Alarm clocks and Frogger

As far as I can tell, one of the major distinguishing characteristics of this country is it's lack of alarm clocks. Today, as on every day until this one, I woke up at four in the morning with the uneasy knowledge that I didn't have an alarm clock. An alarm clock is a comforting thing, sitting like a good friend by the side of the bed, making sure that you sleep as long as possible, but no longer.
Of course, the sound of an alarm clock going off is enough to annoy the %$#@! out of someone who didn't even know they had %$#@! in them, but aren't most good friend that way? In any case, that's not the point.
I tried to find an alarm clock today. I walked half a kilometer down the street, stopping and checking every shop I passed. I found fake Rolex watches, jeans that would never fit me, leather stripper boots galore, and even some Fender guitars selling for the dubious price of $250. No alarm clocks.
I take that back. I did find one alarm clock. There was an alarm clock that also had a temperature display. It's digital screen was huge, something like 5" x 7". There were two problems however. One was that it cost just under $30 (T30,000) and the other was that it was powered by two AA batteries. There's no way I'm going to buy an alarm clock for thirty bucks just to have it go through batteries like a baby goes through diapers.

Crossing the street here is like playing frogger, or so I've been told. I know what crossing the street is like, but I'm a little scetchy on what exactly frogger is. If it's anything like crossing the street, it involves attempting to cross multiple lanes of speeding deadly objects which may randomly swerve in any direction at any time. Because of this I try not to cross the street much, but at times it can't be avoided. Coming to this internet cafe, for instance, involves crossing four lanes of traffic. That's without counting the sidewalk, which is often used as a lane.

My students are really shy. I don't know if it's a first day thing, or a first week thing, or if I have suddenly turned into an intimidating hulk and don't know it, but they just don't want to talk. Actually I'm fairly certain I haven't turned into a hulk, so forget that last one. Their shyness is a definite problem though, because the less they talk the faster class goes. I spend my time trying to figure out how to get them to say more, and how to say more myself. I'm constantly looking at the clock and stretching each segment of class as much as I can. They say I still talk fast, but I'm afraid if I talk any slower I'll fall on the floor and start convulsing with seizures.

I just taught my first children's class. They were absolute demons for the other teacher when I observed him, but they were very well behaved for me. I don't know, maybe they're just setting me up for something. I try to be entertaining and patient while sticking to the lesson plan, maybe that approach is working. I messed up on their class though. They were supposed to do grammar worksheets, and I assumed I wouldn't have to do much as they were working. Because of this I didn't pay much attention to what was on the sheets. Unfortunately I printed off the wrong sheets. It was ok though, I had them do the one relevant page then played hangman for the last five minutes of class. No harm done, except for the fact that they now think I haven't the foggiest idea what's going on. I suppose that I really don't have the foggiest idea, but you never want kids to know the truth, right?

Forget you guys, I'm going to watch Red vs Blue for the rest of this time.