I sent invitation e-cards to my friends for the halloween party. I am so glad most of them have already said they're gonna make it. Ham, who is in the north right now, called me today from the Caspian coast asking me about the party. I could hear the waves in the background. He said he knew a store in Isfahan that was famous for having all sorts of props. He said the store was one of a kind. Norm too liked the idea. I had a very nice chat with him a while ago. He saw my invitation cards and said he liked them. He also sent an e-card wishing us a very scary halloween. It's a flash card that says you can see who you really are in this mirror; when you click on the mirror, you get the image on top of this entry! Ha Ha! He said halloweens were pretty wild in the U.S. and gave me some very useful tips. One thing he said that really surprised me was that people in the U.S. wore costumes to work for the day!
Today, I started work in a new institute. Everything about it was wonderful. For one thing, the classes were well-equipped. The teachers have computers on their desks connected to a projector overhead. Since I had the same type of classes in Dubai, I was quite familiar with the equipment . The other great thing was that the students were very smart. They're mostly university students doing their Master's or PhD courses. They immediately learned everything I said and I didn't have to explain anything a second time. One of them was a walking dictionary! LOL! He knew words I had rarely ever heard before. Like "parsimonious" meaning stingy! Pardonez-moi monsieur? I think they enjoyed the class as much as I did. I have very nice colleagues too. They mostly come from the same educational background that I do. The only problem is the length of the classes. I'm teaching crash-courses that take only 16 session a level. In other words, we go through one whole unit of the Intechange book in a single day. The classes are four hours long with a fifteen minute break in the middle. I had two classes there plus one other class at another institute which adds up to a record of 10 hours of teaching! Sara can't believe I'm writing a blog entry after such an exhausting day!