Off to Israel

Ok Folks... so goes my attempt at a blog. For those of you who know me well... this may not work. For those of you who have yet to understand my sheer lack of enthusiasm in the world of writing... THIS WILL BE AN AMAZING BLOG..

Tomorrow I go to Israel on a Teach For America/ Birthright adventure. I hope to find myself, my people and perhaps some great new friends.

Stay tuned :)

Incident Report

Wednesday April 22 - 11:47 pm - let the quiet time begin.

Today a reflection; a brief, a tantalizing, a delicious taste of 11th grade insanity.

To begin we must take a step back in time; we must return (though i shudder to think of it) to one early morning not so long ago when two idiotic, hormone dripping 17 year old boys had the audacity to test the wits of the Friendship Collegiate Academy staff. 

The Facts:

12:20 am- After watching two boys run like mad dogs down the hallway of our hotel monday night, Ms. Bunney and I decided that tuesday night would be a sleepless but altogether successful event. Yes, this night was going to be an event, an occurrence, a noteworthy evening. 

10:30- 1:00 am- Hiding in various corners of the third floor hallway of our hotel Ms. Bunney and I take our seats watching the girls floor. The girls floor is five hotel rooms filled with eleventh grade girls. Each girl has her own agenda. one thing is clear, NO GUESTS. One thing is certain, WE DONT WANT TO HEAR IT.

two things happen:

1. we heard it. we heard it all. we heard the music, we heard the laughing, we smelled the flat iron.  It was as if I was watching a movie blindfolded.  

2. Guests appeared. sneaking, tip-toeing, tripping their way past our seats they attempted, pleaded, called and whispered to get into those rooms. 

Side note:

High school boys are silly.   They are wired all wrong. They do not pick up hints, don't remember clues and their one-route to nowhere minds really got the best of them tuesday evening. 

12:30am - As Ms. Bunney held firmly onto his arm, our culprit and his partner made the best of a bad situation. Having been caught red handed at the door of the stares, both boys ran like the wind. unfortunately when you are nearing 250 pounds, running doesn't hide you.  Honestly, catching these boys was like stealing candy from a baby. 

Side note:

High School boys are relentless. We were up well past 2 am.

And so it goes:

Tonight we have a new plan. tonight we hand picked our most popular, well respected girls to do our jobs for us.  After a full day of college tours, headaches, vomiting and some seriously over-excited young men (yeah its what you think), the girls sat those young men down and had it out.

9:45 pm- We are tired of this they cried! Tired of losing our free time! Tired of being blamed for someone else's bad mood, everlasting love, general irresponsibility. 

Yup, high school kids understand one another. This talk was effective. The girls patrolled our halls, took cell-phones, confiscated ipods. Boys swore, sucked their teeth and then went to their rooms. its been one hour and i have not seen a single boy. Happy me.

Somewhere in the back of my mind however, I am well aware that when 2 am roles around the thump of boy feet will stop me from whatever it is i am doing. I will take my post, arms ready to grab at whatever silly child has decided that we are not serious. 

That will be a good moment. If it doesn't happen... well wont that be fantastic. 

West Virginia, Mountain Mama...Take Me Home

Ha, the joys of the eleventh grade college trip. 41 of DC's finest young men and women and two to four rather incompetent teachers sure makes for a great time. 

Let us begin with the facts shall we? 

5:30 am- i arrive, fresh and clean, at the minnesota ave. metro stop. 

7:30 am- All chaperones have FINALLY arrived. I wave goodbye to city life in search of the bright goodness of the West Virginia, land of promise, land of mountains. I also decided to take attendance. Oddly enough, about 10 of the 41 students on our trip were supposed to be going to Ohio... why are they with me I wonder? Too late for that one. 

8 am- it became clear that the rain in DC was a joke compared to the rain in what must be virginia. Driving at 30 mph through thick fog up the side of a mountain is probably the most excruciating driving experience one can possibly have.

9:45 am- we arrived in Pennsylvania... yeah, Pennsylvania. It's funny, I might expect that the most important thing to tell the bus driver is the state one is visiting, as well as the colleges being toured within that state. Apparently this fact was overlooked. Well done high-school admin. 

Thus, 3 hours, 1 rest stop and 41 overtired 17 year olds later we arrived at Potomac State University in middle 'o nowhere West Virginia. They serve us lunch... we pay... everyone is a little ticked that our free meal now coasts $5.85... ahh those fantastic plans we never made.

Potomac State is an offset of Virginia State University. It is a two year college dedicated to helping students gain the skills they need to succeed in a larger university atmosphere in the future. 

Good idea

Predictably however, at 12:30 in the afternoon one short lecture really did not cut it for the vast majority. I must admit however, I am constantly impressed by the levels of maturity that these kids can show. Even if they were not interested, all 41 students sat quietly and listened actively as a short man in a blue suite discussed the reasons why "Potomac State is the place for you!"

1:00 pm- back on the bus. by this time we have gone through 1 and 1/2 movies (who wants to watch the whole thing when you could just put on a new one!). Little do we know we will not get off the bus until a whopping 7 HOURS later.

Daily Highlights- 

1. Marly and Me is not a movie that eleventh graders from the middle of DC want to finish watching.

2. House Bunny is a completely inappropriate, very funny film with a nice quote: "compassion is like love with its boots on"... 

3. I am Legend has the power to make me jump in my seat. Logically, I am Legend has the power to bring a group of 10 eleventh graders to their knees as they watch me jump around like a caffeinated mouse.

4. Truffle Expresso Mocha's from Starbucks are delicious!

and lastly 

5. I cannot watch more than 5 movies in one day, so don't try me.

all in all, long day. Overall feeling... tired. Major reflection: do not leave kids on a bus for 12 hours unless you want to get angry at them for no good reason while sitting in the Golden Corral.