Comments on: august: notes on pico iyer http://patriciazaballos.com/2009/09/08/august-notes-on-pico-iyer/ where a mother tries to cultivate creativity and a sense of wonder in her kids—and does a whole lot of wondering herself in the process Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:36:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: patricia http://patriciazaballos.com/2009/09/08/august-notes-on-pico-iyer/comment-page-1/#comment-1102 patricia Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:52:36 +0000 http://patriciazaballos.com/?p=1345#comment-1102 You lived in Russia for a year?! Holy smokes, you just get more interesting with every comment! I feel a little guilty accepting gratitude for distilling these essayists for you. It's a very selfish project. Posting here keeps me diligent, and makes me put thought into what I write. But I'm doing it because I'm hoping I'll have learned something by the end of the year. It seems almost ridiculous to think that anyone else would enjoy reading these posts--but if you're reading and you've learned something then, dang, that's satisfying! You lived in Russia for a year?! Holy smokes, you just get more interesting with every comment!

I feel a little guilty accepting gratitude for distilling these essayists for you. It’s a very selfish project. Posting here keeps me diligent, and makes me put thought into what I write. But I’m doing it because I’m hoping I’ll have learned something by the end of the year. It seems almost ridiculous to think that anyone else would enjoy reading these posts–but if you’re reading and you’ve learned something then, dang, that’s satisfying!

]]> By: susan http://patriciazaballos.com/2009/09/08/august-notes-on-pico-iyer/comment-page-1/#comment-1101 susan Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:21:52 +0000 http://patriciazaballos.com/?p=1345#comment-1101 I really like that last quotation. When I was 21 I lived in Russia for a year. For the last 4 months I spoke almost no English. My English actually got rusty. I couldn't remember the words for everyday objects. Once at the American embassy my English was so bad that the guard scrutinized my passport thinking it was a fake. I had a profound sense of self-alienation. Different from the one Iyer describes, but the image of the language sneaking off and returning a stranger is wonderful. And the jet-lagged eye seeing only the reflections of signs in puddles. I have had that feeling of being jetlagged and dazzled by lights and unable to make sense of anything. Thank you for distilling all these essayists into a few wonderful quotations for us. I feel I have learned something from your project. I really like that last quotation. When I was 21 I lived in Russia for a year. For the last 4 months I spoke almost no English. My English actually got rusty. I couldn’t remember the words for everyday objects. Once at the American embassy my English was so bad that the guard scrutinized my passport thinking it was a fake. I had a profound sense of self-alienation. Different from the one Iyer describes, but the image of the language sneaking off and returning a stranger is wonderful.

And the jet-lagged eye seeing only the reflections of signs in puddles. I have had that feeling of being jetlagged and dazzled by lights and unable to make sense of anything.

Thank you for distilling all these essayists into a few wonderful quotations for us. I feel I have learned something from your project.

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