Observations | Banquet, Chiefs, and Government :)

MY APARTMENT – Ok, so I don’t ache at all from Sunday’s walk. Heck, not even that day…

I went on my third straight Mount Kenya prep-hike Sunday, and while I regretted the decision almost immediately, it wasn’t because I was tired or knew I couldn’t do it. About 24 steps into the hike, I realized “Hey, I really wish I was sleeping right now.”

But, desire to walk or none, Valerie and I pushed through the 10km of African roads – down the steepest hills ever, then right back up then – and returned to our bus in a little over an hour and a half. It was one of my quickest times ever, and that’s ok reason to be excited. But now, a day later, I can walk without much aching in my butt or my calves.

So while I was a little irked that I had to be up to re-conquer these hills, I definitely was awake afterwards, prepared for one of the longest days I’ve had in a long time.

Three Observations

1. “Can you bring me some salt, waiter?” Sunday night was finally one of the most-looked-forward-to events of the year: banquet. After weeks of hooking up with eachother, breaking up, finding new dates, buying gifts for those dates, and trying to look handsome/pretty for those dates, the time had finally come. My boys showered (finally), bathed in cologne, and picked up their dates from the girls dorm for an evening of romance… in the cafeteria.

My date? A plastic food-serving tray. The faculty were told last week that our duty for the night would be playing the part of servers, waiters, and waitresses to the students. Whoop-de-do. So while the googly-eyed teenagers stared at eachother for the night, I had the opportunity of placing food (that they would inevitably not touch) in front of them.

Of course, they took advantage of the situation. Some students demanded I bring them food that instant, so I willingly fulfilled their request, laying the pasta in front of them after warning them that I had “accidentally” hocked lugies on 3 of the 4 plates. Enjoy! Another student insisted that I bring them a small salt shaker, to which I responded by leaving a half-gallon bucket of salt at their table. Even the simple request for more ice cream warrant a series of insults that I can only assume had never been uttered at any banquet.

My goal was to be fired. Then I could go back to my apartment. No such luck.

After listening to countless dedications of ballads from one lover to another, declaring their undying love for eachother (sung by academy students), the students headed over to watch a “The Pacifier,” another box-office smash by the acting wonder that is Vin Diesel. While they did that, I supervised for a little while until all seemed calm. When the coast was clear, Valerie and I (who’d just pulled a complete weekend on-duty) snuck out of the movie, changed into comfortable clothes, and ran over to the Hartzells to watch…

2. The Chiefs Lose. Again. Hey, but again, how dedicated are we? After skipping out on listening to the second half of the Chiefs-Eagles Embarrass-fest, Valerie wasn’t going to be the cause of bad luck this time. We decided we’d stay up and listen to the game until midnight, no matter what. Even though we’d just worked 3 days straight and had to be up at 6am the next morning to do dorm worship, we weren’t going to let our team down. They’d have to let us down.

Long story short, they did. KC’s offense – arguably the most potent in the league in the last 5 years – put up a mind-numbing 3 points. THREE. While we didn’t leave until the final gun shot off, we lost heart halfway into the first half. *Sigh*

But the night wasn’t a complete wash. Talking to Doug Hartzell, I got some of the best news I’d heard in a while:

3. I am teaching next semester! I could hardly believe it. The reason that Doug had snatched up Lauran’s class from him was because he wanted it taught well, and with all due respect to Lauran, someone from the States should probably be teaching about our government. When Doug heard, though, that I wanted to take the job, he was delighted. He and his wife Carol bounced ideas of projects and classroom things off me the entire second half (when I didn’t want to listen, anyways).

Now, at this point, all that needs to be done is to talk to Principal Thomas, put together an official gameplan for me, and start scheduling away! This is great for me because I’d wanted to take a class, my own class, since before I arrived at Maxwell. While I truly enjoyed being a substitute teacher for Robyn Rusunescu’s English classes while she was in the U.S., I didn’t want to consider switching majors at all until I had spent a good amount of time in a classroom, running my own program. Now, that opportunity might be here. Fingers crossed!

Allright, I do believe it’s time for me to fly. Take care at home, and know that I miss ya bunches. Email sometime!

-cw