Keepin' On Keepin' On

I'll be within cell phone reception until Sunday, March 22 at 10 am West Coast. Call me.

So, I’m nearly done with my 9th week of school and the days are beginning to get shorter. Dusk is heavy by 6:30, which brings about a whole new set of challenges. What do you do for the two or three hours of consciousness before it is time to go to sleep? Tonight I read a little bit more of A Fortunate Life (thanks Ted) before beginning to worry about my eyesight, then decided to get out my laptop and take a look at some pictures.

I found some good ones in a folder labeled “Leaving Home For College.” I’m not that good at labeling things apparently, because the folder has pictures that go well into freshman year, including cutting Adam’s first mullet, but the picture that stopped me is one that was taken on 10th Ave in Ellensburg, WA.

It was taken just down the street from my house, probably in front of what used to be the Hall’s house, looking towards the University. In front of our house is the trusty Taurus (my sisters “learned to drive” in that car, which involved various iterations of body panels and paint matching). The sun is just peaking through the tall trees that line the street and it looks quiet. It reminds me of many summer mornings I had heading out the front door to get in my truck and head to work somewhere around Kittitas County on a construction site, the sprinklers already going at 6:30 am to try and get the grass a quick drink before the heat really kicked in. It was so quiet and peaceful. But then, on the left side of the photo, is the Weinegar’s old truck. The grey beast with loose fan belts and unbalanced wheels that stressed the ball joints into an audible rhythm of speed-sensitive periodicity. It was a slow, screeching, thrumming hellion of a vehicle. But the rest of the picture is nice.

Just a nostalgic moment from my high school years.

Anyway, almost nine weeks of school done and gone. Oops, students still aren’t fluent in English and a few still aren’t really sure what a fraction is.

The former will take a while, but I thought that after 2 ½ weeks of fractions, students should at least know what they are. So, after a terribly frustrating class, I decided to have a mini fraction cram session after school. There was one girl in particular that I really wanted to make a little head way with. A chocolate bar seemed like an appropriate teaching tool, as it would hold her attention and is already segmented and easy to break into fractions. After a few minutes of putting pieces together and breaking them apart to try to show equivalent fractions and adding fractions, etc., she seemed to start to get it. At the very least she replied, “Yes, Sir” to my ever useless question, “Do you understand.” I think she was over me talking to her. So I kept going, trying to pound it in to the point that kids rolled their eyes because they knew it so well.

After the chocolate bar example had run its course, I told the 12 students in the room they could each have a piece. More than a dozen hands all darted in towards the chocolate and just as quickly vanished, leaving only 2 of the 18 pieces remaining. I stared for a second. “Ok you turds, which one of you took 2 pieces?” “Sir?” “Sir?” “Sir?” “Which one of you little thieves took two pieces?” “I did, Sir.” A little fist showed up in front of my face and the fingers uncurled exposing a melty chunk of chocolate. The girl dropped the now deformed piece of chocolate in front of me. I grimaced. There were still 3 pieces missing. I snagged an untouched piece, gave the other untouched piece to the Form E boy who had been helping me tutor and stood up. I knew the 3 missing pieces were already securely stored somewhere on other students’ persons, and I was not particularly interested in having a I-know-you-know-what-I’m-saying inquisition with students that rarely get sweets, and many of whom have never had the pleasure of dark chocolate. Besides, I had another half bar stashed away at home.

I’m not sure what else people want to hear about. I got Planet Earth in the mail from my parents and it’s working wonderfully on my laptop. When the projector arrives (I’m not really sure when or how) then I am going to plan some viewings. Students are often asked to come to school on Saturday mornings, so I might show it then. Mike and I talked about getting some popcorn and some trinkie (the bottle says it makes 60 servings from 4 fl oz, I’m not sure how they can store it in plastic, as it sounds like something that melts glass, regardless, it’s cheap) and having a movie day when they come to school. So, we’re pretty excited about that. I have also started to compile a digital library. When I do research on the internet in town, I try to save the web pages so that I will be able to show them to students later with the projector. Wikipedia pages work great, and I’m excited to show the Science and Math Club the page on Electromagnetic Radiation because their book sucks and I’ve done a little work in that area. Atmospheric transmissivity might be beyond them, but hopefully wavelength will be at their level. Anyway, that is briefly what is going on with me.

The 29th of March I will be heading to Maseru for training for a week and a half before going to Durban for some McDonald’s and a quick vacation over Easter. During my time in Maseru I’ll have constant cell phone reception and frequent access to the internet. So charge up your Skype accounts and buy some phone cards, because I’m expecting to hear from all of you.

Again, thanks for keeping up with me everybody. Somebody rearrange Mike Gomez’s dolls for me when you get the chance.

Blessings.