image fades to a rippled red cheesy

in the pics: my year 9 students had a project to draw a picture and write the definition for a piece of computer hardware..I will put the best pics up on the wall..soon.

Some images don’t fade so easily. The little red headed bird with his head in a white flower, the family of pigs saddling across the road in front of our car, the sunset that lights up the whole sky and water.


4/25
Coming to apia/….i’m going to the city, with all the city sensations—sights, tastes, smells…last night was pizza (yummy cheesy bbq and Milano), and then fast faster fastest cars of Fast and Furious ummmm number 4. I guess that’s the end because our hero slows WAY down…but I won’t give away the ending if you haven’t seen it yet.

Today is brought to you by the Ball ‘O matic in Niles, MI, which the lady and the shop gave me when I bought some cucumbers and tomatoes. The coin does look like a Samoan one tala coin. Also brought to you today by the all American converse patch, which I found on the road. It looks like someone cut it out of a shoe.


4/16
I still don’t want to hit my students, but I did hear of a few ways other PCVs are exerting ultimate control. I tried the “wall-sit” exercise with one of my cheeky students. She laughed at first, but I had her do the wall sit for about three minutes. It was interesting to watch her eyes, a kind of shock-surprise-this really hurts that I wasn’t going to hit her for goofing off, but still disicipline her. She has been quieter since then. I guess that is rather effective. I will also find two medium sized rocks and have the cheeky boys hold them at arms length for…we’ll see how long they can stand it. I’ve also had other students write letters to me explaining such things as not listening, forgetting homework. I think most students just laugh at the hitting and have an excuse to tafau (hang out) during detention. Hitting also does not encourage motivation to learn, or even be “present.”


Red rippled Sunset

A small snack.
A small sleep.
I awake and see the sun descending behind trees.
It’s time for a swim.
I step through the tall grass.
The boys only cut short the “rugby grass”

The water is low today.
Rocks at the reef expose their jagged edges.
I step into warm water made cold only
At the surface from a nearby stream
Sun is lowering
Water is a shimery yell-orange
Red patch in the sky expands
Shimmering reflection bleeds red
A single rock creates perfect
Ripples of red expanding back to me.
Time is brief, red quickly fades to
A dull gray, a fish jumps.
Crickets begin their nightly song.
It’s dinner time. Return tomorrow for another
Episode of the red rippled sunset.

--Matt crichton
4/16/09