TP11

Today, St. Patrick's Day 2013, I met John and his family at the Public Library. I brought Hayley, as she had never been to the LeRoy Collins Library and is a total bookworm. Unfortunately the library was closed until 1pm, since it is a national holiday, so we just sat outside on the benches at the Parks on Park and read. I saw Jason and Sally, but John asked me to help tutor his niece, Reina(?) with her reading. She had chosen a book called Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime by Barbara Park.

Her English was quite advanced, though I did notice a few errors she was making that seem to be typical of ESL learners from Asian cultures (such as mixing up the R and L sounds). She had good pronunciation and excellent flow. One thing that bothered me about the book she had chosen was that often the main character, Junie B. Jones, would use incorrect forms (such as throwed instead of threw, holded instead of held, Valentimes instead of Valentines, etc.) but when I asked Reina, she knew the correct forms and seemed to understand that it was the author's way of making the little girl's dialogue sound more authentic. I would occasionally ask her about vocabulary or idea comprehension, and would help explain when she didn't understand what certain phrases meant or when the main idea of a paragraph slipped by her. Overall I was quite impressed by her reading skills, and I am sure she will excel in communicating in English if she sticks with it.

CP10

 On Thursday, March 14th (also known as Pi Day for those unfamiliar), after eating lunch with Hayley at the newly opened Gaines Street Pies, a pizza joint started by some friends, I picked up Mahdi from the Pitaria near CIES. The three of us headed back to my house and were soon joined by my friends Danny and Henry. 

I had sent this picture to Mahdi earlier in a text message, asking if he would like to go to this place. Unfortunately the water was not so clear, as it has been raining lately and the runoff into the sinkholes makes the water more turbid (cloudy), and the foliage not as green - this picture was taken in midsummer, but the forest is quite a bit more bleak in winter; though spring is upon us and I'm sure it will look like this in less than a few months.

We all crammed into my car for the journey. In the interest of time and being able to enjoy the water while the sun was still above the horizon, we parked at Teddy's house and walked the short way to River Sink, after checking out Whiskey Still Sink behind the pyramid. We had to cross a flooded cypress swamp to continue on the trail - Danny and I weren't wearing shoes, Henry and Hayley took theirs off, but Mahdi stubbornly kept his on, soaking them with tannic swamp water. I was proud of Hayley and Mahdi for trekking through the woods; although Hayley has lived in Woodville right next to the sinks for years, she had never been there, and Mahdi certainly had never seen anything like it, as he has spent most of his life in Kuwait. They were both in unfamiliar territory but refused to give up, and we all made it safely to (what I like to call) paradise, with minimal complaining.

There was a fire going in the dead stump of a huge pine tree that used to tower over the entrance to the spring (just to the right of the cooler in the above picture). Someone had burned the base a long time ago and killed the tree, and it finally fell and its stump made a natural fire pit. It was fortuitous for us that whoever had been enjoying the springs before had left their fire going for us, as there was no danger of it spreading. We didn't even have to start one! Mahdi and Hayley chose not to swim, but they still expressed their appreciation of the beauty of this natural wonder. Henry, Danny and I, however, could not imagine coming to such a place and not jumping in! Here's a video of Danny doing a sweet free-fall backflip from the rope-swing tree (to the right in the picture above).

I hope everyone enjoyed their experience, and I'm excited for the next time I can show the springs to someone who has never seen their splendor.

CP 9

Yesterday I picked up Mahdi from the Pitaria and took him to another Middle Eastern restaurant/grocery store off N. Monroe, the International House of Food. I have been going to this place for years for their amazing chicken/beef with rice dishes, as well as their amazing gyro sandwiches (with feta of course!). Mahdi  was excited to find another place in town with food from his part of the world. He kept saying how many of the items in the store reminded him of home, and was quite thankful to me for showing it to him. He bought some pressed pitted dates in a vacuum-sealed bag that looked delicious and seemed quite cheap (something like 2 lbs for 4 bucks!) as well as some gum (from Jordan =D) that he said he was going to use for an experiment: he would put them in the CIES hall and see how many students from Kuwait and other Arabic nations would take the gum.

Mahdi devoured his gyro even before me (and I love them, especially from IHOF!) and them promptly proclaimed that the lamb in his country tasted better. Hayley met us there and she got a feta sandwich, and she and I got a raspberry and peach malt beverage (sans alcohol) which were delicious. I also couldn't resist the date cookie! Luckily after all of this indulgence, there was time to get Mahdi back to class only a few minutes late. He is a great guy to hang out with and hopefully we will meet up again this weekend... I'm thinking about making more venison chili tomorrow!