Wednesday, February 23, 2011

FRIJOLES!

The other American that teaches at the school is teaching the students Tom Petty- Free Falling in music class.  These are the lyrics that the students have been singing instead...
And I'm freeeeee, Frijoles! (pronounced free-holays.

Frijoles are beans.  They thought he was saying frijoles the whole time.  Pretty funny to here the classroom next to you screaming frijoles.

STUDENT PROFILES

Salvador and Cristy

Salvador is relatively quiet, but he can be encouraged and influenced by the other students.  If someone bothers Salvador, his move is to just wind up and kick someone, usually in the shins.  I would scold him more for it but it is kinda funny.  I find it amazing that kids can switch from an all out brawl to friendship and laughter in a moments time.  Salvador has an older sister who is one of the most intelligent students in the 6th grade.  Salvador is pretty smart, but I get the feeling that he doesn't have the perfectionist personality that his sister does.  He has an awesome throwing arm.  He can wing a football with a spiral pretty much across the courtyard in our school.  He is probably the most athletic person in the 4th grade.  Him and his sister look a lot alike and I see them roaming around the streets after school together.

Cristy is one of my favorites.  I have been told that she is one of the most intelligent students in the school.  I don't think she has missed a single point.  She is an absolute joy to have around.  She is one of the 3 girls that refuses to use their own desk, they just prefer to share my desk with me.  I don't mind because they are quiet and always get their work done.  Undoubtedly, the thing that makes Cristy successful is her parental support. I have seen her walking with her mom around town and she seems like a really nice lady.  Every time I see Cristy with her mom I always talk to them and Cristy gets extremely shy.  Her mom always makes sure that she is polite and responds to each of my questions.  Cristy is one of the students that I have high hopes for.  I know that she can speak quite a bit of English already, but she is too shy with her English accent.  I am thinking about working with her outside of school in a different environment so that she won't be so self-conscious with her peers.

EL MATADOR
Beat my time today on the Matador.  Ran it in 40:34.  I think the key is to push it on my way out of the city and when I am in the city on my return.  It is too hard to push it on the path because of rocky terrain, rivers, cow and horse poo, and all the hills.  Looking to squeeze into the thirties either this week or next.  It was raining really hard on my way back and I think the cool rain had a lot to do with my time.  I usually run at the hottest point in the day.  The first half of my run is always scorching, but I can always expect sprinkles or a rain shower on the way back.  The showers are like a mid afternoon florida rain, where you know its not gonna last and you know its going to be sunny afterward.

C.S. HUNDRED DOLLAR CHALLENGE:

With 100 U.S. Dollars, you could buy  78.73 pounds of organic, fresh chicken.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: ROBERT FROST


The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood 
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- 
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


"Yet knowing how way leads on to way"
I can always find significance in this poem, regardless of when or how many times I read it.  It reminds me that no matter how bad you want to, you can't take more than one path.  It reminds me that sometimes life is as simple as choosing between right and left.  It reminds me that you have to choose and you have to be confident in your choice. Way may lead on to way and it may seem like you can't steer.  But you can, and if you chose a hard path, make your path green with attitude and observations.  Be the path you seek and you will never have to choose.   

3 comments:

  1. I've always loved this Frost poem. And I must say, well put comments at the end. It's crazy to think back on the paths that have led us to where we are today. Yours taking you from Ohio, to Arizona, Guatemala, and Honduras. Mine taking me from Nebraska, to Arizona, and finally to Marion, Ohio where I'm dating a girl who lives down the street from a you, a friend I met 6 years ago 2000 miles away in a funny city named Tucson. Thought I'd give you one of my favorite poems for you to ponder while grading tests and running The Mat.

    When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
    By: Walt Whitman

    When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
    When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
    When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and
    measure them;
    When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much
    applause in the lecture-room,
    How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
    Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
    In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
    Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

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  2. I too have always loved that Frost poem. And as Derek said, your words at the end are just as profound. (That's also one of my favorite Witman poems too.) The picture of the kids is adorable. Sounds like you are in your element! Glad you took that path.

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  3. Not only do I love Tom Petty, but I love the lyrics that the students made up for the song... Made my day :)

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