YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett

Why did I call the place that I go to college that? Because a lot of people there in fact ARE being re:educated! I am being re:educated essentially for the third time.

Sometimes it's learning stuff I failed to learn for whatever reason earlier in life.
Basic math for example.
Other times it's building on knowlege I already have, that would be Spanish class, and some of the courses like medical terminology.
Other things really are about totally new stuff, like computer keyboarding, I didn't always know how to type on this thing you know!
Soem of the best stuff is that there are actually good teachers at this little college,
Mr. Pinon, Mr. Bill, Ms Whitcomb, Mr. Mayo, Mr. Rudnik who isn't here anymore, Mr. Huyk, Mr. Koestler, Ms. Warren, Ms Ivy, and the other wonderful people in Allied Health, and people in the office like Mark and Bob! You guys ROCK!
The list is long and honorable as far as the instructors go.
Then there's the cast of wack characters, Brat, Paige, Trinity, Cathy, Karen A.M. Ian, Josh, J.T.Juanna, Kristy, and the Lawyer.. then there's the book store crew, and the people who work around the campus, mostly really good people.

I've been very lucky to go there, especially at this late point in my life.
Even my fiance was once a student there, he took ESL with Teacher Mary as many call her.
Hardly a facet of my life has been untouched by that place in the last three years. Let's face it going to school is all consuming!
I ahve not seriously cleaned house in 3 years! I began to over this last break, because I was sure my carreer there was over. I figured it was time to clean things out. Now I am devoting one day a week just to throwing out the accumulation of paper. To folding up clothes I can no longer wear, givign away books I read long ago. I even have donated old text books that I won't need, that I could not sell.
So what is a typical day? Last quarter it was dragging myself to an upright position, going to brush my teeth and getting into the computer based classes and reading my books.
This quarter it has been getting up early dressing, brushing my teeth, and packing lunch and a breakfast. Even though I'm only a couple blocks off campus I prefer to stay there until class is over for me t hat day. I do homework, I can get help from table mates very often. I eat in their company, and we are a source of mutual support and sillyness.
The new look of my blog was the gift of a table mate!
So how did this table start?
I was ionvited to the Table.
I was angry with my fiance for not writing. I was composing a really angry nastygram about his total neglect of me, and his total rotteness in not writing. I was in a BAD mood. I was looking stuff up in my handy dandy Bosnian dictionary. Trying to figure out if it was the right word really.. trying at the same time not to be TOO nasty and mean.
A woman sat at my table. She was very obviously a Muslim person, a light skinned Black person, hijab, jilbab. I was busy writing and really didn't notice her at first. She passed me a note.
The note said 'Hi My name is Aisha Do you speak English?' I realized she'd made a common mistake in thinking that just because I'm not from this gulag, I'm totally a foreign person. So anyway I decided maybe we both needed a good laugh.
I wrote 'Hi my name is Katja and I speak very good English!' and put a smiley face!
She read it and we both laughed and spoke with each other.
So every morning I sat with her, and a couple other women who have since graduated.
She had a lot of challenges, being Muslim in this country after Sept 11 was no picnic, also she has a son and he was then serving in Iraq, he was an Arabic translator interpreter. She was of course worried sick for him.
I remember one day when we spoke.
It was awkward.
I remembered saying "I don't know what yoru views on the war are, I think we both probably think it's a bad thing in many ways..but your son is in a position to save lives, both American lives and Arab lives. He can help a lot. I'll pray for him"
Her feeling were something I could not begin to imagine. I still pray for her son, and think of her and her family.
They moved away, to be near relatives. No one has heard from her since.
Still she is who started the table, by inviting people to sit there. We'd do our homework, tip each other off to ways to make our lives better, comfort one another, horse around, tell sick jokes. All that stuff.
EAch of us invited other people to sit at the table.
I've learned as much from the people I usually sit with as I have in classes.
Aisha isn't the real name of this lady. But whereever she is, she started something really cool and those of us who began sitting together because of her have not forgottten her...
Whereever she is I hope she's o.k. I hope her son is ok and made it back o.k.

Usually my day is very simple this quarter.