Words

Mos Def - Words - The Ecstatic - in stores Spring 2009

Sports at APIS

Girls Varsity Volleyball: Lost a heartbreaking semi-final in the third set.

Disappointing results in U13 boys futsal. Sometimes it's not your day.

3rd place in U13 girls basketball. If you could have followed this team from the 45-3 loss in their first game, to the 9-6 OT victory (yes, that was the score) in the consolation finals, after being a couple of missed free throws from the finals. A HUGE accomplishment.

Varsity futsal. Note: Varsity means under 20. Most of these girls are from the U13 team.

Finalists.

The Cinderella story unfortunately ended at midnight.

It's soccer season now... stay tuned.

Phang Nga

The crew.

Eunseo.

This pic made the cut because I realized on this trip how cool of a human being she is. She joined my class later in the year.

On the trip, I asked her to bring me a little container of homemade kimchi. The next week she brought 5 large trays of various Korean foods... and a huge container of kimchi.

Sheer joy.

Life is about having these kinds of moments regularly.

Droppin some knowledge on Ken and Donghyeuk. These two gems told me I was "The best teacher ever." I was told that by my students last year in Toronto... but this was the first time a student verbalized it here. They say the kids will take some things you say with them for a lifetime. It works both ways.

The grade 7 crew, minus my BOY Hide and his twin (but completely opposite) Masahiko. Unfortunately they couldn't afford the trip. They were missed dearly.


YES! X 3

And the point of the excursion? Aside from a free vacay? Sea Kayaking.

Mangrove trees.

Beach and cave action.

Had to be there to really appreciate the scene here.

After a 7km paddle

Appreciation.

Fishing. Hardcore.

All good things...



Gotta credit Miss Paula for this pictoral masterpiece.

More Philippines

T-Dot stand up!

K-Os - 4,3,2,1

K-os - Yes (?)
K'naan - Troubadour (Feb 24th)
Drake - So Far Gone (already released mixtape which is more like an album)

Is it me, or does Toronto have three of the most original and anticipated artists out there in hip hop land? And none of them can be boxed in as straight "hip hop". Drake had over 76,000 downloads of his mixtape in the first 6 hours of release. Crazy.

Manila

Hangin out in the burbs

"Tricycles" causing all sorts of pollution.

To mourn the dead, week long funerals take place. Family members hang out, enjoy eachothers company, and gamble - with proceeds going towards the payment of the funeral. I spent some time with a family that I befriended in the hood, and it was really a wonderful way to bring the family together to celebrate the life of someone they loved, instead of "mourning" it.

"See what those guys are doing? That's why dad doesn't let us hang out on the street."

Boyz in the hood.

A "Sari Sari" store is basically a mini-7/11 inside a barred-up window. They are literally on every street in the neighbourhood.

Local bicycle taxi

The neighbourhood kids hold a meeting on the steps. She in pink seems to be their leader.

Selling cigarettes out of a box on a street corner in Manila.

off the top of the dome

Charles Hamilton freestyling (rhyming off the top of his head, for those not familiar with the term) better than many emcee's can write.

first run-in with the law..

I tend to keep the words to a minimum on the blog, and let the images (still or moving) tell the stories. But this event has no image to share, except the one I shall paint now.

After a wonderful long weekend spent in the city, Dave and I went to the night bazaar area to indulge in a pizza. We parked our bikes in the nearest free area we saw, as one does when parking a motorcycle in this land. After our meal, I went to buy some bootleg DVD's and Dave headed home. A few minutes later I get a call that went something like this:

"Yo, you've got a boot on your back wheel."
"Geez. What about you?"
"I got on my bike and just dashed before the cop could put it on. He did yours first."
"Geez. Alright thanks. Peace."

So I walk to my bike and see the cop writing up my ticket. I speak to him in Thai to earn a little respect and not be treated like a stupid farang (foriegner), he points to a sign down the street written IN THAI that read "no parking". I laugh. He continues filling out the ticket.

"You have license?"
"Nah."
"No license plate?"
"Nah."
"Ok. You come with me to police traffic station to pay ticket."

As I turn around to put away my ATM card and money, it continues,

"Ok, but I only have 200Baht (6 bucks)."
"Ok let's go, I take you." he replies.

So now the cop is doubling me on my bike. He's making small talk with the usual "Where are you from? What do you do?" talk. Nice enough guy.

We get there, I sign some paper as "Alan" and he asks me to fork over 200Baht.

Illegally parked, no driver's license, no plates. 200 Baht.

The cop rides me back to where my bike was parked, says sorry, shakes me hand, and off he goes.



Only in Asia.



Related Sidenote: DVD's purchased include LOST-Season 4, The Simpsons-Season 19, The Happening and Doomsday.

K'naan

Above: Somali-Canadian artist K'naan speaking on the Pirates in Somalia.

Below: Two new vids from K'naan - one of my favourite artists out there in musicland. This is real as music gets.

Somalia


ABC"s f/ Chubb Rock (click the link to see the real vid. The big record company machine won't let the common man embed the vid and thus spread their artist's music and message.)

ABC's - The official video

Pai

A few visuals from a weekend getaway to a small city called Pai that just sort of fell into place.


What would you do different if you could start again from her age?


Nice..


All the Thai's were jumping for pictures, so we joined in the fun.


Fun it was..


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View from our room. Not bad..


The ability to travel to and stumble onto places like these on a long weekend is among the best things about living in Southeast Asia.


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