Monday, Dec. 10

Slept late on this cold morning, until around 8 a.m. Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. While I was doing this, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house.

Once I was ready for the day, I returned a call to a friend, who invited Mother and me to join her and our other friend from a town about two hours away to lunch on Thursday. Had to decline, since we are scheduled to attend the Master Gardener potluck and Dirty Santa Christmas party that day. The friend asked that I call after the party to see if we can meet for coffee or something that afternoon.

Did this and that around the house for the rest of the morning. After lunch, Mother headed to the couch for a nap, and I reviewed the lesson plan for today's meeting with my student.

One of the things I did, or attempted to do, since rarely does anything go smoothly, was copy two stories from the ESL reader...one about Helen Keller, and one about Martin Luther King Jr. I tried to print two pages at once, by laying the small book down on the screen, but when I started to cut them apart and staple them, I discovered that part of the narrative was cut off.

So I had to go back and copy each page individually. Then, when I tried to staple the pages together, I found the stapler was empty...no big deal, except there were no staples in the office to fill it with. There's another stapler downstairs, so Hubbie stapled the materials, and then went upstairs to fill the other one.

These are minor things in the scheme of life, except when they are added to other things that seem to go wrong, like the jam-making episode yesterday, the washer quiting at a most inconvenient time, and now today, the computer battery backup unit fizzling.

Found out about the backup unit, when Hubbie complained that the office computer wouldn't boot. He insisted that the backup unit was fine, but I wasn't convinced. I went upstairs and tried to turn the monitor on. It didn't come on, so I plugged it into another outlet. It came on. I tried the computer in another outlet, and hit the reset button, and the on button. It worked.

What a week! One stumbling block after another on our way to getting ready for compnay this weekend, when Hubbie's family will visit on Sunday.

Shortly after lunch, a plumber came to replace a corroded facet unit in the laundry room. While he was here, Hubbie prevailed upon him and his assistant to carry the washer out into the yard. Now the laundry room is empty and ready for paint, which means I'll need to choose a color this week.

Everything that was in the laundry room is now in the sunroom. I didn't know we had so much stuff in there. Not an attractive sight, so I guess we' ll close the blinds to that room, and caution Hubbie's family to stay out of there!

Later, I met my student at the college. Today, the student brought me three hallacas, a traditional food that she makes at Christmas time. It's a complicated recipe of meats, spices, vegetables, fruits, etc., wrapped in corn husks and tied with string. she suggested that I steam them for about ten minutes. We'll try them tomorrow, maybe. I hope they aren't too spicy, since none of us can tolerate hot pepper foods.

Today's lesson included reading the story of Martin Luther King Jr. The student was already familiar with this hero of American history, but she still enjoyed the narrative about him.

Other than the story, the student learned vocabulary about handicaps, wild and tame, the use of "nearly," and "trust," and words related to the five senses.

We spent quite a bit of time in conversation. She talked about some of the history of her country. When she was four years old, the last dictator of her country was ousted by a bloodless coup, which ushered in democratic rule. Later, (the way I understand it)in the 1960s, her military uncle was part of a guerilla movement against the election of a non-democratic president. Most of the military laid down their arms, so her uncle's position forced him to flee.

He holed up at her grandparent's house for about a week. She and all the other children were cautioned not to tell anyone he was there. One day, a couple of men (the equivalent of the CIA, she said) drove up and began talking to the younger children. She rushed out and told the men that her uncle didn't live there, and that his home was on the opposite side of Venezuela. Once the men left, her uncle lost no time in leaving. She was twelve years old at this time, so the incident left her shaken with fear. Her uncle was eventually captured, and spent eight years in a military prison, where he was treated well, and was even allowed to bear arms.

In further conversation, she related that after she was married to her pediatrician husband, she came home one day to find thieves in her house. Naturally, she didn't challenge them as they stole suitcases full of stuff, including thousands of dollars worth of jewelry she'd collected over the years, some of which was treasured items fr.