Accountability, Legitimacy, and Participation

These were three very important terms for looking at the political history of Latin America. In fact they still might be. In our apartment, we have a loose confederation of roommates. Property rights have been distributed as far as the six rooms go, but the problem of course is the common area where property rights have not been distributed - had I been paying attention in microeconomics I could have foreseen this tragedy of the commons with the Coase Theorem.

A series of lists were tacked up, detailing chores to be done [dishwashing, bathroom cleaning, trash removing, etcetera ] but some people don't do their chores even when their turn comes.

The list seemed to be a way to hold people accountable, but even if everyone knows that you haven't done your chores, there really is no accountability, no consequences. This became obvious when those who slacked off had their chores done by others who were fed up with the mess.

The problem could also be that the lists weren't made with enough active participation, although they demand participation in a disincentivizing chore. I will make sure that I elicit participation at our next house gathering, perhaps to decide on some legitimate consequences - I was thinking a few euros in a penalty jar.

Participation in the rule-making process seems to me to be the only way to lend some legitimacy to the conscription for dishwashing process.

Maquina del deseo

"No adoptáis el mejor sistema de estudio mas el que tenga mejor posibilidad de éxito." Lo pudiera haber dicho Bolivar antes de estudiar para sus examens comprensivos en la academia militar. En mi clase de sobre historia latinoamericana, tengo un monton de lecturas. Hoy lei por cinco horas y no pude digerir lo todo.

Panceta lo dijo mejor, "Algunos libros son para probar, otros para tragar, y unos pocos para masticar y digerir." En alguna epoca un gran profesor de la literatura caribena me habia advertido no hablar de la literatura hispanica como si fuera un menu, pero haber leido hoy 200 paginas de historia latinoamericana general desde guano peruano a Prebisch solo lo puedo compara con hacer un grande fufu de ceviche, frijoles, mate, y tequila y devorarlo Kobayashi comiendo perros calientes.

Como ingerir esta cantidad de conocimiento? Necesitamos teorias antes que podamos reconocer a dados. Y una teoria es una maquinita, una trilladora, que separa la barcia y el grano. Pero yo no tengo una teoria. Tengo un deseo - porque uno no se sienta leyendo libros por horas sin salir a tomar un buen vino ni dormir la siesta si le falta el deseo.

Asi he decidido leer con mi deseo. Leer lo que sirve interesarme, sea un dado, una anecdota, o alguna cita ridicula de un revolucionario peruano muerto hace medio siglo. Porque si no tengo a mi deseo no tengo nada.

두려움

나는 내가 너를 잊어버릴까봐 두려워해. 나는 네가 나를 잊어버릴까봐 두려워해.

나는 우리의 마음들이 통하는데 없을까봐 두려워해. 나는 마음들이 통하는데가 원래 없었을까봐 두려워해.

서로 서로 잊어버릴 수밖에 없다면 어쩌나?

Romanians 혼식 Peligro

So I have a place to live. I decided to go outside of the the SAIS housing program and take up lodging in large, six room apartment five minutes from school and right in the middle of downtown.

It's still under construction - everyday a very nice Romanian family comes in and cleans, installs pipes, puts wiring through the walls - and we're receiving a nice discount, but it will be monumental once we're finished. Actually one of my new flatmates speaks excellent Romanian and the other one speaks Italian, so between them I feel really well taken care of.

There are thousands of Romanians in this city. They were having a big party in the park the other day, some fiddling -like 'turkey in the straw' after a few espressos - and singing with some dancing that looked like something out of Zorba the Greek. Already I'm learning so much about Europe that I hadn't known before. I feel incredibly ignorant and it's a great feeling. I'm an empty vessel waiting to be filled with food, wine, architecture, music and anything else that has little to do with intermediate micro and macro economics - more on that later.

나는 이탈리아에 오기 직전까지 음식이 많이 걱정됐어. 나는 한국에 있는동안 편식 전혀 안 하고 식사할때 마다 한식을 배 터지게 먹었어. 그런데 미국에는 이탈리아 음식이란 치즈와 크림 밀가루 등 내가 별로 안 좋아하는 재료를 소홀이 합쳐서 만든 음식이야.

그렇 지만 왔더니 신선한 야체가 많고 소스가 느끼하며 여러 가지 스파이스가 조화 돼서 내 입속에 예술같은 맛을 내

원래 한국에서 키우던 술배를 빼려고 했는데 이제..... 작심삼일이려나보다 ^^;;;;;;;;;;

La cosa que de verdad me sorpende de esta ciudad es la diversidad cultural. No es que haya una convivencia feliz. Una chica de nuestra grupo recibio este consejo de un taxista,

- No vayas a esa piazza si se hace tarde..... Hay muchos negros.

lo cual me parece risible, porque ni los negros, ni los bangladeshis, ni los pakistanis, ni los pocos chinos que veo ambulando por las calles me dan miedo. Son los italianos mismos- especialmente los drogadictos que se estiran en la piazza con una caja de vino a veces gritando en un tono que no se si estan peleando o cantando- que me hacen nervioso. La verdad que menos que yo pensaba no es una ciudad peligrosa. Un amigo italiano me estaba contando de la manera en que Berlusconi exploto al miedo popular de imigrantes, terrorismo, etc. para acender al poder.

Aqui hay grafiti, hay drogas, hay chicas que no afeitan los sobacos, pero peligro - gracias a dios - hay poco.

카파 아저씨

내가 한국에서의 제일 좋아하는 커피 숖 문 닫고 있다 ㅠ ㅠ

원래 서강대 정문앞에 있었는데 충정로로 옮기게 되고 사업이 잘 안 됐어

요세 커피는 너무 유행 돼 갖고 커피 숖을 운영 하려면 경쟁이 어쩌나 치열 하던지

또 소비자들이 커피점 에 갈 때는 장인 정신과 높은 품질보다도 재미있는 마캐팅과 캔디 같은 맛을 더 찾아 오는 것 같다.

세상에 물체가 너무 많다는 반면에 우리가 정 들인 물체가 없어질때 서운하다 ~,~

DICE

Today possibly the biggest compliment I've ever received. 한국분 아니시죠? You're not Korean are you? This from the nice clerk in the indy coffee shop with lots of cats where I'm nursing my hangover. I don't want to ruin it, this moment of transendence., but what would success be without failure.

First day without someone special. I hope her flight makes it alright.

Last night I finally heard some Korean funk live. The band was called 다이스 Dice, or maybe that was the lead singer's name. Anyway, they were awesome - the same feeling I get when I listen to "California Poplock".

California ~~~ knows how to party~~~~

I met the guitarist. He was a sweet guy. He invited me out for drinks before I leave. I hope it happens. Even if it doesn't it was nice to have seen the band play.

오브라더스

오늘 재미있는 연극 봤다 '오브러더스'란 연극이다 얼마나 웃겼는지 나는 무슨 말인지 몰랐는데도 잘 봤다.

이제 피곤하다. 교회에서 풍산으로 꽃을 만들었다. 내일 우리 목사님의 취임사이래.

오늘 좋은 날이 됐다

Second First Day of the Year

Ah, first day of real school.

I'm trying a completely new approach: team-based learning.

The class is divided into 7 groups. Each group is graded by group points.

This means students are both rewarded and penalized for their peers' ability.

The point of the whole thing is to encourage stronger students to help weaker ones - there's after all an enormous difference in skill levels.

Plus this year all first year classes are single sex. I had a boys class today. There was actually something nice about having a lot of stragglers in one class -the boys are almost always the lowest achieving language students- but definitely a lot of challenges. I actually had to discipline a bit, take away group points.

The class is always structured in a learning/exploratory portion with a "numbered heads" quiz at the end: every student in all the groups has a number and I call on that number, quizzing orally. The students have to be quick or I pass them over.

This method of quizzing is short and sweet, but it's hard to be fair about how much time I'll allow students to answer during quiz time or who to call on (usually I tell myself I'll call all number threes and fives today or something like that).

I've also been trying to incorporate more TPR into my class. I saw a great video on using warm ups in class on Genki-English. Great site for elementary school. Do I dare try songs in my class too?

Mother Teresa: Getting Back in the Habit

So... day after Lunar New Year.

Yesterday I got to spend Korean Lunar New Year with a real live Korea family. It's one of the big days for ancestor worship in Korea - I detest the term since it's not really "worship" but there's no other term I know to express the uniqueness of reverence for the deceased in Asian countries.

A lavish table is set: fish, fruit, rice, rice alcohol, sweets. The ancestors are symbolically served (there were three courses I think). I also noticed some that at the beginning of one "course" the father banged the chopsticks three times on a plate. There's also a lot of low bowing. At the celebration I observed the father and son bowed alone and then with the daughter. The mother did not bow, although she did slave over the food the night before, which I think counts for something.

I'm describing it all rather banally, but really it's one of the most beautiful ways to remember one's ancestors that I've ever seen, although it is quite peculiar to me that going back three generations means you probably never met the people you are honoring.

Me hizo pensar en la tumba de familia en Lugo. Yo no hago reverencias a su memoria. Ni soy muy consciente que existieron. Pero hay valor en recordar a los antepasados. Nuestros origines "Reales," asi en el sentido de un real que existe y ha existido (existio?) y forma parte de nuestra persona mientras yace irremediablemente lejos de nuestro propio tiempo y espacio.

제가 진짜 피곤해.... =.= 이제

좋은 설날이 됐다. 한국에 대해서 좀 더 알게 됐다.

또 호박 식혜 최고다! ^^