My Eraser - January 31

When I think about my packing – and what got tossed on the way – I am surprisingly grateful for two things that were in my suitcase - my plastic pencil sharpener and my big eraser. The Ashram suggested bringing “office supplies” if we thought we would use them so I tucked these in along with scissors and glue. I KNOW I would have tossed the whole bag of them in Taiwan if they had been in my carry-on. Now, it was not for a noble reason that I carried the pencil sharpener and eraser – I am a sudoku fan and had tucked in 2 sudoku books. I suspected I might go through them in the 10 weeks I was here so brought the eraser so I could do them again.

Well, in reality, I haven’t done that much sudoku but have I ever needed the pencil and eraser for school! I only have one notebook with me (my intrepid Nancy Drew notebook – thank you, Jennifer) and it only has about 50 pages in it. I have to use it for all my lesson plans and ideas – and there is no way that 50 pages will be enough. So I carefully write the notes, make the plans from the notes then erase the notes so I have future pages to use. I have NEVER done this at home - there is so much paper available - I fill my recycle container every week with lots of paper. Granted, I often use both sides of paper but this is recycling on a level I never thought about. But with my trusty eraser and pencil sharpener (and my 4 pencils) I have options for my remaining 7 weeks. Now, before I get too holier-than-thou about recycling, let me remind you where I bought the sharpener and eraser – I was NOT out recycling and helping the poor. I was luxuriating in the glory of Monet’s garden at Giverny and at the Marmottan (spelling not sure) museum in Paris – both had great gift shops. I bought them for India – but never dreamed how much use they would get. If either gets lost or breaks – I am in trouble. Well, I could go into town and buy a pencil and a notebook with really cheap paper – I couldn’t erase it, though, it will tear. My notebook has great paper by India standards.

By the way, the children look at my Nancy Drew notebook every day. They watch me open it and refer to it when writing on the board. One softly stroked it.