The Sub's Way

Wow. It's been awhile. I've been severely chastised by my family for not posting about my adventures as a Substitute Teacher (for 7th grade a few weeks ago and Kindergarten last friday). I will say in my defense that I had typed up a post but the computer froze and I had to restart. Suffice it to say I'm a mean sub, mostly because the kids guessed that I was 29 (a perfectly wonderful age, but nine years later than mine). I also had to write my name on the board, "Miss M______" which made me laugh because it was such a substitute thing to do. They tried the Name Switch Game. Maybe they thought I was never in Junior High, hasn't everyone at one point tried that on their sub? I mean, it's so obvious when you ask a kid "What's your name" and they say "snicker snicker McKayla.....snicker snicker" and look at the girl next to them and poke them and tell them to shutup. "Yeah" I said, "What's your REAL name?" One girl asked me if she could call me Miss Mish, and I asked her what her name was "Layla," I then asked her if I could call her "La" and that shut her up. Yes, I was that evil. Kindergarten was much more my speed. The kids didn't want to know how old I was or if I were married, had kids, how many, did I go to college, what are my grades, is my boyfriend tall and what kind of car do I drive? I had to do the whole 3 hours, and was basically their teacher and helped them through their "centers" and took them outside. They were very cute, and knew their routine pretty well and so were able to help me out. At that age their pretty bad at lying, so when one girl told me that the teacher usually lets them eat their snacks in the library, I asked her "really?" and she said "uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...yeah!" The length of the uhhhhhhh is actually the amount of time it takes for them to compare the lie with the truth and decide that they want to have the lie. I could almost hear her thinking "We're supposed to eat our snack at our tables, but I want to eat in the library and look at a book. I know! I'll tell Miss M that Mrs. S usually lets us eat in the library! She'll never know!" uhhhhhhhhh... I returned home at 3:30 absolutely dead, even my room mate noticed how uncharacteristically quiet I was. I think God is trying to tell me not to go into education.

So I'm back at school after a blissfully unproductive Spring Break. Yes, I went nowhere, did (almost) nothing and slept in until 9 four times. It was most excellent. There were some highlights though:

Sunday: went to the Community Gathering to meet up with my room mate's sister to follow her to her house for dinner afterwards (complicated, I know). That was fun, I experienced a new food trick: Saltine's with beef and mustard (beef from the veggie beef stew they made). It was quite delicious.

Monday: went to a family's house for dinner and to practice guitar with Jim (father). It was a lot of fun, they have a great family. It made me less homesick because Jim read to the family during dinner from a christian book and then led a discussion about the chapter. It reminded me of similar occurrences at the M. Household back in the day. I attempted to stay up "late" and made it until 11:06.

Tuesday: sleeping. Also I ran on the treadmill for an hour, almost died, and sweated out the equivalent of the Pacific Ocean in my new (cheap) running pants that are sometimes black and sometime navy blue, depending on the light and the price of eggs.

Wednesday: Work then Library trip!! I walked out with 6 books and 8 movies. Dangerous.

Thursday: sleeping. Then went to the gym with Sandy to workout and sweat in my Navy Black pants and new Uniboob bra (and shirt...).

Friday: work...all...day...kids...thousands...so many...then Fish Fry!! with some community families! Including the Monday Family, where a bunch of us went afterwards for an impromptu movie night. We watched the new Yours, Mine and Ours which was a much better remake than Cheaper by the Dozen, and the Pacifier, ahhh, punching and thin plotline, doesn't get much better. I also accidentally made myself coffee, I thought it was hot chocolate mix, but it ended up being cappucino mix (decaf no less!) so I drank it because I didn't want to be rude.

Saturday: sleep....then community potluck for dinner at the Monday's! I made my first solo appearance playing guitar since Jim had had thumb surgery, it was pretty scary and I messed up a few times but only Jim noticed. Two other UCO kids came and we watched War of the Worlds with the family after everyone else left. I held onto a pillow and screamed louder than the 12 year old Becca. After that, "Jane" and "Joe" and I (names changed to protect privacy) went back to the Guy's house and played darts for a while before driving to pick "Bill" from his work. Bill and Joe then decided that they were starving so we stopped at Meijers where they procured two packages of brats and buns, which we grilled on their porch while smoking cigars (Jane declined). The fun wound down around 1 AM and Jane drove me home (after driving past a car we all thought was engaged in that popular pasttime of "Parking," the second we drove past their lights came on and they started the car...heh heh).

Sunday: sleep...then Mass (ahhh, gather hymnal). Then UCO where I played guitar with another dude, we had fun picking songs out because the Lansing gang forgot to bring songbooks, so we were trying to find songs that everyone knew. Yes, we sang "Lord I lift your Name on High." Then we went to Papa Johns for food/drinks/fun. I called my Spring Break officially Dead at 11:05 pm.

And there you have it. My week in a nutcase. Of course, there were a few hours here and there wherein I created 21 new squares for my quilt. So, work was accomplished, but not in a pletherous amount.

Signing off, wishing you all a good day and I'll email you soon Cute Blonde Sister.