12.25.06
Posted in General News at 2243 by SeismicMike
Merry Christmas Everyone.
A week ago we sang in the Christmas Cantata at our church and it went pretty well. They recorded us and I’ve uploaded the songs to the site. I’ve included links. You’ll need some sort of player like windows media player, winamp or quicktime to listen to them. Here they are:
Uijongbu Christmas Cantata
1. Choir - Arise Shine
2. Choir - Emmanuel
3. Choir - O Holy Night
4. Mandie Solo - Hope is Born Again
5. Choir - Little Lamb
6. Tom and Laura Vasel - Born to Die
7. Jeanelle Francis and Fatima Perez - Angels We Have Heard on High
- (Flute Duet)
8. Choir - Carol Sing
9. Choir - Tapestry of Carols
Choir Songs Feature Mandie singing Soprano and Mike singing Bass.
Songs were recorded by Jimmy Perez and mixed/produced by Ted Shinn using Audacity the choir having been directed by the aforementioned Mr. Shinn. Piano accompaniment for the choir was provided by the illustrious Jeanelle Francis.
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12.18.06
Posted in General News at 1211 by quitomandie
Well, here we are, Christmas break starts tommorrow, there’s snow on the ground, and my classroom is COLD!
I thought all the stress of exam week was over for me last year. No such luck. If anything, being a teacher makes the whole finals process even MORE stressful. First you have to choose what kind of exam you are going to give - multiple choice, “blue book,” short answer, etc. Next, you have to write the exam. Then, you have to plan the review. (Or you could be like me and do those backwards.) Also, you have to figure out the best way to help your students who have been slacking off til this point in the semester and are suddenly panicked, as well as keeping the students who are exempt from the exam from totally checking out. Then, during the test period, you are having to keep track of who has their hand up, am I allowed to answer that question, are they cheating, and “oh, no, I just saw his answer to #4, and it’s wrong. Did I really not cover that point well enough?” And then you have to grade them - and, in the process, grade yourself. Was the test too hard, or too easy? etc. And, of course, all your A kids are out of the reckoning, so the curve is skewed, which makes any kind of evaluation confusing.
The end result, though, is that while they may not have done as well as I would have liked, no one’s grade changed very drastically, so I guess I’m OK.
Now life get’s stressful for Mike, who is printing report cards and entering grades into transcripts today and tommorrow.
The last couple months have been challenging at times - we’ve been dealing with loneliness, homesickness, sinus infections, and other frustrations. However, we’ve also had some pretty good times, as well. We spent Thanksgiving with other teachers at the school, and had tons of food followed by a wonderful evening of board games and Charlie Brown movies. We are now the proud (and sometimes frazzled) owners of a kitten, as well as of a Christmas tree that the kitten thinks is her jungle-gym. I taught a Sunday School class at church for three months, and Mike had the opportunity to speak in both chapel and a wednesday night church service. We both sang in the Christmas cantata this weekend.
Life is busy, and we wish we could be with our families this Christmas, but overall, God is good, and we are enjoying his blessings.
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