THE WALKIE TALKIES

I have got just the sort of story you need for today! Are you ready?

Last night the two French boys came home at about midnight. I was on my computer listening to some great new music I overheard in a Starbucks downtown (Paolo Nutini) earlier in the evening. As I removed my earphones I could hear Michel and Gregoire's laughter from outside the front door. Hearing my students happy and enjoying life always makes me happy and proud to be doing what I'm doing.

As they entered the living room I saw that Michel was singing into a walkie talkie that he had in his left hand. I exclaimed "You got a walkie talkie!"

He responded "Yes! No more phone calls!" with a laugh and a smile. I understood immediately.

See, just around the corner from my house is a unit of apartments that EF calls the "Residence." The Residence is 30 apartments that house about three students each. The school owns them all. If a student wants more independence than being with a host family allows, they can opt for this independent living situation (for about 50 bucks more per month). It's really like the foreign students' dorms.

Naturally, all of my students end up having friends over at Valerio (the street name of the Residence). And how ingenious of the French guys to purchase walkie talkies! Instead of paying for minutes on their phones, they have instant access to their friends at any time through these perfect sounding handheld transceivers.

Whoever it was on the other end was having a blast with their sound system. I heard YMCA and about six other classic dance tunes in the span of about 2 minutes.

THE JAPANESE BROS

Today the Japanese brothers came. They are 17 and 18 years old, and they hail from Tokyo. Right now they are playing the Wii.

When the Japanese Bros showed up on my doorstep the house was in a bit of disarray, much to my embarrassment. I was unable to clean it before their scheduled arrival because I was gone at church, tutoring, and then grocery shopping. But the redeeming value of our positive personality household shone through and Greg, the French student, invited the Japanese Bros to come along to the beach with him and his friends.

A wonderful welcome to a new a strange place.

THE NOTE

I remember my first day of Intro to Philosophy quite distinctly. The classroom was packed. Joe White is a very popular philosophy professor at Santa Barbara City College and people were sitting on the steps going up the rows of desks because there were not enough seats for everyone. Joe White said "I will not tolerate tardiness. It is the rudest thing you can do. It is like saying F___ You to my face. If this class is not worth your time, then don't come. I will not accept late papers for any excuses. If you are going to be late for class, you better have stopped to save a bus full of nuns that had caught on fire. Otherwise, don't come."

That, my friends, is exactly how I feel about my students not showing up for dinner on time (or at all.) Imagine you are a guest in someone's house, visiting for a week or two, and they tell you "I'm going to make you a delicious dinner at 6 o'clock tonight." And then you go shopping and don't come back until 8 o'clock. You. Are. Rude.

Almost every night I have a student who does that to me. Mainly it is Michel, the French student. Sometimes it is Jimmy, the Taiwanese. I always tell my students "Remember, if you can't make it to dinner, please leave a note for me." Some students are always good at doing that. I appreciate that because then I know if should be cooking for three people or six people.

Also, I have students washing dishes one night a week. Just once a week! Thirty minutes and you are done for six whole days. These are the only two things I ask of my students. Show up for dinner and wash your dishes.

When a student doesn't wash the dishes they start to pile up fast in the sink and then we are working with limited supplies. I only have so many pots and pans and forks and knives. With seven people in the house, those things get used up quickly. So when Michel didn't wash the dishes one night, I told him to just make sure he washes them before dinner the next day. Well, when I came home the next day and nothing had changed, ohhhhhhhhhh you better believe I was not happy. I wrote him a note that went something like this:

"Michel, if you do not wash the dishes tonight I will call EF (his school) and ask them to move you to another house. Phil"

Voilá! The next morning the sink was spotless. Now I know how my parents might have felt all these years.

THE STUDENTS-- ALL OF THEM

I rented my bike to Vittorio, the Venezuelan student, for 20 dollars. I rented it to Dong Soo, my Korean student last year, and now it's almost payed off! 20 dollars is a good deal to have unlimited use of a bike for two months. Then again, old students sell bikes at the school all the time for 30-50 bucks.

Mike the Russian plays the Wii all the time.

Michel the French is still gone 18 hours a day. He even admitted yesterday that he "doesn't live here." He is my first student that I have had like that. Of the three weeks that he has been here Michel has eaten dinner with us twice. Isn't that crazy? And expensive, if he is getting his meals downtown.

Gregoire the other French is still sweet and dresses like a true European tourist. He bought this hilarious sun hat and wears capri pants.








Carlos the Brazilian is enjoying himself tremendously, and he has purchased a new laptop, an iPod, and lots of clothes since he has arrived. He talks with his family daily on his computer. I got to meet his kids on video phone. They are very cute.

Jimmy the Taiwanese (that's his English name) is nice and social and has already made some good friends since he arrived three days ago. He might be like Michel and I might never see him. That's ok, though, because it means that they are having fun and I have less work.

That's my update!

THE BIG NEWS

Hello there fellow travelers! Let's get the people details out of the way first: Daniel (the Swiss-German) and Marco (the Costa Rican) both left today. Two students are taking their places in the next 24 hours; a Venezuelan and a Taiwanese who are 15 and 16 years old, respectively.

That leaves us at max capacity still with six students: Marcos the old Brazilian, Mikhail the skinny Russian, Gregoire the slightly effeminate French boy, Michele the so-social-I-don't-see-him-for-days French boy, and the two newcomers who I have yet to meet.

Daniel was awesome. He actually bought me a beautiful guest book and filled in the first two pages about his time here and included some nice words of thanks. He wrote "At the beginning you showed me that I can ask you whatever I want and be honest with you. I appreciated that a lot." Aww, isn't that nice? And with such good grammar, too!

I wish he could have stayed longer.

I have some interesting news that may shock and astound you. The owner of my house is thinking about quitting his relations with the foreign school and renting to college students where there is plenty of money to be found (in supportive parents' wallets). I might not host foreign students come September!

If this house turns into a college dorm-type dwelling I'm not sure what will become of this host daddy. But I will keep you informed.

THE LONG TRAIN AND THE DISTURBED COSTA RICAN

Did you know that Mikhail, my Russian student lives in Vladivostok? That might not be very exciting to any of the uninformed out here in the West, but his city is the very last stop on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway that traverses the entire Russian countryside (including Mongolia and parts of China). That train ride takes SEVEN days and covers 5,772 miles (through eight time zones!). If he wants to take a trip to his Capitol by train,6 he better pack more than a good lunch.
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In other, more titillating news: I received a student from Costa Rica at the last minute yesterday. He will only be with me his last four days in the Santa Barbara. Apparently his host mother before me was cleaning her house in her underwear, and that made him uncomfortable enough to move out!

THE DISH WARS

Tonight was absolutely awesome!

After a great meal of chicken quesadillas with a side of ranch beans, Mike (the Russian) was jokingly complaining about doing the dishes. Everyone groans when it's their night to do the dishes. I used to wash the pots, pans, plates, cups, and silverware every single night. Let's just say I got tired of that real fast. So, at the recommendation of others I created a Dish Duty chart. Each student washes dishes one night out of the week, and I do any leftover days. It works beautifully and I wish I had started it earlier. It's the only chore I ask of the students.

As I was putting my plate in the sink I heard Daniel (the Swiss) and Mike talking about a competition to have the loser do the winning man's Dish Duty of the week. At first I thought they were going to play Rock, Paper, Scissors for it, the good old fashion way. But no-- this is the 21st century now, folks!

They played a Wii tennis tournament, best three games out of five. As the two students geared up in the living room, the rest of us gathered on the sidelines to cheer them on. We cleared out the coffee table, maximizing the maneuvering space for the two tennis champions. These European have been training hard the past two days since I purchased the almighty Wii, and now their skills were going to be put to the test.

The tension in the air was palpable. Shouts from the spectators echoed off the walls of my Lilliputian living room. The Russian pulled through for the win in the first match. The Swiss took it for the second match. There was a minor upset in the third match as Daniel's controller turned off in the middle of the game. Officials have yet to determine if the cause was an errant thumb on the power button or faulty batteries. Either way, emergency batteries were retrieved from a functioning flashlight and placed in the sweaty Swiss boy's remote.

The score was two to one, the Russian in the lead. He only needed to take one more match to spare himself the terrible chore of washing dishes for 15 minutes...

In the end, smiles were had all around. The Russian won. Daniel washed the dishes quickly while I soundly whipped Mike in another round of games.

I'm beginning to think the Wii was a wise investment. And maybe I can get out of doing the dishes this weekend.

THE STUDENT NAMED EMMANUEL, PART II

Sorry about my last entry's rant. I just need to get things off of my chest sometimes. No hard feelings, I promise. In fact, I wanted to say a couple of things in favor of my ex-student Emmanuel in that blog post but it already felt a bit long, so I'll say them now:

Emmanuel will probably be the one student who experienced the most he could possibly experience out of all my past, present, and future foreigners. He befriended so many Americans while he was here it's astounding. He consistently went out mountain biking with guys from the bike shop, he came with me to Young Life during the school year, he went to Hawaii, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, and more; his mother and brother came to visit him, he went on a great camping trip with our youth group, got invited to birthday parties, and so on.. he even got the maintenance guy at the school to drive him to Los Angeles for his flight home!

Let it be known that Emmanuel made this the best trip possible while he was here.
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I got a new student today. He is French, and his name is Gregoire. He is very sweet, and even asked me if he could dry his towel outside. Along with a new student, I also got a Nintendo Wii. Whee!

THE STUDENT NAMED EMMANUEL

Emmanuel is leaving tomorrow morning. He is the last of the "School Year Crew." All my remaining students are familiar with Santa Barbara from the summer only. The School Year Crew are the ones who were with me since September/October for more than three months.

It's strange watching students come through my house. They all come in at time zero, with no knowledge of the history, the stories, the laughter, and the students that came before them. But I see it all. I visualize it like God might view history. Different students move in and out. Buy a new table. House gets burglarized. Different students move in and out. It rains, it shines. Different students move in and out. New director at school. New plants in the yard. And so on...

I've had great memories with my School Year Crew-- camping, giving each other nicknames, going to concerts, and so much more. I even named my two beta fish after Enthony (the Swiss) and Paul (the Korean). I've developed a heartfelt bond with nearly all of my long-term students.

But not quite so with Emmanuel. There are a number of things that he has done that have rubbed me the wrong way, but they are all a little fuzzy and it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that I take issue with.

One reason I might not feel bonded with Emmanuel is because right now, as I type, one of the staff from the school is here and Emmanuel is giving stuff to him just five feet away from me. Emmanuel hasn't once offered to leave anything for the house. I sense that he can be a loyal friend but certainly not to me. He has an extra bike, shoes, skim board, sunglasses, spray cleaner, tools, etc. Why doesn't he leave all that stuff for future students? I just don't get it. I am almost inclined to take it personally, as though he is intentionally favoring others over me. That's what it looks like, and that's how it feels.

And, he drinks a lot of water.
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Ah, here is something! This further confirms some of those gut feelings I have been having: Emmanuel is actually not giving any of that stuff away. He is selling it to the guy. Why not just do the nice thing and give a friend a bike, hmm? They are driving to a bank right now to take $20 out of the ATM to pay Emmanuel.

THE BAR

Hello my dear readers. I'm afraid I don't have any headline worthy news to report since the sensational exposition of my missing French student who was not really missing. So I will offer you a tasty vignette:

"Sharkeez"

Last night I went to Sharkeez, a sports bar and restaurant located in downtown Santa Barbara. Monday night is "International Night" and the foreign language school encourages students to attend the festivities and meet other students, dance, and have fun. The school has a deal with Sharkeez to allow entry to students under 21 until 10pm, which is nice for Europeans like my Daniel whose only night out on the town is Monday. He was telling me "It's so strange, man, to be in a bar and not have a beer." These guys are drinking in bars at the young age of 16. No hard liquor until 18, though!

I used to frequent Sharkeez a lot last year. It's nice to meet some of my students' friends and just hang out with the foreigners. I've made some good friends that way, like the French girls, Julie and Alizee. I never tire of hearing stories about other countries, cities, people. I've had the good opportunity to travel a bit in the last few years, so I can listen for what seems like forever with empathy and expressed interest in the stories of my traveling companions.

But allow me to present to you the star of this story, my French student, Michel (pronounced Me-Shell). At nine o'clock I entered the building, peering around at the smattering of foreigners here and there. At this table sits the Asians. Those ones look like Spaniards. Michel is at the back, sitting at a booth with not one, two or even five, but nine girls. Just Michel and the girls. This was after one day of school, mind you. Gorgeous French and Spanish girls. How does he do that?

THE BREAKING NEWS

My students came home from camping. Mikhail, Daniel, and Emmanuel came in with bags of leftover food.

And they brought the French student.

My lost French boy has been found! Or rather, he was never lost. By yesterday I had started assuming he was with them. Boy am I glad my assumptions were correct. That would have been quite a nightmare otherwise.

Despite the slight scare I had, I am really happy that my students took Michel along with them. What a great welcome to a new and unknown house/city! They all came in exhausted and dirty, but with big smiles. Everyone said they had an awesome time.

Now I am off to take my 44-year-old Brazilian to CompUSA for his laptop purchase.