I just got rid of Norm by placing him in a category to which my blog would not be accessible. Good riddance! Even though he's a very nice guy, it was pretty stressful being in touch with him, cause he is so active on the net and you can't possibly keep up with him. Besides, Sara and my friends have no reason to question my heterosexuality now! :D
Big Ham's thanks-karaoke-giving party was such a big night. I got to get together with my friends and catch up with some of my old classmates. We had a crazy dance and a fascinating singing competition. For some reason, people thought my singing was good; and I won first prize! :D This would be my first Hammy Grammy!

I've been so busy lately that I can hardly get the time to go online and catch up with my friends. I've been meaning to read Norm's blog entries, but still haven't got a chance. I'm sorry Norm! I'll make it up to you! The problem is, my classes are way too many right now and on top of that, I have the halloween party to worry about. It's crazy and I love it!
Last night, just before I went to bed, I took a look at Hamed's entry about Google Trends and the shocking results he'd got about the city of Qom. I did a search for "Chris de Burgh" just now and got a big surprise. Why? Check out the picture above!

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!

It's been a while I've been thinking of getting an ADSL connection. Yesterday, I went to the local telecommunications center and inquired about it. I learned that a 128kbps connection would cost me just below 30,000 toomans per month. I thought I might wanna put it off for later. Interstingly enough, last night, I came across a blog entry on Ham's page which was entitled: "A Simple Trick to Boost Your Dial-up Speed by 100%!". I followed the instructions and got a much faster connection. I wonder how it works! :D Thanks Ham!
Yesterday, I left home earlier than usual to buy a new IELTS sample tests book for my student, Sasan. I thought it would be a good chance to take pictures for my friend, Norm and so, I took the camera with me. I didn't have the time to get off the car, take a shot and get back in; so, I took most of the pictures while driving! I must've scared the hell out of those pedestrians! :D Norm was so grateful about the pictures and has put one of them on his today's blog entry. He says he thinks Tehran looks very much like many of the big cities scattered throughout the United States. Norm is so lucky to live in a quiet neighbourhood rather than Tehran or Washington!

Last night, I was cyber-chatting my ameican e-pal, Norm, about the songs we liked and I thought he might like to hear an Iranian song. So I started looking through the folders on my computer hoping to find a good song. But because I almost never listen to Iranian songs, I saw that I only had a few crappy ones including a Kamran & Hooman album. I recluctantly sent "dooset daram, kheili ziad" over to Norm and told him what the words meant. After he listened to the song, he wondered: Are they practicing different ways of saying "I love you"?!
:D

Today, I got the shock of my life when I saw my private student's old pictures on his laptop. He's a really cool boy called Hamed and he's undeniably in good shape. He had told me before that he had put on a lot of weight; but I had no idea what he'd meant by "a lot" until I saw the pictures he'd taken five years ago. I could not believe it was the same person. The difference was amazing! When I asked him how he'd managed to gain so much weight, I was shocked even more. He said he used to fill up the fridge every afternoon and then empty it the very next day!
:o