Discover Something New #13

Sunday: On This Day:
It seems that in Spain it is customary to eat one's morning cereal with chocolate milk.

Monday: Actually...
Anyone who drives a lot has heard the theory that you can save gas by following close to a big-rig truck on the highway. I always thought this was a myth, or at least that it made very little difference. But actually it turns out that there is a great deal of truth in it. A team of experts (Myth Busters!) carefully tested the theory, and found out that if you follow 100 ft (30 meters) from a semi going 60 mph (95 kpm), you save 11% of your petrol. At 50 ft (15 meters), 20%, and if you're willing to drive just 10 ft (3 meters) away from a giant semi truck, you could save as much as 39% on your gas usage! At 10 ft, however, the reaction time if something goes wrong is about 0.1 seconds, so it's practically suicidal to try it. The safe following distance at speeds of 60 mph is 150 feet (45 meters). So, don't try this at home, but it does work! :-)

Tuesday: Say What?
The Netherlands are half to two thirds below sea level. Hence its name! So, bring very vulnerable to floods, and being the most densely populated country in Europe, keeping the water out has formed a great part of the cultural and character. In the 13th century the country began using numerous windmills to pump the water out. In the second half of the 20th century, about 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) of dikes were built to keep out the ocean. The most recent solution is another entirely new approach: if you can't keep the water out, you have to rise above it! So, floating houses! Yes, houses complete with a garage, front lawn, and garden are being designed to float above rising water. In normal weather they sit on the ground, built around four concrete pillars. When flood come, the whole unit can slide up the pillars and stay above the water. The buoyancy comes from large, water-tight basements that hold enough air to keep the rest of the house afloat. Thus far there are only a few “floating neighborhoods”, but the idea seems to be gaining popularity! Just make sure you've found your sea-legs before coming for afternoon tea!

Wednesday: Wow!
Okay, I apologize to anyone who has a pet Pit Bull dog out there, but this is just too amazing to pass up. The Pit Bull has a stronger bite than any other dog. It is measured at 2000 pounds per square inch (140 Kilograms per square centimeter). Now, maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, so consider this. The Kodiak Bear (the giant Alaskan brown bear) has a bite force of 751. A Jaguar measures about 1000, and a tiger 1525. American Alligators are considered to have the greatest bite force on earth today, and a 12-foot (3.6 meters) American Alligator gave a reading of 2,125. That gives you an idea of the power of a pit bull. On top of that, pit bulls constitute 1% of all dogs in the US, and are responsible for 42% of dog related deaths.

Thursday: Series: Penguins Rock!
While this isn't a scientific classification, it seems to me that penguins can be found in two environments; ice or rocks. Next time I'll talk more about ice penguins (especially for those of you who haven't seen March of the Penguins yet), so this week Penguins Rock! There are four main breeds of “rock penguins,” the Adelie penguin, Chinstrap penguin, Gentoo penguin, and most predictably the Rockhopper penguin. All of these live in rocky areas and make their nests out of pebbles. In some cases the males will collect rocks and try to attract females by having the biggest pile. A shortage of pebbles can lead to vicious fighting, screaming, and stealing. When the female choses a mate, she will climb to the top and make a depression in the middle for the egg. This pile of rocks serves to keep the egg up off the frozen soil or sand.
In 2004 in the zoo, one of the more unexpected stories of the animal kingdom took place. Two male chinstrap penguins were in a pen with no females. Still, they built a nest of pebbles and took turns trying to "hatch" a rock. Later this rock was exchanged with a fertilized egg by a zoo keeper, and the two males hatched and raised the chick.

Friday: What is something you don't know about yourself?
Saturday: On A Personal Note: The Devil has only two real tricks. The first trick is to keep you from realizing what he's doing. If that doesn't work, then his second trick is to keep you from caring what he's doing.

This week (June 14-21) I experienced a relapse on some “personal-development” things I've been working on. I've been in the game long enough to see these things coming, to predict what the progression of events will be, and to know exactly what traps I'm stepping into. But somehow that doesn't seem to make a difference anymore. Every soldier gets tired of fighting, but sometimes you get more sick of fighting than you are sick of what you are fighting, if that makes any sense. I think that's what separates soldiers and heroes.
Anyway, I'm getting ready to leave for LA for my summer job at the English program on Thursday. I haven't had much time to get excited, but I think it'll be really fun. I'm also homing to get lots of interesting information from the international students for these DSN letters! In other news, I learned that I was refused for a study abroad scholarship that I was hoping for, which means that I'll only take one semester of classes in Prague instead of two. It's a shame, but I can still finish my degree requirements in one semester, and this way I'll be able to find a job for the second half of the year.

June 21-28:
It's been one week in Long Beach (not exactly LA, but basically in the same city) at the International English Program of English First (EF). The days have been packed, and of course it's impossible to describe or explain everything. If you know about the English Camps in Czech Republic, it's basically like that, except with 600 high school students from 10+ countries, on a university campus, where the Activity Leaders (that's me!) have no connection with the morning English classes (Hurray!). We were training for about 5 days, which was slow but good, and all the leaders got to know each other. Almost all of us have lived abroad, and I'm probably one of the least traveled people. Several people have lived on every continent, one guy speaks 8 languages, and there is incredible ethnic, political, and character diversity. On that last note, there is every character from “quiet little mouse,” to “does and says whatever he wants, and loudly” and from “makes friends with everyone” to “makes friends with no one.” It's very interesting to watch, and although there are some I avoid, I think I can work very well with the group as a whole. It's highly intensive, because everyone is very experienced, and they all know how to “unmask” people. I've never felt so vulnerable to a group, because they don't let me get away with any kind of character act or trick. Many people will directly challenge each other to bring out the truth of character, good or bad. So now that we all know each other very well (but for such a short time), it's wonderful and terrible to be working together 24 hours a day, with no other adults around, for two months. It's like a reality show! :-) The first chapter is done, and now that the students are here I think the story will change a lot.
The students arrived yesterday and the day before. Suddenly out quiet little campus changed 100%. At the airport it seems that 10% of students have lost their luggage. So far some of it has returned, a lot not. Other flights were caught in a storm at New York JFK airport, and had to stay there 8-12 hours. I've never seen such bad travel luck. Most students on arrival hadn't slept for 24+ hours. Needless to say, they are cranky and nervous and highly emotional, which made the first day a big drama, but it could have been much worse.
I had some trouble with my first roommate during training (he's one of the ones I now avoid), and was worried about controlling a hall of 35-40 teenage boys. But I felt very blessed by God that my new roommate (once the students arrived) is one of the two guys I most get along with, and we're a good team. I was also pleasantly surprised to be put in charge of a hall of girls (due to a shortage of female leaders). I get along with girls better, and thus far it's been very nice. The only problem is that every night after bedtime we must go through each room and do an official headcount (to see if any student is missing). This means knocking on the doors, usually waking up the girls, and if there is a missing student alert from another hall then we must do it again and go inside the room to see if the missing student is hiding to stay with her friends or boyfriend or something. That's kind of uncomfortable, and Sam (roommate) and I have both tip-toed around it thus far. But I think I have a very good rapport with all my girls, so I don't expect any major problems.
The first night there were only a few students here, but scattered around campus. I felt bad that they had to sleep alone on the first night (their official roommates had not arrived), so I pretended not to see when two of my girls when into the same room. I had counted four girls on that floor, so I thought it wouldn't matter as long as I knew where they were. Then we are supposed to stay on watch for 1 hour after to make sure everyone is really asleep. After about 45 minutes one of the other leaders comes up all stressed saying that there was a missing girl in another building and everyone was looking everywhere for her, and the director was about to call the police to look for her. This was news to me. Apparently they found out that the missing girl was friends with one of the girls on my hall, and they went straight to the room where I knew there were two girls. One of them was the missing girl that all the leaders were looking for. Apparently a girl went to bed very early on my hall so I didn't count her, and the room with two girls made five, one extra. The missing girl was supposed to be in an entirely different building. She just wanted to not sleep alone, and didn't realize that 30 people were waking up hundreds of students trying to find her. Well, everyone was understanding (a similar thing happened several times the next night to other people), but boy I took some heavy teasing for it!
Last night was when almost everyone else arrived, and we many students arriving after bedtime, three missing students at different times of the night, and after all that at 2 am, one of my girls started throwing up and needed the help of her escort (every country sends a native leader with their students, called escorts). I got to sleep at 2:30, and woke up at 6:00 to help with the arrival of the Russians (delayed in JFK).
Tonight everything will be easier because all the students will have arrived and the rooms will be full, so it will just be a matter of making sure two students are in each room and not all the extra complication of who should be where (I hope). Although there has been already many instances of switching name tags and even moving beds to other rooms, so anything is possible. Unfortunately other EF programs in other countries (and similar programs) have a reputation for being lax on the rules, so students don't take it seriously at first. Every year some students are sent home before the rest get the picture.
Well, in one more way it's a lot like a big (Czech) English Camp, that it's an enclosed universe. Everything is focused on here and now, and there is always something that needs urgent attention. I mean, we're almost glorified baby-sitters for 600 kids, and trying to organize a good time for them at the same time! There is not a minute to think about anything outside the camp. I'm writing this now because I was scheduled to pick up a late (Danish) group at the airport, but their flight was delayed so I get to rest for a couple hours. The only way I can describe the “enclosed universe” is that I've only been here 7 days, and already I have to concentrate really hard to picture my close friends or family. It's already like a different life. It's strange to say that, but it give you an idea of how intense the atmosphere is here.
On a positive note, I love it! :-) For so many reasons that I can go into now, I think this is exactly what I needed to heal some emotional wounds. I'm so thankful for the challenge and interaction, and I'm so overjoyed to discover that I still love this kind of activity and atmosphere, because I began to fear that I was losing that love. And with all that, I get paid!
I'd better go. I need to prepare the orientation speech for the late group from Denmark. I don't know when I'll get the time and energy to write again, so until we talk again take care and God bless!