Today is the Monday of the Monday of the year.

Today I told my ESL students all I know about Florida. I told them the story that Stan Apps told us about the guy he knows in Tampa that swims in the rivers with the alligators in them. I didn't get all of the details correct, I'm sure, but I was glad Stan had told that story--it has now entered my ESL anecdote repertoire. Then I told my students about swimming in the OK Tedi and OK Minga rivers where they converge, and how there are alligators in those rivers, too. Then I thought that they couldn't be alligators, but crocodiles. Then I had to go look it up on the break: crocodiles.

Dirt and Glue and Dirt

An image search for the words "dirt Tabubil" brings up 11 images, six of which are images I've posted to this blog that have no direct connection to either dirt or Tabubil. The image at right does not come up. But now it will.

I have a picture of me, my brother, and my friend James standing next to a truck like this, not far from the mine site.

The idea that there were/are huge trucks and vehicles like this in a town that can only be accessed via river and then dirt road is creepy. When I was a child, it was very exciting. "Daddy works here," etc.