It is a wondrous thing to have an Anna. Everyone needs one, but few are so lucky. Not only that, this particular Anna is all my own. I share her only out of the goodness of my heart: a selfless, altruistic gesture for which I should be sainted, and have a freeway overpass named after me.
A frightening truth is that with Anna, I am completely myself, only louder and much more obnoxious.
Another frightening truth is that her visit is already almost halfway over, but don’t tell her, because maybe she’ll forget and miss her flight home.
I’m not the most rewarding person to be around these days. I’m always either studying or complaining about it. But we have managed to slip in some adventures.
Take, for example, our tour of the Green Mountain Spinnery, with its mid-1800s machinery: carders and spinners and twisters and twinklers and spanglers (I’m kind of forgetting the names of things). The smell of the place — noticeable from 100 yards away — makes me glad I don’t eat sweaters. “Dirty Wet Sheep” will never be a Chanel scent. While I was waiting for Anna to get something from the car, I did what I do whenever I’m standing still: dance.
Sunday was unseasonably warm and clear. Anna proposed a walk in the woods. There are two trails to the summit of Black Mountain: one easy and the other not. One trailhead (I didn’t know which of the two) is just down the road from me, so that’s where we headed. After a half-hour of walking I realized it we were on the easy route.
At the summit an hour later, we realized this warn’t no easy route after all.
Still, it was a lovely, New Englandy hike: one I’ve wanted to try since I got here. The steep path was covered with a thick, loose mat of oak leaves and pine needles. They smelled, oddly, of leaves and pine. They had an interesting effect on us, measurable by the number of times our butts hit the ground.
On Monday, Banana came to school with me. First I had a lunch meeting with two of my three peers who are also going to Mexico. As we took our first bite, we had no idea where we’d go or how far in advance of our teaching or with whom. By the end, I had a plane reservation from San Francisco to Oaxaca, where I’ll study Spanish for a week with the other three. Then I’ll go alone or with someone to some other part or parts of Mexico for a week, and then on to the internship. I’m finally starting to get excited. Also excited that I’ll get to see a few CA friends and fambly (namely, the ones who read this blog and a few unsuspecting others).
Anna also got to go to Language Analysis class and experience our teacher, Alex.
It’s 2:08 a.m. Tomorrow’s a study day so I don’t have to get up early so I’m abusing that knowledge. For this I will pay. Goodnight.
That’s a great walk in the woods. Thanks. I miss that part of never going home. The stones have a life of there own there, left far from their own home by a glacier melted away long, long ago. The smell of rotting leaves under foot. Beautiful and melancholic all at once. The Boulders wait for winter. Soon.
Those leaves look like little girls in the hands of a giant, with naked legs wiggling in the air.
Oleggy, don’t you think they look more like girls your own age, with legs covered in cotton batting, with nary a giant in sight?