Finishing the beach story:
Later, after lunch, I thought about going for a walk, but ended up just going a little down the beach when I looked at the sand, shimmering from the water, with mountain ridges from where different waves had stopped...and squiggles! little curvy lines that when I looked closer saw were being formed by little tiny neon snails, gliding over the wet sad. I walked into the water and started playing with my shadow, rhythmically being hit by small waves, and the combination of that and the sun the water my shadow the snails a sand dollar i had found earlier and watched bury itself back in the sand the immensity...i was overflowed and just started laughing. this crazy gringa laughing by herself in the sun in the waters of la playa coasta del sol.
I have been thinking about this moment at the beach and it reminds me of a moment in the beginning freshman year when i was walking near Walsh and a leaf just gently fell down from a tree into my arms. In my philosphy class we have been talking about contingency: chance versus¨"not just one of those tings" (see the beginning of Magnolia). That leaf was not just one of those things, it was a personal gift to me from...the universe, God, the tree... It was that same joy at the beach and I was overflowed.
I had another moment like this recently, though a much quieter, softer moment in that I could contain it within me. It was at Calle Real, which is my praxis site where I teach English and just am with people Mondays and Wednesdays... and as I write this I can think of several, so here are some Calle Real crumbs:
We have a morning class and an afternoon class. The morning class started with 6 people and over the past 4 classes has been steadily getting bigger so that now we are at 14 or 15, at rather different levels, so Carmela and I (Pedro is downstairs with the 3 and 4 year olds in the morning) divided in up, and divided it between boys and girls cause they has been dividing themselves along those lines and seem to learn work pay attention however you want to say it really well in those groups. So I had the girls. And I love them to pieces already. I have Roxana, Joselines, Karina, Jenni, Linda, and Blanca. Karina is the youngest and thi is her first time in an English class, Roxana is the oldest. And we reviewed and then just played games to review some more (we know to like in present tense, to be, some nature words, some action verb infinitives, a few places, numbers (1-20), starting to learn body parts) and after a few of the games I had, Jenni came over and, speaking in very quick spanish, started to explain a game to me which I did not understand, but she set up, told me what I needed to do, and led us in another game reviewing a couple words. I love the energy the enthusiasm and just the ownership these girls are taking. And after class, one of the pequenitos from downstairs with pedro, Behil, asked us to coe to his house and hang out. It turns out Behil, Albert (another pequenito who loves to talk and tell stories), Jenni, and Roxana are all siblings. And Joselines and Linda are sisters and neighbors to the first four. So we played volleyball, I got dragged around by Albert, who got upset if I paid attention to anyone else, and carried a huge jug (i have no idea how much water but about 2.5 feet tall 2 feet diameter) of water on my head up a hill...so hard! as soon as I took it off I felt like my head was a helium balloon it felt so light!
Another small crumb: my afternoon class. This one has probably around 25 kids and the level even more spread out, so we divided them between the three of us, and I have the youngest. I think 5 of them are 6 or 7 (William, Lesli, Marina, and a differnt Jenni, and Mildardo) and 2 are maybe around 10: Jairo and Karla. This is my crazy class, just nuts. Class lasts an 1.5 and I´m thinking of letting them out early, but for the beginning of class, whether it be a game or a worksheet or jsut learning something, they get really into it, have fun, often will interrupt me to say something in little kid quite spanish directed at the floor while tapping me, which I will need them to repeat at least 3 times in order to undrstand, usually to find it doesn´s have anything to do with anything, but they just had an urgent need to talk to me... Or they´ll be really into it and burst out with the request for "un juego! " then 45 minutes to an hour in, everyone will ask to use the bathroom get some water...the first day we took a break and that was not a good plan. The bathroom door is frosted glass and everyone gathered around peering it and the one inside, and then after I had them line up fuirther away a looong strand of toilet paper came out from under the door and we could not come back together... so now water and bathroom is before and after out class. A few classes ago we played hopskotch to practice numbers. great fun... but slightly chaos inducing and I had to be firm and a little harsh with a few of them and I felt really bad... just often am not at all sure what it means to be a teacher, how much chaos is ok and how much is just straight up chaos... but those same kids who I was strict with stayed after class, talking with me, helping me peel the masking tape from hopskotch off the floor. Even when they are crazy and I´m crazy and feel like pulling out my hair... these kids are so fantastic and I am so happy to be here!!
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