today you are my teacher

yesterday and today i have been in sela's classroom talking to the kids and having little think tanks about poverty and the rain forest. the teacher played michael jackson's "heal the world", read them a little story, and then i talked to them about poverty, and when you don't have choices, and there is no food in your tummy, and you are very bored and not going to school, you stop worrying about the forest around you, because maybe your mum and dad haven't told you about the importance of preservation. or what when you are very very hungry, rubbish bins don't seem overly important.

afterwards, i took groups of five or six into the back and we had a little talk. each group had a theme: natural disasters, rainforests, doctors, education, home.

What affect does a natural disaster have on a community?

What affect does the diminishing rainforest have?

What would be different about your life if you couldn't afford to see a doctor if you needed one/if you couldn't go to school/if you didn't have a home or had a one room home with no running water & electricity.

For the group that had the question about the doctor, it was actually a pretty short discussion. All they could really say is - you would die, die sooner, or not heal properly. ANd your teeth would fall out. And it would take you longer to get better and you would get sick more often.

That would be a year two nutshell, folks.

the kids waved goodbye to me and told me i was a good teacher when i left.

On my way home today, i was in a hurry to get to my dr's appointment at queen mary (my please lower the meds, im tired of being fat appointment) and so i took a taxi. the driver was quite chatty, and said he was trying to improve his English and could i help him? i agreed.

how do you spell pronounce sputum? he asked. what is the difference between sputum and phlegm? yes you have me confused with my sister, the nurse. i told him i thought sputum was from the lungs and phlegm...i made that throat clearing sound so popular in hk. he grinned and said, "I understand!"

there were a couple more words and then he informed me, "today you are my teacher!" i demurred. he apologised for asking so many questions but then as he pulled into 122, he said,

"forgive my impotence"

and i knew the lesson wasn't over.

"no no no!" i said. "not impotence!"

"what do i mean and what did i say?"

i didn't want him to think that him asking me anything was impudent, but i think that is what he meant.

so i said, "a little boy saying, 'nah nah nah....' that is im-PU-dent."

"yes?"

"and when a man is, cannot, doesn't...can't, so sad" (i make waving gestures to the crotch that he sees in the rearview mirror) that is im-PO-TENT."

"HA HA HA HA HA! so when man is no good it is IMPOTENT! Me not impotent! HA HA HA HA!"

and we both started laughing until i started to choke on some phlegm.

it was one of the best taxi rides i can remember having, ever. and that's not just because i am forgetting things left right and centre.