Saturday, February 24, 2007
television interview
Watch Nate Ball interviewed on the Chet Curtis program. (Click on MIT's Lemelson award winner)
Design Squad airs this morning at 11:30 a.m. in most parts of the U.S. Oregonians will have to wait until March to watch...
Design Squad airs this morning at 11:30 a.m. in most parts of the U.S. Oregonians will have to wait until March to watch...
Friday, February 23, 2007
The Chestnut Towers
Tonight I had dinner with one of my students from Berlitz: Narges (NAR-guess). She is Iranian and very awesome. She has two children in high school, and her husband travels back and forth between Iran and Boston, but mostly works and lives in Tehran. She made me a delicious meal and we drank uncountable cups of Persian tea! I'm going to be wired all night!
She confessed to me that she is pretty lonely here. She is a gynocologist, but she can't work here in the U.S. and seems completely bored. She is really intelligent, and my general impression is that she prefers her profession to parenting. I don't mean that in a negative way, but rather that she was a very dedicated doctor. She had her own practice in Iran, and now she's a housewife with a husband who lives out of the country!
Many times she has told me that I am the best teacher she has ever had (yeah, she's really sweet!), and she told my boss that she will sign up for another set of classes only if I am teaching them! However, she is teaching me so much. I think she'd really like to spend some time together outside of class--just being friends.
When I told her about Lent last Tuesday and I mentioned all the junk food I'm giving up, she immediately said that she would, too. So today instead of dessert she had huge bowls of fruit at her house--I mean EVERYTHING! Apples, peaches, nectaries, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries. She wished she had raspberries... =)
We agreed to be workout partners, too. At her apartment they have a pool, gym and tennis courts. Tomorrow I'm going over there to have a swim with the family. Her kids are great and I feel really comfortable around them. It helped that they were asking and asking to meet me! It seems like I get along well with all kids I meet here, except the ones Tom's family. That's annoying.
Some of the things she said that interested me most tonight:
Re: her country. The Iranian gov't are corrupt, but harmless. They are just playing up the nuclear weapons to scare us and give them more power and control in the world. She thinks I should come see for myself this summer.
Re: her family. She had an arranged marriage!
Re: her lifestyle. She gives her children $50,000 every summer to spend how they like. (No typo there--but I almost choked on my blueberries when I heard that.)
Another funny note from the night. I've been a little sick the last few days, but didn't have any ear problems until I rode the elevator down Chestnut Towers. They've been plugged ever since... oh, the woes of living and dining in the penthouse.
She confessed to me that she is pretty lonely here. She is a gynocologist, but she can't work here in the U.S. and seems completely bored. She is really intelligent, and my general impression is that she prefers her profession to parenting. I don't mean that in a negative way, but rather that she was a very dedicated doctor. She had her own practice in Iran, and now she's a housewife with a husband who lives out of the country!
Many times she has told me that I am the best teacher she has ever had (yeah, she's really sweet!), and she told my boss that she will sign up for another set of classes only if I am teaching them! However, she is teaching me so much. I think she'd really like to spend some time together outside of class--just being friends.
When I told her about Lent last Tuesday and I mentioned all the junk food I'm giving up, she immediately said that she would, too. So today instead of dessert she had huge bowls of fruit at her house--I mean EVERYTHING! Apples, peaches, nectaries, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries. She wished she had raspberries... =)
We agreed to be workout partners, too. At her apartment they have a pool, gym and tennis courts. Tomorrow I'm going over there to have a swim with the family. Her kids are great and I feel really comfortable around them. It helped that they were asking and asking to meet me! It seems like I get along well with all kids I meet here, except the ones Tom's family. That's annoying.
Some of the things she said that interested me most tonight:
Re: her country. The Iranian gov't are corrupt, but harmless. They are just playing up the nuclear weapons to scare us and give them more power and control in the world. She thinks I should come see for myself this summer.
Re: her family. She had an arranged marriage!
Re: her lifestyle. She gives her children $50,000 every summer to spend how they like. (No typo there--but I almost choked on my blueberries when I heard that.)
Another funny note from the night. I've been a little sick the last few days, but didn't have any ear problems until I rode the elevator down Chestnut Towers. They've been plugged ever since... oh, the woes of living and dining in the penthouse.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tonsillitis?
I am starting to get sick. I'm not sure what I have, but my tonsils are red, enlarged and painful. It's not really a sore throat, but coughing hurts my lungs. I'm still going to work this morning. I don't want to cancel my teaching job.
We had six kids over this weekend and two of them had the flu last week, and another one threw up Sunday night. I never worry about getting sick because I have an excellent immune system. Actually, even right now I don't really feel any different than usual. I just want to drink some throat coat tea to soothe my tonsils.
Yesterday I was asked out on a date. From a guy at Bank of America. It was pretty exciting. It's the bank right across from my work so I go there often. I've seen him about three times now. The first time we met I thought he was cute, but wasn't very impressed with him when he said, "My brother lives in Japan, but I have no interest whatsoever in going there." It was like insulting my mother---how could someone NOT be interested in going to Japan!?!? Or ANYWHERE in the world? I just thought, "typical American!" and left it at that. Regardless of his cuteness, if he doesn't want to travel, I'm not interested.
However, I went to open a CD account yesterday and he jumped at the opportunity to help me. We sat down and he started to explain the different options. After looking at my address he said, "Another Dover kid, huh?" I was like, "Not exactly!" Knowing that he is FROM this preppy town was just another turn-off!!
But actually he was really nice and down to earth. We discovered he lives just a few miles from me. We talked about life in Dover...or the lack of life in Dover. Then some there was some flirting--and I couldn't concentrate on the banking anymore! I couldn't look at him in the eyes because I would smile too much. I felt so silly!
Now that I know he's not just a fraternizing business major I think he's really hot. He's half Arabic so he's tall and dark. Yum, yum!
We had six kids over this weekend and two of them had the flu last week, and another one threw up Sunday night. I never worry about getting sick because I have an excellent immune system. Actually, even right now I don't really feel any different than usual. I just want to drink some throat coat tea to soothe my tonsils.
Yesterday I was asked out on a date. From a guy at Bank of America. It was pretty exciting. It's the bank right across from my work so I go there often. I've seen him about three times now. The first time we met I thought he was cute, but wasn't very impressed with him when he said, "My brother lives in Japan, but I have no interest whatsoever in going there." It was like insulting my mother---how could someone NOT be interested in going to Japan!?!? Or ANYWHERE in the world? I just thought, "typical American!" and left it at that. Regardless of his cuteness, if he doesn't want to travel, I'm not interested.
However, I went to open a CD account yesterday and he jumped at the opportunity to help me. We sat down and he started to explain the different options. After looking at my address he said, "Another Dover kid, huh?" I was like, "Not exactly!" Knowing that he is FROM this preppy town was just another turn-off!!
But actually he was really nice and down to earth. We discovered he lives just a few miles from me. We talked about life in Dover...or the lack of life in Dover. Then some there was some flirting--and I couldn't concentrate on the banking anymore! I couldn't look at him in the eyes because I would smile too much. I felt so silly!
Now that I know he's not just a fraternizing business major I think he's really hot. He's half Arabic so he's tall and dark. Yum, yum!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Rear-ended!
What a horrible driving year for me! Today on my way home from teaching I got rear-ended!! Luckily there was no damage to the car (there's a spare tire on back), and stupidly I didn't even get the information on the guy who hit me. My neck is starting to feel a little sore this afternoon even though it was fine right after the crash. I wasn't hit hard, and I'm sure there's no permanent bodily damage, but in the future I always need to get the information when someone crashes into me!!
Two crashes in the first two months of 2007. I guess when you drive 100+ miles every day the chances of incident are higher!
Two crashes in the first two months of 2007. I guess when you drive 100+ miles every day the chances of incident are higher!
