A book

This morning I was about ten minutes late leaving for work, because the crows got at our rubbish bag. After putting the rubbish back into a new bag and hoping the collectors came soon, I cycled off. When I got to the railway crossing, however, I was not able to cross. There had been an accident. (Tonight I found out that a 43 year old man had been lying across the tracks when the train came along. The news report did not call it suicide, but it probably was.)

I stopped cursing the crows and decided to thank them instead. They had done me a huge favour. The 'accident' had happened a very short time before, and if I had left at my usual time I would likely have witnessed it. As it was, all I had to witness was a large crowd of people, a lot of police, an ambulance, a blue plastic tarpaulin being spread over a worryingly large area, and one lone shoe lying beside the tracks. I am very glad I am not a train driver. This sort of thing happens far too often.

The train had stopped further up the line near the next crossing, so I couldn't cross there, either. I cycled back past the station to where I could go under the tracks, and carried on to work.

We are near the end of semester, and my first two classes today haven't been going all that well. They both went well today, however, although they kept me very busy. By the time the third class came along I was feeling rather tired, and I wondered whether I dared to implement a plan I dreamed up a few days ago. I had an alternative plan as well, so I decided to let the students decide. There are only four students in this class, which is elective, and although the level is very low it is fun to teach because they are keen.

I went into the classroom.

"I have an idea," I told the students. "How would you like to write a book?"

"A book?" they asked.

"Yes," I said, waving my camera at them. "I thought we could go for a walk along the river, take pictures, and then write a little book about our walk. Then I will print it out and and make copies for you."

They thought this was a wonderful idea. (It will be a booklet, really, but 'book' sounded more exciting.) Naturally, as soon as they'd understood and become enthusiastic it started to rain, very heavily. We stared out of the window, dismayed. Then we decided to give it five minutes and see what happened.

After five minutes it stopped raining, and off we went.

We went out a back door none of them had ever been out before, through the gardens. I don't think they even knew there were gardens back there. I took pictures of them amongst some of the flowers and vegetables, and they named them for me. When they didn't know the English names we wrote them down to look up later. For some we didn't know the names in any language, so I said I'd ask the other teachers.

Here are some of the photographs. (I will not post pictures of the students.)

This is a lily in the university gardens.


Here is a Confederate rose. None of us knew what these were called but a teacher told me later.


And here is a lantana flower, I think. Perhaps I should check about that one, too.


After the garden we went out the back gate and went down some steps to walk along the riverbank.


The sudden downpour of rain had made the water muddy and fast-moving, but we spotted some interesting things anyway. I took quite a few pictures of the students (because it will be a book about them), but we also saw some dragonflies. Also, we got pictures of turtles, then one of the herons posed for us, and there was a cormorant. They will all go in the book. I am interested to see what the students write about them.

I think this is the first time I have ever photographed a dragonfly.


On our way back we met a cat who had something terribly important to tell us. It told us and told us and TOLD us, but we just didn't understand.



Eventually we went back to the classroom, and as soon as we sat down there was another downpour. Our timing was perfect. This is the rainy season, after all, but although it was overcast and very humid out there, it did not rain a drop while we were walking.

The students started writing their book(let) with enormous enthusiasm, referring to the pictures on the camera, and will finish it next week in class. During the summer vacation I will type it up and put it together with the pictures. Then I'll make copies to present to them when I see them again in September.

If our book(let) turns out well, maybe we'll do another one next semester. It was a lovely activity. The students used a lot of English, enjoyed getting out of the classroom, and we all had fun.

My day did not have a good start, but it ended well.