Work, Work, Work

Early Monday morning after my birthday weekend, the phone rang. I had no idea at the time that I would go from worrying about getting substitute jobs, to hearing the sound of my cell phone at six in the morning almost daily. I wasn’t needed at the school until noon, since it was a half day assignment. Lawyerboy looked up the directions for me on the computer before he headed to school. He was starting to feel more relaxed and not scared to death in his classes. He had a lot of reading and writing to do each day when he came home, but was really enjoying it and liked his professors as well as the other students he was meeting.

I went down to the gym to work out like I had been doing every day since we moved to our apartment. I like to have a daily routine, but quickly found out with subbing, that wasn’t going to happen. I never knew what each day had in store for me. It was stressing me out. Sometimes, I would get to workout in the mornings, and other times it was when I got home from teaching. I preferred the morning, so I could get my day started right.

I didn’t have the worst experience at this school, but was happy it was only a half-day. Yet, I was feeling stressed about money and knew I needed to be working way more! I was still waiting to hear back from Super Target. It had been two weeks and I hadn’t heard anything! I started brainstorming other places I could apply.

The next morning, I got called to sub again. Lawyerboy and I went through the whole spiel of getting me directions to yet another new school. Lawyerboy showed me on the map that it was real close to Mike and Steph’s place. Finally! I had some idea of where I was headed. It was another half-day. My hours were from eight to noon. They said it was for an ELL teacher. I had to ask what that meant. She told me the acronym stood for English Language Learners. As soon as she said it, I realized I knew that, but hadn’t had to ever think about it. This just shows how naïve I was, beings I grew up where people only spoke English.

The name of the school I was sent to was Hope Academy and I had the best experience! The last sentence I wrote in my notebook for that day was, “Loved it!” The two bilingual paraprofessionals in the room were named Peter and Nou. They were super nice and helpful. They explained to me that they were Hmong and that 92% of the students at the school were Hmong. I told them I was new to the city and very green to the cultures that lived here. They were kind enough to educate me on the Hmong people and their language. As they were talking, I realized the students I had taught last week that I thought were Asian, were Hmong. Most of them were immigrants from Laos. Laos is northeast of Thailand. (Since Miss Thailand, Porntip Nakhirunkanok, won Miss Universe in 1988, I have loved Thailand and wanted to go there! Her look and language fascinated me!) The kids I taught today were in kindergarten and first grade. They were adorable. A few didn’t speak English well, so Nou would translate what I said to them and what they asked, back to me. They were eager to learn and well-behaved. I also went to two different first grade rooms to assist them with their writing activities. The teachers name in the first class was Sue. She was as sweet as could be. She and I had a great discussion about her students and she hugged me when I left. Next, I went into Kristi’s first grade class. She is from North Dakota and graduated from Minot State University, too. It really is a small world!

When I got home, I wrote an e-mail to a lot of people telling them about the great day I had. Finally! I think Lawyerboy was super happy to hear I had a good day. The best part, I got called to teach there again the next morning. It was to be the technology teacher. They had told me it would be from 7:45 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., but it was an early release day, so I was done at 1:30 and got paid for a whole day!

I had another great teaching experience this week! Getting there wasn’t fun. It was downtown St. Paul and I had to park in a specific parking ramp. I was on the phone with Lawyerboy and he was trying to be helpful, but I was lost and was not a happy girl. I don’t do well when things don’t go smoothly. I try very hard to be prepared so things like this don’t happen! I thought I understood from his directions before I left what I was doing. I got mixed up and called Lawyerboy. Let’s just say I couldn’t understand why trying to explain to me where to drive when Lawyerboy wasn’t with me was such a hard task for him! He knew the area better than me, for heaven’s sake! Now I have common sense, so clearly that would be hard to do! However, in the moment, I needed him to help and he couldn’t understand from my explanation where I was. I snapped “I’ll figure it out!” and hung up. I did figure it out. Of course Lawyerboy kept trying to call me back because he wants to help and make sure I am okay. I was annoyed and had to concentrate on what I was doing. I called him back when I was safely out of the car and walking. I do much better at walking in the city than driving. It will get easier, right?

I was told the school was at the Landmark Center. I walked into the entrance of the building to find this huge, open area with chairs set up as though a conference was going to be held there. Luckily, someone was at the entrance and asked if they could help me. I told them I was looking for a school and they told me to walk towards the back of the room and take the elevator up to the fifth floor. I hate elevators. I took the many flights of stairs up.

It took awhile for the secretary to locate the sub plans. I asked her what elevator duty meant. She said that it was already over, but at the end of the day I stand by the elevator to make sure the kids use the stairs. The students are all in high school and come here to focus on the  performing arts. It was a neat place. The students filed in slowly from their lunch before class began shortly after noon. I was standing in front of the desk and one student asked if I was a new student. “No. I am your teacher.” “Yeah right,” he said. “No. I am serious.” “You look like you’re a teenager!” he replied. Some of the others overheard our conversation and chimed in that they too thought I was a new student. Charming.

They were fun to teach. I taught them social studies. I had to guard the elevator at the end of the day to make sure no one used it. A few students asked if they could use it and gave some lovely excuses. Some kids think they can fool the substitute. Not today!

It was so great to have had some unique and great teaching experiences this week! I am not a huge drinker, but if I was, I would’ve celebrated my week. I prefer food over a drink. Lawyerboy prefers a drink over food. I do like a drink now and then. Especially if it is sugary. This would have been a good one to make:

Banana-Orange-Pineapple (BOP) Slush:

1 cup sugar

2 3/4 cups water

3 cups pineapple juice

2 bananas, ripe

2 cans frozen orange juice, 24 ounces

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 liter or cans of lemon-lime soda pop

In a large Tupperware, stir sugar and water together until the one cup of sugar dissolves in the water. Put 1 1/2 cups of the pineapple juice in a blender. Cut the two bananas in three sections and add to the blender. Lastly, add the two cans of frozen orange juice. I use ‘no pulp’ orange juice. Blend until smooth. Add to the sugar and water mixture. Stir in the other 1 1/2 cups of pineapple juice, plus the two tablespoons of lemon juice. Let freeze for several hours.

Take out about five minutes before you are going to serve it. If it is for a party, break it into small pieces with a spoon and scoop desired amount into a pitcher. Add as much lemon-lime soda as you like to jazz it up.

If it is for single servings, break some of it into small pieces and scoop into glasses. Add desired amount of lemon-lime soda. For Lawyerboy, I always add his favorite to it… Gibson’s Finest Rye Whiskey. He always wants more! Store the extras back in the freezer.