No one seems to blog anymore. Not only that, it doesn't seem that anyone reads blogs anymore. I suppose being busy takes its toll on everyone. OR...maybe my blogs are just plain boring. My original purpose to setting up a blog many many years ago was to have a place to rant and rave and let people know what sort of mischief I was getting myself into.
Thus, sticking to my original purpose, I have some MAJOR rants from the past week. Firstly, I've already mentioned about my OSAP loans and how they took THREE years to figure out that I had a bad year, and didn't bother to see that my grades have significantly improved in the years since then. So, my OSAP loans have been delayed. Thankfully, I picked them up today and rest assured that money will be in my account asap. However, whaddya know that I'm being charged a bit less than $10/month in INTEREST because I haven't paid my winter tuition yet. Call it a deferral charge. So I'm getting charged MORE because I couldn't afford to pay off my entire tuition any earlier. How d'ya like THEM beans?! So once I get my money, I've gotta settle my account at Carleton to avoid paying any more money than I already am! This will pretty much wipe me out-again. Today I went to the ATM to get $20 and what does the machine tell me? That I only have $14 and I can't take out the requested $20. WOW. I've never been THIS broke before - how pathetic. Mind you, I'm not actually THAT broke; I forgot that today was the 1st, and all my money got transferred to my various other accounts (y'know, like my offshore banking). So when I got home, I remembered that I still have an outstanding claim from my wisdom teeth extraction, so I called up the insuranace company to say gimme my monies. Turns out THEY have the wrong date of service. They think I got 'em out in August, but the plan expired August 1. But I got 'em out in July! SO...I had to call the dental office and get them to send me an invoice which I then have to send to the stupid insurance company and goodness knows WHEN I'm gonna get my monies back, but SOMEONE BETTER PAY ME!! At over $200/tooth, I'm really out a LOT of money if I don't get that claim back.
So that was my financial rant. I also have a racial rant. There's this lady in my class who seems to have NO clue whatsoever as to the ways of ANY other culture. This lady is SO in her own box and the box is rather tiny. Anyway, the other day, we were being told of some Chinese teachers that were on an exchange here at Carleton. The first cultural encounter the organizers came across was that the teachers wanted hot water to drink. Can't have just hot tap water, but must have hot, boiled, water. This lady kept asking why they wanted the hot water, and was it for tea? No, they just like to drink hot water! She pointed out that you could get hot water out of the tap. NO, we just SAID, it can't be tap water! She didn't see why it couldn't be from the tap, and again, she asked if it was to boil tea. At this point, I was about to explode and yell that not ALL Chinese people drink nothing but tea. I, for one, sometimes enjoy drinking hot water. JUST BECAUSE!! I was already sick that day, and she was giving me the most agonizing headache. My friends noted that I looked like I was ready to blow, and derived much amusement from my angered and incensed state. It just befuddles me as to how...ridiculously...SILLY some people can be!! Like, it really didn't MATTER WHAT the water was for, just accept the fact that it was a cultural thing, and the point of the story was that something seemingly simple can be a stumbling point for organizers of such events. And once again, NO the hot water is NOT for tea!! Anyway, this wasn't the first instance of cluelessness displayed by this lady, so I'm a little afraid of her one day becoming an ESL teacher. You have to be inherently culturally sensitive and culturally aware when being an ESL teacher - it's almost an unwritten job requirement. Now, I'm not saying that I'm the be-all-and-end-all, I'm just saying that it's a little scary how some people interact with others. Moral of the story: I came out of that class fuming and frustrated at that lady because NOT ALL CHINESE PPL DRINK NOTHING BUT TEA! I do NOT have green tea with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I do not eat egg rolls as a staple, and I do not bake my own fortune cookies for dessert! RARGH!!
Thus, sticking to my original purpose, I have some MAJOR rants from the past week. Firstly, I've already mentioned about my OSAP loans and how they took THREE years to figure out that I had a bad year, and didn't bother to see that my grades have significantly improved in the years since then. So, my OSAP loans have been delayed. Thankfully, I picked them up today and rest assured that money will be in my account asap. However, whaddya know that I'm being charged a bit less than $10/month in INTEREST because I haven't paid my winter tuition yet. Call it a deferral charge. So I'm getting charged MORE because I couldn't afford to pay off my entire tuition any earlier. How d'ya like THEM beans?! So once I get my money, I've gotta settle my account at Carleton to avoid paying any more money than I already am! This will pretty much wipe me out-again. Today I went to the ATM to get $20 and what does the machine tell me? That I only have $14 and I can't take out the requested $20. WOW. I've never been THIS broke before - how pathetic. Mind you, I'm not actually THAT broke; I forgot that today was the 1st, and all my money got transferred to my various other accounts (y'know, like my offshore banking). So when I got home, I remembered that I still have an outstanding claim from my wisdom teeth extraction, so I called up the insuranace company to say gimme my monies. Turns out THEY have the wrong date of service. They think I got 'em out in August, but the plan expired August 1. But I got 'em out in July! SO...I had to call the dental office and get them to send me an invoice which I then have to send to the stupid insurance company and goodness knows WHEN I'm gonna get my monies back, but SOMEONE BETTER PAY ME!! At over $200/tooth, I'm really out a LOT of money if I don't get that claim back.
So that was my financial rant. I also have a racial rant. There's this lady in my class who seems to have NO clue whatsoever as to the ways of ANY other culture. This lady is SO in her own box and the box is rather tiny. Anyway, the other day, we were being told of some Chinese teachers that were on an exchange here at Carleton. The first cultural encounter the organizers came across was that the teachers wanted hot water to drink. Can't have just hot tap water, but must have hot, boiled, water. This lady kept asking why they wanted the hot water, and was it for tea? No, they just like to drink hot water! She pointed out that you could get hot water out of the tap. NO, we just SAID, it can't be tap water! She didn't see why it couldn't be from the tap, and again, she asked if it was to boil tea. At this point, I was about to explode and yell that not ALL Chinese people drink nothing but tea. I, for one, sometimes enjoy drinking hot water. JUST BECAUSE!! I was already sick that day, and she was giving me the most agonizing headache. My friends noted that I looked like I was ready to blow, and derived much amusement from my angered and incensed state. It just befuddles me as to how...ridiculously...SILLY some people can be!! Like, it really didn't MATTER WHAT the water was for, just accept the fact that it was a cultural thing, and the point of the story was that something seemingly simple can be a stumbling point for organizers of such events. And once again, NO the hot water is NOT for tea!! Anyway, this wasn't the first instance of cluelessness displayed by this lady, so I'm a little afraid of her one day becoming an ESL teacher. You have to be inherently culturally sensitive and culturally aware when being an ESL teacher - it's almost an unwritten job requirement. Now, I'm not saying that I'm the be-all-and-end-all, I'm just saying that it's a little scary how some people interact with others. Moral of the story: I came out of that class fuming and frustrated at that lady because NOT ALL CHINESE PPL DRINK NOTHING BUT TEA! I do NOT have green tea with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I do not eat egg rolls as a staple, and I do not bake my own fortune cookies for dessert! RARGH!!
