Sylvia's Journal

Today some things got resolved, others got out in the open, and everything is a bit better as a result at least on the face of it. Deep down there may be some damage but I can only guess as it will never be disclosed to me. And so I enter the weekend with a lighter heart. Still, I am counting the days to boarding time (3).

On the Lobster Cove home front there is more excitement than here. Axel’s lungs appear to be OK and the allergy specialist is next to give his/her verdict – the problem seems to lie in the throat. I get that, being used to endless and very annoying throat clearing myself. Tessa is having her senior/graduation show’s opening and I was sad not to be able to heed her fb calls to come on over.

I had an extra long session at SOLA. Somehow the message that Axel was gone had not made its way to all his students. Now, one week after his departure I believe they all know.

I dropped about 10 pounds of books off and gave a lecture about borrowing library books and returning them, shamelessly comparing the non return of a library book with stealing. Everyone nodded that this was indeed a serious issue and not acceptable – at least not in theory. Immediately after our class F took to counting books – a rather basic library technique but better than none – and checking the list of people who had taken books out.

We read over 10 pages of Greg’s adventures in Baltiland. The girls are very competitive about how much they read out loud. Reading out loud is like getting candy, even more desirable than that. They sneak an extra paragraph when they think I am not watching by ignoring the end of a sentence or take a pass when it’s their turn and they consider the following paragraph is too short.

They are visibly disappointed when I say stop. And when they all have had a turn I can’t just let one other read until time is up – no, they all have to read about the same length of text (and they measure the way American kids measure Halloween treats) being fiercely protective of what they consider their right to read an equal number of lines as their sisters.

We had some fun discussions about cultural practices related to being invited into people’s home and the ignorance of foreigners. I told them that soon they will be the foreigner (huh?) and that they will be in for some surprises, introducing the very big word of cultural competence. I told them about my faux pas of accepting an invitation at the first go (here one has to decline until the invitation is extended a third time when it is real.)

The other side of this is the American habit of not repeating an invitation after it has been declined. F told us about her sister in Vermont who missed several opportunities at Ben and Jerry’s until she figured out that if she wanted an ice cream she’d better learn to say ‘yes’ right away.