We arrived in three buses which was interesting due to some of the city streets being so narrow around the ministry. When we arrived, [...]]]> On 1 September 2010 we took a trip to visit the Minister of Education and Science. It turned out to be a big media event that was a bit interesting.

We arrived in three buses which was interesting due to some of the city streets being so narrow around the ministry. When we arrived, one bus was taking at least a 10-point turn just to get into the driveway to park. Our program coordinator, Nino, got impatient of waiting for the bus to make the turn so we jumped out and walked in the back way.

We go into the rotunda and see empty seats and media everywhere. Those of us at the front stop and wonder what we are getting into. We are urged to sit down and we do – in the back. We are then told that the chairs are just for the volunteers so we have to move up to the front. I sit in the front row. Shortly after sitting down, the media come up to the front and set up their cameras right in front of us facing towards where the Minister will be talking, not us. Whew! But then there are 10 cameraman and mic people in front of us and we cannot see. WTF!

Next thing we know there is a reported asking the lady next to me if she would do an interview. Whew, not me. She goes up and two other volunteers are also asked to do an interview. All three are ladies (thinking back on this, I think that this was because teaching is a ladies job – lots of old stereotypes here) with two being blond and one being black. Being black here is a big deal for most locals have never seen a black person in person. (side story – we have heard stories from volunteers that have been here since August on how their host families were disappointed that they did not get a black person)

After the interviews are over, the Minister comes in and does interviews with the media. After he is done, the media pull to the back of the room and he then addresses us. In pretty good English. Basically, he says thank you for helping them start this new program that was started by the President and that what we are doing is very important to their country (e.g., don’t frack this up for us!)

After he is done talking, Maia, the head of the Teach and Learn with Georgia (TLG) program addresses us briefly. She then tells us to enjoy the drinks in the back and we all relax. The drinks are water, orange juice, apple juice, red wine and white wine. All local. Well, at least, I am assume it was local. I had the white wine and it was pretty good.

Here are a few pictures from the event (or view full screen slideshow of photos here).

Mary Rose got into stenciling and spray painting a couple months ago [...]]]> Mary Rose helped me develop an alter ego named Sinister J.  Or, maybe he has be there all along and he has finally been allowed to surface.  Either way, he exists and has yet to be spotted in the wild.  Until now.

Mary Rose got into stenciling and spray painting a couple months ago and decided to make a stencil of Sinister J.  But first, what does Sinister J look like?  It took a black sheet and holding a lamp in the right spot, but we finally found him.

The blurriness on the right side of my face is from using the eraser tool in photoshop.  Other than that, no touch ups.

Now, it was Mary Rose’s turn to create a stencil and do her magic.  This was a birthday present for me so I could not help or be a part of the process.  The final result, very sinister indeed.

Thank you Mary Rose!

The tour went down Chicago River towards the Willis (Sears) Tower and then up and down the lake.  Lots of buildings and lots of [...]]]> When last we met our hero, tickets were bought to go on a 90-minute architecture river tour and to go up into the Hanckock Observatory.  Up first the architecture tour.

The tour went down Chicago River towards the Willis (Sears) Tower and then up and down the lake.  Lots of buildings and lots of stories, of which I remember very little now that it is a month and a half later.  Stupid brain.  So rather than try and sound regal you in stories, I found a site that I used to figure out which building was which in my photos.

Actually, after looking at the photos, two stories came to mind. First, you will see Navy Pier and a ferris wheel in the pictures below. That ferris wheel is 150ft tall. The ferris wheel that was built for the World’s Columbian Expo in 1893 was 264ft in height.

The next story is about Merchandise Mart. This building was opened in 1930 and was the largest building in the world, in terms of floor space, until the Pentagon opened in 1943. It is now the 25th largest in the world, but second largest in the US.

Here are some photos from the tour (or view the photos here):

Next was the trip up to the observation deck of Hancock Tower. I will admit that I was a bit nervous going to the 94th. I am ok with being high, but am not ok with being on the edge. For example, riding the elevator up the Eiffel Tower in Vegas for the first time was a little nerve racking. Luckily the elevator for Hancock was in the middle of the building and lasted only about 40 seconds.

We got up there shortly before sunset so we took our time and hung out so we could see the sunset. The observation deck had a little cafe with seats facing west so we had a nice view of the sunset. A portion of the south wall lets you walk “outside” where instead of glass windows there is a mesh wall. I wonder what it would be like to be out there in the middle of a snow storm.

The weirdest part of being up there was that I found at least five black widow spiders, or something equivalent in size, that were hanging out on the outside of the windows just under the rafters. I also saw bugs flying around. Never though that there would be spiders and bugs outside 94 floors up.

Here are some photos from the observation deck (or view the photos here):

In the middle of June I went to Chicago to visit a former student of mine from Dobson, Amy.  She has lived there for about 1.5 years and was gracious enough to put me up and [...]]]> I am finally getting around to writing about Chicago.  Here is the first post.  There will be more.

In the middle of June I went to Chicago to visit a former student of mine from Dobson, Amy.  She has lived there for about 1.5 years and was gracious enough to put me up and put up with me.

The first night there, Thursday, we walked a bit down the lake and went to a pizza place to get Chicago style pizza.  It was good, but way too much cheese for me, but it did feed us for a few days.

Amy took Friday off and we had a busy day.  The week that I was there happened to be the same week that several museums had free days so on Friday we went to the Museum of Science & Industry. As did everyone and their mom.  The museum was pretty good – lots of hands on stuff and had quite a few rooms to go through.  In case you care, the museum is in the Palace of Fine Arts building from the Columbian World’s Expo from 1893.  Here are some photos of the outside of the museum, along with the other museums that I saw on the trip (or view the photos here):

After the museum, we took a bus to get back up to downtown.  Side note – I bought a week bus pass and it was well worth it!  This happened to be the same day of the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory parade, so even though the parade was over, traffic was still recovering.  While we were crawling through Michigan Ave, the bus was behind an Oldsmobile, or something like that, from the 80s that was lifted so high that the driver’s head was even with the bus driver’s head.  When people saw the car, they would stop, stare and then whip out their cameras or phones to take pictures.  People even jumped out of their car, since we were not moving, to take a picture.  If it wasn’t for the spectacle the car was creating, being stuck in the bus in traffic would have really sucked.

We got off the bus and went to the Hanckock Observatory to purchase a package deal of going up to the top of the tower and going on a 90 minute river/lake architecture tour.  More on those next time.