Just in: As of a few hours ago I know where I’ll be living from January to March. The bad news is that it’s not South Africa. The good news is that I like who I’m going with. The bad news is that it’s not South Africa. The good news is… well, pretty much everything else about it is good. I get to improve my Spanish, which is a lifelong goal. Its location even allows me to stop and see my Bay Area and Sac’to and maybe even Foothills friends en route.
I and three others have been assigned to Pachuca, Mexico, a large (but thankfully tourist-less) city in the mountains about an hour-and-a-half from Mexico City. There’s supposed to be great hiking around, and as you can see from the map, there’s big water nearby. And Guanajuato, which I believe is Diego Rivera’s home town, isn’t far.
Kim and I will be teaching teenagers and adults at the ABC School of English (which is the site we both wanted), while Sarah and Brandon get to work at Universidad Autonoma de Hidalgo. Each of us will live with a local family. No one in my family will speak English. It’ll be exceptionally challenging (particularly for an antisocial soul like me) but I expect the rewards to outweigh the hard stuff. My Spanish will have to improve pronto. Like, ¡ahora mismo!, man. Another good thing about the teaching situation is that we get to create a curriculum: a chance not everyone gets (or necessarily wants, for that matter).
Why am I tired even though it’s only six in the evening? I’m glad it’s Friday.
I’ve been wondering what an animal has to do around here to get its own highway sign. A while back I told you about the “Moose Crossing” sign on I-91. A few days ago, driving north, I saw another posted advisory about the possibility of bears doing some crossing of their own. Yet I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of either beast. How many times does a moose (or bear) have to cross a road in order for the place to constitute a certified “crossing”? Why does a bear (or moose) cross the road? And if it crosses a highway and no one sees it, did it really cross? These are the things that trouble me at night.
In Language Analysis class yesterday we worked with haikus, as a lesson in teaching methodology and in phonetics. Toward the end of the session, our professor had us conjure our favorite place on earth. Naturally, I landed in the green rolling hills of West Virginia. Then he gave us fifteen minutes to write a haiku about it. Here’s what I did:
Homeplace
Deep, wooded hollow,
Scattered stones from the old hearth —
Just ghosts live there now.
And here it is in the phonetic system we’re using:
howmpleys
diyp wʊdəd halow,
skí¦dÉ™rd stownÊ’ frÊŒm í°É™ owld harθ —
ʤʌst gowsts lɪv í°ɛr naw.
It lacks a certain je ne sais quoi in that form, don’t you think? But maybe it lacked it already.
Coincidentally, only a few hours ago I got an e-mail from Oleggy that said [I hope it’s okay if I put this here, Oleggy. If not, shoot me. If you can catch me.]…
You’re always harping about your age. Here’s Basho harping about his age:
This autumn.
How old I am getting:
Ah, the clouds, the birds!Peace be with you,
-o
I just love our Oleggy (in a motherly or really old sisterly kind of way).
I’m already falling behind in Kiswahili but I don’t want to. I have 25 hours of classes a week. For each hour of class time, the school estimates two hours of homework time. Tragically, that 75 hours doesn’t take into consideration such factors as student senility which results in the reading the same line of the textbook 27 times before moving on to the next and reading it 27 times.
But I digress. In Kiswahili class yesterday I wrote down several useful things. “Environmentalist” is “mwanamazingira.” And “I won’t bite you” is “mimi se ng’ati.” I might try these out in Mexico.
Later.
My dear antisocial soul. I still think that the homestay will be a tremendous experience. Almost as tremendous as your butt.
Do you have a professor who believes that all standard American vowels are diphthongized (and has you transcribe them accordingly)? Or was that your choice?
skí¦dÉ™rd -> I’d probably pronounce that skí¦dÉ™rɾ. You know, with a flap rather than a full-on DDDDdddddd.
Your student senility – no, I do that too. Perhaps it’s an Allison thing.
“Environmentalist†is “mwanamazingira.†– Similarly, in Arabic, ‘the United Nations’ is الامم المتØدة or something like that (except my Arabic spelling sucks).
You can flap all you want, my dear M, but I still like that “d” there.
You’re not senile yet. You’re the one who keeps telling me, “You already SAID that.” (Or did you forget?)
Your Arabic is cool, and to me the spelling looks perfect.
No, not all American vowels are dipthongs, says me bonny wee professor. Just the ones that are dipthongs. Apparently, I use a lot of dipthongs in my poetry. That is, in the one poem I’ve ever written in my life. (Actually, I wrote another in 1969.) But look at all the schwas and rejoice. Plus, there’s an epsilon.
Your butt is the biggest on the planet and that’s the end of that. Oh dearie me. I do believe I made a pun. But I didn’t mean to, so I am absolved.
I’ve had professors who have stated that many/most American vowels are at least a little diphthongized, but not everyone agrees. Yet compare our “o” sound to the Spanish “o”. Whereas theirs is short and delicate, ours is a drawn-out “oooowwwww”.
You made a pun. You also made a rhyme. You are a poet, sir, and I’ll bet you didn’t even know it.
This is something like your name in Arabic: جنة
Oh, how very grand–I’m so excited for you–what will the curriculum of your class be? Anything to do with ancient learners? Re: animal crossing signs: I think that they are not placed haphazardly, but in close consultation with wildlife biologists who understand animal behavior and habitat. I know that most animal crossing signs in CA that I’m familiar with are actually sited in the vicinity of canyons or hollows (in your vernacular, perhaps). And animal groups do regular forays along pre-determined (family-history-designated?) paths, thus helping the hapless biologists to figure this stuff out. Speaking of bears, we had a gorgeous, jet black hottie lope through the backyard last Saturday evening–6 p.m., broad (no butt puns) daylight, from the garage vicinty, across the lawn, along the horse fence, and down past the bedroom addition to the hollow (canyon) below. It was so cool! Too bad I was the only human witness at home. Both cats and the horses took note, tho’.
Q: Why did the woman cross the road?
A: That’s not the point; what the Hell’s she doing out of the kitchen?
(For want of anything of linguistic import to contribute…)
My girls are so damn smart and are also strikingly similar…not least due to their considerable bottoms.
It’s a shame about South Africa; I would have assumed you’d be a shoo-in. You’ve been there, though, so it’s old hat, really-probably wouldn’t have anything more to offer you. Besides, anywhere you go always turns out to be perfect. I don’t mean this in a Kabat-Zinn “wherever you go there you are” sort of way, but that works, too.
I think you see my point?
Oh, I just LOVE getting comments.
Sydney: I hope you took a picture of your shiny black bear of a friend, just in case any of us hesitate to believe you.
Truth be told, I DO believe you. Thank you for your info on crossings. Is your backyard going to get a Bear Crossing sign now? It needs it more than our highways here.
Yo-Nenny: MY girls are so damn smart, and what they also are, both of them, is funny. (How is that for a contorted sentence structure?) Yeah, you’re right: seen one tree, seen them all. Seen one part of South Africa… When I read the verdict in an e-mail, I really was pretty down. I was already there in my mind. My spirits weren’t improved when a person at the table next to us — on reading that he was selected to go — leapt up and whooped and hollered. Anyone else would have considered the two of us who were turned down, sitting inches away. It’s okay. I wouldn’t want to be there with someone so insensitive. SOMEday I’ll get back to Africa. Despite my whining, I really do think it’ll be an incredible experience in Mexico, and directly applicable to my life in California.
I’m mentioned in this post but I can already feel my fame fleeing.
I can already imagine myself decades from now wondering what happened to it. Why I’m not mentioned in blogs anymore. Why no one recognizes me at the supermarket anymore. Why girls don’t scream and faint when I look into their eyes. I feel like Mel Carter…Or maybe one of the Backstreet Boys…
Okay. Enough of that. For now I’ll enjoy the fame.
Thank you for bestowing it on me.
I wrote a haiku today too, it was the 60th of a collection of 60 that I’ve been working on. Here it is:
Mango mochi,
Mango mochi —
Ah life!
In other news, Ray the cat just walked into the room.
Bye bye for now.
woof
You’re going to love the fresh warm tortillas. Confetti. Street vendors. La Virgen. El besito. Ay, que lindo.
Gotchu some pictures from contra dance, if you’re interested. Look at the bottom of the album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/denakonneker/SIT#
And yes, I stole many of your photos and put them in my album, to show my parents et al. I have a video too, and you’re in it. Should I send it to you via mail.sit.edu?