Interlude . . .

Thanksgiving. Wonderful day spent with Jed, Eleanor, Janet and Doug, Florence, Emma, David and Kathy in Windsor, MA. Battle royal between Jed and David on the Scrabble board !!


Christmas. More later.


Monday, January 7, 2008. Arrived in Northampton last night for four-week TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course at the International School for Languages. Am staying with a "host family" in an amazing house. I've never seen anything like it. About 5000 square feet, all on one floor with various wings shooting off here and there. Normally I have a good sense of space but I could no more draw a floor plan of this house than I could fly. Maybe it would help if I could walk around the outside but it would take a long time and I would need snowshoes!

For class tomorrow, we have to present something to teach the class (unrelated to language) and we have 10 minutes to do it. Something like "how to tie a shoelace" or "how to make a paper crane (origami)." Since I don't know how to do anything really interesting (like yodeling or juggling), I think I will teach the class to sing a song as a 2-part round. At first I thought of "White Coral Bells" but I think that would be too complicated so now I'm contemplating "Dona Nobis Pacem" or "Make New Friends." Of course, there is always "Frere Jacques" !!

It's nice living in one room again, with life stripped down to the basics. It's a large, comfortable room with its own bath, shelves for my food and other supplies, a closet and a refrigerator right across the hall in the laundry room. Very handy.

February 2008. Month spent diligently applying for World Teach and Peace Corps and having interviews. Also having all body systems checked out (annual physical, annual OB-GYN check-up, dentist, mammogram etc etc)