How I See This Summer Playing Out

This is going to be one crazy month.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going back to school (as a student, not a teacher) to do my Drama Part 2 class. (For those of you not familiar with the teaching system in Ontario, you have to complete 3 university courses in a subject in order to be considered an authority [they call it a specialist] in the field). I'm intending on becoming a drama specialist by the end of the winter session so that I can stay on as the head of the arts department at my school.

One of the huge bonuses to being a head is the position means you can't be surplussed. I think that would be very, very nice.

Anyway, it means there's not going to be much of a break for me this month! The class will be a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to learning more about designing drama curricula, and not being bored.

Not being bored is good. Very good.

Oh, and we're going to see Carrie Fischer in Wishful Drinking next week.

On top of the schooling, I'm still working my butt off in these four weeks to get at least vaguely bathing suit ready for Hawaii.

I'd settle for vaguely. Fat ass and all.

On my last day of classes, we're flying out to Victoria for a destination wedding on Salt Spring Island. I get to be in the wedding and I'm ridiculously excited about it. Like. SERIOUSLY. I've got a super cute bridesmaid dress that I'm very excited to re-wear in Hawaii.

Then, from BC, my parents, husband and I are all flying down to Hawaii for 12 nights. We're mostly going to be on Kauai and Maui (we have a layover on Oahu), and I cannot wait for everything. I'm planning on trying out Stand Up Paddling, and Phil and I are escaping for 3 nights to the Kauai Hyatt.

Once we get back from Hawaii in mid-August, I have three weeks left before school starts again. I've got a week going in to the hospital for allergy tests (patch tests, joy oh joy), hopefully a week in Ottawa to hit up the cottage and then one more week to do all of my years' planning for all the new classes.

Did I mention that one class includes 5 different classes? ESL A-D as well as grade 9 applied English. I have NO idea how I'm going to do it. I'm terrified out of my mind of that class!

But, I'm not going to dwell on it right now. Right now, I'm going to dwell on the amazing bowl of Ontario strawberries tossed with orange segments and a whiff of orange blossom water that I have sitting in front of me.

It's all about living in the moment.

Non-cooking related things that make me happy.

1. Taking 139 kids on a field trip to see Romeo and Juliet and having the kids behave well.
2. Not losing any children.
3. Only having one child vomit on the bus, while many others were threatening to burst. Who knew so many kids get car sick?
4. Having students cry during the play because they just got it, man.
5. Watching a very muscular, lithe Tybalt wander around without his shirt on. Yum.

Any Toronto area teachers out there - I highly recommend The Classical Theatre Project for all your Shakespeare needs. It's dirty (as it should be), funny and so accessible for the kids. They're also coming to Ottawa for Romeo and Juliet for a few performances in May!

Things I wish I could post.

I wish I could post the pictures from this amazing Quinoa with Sunchokes dish that we made earlier this week, except, for some reason, my version of photoshop is on the fritz and my photos aren't publishing-worthy without some lightening so you can actually see the food.

I also desperately wish I was allowed to post pictures and videos of my students. I have some amazing ones from our trip yesterday to Second City Improv Club/Training Centre, and I'm still buzzing off of how well they did.

I love, love, LOVE teaching drama.

Snow Day

I'm not going to lie, the night before the storm was scheduled to hit, I may have done a snow dance.

I also may have instructed my students to do a snow dance.

I may have also told my atheist husband that baby Jesus wasn't going to let me down. Heck, he came through for me last time I desperately needed a snow day back in Victoria 2006.

I had a paper due. It wasn't done. We got 10 cm of snow and a whole lot of ice. Victoria shut down because the town has one snow plow.

My faith in God grew a little bit that day.

So, as my report cards are due in on Friday and a pile of marking still graced my desk, I really, REALLY needed a day to get all my crap done.

So, when I got up yesterday morning and turned on the news at 6:20 and discovered that TDSB school buses were cancelled but schools were still open, I may have said a bad word or two. I huffed off to the shower, got ready to go out and then checked the weather report one more time.

That's when I saw the magic words: Toronto District schools closed.

I didn't believe it for a good 5 more minutes, but all my teacher friends on facebook confirmed it. It was a snow day.

So, I crawled back into bed and cuddled my husband. When he crankily got up to go to work, I may have muttered something to the extent of "That's what you get for being an atheist" before nestling back down into the covers.

It's been a running joke all day.

As much as I would have liked to have spent the day in the kitchen cooking up a storm (no pun intended), I spent the day in the kitchen tackling the following piles:

Sometimes I hate teaching English. I have 110 students, all of whom I have to report on 4 different strands. It's the only bad part about the job really; I just haven't figured out how to mark that quickly.

So, as much as I wish I had a recipe to share with you today, I'm afraid I ate a couple of cookies, drank water (from the wine glass on the table), had two cups of coffee and powered through the marking.

Not very healthy, I know.

I'm proud to say I got all four of those piles finished though!

And, just for kicks:

"I'm concerned about what the kids will learn..."

Those are the words I heard from my principal last night. I made the foolish mistake of letting her know that there would be a clowning unit for my drama class, and that the kids would be throwing pies (read: whipped cream on a plate) at each other on Friday as part of their sketches.

Well, if I didn't just cause her a heart attack. I was told it would be a no go... because if I "teach them how to throw pies, I'm concerned they'll be doing it all the time."

That's right. I could have started a pie throwing epidemic.

Because kids have no idea how to throw pies at each other.

And if you give them knowledge, they'll just run out and do it.

And then there will be a tragic shortage of whipped cream in the world.

Oh God. What was I thinking? Truly, this would have been the undoing of us all.

The Horror. The Horror.

So, I got asked by a female teacher today if I'm pregnant.

I'm not. In fact I weigh exactly the same now as I did at the beginning of the year.

She very rapidly backpedaled: "Oh, I mean... it's not like you look... I mean maybe a bit..."

So, did I immediately get to the gym? Did I swear to eat salad and only salad for a week? Did I cry tears of sorrow?

No. No, my friends, I bought two bags of chips.

Might as well look the part.

I was asked these questions today:

Did you always want to be a teacher?

"No. I tried very hard to avoid it."

Then... why did you become one?

And I never know exactly how to answer that one. It feels like a trick question. Oh sure, I could give some stock answer about loving kids and enjoying the feeling of teaching. I COULD do that, but that wouldn't be the truth. That's an answer I reserve for teaching interviews.

And, I'm the kinda teacher that likes telling the truth. So, when students ask me that question, that's what I give them.

"Well, kids, it's because you entertain me to no end. What other job would I get to interact with 105 nutjobs in a day?"

And they'll nod, as though that makes perfect sense. 13 year olds have a much clearer understanding of the world than adults do.