Oh Yeah...

Teacher of the month... ME!!!! Next step, total world domination=)

Locked up Abroad Lesson # 1: “Don’t Take Packages from Strangers"

I have waited my entire life, all 25 years of it, to visit South America. And finally, my dream is about to come true. I will be spending 12 days in November basking in the beauty and culture of Chile and Peru. I will take in the sights, eat way more than I should, and carry a copy of Pablo Neruda’s “20 love poems and a song of despair” everywhere I go. My kids are oddly afraid that I am going to end up in prison in Chile or Peru and not make it back for finals. Now, as I am wondering what to wear, how much to pack and whether or not to bring a flat iron, my students decided to impart some thug life knowledge on me to help me survive the rough streets of Santiago. So they have over the past few days compiled a list of tips to help me through my adventure.

1. Don’t take packages from strangers (apparently drug traffickers prey on unsuspecting / stupid / too nice to say no tourists. I’m not really sure which of the above listed qualities my student was implying that I possess…).

2. Never let your drink out of your sight. One minute your drinking a soda and the next thing you know, your gonna wake up in a crappy hotel room tub packed in ice with a note thanking you for your kidney (one of my students has a cousin, who has an uncle, who has a friend, whose daughter had that happen to her).

3. Don’t talk to strangers. Randomly in conversations over the past 2 months I have had this delightful comment made to me by several of my kids, “Don’t talk to strangers, your gonna get kidnapped. Green eyes sell big on the black market, you know…” No, I didn’t. But thanks for that tid-bit of information that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

4. Write a will (or to make things easy, just give my stuff away before I go and buy all new stuff when I get back).

5. Learn to do a choke hold, just in case someone does try to kidnap me.

Instructions

• Step 1:

Thrust your chin to your chest the instant you feel someone trying to put you in a sleeper choke hold. If your chin is on your chest they will not be able to get their arm around your throat and won't be able to render you unconscious. (okay, so chin down…)

• Step 2:

Reach up with both hands. Place the hand closest to the attacker's hand on his choking arm over his hand. Place the other hand on the elbow of the choking arm. Both of your hands should be on the attacker's arm that is around your head. (really, both hands on the attackers arm? You mean asking them politely won’t make them stop???)

• Step 3:

Squeeze the pressure point near the elbow. You can find this about 1 inch above the elbow. Place your thumb on one side of the arm and your middle finger on the other side. Squeeze the bone between your fingers hard. Try it on yourself. It hurts. (Pressure points…maybe I can test this out on my TA)

• Step 4:

Push the wrist on the attacker's choking arm toward his elbow. Do this by placing your hand on the back of his hand. Wrap your fingers around the meaty part of the hand beneath the attacker's thumb. Place your thumb between the knuckles of his middle and ring fingers. Push in the direction of the elbow, making sure the attacker's wrist is bending. Use the hand pressing on the pressure point near the elbow to push toward the wrist. Your hands should be pushing toward each other. The attacker will be distracted by the pain in his wrist and elbow. (I think I can do that…)

• Step 5:

Step behind the attacker by moving to the side and swinging your inside leg around him. Be sure to do this on the side of the choking arm. When you step behind him you will be facing his back. Push the choking arm up and over your head as you move behind the attacker. (okay…)

• Step 6:

Pull the attacker's arm behind him as you move behind him. This should be easy since you are holding his wrist and elbow. Once his arm is behind his back push the wrist up toward his head. Trip the attacker forward onto his face and follow him to the ground. You now have him at your mercy (seems pretty easy… and this will totally give me some street credit…)

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

What better way to waste valuable time that upload pictures of yourself and find out what celebs you look like! Can we say vain? Can we say completely addictive? I would just like to say that whoever created this should get a Noble Prize!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free family history - Vintage pics

The Masochism of Teaching… Starting a New Year and the Kids that Love You Enough to Come Back…

This past week I came to the full understanding that my profession builds masochism in seemingly normal people. It is sad really. Before becoming a teacher, I stayed away from things that I knew would hurt me, but now… I go into the year knowing full well that I will build ties and let love grow, but in the end those ties will be severed. The kids will go on, and I will be left with pictures of them as mementos of happier times. But what really kills me, is that after all of the hard work we put into them, some will realize right away that they are semi-adults. They realize that they do not need our approval for every detail of their lives. We as teachers cease to be a sounding board to them. It is masochistic because we work so hard to make them independent, but really it hurts when they are no longer dependant on us.

I don’t think most of the kids realize just how much we worry about them. But until this week, I didn’t really think about how much they, not so much worry about us, but think about us. This past week when school started, I was sent emails and texts throughout the day from former students just wanting to let me know they missed me and hoped I had a good first day. To top that off, three of my most beloved students came to see me throughout the week. And it really made me think when one of my new students remarked that “Miss Adams, your going to forget all about us in a few years…”, is that possible. All I can say is that it would be like forgetting your first love. It simply can not happen. Will I remember every child? Probably not, just as they will not remember me. But there are those, like the three that came to see me and the ones that sent me messages that I will never forget. That love can not be changed by time. And even if after this week they never call or write or visit, the memories will go on being cherished.

What it comes down to is this: for all of my students, if I had all the money in the world, I would make sure that they were cared for and that no harm could ever come to them. I wish that I could make sure that they were always safe and loved and happy. But I know I can’t, and I guess that is the masochism of teaching. We wish that we could give them the world wrapped in a beautiful package, but we can only put them on the road to find it and hope that our dreams for them and their dreams come true.

The Unthug

So today confirmed just how unthug I really was before the events of today. After accidentally locking myself out of my bedroom and thinking I could easily pick the lock, I realized that all movies that depict lock picking as an easy crime are misleading to say the least! “Not a problem!”, I thought as I found a spare Swiss army knife and hair pin. I mean seriously, I have watched every episode of MacGyver. LIARS!!! I have lost all faith in Richard Dean Anderson. The knife didn’t work, the hair pin didn’t work, and the banging on the door in frustration only left me with a strange cut on my elbow. There was blood literally smeared on the wall, it was disgusting. So what could be done? Mind you that all of my stuff (phone, computer, purse, etc.) were in my room, so I was stuck. I couldn’t even get to my phone book to contact possible thug connections, in hopes that they could walk me through the steps of picking a lock! Thankfully my mom remembered an old family friend that was a locksmith many moons ago. Very long story short, all of my brut strength and a butter knife pierced through part of the door jam, broke a nail and jimmied the lock open. How long do you think that took? 2 stinking hours of my life that I will never get back! But I am left with this realization; at 6 PM on August 5^th I was the unthug, but by 8PM I was confident that if the need should ever arise again, I was now thug enough to pick a lock.

I love This

New Room Update

I have been moved! My heart is broken... Rm. 4 is no longer mine... I have been relocated directly across from the principles office... I guess I can't throw signs to RF anymore=(. I will start moving in a little tomorrow and then get all my stuff up next week. My new theme is "Urban Jungle", any ideas?