My Favorite Day of the Week

So I've decided that Tuesday afternoons are one of my favorite times of the week. I have to go to San Ramon, a town that is about 5km away on Tuesday afternoons to work in the schools there. The bike ride there is usually hot and sunny and I end up at the school all sweaty and gross and so I usually get there about 20 or 30 minutes early so I can cool down a little. I give my first class to the 3rd and 4th graders, wait through recess either talking with the teachers or talking with the kids or just watching the kids play baseball or soccer, and then I give my other class to the 5th and 6th graders. On a side note, last week I talked to some of the kids about why I hadn't seen one of the student's for a quite a while. "She has a boyfriend now" was the reply that I got. Yeah. I was unclear if maybe that was code for she's pregnant, but I feel like the kids here are frank enough to tell me that, so apparently she has a boyfriend now and no time for school. I was a bit sad to hear that but I feel like it was also because she didn't like her teacher very much and didn't want to be there.

But anyways, my favorite part of the day is when I ride my bike home, especially now, at this time of the year, when the sun goes down just a little bit earlier. I ride home when the sun is lower in the sky and usually streaming through the clouds over the lake creating beautiful rays of light. Birds line the docks and rocks around the edge of the lake as I ride out of San Ramon; cormorants and egrets and other birds I can't name. As I look towards the volcano I can see a waterfall lit up about halfway down. This time of day is usually granted a small breeze that makes the ride home cooler. I hardly pass any people and listen to the water lapping at the shore, the birds singing, and sometimes the monkeys howling. I always end up feeling really glad and lucky to be here on these days, like I am living on an island paradise.