The Gamer's Quarter

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Because Teach for America just offered me a job today! I'll be in Philadelphia teaching underpriveleged kids for the next two years! The real world is going to be something else. I can't wait.

P.S. Seriously, does anyone want to tell me anything interesting about Philly? I've never been there. I know about the bell and the annoying sports fans and that it'll be cold and that's it.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I was in the Philly airport once and they had a nice USO...

The closest thing I know to cheesesteaks is that Penn Station out here in St. Louis rocks my face.

Perhaps you should watch a movie on this town..
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dhex · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:56 pm Post subject:

i went to philly once. it was nice. a dude i knew taught down there for a while.

good luck and hope you don't get special ed.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dhex · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject:

one of my friends was stabbed by a special ed student while in one of these programs (the nyc version) and another, when she was a teacher, had students who had previously raped and assaulted other students and outsiders. all sorts of people get stuck in special ed, especially in underperforming districts.

why? loot. in nyc you get 11k for a normal student and something like 17k for a special ed student. so your bad behavior types get stuck with genuine special needs students and create a calvacade of shit. hence my "keep your head down and good luck" type thing because no one who is well-intentioned deserves to get fucked over like that.

esl is totally different.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

I will be teaching "secondary english". I am nearly positive that means high school english, and not ESL in this case. If they give me special ed, they'll have to do it on the sly.
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dhex · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject:

secondary english sounds like high school english.

unless they mean ESL under a different name. either way, good luck!

my wife does a lot of ESL work because [university x] lets in a lot of people into their masters of social work program (among others) who shouldn't have gotten in, especially foreign students. she's very good at it. i have no idea how she does it, but i am an exceptionally bad teacher.
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dessgeega · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:50 pm Post subject:

i know the girlfriend of one of the ladies who runs food not bombs in philly.

so if you're ever really hungry i guess?

that's about as far as my knowledge of philadelphia goes.
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Bulkor · . Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 55

What part of Philly are you going to be in? I went to college there, so I'll admit my knowledge is kind of old and college-centric, but:

South St. is a good Haight-Ashbury-type area. It's worth a day just to see the sights, and if you like what you see, the parallel streets nearby have the even-more-alternative shops. If you like video games (maybe you do?!) you can buy import stuff, sticks and that kind of thing here.

Chinatown is only like four blocks square (and may have gotten wiped out by city planning at this point) but it has the essentials: cheap fresh vegetables, bootleg movies, foul-smelling candy and a big parade with kung-fu demonstrations on Chinese New Year's.

University City is really over-gentrified and silly, but it has a good grocery store and a better variety of food (try the food trucks!) than most places in the city. There's also a good but pricey movie theater and a fairly good arcade with motown on the jukebox.

The historical district is also pretty silly, but if you take the walking tour you'll walk by a bunch of neighborhoods that are actually interesting.

You should see Boathouse Row and the Schuylkill river park at least once every season, and a bunch of times in the spring and fall. There are bike trails farther up the river, which I've never seen myself but have heard recommended. The art museum and zoo are also in this neighborhood and easily bus/foot accessible.

All this is based on not having a car; if you have a car you will have a lot more options which I don't know about, but you will also need to be careful because the freeways are horribly designed and Philadelphia drivers are seriously trying to kill you, whereas public transit just gives you bruises.

As for cheesesteaks, there are several schools of thought. It's worth trying out a bunch of different places, because they really do taste different depending on where you go, just be aware that you can feel yourself dying in the hours after you eat one.

Only see the Liberty Bell if it's still on anti-terrorist lockdown, because it's hilarious that way but boring otherwise. People are not even kidding about the sports fans; they really are horrendous.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

I know you meant Philly and not really Cheesesteaks, but I made a [small] project a few years ago of eating cheesesteaks in different states.

I'm not going to go into detail, but the standout was at a Stuckey's in Bristol, Virginia, right next to the Tennessee border.

I'm pretty sure the cook didn't give a shit. I heard arguing to the effect that his shift was long over and he was off that day anyway.
It might have been the last thing he made that day, as he was on his way out the door.

Velveeta, fried onion, sliced beef, oversized hot dog bun. (Like the bun for a foot-long)

It was pretty bad, but ironically this is at least superficially close to how some say the genuine article is made.
Edit: I was confusing velveeta with cheez whiz.
I'm convinced that hot dog bun, especially an untoasted one is incorrect. Floppy. It fell apart.

Fuck the "genuine" article. I like the kind with peppers, provolone, tomato, lettuce, onion, beef, some kind of sliced roll.
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dizzyjosh · . Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 64

ask everyone you meet, especially old people and crazies, what up with MOVE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE)! **

where you going from? and T4A is pretty awesome, from all my friends' who've gone through it.

**i may give bad advice.

Bulkor · . Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 55

seryogin · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject:

Man, since I went to [university x] I can't help but think this is a jibe against me.

Though, you are right. They let me in there without even having to take the SATs just because I wasn't requesting any financial aid and all universities have quotas for foreign students.

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Is University X NYU? Cause my girlfriend's just finishing her MSW there and from her stories there seem to be a ton of people (and not just international students) who have no place there at all.

dhex · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:52 am Post subject:

no, but you're sort of close.

msw tracks tend to have a lot of dedicated people; but without additional ESL support in a lot of cases i have to wonder how much of a disservice the university is doing to them.
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FortNinety · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:00 pm Post subject:

Sorry to bump (another) old topic, but I just wanted to say that I've been in Philly maybe six times, and not once have I had a cheesesteak, despite numerous attempts, which makes me just mad simply thinking about it.

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

I've been in Philly for two weeks and I fucking love the place. For those of you familiar with the area, I've been looking for houses/apartments with a couple of roommates and we'll either be moving into some place Northern Liberties or South Philly.

I have jogged for miles along the Schuylkill River. It is smelly but gorgeous, especially the neat Boat Houses.

Right now I'm leaving Temple U (where they house all of us TFA people while we teach summer school for training) at 5 45am everyday and getting back at 5pm, at which point I have to write and write and write lesson plans.

I get to ride a schoolbus for the next four weeks.

This is also to let everyone know why I am not playing videogames until August.

Peace out.
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