The Education of the Anonymous Short Ones

Scene 1:

Anonymous Youngest Child: (reading his science book) "Oh, that's why I have spit in my mouth. I always wondered why I had spit in my mouth."

Anonymous Little Sister: "Saliva, Youngest Child. Saliva."

Week three of the Education of the Anonymous Short People has begun.Though their science books are different, they run along similar tracks, so right now they are both learning about...digestion! Oh yeah, it's that exciting. What else would cause a ten-year-old to spend the entire time she was eating lunch trying to swallow holding onto her tongue (to see if she could because her book said she couldn't) and an eight-year-old to stare at a mirror saying "aaaaaahhhhhhhh" for a good five minutes in order to see his uvula (that thing that hangs down in the back of your throat that you always see when cartoon characters scream)

Scene 2:

Anonymous Youngest Child is staring out of the window instead of concentrating like a good little boy should on his lovely little math lesson.

Me: (fearing another school day iiinnnncccchhhiiinng till 4 o'clock) Youngest Child? Hey! Youngest Child! (he jumps, startled.) Can I close the curtain for you so that you don't get distracted and stare out the window?

Anonymous Youngest Child: (eyes wide in horror) No! That wouldn't help! If you did that then I would just stare at the curtain!

Anonymous Little Sister: (from across the room) Youngest Child, you are so weird.

Scene 3:

Setting: School Room/Parent's Room. Anonymous Youngest Child is working at his desk. I am sitting on the bed grading math. Anonymous Little Sister is on the floor cutting up magazines for a project about eating good food. Rain falls steadily into the flooded street in the background.

Aononymous Youngest Child: (reading his science book) "Speaking of digestion, I really need to go to the bathroom!" (he jumps up and runs out of the room. Little Sister and I exchange a Glance.)

Yes, we are still in the mysterious world of digestion. We've moved away from the mouth and are now learning all about the amazing, wonderous tube known as the small intestine, which we discovered is 23 ft. long. The large intestine is only about 7ft. long. So then we had to figure out why they gave them such misnomers...trust me, you don't want to know. But Youngest Child did. I just want to stop moving along. It's getting kind of gross. Why don't people photosynthesize?
It's still raining.

And that was just science.

Ben left today to live on his own. I miss him. He's teaching English over near Phaya Thai, about 40 minutes away from me over here in Bang Na. To get there you take a mini pickup truck down to the main road (from the soi to the thanon) and then a bus to the skytrain. Then you take the skytrain from On Nut to Phaya Thai and walk across the intersection. The whole trip costs around $1.25 (cheaper if you take an un-airconditioned bus.)
Now I have a bad headache, probably another sinus thing brought on by the nasty smog the stupid buses create. But I'll drink water and if it gets bad enough, take meds...though that will knock me out good.