Christmas Plans 2007

Since the weather has been so good to us in southern California, we've decided to remind ourselves what a northern hemisphere winter should be and enjoy Christmas in Utah. Coincidentally, I have two brothers living there as well as and so it's a win-win situation -- though, not for them obviously. One minor drawback to this plan is that our household goods, including virtually all our winter clothing, we shipped from Germany in July will not be available through US Customs until after Christmas. It's a sad story of neglect and delays but the short of it is we've managed to borrow enough warm clothes for the week we'll be in Utah. Hopefully a post on the trip in a week or so.

In the meantime, we wish all our friends and family, near and far, a joyful Christmas.

Commutin' Scooter

Having decided to rent a house a bit further away from my place of work than we'd ideally like, a second vehicle was on the cards. Given the high price of petrol (*snigger*) -- actually I mostly just believe in having sufficient for my needs -- I thought a scooter would be the ticket. Since the freeways I take have a tendency to clog quickly and often, having a smaller vehicle than can go slip through is a great boon. Though one must ride very defensively, lane sharing, as it's known here, is considered acceptable behaviour. In addition to lane sharing, motorcycles are also permitted to use the car pool lane and this helps reduce the danger to me and the time to ride.

I picked up the new bike for what I think was a very good price. The guy threw in a jacket, two helmets (one of them a child's), a bag for the seat, a pair of gloves and a service manual, confirming to me that he was in fact going 'cold turkey' on bike riding. The bike is a 1988 model and had only 9300 miles on it. Basically, it was owned consecutively by two older guys who rode it a couple of times a month and then brought it home to polish it. I've already let the bike know that she won't be getting that sort of treatment from me.

As one bike-course instructor told me, "A commute doesn't get much sweeter than a southern Californian highway on a motorcycle." I think I'm tending to agree.


Oh, and if you don't think this is a scooter, you should see the ones that ride past me!

Book Explosion

Since we shifted to the new house which until very recently contained no television set, there has been a veritable explosion of reading by the children. Part of this has been the discovery of a very decent town library and not so much to distract them. Our children really do love to read, though sometimes television helps them forget it. So here is a list, supplied by each child, of what they have read recently.

Joshua

• Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Scorpia and The Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
  
• Series of Unfortunate Events, Nos 1-8 by Lemony Snicket
  
• Black Duck
  
• By the Monkey's Tail
  
• Small Steps by Louis Sachaf
  

Elijah

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azskaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
  
• Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda
  

Mara

• Into the Wild by Sara Beth Durst
  
• By the Monkey's Tail by Kerrie O'Connor
  
• Dexter the Tough
  
• Series of Unfortunate Events, Nos 1-8 by Lemony Snicket
  
• The Unseen, Spyhole Secrets and The Magic Nation Thing by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
  
• Junie B. Jones, First Grade (At Last)
  
• Inky the Indigo Fairy
  
• The Lake of Tears by Emily Rodda
  

Ariana

• Inky the Indigo Fairy
  
• The Lake of Tears by Emily Rodda
  
• Junie B. Jones
  

Bryna

• Clifford Saves the Day and various other Clifford books.
  
• Barbar's Birthday
  
• A couple of Clarice Beans
  
• A couple of Charlie and Lolas
  

Fire Safety

Thanks to all those who have called or emailed in the past few days to check on our family's welfare amid the recent southern Californian fires.

For those who didn't know (or care), we are all fine. There is no real imminent
threat to our home but we stay informed, just in case. However, my work was closed on Monday and Tuesday (22nd and 23rd Oct). It took me two hours on Monday to get there and then 45 minutes later they said we should go home! Only an hour to get home, riding into the fierce Santa Ana wind. By Tuesday afternoon the fire closest to work had made it to the car park of the building across the street. Fortunately, it was contained there with our car park now somewhat ash covered.

It is extremely dry around here so bush(brush/wild)fires are always a constant concern -- well, except immediately after the fire I guess. Being Australian, fires are nothing new to us. You learn to respect them and how to take precautions. On the other, we have little experience with earthquakes ...

We have a car !!! <(-_-)>

We now have a car we bought it a couple of days ago it's not an American car no not even from Europe no it's from Japan we got a Honda. Yes you heard me right a honda. Why we didn't get a German car I don't know. I would have liked one. Well we got a Honda "Odisey" Well i think that's how you spell it. It was fairly well priced and it was big enough although it isn't that big but it will do!!! =) It's a nice car and in great condition. So the weather is great here. And there is a house in "Mission Viejo" that would suite us great. CYA
I'll write again soon at lest someone will
Elijah

First Few Days in California

After all the preparations for the shift, matters have progressed relatively smoothly. Our visas came with plenty of time to spare, all our friends were as helpful as ever -- we spent some lovely times over the last few days with those whom we have grown close to -- and we even made the flight on time. The luggage allowance on flights to the US is very generous and we took full opportunity of it to bring our tent, blankets, sheets, extra clothing and a few special things we always inevitably forget to send with the shipped belongings. However unloading, carting all the luggage through the airports and reloading was a bit of a challenge.

The flight itself went quite well and my brother Donovan was there to meet us at the car rental agency. We had a whole airport-agency shuttle bus to ourselves due to the amount of luggage we were toting. Eventually we made it to the furnished apartment being provided by my company for a few weeks and clocked off for the (very long) day. Donovan was also great the next day, looking after the children, including a movie, while Gaynor and I did a bit of running around.

The next days included house hunting, a bit of shopping and some orientation. The weather has been wonderful and warm (actually, quite hot but still great!) and the apartment complex includes a pool. For the Labor Day holiday last Monday we enjoyed a few hours at the beach and playing in the sand and surf. The children are now coming to the end of their extended summer holidays and as soon as we can find a house we will enrol them in the relevant schools.

As for work, the new job is shaping to be very interesting and the company seems to be a great place to work. I'm looking forward to getting into it further.

So for now, we are looking hard for a house to rent and a car to buy. The rest will come in time. Many new things to learn and experiences to enjoy.

Last Few Days In Germany

Well our time in Germany is quickly coming to a close. Here us a brief update on our recent activities and a couple of those coming up.

Recent
We finished up in our house, and I at work, at the end of July. The idea then was to go, as the Germans say, 'on tour' visiting friends, relatives and having a relaxing camping holiday until the time came to depart this country. That was the plan anyway and we managed it -- mostly. It was altered in large part due to an extremely unreasonable landlady and, in smaller part, the camping being less than relaxing for the whole family. I shan't go into details regarding the landlady but, concerning the camping, our imminent departure meant that we were reluctant to invest in much more reasonably essential camping equipment so soon before shifting continents. In the end we decided to cut the camping short and take up one of the many, very generous offers to stay at a friend's house. We have had a lovely time visiting with a number of the good friends we have made since we've been here and will miss them all terribly.

We had our interviews with the US Consulate in Frankfurt last week and they indicated all seemed OK and we should have the visas this week. :)

Upcoming
So this week we are staying at a friend's house while they are on their own holiday. We'll be doing a lot of organising for matters in the US and hopefully trying to get a bit of relaxation in (always hopeful!). We have plane tickets booked for a flight on the 27th of August and so having the visas arrive before then is a good thing. We have friends who'll help us to get to the airport and I'll also be trying to sell our car during the week. Couple of things left to do and then all we need to do is set up again in the US. :D

My Birthday (Ariana)

2nd of August: My Birthday I woke up about eight o'clock, changed he calenders in the kitchen.Then went and woke up everyone else (a bit anoying realy for them), it was time for presents yeah... but no Dad had to go to work and sort out some stuff (how unfair I don't work or I could spoil his birthday too). And it got worse we didn't just wait we had to tidy no x box, no gameboy or computor :(. After a promise of 1 hour dad came back after 2 hours. And finaly i could open my presents. (it was a bit hard to open them since as they were all in bags). I got: A didle pen ( didle is big in germany look on their web site if you want.),didle necklace, an "A" necklace, some chocolate (kinder), some pencils and a didle diary. We had a borthday dinner in Frankfurt with our great aunt Shirly at a italiano restaurent. But Dad did not want to buy desert (5 euro each). So we went across the raod and got some icecream at a ice café and all got a ice cream and mara did some fake candles for me (which i blew out in one:))
By Ariana with help from Elijah

Go West!

I've been job hunting for a number of months now and am pleased to say I have just received a formal offer from a private fusion research company based in Orange County, California. It seems pretty reasonable so we think we'll give it a go. I mean, it can't be any harder than shifting to Germany right? Don't worry though, we've put a bit more thought into it than the preceding sentences might allude to.

We still have to clear our entry/work visas and will have an interview middle of next month. Hopefully only a few days to process. We expect to be arriving around the 25-28th August, though that may delayed if something in the plan needs changing. The company has asked me to start early September.

We should have about a week between arriving and starting work and school and in that time hope to find a house, a car, schools, change drivers licences -- yes, another test :( -- take out insurances, cure cancer and solve global warming. Or as many as we can manage anyway.

Gaynor and I are both excited and the children also seem pretty happy about it. There are a number of advantages in moving to southern California not the least of which is the promise of continued income. There is a lot of work to do before then but I think we'll make it. We are planning to be relaxing on a camping holiday for most of August and so probably won't be making much internet contact during that time.

More to come from the other side of the pond!

London

25/6/07 - 29/6/07
Unfortunately, due to time pressures this will just be a short report on our recent trip to London. Though Gaynor and the children all hold British passports they have not spent a lot of time there and we hoped to correct that in the event that we will move shortly from Europe[1]. We decided that rather than try to see a number of places in England in the course of a week, we'd concentrate on just London. Still, plenty to see.

We drove first thing Monday morning to Calais where we missed the ferry we had booked. Only by 10 minutes mind you but they put us on the next one with no trouble. All I'll say is that the traffic through Europe during peak hours can be very hard to predict. The ferry was a nice break from driving and a new experience for the children. The next new experience was driving a left-hand drive vehicle on the left-hand side of the road. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It helped having driven on that side before. :)

We stayed in Barking, on a direct half-hour-or-so train (the Underground actually) ride from the city centre. The children enjoyed catching up on some all-English television, comparing some of their regular shows to the German versions (voice over-dubbed).

The next few days reads like a list of a museum crawl including the British Museum (extremely impressive; highlights including the Rosetta Stone and a whole pile of other stuff the Brits have 'collected' over the years), Natural History and Science Museums (we split up to do these simultaneously), Imperial War Museum (not nearly enough time here) and the Ragged School Museum (we learnt there are poorer school systems than German).

Other highlights included visiting Westminster, a stroll along the Thames, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London (from the outside), climbing The Monument, a walk and a play in Hyde Park, changing guards at Buckingham Palace and Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Sorry that there isn't more time to pontificate over the trip but you can find a number of photos on our photo page. (Note the permanent link to the photo page, "Selected Images", located on the left of every blog page).

The drive home was reasonably eventful with an extra two hours to get out of London due to a jack-knifed truck blocking access to the only highway with a river crossing for many kilometers. Of course we then missed our ferry home and, with the one we did get leaving an hour later than scheduled, it was the wee small hours of Saturday before we rolled into the driveway.

All over though, an enjoyable and thoroughly worthwhile excursion.

[1] Please don't ask yet about exactly where we are going. We don't know yet and we'll make a post as soon as we do. :)

Update, 22 Aug: Creative Elijah has made a short movie of our trip!

The real "Oma und Opa Story"

Well I guess you all herd about Elijahs sad attempt to write about the visit we had from our grandparents, so I shall fill you in on what really happened.
They arrived on the 24th of April 2007 at ca. 15:00 hours and I was sick from school when they arrived and was trying to cope with the noise pollution from Ari and Bryna.
The next few days were quite ordanairy with me home sick, Bryna late for kindergarten and Mama and Granddad getting used to our house and repairing some stuff Dad had not got round to yet.This went on till Friday when I went to school and Bryna was early for kindergarten. Then one weekend dad decided to take them to Aachen and show them around. A few weeks later they went to Trier and looked at all that stuff there is to see you know the porta nigra and the baths and the amphitheater. a few weeks later they went to Paris with mum for three days and saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. In between seeing Europe and all that jazz they helped us in the garden and getting our garden "correct" as our landlady says.
I'm sorry that I can't give more information but i didn't really pay attention.

Joshua Glass

Bryna Recites 'Die Mausfamilie'

Bryna recently learnt a new poem at kindergarten about a mouse family. She even has some actions that go with it.



If your German (or at least your Bryna German) isn't up to scratch, the translation is roughly:

This is Sister Mouse
She has such big ears,
Such a big, pointy nose
And such a long tail

The verses repeat mentioning Brother, Father and Mother Mouse. The final verse, spoken in the tiny, soft voice is:

This is Baby Mouse
Has such little baby ears,
Has such a little pointy nose
And such a little tail
But then! *clapping* such a long tail!

Oma und Opa

On the 24Th of April our grandparents arrived they were picked up at the Dusseldorf airport by Dad , Bryna and Ariana. By the time they got back Mum had afternoon tea finished. After we had finished all the cake we gave them a chance to have a sleep after their long trip over. But that's abit boring so lets have some action on Friday the 27Th I the Almighty Elijah broke my arm playing soccer at a friends. So off to the hospital OH and the doctor said no more monkeys jumping on the and that i had broken not just 1 bone but an amazing number of 2 bones. So i couldn't go to stake conference on Sunday because once I heard i had broken 2 bones it suddenly began to hurt. Well that doesn't have much to do with mama and grandad but I'm going to go on because it very interesting. So on Monday no school for me to much pain Tuesday pain easing off but no school it's a public holiday oho!!! Wednesday appointment at the hospital in Juelich they had no clue what they were doing so they sent me to the hospital in Eschweiler. They knew a bit more and said .... that ..... I ..... should ....... get operated tubule weed cricket cricket. So on Thursday I got operated but then the bad news came
I had to stay over night in the hospital :(. But as strange as it may sound it actually wasn't that bad. So on Friday I could go home we got home at about 1 pm. You might be wondering what they did when I got operated on well if you really want to know have fun finding out ............. OK I will tell you I got a pin right through my arm ow!!!!!!! :) So well to tell the truth I don't really know much about what my grandparents did so you will just have to wait till someone else writes a post about them. OK I can tell you one thing they worked a lot in the garden.:) But I think I will leave the topic at grandma and grandpa

Spain

29/12/06 - 5/1/07
The original intent was to drive -- mostly because we are cheap -- but a lack of a valid licence on my part and a "absolutely no desire" on Gaynor's meant we ended up finding some last minute flights for slightly less than an exorbitant amount. Money aside (well money gone anyway) we decided to thoroughly enjoy our winter break and, though the initial circumstances were a struggle, Spain lived up to its end of the bargain in providing perfect weather and hospitality.

We couldn't get flights to Malaga together and so we flew me with the boys and Gaynor with the girls. Gaynor and the girls passed through Madrid while the men took the Barcelona route. The arrival times were all supposed to be close but with various delays it ended up a real mess. In particular, locating my brother Donovan who was flying in from the US turned out to be one long wait-fest. It wasn't that he wasn't in the airport, it was that we had arranged to meet at the car rental location and unbeknowst to either of us we were waiting at one each with no knowledge that the other location was there. Just as Gaynor and I were about to make a multi-run transit to the resort I eventually figured out the presence of the other car rental location (inside the 'secure area' of the airport), muscled my way back in (some guards are real softies when a grown man is crying) and retrieved said errant, unwitting brother.

We managed to rent the cars without an international incident and set off -- finally and gratefully -- the the resort, about half an hour away. Unfortunately, the signage and directions were a bit vague at best and since it was now dark, locating the resort took an extra half hour as we alternating overshot and bumbled about. We still managed to squeeze in some dinner before collapsing and calling it a day.



For the rest of the week -- apart from the glorious weather -- we enjoyed late morning starts, late evening talks, jacuzzi sitting (interspersed with cold-pool dipping), walks along the beach, a walk through downtown Marbella, Sunday church in English and a fabulous dinner at a restaurant right on the beach. At the restaurant, Gaynor and Donovan went on an all-out splurge for a lobster paella which Gaynor describes as 'delicious!'. We (well Donovan really) were feeling so flushed we even ordered dessert!

We also took a trip to Ronda -- dramatic, historic and Moorish, according to Gaynor. Her highlight was the museum in the Mondragon's Palace -- an old Moorish palace. The photo of Ariana and the orange tree was taken in the grounds of this this museum/palace. One of the highlights for the children was the visit to, and climbing over, the old city walls. They reminded Joshua of "Lord of the Rings", which, quite frankly, isn't that hard to do at the moment.




We also toured some archeological ruins around Marbella. These included the remains of a 3rd century Roman villa and baths. The baths were at a different location to the villa and had a great view of the ocean. In fact, beside the baths was an old Moorish military look-out tower. We also visited the ruins of a 6th century Paleo-christian church excavated in the 1960s. The baptismal font, in particular, was very interesting. See our photo page (follow "Selected Images" link top-left of this page) for a picture. Donovan has also posted some pictures from the trip on his own blog.

On New Years Eve, after Bryna had retired for the evening, we brought out some cheese, crackers and some fancy grape juice and had a session of "Three Questions". This is where everyone, after day-long consideration, brings their written answers to the questions:

• What was the highlight of the past year?
  
• What was the lowlight of the past year? and,
  
• What do you want to accomplish in the coming year?

The written answers are passed to the next person who reads out the relevant answer as each question is discussed around the group. An encouraging way to bring in the New Year.

So overall the trip was wonderfully relaxing. As usual, we had a great time together and add yet another recommended destination to our list.

Ariana does Hagrid

Not quite a Bad Hair Day(TM) but Ariana's coiffure had received a little attention from her sisters.

It did remind us of a character popular with the children ...

Next Please!

For those that have been keeping score you'll be aware that the end of this July will see the completion of my current employment contract. Further work with my current employer is not possible, mostly due to policy, bureaucratic and administrative reasons (You didn't think keeping a Dutch-employed Australian in Germany was easy did you?). So, after a brief consideration of retirement, I've decided to press on in the workforce and am therefore currently engaged in seeking further work. I'd like to say I'm currently engaged in reviewing multiple offers but this hasn't eventuated just yet. There are many factors that go into an employment situation when you are a physicist; a prime consideration is "Who employs physicists anyway?'

The answer to that question is found all over the globe with realistic locations including the UK, the US, elsewhere in Europe and possibly even Australia. As a family we have decided to try to restrict the options to either German- or English-speaking countries. The transition for the children is probably the most demanding and to ask them to change schools, cultures and to leave friends behind is big enough -- let alone a new language where you have little to no idea about anything for the first six months. Most of the children, of course, opt for a return to Australia to once again enjoy a closer association with family, sunshine and brutal sports. In the near future though this doesn't seem all that likely. Ultimately of course it will depend on offered employment or a decided change in career.

One of the big drawbacks at this stage is that we are in a sort of limbo. It's more that we aren't sure where we are going rather than that we are moving. Gaynor has become almost masterful at dealing with this condition -- we've done it numerous times in the past -- but still it's not easy. Of course, this situation also means that those who were thinking of using a relatively cheap base for a tour of Europe should hurry up about it. :D

Contact!

Well strictly contacts. My most commonly worn pair of glasses recently defied any further attempts to keep them in one piece. Thus, requiring a new pair, I decided that instead I would see how I went with contact lenses. I have a trial period of a month with some soft, disposable lenses and I must say, after a short adjustment period, they are really quite comfortable. I'm also getting better at controlling my reaction to essentially sticking my finger in my eye when putting them in or taking them out.

The peripheral vision is excellent but it's still taking a bit of getting used to seeing myself clearly without glasses on. The feeling of walking around without glasses is not as vulnerable as doing it with blurred vision but it's still somewhat 'naked'.

movies and books I have seen/read

So, where to start? I'll start with books, the last book I read was a German book my class had to read, its called "Damals war es Friedrich" (pronounced Freedrish) by Hans Peter Richter (what a German name). It's about a German boy and his Jewish neighbor Friedrich who were born during WWII. Just before I read "Damals war es Friedrich" I read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy
which took me about 4 months to finish but it was worth it. I did it mainly to watch the movies by Peter Jackson, it was worth it. I am also writing a book called the Lord of the Rubbers. (three guesses for what it is a parody of) I have also seed some great comic flicks lately: Spidermantm1 and 2, X-men 1,2,3 and Superman & Superman returns. The latest on my list of movies is another Peter Jackson film King Kong. On my list is still Fantastic 4, DareDevil and Indy Jones. Oh and i've also read Jurassic Park.
Thats all for now
Josh

Hernia(s) Ahoy

Ariana underwent day surgery at a nearby hospital after our family doctor verified a small hernia on her lower left-side abdomen. The whole process was very quick and (as an outsider tends to sometimes think of Germans) efficient. Her doctor's appointment was a Thursday afternoon, immediately after which the doctor called his surgical colleague at the hospital and set up an appointment for the next day. Gaynor took her along -- since her German is better and the surgeon's English wasn't so great -- and the operation was scheduled for the following Wednesday, very much to Gaynor's surprise.

The surgery went fine with Ari recovering quickly. Unfortunately the hospital was a little short on rooms and she spent some of her post-op period on a bed behind a screen in the hallway. She was ready to go home by 4pm, having arrived at 7am, and, naturally, was quiet tired and sore.

About an hour after returning home, and much to our surprise and chagrin, Ari noticed another tell-tale hernia bulge on her right-side lower abodomen! Talk about timing, total lack of. She has an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow to discuss options and while she hasn't complained about it, she is a little anxious and has asked that both parents be there for this one.

Licence Obtained

While not quite the dynamic title of a James Bond book, I'm nevertheless pleased to have completed the final hurdle -- the practical exam. You may recall the earlier ones -- to receiving my German driver's licence. It was actually the second attempt having failed the first one on the last turn into the testing centre's car park a week before Christmas. To be sure it was cruel (and I felt in error) given that we were expecting to drive to Spain a week later. There is a minimum two week wait between tests.

We agonised over our options for a couple of days and in the end decided I was too poor of a passenger to make it. So it meant that in the end we flew to Spain, instead of the expected total of 6 days in the car. Though more expensive it was, of course, much faster however we are still undecided if it was less stressful. It also gave me an opportunity to use one of my more recently frequent phrases when discussing the (now obviously simple) solution to a problem: '... and all it took was a whole lot of money.' I'm still amazed at how many problems this almost trivial solution can be applied to.

So now I'm driving again, much to Gaynor's relief (bad passenger that I am) and for those alert readers who remember my commentary on the Australian driving learner caught doing 177 km/h, I managed 130 during the exam I passed, mostly due to the short amount of autobahn and the under-powered car I was in. :D

View from Europe

I still follow quite closely the news and current events in Australia, using the ABC website almost exclusively for this. Two recent stories in a row made me think a little about what Europe currently means to an expatriated Aussie.

The bombing at Madrid Airport made me sit up and take notice since Gaynor and the girls were only there the day before. Even though the bombed terminal was two kilometres away from the one the girls were transiting through it certainly made me stop and think about what it means to live and travel in such a place. While we feel closer, in some sense, to the centre of the world that also means being closer to world events, even the ugly ones. Certainly Europe has seen (and caused) more than its fair share of wars over the centuries and, in part, I put it down to the large number of sharply varying cultures crammed into a relatively small area. I am still amazed as how quickly culture and language change as you travel, even within a single nation. However, on the whole I think Europe does a pretty fair job of keeping it all in check -- tolerance, building on common ground and the like -- but incidents such as this bombing make you realise it's not all roses yet.

A story about a 40 year old learner caught doing 177km/h -- according to the police (and look he probably was!) -- also caught my attention. Despite growing up in Australia with a fair amount of government and traffic authorities' propaganda, I've never believed that speed alone is dangerous. Since driving in Germany, especially on the autobahns (I'm missing them already!), I'm even more convinced of it. In my opinion the Germans, at least, take a much more balanced and reasonable approach. There are very strict rules governing traffic here and they view their driving much more as a social responsibility than as a personal right. The cost to obtain a licence alone is enough to make one value it.

There have been many reasons why the time we have spent here has been very good for us and getting a different view of the world and life is certainly one of the top three.

I Wish I Was A Daffodil

I wish I was a daffodil
People would call me Billy.
I turn my face to the sun,
Now wouldn't that be silly.

a poem for english class

School Stuff

This school year I have started some new subjects (Latin, geography & chemistry) and my classes have changed from last year. I've not done much study because I am too busy playing Runescape online. I have Latin with my old history teacher and he's as blind as a bat and he reads a book the same way archaeologists examine old papyrus rolls. (Really really closely). he was absent for the 1st week of school for an eye operation and now he can see a lot better but he still looks like an archaeologist examining something very carefully. My other new teachers are all the same boring lecture giving people as most teachers usually are.