My writing and my writing about writing will be written here here on out:

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Sweets

Aren't they just the correctest?








And one day Martin took us out in the Red Betty.






We paused to enchant an island.





Sweden says "hej hej."

A while ago the second-grade teacher asked me to print out drawings of maybe a garden, something for the second graders to color in "with pointillism" "that will take them a long time to finish."

So I hated everything I could find for free online, so I decided the real point of working with kids is to regress, so I drew:



The kids especially liked the kitten-squirrels in the tree, but my favorite is the rabbit-anteater-bear:



Tomorrow is a field trip! The other assistant and I had to plan games. Remember Red Rover? That is the absolute most fun but someone absolutely always gets hurt. Just like teaching adjectives by having the students describe one another.

Tourism!



I loved Porto. I think it's one of those cities that's been waiting for me for a while, so that even the pink guys in hats didn't bother me really. We also saw some local corners I wouldn't have found without Hannah or without getting lost. And oh the fishes we ate. So many creatures disappeared that weekend. Well.

But mostly we didn't photograph that place. Half the time I was by myself, which is a wonderful way to travel. But sometimes I was in Lisbon (no photos) and in Sintra's fantasy castles,


in the sweep of this force:





So let's drink sweet wine in the name of love.

"Pegs" Kraemer-Dahlin, downing a book a day.

Granada Pt.2 Pt.3

This is a cave where a bea hibernates.



And here where her guests carry their candles.



Outside the bea's bedchamber, a sink one must bring the water to and take the water from, and a gas stove.



Outside! You can sit here in the sun in the morning.



If you look left you see this:



And sometimes when you look down you see this!



And that is the end of the story of the bea and the two dirtylocks who lived up in the gypsy mountain.

Granada part 2 part 2

Walking up to Bea's cave at night.



Bea is actually hyper beautiful, much more than mentioned by these pictures.



And --walking down from Bea's cave in the morning! I am wearing her dress: notice what the little man in the traffic sign is wearing.



This is why we would walk down the mountain:



Down down down.



Bless Granada.

granada pt. 2 pt. 1



So firstly, yah, we couldn't escape La Alhambra this trip. We couldn't get in it, either, but that's just so typical of omnipresences. Cuz Bea's cave home was up a mountain from whence the Alhambra was just always There. Plus if you go to Granada the Alhambra IS always there, in the good dark beer and in what people ask you about and in the heartz and soulz. So here, we got into the gardens, check it:



But most importantly we got around it.



You should wikipedia the Alhambra, man.

When Sam was here, man.



We lived the good life.



Thanks to Angie's little hiding head for photos.

They don't sell white eggs here.



So I used beet juice and old wine to dye some brown eggs murky.



Then I dropped them. That was an accident.



They're very tender and lovely inside. But are they easter?

Sam's life in Uganda:

"My average day:
1. I eat bread and coffee
2. Walk up and down hills to Buiga sunrise
3. Perform tasks like poster making, class teaching, handywork, etc
4. Help teach computer class
5. Eat beans and posha (Posha is maize mash)
6. More tasks
7. Maybe play volleyball with friends
8. Long walk home
9. Help in making fire pit by starting a fire in the designated area
10. Make dinner or buy dinner and Senator beer with Adibo (the security gaurd)
11. Sleep
12. Other things include washing dishes, taking malaria pills,
showering (Bucket of water), etc."

Just treasure the stuff they make us. Aida from second grade presented me with this pop-up card last week. Outside it says PARA SOUFi (for Sophie) and her name, and inside it says ¡PARA TI! (for you!) and there is a pop-up blonde crosseyed queen with heart cheeks. Ooh! I think it's me!

Dani, 3rd grade's "bad boy" (cute glam shorthand for "unparented neglected and probably hit kid with lots of aggression and no attention span") (who I think has made a lot of progress this year, what with special tutoring etc., and the first time he raised his hand to answer a question I nearly cried, and since then he has paid more and more attention in class, although his contributions are usually shouted word-associations)(also he has a rattail and laughs "ha-ha" like the simpson's bully) drew me a picture.

Pictured: two blue clouds snowing on a centerpage mountain with a brown peak. A sun shies away from the clouds, openmouthed. The mountain says "R" (scribbled out) (ha, was it originally for the other teacher's assistant? Her name starts with "R") and "Para Soufi." Spongebob stands front and center, proffering hugs. To the right, in a sheer skirt and either yellow boots with striped tops or green pants with striped bottoms, I am climbing the mountain.



Do you remember how long it took to draw those "snow" pictures when you were in school? I remember the snowflakes getting bigger and bigger as I went along. Dani's are pretty even, but they don't reach the bottom of the page.

Also, can you tell? Spongebob's legs were erased and redrawn. My striped cuffs are six-tone. Kid worked on this. He put it on the teacher's desk as soon as he got in (tardy) and spent about half the class trying to signal that it was for me, then that I should open it. (Dani is about the only student in the school who hasn't figured out that I understand Spanish). After class I squatted by his desk and opened it, and he hid his face. Waaaaaaaah.

Waaaaah.

(Also it's funny that in all of 3rd grade it's the two most difficult students, I mean the two I have actually yelled at, who have drawn me pictures) (And who both think I am named Soufi).

She came! And noticed things I'd never, like how the Madrid gov is hip to graywater and doesn't waste freshwater on it's public lawns nor streets. I'd only ever whined about how wastefully often the streets in the center are hosed down.

And noticed, on her own, things I had once noticed, but since forgotten. Like the extraordinary giant in the Cathedral of Toledo. When I went to the Cathedral, as a student, I had thought the giant mural represented Goliath (he being the only biblical huge guy I knew of) (is the respectful term for giants "big people"?) but was laughed at by a friend from these parts, who explained that the dude was lucky, a Saint whose image conferred blessings, and therefore was often represented out of scale for extravisibility. The internet just says it's Saint Christopher; apparently he was very big. Who knows!

There's old Cristobal. I think he's especially striking in person because HIS person is the entirety of the fresco. No background, yknow?

Ms. Aunt Darling also enjoyed and photographed many of my favorite places and people in Madrid, luckily for both of us:



The Reina Sofía extension entrance.



A charming fachada near my neighbourhood.



My Swedes, at their goodbye party, in a beautiful ancient bar.


Post-prandial silliness with my housemates.


And the same with Lolin! Who, along with all my friends/Spain, was very taken with my beautiful aunt.