10. Cameras are things that you know are great, but you just don’t know how great until you see a really beautiful bird visiting your friend in Rio Negro and you can’t snap a shot.
9. You should never leave your water turned on and leave for a meeting at the library and then go to your old host family’s house for dinner and leave your door locked so that even your landlord can’t open it... Even if your water NEVER comes after 5 in the afternoon… But at least you left your computer on a chair and not on the floor!!!
8. You may be surprised at how you secretly like that cracker with peanut butter and barbeque sauce on it… And the worst part is, peanut butter and barbeque sauce aren’t even that cheap. You could have just eaten plantains and beans… but for some strange reason…. ?
7. Taking vitamins might be stupid, and it might be placebo effect completely, but you feel a lot better.
6. Your friend who is on a raw diet in a foreign country might be crazy, but she looks great and seems very energetic. You might even try it though you do NOT want anymore parasites… Bleached vegetables, anyone? Or bean and barbeque sauce sandwiches?
5. Your baseball team will listen to a visiting male and show respect to him because he has played baseball his whole life and knows much more than you. They also will be much more well-behaved when a male community leader comes to do dynamicas with them. But, you will be surprised that they all tell you that they much prefer when it is just you and the kids. You also might find yourself thinking, “My kids could really win this tournament… !!!”
4. You will not cry in front of your baseball team when a fastball smacks your leg. In fact, you will laugh it off and avoid limping for 2 hours and nurse your hard, throbbing, bright purple green red bruise when you get home.
3. You will be amazed at the beauty of a full moon, no matter that they come once a month.
2. You will accidentally say yes to a project that consists of translating 250 surveys for the Evangelical church by Friday. You will, of course, not be paid.
1. Your former astronomy professor, Dr. Pollock of Appalachian State University, will both shock and amaze you when he responds more promptly than anyone from the U.S. has to your e-mail requesting any information of how to get resources to teach Astronomy, seeing is 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. You will cry just a tiny bit in your library when you realize that he is going to send your town a telescope so that they can see the sky. You cannot wait to show them the moon. If you can show them the rings of Saturn, as Dr. Pollock put it, they may either make you their queen or burn you at the stake. Either way, we’re making progress, right?
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4 comments:
Good luck with Saturn's rings!
For a long time, I had "see Saturn's rings without digital assistance" on my list of small but special things I'd like to do.
One year ago in Mexico it finally happened. An amateur astronomer with a Big telescope (maybe a meter long and 1/3 meter wide?)* had set up during a street festival, and was giving views for US$1 for a couple of minutes. It was worth it. I saw Saturn and three moons. The rings were clearly discernible from the planet, but not discernable** from each other. For those differences, it seems that a Bigger telescope is necessary.
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*it would have been so much easier to write a yard long and a foot wide, wouldn't it? But somehow also wrong.
**FYI, I chose both spellings of discern_ble after reading online that both are allowed.***
***My God, who footnotes comments?!
don't you dare start eating raw food. Abuela Annie
oh so many kudos to your ex astronomy professor - what a great thing for you and the kids. I wish i could have stayed in touch with some of my teachers from back in the day - i tell you, this internet thing, it's pretty cool, no?
I love you - titi Lori
ah yes. i have been in awe of saturn´s rings since i also became one of (i think) less than 1 percent of the world population to have seen them. i was in my astronomy class in college and ASU had just gotten their new telescopes and my class was actually able to see the roof of the observatory open for the first time... wow!!!
i knew i had seen discernible before...
dont worry grandma, i have been eating fully cooked food. i do want to start eating more healthy, but im so far sticking to the fruits and veggies you can peel.
and YES, tia lori, A MI ME ENCANTA EL INTERNET!!! thank god i can use it here. the funny thing is i want to teach it to others but it´s so hard, seeing as everything i have taken for granted knowledge-wise, has to be taught from scratch. love & miss you!
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