children and homework

I hate children. I really do.

Okay, so I used the exact same opening a while ago for an entry.

Well, sometimes there are children that are cute and just nice. These children, I can easily play along with. They remind me how joyful it was when time was on my side.

In class today (and yesterday), we read about aggression. Mr. Stephens told us a story about the day when he was out grocery shopping, there was an African-American woman with a little child. The child could walk, obviously, and the woman wandered off minding her own business. She didn't even notice that she was going far away from her child. When she finally noticed, though, she said, "Hey! Get your black ass over here!"

Wow. That really made me glad I wasn't raised in a hostile family. Strict, but never hostile.

When I boarded the 47 bus back to the hostel yesterday, it was a nice ride. I didn't get lost. The only time I got worried was when this Afro-American man (around 50 years old, big) boarded the bus and went straight to the back seats, sat there, and talked gibberish. I was so worried that he would take out a gun and start shooting everyone.

I always had the feeling that if ever, God forbid, I got caught in a hostage situation, I'd be the first one to be killed. Either by accident or on purpose.

But nothing happened, at least until I got off the bus. I walked back to the hostel safe and sound.

Today, it was almost another different case all around. I boarded the 47 bus in hopes to yet again have a nice, quiet ride so I could finally finish reading my TIME Magazine with Aung San Suu Kyi on the cover.

It was raining, but I didn't have to wait long. The bus came and it was relatively empty. After a few stops, the nightmare began.

School kids went on board. And I am certain that nobody paid the fare. They just boarded through the back entrance. I sat myself in the back, next to the back entrance. Bad choice. One girl was standing directly in front of me and she was eating something and passed it along to her friend who was standing on the doorway right next to me. She was passing whatever she ate right on top of my head.

In Indonesia, that would be considered really rude and I would most probably do something about it. But they were too numerous (they just stood there blocking the door and telling people 'no space' and the driver obviously didn't do anything to stop it) and kids could be dangerous. And... I was carrying loads of books, as usual.

When I felt like my stop was getting near, I finally looked up and saw that they were taking out rulers and pens and... tearing off the PSA posters from the walls of the bus right above my head. That was just... what's the word... VANDALOUS. It was such an ANARCHY that I was so glad I got off the bus right then and there.

On a lighter note, I had a really nice lunch today. Well, a big one. I had cheese ravioli and a tall glass of hot chocolate (well, I had to. It was raining again today althought not as cold as two days ago). When my ravioli came, I looked at it and almost complained. But after everything was downed, I felt that the portion was just perfect, if not a little too much. Well, it'd better be. It was USD 22 including tax and tip.

I felt sleepy in the GRE English class because of that big lunch.

And I'm telling you, it's hard to get sleepy in the GRE English class. At least for now. I can say that I don't need it to get into the universities of my choice, but I will keep doing it because I'm learning so much.

The students in the class are around my age, and I feel it's just where I belong. The class is very engaging and challenging at the same time. Although I have to say, the words are... kind of otherworldly. Did you know there are 500,000+ words in English? Yeah, Mr. Stephens told us that. We were given a book that specifically deals with words and the roots of those words. It's like a mini dictionary of hard words.

I can't say that I enjoy it for the time being (wait, am I being paradoxical here? No, I guess that's the "challenging" part).

Tonight, I'll have to finish rewriting the statement of purpose so I can speed up the process of the University of San Francisco application and look into the St. Mary's College one.

Wish me luck!