Ninja Student and a Little Whippany Love

Thought I'd start with a picture, as there is a lot of text to follow, and I know some of you are not as interested in my words as you are my pictures : ) This is my favorite sanity combo . . . pomegranate frappachino with an apple bran muffin (I really doubt there is any bran in the bran muffin though, as it tasted purely sinful : )


Okay, so I teach in two buildings. As I left my main building (Zhong Xing) today, it was pretty sunny, though extremely humid. Riding my bike over to Xian Mian (the building I have my two senior classes in) I pondered how much it would suck to have to go between the two buildings when it was down pouring (as it has been doing so often on the weekends). Well, I didn't have to wait long.

This week is testing week, and my history class got theirs over with on Monday, so we were finishing All Quiet on the Western Front. It was all nice and happy until I heard this loud wooshing sound outside. One look out the window made me cry out loud. You could barely see two feet beyond the building . . . ahhhhhhhh. Even though it was a little early, all my kids and I packed up and started looking for a way to get back into the main building without having to go outside (we were in the Annex), but the gods were against us . . . we all went running through the puddles. While my seniors' soggy trip was over, I still had to make it back to the 9th/10th grade building. Usually there is a bucket of umbrellas that you can borrow from, but it was mysteriously missing . . . I went to all the teachers' offices, but no one had an extra. One of my friends offered hers up, but she didn't have a spare. I took the umbrella and left the bike . . .

I just made it to my next class. I was worried that Christine would need her umbrella for lunch so I asked my kids if any of them wanted to go on a ninja mission : )

This was the plan:

1. Take borrowed umbrella to go into the main building (I was in another freaking annex)
2. Stealthily sneak into my office and find the very pink umbrella in my draw
3. Using whichever umbrella you fancy more, run like the wind over to Xian Mian
4. With extreme subterfuge, make your way up to the 3rd floor.
5. Drop the package onto the first desk on the left
6. Fly back down the stairs and exit in the back of the building
7. There you will find a dark gray Giant City Story bike
8. Use the key to unfasten the lock
9. Ride the phantom bike back to Zhong Xing--lock
10. Slip back into your seat like nothing ever happened

Out of 29 kids, I had 5 jumping out of their seats to do this (pretty much, they just wanted to ride my bike). There was no way in hell I was going to let this one kid do it, and I was wary of another one. The other three were totally reliable. I had the two sketchy ones do rock/paper/scissor and they both lost (yeah) then I had the last three do a three way rock/paper/scissor. It was quite hilarious. Usually one person wins pretty fast. This one took like six rounds . . . the only girl volunteer was the victor. She did a very nice job--quite efficient : )

As I reread this, it just isn't funny . . . you had to be there.

Apparently my co-workers had no problem with her rummaging through my desk. I actually wanted them to because I told her that if any of them asked what she was doing to tell them that she was on an A-rank ninja mission. That would have been fun, as no other fool would make her students say that : )

It is raining again--the kind of rain that makes a whoosing sound. Seriously, the weather here is nuts. All day . . . sunny . . . the heavens are falling . . . sunny . . . the world is ending . . . sunny . . . Noah's Ark . . . actually, I think it might have been Noah's Arking for a bit now. I hope we are back to sunny when it comes time to leave the office.

So even though it is kind of an annoying day, it wasn't bad or anything . . . just wet : )


AND if I hadn't had to go over to Xian Mian . . . I wouldn't have known that I got TWO pieces of mail!!! Cindy Kim and assorted Whippany Park teachers gave my soggy shoes purpose. Thanks guys! You are now a part of my cubical wall of happiness.

Cindy . . . I am so proud of you for doing this year in London

WP Teachers . . . I miss you, too. I hope someone has taken over my role as sarcastic lunchtime commenter.

Just wanted to share this with you, as teachers and non-teachers alike should get a kick out of this picture . . . Denis's 9th grade history students had to make propaganda posters. This was one of the products . . . wrong in so many ways : ) "Destruetion" has become an office favorite. There are some other fun ones from some of the other classes that will make it onto the office wall of shame/glory. One of them has to do with M&Ms and Africa . . . and who says these kids aren't creative : )