This is just...

...a test.

Sent from my iPhone.

These Poor Kids!`

My students are taking tests today. I don't know why because they already finished their finals. I think these tests are to help prepare them for university entrance exams. I just administered an English test. While they were taking the test I grabbed an extra copy and attempted it myself. The test is taken from a website called youacademy.co.kr and I have no idea how any of my students could pass something so ridiculous. Here are a couple sample questions taken from the test (I haven't changed a thing):

Choose the one that best completes the sentence.
They nodded wisely to each other and exchanged sagacious remarks.
A. indignant
B. perspicacious
C. imprudent
D. indescreet

Something that is sumptuous is luxurious or magnificent, and obviously very expensive.
A. opulent
B. contemptuous
C. lustrous
D. devastating

The refractory horse was eliminated from the race.
A. hirsute
B. tenacious
C. furry
D. fop

Select the one that best fills in the blank.
Mr You recalls from his childhood _________ skill on ice skates marked her as "Olympic material."
A. which a girl's
B. that a girl
C. a girl whose
D. a girl that
E. a girl who

Select the underlined part that is grammatically incorrect.
You do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you will consume it and get it into your bloodstream.

The test goes on and on with questions like that! About 60 questions on this. An average American couldn't pass this test.

These poor kids are struggling to describe what they ate for dinner last night and they get things like this thrown at them.

No wonder many of them just shut down when it comes to English. I would do the same if I were given tests like this.

Yesterday ZouNan and I went out to a park. It was raining most of the time, but it was still fun.

While we were eating we remembered there was a heavy metal show in a small venue at 8:00. We figured we would just bum around downtown until it started. I probably wouldn't have brought my camera to the show if I had gone home first. I'm really glad I brought it though. Despite getting slammed into a wall and stepped on several times I still got some decent shots.

Here's a preview of what you will find on my Flickr page. Give it a look.

If you were wondering...

I can't publish any comments on my blog due to the Great Firewall of China being tightened as of late.

I also can't access facebook.

When Your Mom Joins Facebook

How do I even begin to address this subject?

I'm naturally a private person. I don't want a million people to be my "friends" on facebook. I was never good at the popularity contest in highschool, and to be honest I'm sad that it has followed my generation online past university. I'm not going to add someone as my friend, so that they have access to all my embarrassing photos, videos, and other friends comments, if i don't even know them! I don't need a bazillion fakebook friends.

That said, I'm also naturally a nice person.

I don't like it when people I met one time dig me up on facebook. First off, how did they even find me? I usually don't remember their name 5 minutes after we talked! But I can't just deny their request. So I leave them hanging. I have about 40 people waiting for me to accept or deny them. I'll never do either. They are simply out of the question.

Yesterday my friend's mom joined facebook.

How do you even deal with that? Do you want your mom to see the results for a "How Good Are You In Bed" quiz? Or to have access to all the embarrassing pictures, or videos(!), that friends put up of you after a looooong night out? I don't think so.

But how could someone deny their mother's request to be their friend? Aren't there rules against that?

With all the people in my friend request folder I can sleep at night knowing I will never see them again. But you will see your mom. And your mom will ask about it.

So you become your mom's friend on facebook.

At first it's nothing, but then quizzes and status updates start popping up from the mom. First it's small things like, "What Beatles Song Are You?" and "What Nationality Are You REALLY?" But then it's not just updates, it's naked baby pictures tagged with your name, it's videos of you learning to ride a bike, then it's comments on pictures of you ranging from, "Oh your friends look lovely!" to, "Why are your cheeks red?" to, "Why are there four people on that bicycle with you? And what's in those cups?" to, "Are you SMOKING?!?"

And finally when all your secrets have been revealed, when you thought that nothing else could make it any worse, you mom's friends join.

Then your friend's moms join and become friends your mom and her friends.

Then they all begin talking about you and your friends.

Just when you thought that awkward conversations would finally be limited to holidays and special events you get comments from your old friend's mom asking where you have been. If you wanted to tell her where you have been, wouldn't you have done that?

What once was a place for you and some friends to share photos and videos of your latest crazy night, to plan the next crazy night, and to console each other the day after a crazy night, has now become a bad thanksgiving dinner with every one looking at embarrassing photos of you and your friends.

And it has just started for me. My friend's mom just sent me a friend request. I will never see her, so I will ignore it. Unless she reads my blog. In which case, I will delete my account.