Around the water cooler

I have a lot of things to write about. The trip back home in December. The trip to the Philippines in February. But for now, I'll just commit to memory some funny things that have happened at work recently:

- Y-kun, a 12-year-old boy who can't speak English very well: "Hey, baby!" (I think that he watches too many movies.)
- G-kun, one of my second-grade boys, was walking around the hallways at lunch today with his eyes shut. Why? His friends drew cartoonish eyes on his eyelids. Did I mention it was in permanent marker? Ridiculous! I wanted to snap a photo, but that would only encourage them to do it again. His friends surrounded me, saying in their accented English: "INTERESTING! INTERESTING!" I laughed, but quickly retorted: "Uh, NOT interesting?!" Poor kid.
- I was eating lunch with my six-year-olds. K-chan is one of the spunkier kids of the bunch. (I've also taught her three older brothers. And when I've mentioned in passing that their tiniest sister is ADORABLE, they don't do the normal brotherly reaction of "No way!" In fact, they tell me in English: "Thank you!" My heart melts). Anyways, back to K-chan. So, she looks up at me with her brown eyes and asks: "Gemma-sensei, do you like someone?" I told her no. And then I asked her the same question, and the tiny heartbreaker says, "Yes! But I bet you can't guess who!" I couldn't.
- I got a text from one of my former students. I met him when he was a mere junior high school student. This spring, he will be entering his third (and final) year in high school. He said he wants to talk to me at the upcoming JHS graduation, because he's coming to see his little sister walk the stage. How time flies!