And Then It Was Spring

The air has been biting-cold for so long that I forgot I was living in a semi-desert region. Then last night, as I stepped outside after dumping my laundry into the dryer, I braced myself for the familiar, unpleasant jolt of wintery, chilly, icy, shivery, bitterly- but it never came. Instead a pleasantly warm, almost tropical breeze blew languorously over my face and hands, skimming over the hills with their deadened grass, over the plants with their drooping leaves, and ruffling the sheer curtains hung over the open balconies. Wake up, wake up! whispered the tropical breeze. I felt a bit like our man Adam must have felt when God blew his own hot (hopefully minty-fresh) breath into him to bring him to life. 

And then it was spring.

The next day, today, I had to leave my heavy red coat off and it was still too hot, so after lunch, I returned with flip-flops on for my last hour of teaching before spring break. And because it was the last hour before break, instead of teaching, Mr. Tom and I sat in the front of the classroom in the little kiddy chairs, entertaining the little kindergarten babies with our guitars until one of them, Shahan, fell asleep with his head lolling all the way back over his chair and his mouth open like a fish. I almost got out my camera to take a picture, but decided to let him be while all the others ganged up on him and helped him put his head more comfortably on the table. He slept through the entire thing. As for my last day with the 2nd graders, I taught them about prime numbers today, the basic building-blocks of numbers. 

"You can break down any number into these prime numbe-"

And then the bell rang. 

Goodbye kids! Hello Oman! Hello beach, sun, and sea! And castles and cliffs and fortresses and wadis! And men wearing flowing white robes that match the sands and the glistening white capital city, Muscat! Hello Sarah and Jin!