(Dear Readers – technology is everywhere. Yet I missed some postings last week because I was simply too busy travelling. He’s what I wrote on a yellow legal pad somewhere under the English Channel)
I probably took my first London – Paris trip in the autumn of 1974. Yikes! Was it really 34 years ago?
The journey would have begun at London’s Waterloo Station on the “boat train”. The train would have meandered through the Kent countryside to Dover – 2 hours and then another wait on the docks for the cross Channel ferry. From Calais on the French side to the Gare du Nord in Paris was at least three hours. If there was nasty weather on the English Channel ~ well ~ hopefully you were traveling with some wine. Truly, it was an all day journey and then some.
Today I’m zipping along on the "Euro-Star" fast speed service between Brussels and London. Take a guess on the duration? 7 hours? wrong. 5 hours? wrong, wrong, wrong again.
Two hours and five minutes from city center to city center. That’s right ~ two hours. And this ~ under the English Channel!
The Channel Tunnel ~ also known as Chunnel or Euro-tunnel ~ is a 31.5 mile undersea rail tunnel linking Britain to the Continent. Actual time beneath the Channel = 23 minutes. The scheme had been discussed for years but construction finally began in 1988. A French and English worker shook hands 200 feet beneath the seabed in December 1990 when the huge boring machines broke through (thankfully in the same place). Imagine that?
The first passenger and freight service began in 1994. However, it was the advent of the fast, very fast high speed trains in November 2007 that has brought about this lightning quick connection.
Forget the airplane. This is the new way to travel. Just enough time for a glass of wine.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Amsterdam in 3.6 Hours
Across the Big Pond the other night and “home” to The Netherlands (see Revisiting The Hague ~ November 16, 2007).
Actually, it’s Amsterdam this trip: the old Hanseatic city of canals, humpy bridges and bicycles. Mind the bicyclists! Watch out for that tough old lady bearing down because you’ve unknowingly stepped onto the bike path. And she! with a basket of groceries, holding a dog and peddling full speed ~ in a skirt no less.
More gently ~ the “bloemenshops” have reappeared after winter with their profusion of spring flowers. Some simple stalls are just a collection of buckets on the street corner holding a riot of yellow, red, purple and peach tulips. These are the true Dutch beauties.
I’m staying at the Hotel of the Philosopher. That’s correct.
Behind the reception desk the wall is papered with Kant’s schema. In my room a faux scroll contains Plato’s letter to Socrates. Order a drink and the paper napkin has a message from Rousseau.
On the second floor you can sleep with Aristotle or Spinoza or Erasmus.
The third floor is very quirky. Here are the philosophies. One the left side (the even numbers) is knowledge, wisdom, beauty, goodness, harmony and sincerity. On the right side (the odd numbers) is despair, evil, lust, chaos and skepticism. Oh, my. How are guests assigned rooms? By the order of reservations? By passport? By the tone of voice and glint of eye? Perhaps in this strange place by tone of eye and glint of voice? Maybe that's it.
I’m in room #34 (harmony) which is just fine, thank you. Who's across the hall in Lust I wonder? Shall I knock?
As the Dutch say ~ tot ziens
Actually, it’s Amsterdam this trip: the old Hanseatic city of canals, humpy bridges and bicycles. Mind the bicyclists! Watch out for that tough old lady bearing down because you’ve unknowingly stepped onto the bike path. And she! with a basket of groceries, holding a dog and peddling full speed ~ in a skirt no less.
More gently ~ the “bloemenshops” have reappeared after winter with their profusion of spring flowers. Some simple stalls are just a collection of buckets on the street corner holding a riot of yellow, red, purple and peach tulips. These are the true Dutch beauties.
I’m staying at the Hotel of the Philosopher. That’s correct.
Behind the reception desk the wall is papered with Kant’s schema. In my room a faux scroll contains Plato’s letter to Socrates. Order a drink and the paper napkin has a message from Rousseau.
On the second floor you can sleep with Aristotle or Spinoza or Erasmus.
The third floor is very quirky. Here are the philosophies. One the left side (the even numbers) is knowledge, wisdom, beauty, goodness, harmony and sincerity. On the right side (the odd numbers) is despair, evil, lust, chaos and skepticism. Oh, my. How are guests assigned rooms? By the order of reservations? By passport? By the tone of voice and glint of eye? Perhaps in this strange place by tone of eye and glint of voice? Maybe that's it.
I’m in room #34 (harmony) which is just fine, thank you. Who's across the hall in Lust I wonder? Shall I knock?
As the Dutch say ~ tot ziens
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Masters
Attention class. We have an important lesson today.
I’m going to try and draw an analogy between golf and teaching. Your homework this weekend was to have watched the Masters Golf Tournament on TV. Yes, I would have liked to have taken you on a field trip to Augusta but that was out of the question.
Did you hear the commentators talk about technique vs. touch?
If you’ve ever played the damn game (it’s very frustrating) you know you need a big bag of skills. These include how to hit the tee shot, the fairway shot, the approach shot and the putt. I’d say as many books have been written about golf techniques as gourmet cooking.
Even if you are reasonably good at the game ~ here is an important point, class ~ you sometimes abandon technique ~ for touch. Touch is just that ~ an innate sense of how you have to hit the ball. Yes, the little white ball that lies on the green fairway some distance from the impossible-to-see 4.5 inch cup. Forget the talk of a “hole-in-one” ~ just use some touch to stroke the ball accurately so it rolls up reasonably close to the cup. It’s very easy to do … watching on TV, that is.
Here’s the analogy: good teaching is similar (what’s that? You want to continue talking about golf?).
Effective teachers need a bag of skills learned formally at college, then picked up from colleagues down the hall and honed with on-going professional development such as workshops. Good teaching is hard work.
Very good teachers (“master teachers” ) possess effective techniques and a sense of touch. They instinctively know how to work with children and teenagers. They like their students. They know when things are right and when things are wrong. They sometimes abandon technique for touch and ~ presto ~ it works. Keep that in mind.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about using the driving range, Buddhism and the importance of lesson plans.
Class dismissed.
I’m going to try and draw an analogy between golf and teaching. Your homework this weekend was to have watched the Masters Golf Tournament on TV. Yes, I would have liked to have taken you on a field trip to Augusta but that was out of the question.
Did you hear the commentators talk about technique vs. touch?
If you’ve ever played the damn game (it’s very frustrating) you know you need a big bag of skills. These include how to hit the tee shot, the fairway shot, the approach shot and the putt. I’d say as many books have been written about golf techniques as gourmet cooking.
Even if you are reasonably good at the game ~ here is an important point, class ~ you sometimes abandon technique ~ for touch. Touch is just that ~ an innate sense of how you have to hit the ball. Yes, the little white ball that lies on the green fairway some distance from the impossible-to-see 4.5 inch cup. Forget the talk of a “hole-in-one” ~ just use some touch to stroke the ball accurately so it rolls up reasonably close to the cup. It’s very easy to do … watching on TV, that is.
Here’s the analogy: good teaching is similar (what’s that? You want to continue talking about golf?).
Effective teachers need a bag of skills learned formally at college, then picked up from colleagues down the hall and honed with on-going professional development such as workshops. Good teaching is hard work.
Very good teachers (“master teachers” ) possess effective techniques and a sense of touch. They instinctively know how to work with children and teenagers. They like their students. They know when things are right and when things are wrong. They sometimes abandon technique for touch and ~ presto ~ it works. Keep that in mind.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about using the driving range, Buddhism and the importance of lesson plans.
Class dismissed.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Boating with the Buffalos
The Florida winter season is winding down.
The tourists, college kids and baseball teams have gone home.
Now our neighbors are packing up ~ a sure sign the season is over. Some leave right at Easter ~ others linger longer waiting for the last of the snow to melt up north.
The neighbors to the left have gone back to Michigan. Our friend Rowdy took his backgammon board last weekend and headed for Connecticut…and then the Jersey shore for summer. There is only a car or two in the parking area.
Yesterday we went boating with the Buffalos ~ a ritual begun a few years back. Actually, our dear friends are from Buffalo, about the last place in the East where the snow melts. When they last called their kids there was 5 feet of the white stuff on the ground in upstate New York. When the Buffalos go home ~ the season is over.
There we were – cruising around Tarpon and Barfield Bays ~ just on the edge of Florida’s fabled Ten Thousand Islands national park. Perfect weather ~ why on earth consider going anywhere else? The Ten Thousand Islands preserve has been immortalized by all sorts of writers ~ including Florida’s own Carl Hiaasen (whom I heard speak this winter) in his book Nature Girl set right along the nearby waters in Dismal Key. Funny writer ~ funny book.
So there you have it ~ the winter season is over in the sunshine state. Bye, bye guests.
Amen. Now we have the place to ourselves again.
The tourists, college kids and baseball teams have gone home.
Now our neighbors are packing up ~ a sure sign the season is over. Some leave right at Easter ~ others linger longer waiting for the last of the snow to melt up north.
The neighbors to the left have gone back to Michigan. Our friend Rowdy took his backgammon board last weekend and headed for Connecticut…and then the Jersey shore for summer. There is only a car or two in the parking area.
Yesterday we went boating with the Buffalos ~ a ritual begun a few years back. Actually, our dear friends are from Buffalo, about the last place in the East where the snow melts. When they last called their kids there was 5 feet of the white stuff on the ground in upstate New York. When the Buffalos go home ~ the season is over.
There we were – cruising around Tarpon and Barfield Bays ~ just on the edge of Florida’s fabled Ten Thousand Islands national park. Perfect weather ~ why on earth consider going anywhere else? The Ten Thousand Islands preserve has been immortalized by all sorts of writers ~ including Florida’s own Carl Hiaasen (whom I heard speak this winter) in his book Nature Girl set right along the nearby waters in Dismal Key. Funny writer ~ funny book.
So there you have it ~ the winter season is over in the sunshine state. Bye, bye guests.
Amen. Now we have the place to ourselves again.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Caracas in 3.6 Hours
It was breezy in Caracas this past week. It was breezy in Caracas when I last visited five years ago. I think the reason for this is that Caracas ~ the capital of Venezuela ~ sits at 2,500 feet tucked in under the Avila mountains which rise to 7,800 feet.
In September 2003 the weather was wet and blustery. In April 2008 the weather was cool and fresh. White, puffy fair weather clouds drifted around the high hills overlooking the city.
There’s a lot of hot air, too, these days surrounding the relations between the US and Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez’s self proclaimed socialist revolution is obviously at odds with America’s relentless cry for democracy. Chavez is sitting on a ton of oil money so he is managing to tweak everyone’s nose including multi-national companies and his neighbors.
He’s even changed his country's place in the north-south longitude field by making Venezuela 30 minutes ahead of Miami. Our flight attendant stumbled when she said “welcome to Caracas ~ the local time is 7:05. Opps! make that 7:35. I’m sorry ~ it’s the other way. The local time is now 6:35 ... I guess”.
While I was there, the Minister of Education, Adan Chavez ~ Hugo’s brother by the way ~ announced the details of a new curriculum. Apparently, it is going to be highly prescriptive and nationalistic. The university curriculum now has mandatory readings from Karl Marx, Fidel Castro and the revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. One can guess that elementary and high school students will probably expect something similar. Oh, dear.
I would say it is one thing to bully the big boys such as oil companies, banks and the IMF ~ but it’s another thing to muck around with kids. In this flattened world of interconnectivity, globalization and the internet ~ it’s seems a shame that Venezuela’s educational system will be taking a step backwards.
In September 2003 the weather was wet and blustery. In April 2008 the weather was cool and fresh. White, puffy fair weather clouds drifted around the high hills overlooking the city.
There’s a lot of hot air, too, these days surrounding the relations between the US and Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez’s self proclaimed socialist revolution is obviously at odds with America’s relentless cry for democracy. Chavez is sitting on a ton of oil money so he is managing to tweak everyone’s nose including multi-national companies and his neighbors.
He’s even changed his country's place in the north-south longitude field by making Venezuela 30 minutes ahead of Miami. Our flight attendant stumbled when she said “welcome to Caracas ~ the local time is 7:05. Opps! make that 7:35. I’m sorry ~ it’s the other way. The local time is now 6:35 ... I guess”.
While I was there, the Minister of Education, Adan Chavez ~ Hugo’s brother by the way ~ announced the details of a new curriculum. Apparently, it is going to be highly prescriptive and nationalistic. The university curriculum now has mandatory readings from Karl Marx, Fidel Castro and the revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. One can guess that elementary and high school students will probably expect something similar. Oh, dear.
I would say it is one thing to bully the big boys such as oil companies, banks and the IMF ~ but it’s another thing to muck around with kids. In this flattened world of interconnectivity, globalization and the internet ~ it’s seems a shame that Venezuela’s educational system will be taking a step backwards.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
A Conversation in Xanadu
Here’s a typical conversation that takes place this time of year in international schools ~ between the Chairman of the governing Board and the Headmaster. We are in mythical Xanadu in Central Asia.
Chair: Welcome back, Headmaster, we’ve missed you these past seven weeks.
Head: It’s good to be home, sir. No one knows how stressful these teacher recruitment trips can be. I assume there were no problems while I was gone?
Chair: Truth be told, Headmaster, fewer than when you are here. Secretary Reliable is very adept at putting out fires and holding the parents at bay. She’s the only one who is indispensable in my opinion. Remind me ~ where did you go to find the new staff?
Head: I started in Sydney. Then Singapore ~ then Shanghai ~ then Bangkok ~ then Frankfurt ~ then London ~ then Toronto ~ then Seattle ~ then Honolulu. For good measure I stopped in Murmansk on the way home.
Chair: All done, are we, with the recruitment effort?
Head: Not really, Mr. Chairman. It’s a case of good news and bad news.
Chair: Good news and bad news, eh? What’s the good news then?
Head: Well the good news is that I’ve hired 14 new teachers. They are experienced and all seem keen on coming to Xanadu.
Chair: Keen on Xanadu? How’s that?
Head: I told them they’d be partying each weekend in Istanbul.
Chair: Istanbul? But Xanadu is 1,200 miles to the east!
Head: Most of the new teachers are Americans. They are geographically challenged and wouldn’t know Paris from Persia.
Chair: I see. Well, what’s the bad news?
Head: We still have 12 vacancies
Chair: 12 vacancies ~~ for this August? What are you going to do?
Head: I’ll be going out on the spring recruitment circuit. These are better known as the Hail Mary Fairs.
Chair: Where are you going this time?
Head: I’m going to try the Latin option. First place will be Madrid ~ then Rio ~ then Bogota ~ then Miami. I’ll stop in Casablanca and Cairo on the way home.
Chair: And when will you be home again, Headmaster?
Head: Mid-June ~ on graduation day, in fact. We can give out the diplomas together
Chair: Welcome back, Headmaster, we’ve missed you these past seven weeks.
Head: It’s good to be home, sir. No one knows how stressful these teacher recruitment trips can be. I assume there were no problems while I was gone?
Chair: Truth be told, Headmaster, fewer than when you are here. Secretary Reliable is very adept at putting out fires and holding the parents at bay. She’s the only one who is indispensable in my opinion. Remind me ~ where did you go to find the new staff?
Head: I started in Sydney. Then Singapore ~ then Shanghai ~ then Bangkok ~ then Frankfurt ~ then London ~ then Toronto ~ then Seattle ~ then Honolulu. For good measure I stopped in Murmansk on the way home.
Chair: All done, are we, with the recruitment effort?
Head: Not really, Mr. Chairman. It’s a case of good news and bad news.
Chair: Good news and bad news, eh? What’s the good news then?
Head: Well the good news is that I’ve hired 14 new teachers. They are experienced and all seem keen on coming to Xanadu.
Chair: Keen on Xanadu? How’s that?
Head: I told them they’d be partying each weekend in Istanbul.
Chair: Istanbul? But Xanadu is 1,200 miles to the east!
Head: Most of the new teachers are Americans. They are geographically challenged and wouldn’t know Paris from Persia.
Chair: I see. Well, what’s the bad news?
Head: We still have 12 vacancies
Chair: 12 vacancies ~~ for this August? What are you going to do?
Head: I’ll be going out on the spring recruitment circuit. These are better known as the Hail Mary Fairs.
Chair: Where are you going this time?
Head: I’m going to try the Latin option. First place will be Madrid ~ then Rio ~ then Bogota ~ then Miami. I’ll stop in Casablanca and Cairo on the way home.
Chair: And when will you be home again, Headmaster?
Head: Mid-June ~ on graduation day, in fact. We can give out the diplomas together
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