master of fate

We are watching the film Invictus in 5th period; true story of the football team in South Africa when Mandela became President.  It's an inspiring story, an inspiring film and it is based on an inspiring poem and it has carried me through this week.  May you also be inspired.

    
 Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley 

appropos for island living

a little paper writing/editing humor...

In addition to our insane English grammar and cosmopolitan vocabulary, my students are also needing to learn how to format papers.  And I forget that EVERYTHING needs to be taught--from appropriate academic fonts to layout to saving in the correct paper size for our non-metric world.   

While they are, indeed, teenagers, I admire them so much for hopping across the globe to tackle high school in their second language.  The first vocab word I gave them this semester was 'courageous' from the old French 'coeur' because I told them they have strong hearts.

And on a whimsical note, I am focused on adding glitter--either metaphoric or literal--to my classroom and my routines.  V. important.

language play

As I require so much English vocabulary from my students (yes, that is indeed, the task for which I am paid), it seemed fair that they get to teach me words from their language.  Two of my sessions are with Chinese students only, so each day they choose a Mandarin word from something in my day to add to my stack of flashcards.

Friday's word was tang (soup) and today's was yang-guang which is sun.  And the lovely forceful way of pronouncing these words led to a zany little poem about sunny soup.    

Am not sure what grammar points my students will remember from this semester, but I know they are absorbing the fact that words can fun & friendly and there is far more to language that tedious recitations and rules.

opinions wanted

As the sun is finally shining and I was actually home during daylight hours, I snapped photos of the paint chips I have taped up around the place.  It's a bit ironic that I am now living with two of my most detested colours:  turquoise and lime green.  These need to disappear, post haste.

Right now, I am leaning towards the card on the left; if you know Behr paint, it is Cashmere.  I am also wanting to do the technique that is called chalk paint--makes furniture look aged--anyone ever use it and have advice?

The lightest shades on these cards are also contenders.

Here's a shot of the vile room.

Sadly, no amount of paint will turn it into my dream kitchen where most of a favorite movie (It's Complicated ) is shot, but at least a neutral tone will help step in that dream direction.

Another one--standing in front of the horrid cupboards and looking at the hideous curtains.

The nasty lime green shows up on the bathroom cupboards as well.

Am wanting to paint the bathroom a rich chocolate brown--toying with the idea of icy pink cupboards, but don't know if that would cover the icky green.

A long shot of the kitchen.  The living room just needs to be painted again--the place is rather shabby and was not treated well by the last tenants.  The guess room eventually will be raspberry (as dictated by the local princess nieces) and my room will probably be touched up as the current greyish lavender is okay.

That concludes the inside projects that are within my budget (and what's reasonable--this place needs to be razed and a new unit needs to be moved in); stay tuned for outside and yard projects and aspirations.

scenes from the weekend

the sun making a rare appearance

 such a heavy frost, it looked like a layer of snow on Friday morning.

should you ever need to find the warmest spot in the house, find where the nearest pet is hunkered down....

another pair of shoes walked into nothingness; two years of hiking the hills of Seattle with this pair

 the odd country penny found

the frost melted quickly and it got up to....50 (F--didn't realize why my students were so concerned until I realized they were reading the weather apps on the their phones and didn't realize the temp is now listed in Fahrenheit), so we literally moved our desks outside for the afternoon.

An animated game of memory with food images and terms; lots of shrieking about cheating and the wind moving the cards.

 Saturday brought an outing to my beloved city to hear a beloved poet (Mary Oliver) read at Seattle University. 

 and of course, cents all over the ground once I hit the city streets.

Seattle U has a colored version of the Chihuly glass sculptures that are also displayed at Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony.  I feel a field trip coming on to find out more about this local artist.

When I went to get Sunday's paper, Bogart gladly took over the heating pad portion of the bed. It was another stunning day here; the kind where we all gasp and say "where did those mountains come from?"    

Was pleased as it was to be our first outing of the International Students and I had planned a jaunt to Point No Point Lighthouse and a wee ramble through teeny Pt. Gamble.

 

A balanced weekend of respite, chores, adventure and sun.

busy as a....

yeah!  A metaphor which I do not need to explain.  Hard to believe that an entire week has past since I last logged onto the blog site.   Classes have been taught.  Quizzes have been graded.  Essays have been assigned, corrected and handed back to edit.  Food has been cooked and shoved into whatever dish has been unpacked.  Windshields have been scraped.  Fires have been built.  Auditions have been passed and vocal assignments given.  Copiers have been jammed and unjammed. Meetings have been attended.  Opinions have been sought and given.   Teeth have been flossed.  Hair has been washed and occasionally styled.  Pennies have been found.  Pet has had minimal care/feeding.  Tutoring sessions happened.  Lesson teaching went on.  Lunch duty has been served.  Field trips have been s'heduled.  Emails with friends/family on major life events have been exchanged.

And to stay with the concept of sharing poetry on Fridays, I leave you with two rather jumbled comments.  One, tomorrow!  Not only do I get a city outing, I get to hear one of my beloved poets, Mary Oliver.  And this week saw the loss of Wislawa Szymborska, another wordsmith who is worth spending some time with.  I'll end with a poem of hers to honor the life of a friend's grandmother:

A Few Words on the Soul

We have a soul at times.
No one’s got it non-stop,
for keeps.

Day after day,
year after year
may pass without it.

(enjoy the  rest here.)