Livin' the Dream

Have you ever tried writing a word in italics?

Sounds that are impossible to mimic with the human mouth:
1.Ducks drinking.
2.The noise a Mac makes when you hit the volume button.


A quick look at a typical morning/afternoon

Maybe take a morning dip in the lake.

Play games with the nenas and hang with the family.

(It rains a lot in the afternoon)

Practice guitar. Practice some more.

Read Larry Levis because I can't not.

Translate some Carlos Sabat Ercasty from his out-of-print book Sonetos de las Agonias y los Extasis.

Play a little guitar.

Translate more Ercasty.

Read Hamlet to take a break from translating.

A little writing of my own.

Listen to the rain . . . remember random things . . .

A little more writing.

Listen to music, watch a clip of a movie.

More reading/writing.

Later on, a good dinner with the fam.

One thing I love is stepping out around midnight to feel the moving stillness and silence of night, and to watch the moon and stars for a bit. I want to learn some of their local astronomy related beliefs.


Memories:

I woke up this morning to the sound of wind outside my window; a wind that also awakened a familiar feeling: the feeling of fall as a kid in Florida. It was always my favorite. I think there was only one tree on the block that ever changed colors, but the season always had a different, exciting feel to it. The house smelled differently, a natural different smell. I remember coming home after school with cold cheeks and hands and detecting it in the air for the first time each year. The temperature was perfect; just cool enough to excuse wearing "winter" clothing for a few weeks (I have a strange obsession with cool-weather clothing). And there was always a wild, gusting wind. Of course there is Halloween, my birthday, a Thanksgiving, and Christmas to all look forward to as well. I remember "studying" then on the trampoline in the backyard so that I could enjoy the weather and the wind. I really loved (still do) a good strong wind, loved to feel it quickening the senses, rushing and lifting. I could sit and watch it vivifying the trees for hours. I also remember liking it when we'd watch seasonal episodes of Charlie Brown in school. Fall and winter are still my favorite seasons.


Teaching English

I help out with an English class at the local middle school from time to time, and some of the kids came to my house to get help with their homework. Two kids came by yesterday while I was playing "Campanito" with Ramonita and Jackie. They wanted to know how to say food and drinks, as well as animals in English. When I asked them what animals they wanted to know, the first one they threw out was elephant. Next was tiger. The girls were playing around me and trying to tickle me. I looked at them and said, "monos," and they laughed, and I wrote monkey in their notebook. This morning I was writing a little when Juana came and told me that there were two muchachas looking for me. "Muchachas?" I asked. I went out to the street baffled as to why two girls would be looking for the wild-haired, bearded gringo. Turns out they were looking for English help too. They had been given to short passages they are supposed to translate into Spanish, but they don't know much English at all. I quickly scanned one of the passages, and it was about a kid witnessing a UFO and having an encounter with an alien(?). The Built to Spill song came to my head, "I thought it was an alien, turned out to be just God." I asked them to use their dictionaries, they said they have one, and do their best to try and understand it and then write in their journals what they think it is saying and then bring it to me, so that I don't end up doing all their homework for them. But they really don't know any English at all, so I'll probably end up having to help with a good portion of it when they come back. Their "teachers" don't really know English either, and the books they use have all kinds of mistakes in them. But they're trying. Teaching is lots of fun. When I showed up the first day, their real teacher just stopped teaching and dropped the class in my hands. MTC skills started coming back fast, at least the little I ever had. That's pretty much how it's been every time. He just hands me the class and watches me teach. The kids are great, and lots of fun, though sometimes a little rowdy. One of the students is actually a middle-aged pastor who just wants to learn English. I think it's pretty amazing that he would be willing to attend a class with a bunch of 12 yr old kids and struggle to learn English. He's a really nice, really cool guy. I heard Some kids call me by my first name in the park the other day, which totally caught me off guard, but turns out they are in the English class and remembered it from the one time I mentioned it the very first day I taught. No excuses about bad memories. haha.