Sun over San Francisco

San Francisco has been basking in the sun for a week, the light is magnificent. The fog has disappeared, the wind is blowing, the temperature is cool, it is breathtaking. Each street corner is a discovery. A detail on a door, a frieze on a building, reflections on the Moscone Center I walk by everyday to go to the yoga studio. I have been here a week I enjoy every minute in this beautiful city with the feeling that time will fly and that I have to catch every second, every square of blue sky, every event. I love the Victorian houses, le wide streets, the steep hills which provide unusual view, diving in some places where we expect them the least. The other day, climbing up Nob Hill, I found myself observing Bay Bridge down California street, impressive, the cable car lines dug in the steepest streets even add to this vertigo effect.
I love riding the BART to go to work, thirty minutes door to door, it is quick I leap at the opportunity to read or to discreetly observe the habits of the passengers. The Asians, numerous in San Francisco tend to prolong their night in the train, they sit, eyes closed and seem to be sleeping... I'd be scared to death to miss the Lake Merritt station to college. Others have breakfast standing, eating a bagel and holding a likewise huge mug. Others read the SF Chronicle bought 50 cents at the BART entrance. Some carry their bikes. I have noticed that some of my collegues take their bikes into their offices.
Work is kind of exhausting although I never teach more than three hours a day, but all these new things to assimilate is really time consuming. A totally new program, different levels inside the same class, the fact of speaking in English all day long. I devour books, school books, the dictionary, students essays. It is fascination, but today I just couldn't anymore, even my jaws were exhausted.
My students move me deeply. Johnny the homeless guy keeps coming to class with his huge bag, his bag and a big tree branch fastened to the frame of his bike. He uses it a weights to keep in shape. He is assiduous and he has an incredible will to do well. Sometime he is very worried and agitated despite his age, he is fifty, I have to comfort him. I have managed to integrate him in the class and this is really great. On Friday he worked with a group of three women, everything went really well despite his very strong odour and his difficulty to express himself. His smile, his thankfulness at the end of class fill me with happiness. He told me feeling at ease in the group and happy. The other day, in the middle of class, he asked me "Why are you leaving us, miss Nat ?" I had to explain him the exchange, the reason of my departure at the end of the academic year and he told me to remind him the day of my departure.
And there are the others, Alicia, Navajo, broken family, two brothers living with aids in prison for murder. Kawasi, six brothers, four of which are in jail, 7 sisters. It is touching, sad to make you cry to listen to them. At the moment I work on the team, I strengthen the sense of community in the class. I take pictures, they write about themselves, listen to each other, notice their differences and their likeness. One of my Asian student wrote in his last paper: " I have a very simple family, in the class most of my friends have only one parent and many have a member of their family in jail."
There is Titus with his golden grills and his chain around the neck. It is tough for me to understand him, he speaks Ebonic, he said he was will to teach me then he said "U payin'?" Very tempting, but I am going to give it a second thought.
Basically the families are monoparental, the children are numerous and when the family house is not big enough, the kids end up in jail, I know I exagerate, but sometimes I get this feeling.
I am going to start a website for the class so that the students can publish their work.
Nothing really exciting outside school so far. I still share an apartment with Jonathan, Lisa and Jorge. Not always easy to share the bathroom, the kitchen, but I get used to it, I sometimes grit my teeth because hygene can be an issue, but I guess it is part of the experience. We are all four very independent which is the best part of sharing the appartement with them because we almost never see each other and we get to have the apartement to ourselves at our own times.
I was invited to a girls party by Victoria, a girl from Singapour that I met at the yoga studio. It was very interesting, I found myself in a superb house on Nob Hill, with a view on the Bay and the Golden Gate, magnificent and what a difference with my room without a view!. It was very international, bankers, consultants, Asians, Indians, an American woman nad an Italian reporter, the owner of the place. She had prepared the most delicious Italian food, the best so far since my arrival in the States. The discussion was very lively, relationships with men, how they had met their husbands or boyfriends for those who had one, the baby, their work and Victoria's wedding in India in January with her Indian boyfriend. I am not really used to that kind of girls party, they were talking non stop and I headed back home by cab, with anesthetized jaws.

This week-end I went to Marin County. The weather was gorgeous, I crossed the Golden Gate, Sausalito, Mills Valley and reached Muir Beach. The Pacific and the waves, families were having a picnic on the beach. Kids were bodysurfing. Fresh air, eucaliptus and pine bark smell, it felt really good.