vacation on-site

Looking back, this week has had quite a lot of ups-and-downs, and yet it hasn't been a bad week. I have been at the American club more than usual, since I started taking my swim suit bag to work and have gotten dropped off to swim around 5pm. It's in the 90s here during the day (32-33C), so the pool has gotten warm enough to be a pleasure.

I realize this is an island in the city; maybe I need some time on the island.

I'm here at the club again this Sat morning since internet isn't working for me at home. Matan's computer works, but he wants it! So I left after I got the load of laundry hung, and came over here to work. Lots of people I know here, fulbrighters, families, friends, Matan's teachers. I'll go swimming when the sun isn't quite so high overhead.

Matan got back from Bhutan on Thursday. He said the trekking was very challenging but that he was able to keep up. Some of the kids got left behind for some city touring since they clearly were not up to 5-6 hours a day of hiking. I suppose it's better that way, I don't think they could wait for people who couldn't get to the day's destination. I'll see if he'll let me post some of his pictures or if the teachers have some that he might be in! His camera screen was broken so he was guessing -- still he took 50 pictures and I got some commentary.

The challenges this week had to do with plagiarism and reconsidering how the course has to be taught. It's not enough to have them figure out how the parenthetical citations should look in their papers (there pretty much aren't any citations); I'll have to show them how they look in papers done correctly. It's not a revision issue, it's brand new to them. Or so they say. But intellectual property is just not the same concept here: our textbook is photocopied.

Other than that, the tax stuff is disturbing, but we'll be ok.

Only three more months to get everything done. Shaked is planning to come in May, so she'll get that urgent final opportunity/drive to see all of the sites I haven't seen yet!

Finally, I'm working on a keynote speech for a conference in two weeks. On Children's Literature. More to come. This weekend I read Mirror Mirror, a take-off on Snow White. Warming up for writing.

Meanwhile, better finish the grading...