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| Not Monet, But Rusty's Lotus Flowers |
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| Lotus Flower in full bloom |
SCHOOL: Not much to report other than spent two hours prepping to train teachers on Bloom's Taxonomy and Interdisciplinary Teaching only to not have anyone show up. I found out later that they had canceled the teacher trainings for the rest of the year. You would think that the teacher would be the first to know, right?! Anyway, one less thing on my plate until we return home.
I can report that I did hear from Yosemite High School and learned officially that I will be teaching Applied Math, Geometry and Computer Lab to resource and general education students. I am excited about the position. It keeps me doing what I like to do with a new addition. I have really enjoyed learning some great technology over here and look forward to sharing it with students in Computer Lab and Math. I will also be returning as the Girls Golf Coach. Looking forward to seeing my experienced Lady Badgers and some new ones as well. If anyone knows of any eighth grade girls interested in playing, let me know.
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| About the size of a softball |
ADVENTURES: This week was mostly adventures on my own. My ninth graders were on a field trip and my 10th graders were done testing so I didn't have many classes. To the chagrin of my wife I played golf a lot this week. I am not going to get into the golf too much other than to say that my travels took me to a new town called Nansha.
Nasha is a really nice port city at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta. It is very large and does a lot of the importing and exporting to Southeast Asia. Unlike many other cities that have done away with the old culture as they build, Nasha has done a great job incorporating culture into new architecture. The day I was there I played at a beautiful golf course on a ridge that overlooked the mouth of the Pearl River. There was an outstanding view of the Nasha Bridge. The Bridge has the same magnificent look to it that the Golden Gate Bridge does from a distance. The architecture is very similar to the Golden Gate, but the main difference is that it is a glistening Pearl Color. This is appropriate since it spans the Pearl River. When the sun hits it, it is almost blinding.
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| Some Engineers bad dream!!! |
When we arrived at the park, to our disappointment everyone in the Guangzhou area had decided to be spontaneous as well. It was so crowded that it was probably a good twenty minutes of waiting to get tickets and then another twenty minutes just to get in the park. Cecelia and I looked around at the mass of humanity and decided that the idea of sloshing around shoulder to shoulder with the crowds was probably not going to be either refreshing or pleasant. Obviously the girls were disappointed, but it was a call that had to made for the betterment of the family. Taylor would just have to wait for a day that was less crowded. Our decision was soon to be rewarded.
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| A roller coaster goes through that hole, believe it or not. |
On our way out we walked by the entrance to the amusement park. We were actually just looking for water, but noticed that the lines for tickets and to get in were rather sparse. We also meandered toward the entrance and spied hardly any people inside the place. Finally as we were standing there, the roller coaster that is nearest to the entrance sent a train of cars screaming from an amazing drop. In the train of cars there were empty seats. At that moment we decided to test Taylor's height challenge at the amusement park. It was kind of a crazy spontaneous thing to do, since we had forgone the adventures of being in the water all day to keep cool, but what the heck we might beat the crowds that didn't want to be in the heat.
It turned out that going to the Amusement Park was cheaper than the Water Park so we were already ahead by the time we reached the first stop, which was the food court. After a quick lunch and a refreshing drink we headed for our first ride. While in the Amusement Park we were to be surprised by the many opportunities to get absolutely soaked. Who needed to be packed half naked into a water park that was so crowded that you were going to be so snuggled up next to each other like sardines in a can with a little bit of water to keep you moist? The very first ride we watched sprayed jets of water into the air that rained down on us like a refreshing spring storm. Anyway, you get the picture.
So the first ride we that the girls drug us to test Taylor's height restriction was called The Dive Coaster. Taylor is our roller coaster aficionado. She has loved them her entire life. She would go on them starting at a young age, even when Claire wouldn't. The first real exciting thing for Taylor was that she made the height restriction and was able to go on the ride. She didn't want to ease her way from kid hood to young lady status. She decided that we were going to start with the biggest and baddest to christen her new freedom.
Now let me tell you about being an older dad. I wasn't exactly looking forward to her new found height. Not because I don't want her to grow up, but because now in order to keep up I have to go on the crazy contraptions that stretch my abilities to continue functioning normally after riding them. I have already begun to have difficulty with balance and fighting vertigo without submitting my body to negative G forces. If God wanted me to be a fighter pilot, I wouldn't have gotten hit in the eye with a dart when I was young. I did love planes when I was young and had dreams of flying until the accident, but being blind in one eye kind of throws your body off balance to begin with. On top of the fact that I wouldn't be able to be like Maverick in "Top Gun" and see the missile in time to dodge it.
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| See that first drop. They should give you a flight suit for this ride. |
So with that background you can better understand that the roller coaster seats are shaped in the form of a wing and when you are sitting in the pilots seat your feet are dangling down into free space. One thing before I describe some engineer's bad dream brought to life, when you get on a roller coaster, and the floor in which you walked on to get into your seat drops away, this is a sign of a BAD THING!!! Do Not Walk Into The Light!!! The first drop is literally a hair raising and anything in your stomach raising 90 foot drop at nearly a 90 degree angle. Oh, but that isn't the best part. Before you take your first plunge, some friggin idiot engineer decided that you should hang at the top, facing straight down for about two or three seconds first. I guess this is their attempt at giving you plenty of time to let your 50 years of life flash before your eyes. You then plummet into a black abyss and go under ground only to come soaring out and doing one of the half turns that Immelman was famous for in his heyday. After this stomach wrenching G force experience you turn around and fly to the the top of a smaller tower in which you start the entire process over again. At least on the smaller tower the idiot engineer doesn't give you time to contemplate life, he just designed it to throw you off the 50 ft. cliff without a thought. After a final half upside down turn we dive through a pool of water and finish with a screeching halt at the place in which we were stupid enough to get on.
Unfortunately, or you may say fortunately I had a problem with my blind eye. Apparently the pressure and the G forces associated with the ride hurt my blind eye. I know, you are saying at this point, what a wimp. But seriously, I had to take a little break before we went to the next ride.
After I recuperated we headed to a Roaring Rapids type of ride. It was hot, so we decided it would be a good idea to get wet. One of the really interesting things in China is that there are some really strange things that the people do, that we will never understand. So as we waited in line, we started to notice people putting on these plastic coveralls. At first we thought it was just the crazy women that wore long dresses and stiletto heals to an amusement park, but know it turned out to be all of the Chinese in the line. They were buying them for 8 rmb a piece just before they got on the ride. So, here is the question we kept asking ourselves. Why would you go on a water ride, not to get wet? Fungza!!! Not us, we were the crazy Americans that got on the ride and loved every minute of the soaking we got. You should have seen the looks on the faces as we stepped off the ride soaking wet. We waved and splashed a few of the people in the crowd as we left. They all had a great laugh and we enjoyed being the show for them. We noticed a few going without the plastic after we left.
After that soaking we rushed over to the adventure show called Countdown. It was a cheesy show that had lots of gun fire, explosions, motorcycles jumping and sports cars spinning out. It was a nice break and gave us some time to dry off a little bit.
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| Blue Man with mirrors |
A little touching side note. There was one girl in a wheel chair waiting in line with us, and as she passed she kept trying to catch the eye of Taylor and Claire. When she finally did and they said hello to her, she turned on one of the warmest smiles we have seen in China. We believe she had cerebral palsy. She had full use of her upper torso, but her legs were very tiny and she had to move them around with her hands. Despite her disability her attitude was infectious. She was with two other friends and when she went to get in the boat we were wondering how she was going to manage. Cecelia and I both got a tear in our eye, when the boy that was with her, who by the way wasn't much bigger than the girl, picked her up in his arms and carried her into the boat and sat her down. It was very touching. It reminded me of watching my friends the Hooker boys take care of their sister in the same way. After her ride was over, she was very excited and had really enjoyed the experience. The young boy picked her up and placed her gently in her wheel chair that the staff had carried over to the other side of the dock. It just helped us to remember, that wherever we are, people are people and we all share the same space on the same planet. On top of that we all have many of the same problems no matter what the culture.
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| They lady could sing, and she didn't look too bad in the outfit either, Hot!!! |
To finish off the day, we ended up in this amphitheater waiting for some show that we didn't have any idea about. One of the great things about living over here and not understanding the language is that if you are open to just winging it, you end up experiencing some really cool stuff. So while we waited in the theater the parks light show came through. It was nice, but Cecelia and I were wondering if they really pay well, because some of the costumes the people wear are absolutely ridiculous. Even having lights on some of them didn't help.
After the parade left, a couple of people came on stage wearing mirrored costumes. They did a performance much like The Blue Man group, but were dressed entirely in mirrors. They were living disco balls that did an awesome drum performance. It wasn't as awesome as Blue Man, but it was pretty cool anyway. After these guys finished, there was an awesome fireworks show, choreographed to music. The party was finished off with a party band that looked like Cool and the Gang. These guys also had full mirror suits. They were really good and had a female lead singer that was outstanding. The cat with the mirrored top hat playing the electric organ was amazing. I don't use the term cat very often, but he was very smooth so it merits the description.
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| These were some cool cats!!!! |
The next day church was excellent and we had a very relaxing day.
This final part is a tribute to my daughter. She turns 10 tomorrow and is an amazing young lady. We love her spunk and energy. She has a passion for sports, adventure and animals. Along with trying to keep her studies up in Math and English, she has learned a lot of Chinese and some really great technology. One of the lessons that she has had a difficult time with is time management and being self motivated. Without regularly scheduled classes, she has a lot of time to spend working on projects. It is a tall order to learn how to manage time at such a young age, especially when you love to read so much. Taylor has done a good job learning both of these skills and is getting better at both. She is currently working on a travel brochure that will sell vacations to the Yosemite Area for Chinese people. The brochure that she has already created is beautiful. On Monday we will celebrate her birthday officially with some friends by having pizza and going to a small water park that is part of our community. Cecelia and I are very proud of her for being resilient and trying to make changes in her life that are difficult at such a young age. We love her dearly and look forward to watching her grow into a confident and adventurous young woman. Enjoy this video of Taylor. Our beautiful Taylor at 10
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