My life right now consists of me trying desperately all week long to figure out how to be a teacher to wild and crazy inner-city middle schoolers and trying desperately all weekend long to forget about the fact that I am a teacher.
It is funny because I refer to my students as my kids when I talk about them, so people who overhear must think I am going crazy as a mother. Among "my kids" I have: 5 who are totally illiterate, 3 who got arrested on Halloween for throwing eggs at a cop car, 1 who is deaf and mute, 10 who have had less than three years of formal education, 1 who was a street kid in the Dominican Republic from age 7 to age 12 running drugs between dealers and users for food money, 1 with unmedicated ADHD, 1 who got expelled from his last school for beating up his teacher, none who are above a third grade reading level (it goes downhill from there), about twenty who apparently cannot hear my voice (especially when my voice is saying things like "sit down, be quiet or do your work"), 15 who get in fights regularly, less than 10 who are living with the person who raised them and over 100 who go to ridiculous lengths to get attention.
So that is what occupies my time and thoughts during the week. Below are some photos I got off my friends camera that show you how I try to fill up my weekends with non-school related stuff.
Every year there is a huge New York City Area singles dance on Roosevelt Island at the lighthouse. You take the tram over from Manhattan and it is absolutely beautiful. There is an awesome view of the city from there. This is me and my roommate Soo.
Mormon night at the Mets. Me, my roommate Cristi and Brittany. The missionaries sing the national anthem and we all sit in the same section and socialize while the Mets lose. Good times had by all.
Cristi bought an antique table off of Craig's list so we started making dinner every Sunday night and inviting people over for a real live dinner around a real live table. Dinner tables are something of a novelty in New York so people go nuts over them. I decided I wanted to start learning how to cook so it is a lot of fun to have people over to test it out on. As it turns out though, our family was not very formal growing up. Cristi is horrified that I put the bottle of salad dressing on the table.
All I have to say about dinner parties is, thank goodness for Laura. I have called her at least 20 times since I got back from China to get recipes or dinner ideas and they are always a big hit. One time I called and said, I have people coming in 30 minutes give me something fast and easy and she totally pulled through. THANK YOU LAURA!!!
The Saturday before Halloween we went to Sleepy Hollow to the Old Dutch Church to attend the reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." They have an actor read it at the church and they serve hot apple cider. During intermission we went wandering around the creepy old cemetery that is right next to the church. It was dark and creepy, a perfect Halloween activity.
Sometimes when you live in a city that has nothing but tall concrete buildings and people living on top of one another it is therapeutic to get out. The leaves are changing and the northeast is beautiful so we went to Connecticut to a regional singles activity on this guy's property. It was magnificent and a much needed break from crazy NYC.
Every year since I moved to NYC I have LOVED Marathon Sunday. I always watch it in Harlem which is at mile 21 and people are just dying. This year I watched and cheered for 4 hours because I had three friends running. We went to church and then walked straight over so that is why I am dressed all Church-like.
Cristi and I got home from school on Tuesday and Cristi got a call from a friend who builds sets on Broadway offering two tickets to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," so we jumped on the train and made it just in time. During my time in NYC I have seen tons of Broadway shows but I still love them to pieces. This one had an audience full of kids and the Grinch was fantastic. A definite perk to the city.
7 comments:
Some random thoughts from your random DAD.
1. Thanks to Ashley for the death threats.
2. Thanks to Jessica for doing all the hard work to write this post.
3. Do you prefer "wild and crazy" or "I am so bored that I want to jump out of my office window" at the PR firm?
4. Can Krista come to your school? She wants to move.
5. Are duct tape and a gun in your school supplies?
6. Why is Soo flashing the 2?
7. Baseball is fun, isn't it.
8. Cristi is a gem. The dinner idea is wonderful. One question for Cristi - How does one serve salad dressing?
9. Laura is an excellent cook.
10. What is so creepy about a cemetary - it's just grass, stone and dead flowers.
It's not Bakersfield, but it sounds like NYC is OK.
Those pictures are so much fun! You look fantastic! I am happy that you have a great life outside of school. I hope that school gets easier, Ashley says it will, doesn't she? I am happy that you are cooking dinners, that is a great way to spend time together. I hope that you get some rest during Thanksgiving.
Such a fun-filled, crazy life you lead! We actually lived in Upstate New York for our first year of marriage. I will be sad if you were there at the same time (Dec '04-Jan '05) and I didn't know. :( We visited the City three times, I think. I am sad that we moved before we got to do even more. I just loved the East coast in general. I'm glad that they have such cool things for YSA activities!
Good luck with the cooking endeavors. I'm so proud and totally laughed about the salad dressing comment. It made me remember how you told me that you hate vacuuming and would never vacuum. Remember how I told you that I would come and vacuum your house so that your children wouldn't be crawling around in dirt? :) Offer still stands, sista.
Good luck with your crazy class. Just keep your preaching and teaching and somewhere along the line it's going to make a HUGE difference in your student's lives. I bet you are being humble, or just don't realize, that you are making a big difference now. The world needs more people like you who are willing to take it on. Bless you, child. And not so long between posts this time, okay?!
Love the post. Your class sounds interesting, but again...they are a good challenge for you and you love a challenge. I too LOVED the salad dressing comment. I have decided that the reason that I don't go insane from having people over for dinner at least once a week is because I am so informal. My kitchen is always a mess when people come for dinner, we use paper towels as napkins, and plastic cups instead of glasses, etc. etc. But everyone always leaves full and happy so I haven't changed anything. Keep up the cooking and the invites, it makes weekends so much more fun.
I love that my death threat worked! Yes Jessica teaching does get easier. My third year is seriously like 100 times easier than my first. Just stick with it. Obviously you put salad dressing in a little cream pitcher.
Very funny- why can I not stop laughing at the picture of you by the runners. Maybe because it reminds me of Jacob in that memorable Christmas play being the "star of wonder". I bet that gave the runners something to smile about.
I am SO much more casual about dinner parties than my friends. I just don't have the energy to worry about all the "little things". My focus- good food and good conversation. The rest are just extras.
I love hearing about your job. What a crazy world. So frustrating and draining- yet, such a learning, developing and life changing experience. It's always the difficult things that make you grow so much. Those kids are so lucky to have you- whether or not they act like it, or even know it.
Is your dad OK?
Just kidding...
You're crazy over there! I guess my kids and the crazy things they do are nothing compared to yours! Good luck with that! And by the way, you look so good and happy! Congrats! And I'll complain less about Jack getting into the laundry detergent daily, and the dog chewing a bottle of Elmers glue on the carpet. Take care!
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