I’m wondering about doing this blog. There’s always a tension between living life and talking about life. Does spending time writing about what you’ve done keep you from actually living and doing new things? I remember being in the St. Lawrence River north of Quebec City watching whales. Video cameras had just gotten affordable so I spent the whole time pointing my camera at the river waiting for a whale to appear. I have a long boring video with a few amazing shots of whales that I’ll never edit or watch. I didn’t really enjoy the moment of being with those whales as much as I could have. Right now I’m in my hotel in Tel Aviv before my friend picks me up so I could be spending my time half sleeping. Put it that way this sounds like a good option. Hopefully, the blog will be read by others or at least by me.

The children in the school are great. They greet me in the halls with “Good Morning, Mr. Larry”. All the teachers and the Headmaster are “Mr.” or “Miss” then their first name. One class is called 5S, since the first name of the teacher is Soulla and the other is 5L for the first name Litsa.

Their homework is filled with wonderful drawings of configurations of seating arrangements with different numbers of tables (area) and numbers of people (perimeter). They had a harder time with the concepts of “I notice that …” and “I wonder if …” Looking back, I should have worked harder on those concepts in the class before assigning it. I didn’t know what to do with my final question that I had printed out to give, possibly as homework on the last day. The students back home definitely showed major advances but only a handful really got it. This is not surprising since the question is a variation of a question given to US and Chinese teachers by the great Liping Ma in her comparative study of teacher knowledge of the content needed to teach conceptually (Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics). So the question was never designed for kids.

After about 50 of my 80 minutes I realized that they were ready for the question if I could have a good full class discussion first. Several students were able to give a correct formulation in the discussion – that if the perimeter increases, the area will only sometimes increase also. We’ll see when I get back and look at the papers. I doubt I’ll look at them while travelling.

I stopped on the way back to the hotel at a little hole in the wall that had a line of people getting take out (“take away” in British English). There was a long row of foods to choose from but the space to walk through and see them was about ½ the size of one person (at least 1 person my size). I remembered Moussaka from the days I lived in a Greek area of Montreal. I couldn’t remember whether it was something I liked or especially disliked but I ordered it just because I remembered liking the name and couldn’t see anything. I’ll quote from Wikipedia. Reading it now, I’m not at all tempted by it but it was excellent. I don’t care for eggplant (aubergine) much but somehow this mix really works.

“It has three layers: a bottom layer of sautéed aubergine slices; a middle layer of cooked ground lamb cooked with onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, herbs, and spices (cinammon, allspice and black pepper); and a top layer of bechamel sauce or egg custard. The composed dish is baked until the top layer is browned. Moussaka is usually served lukewarm.”

At 9 PM, Irini and Yiorgio picked me up to have another Meze with Nick (the Headmaster). This time, it was a fish one. Technically, it was not a Meze, since Nick picked out the fish rather than having it picked by the house. Here’s just one of the many platters of fish and amazing accompaniments. I realized what a novice fish eater I am. Someday, I’ll spend a summer under the guidance of Yiorgio, whose family were fishers, to learn how to do it right.

Speaking of Yiorgio, he is one amazing guy. He took way beyond the maximum credits allowed at IUP and graduated with a 4.0 in music ed and in record time. He’s an accomplished jazz musician, teaches full time at a school, then teaches part time at another school, besides being a great father. He loves the life he has with Irini, the kids, the beach, the foods, and the world.

Speaking of Irini, she’s one amazing woman. She excelled in our Master’s in Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Education. She’s a very popular math teacher at a secondary school, but is certified in elementary and loves that group. She’s one of the most creative people I know and I’m very indebted to her for arranging this visit to the schools. She also has that infectious positive attitude about life.

The two of them rave about Indiana, PA. I need to video them talking about it so next time I get down on Indiana I can refresh myself. They loved the four seasons, the ambiance of the town, the ease of getting around, and the university. Yiorgio’s experience with the Music Department was inspirational to me. He had gone to the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston and was very disappointed in the poor quality of teaching and the uncaring faculty. He got just the opposite at IUP. His advisor and mentor, Dr. Keith Young not only was an insightful teacher but was an ideal advisor. He fought for Yiorgio to be able to get through quickly and looked out for him in many ways. Yiorgio also raved about Jack Stamp and Dan Perlongo as not just amazing musicians and educators but caring people. He had no bad words for anyone in the department, he had excellent classes.

I’m sad to leave Nick, Yiorgio, Irini, the school, the students, the teachers, and Cyprus. Tomorrow I go on a tour of the island but I probably will not be back to see the people for a while. They have been ideal hosts. They made it hard for me to pay for anything and went beyond what was expected, like loaning me clothes. I’d love to have Nick be the President of IUP, Irini in the IUP Math Dept., and Yiorgio in the IUP Music Dept.