Equal Goes It Loose
The World Of Teaching & Learning English
Thursday 13: My FAV Journizer Wallpapers
[ 5 Comments ] Posted on 06.12.08 under Thursday 13, travel
) But one of the features that I think gets overlooked are their wallpapers, which I just LOVE. So in the interest in sharing, (and if nothing else you get to see some awesome travel shots) here are my favs:
1. That all of these were taken by Journizers (as in amateur photographers) just makes me gag with jealousy a little more with this one!
2. That I never made it to Bali while living in Asia is one of my biggest regrets!
3. Gaaa I love Switzerland
4. That I never went to Cambodia or Laos despite being in Thailand and Vietnam is another place for my list on places to go back and see!
5. This one makes me want to go to California, a place I never really wanted to see before (sorry those of you from California!)
6. I just love this one because its now home.
7. And this makes me wish for a beach vacation like I do not know what!!
8. Iceland is a place I would love to take the bike, but one month there is about the same price as 3 - 4 months everywhere else, so maybe when I have more money or less time!
9. Despite this being Norway, it reminds me of home in Newfoundland!
10. There is a reason Thailand is such a tourist destination!
11. Magnetic Island Queensland anyone?
12. Or for that matter Abel Tasman New Zealand?
13. And finally, because he is way too cute, Kurt! (and everyone wants to be wanted!!)
Thursday 13: 13 Awesome Travel Pics
[ 18 Comments ] Posted on 05.22.08 under Thursday 13, travel
I’m itching to get on the road and instead I am going through other people’s Journeys over on Journizer. So here they are, 13 of my favorite travel shots from there.
1. If you have ever been on my other blogs you may have seen this picture before, but I cant help it, it is easily my favorite picture of Patrick, travel, Mongolia, and of a motorcyle, ever. 
2. We had planned to take a trip through Africa this year on the bikes. But as a newbie we decided it was just too difficult. I had read motorcycling author Sandi Langton’s book on her trip through Africa. It inspired me for sure, but it also made me realize that some off roading practice would not hurt me before hitting sand dunes. Having said that, GAGGING with jealousy over this shot.
3. I don’t know this person - I think she may be friends of friends - but and the shot looks like so much fun, and travel should be fun!
4. This is why I loved Thailand, even if it isnt a pic of mine.
5. And because I just love the travel mix ups, particularly with language, Jens in Bali, proudly displaying a “pop me” noodle cup. (Or what I guess is a noodle cup). For anyone not familiar with German, pop is not a fizzy drink and a word I no longer say in classes with teenagers. It’s a nice, I would even say cute word for sex.
6. My dad took this shot when we spent Mother’s Day in Venice. Lets just say its a very good way to redeem yourself when you (the only daughter) move halfway around the world…..repeatedly.
7. And since we are on Italy, my shot from Easter vacation when myself and Caroline drove to Lake Como!
8 and 9 go together, and a reason why camping while motorcycling is awesome (even if it is on a campsite rather than wild, when your choices are beware of mines, or camp at a site, campsites rule):
but then you get views like this from your “bedroom” while camping!
10. Big happy Buddhas!
11. Not just mud baths, but sand traps! (and further evidence I should get some experience before tackling Africa on a bike).
12. This makes me ache for St. Petersburg, Russia, the very first place I went with my brand new passport, leaving Canada for the first time.
13. And this one not so much. Siberia in winter may be breathtaking (in so many ways), but the toilets leave something to be desired. But then you have to take the good with the bad!
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments)
13 Things About Equal Goes It Loose
[ 6 Comments ] Posted on 04.17.08 under From The EFL World, Language Learning, Thursday 13
2.
Having taught English in Japan, Korea and in England to Italian kids, I am aware that false friends and literal translations are bound to cause embarrassment. But in Germany it appears that they are particularly so. Here the word “geil” is used to mean cool, awesome, excellent, etc. However its original meaning was horny. My friend Samara teaches at a school here, and a student tried to compliment her by announcing (in English) that she was a “horny teacher.” The class went silent before erupting into laughter, and both Samara and the student went a little red. The class then had to explain to him that the proper translation of geil in that case was not horny, but cool. You can find the full story here, but it was treasures like that I wanted to save and so I began another blog.
3.
To be fair however the embarrassment works both way. The first time I met my German partner’s family had its fair share of blushes. Halfway through the afternoon I bit into an apple that was less than crisp and I declared (in English, as at this point I spoke 4 words in German) “ugh, this apple is mushy!” The was followed by shocked silence, and a tentative “what did you say.” I explained that the apple tasted mushy. And my partner laughed so hard before explaining what mushy in German was. Think the term for female genitalia that we have that means a little cat.
4.
In addition to such treasures of mortification I also wanted a place that I could try to keep some of my own ideas for teaching English on. I know myself that I am forever finding great places, and then forgetting what they are or were. So I hope that with this blog I can keep track of some of my favorite links and places, and lesson ideas.
5.
I travel, I love to travel, and if I could I would do nothing BUT travel. And so I do take paid posts on my other blogs (I have two, Sticky Apple Kisses and Confessions of A Gypsy Princess). It means I can travel and get paid without having to have a regular job that requires me to actually BE somewhere at a set time. The problem was that I noticed Gypsy became a little too saturated with paid posts. BUT I liked the income that meant my debt was decreasing and my travel stayed the same. So I started Sticky, but after Gypsy was google slapped Sticky is the only blog that brings in decent paying posts. I dont want to have the same thing happen to Sticky that happened to Gypsy. Yet I dont want to lose an income that lets me travel. The solution? Another blog with a different focus so that I hope between the two I can eventually have the same income without losing the quality of the blog.
Wakeboarding in Switzerland: having the time and money makes blogging worth it!
6.
I love to write, I have always loved to write. But I never have the time. Blogging gives me that time. While I will not make time for other things, I will make time for blogging, it is like online journaling. And with Equal Goes It I hope anyone thinking of working ESL, or wanting to, can read it and ask questions, as I think its a great idea, but not the easiest one. So helps me, helps someone else, hurray!
7.
Videos! For some reason I could never get videos to work on my wordpress blogs until recently, and another place to post them is a good excuse as any!
8.
Other bloggers! It seems like with each blog you start you get a different readership. Sure some of the people are the same, and thats awesome too. But with Gypsy I met different people in the blogsphere than I did with Sticky, and despite Equal being less than a month old I have already found some new blogs I never would have found otherwise.
9.
And since every blog has a blogger, the last couple will be directly about me! I am an ESL teacher who just can not seem to escape. This is one of the better lives for those who have a Gypsy heart. And I am quite the Gypsy at heart. This is the first time I have renewed a VISA, and I already have itchy feet, despite taking off for another destination for travel every month.
10.
I am slowly learning German (I am in a class), but really I wish I could speak Spanish and Russian. But they won’t exactly help me here, and besides Oma would murder me for learning another language first.
11.
I want a pug. Badly. So badly my friend sent me this link, and I do sometimes pop it into my browser just to whimper and sound pathetic in an effort to get one. But in all honestly we do travel too much for a dog, but even if we didnt, though I have broken my partner down to the point where a dog is ok, he could have written this article.
12.
I have learned not to use the “pop” in the German classroom. It is another one of those words that translates with sexual connotations.
13.
And last, but not least, no matter where i go or where i live, the center of the world for me will always be Newfoundland!
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments)