Take a Mental Picture

And I hope you have a photographic memory because this image won't last for long.

2008 American League Standings
East
W L PCT GB Home Away DIV Streak
Baltimore 6 3 .667 --- 5-1 1-2 1-1 Lost 2
NY Yankees 5 5 .500 1 1/2 4-3 1-2 4-3 Won 1
Boston 5 5 .500 1 1/2 2-1 3-4 0-3 Won 1
Toronto 4 5 .444 2 3-3 1-2 4-2 Lost 3
Tampa Bay 4 5 .444 2 1-2 3-3 3-3 Won 1

So it comes out a little jumbled, but the point is the Orioles are in first place. How long will this last? No one knows for sure, but most experts agree somewhere between two and three days. That's why I had to rush to the internet to see the standings before it all disintigrated and the inevitable plunge to fourth place began.

...But let's just say this continues, for the sake of argument. Will I empty my savings account in October to fly back for a playoff game? Probably. Will Peace Corps understand and let me come back? Probably not.

Good thing this isn't an actual legitimate concern. Yesterday's doubleheader sweep was probably just the first domino to fall in a long, precipitous dive toward the cellar.

But does this mean I'll stop racing to the internet building 4 times a week to check the Baltimore Sun for updates? Probably not.

Anyway, things are moving along pretty slowly here these days. After meeting up with our other American friends in Shymkent and Almaty a couple weeks ago I think most of us have hit the post-meeting-with-other-Americans-slump, as it is known in my head. Each day feels like about two weeks, give or take a day depending on how many of my meals I don't have to pay for. The teaching has more or less hit a rut, as it's difficult to be perceived as a real teacher when you're only seeing each group once a week, in theory. Often the schedule changes or the dean makes the students clean outside the front of the building on Saturday morning which cancels (some) classes for that day- it's hard to ever know exactly which classes are cancelled until 5-10 minutes into when your class is supposed to begin. So I'm hoping to push for a more regular teaching schedule next year, where I only have 3 or 4 classes and teach them full-time. If this actually happens I'm almost assured to come back with chronic hypertension from the students' attempts at blatant cheating and disregard for instructions to the contrary, but at least I would be more like a real teacher than a once-a-week break from real lessons. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

No complaints about the weather- it has been absolutely beautiful here all week, if a little blustery- temperatures in the upper 50s or low 60s, sunny skies, dust blowing everywhere, constant honking, polluted air from the traffic and who knows what else. Like I said, the weather has been good. People here claim that the reason for the wind is Baikonur, the site of the Russian space station that sits about 4 hours away by car. When someone was telling me about this I said, "Oh, so maybe the wind from the space shuttles causes some of the windy conditions we have here?" and they responded, "Not maybe. It is certain." So that was the end of any potential argument, or discussion, on the topic.

My language is improving a little bit, though I'm reminded as I hear a conversation in the hall that it still sounds to me like everyone is yelling at each other. When someone says something incorrect the other person always says "NOOOOO" as if they are very annoyed, but the first person never seems to get offended. Maybe I'll figure the whole system out in two years, but right now I'm still pretty confused by most things.