So here it is wednesday. I slept 4 hours last night. I had a vocab quiz today right after a lesson test. I felt good about the test but the quiz didn't go so well. I will retake the quiz tomorrow with half my class.
I am glad I don't have to worry about certain complexities with Chinese. For example, to learn to roll my R-s in spanish it took 23 months. The problem I have now is that I try to say something simple in chinese like the word for Japan is Riben. I keep rolling my r. That is kind of funny. The teacher just laughed and asked if I speak spanish. Good times! Phase III on monday!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
What class is like
First of all for anyone who knows I had a quiz yesterday and our first lesson test today. My scores were as follows respectively: 72.5% and 87.5% I was up until 12:30 studing with two other people last night I had better have improved right? I even studied the night before for several hours. Can you imagine what what I would have got without studing for hours? Amazing huh? This is only the first week. 1 down only 62 to go!
I have converted to the 50-10 standard. My attention span is only 50 minutes. I can do anything for 50 minutes as long as for the next 10 I am free to stop. I can do class for 50 and bathroom/ excersice/ or talk for 10. I can wait for the bus for 50 minutes then ride it for 10. Actually I can also walk up the hill but it feels like I am hiking for 50 minutes. I have a different teacher for for each class period. They rotate between the three different groups. There are 6 people in my class. What a ratio. 1:6! Amazing huh?!? The opportunity I have is really a silver platter one. After 3 periods we go to lunch for an hour then do three more. For now we are doing an extra period at the end of the day for extra study. The only qualm I have with it is that it makes getting to P.T. (physical training) at the Hilltop Field very difficult. I have a stack of books that literaly are like a foot and a half tall and that is only for the first term. There are three terms. And half this material is taken up with english. This is also the smallest stack I will get. I have a lot of chinese to cram into my head! I am so excited! I was also issued an ipod. I will hopefully get my tablet PC within a month. Hard to say at this point. There are in the process of ordering some new ones so I will have to wait for them to get in!
Today after the test we started with chinese grammer. Up til' now it has just been tones and sounds. Although we have learned about what you get out of a high school term in this week we really ought to take off from here. It is very fast paced and I am certainly not the quickest pony on the track. I will require a lot of study time and hard work. It makes it worth it though right? I will have that extra bit of bitterness for those who will get an easy ride stored up for when I have to fight the "bad'ns" like good ol' James Bond!
I have converted to the 50-10 standard. My attention span is only 50 minutes. I can do anything for 50 minutes as long as for the next 10 I am free to stop. I can do class for 50 and bathroom/ excersice/ or talk for 10. I can wait for the bus for 50 minutes then ride it for 10. Actually I can also walk up the hill but it feels like I am hiking for 50 minutes. I have a different teacher for for each class period. They rotate between the three different groups. There are 6 people in my class. What a ratio. 1:6! Amazing huh?!? The opportunity I have is really a silver platter one. After 3 periods we go to lunch for an hour then do three more. For now we are doing an extra period at the end of the day for extra study. The only qualm I have with it is that it makes getting to P.T. (physical training) at the Hilltop Field very difficult. I have a stack of books that literaly are like a foot and a half tall and that is only for the first term. There are three terms. And half this material is taken up with english. This is also the smallest stack I will get. I have a lot of chinese to cram into my head! I am so excited! I was also issued an ipod. I will hopefully get my tablet PC within a month. Hard to say at this point. There are in the process of ordering some new ones so I will have to wait for them to get in!
Today after the test we started with chinese grammer. Up til' now it has just been tones and sounds. Although we have learned about what you get out of a high school term in this week we really ought to take off from here. It is very fast paced and I am certainly not the quickest pony on the track. I will require a lot of study time and hard work. It makes it worth it though right? I will have that extra bit of bitterness for those who will get an easy ride stored up for when I have to fight the "bad'ns" like good ol' James Bond!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Mangos and fuzzy lint
In the military, according to my point of view, there are an abundance of competative individuals. One of that lot happens to be my squad leader who is in charge of about 10 rooms. He claims that our sqad is better than another squad. In fact, better than all other squads in the squadron (squad is just the name for about 10 rooms there are 7 squads on our floor and there are two buildings of three floors in our squadron) There is a competition between our squad III and squad IV. The competition is simple. When we have our nightly room inspections the floor chief will accompany the respective squad leader into a randomly selected room and the least amount of demerits wins.
My room was chosen. And why not? My bed is easily the neatest, tightest, and most wrinkle free bed in the building without a doubt. I have no stinky room mate (anymore) to pile junk around and dirty things up. I maintain a very clean room (no laughing from any family members, I speak the truth. I suppose I will need a picture for this one. It will come.) I only have out a couple of very nicely framed items on my shelf and dresser. I really am a freak about the dust. I take pride in finding possible hiding places for dust and ridding the foul invaders from within my realm.
My kingdom was invaded, pre-inspection, and my squad leader said get rid of everything that is out and put it in your wall locker. So I quickly started taking stuff and putting it in my wall locker. I did not have time to locate the fuzzy little lint located beneath my desk organizer (you know the plastic thing with groves to separate pencils and sticky notes and paper clips etc) They found a demerit! Bummer! That just goes to show you don't mess with a man's way of doing things or it never would have been located. It would have been perfect! It didn't matter though, the other blokes had 5 demerits!
I took my first quiz in Chinese today. I will get the score tomorrow. Let's hope for the best right?
I also purchased an air freshener. Guess what scent it is. It is Mango! The same scent I use in my Durango. My room smells delicious!
My room was chosen. And why not? My bed is easily the neatest, tightest, and most wrinkle free bed in the building without a doubt. I have no stinky room mate (anymore) to pile junk around and dirty things up. I maintain a very clean room (no laughing from any family members, I speak the truth. I suppose I will need a picture for this one. It will come.) I only have out a couple of very nicely framed items on my shelf and dresser. I really am a freak about the dust. I take pride in finding possible hiding places for dust and ridding the foul invaders from within my realm.
My kingdom was invaded, pre-inspection, and my squad leader said get rid of everything that is out and put it in your wall locker. So I quickly started taking stuff and putting it in my wall locker. I did not have time to locate the fuzzy little lint located beneath my desk organizer (you know the plastic thing with groves to separate pencils and sticky notes and paper clips etc) They found a demerit! Bummer! That just goes to show you don't mess with a man's way of doing things or it never would have been located. It would have been perfect! It didn't matter though, the other blokes had 5 demerits!
I took my first quiz in Chinese today. I will get the score tomorrow. Let's hope for the best right?
I also purchased an air freshener. Guess what scent it is. It is Mango! The same scent I use in my Durango. My room smells delicious!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Main Event
Church here on post is just a group of people who gather at 2 o'clock on sunday afternoon in the chapel. There is a couple assigned by the stake to come here and make sure everything is done right and provide infor etc for anyone who needs it. Last sunday I was asked to prepare a 15 minutes talk for sacrament meeting this week (July 19th)
Sunday rolls around and there are twelve people total there. After the opening hymn, prayer, and the sacrament I get up to speak. I prepared a talk based from the message Elder Scott gave in the Oct 07 general conference, as per my assignment, on Finding Truth and Making Wise Decisions. It went pretty well and as planned went about 15 minutes or so. Then I sat down. That is all normal right? You may ask why am I going into such detail about sacrament meeting right? Well the thing is, the brother who conducts, then stands up (which is normal and expected) and instead of beginning a talk he says "the closing hymn will be number. . . " That was it. I was the sacrament meeting talk portion-condensed! Don't worry we didn't have a 20 minutes long church. The church is true everywhere, the meeting started 20 minutes late. This week we also had a sunday school portion (because his wife came this week) and after sunday school she gave us brownies. I love the gospel!
In other news, I am getting into the language stuff now. I have forgotten what it was like to not understand a language. I am studying a language and am totally basmupheled by even the most simple of things. I don't know how to say even yes or no which doesn't matter yet since I can't understand the question the teacher is asking me. I hope my previous experience will help me to maintain my patience and push even harder for fluency while I am surrounded by native speakers.
This paragraph will contain my complaints. The beautiful Monterey Bay is exactly that. That means the land rises quickly up and away from the water. I learned in science class that is why there is a difference between water and land. This land the base is on rises and is hilly. My class is down low. After class we have to do P.T. (physical training) I have to very briskly walk (running would be impossible for all but the best athletes, keep in mind hiking is a better term since the journey is through the trees and up dirt paths) up the long hill. The field is called "Hilltop." Not because it is low. If I walk straight there, which is at a faster pace than most, It takes 24 minutes from class to Hilltop Field. My shins were killing me this afternoon! That was my complaint. There is a bus but it is not a thing you can count on when time is as against you as gravity is.
I still love it here! I even picked up a picture frame to add a little decoration to my still room-mate-less room!
Sunday rolls around and there are twelve people total there. After the opening hymn, prayer, and the sacrament I get up to speak. I prepared a talk based from the message Elder Scott gave in the Oct 07 general conference, as per my assignment, on Finding Truth and Making Wise Decisions. It went pretty well and as planned went about 15 minutes or so. Then I sat down. That is all normal right? You may ask why am I going into such detail about sacrament meeting right? Well the thing is, the brother who conducts, then stands up (which is normal and expected) and instead of beginning a talk he says "the closing hymn will be number. . . " That was it. I was the sacrament meeting talk portion-condensed! Don't worry we didn't have a 20 minutes long church. The church is true everywhere, the meeting started 20 minutes late. This week we also had a sunday school portion (because his wife came this week) and after sunday school she gave us brownies. I love the gospel!
In other news, I am getting into the language stuff now. I have forgotten what it was like to not understand a language. I am studying a language and am totally basmupheled by even the most simple of things. I don't know how to say even yes or no which doesn't matter yet since I can't understand the question the teacher is asking me. I hope my previous experience will help me to maintain my patience and push even harder for fluency while I am surrounded by native speakers.
This paragraph will contain my complaints. The beautiful Monterey Bay is exactly that. That means the land rises quickly up and away from the water. I learned in science class that is why there is a difference between water and land. This land the base is on rises and is hilly. My class is down low. After class we have to do P.T. (physical training) I have to very briskly walk (running would be impossible for all but the best athletes, keep in mind hiking is a better term since the journey is through the trees and up dirt paths) up the long hill. The field is called "Hilltop." Not because it is low. If I walk straight there, which is at a faster pace than most, It takes 24 minutes from class to Hilltop Field. My shins were killing me this afternoon! That was my complaint. There is a bus but it is not a thing you can count on when time is as against you as gravity is.
I still love it here! I even picked up a picture frame to add a little decoration to my still room-mate-less room!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I know that the world needs to know the following for it is a breakthrough of titanic proportions:I have hit the West Coast baby! So, little ol' me, the youngest of the boys, and the tallest of the children; James, Jimmy, Angry Jim Bob, the great Jimbo has gone forth to live in California!
So I thought it would be fun to start this blog nearly the same as the last one. I don't have my computer yet so there will be no pictures until I can get mine sent from home.
I have gone to the Air Force Basic Military Training. It was in San Antonio Texas. I lived there for 7 weeks. I arrived in San Antonio and spoke briefly with a few people ( I think Syrissa had the most air time actually ) then went to the USO (the military is a world of acronyms and I'm not sure what that stands for) and sat in nice big leather lazy boys and watched TV and took a nap all day until about 5. That was the last time I slept in a lazy boy until this morning. In fact, that was the last time I was comfortable for a long while.
I left Utah at about 40 degrees. I arrived in Texas at about 95 degrees and 70 something humidity. I got off the plane and was hit it the face by the thick muggy air. I began to sweat until I got back on a plane almost two months later. About 5 o'clock a Basic Military Training Instructor (BMTI or TI) came and hauled us all out to sit on hard wooden benches engeneered for the absence of comfort and the maximum ability for someone to lose the feeling in their legs when sitting with backs straight, head and eyes straight foward, knees bent at 90 degrees, heels touching making 45 degree angle, and hands on your lap with fingers touching and extended with your thumb along your forefinger. We were given a short briefing about tucking in shirts and no jewlry then sent to a bus. When we got on base at Lackland Air Force Base I fully expected a TI to get on the bus and start yelling. We actually were herded off and into an auditorium. A few people started telling what to do and where to sit while our medical records were gathered and sorted. (I didn't realize at the time that they were not TI's but holdover airmen waiting to go to tech school)
We were all marched upstairs to get our feet scanned and a lunch sack. We were given a BMTStudyGuide book, pens, highlighter, handsanitizer etc that we would then carry until graduation. Briefed on some rules. Marched up to our rooms by a TI on our instructor team (not my actual TI but one that would show up from time to time to inflict pain) we marched up to our dorm and found beds and lockers all neatly aligned and organized. We were told to shower and shave and get into bed. By shower and shave I mean literally two minutes to get our stuff and into the Latrine (bathroom or restroom for most folks but since there was neither a bath nor time to rest it is not called by those names) to be done shaving. I was fast on my mission but two minutes is almost so fast you could slit your throat but it is so fast you cannot even dwell on the thought until later. We showered. We = 51 new trainees who still smell like civilians. Stripped down and filed through a square room with 8 shower heads in it. Four on one wall and 4 more on the opposite wall. The whole time with someone yelling faster, faster, faster. The best part was we had to count to shower. 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! Do the math. Five seconds times 8 shower heads= that's right 40 whopping seconds to shower. Try it sometime. Now remember, in those 40 seconds you need to scrub off all of the sweat from 24 hours-yes you even sweat at night.)
Our days were usually started at 0445 (if there wasn't an excuse to begin before that-and trust me our TI was very imaginative) We would go to Physical Readiness Training (PRT or PT) it would consist of running, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and many other things just so we would wake-up. Shower, then go to the dining facility (or eat then shower depending on the day. We actually would shower in the morning and the night)
The Dining facility was were you form up into 4 colums (or elements) of however many people it takes to fit everyone in. You stand at attention outside the Chow Hall and are then called in (that later became my job. I called in the elements when there was enough space for another one to enter.) to eat. You sign in on a roster. You sidestep with your hands on your tray, tray touching the tray of the people next to you, head and eyes straight foward back straight, without bending your knees and get the food put on your tray. You then are directed to a table to "Seat, Eat and Get Out." You now have about 4 minutes (to maybe 6 in later weeks or 7 if you TI gets distracted) to shovel, cram, stuff, or by any means possible funnel the food into your gullet and get the crap out of the chow hall. The bad part is that there are usually 3 or more TI's on the prowl yelling at people. I only almost choked once. And one time I had the chair I was sitting in pulled out from underneath me and thrown across the room. I had to get the chair and get out. I look back now at laugh at that, but at the time it was not very funny.
We had several stages of in-processing. Shots, uniforms, dress uniforms, PT evaluations etc. We had classes on military history to first aid and defense classes to offense.
The people were as diverse as the son of a president of a country who owns 3 construction companies and a computer networking company who wants to be a part of the greatest air power in the world to a drug dealer who saw his life circling the drain and needed a way out.
I have graduated from basic training!
I moved to Monterey California. I am on an Army Post. There are more Airmen than Soldiers, Marines, or Sailers. It is beautiful and nice and cool. There is mist sometimes in the mornings. There are deer that are very accustomed to people that just wonder around. I will slowly gain freedoms as time goes along. I was given an in-brief about our class today and tomorrow will begin english review and then a week from tomorrow begin the Chinese course. I was issued a 30G video ipod to help me learn chinese I am sure I will learn more about that in the coming week. I will also recieve a tablet computer in a month or so. I have plenty of time to eat now. I love it. I am still addicted to ice cream. I also am growing very fond of cheese cake =D.
This is my brief overview of basic and my current status. More to come so stay tuned!!!
So I thought it would be fun to start this blog nearly the same as the last one. I don't have my computer yet so there will be no pictures until I can get mine sent from home.
I have gone to the Air Force Basic Military Training. It was in San Antonio Texas. I lived there for 7 weeks. I arrived in San Antonio and spoke briefly with a few people ( I think Syrissa had the most air time actually ) then went to the USO (the military is a world of acronyms and I'm not sure what that stands for) and sat in nice big leather lazy boys and watched TV and took a nap all day until about 5. That was the last time I slept in a lazy boy until this morning. In fact, that was the last time I was comfortable for a long while.
I left Utah at about 40 degrees. I arrived in Texas at about 95 degrees and 70 something humidity. I got off the plane and was hit it the face by the thick muggy air. I began to sweat until I got back on a plane almost two months later. About 5 o'clock a Basic Military Training Instructor (BMTI or TI) came and hauled us all out to sit on hard wooden benches engeneered for the absence of comfort and the maximum ability for someone to lose the feeling in their legs when sitting with backs straight, head and eyes straight foward, knees bent at 90 degrees, heels touching making 45 degree angle, and hands on your lap with fingers touching and extended with your thumb along your forefinger. We were given a short briefing about tucking in shirts and no jewlry then sent to a bus. When we got on base at Lackland Air Force Base I fully expected a TI to get on the bus and start yelling. We actually were herded off and into an auditorium. A few people started telling what to do and where to sit while our medical records were gathered and sorted. (I didn't realize at the time that they were not TI's but holdover airmen waiting to go to tech school)
We were all marched upstairs to get our feet scanned and a lunch sack. We were given a BMTStudyGuide book, pens, highlighter, handsanitizer etc that we would then carry until graduation. Briefed on some rules. Marched up to our rooms by a TI on our instructor team (not my actual TI but one that would show up from time to time to inflict pain) we marched up to our dorm and found beds and lockers all neatly aligned and organized. We were told to shower and shave and get into bed. By shower and shave I mean literally two minutes to get our stuff and into the Latrine (bathroom or restroom for most folks but since there was neither a bath nor time to rest it is not called by those names) to be done shaving. I was fast on my mission but two minutes is almost so fast you could slit your throat but it is so fast you cannot even dwell on the thought until later. We showered. We = 51 new trainees who still smell like civilians. Stripped down and filed through a square room with 8 shower heads in it. Four on one wall and 4 more on the opposite wall. The whole time with someone yelling faster, faster, faster. The best part was we had to count to shower. 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! Do the math. Five seconds times 8 shower heads= that's right 40 whopping seconds to shower. Try it sometime. Now remember, in those 40 seconds you need to scrub off all of the sweat from 24 hours-yes you even sweat at night.)
Our days were usually started at 0445 (if there wasn't an excuse to begin before that-and trust me our TI was very imaginative) We would go to Physical Readiness Training (PRT or PT) it would consist of running, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and many other things just so we would wake-up. Shower, then go to the dining facility (or eat then shower depending on the day. We actually would shower in the morning and the night)
The Dining facility was were you form up into 4 colums (or elements) of however many people it takes to fit everyone in. You stand at attention outside the Chow Hall and are then called in (that later became my job. I called in the elements when there was enough space for another one to enter.) to eat. You sign in on a roster. You sidestep with your hands on your tray, tray touching the tray of the people next to you, head and eyes straight foward back straight, without bending your knees and get the food put on your tray. You then are directed to a table to "Seat, Eat and Get Out." You now have about 4 minutes (to maybe 6 in later weeks or 7 if you TI gets distracted) to shovel, cram, stuff, or by any means possible funnel the food into your gullet and get the crap out of the chow hall. The bad part is that there are usually 3 or more TI's on the prowl yelling at people. I only almost choked once. And one time I had the chair I was sitting in pulled out from underneath me and thrown across the room. I had to get the chair and get out. I look back now at laugh at that, but at the time it was not very funny.
We had several stages of in-processing. Shots, uniforms, dress uniforms, PT evaluations etc. We had classes on military history to first aid and defense classes to offense.
The people were as diverse as the son of a president of a country who owns 3 construction companies and a computer networking company who wants to be a part of the greatest air power in the world to a drug dealer who saw his life circling the drain and needed a way out.
I have graduated from basic training!
I moved to Monterey California. I am on an Army Post. There are more Airmen than Soldiers, Marines, or Sailers. It is beautiful and nice and cool. There is mist sometimes in the mornings. There are deer that are very accustomed to people that just wonder around. I will slowly gain freedoms as time goes along. I was given an in-brief about our class today and tomorrow will begin english review and then a week from tomorrow begin the Chinese course. I was issued a 30G video ipod to help me learn chinese I am sure I will learn more about that in the coming week. I will also recieve a tablet computer in a month or so. I have plenty of time to eat now. I love it. I am still addicted to ice cream. I also am growing very fond of cheese cake =D.
This is my brief overview of basic and my current status. More to come so stay tuned!!!
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