| Wednesday, December 18, 2002 Hello everyone, I Kristin am writing this time. THE HAIKU CHALLENGE. I wish I could say that I made this up, but I found the idea in a newspaper. Here's the deal: Please (if you choose to participate, come on, please? Kathleen, I know YOU want to. Encourage the flow of global poetry vibes) write three haiku poems, one a day for three days. Here are the rules: *first line is five syllables, second line seven syllables, third line five. *use seasonal references to establish time and place *write about one moment, pure and uncontrived *reflect on your own point of view, whether it is loneliness, humor, frustration, joy, etc. Then, send the poems in to us. We will put them on our web page, for the whole world to see (or pretend no one looks at the web anyway if that freaks you out)! I for one would love to read the haiku about the feelings and situations of friends and family that I really like, which is all of you or I wouldn't let you be on the mailing list. Here is an example of a haiku poem, if you're not really sure. I found this one in the newspaper in the article about Haiku that I am borrowing this idea from. I'll believe it when I see it. She says she has chopped off all her hair. END OF THE HAIKU CHALLENGE. We have had a very exciting weekend in Kingcome Inlet. On Saturday there was a school bazaar! The kids sold their Christmas decorations that they made in class, villagers sold gift type stuff they bought in town, and some people had booths of food, "Indian tacos". Ok, one person had a food booth. There was food there. And it was good. If I were not here in Kingcome Inlet I would have stayed as far away as possible from such an event. It was like a small town mall craft sale. In fact it was a SMALL small town craft sale. But here, it was the excitement of the weekend! And I enjoyed it! People were happy and excited about the holiday! I did purchase something that my mother is going to be shocked at, I bought myself a pair of pink mittens. Who doesn't like to shock their mother? I had a big hang up against pink things for many years, in my more militant years because girls are SUPPOSED to love pink, therefore I wasn't going to. Now i think, oh well, it's a nice color. Or colour now that I am in Canada. Speaking of Canada, when we were crossing the border to come here, Nicole asked the customs agent if we could be allowed to stay here five years instead of two. We may never be able to come home. Colour, favourite, "hey" or "right on" at the end of every declarative sentence, milk in the tea. Another exciting thing this weekend was that there is a priest in town! So on Sunday we went to church. It is the first time I have been to Anglican Church. What else is going on here... I still have 14 students. They mostly do their work at home. I have a lot of time on my hands to do other things because they do their work at home. I have been applying myself to being the Kingcome Inlet Librarian. I have reorganized the library, thank you Tenessa and Routeledge for the new reference books. I make seasonal displays of books. I have designed a simple check out system. So far, my family is the only people that use the library. But it is still something to do. I like organizing and books. I am also teaching community education classes and teacher's workshops. THe last was a professional development workshop on classroom resiliency. Next I am doing a 4-session class for parents on how to help children learn. What else has gone on here... Yesterday it stopped raining for the afternoon and I went hiking in the bush. I walked with a friend through brush, tree cover, swamps, and across rivers. Our destination was unknown to me; I have no sense of direction. I just followed him. We ended up at a beautiful waterfall that used to be the village dam. There was a pool at the bottom of the falls and if it had been warm, I would have swum in it. It looked just exactly like a scene I remember from Costa Rica. John and I hired a guide and the guide took us on horseback to the top of a small mountain. Then we hiked down to the bottom. We came upon a huge waterfall. The guide and I went swimming in the pool and drank the clear water. It was lovely. So was the one I saw yesterday. Same scene, rainforests both, one hot and one cold. Well, I need to go to work. I have some students tonight who are in my room studying. Must go help. Later: Two students showed up. They worked for a while, and then we talked. They told me white people jokes, I caught on quickly, got them back, and earned my place in the crowd. Kind of reminded me of those junior high boy type rituals in which people prove they are men by eating the hottest hot sauce or barking out the loudest belch. Well, it worked. They were telling me about how great it is to fish in the river in the spring when the spring salmon are swimming up. I asked, what would happen to me if I were caught out there fishing on a reserve with no Canadian fishing license. One of the students said, if I were caught, they would tell the RCMP (police), let her go, she's one of us. I took that as a good sign. They'll stick up for me! Good. Won't get hauled off to a Canadian jail in the Yukon. If you are planning to visit, please let us know when as soon as you know. Then we can be sure to have room for people, if everyone comes at once not everyone will fit in the house. In case of overpopulation of our house, you may need to bring a cougar proof tent. We miss you a lot! Hey - John writing now. So we leave this Thursday (TOMORROW!!!) for Abbotsford (near Vancouver). We will be traveling by many means to get there: motor boat, seaplane, foot, bus, ferry and car. We will be there 2 weeks, and don't know about a phone number yet. We will try to get to an email somehow to contact those who want/need a number. Speaking of Christmas vacation, we are planning on watching a lot of movies. I have bribed Nicole that for every Star Wars movie she watches all the way through, I will give her $5. She says they are scary (she's never even seen them...) plus she doesn't know the value of the Canadian dollar so I win in the end both ways. Anyways, I cannot think of anything else right now. I can't stop thinking about this trip out - we have not been out for 3 months and I don't recall looking forward to any vacation as much as this one. Oh yeah, Kristin, Nicole and I went hiking (with bear spray - even though they're hibernating - hey, you never know...) along the river north of the village a couple kilometers (that's about 17 miles or 180 miles or something, right?). What did it look like? Picture the planet Endor and the Dagobah system together. The highlight was watching Nicole and Kristin trapped on a stump in the middle of the river as I jumped across to a sandbar so we could roast some weenies. Yes, we survived. No, child protection does not need to be called. I have attached a picture of Nicole sitting next to our Charlie-Brownest Christmas tree. I think the picture might be incredibly large, so if it doesn't work or something, let me know. Otherwise, Merry Christmas! May the joy and peace of Christmas last beyond Dec. 25. Love, JohnKristinNicole P.S.: We�re outta here!!! |