Stunning Half Hour Political Cartoons from My Year 11 Students

I gave a Year 11 History class a half hour to make their own political cartoons. The results were amazing, especially at the top end. A few of their cartoons could be printed almost as is. Totally blown away by the quality of the imagination, art, and political analysis in these.
Here are the top three. The first one is from a Korean student, with a Korean topic.
The next two are from my Malaysian students, about the current Prime Minister and his wife. Remember, they may not even believe these things, so no offense please! The goal was a political cartoon, not a political statement.
No scanner, so sorry for the poor quality. As soon as I get a scanner I can upload better versions.

Picture Updates

New Computer!!!

Thanks to great friends and family, Rose and I have a new computer. Surrounded by those people, we really feel like we're in a good spot. But we already had our hopes sky high, especially when we pulled into our new neighborhood and saw Montana signs all over the place. Seriously, check it:

Then we saw another sign, in our local shopping center. It was such an amazing coincidence, we went in and checked it out, and found Rose a really cool piano program. She's had her first class, and the program is as good as the sign!

Some more randoms from our new life over here:

Chia is for pets.
In Malaysia they drink basil seed drinks.
So so good. Seriously.

We met a really cool Auntie who taught me a lot of important life lessons. For dozens of years she has worked behind the scenes for one of Singapore's nicest, most reputable tailors, which means one of the best in the world. She does so in such a humble manner, and with such simple equipment, it has really made me rethink the things I "need" to perform well at work, and to have fun in life.

And now for something completely different: work pics, plus a midget on a scooter with a sidecar. 

New student and teacher intake day.

#onlyinMalaysia

Staff room

I love it when I hear people say some version of: Teachers work hard, but at least you have a good schedule.
This was on Sunday afternoon. Turning over the long jump pit for my students. Couldn't do it on Saturday because I was at work. Preparing lessons. This was not a school week.
Teachers work way way more than you might think.

Some people still flip M'sians a lot of crap about how they treat animals.
This is a pet chicken. Super beautiful. With an amazing garden to enjoy. 

And for all my biking buddies, here are some biking updates.

I've found two sweet trails over here so far. Jungle singletrack. Really cool riding. And I've met more riding buddies in a month over here than I did in seven years in Absarokee. Awesome peeps. Awesome trails. Watch out for the monkey pee.

Fatties in Malaysia. Sutera Utama Mall.

A perfect MTB playground only a couple miles from my house.
It's an ecological nightmare, but a recreational gem in the middle of Johor suburbia. 

Shrek in the Jungle.
I doubt even the Trek designers making the Farley thought of this scenario.  

The grassy hills were already really nice, and then I spied this little entrance.
The black hole in the center of the picture.
If you dare to enter, you find about 5km of sweet singletrack through a jungle / rubber plantation.

Besties: Shrek and Stewie. 

Pre-race nutrition M'sian style: roti canai and teh tarik.
MMMMMmmmmmm.

New riding mates. Cool guys. 

Dudes are amazingly knowledgeable over here. This guy is running a Rohloff with a Rotor oval ring. Nice!!!

Topping out, M'sian style. 

One house, alone, way out in the rubber plantation. Cray cray. 

Shrek, surrounded by bikes easily 2x his value, is still the star of the show! 

M'sian DH track. Sickness. Some of these guys work or worked for Shimano bike.
What a small world. Cool dudes. 

Air Emirates Strikes Again

Posts may be few and far between for a bit. Air Emirates stole quite a bit of stuff from my luggage. They also made me check my computer. 

Well, he never really did fire up again once we got here. I'm afraid he officially expired at 14:30, 2nd January,  2015. 

R.I.P. Lenny, 2010 to 2015. 

He was a good man, a real workhorse. Never cared about form, could barely be bothered to function for that matter, but he did manage to at least turn on, maybe surf, edit pics, even the occasional multitasking.  

I'll miss you Lenny. You were a piece of. . . work. . . but you were ours.