Repairing

This is my last week of teaching adults. Tonight, I taught GED math, and I learned a lot about how ingesting camel meat, milk, and urine makes you smarter. And how back home, women's families are given camels as dowry. I had a table of Somali men who have grown to be my buddies. We giggle a lot, we talk excitedly ,almost the verge of angrily, about math problems that give trouble, and we complain about Donald Trump. I will miss one man in particular, Hassan. He is 67 and smokes like a chimney and has many gold teeth and a fantastic accent and is just plain a nice man.

Tomorrow, which is almost today, I will teach intermediate English as a Second Language. This is my least favorite. It is the middle child in my week and in the ESL curricula. I will miss making the grouchy, tired, and tough Somali moms laugh. I will especially miss Olga, a Mexican student, and Dili, a student from Tajikistan, both beautiful women inside and out.

Thursdays are my favorite. Beginning ESL. This is a huge class, and I feel like I'm performing, and I adore making them laugh. I will miss especially Amina, because she's just a disorganized lovable sweetheart, Abdi, because his rotting teeth smiles and intelligence warm my heart, and Mariam, because she's been with me since that class was just three women. All my faves are from Somalia.

Today, I wore my hair in a ponytail, a rare occurrence these days. I had on a lavender shirt I love and bright pink lipstick. I am giving off a weird air these days, getting lots of compliments on my appearance. Today, I was smiley and genuinely happy to see everyone, and likewise, I believe. At one point, during break, two men from intermediate class were glancing in my direction. One said to me, "We are looking at you because today you are especially beautiful." I feel loved. Thank you to my equally beautiful students.

These pictures are unrelated, from a drive through the country, but I needed to get out my thoughts of leaving my beloved North Minneapolis school. I will miss it.

They are related though, because it's remarkable these myriad cultures ended up in this quiet state way up north. Here we are.