So for privacy reasons I'm not really supposed to post pictures of my students or probably talk about them online much... which is too bad because I've honestly had so many funny moments that I would have liked to share that are quickly forgotten because they are just far too innumerable. Haha. But I can't stand it anymore. I'm breaking down and putting something up tonight.... Just a little thing, but too cute really... If only I'd had a video camera...
One of my littlest guys, barely over 2 — but obsessed with music and dancing — was at the toilet yesterday directly next to the long mirror that stretches over the little trough sink where they all wash their hands. His little bum is exposed and I glanced over to check that he was doing ok while all the other kids rushed past to dry their hands on the paper towel. Blinking with some surprise I saw that he was pursing his lips at himself in the mirror. At first it was just a little smooch, almost like an exaggerated pout, but it quickly grew more outrageous. I couldn't help but laugh. I mean he seemed like he was flirting with himself in the mirror — all the while at the urinal with his little buck-naked butt showing — and it was like he KNEW how cute he was because instead of sparing me a glance he got even more ridiculous: pursing his lips, smooching, and then poking one cheek with a finger and tilting his head to the side....
Oh for a camera.... Haha. I have moments like that with him a lot, though — like the time he started doing the exercise time choreo to Chris Brown Yeah 3x all by himself! In front of the whole class...our little dancing machine...
Last week one of my favorite little guys was gone all week because he was sick, but yesterday he was back and the first thing he did when he saw me walking past the classroom he was waiting in was to let out a loud, "Teacher Alyce!!!!!!!" as he came flying out of the room to throw his arms around my legs in a big hug....
It's the moments like that when they catch me off guard that they manage to chip away at my reserve and germ-phobias and take little chunks of my heart, bit-by-reluctant-bit. Little charmers — puke and drool and snot and all — still manage to steal your affection somehow. I let them hug me the other day at the beginning of class, cause I thought about how I will miss them later — because there's no denying I will — and the way some of them launched themselves at me with face-splitting grins was heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time.. It'd be easier in some ways if they hadn't managed to worm their way into my heart, steal my affection, and make me swell with pride whenever they do something good. They are a great bunch of kids. I really hope whoever gets them down the road will appreciate that...I'm really glad I got to meet them, even when they make me frustrated and make me want to bang my head against the wall, it's still been so great to spend time with them... I know they'll forget me, but I don't think I'll ever forget any of them....
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Rat Race.....Literally....
So... Yesterday was Friday the 13th and it definitely ended up being a bit of a Freaky Friday...
I was walking to work at about 3:15 in the afternoon — broad daylight — plugged into my ipod enjoying Digital Daggers when I started to cross a busy intersection less than a block from work. It's on a main road of downtown with a large McDonalds on one corner and a weird KTV place on the other with a silhouette style neon light sign of a woman in a martini glass. Nothing dingy, or "dark, back alley" about the area.
And I'd just like to reiterate it was broad daylight.
I'm almost halfway across the four lane intersection walking on the white pedestrian stripes of the walkway when I start to notice some high-pitched female voices and sounds of surprise behind me so I glance back. There are two women huddling close to each other kind of giggling nervously and looking at something on the ground right behind me and I realize that other people walking behind me are also looking so I glance down and my brain comes to a stuttering halt.
There, less than two feet behind me is a big, fat rat.
Bouncing like Pepe Le Pew. Right behind me. Like a dog chasing my heels, just rapidly hopping along the ped-walk with everyone else. Except everybody else was BEHIND him, where as I was IN FRONT of him and being FOLLOWED. And he wasn't skittering like they do in the movies, no he was HOPPING; full out HOPPING.
And at first, as my brain ceased to function I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then I realized that it was real; there really was a rat bounding after me across the ped-walk and it just kept COMING. The next thought that crossed my brain was: I'm wearing flip-flops — what if it got really close and something scared it and it decided to bite me? Probably not a likely thing, the rat biting me, but I couldn't help but think about it. So I decided, "Ok Alyce, don't freak out, just walk a little faster so you can put some more space between yourself and Mr. Rat."
Giggling awkwardly and making eye contact with my fellow road-crossers — who were also giggling awkwardly — I start walking more briskly.
But then, so does Mr. Rat. His hopping speeds up and then I can't help it, I start jogging across the intersection and he speeds up to keep chasing my heels. Finally when I'm thinking I am definitely going to start getting really creeped out if he keeps coming after me, he veers off and heads for the curb that we've nearly reached. Everyone giggles and points and we all share looks of "Oh, thank goodness! He's gone!"
I don't think anyone was as relieved as I was, though. But pretty quickly the hilarity of the whole situation hit me and I let out a barking laugh which quickly turned into a bubbling onslaught of laughter that I couldn't stop — it probably made me look completely mad to other passerby that had no idea what had just happened.
I never would have thought I'd be chased/followed across the street by a Pepe Le Pew wanna-be rat in the middle of the day in the downtown of a city though. I figure there are two ways to look at it: either be horrified and disgusted OR find the humor in the situation. So humor it is! But it was still freaky, and you can't convince me otherwise! Haha.
I was walking to work at about 3:15 in the afternoon — broad daylight — plugged into my ipod enjoying Digital Daggers when I started to cross a busy intersection less than a block from work. It's on a main road of downtown with a large McDonalds on one corner and a weird KTV place on the other with a silhouette style neon light sign of a woman in a martini glass. Nothing dingy, or "dark, back alley" about the area.
And I'd just like to reiterate it was broad daylight.
I'm almost halfway across the four lane intersection walking on the white pedestrian stripes of the walkway when I start to notice some high-pitched female voices and sounds of surprise behind me so I glance back. There are two women huddling close to each other kind of giggling nervously and looking at something on the ground right behind me and I realize that other people walking behind me are also looking so I glance down and my brain comes to a stuttering halt.
There, less than two feet behind me is a big, fat rat.
Bouncing like Pepe Le Pew. Right behind me. Like a dog chasing my heels, just rapidly hopping along the ped-walk with everyone else. Except everybody else was BEHIND him, where as I was IN FRONT of him and being FOLLOWED. And he wasn't skittering like they do in the movies, no he was HOPPING; full out HOPPING.
And at first, as my brain ceased to function I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then I realized that it was real; there really was a rat bounding after me across the ped-walk and it just kept COMING. The next thought that crossed my brain was: I'm wearing flip-flops — what if it got really close and something scared it and it decided to bite me? Probably not a likely thing, the rat biting me, but I couldn't help but think about it. So I decided, "Ok Alyce, don't freak out, just walk a little faster so you can put some more space between yourself and Mr. Rat."
Giggling awkwardly and making eye contact with my fellow road-crossers — who were also giggling awkwardly — I start walking more briskly.
But then, so does Mr. Rat. His hopping speeds up and then I can't help it, I start jogging across the intersection and he speeds up to keep chasing my heels. Finally when I'm thinking I am definitely going to start getting really creeped out if he keeps coming after me, he veers off and heads for the curb that we've nearly reached. Everyone giggles and points and we all share looks of "Oh, thank goodness! He's gone!"
 |
| "Join me for a dance, darling?" |
I never would have thought I'd be chased/followed across the street by a Pepe Le Pew wanna-be rat in the middle of the day in the downtown of a city though. I figure there are two ways to look at it: either be horrified and disgusted OR find the humor in the situation. So humor it is! But it was still freaky, and you can't convince me otherwise! Haha.
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