marking

Im doing some marking at the moment at school. Im always doing marking actually but this particular marking made me realise something...

The students, who are generally on the ball, do not understand the exercise I am currently marking. Usually the bell curve is fully functional when it comes to the ability and results of the kids - a suprising number of them 'got' the kristov kyslofsky comprehension, some not so much. anyway, with this particualr exercise they're all just bombing out. doesnt make a word of sense to them and therefore, their answers make buggerall sense to me.

so I am not so much marking, as filling in their answer sheets over and over again with the correct answers. writing the same lines over and over again. Writing lines! I am writing lines!

why? what did i do wrong?

Miyajima

The lack of posts is not indicative of me doing so much that I have no time to write, nor of me doing so little there is nothing to write about. Last weekend I spent in Hiroshima city again with Agnes and Jamie, South African friends. Talking to them about nothing in particular - using slang from home, comparing our lives here and speculating...nay gossiping about people at home - all this was immensely gratifying, like a hot stone massage, deeply good for you. We went to Miyajima - the island known for its enourmous red shrine gate or Torii, you'll know it when you see it. Its touted as one of the top three sites in Japan, and man, they arent kidding. THe island seems to have magic in it. I couldnt describe it better than imagine disneyland if it was real and 600 years old. deep old magic. but lighthearted. a pretty rubbish description, sorry. The Torii are this fantastic matte orange. We went at low tide (they are built in the sea) so we could walk right up to them and get that worms eye view of their enourmousness. There is also a breaktaking Pagoda on the island - that same fierce orange colour that, combined with white looks extremely modern, hard to believe they are over 500 years old. I realised that these were probably the oldest buildings I have ever seen, making them some of the oldest man made things I have ever seen. The highlight of the island for me though was an unfinished temple on a hill (arrived at by a pretty painful stone stairway). It was a deeply calm place, all a made of wood worn smooth from 100s of years of socked feet. Like with Shukkein garden what I liked so about this temple was how people used the space. People were quiet in the temple but it did not feel as if the building imposed the silence on you - like you were walking on eggshells. Instead, the architecture, textures and light had such a soothing effect on one that silence was welcome and natural. I wish I could describe it better than that! I have hesitated to write about Miyajima because any explanation or description just cannot achieve any sense of the place. Please come and visit me and I will take you there so you can see it for yourself.

Oh! to add to the magic, there are bambies everywhere. those little deer with spots on their arse. Tame as anyhting. There are even signs up saying they'll eat your camera case if you arent careful...

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