I'm back!
Just so you know, my vacation was better than yours. Why? Because I was 10 feet from Fukuyama Masaharu and unless you're V1, you weren't.
I had the greatest vacation of my life, said with no hyperbole whatsoever. I plan to write up me lengthy concert reports, but in the meantime, I just thought I'd share something with karadin and other lovers of Gackt and Gundam.
Hello, I'm a Gundam.
Hello, I'm Gackt
And this is my Gundam
Yes, we're both prettier than you.
Have a nice day.
In other news, I spent most of the day sharing Masha stories with the secretaries who all know I accidentally made my Kohaku debut... M-sensei spread that gossip before I could even get back to school. T-sensei asked if she could touch my arm to be closer to Fukuyama-san. Yeah, he's that cool. And I possibly radiate just a fraction of his awesome aura.
The rest of my day was spent going through a horribly stereotyped quiz book. The book is called "Personality Quizzes" and is a teacher aide published by scholastic UK and written by someone with a very low opinion of Americans. It's designed in an ESL aide with cutesy quizzes like "What kind of insect are you?" and "What job suits you?" but with focus sections on grammar points. Then there's a section on "National Characteristics"...
This is from the quiz entitled "American or British? Your answers to the following questions will place you on one side or the other of a cultural gap wider than the Atlantic Ocean."
The first seven are pretty mundane and not too offensive although the wording is a bit dodgy. Then we get to number 8:
8. If your pet dog ate your pet cat's food as well as his own, would you:
a. think your dog was either hungry, or greedy? (don't know why the comma is there...)
b. take him to a dog analyst to find out if he had a split personality?
... okay. I don't know anyone of any nationality who visits a "dog analyst." I certainly don't considerate a national characteristic.
9. When you get older (about twenty-two years old) if you notice that you have a tiny line on your face when you smile, will you:
a. have a full facelift?
b. ignore it.
...wtf? A full facelift at 22 is a national characteristic of Americans? Who wrote this? Viv Lambert, what is wrong with you?
10. If you heard someone insult your country, what would you say?
a. "How dare you. Insult my country and you insult me!", then sing the national anthem?
b. Agree.
... all this punctuation is also intact. I know quizzes generally hyperbolize, but this is ridiculous.
11. You receive a two-hundred-year-old deak for a present. Do you:
a. polish it every day and redecorate your room to go with it?
b. think, "Didn't they have any new ones?" and put it in the garage.
... right
12. You're having problems with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Do you:
a. appear on a few talk shows and visit a few psychoanalysts until you find a solution to the problem?
b. sort it out on your own?
... I got it. This was written by a British person who never goes outside watches nothing but American reality tv shows that depict all Americans as rich, self-obsessed idiots and all Brits as super-polite, emotionless wussies. It all makes sense now! Someone find Viv Lambert and break her out of her bomb shelter!
I spent my day of non-work drafting an email to Scholastic about this quiz (and several others about Brits and Australians). I normally don't do that. I don't complain a lot about these things because I rarely feel it does any good. Everyone's a little bit racist as the song goes. However, to put this in an ESL book designed to be used with children struggling to adapt with British and American culture... that's just irresponsible. As someone who spends every day trying to convince her students that she is not a walking stereotype, I felt the need to speak up.
That's all for the soap box. Till next time, Masha be with you.
I had the greatest vacation of my life, said with no hyperbole whatsoever. I plan to write up me lengthy concert reports, but in the meantime, I just thought I'd share something with karadin and other lovers of Gackt and Gundam.
Hello, I'm a Gundam.
Hello, I'm Gackt
And this is my Gundam
Yes, we're both prettier than you.
Have a nice day.
In other news, I spent most of the day sharing Masha stories with the secretaries who all know I accidentally made my Kohaku debut... M-sensei spread that gossip before I could even get back to school. T-sensei asked if she could touch my arm to be closer to Fukuyama-san. Yeah, he's that cool. And I possibly radiate just a fraction of his awesome aura.
The rest of my day was spent going through a horribly stereotyped quiz book. The book is called "Personality Quizzes" and is a teacher aide published by scholastic UK and written by someone with a very low opinion of Americans. It's designed in an ESL aide with cutesy quizzes like "What kind of insect are you?" and "What job suits you?" but with focus sections on grammar points. Then there's a section on "National Characteristics"...
This is from the quiz entitled "American or British? Your answers to the following questions will place you on one side or the other of a cultural gap wider than the Atlantic Ocean."
The first seven are pretty mundane and not too offensive although the wording is a bit dodgy. Then we get to number 8:
8. If your pet dog ate your pet cat's food as well as his own, would you:
a. think your dog was either hungry, or greedy? (don't know why the comma is there...)
b. take him to a dog analyst to find out if he had a split personality?
... okay. I don't know anyone of any nationality who visits a "dog analyst." I certainly don't considerate a national characteristic.
9. When you get older (about twenty-two years old) if you notice that you have a tiny line on your face when you smile, will you:
a. have a full facelift?
b. ignore it.
...wtf? A full facelift at 22 is a national characteristic of Americans? Who wrote this? Viv Lambert, what is wrong with you?
10. If you heard someone insult your country, what would you say?
a. "How dare you. Insult my country and you insult me!", then sing the national anthem?
b. Agree.
... all this punctuation is also intact. I know quizzes generally hyperbolize, but this is ridiculous.
11. You receive a two-hundred-year-old deak for a present. Do you:
a. polish it every day and redecorate your room to go with it?
b. think, "Didn't they have any new ones?" and put it in the garage.
... right
12. You're having problems with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Do you:
a. appear on a few talk shows and visit a few psychoanalysts until you find a solution to the problem?
b. sort it out on your own?
... I got it. This was written by a British person who never goes outside watches nothing but American reality tv shows that depict all Americans as rich, self-obsessed idiots and all Brits as super-polite, emotionless wussies. It all makes sense now! Someone find Viv Lambert and break her out of her bomb shelter!
I spent my day of non-work drafting an email to Scholastic about this quiz (and several others about Brits and Australians). I normally don't do that. I don't complain a lot about these things because I rarely feel it does any good. Everyone's a little bit racist as the song goes. However, to put this in an ESL book designed to be used with children struggling to adapt with British and American culture... that's just irresponsible. As someone who spends every day trying to convince her students that she is not a walking stereotype, I felt the need to speak up.
That's all for the soap box. Till next time, Masha be with you.