Beware of the Orange

Beware of the orange,
For in his bright peel
Is acid so strong
It will make your throat peel.
And how does that feel?
Not too good. Pretty bad.
Why ate I an orange?
Twasn't all that I had--
I had grapes and bananas,
Tomatoes and bread,
But for some strange reason
I had "orange" in my head.
I removed the orange part
(But not quite enough)
Trying to save
The nutritious white stuff,
Leaving some of the dents,
And that was my error,
For d-limonene
To me is a terror.

I have this weird way of peeling an orange. I use a knife. But if you don't get down to the smooth white part, you can get some pretty strong acid-y stuff. I have heard of orange peel being used as an acne remedy, a heartburn remedy, a de-greaser, and a stain remover. (But not necessarily straight from the orange.) My experience is that it burns! My throat started burning immediately, and within an hour I had all the symptoms of the flu. Maybe it was an allergic reaction. By evening it was affecting my breathing. But I had a good night's sleep and today I am much better.

This is the second week of Hebrew level 3. As in the last level, we have two days with a slow teacher and two days with a fast teacher. Or rather, one teacher speaks moderately fast and the other speaks extremely fast. There are two new countries represented, Finland and Czech Republic. There is one super-brain in the class who knows all the answers and gets them out before anyone else has a chance to think. A bit annoying. So far I have written a story and an essay. I like doing this, and look forward to getting papers back with red marks all over them. That's how you learn--make lots of mistakes!

"Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again." Franklin P. Jones