Some things never change

So there I was this morning, walking to school with every book I might possibly need, barely able to carry my canvas sack with the books and my lunch. Suddenly I realized that this is exactly the way I was in high school. I’m too busy to wait in line to buy lunch at school, I’m taking extra units so I have extra books, and I’m way too anal to leave any of my books at home. Nope, some things just don’t change. Well, today I wore a Pocket PC on my belt instead of a slide rule, but that hardly counts as a difference.

Amazingly enough, I think I used all but one of the books today too. I think I may be gaining on the average, but the best students in my group are still way ahead of me. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to be in the chase, and I really like both of my teachers.

My classroom teacher is Tatiana. She just started a night-school English program but for all practical purposes her only language is Russian. She illustrates new words by pantomime and she’s really good at it. At first I couldn’t read her handwriting at all, having never learned Russian cursive. I conveyed my frustration to my tutor, who told Tatiana and now Tatiana writes more clearly and I can read it. My tutor’s name is Elena. She’s fluent in French, which is useless to me, and she knows a little English but won’t generally try to use it. She insists that I convey all ideas to her in Russian or at least in pantomime. I’m sure it’s good for me.