Winter Camp

From Sindo Middle School

My winter English camp has been underway for a week now. I have 24 students for the first 15 days. Most of the kids are 1st graders, which is a VERY good thing. That means they speak pretty good English. My second graders are pretty much clueless. I do not accept responsibility for this. They're in the height of puberty and are therefore out of their minds and uncontrollable. So... the first few days we absolutely froze our butts off. Oh man, it was painful. The school would not turn the heat on because to heat my classroom means they must heat the whole school, all 5 floors. Now they can't just go wasting money away on preventing frost bite for a mere 25. [Side note: They can, however, spend $55,000 on renovating my classroom next month ... yeah, makes perfect sense to me, too] Thankfully, one of my kid's mother called and complained. Heat! I announced to the class that I was very thankful to this unknown student. Kathy came up to me after class saying she had a secret to tell me. "Lindsay Teacher, it was my mother who called." You should have seen what a proud grin she was donning. Love her. Overall the kids have been doing pretty well and having a good time. Cell phones are being confiscated upon entry tomorrow, but other than that, everything has been pretty kosher. Although class is over at 11, the principal is requiring me to stay put until 12. Ellen and Emma stay the whole extra hour with me each day. Today, they brought a camera.

From Sindo Middle School

In the above picture, you may notice that Emma's shoes look rather large and odd. Well, when you enter the school you must take off your shoes and replace them with school-only shoes or with one of the many pairs of slippers in the entry way, provided for visitors. If those options aren't terribly impressive, or you're particularly attached and/or enjoying your own shoes, there is a box full of these black tie bags you can put around your feet, covering your shoes completely. You're wondering which option I go for, aren't you? Being the daredevil I am, I choose to live on the verge of being reprimanded, and walk right in with whatever color of Converse I chose to wear that day. I'm horrible, I know. Anyway, I posted the rest of the pictures in my "Sindo Middle School" Album in Picassa. Check 'em.

Oh yeah, and last Sunday, David and I ended up spending quite a bit of time traveling about town on the subway. We also had a camera then, which I posted pics from.

From Subway Hijinks