Home is When the Tide is Out (Jackie)

Barefoot, I walked onto the coral studded sand the ocean had left behind in its nightly rush to escape the mountains and realized that I had found my home.

Every evening I walk into the tide pools the ocean leaves behind and search for pretty shells and unique creatures to examine, poke, and play with. Every night I crouch in the mostly dead coral and listen to the pops and cracks of creatures coming up for air, crabs clacking pinchers on rocks, and the general scuttling around that’s associated with marine life in the pools. I watch the sun set in spectacular ways from a 360 view, ankle deep in water, hearing the waves break in the distance. I turn slowly in corals and watch as golds and oranges and pinks radiate from the sun and shine over the dark mountains. I rotate a step further and am awestruck by the rippling orange and purple clouds silhouetting the gigantic marble Buddha statute that watches peacefully from the mountain top. Another few degrees and the sky is electric pink and baby blue as if some mischievous child had stuck cotton candy in the sky while no one was looking. Further still and the sky over the ocean begins to darken into deep shades of blue and purple. As the sun sets musical chants from the nearby mosque call people to worship and I stand lulled by the music in the endless expanse of sand and coral, feeling as if I am the only person in the world. Listening to the waves and distant music I gaze at the enormous Buddha and know suddenly that there is nowhere in the world I’d rather be. Nowhere where I feel as peaceful, content, and genuinely at home than in the ever changing yet invariably stunning tide pools.

I THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH FINALS FOREVER!!

Today was the first day if finals for the kids at KKJ. First day of finals for me means grading papers, submitting final grades, bagging up final exams, and then rotating back and forth between ‘invigilating’ final exams which can only be described as a fabulous means of torture, and doing whatever I want as long as I stay near campus. Invigilating consists of spending between 1-2.5 hrs watching kids sit in chairs and scribble frantically while we stand and stare at them. We are forbidden to do absolutely anything else. No phones, no books, no doodling paper, nothing. I felt terrible for the kids who had to take a 2.5hr math exam until I had to WATCH them take it. I’d much rather struggle through math problems than watch people do math problems any day, though I never thought I’d ever be in a situation where I'd admit i'd rather do math!  Anyway, since the time is pretty evenly divided I have lots of hours to do whatever I want so I’ve decided to dedicate the time to learning new things. Today I learned how to draw. I had no internet so I drew the only thing I found a pic of and listened to the only CD I have on my computer-Foo Fighters (I usually get all my music via grooveshark-internet based). Here is what I drew. I’m actually quite proud of it!

 I should also mention that the only writing utensil I had was a blue ink pen which makes shading really arduous for a non artsy person like me!!