just another day at oxford learning...

at the end of class, while going over lesson re-call with one of my grade 1 students and my education director...

education director: okay, before you leave, tell me what you worked on today with miss estelle.
student: the "short u" sound.
education director: could you give me a word that has the "short u" sound?
student: um... "up"
education director: great! how about a word that has the "short u" sound in the middle?
student: uh... (looks pensively around the room) "truck."
education director: can you give me a word that rhymes with "truck?"
student: (innocently without absolutely no hesitation whatsoever) "fuck."

(insert the sound of our jaws dropping to the floor in total shock here)

in my head: that was soooo NOT part of our lesson today!
education director: (after a couple of minutes) ... do you think you could maybe think of a *nicer* word that rhymes with "truck?"
student: (pauses) uh... "suck?"
education director: (blinking twice) okay then... (closes the book) i think that's all for now.

unknowingly the dad of this precious little boy had come early to pick him up and had heard the lesson re-call from outside of the classroom. he walked in sheepishly and couldn't help but notice the level of slight awkwardness that lingered in the room. like the both of us, he was just as confused as to where his son was picking it up from, and was sure that he probably didn't understand the profanity that was associated with *that* word... apparently in their language, the word "fuck" actually means "i do," which made some sense as to why my student was so naturally inclined to say it without anything holding him back... oy.

of course, we should have totally seen it coming. yeeeesh.

a blog about hair.

hair. we all have it; some of us *used to* have it but in any case, most of us know what it feels like to have a great coiffe of hair on your head. a bit over a month ago, after the dude butchered my hair (as mentioned on my july 26, 2007 blog), i had a glimpse of what samson must have felt like after delilah cut it all off - mind you, i may not have lost my super-strength, but a huge part of me had fallen with the chunks of hair that fell to the floor on that sad, sad day in july; and to be honest, i didn't feel quite the same after that... and even after a month of getting that haircut, i still winced at the sight of my uneven ponytail that clearly showed that one side was much longer than the other... yikes.

today, i decided to muster up all my inner strength and what was left of my self-esteem and decided to go back where it all started; except, with a new hairdresser. she was lovely, and took amazing care of me, to the point where she even fought to give me the cut for free because of the travesty that previously was my hair - now if that ain't customer service, i dunno what is :oP. and now, everything is layered the way it should be, the bangs fall the way they're supposed to, and by golly, she thankfully used a LIP BRUSH instead of an EYE SHADOW brush when touching-up my lip gloss.

today is a new day, indeed. and for those of you reading this, amused by my need to blog about a simple haircut gone bad and think i'm either absolutely bored with myself, or have gone cuckoo for cocoapuffs; that *may* be so, but i invite you to step into my shoes during what had happened just this past month, and *then* tell me how actually absurd i am :oP

notes to self: (1) it actually *is* okay to complain when the occasion arises - no matter HOW attractive any hairdresser can be. after all, at the end of the day, they're still going to be attractive while YOU'RE the one who has to deal with the bum haircut. (2) sometimes, you just gotta sit back and realize how truly amusing and blessed life can be :o)