I'm trying

I just finished 21 days straight of work. Well, it's not so bad, now I have two weeks off. And most days, except on the weekends I was finished at 2:00 pm.

During the week I supervised a summer learning camp. And, like last year I taught a short (15 minute) yoga session in between classes. This part of the day gave me such energy. Warm fuzzies. It was so rewarding to see the students so relaxed lying on the floor in savasanna (corpse pose) concentrating on their breath. Every student said that this was his/her favorite pose. This gave me so much hope that they will take this practice with them and use it throughout their lives. It makes me want to learn more about teaching yoga to kids. This is where yoga should start. It's not all about having a toned body and wearing the latest trendy yoga gear.

And then on the past three weekends I taught a seminar about teaching English. Most of my students were young adults wanting to travel and teach ESL. But one of them had a doctorate in linguistics and had lectured in universities in India. At first I was a little worried that I would have nothing to offer her in this course. She is highly educated but like so many recent immigrants could not find a job in her field because of government regulations. Anyway, after the first day I could see , though she was an expert in grammar, she did not know the best teaching practices. But that's not the point. Highly educated, and well read in the classics, she taught me a few things too. One day I came in to class and I was extremely sore and tired from my yoga class the day before. She told me that doesn't happen if I practice yoga every day. So I asked her about yoga in India and she said that people learn it at home, at school, from a very young age.

Sometimes I think I can't teach this class anymore. It's so intense and it's on the weekends. But every time I teach it I meet such interesting people and I learn from them as well.

Okay, what to do for my holiday now?

Friends who I have emailed and only reply with jokes, youtube videos and weird chain letters.

Caster Semenya the world champion gold medalist in the women's 800 metre has been accused of being a man, and so must undergo sex testing. Her family and village in South Africa have totally come to her defense.



So, yes, she does look quite masculine. And from articles I have read about her, she had often been teased as a child for looking like a boy. This is something I can relate to as I had very short hair as a young girl, and a stocky athletic build. I remember in grade 6 some lovely classmates came up to me and told me that they had though I was a boy, until of course they saw me in the gym change room. I don't have that problem now. But there have been a couple times when dressed up for Halloween I've been hit on by women thinking I was a man, and more than once by men thinking I was a man. (No, you can't be a woman, look at your legs!)

Anyway. All I can say is I know how she feels.







Well, lets look at some other athletes shall we? Marion Jones.
Hmm. She even looks bigger than Caster. Of course we now know that Jones was on steroids. Steroids don't make a woman a man do they? Or do they?










And lets look at Serena Williams. Huge in every way. Bigger biceps than most men and bigger breasts than most women. What does that make her?

























Oh, and look at Canada's male 800 champion, Gary Reed. Funny, he looks smaller than these women, and funny, he kind of looks like Caster. Oh, but on closer inspection he has something that's a wee bit bigger.

Training suit

Racing suit