Anyhow, I took my students (about 80 of them) to see the Statue of Liberty. I thought it was a fitting field trip, since they are all immigrants and New Yorkers and had never been that far down in Manhattan (keep in mind the Statue is only about 11 miles from the school). All the other teachers thought I was crazy and there were many moments that day that I agreed with them. Going to the statue involved marching 80 kids to the Subway, getting them all on the same train car, constantly reminding them to stop shouting and swinging from the handrails as we passed through midtown and the financial district and all the business people were heading to work and giving me dirty looks in the process. Then we had to take all the students through security (based on several essays I read afterwards, this was their favorite part! KIDS!) then get them on a ferry and over to liberty island at which point we got in another line to wait to go up to the pedestal. At this point all the kids smashed together in line and since they're middle schoolers this soon turned into a chorus of shrieks and shouting "Ms. Allred, someone keeps grabbing my $#@" or "Ms. Allred, tell her to stop touching me there." For the last five minutes I made them all stand with their hands in the air. They loved that!
We went up the pedestal after another round of security then came down, had lunch and then did the whole commuting nightmare in reverse. I was exhausted. The essays that I made them write afterwards included observations like “that statue was very small and ugly” and lots of notes about the security procedures so over all it was a raging success.
For memorial day a few friends and I went up to Lake Placid and went river rafting all day the first day. We were on the river for 6 and a half hours with a really funny guide. Toward the end of the trip the guide told me that I have authority issues and handed me the guide paddle and told me to take over. I happily obliged but all my friends then refused to listen and took naps in the raft. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to Montreal on Sunday so I could practice my French. We had poutine; which is a Montreal treat, French fries and gravy. A heart attack with a smile.
Lake Placid is beautiful.
The end of the school year was a wild experience. It got really hot and we have no AC and I work on the fourth floor of a brick building which means the kids went NUTS! Lots of fights and other niceties. I was enlisted to be a Chaperone when the graduating 8th graders went to Six Flags great adventure. I rode the Kingda Ka and every other ride and found out that sky diving kind of ruins you as far as thrills like that go. Over the course of the day my students kept coming up to me and claiming that they had contracted the flu. When I asked when the symptoms started they would invariably tell me that it happened at just about the same time as they rode some crazy ride. They were so confused. I hung out with some great teachers from my school.
The last day of school a bunch of the teachers went to a local restaurant and drank large amounts of alcohol at noon. It was really funny. The math teachers were taking shots like college frat boys.
After hanging out with my drunk colleagues I headed down to the Stake Center for youth conference. We had a three-day scavenger hunt for 70 youth in which they ran all over downtown Manhattan in teams of 10 youth and 2 leaders and they stayed at the apartments of different members of the stake. We went to the today show and saw Coldplay, we went on a cruise around the island, we went to see Stomp, we went and did baptisms for the dead, we taught them how to index (step 2 of extraction). We ran those kids so ragged that they all fell
asleep on the harbor cruise and at Stomp, which is basically a bunch of guys banging on trashcans as loud as they can. The youth conference ended in true youth conference fashion with a testimony meeting that certainly gave a good play by play of the weekend and was full of inside jokes and shout outs, but lacked some of that testimoniness that you often look for at those meetings. 
6 comments:
Where do I sign up to attend your next youth conference?? Seriously - who does that??!
And you seem to have a way with the youth of New York. You are always with them. Sounds like you've had some great, although stressful, adventures.
Sounds like all fun to me. I have sat through many a spiritual lacking youth testimony...as adults they are hilarious, but as a youth that used to be one of the spiritual lackers I thought they were so awesome. I'm pretty sure we sat through some of those together. Your life is as always mucho entertaining-oh-! Thanks for filling us all in on your happenings.
What a diversified life you live - and much of it revolves around service. The youth, in and out of the church, are blessed to ave you. You sure do pack a lot in. Sounds like you NEED a relaxing summer!
Aunt Terri
I was just thinking, I wish you would get to Guatemala so that you would update your blog. And you already did! It is amazing what you do! Great job on staying active and in charge! You didn't take 80 students to the Statue by yourself, did you?
You're the coolest. 'Nuff said.
Authority issues??????????????
No way!!!!!!!!!!!!
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