Native Roots

What is this, stinkin' Redlands?! Where did this infernal heat come from?! I felt like I'm back in Redlands, which otherwise can be a pleasant enough thing, but when you're stuck there in the heat, it's a hopeless feeling as well. Hopeless, you may wonder? Hopeless because the heat doesn't just last for a spell like here. No, it goes on for days and days, and once it hits, you know that you are in for the long run--several months at least. My students and I sweated through the day, for classrooms here don't have AC (Which makes sense since hot weather only lasts for that small spell). We had two fans going, which created quite a hurricane of flying papers in the room. At one point I told some boys that if they didn't stop speaking into the fan to hear their warbly voice, I'd turn the fans off. It's quite funny to watch natives here who don't know what on earth to do with themselves when Santa Maria gets roasted. Funnier yet was watching myself react like a native. I guess I have been living here for quite awhile now. And after feeling that moment of Redlands-like-hopelessness, I'm sure glad that I'm a native now!