Fall already?
School has been busier than I could imagine. It is a lot of work--endless papers and tests. So far, I like the program. The other students are nice and friendly. The professors are very involved and insist that we are on a first-name basis. I would try to be more interesting in describing school, but I can't really think about it anymore. Not today.
I am getting used to living in Pennsylvania. I do miss Maryland a lot--my friends, the area, the stuff that I was used to for the past few years. I miss the students, but not necessarily the work. My apartment is fine...there are some things that I would like to change but it is safe and somewhat affordable. Everything here seems a lot older and, with the all the stone, a lot darker.
TJ is away this week. I miss him--it's very strange to be here without him around. I keep thinking that I will eventually just leave and head back to Columbia. It's going to take awhile to adjust and I keep reminding myself to be patient.
This weekend:
1. Studying for my two tests on Monday
2. Recovering from my three tests this week
3. Listen to the wind outside my creaky window...I love it.
4. Some strong coffee made with my new French press
We watched a movie in class this week--Away from Her (directed by Sarah Polley) and it was very good. In it, the husband reads from Ondaatje's "The Cinnamon Peeler." I love him. I can still hear his accent from when he read at UVM.
-------
...When we swam once
I touched you in water
and our bodies remained free,
you could hold me and be blind of smell.
You climbed the bank and said
- this is how you touch other women
- the grasscutter's wife, the lime burner's daughter.
- And you searched your arms
- for the missing perfume.
-
- and knew
- what good is it
- to be the lime burner's daughter
- left with no trace
- as if not spoken to in an act of love
- as if wounded without the pleasure of scar.
You touched
your belly to my hands
in the dry air and said
I am the cinnamon
peeler's wife. Smell me.
photo from http://burke-design.net/images/fall-tree-swing.jpg
abridged version of "The Cinnamon Peeler" by Michael Ondaatje.
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