18/03/11

A blood donation team came to our school today and one man working for them passed by my classroom and asked if he could quickly address the students. He explained to them that giving blood is a very important and good thing and that anyone older than 15 was eligible to give. “So anyone from age 16 to” he waved his hand to indicate a really long way off “60 can donate blood.
The word “teenager” was in a text we read in class today, and my students didn’t know it so I explained where the word is derived from. It’s kind of strange and it’s uniquely English concept—I guess I have never even thought about it before.
A female student came to my door tonight and told me she needed to talk to me. She addressed me informally which was way out of line, but it was 5:20pm on a Friday and I was too tired to deal with it. “Can you give me shorts?” she asked. At first I thought she was late for P.E. or something, but then I remembered school was over. “To lend you or to give you?” “To give me.” As politely as I could muster I told her to have a good weekend and shut the door.
Tonight we cooked Thai red curry and it was pretty delicious. Okra has been in the market recently and it adds such a nice crunch to dishes.