live in the States and see what their reaction is (click on 'consumerism takes a break' above for full story).

What I read really gave me hope - and I'm not being sarcastic. It gave me hope that someday the great treadmill of American consumerism would start to slow down and the country, as a whole, would start being a bit more fiscally responsible and not so far in debt. The author, Liz Pulliam Weston, put forth a challenge to her readers - only buy the necessities for a month and see what happens. In other words, stop buying the crap you don't need and just purchase those things you do to survive. No Starbucks frappachino, no extra pair of blue jeans that make you butt look good, no travel books to Machu Pichu that you want to go to - just the basics. What she and her readers found is refreshing to hear and there are some unexpected results.

The obvious bit about saving money is good. While some people did 'fall off the wagon' and make the occasional purchase they didn't need, the majority stayed the course and followed through with the experiment's design. Most found that they saved $400-$500 per month. That's an extra $6000 a year! One teacher managed to save $800 in the month of bare minimum spending - not too shabby at all. So from a financial perspective, it was a success.

But there was more to it than that. As people followed through with the experiment, they found there were additional side effects. In an attempt to save money, people started taking their lunch to work and lost weight through eating healthy. When they got bored, they didn't go to the mall to see what was on sale, they went for a walk in the park and gained in fitness. Instead of meeting for dinner and/or drinks at the TGIF's down the street, they went over to each other's place and spent time enriching themselves in the tranquility of a home.

How amazing! People who spend less can have the following habits - healthier lifestyle, greater depth of personal relationships, and a stronger sense of well-being from a lack of financial hardship. No longer do you have to worry about the idea of whether or not you can actually pay off your monthly bills. By doing things in moderation (like spending and eating crap food), you can achieve so much of what you are looking for without looking so hard.

So America - take heed. You may have the strongest and largest economy in the world but at what cost? Try putting the credit cards away and stop giving yourself everything you want, only meet your needs. Don't be so spoiled that you think you MUST have everything you desire; get away from the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. What you might find if you do just might be what you're looking for instead...

fired for doing your job?

This blog originally was intended to be about issues relating to education and as you all know, it never really ended up being that. Its become more of a place for me to rant about one thing or another and make my opinion known. After reading this story (click on 'fired for doing your job?' above) about a teacher in Yonkers, this post is a flash back to what this blog was intended to be.

So a teacher in Yonkers is on administrative leave and will probably be fired for doing what his job. Jeffrey Kirby of the Pearls Hawthorne school in Yonkers teaches 7th grade there, or at least he did. Mr. Kirby was removed from his classroom for asking students to draw pictures of the male anatomy on the board.

Now when you first read that, you may think to yourself, "Well he should get fired for that. That's inappropriate for just any teacher to ask of his middle school students." Only Mr. Kirby teaches ANATOMY, or at least he tried to.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't anatomy the study of the human body and I do believe the penis is a part of the human (male) body. What's wrong with asking a student to be able to draw or annotate a diagram of something that s/he is learning? Should we fire math teachers for asking their students to draw a parallelogram? Should english teachers be removed from their classrooms for asking students to diagram sentences? Heck, should I - as a physics teacher - be sent home with my pink slip when I ask my kids to draw a picture that represents the forces acting on an object?

The answers to each and every one of those questions is an emphatic and resounding NO! So why is the Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio saying that it (the content covered) was "age inappropriate" for the students of the class? Age inappropriate??? HE WAS TEACHING THE STATE MANDATED CURRICULUM!!! This guy was doing his job, educating kids about what the human reproductive system looks like and is being fired for doing what the state told him to.

This is just wrong and support needs to be shown for Jeffrey Kirby. I went to the Pearls Hawthorne school's website so that I could send him an email as a showing of my support. HE'S ALREDY BEEN REMOVED FROM THE STAFF LISTING. That's right, the school doesn't want anyone to know how to contact him to show support. While at the school's website, I checked to see if he was teaching the curriculum that was written. The curriculum maps are linked on the site but you get a 404 error (file not found) when you try to access the maps. So I went to the NY State Education website and found the pdf of their curriculum, to see if Mr. Kirby was indeed teaching was he was supposed to. Here's what the curriculum says he is supposed to teach.

PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.2 - Explain the functioning of the major human organ systems and their interactions.
Major Understandings:
1.2a Each system is composed of organs and tissues which perform specific functions and interact with each other, e.g., digestion, gas exchange, excretion, circulation, locomotion, control, coordination, reproduction, and protection from disease.
1.2i The male and female reproductive systems are responsible for producing sex cells necessary for the production of offspring.

So what happens when kids, who are in the midst of puberty and wonder about their sexual self, ask a question about how the male and female reproductive systems work? Does the teacher say, "Sorry kids, I can only tell you that there are reproductive systems and that's what makes embryos?" No, because then parents would get in an uproar about how an ANATOMY teacher didn't teach them what the STATE MANDATED CURRICULUM told them to.

Look at Performance Indicator 1.2 - It says to "explain the functioning of the major organ systems". How exactly does a teacher get a student to understand how an organ system works without having them know the parts and be able to describe how those parts work? And what's wrong with asking kids to volunteer to come to the board to draw a representation of a major organ system? Would he be in this same mess if he asked someone to draw the circulatory system? No, but Lord help him if he had asked them to draw the excretory system - imagine a kid drawing an anus on the board...

I'm really chaffed at this one. I am embarassed that the Puritanical ethos of this country stymies someone when they try to educate people. What's wrong with learning about how the human body works? Aren't parents complaining that schools don't do enough to educate kids about the perils of sex and how to avoid teen pregnancy? How else are kids going to know how to prevent getting pregnant without knowing anything about how a penis or vagina work? Abstinence is great but most teens are sexually active and 7th graders are not known for making the best decisions. Some of them are mature enough to be fertile (and carry a child) and it would be a disservice to them to not educate them on their body and how it works.

Since I am a bit riled up about this, I've decided to write to the superintendent and let him know my opinion. There is a webpage specifically designated for contacting him. If you'd like to write to this spineless weasel who doesn't support his teachers, feel free to write to Bernard Pierorazio, Superintendent of Yonkers Public Schools. Be sure to tell him that he's a moron too.

whirlwind tour

Hello 2007!

Its been a while since my last post and that comes from the fact that I'm on vacation. I've spent the better part of the last month traveling around and seeing other parts of the world - at least outside of South America. For Christmas I was down in New Zealand and enjoyed seeing such a magnificent place, it is amazing how diverse the islands are. Now I'm in the US, visiting family and friends across the Southwest. Man its been a lot of traveling!

And it got me to wondering just how much traveling I have done over the last 12 months. It all started last February when I left Rotterdam and flew to Waterloo, Iowa for the UNI Overseas Job Fair. Since that weekend in the beginning of February, its been a bunch of planes, trains, automobiles, motorcycles, and ferries. So I sat down with Google Earth and made an estimate of the distance that I've traveled in the last year and I was kinda amazed at how much I've covered.

90,000 km (55,000 miles).

That's more than twice the circumference of the Earth (at the equator). Most of that is via airplanes, as to be expected, and includes 4 trans-Atlantic and 2 trans-Pacific journeys. Some of it comes via trains, almost 4000 km (2400 miles) on 3 different continents. Automobiles and ferries account for another 4000 km (2400 miles) and that omits the small amount covered via motorcycle. 7 different countries on 4 different continents, its been one heck of a year. No wonder I'm so tired. ;)

But travel is why I'm an international educator and I relish the amount of travel I am gifted with my profession (and its vacations). So here's to the joy of seeing new places and experiencing new cultures. I wonder how long this personal record of 90,000 km in one year will last...