The Great Voting Debate

Elections are coming up back in Australia, so I thought I might get a bit "political"...

  As most of my friends and family know, I am not an overly politically minded person. I like to stay up to date with what is going in both at home and overseas, but I am certainly no expert on politics. I did however recently sign up to receive full access to the Herald Sun online, which is a tabloid newspaper for those who don't know. I have taken to reading the news in the afternoon when classes are finished to keep up with what is going on, both in Australia and abroad. 

  I decided to sign up after I heard the news a few weeks ago that Julia Gillard had been replaced as Prime Minister by Kevin Rudd. I found out via Facebook, which is its own little political opinion hot-pot. In my head I was like, wtf sort of person am I to hear about this sort of news via FB? I need to be better informed ("better", so I subscribe to a tabloid? hahaha).

  Now, I can only talk about my own personal feelings and opinions, so don't anyone hate me or anything... But years ago, when Mr. Rudd was first elected, I will be honest and say that I was one of his voters. I agreed mainly with his Environmental Policy at the time, and as such he got my vote. Plus, the "Kevin 07" campaign was brilliant - he tapped into the young Australian voters and connected with them on a different level. After the election my interest died off, as it generally does, because although technically everything that happens in parliament affects me, it wasn't really. So I didn't pay attention to the "signs". The next thing I hear Julia Gillard has pulled the rug out from under the poor bastard and now we have the first woman Prime Minister and everyone is going gaga. I was pissed off, I didn't vote for her! I voted for the party though, so I spose them's the breaks. 

  I did NOT vote for her in the next election. I hate women who need to tell people they are women. OBVIOUSLY she is a girl, and I felt like she used that as a political strategy. She cannot relate to many Australian women, she works a very different job to most people and has no kids. She was lucky enough to attend a university and all of that. So how can she say she understands what the average Australian women wants? Piss off. So yeah, I was glad the Mr. Rudd came back and is now the Prime. 

BUT

  In saying all of this, it seems that neither party is answering the hard questions this time around, and neither party leader seems to be an appropriate choice for our Country. This is all based on other peoples opinions I read in the paper. I haven't even read the party policies... And I don't plan on it. I don't even live in Australia at the moment, and I have better things to do with my time than read policy matters (in the afternoons I need to blog, and play cookie-run on my smartphone). So where does this leave me? Who do I vote for? I don't even WANT to vote. 

  I read a blog this afternoon by Wendy Touhy who writes for the Herald Sun, about people "trashing" their votes by donkey voting and things like that. She says that it is an abuse of our rights and a spoilt brat thing to do... I agree on a certain level I suppose. Many women had to work damn hard for us to get the right to vote, and in some countries people aren't allowed to vote full stop. I am currently living in a country where they never take their ability and opportunity to vote for granted, and I can see how some people may feel that by casting a "donkey" vote we are throwing the opportunity in the faces of all those that have fought for this right. 

BUT

  Keep in mind it is ILLEGAL not to register to vote in Australia. If you do not vote in an election, then you get a fine. Which makes me wonder, how is this democratic if you HAVE to vote?? This to me just means that disgruntled voters will ultimately cast an invalid vote and may as well have not taken time out of their Saturday. So what are my thoughts on this? I think that our voting system is totally flawed and wastes a lot of time. If the only people who voted where the people who wanted to vote, then I really feel we would have a better elected government. Right now, Independent and fringe votes go to certain parties anyway, so we are still not even having our votes go to where we want them to go. 

  I do not fully understand the voting process in America, but it seems that they vote because the WANT to, not because they have to. I think Australia should adopt this system. This year, I don't want to vote... I am not there for the election and I have no idea how to vote by proxy (it is probably really easy, I am just lazy) and as a result of this when I get home I will have to pay a fine. If I was home, I would choose to vote, and I would be taking more of an interest. 

  I have no idea who I would vote for. Tony Abbott seems like a complete idiot, but the public doesn't seem impressed with Rudd either. So who knows what will happen on election day. I will check Facebook to find out. 

xoxoxo

Kids say the darnedest things...

Conversations and observations

  Taking into consideration language/age/experience barriers, you would think that the conversations I have with many of my students would be, well, stupid. And for the most part they kinda are... At the same time though they crack me up, whether it be what they are saying or what they are trying to say. I love how the kids often want to include me in their conversations and tell me about what they are doing. Often they just wander over and tell me their stories in Korean, knowing I might only understand a tiny portion of what they are going on about (in my head I am like "ok, I think he is talking about his mum...").

  I have a perfect example from today. 

"Teacher, this boy is fat"

  One of my grade 5 girls is reasonably high level (by comparison to all the others) and sits next to this little boy who is a little chubby. They help each other out with their work, and get along pretty well. I walked up and was standing off to the side of the boy when I saw him rubbing is tummy. I asked him if he was sick.

"No, Bonnie. Not sick. Hungry."

I giggled and told him he should have had breakfast... At this point his neighbor chimed in.

"Bonnie, he had breakfast. He had 2 breakfast... He is a pig and he is very fat." 

I told her she shouldn't call him fat, and that he is still getting taller. She shook her head sadly and looked at the boy and gave him the most pitying look I have seen a child give another.

"Bonnie, he will always be fat, even if he is tall. His face is fat, and he loves food too much. His weight is 57, and my mother is weight 45... He is much much fatter and still hungry." 

The boy is watching her, trying to piece what she is saying. She writes something on his book (the weight of him and her mum) and then he nods and starts agreeing with her. He tells me that yes, he is fat, and he loves food. He looked so sad as he was saying it... He grabbed hold of his tummy and started shaking it. He stopped, both the kids looked at each other and the boy started pissing himself laughing, all the while saying "Nooooo so fat!"

It was the funniest conversation I have had in a while. The 3 of us were giggling like crazy, trying to be quiet during class. 

HE DID IT

I have never know a bigger group of "dobbers" in my life. These kids rat on each other relentlessly, and then just get over it. 

2 boys were up the back with their books propped up. I wandered over to see and lo, they were playing with their phones. So obvious. I just told them to put them away and left it... They put their phones in their pencil cases and that was it. But they left their books up... I don't know what they were doing but it wasn't phones. The next thing you know one of the girls from the front of the room has her hand up and is telling Co that they are playing with phones. He naturally goes ballistic and kicks them out of the class and takes their phones. 

Whenever there is some giggling or screwing around in class Co will stop teaching and demand to know who the culprits are. In Australia, all the students would be dead silent. They would rather die a painful death than give their class mates away. Not so here. All fingers are pointed (literally) and names are called out until the students responsible for the disruption are standing up and shamed out of the classroom. Its totally bizarre. 

Compliments???

I know I have mentioned some compliments I have received in the past, but this week they have been cuter than usual...

"Teacher, your hair is like a doll"

"Bonnie I like your nail colours"

"You are wearing nice blouse"

"No lense? Good colour!"

In Other news...

  I am blown away by what is happening in Australia at the moment. I don't wanna get all political on everyone, but Kevin Rudd is the PM again??? What the hell happened? I know Julia wasn't popular, but Labour Party please - YOU GOT RID OF HIM LAST TIME. And all of this just happens...

  To be honest, the Kevin 07 campaign sold me. I voted for the guy - I DID NOT vote for Gillard. So I was pretty mad when they ditched Rudd as the leader of the Labour Party and the counrty. I did not vote for Labour in the next election, mainly because the party proved they could not be trusted. They strike me as a bunch of back stabbing morons that do not follow through with party promises. Anyway now it seems yet again the Labour Government are playing with Australian voters. It's stupid. Sooooo not gonna vote this time. Fine me is you want...

  Some democracy - its illegal NOT TO VOTE in Australia. Ugh.

  Tickets are purchased for my flight to Japan in August!!! I am meeting Jess and Nay (Melbourne friends) in Osaka and we are touring around from there. I am super excited waaaahajdkfofknsabdflkjocaidhnfav...

  I will be flying with Asiana Air I think (shout out to Heejin for booking my ticket) so I will do a write up on them at some point... And I am planning on taking my camera AND camcorder to get some nice memories of Japan. So I am on a super tight budget here now preparing for the trip. 

  I had to say more goodbyes this week - Big goodbye to Heather and Michelle. Heather is from the UK and Michelle from Ireland... They are great people and amazing friends. 

Heather stayed at mine before she jetted off (she is headed to Australia the lucky bitch) and I love her so much... I feel like I have known her my whole life not just a year. So I spent the morning crying about that... This is the hardest part of doing this teaching abroad thing... You leave friends from home, come here, make new friends, then they leave you! I don't want to even think about what I will be like when I leave.

I am in the process of signing a new contract to stay here at the school in Korea for another year. I love this place too much, I can't leave yet.

Anyway, extra class time! Better go educate some kids.

xoxoxox