Entries this day: AAM_dream Final_English_class First_Japanese_class GET_feedback Hazy_sunset Matt_and_Mika Sri_Lankan_dinner cheerful_dancing_fellows

AAM dream

6:37am AST Tuesday 14 June 2005

I dreamt I killed a computer by hitting a certain key combination that just *bang* killed it and it said "this now dead computer is boned." And I started to wail and cry like "waaaaaaaaaaaa" and was all upset, except for one detail.

It was a dream. Awright.

Final English class

12:13pm AST Tuesday 14 June 2005

My first class today was the last of the semester for Cheerful Dancing Fellows. We played a game for our evaluation. They did well, and it really showed me the differences for some of the students. We went to Hemmingway for cake and drinks for Shunji's 72nd or 73rd birthday. Koji funded everything, so that was really nice of him. The cakes were big, and she brought out 3 so we were like, "cool; we can share these and it will be the right amount." Then she brought out FOUR MORE - one each for all seven of us. We were like, "goood Lawd these are biig!!" and were pawning them off on people who walked by, to Natalie and her class table nearby, etc.

Aki presented her card to Shunji on which we had all written little notes.

Ai walked up and had some cake and it was all good. I had had Aki translate part of the self evaluation to Japanese.

Just grabbed lunch and am about to go to last class of the semester of my other class!

First Japanese class

5:06pm AST Tuesday 14 June 2005

I just had my first lesson with Yasuko. We didn't speak any English.

GET feedback

Near the end of the GET meeting Allison and Emi gave us feedback on the chat we had with our Iraqi guests. It had gone really poorly, and the response from some of the teachers was "we didn't attack her!" in a defensive way, and I was like, "that was it! That's what we can't do." but no one seemed to get it. Later, Allison thanked me for having said that and for having gotten it.

Hazy sunset

7:30pm AST Tuesday 14 June 2005

I just took a picture of everyone taking pictures of the sunset. It's not really impressive - just kindof a haze and the sun is getting blocked out before it reaches the water.

Matt and Mika

Tuesday 14 June 2005

Matt the Artist and Hitomi's roommate Mika:

Sri Lankan dinner

8:12pm AST Tuesday 14 June 2005

Just had dinner with lovely Sri Lankan students and Allison, who's charged with keeping them happy and alive. I got Anusha's and Shalini's email addresses. Will get the others' later.

cheerful dancing fellows

11:02pm AST Tuesday 14 June 2005

Just left Cheerful Dancing Fellows after having an awesome dinner with them in Namihe. Totally great group and totally forgiving of me being *late*, which was heartbreaking to me, but I offered a makeup by writing a haiku for them. My haiku didn't pass muster: Koji says all haiku must have an element of one of the four seasons. It could be a symbolic relation to the season, but something needs to be there. So my haiku, which I've forgotten, didn't pass muster.

We zipped outside for a bit to see the world go by as we slipped into the small gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea. On the west bank, thousands of lights pool their resources to make a somewhat shimmery coastline. On the east bank, a surprisingly tall something is crowned with what seems to be a ring of lights.

It seems impossibly tall for how far away it is, and impossibly thin for how tall it is.

Or, it's just too dark to see what it is.