Act I: Conquering the 10k
The 10k weekend turned out to be phenomenal. I finished the race in under an hour (good considering my goal was simply to finish. Also I had to stop and pee in the middle so totally could have finished with a record-breaking time if it weren't for that detail). The post-race celebration was crowded but fun, and some friends from Morton came down to celebrate with me, and hang out for the rest of the day in the big city. I also got a chance to see a soccer game, had some good conversations with job contacts, and saw an AMAZING show--Yeasayer--at the Wonder Ballroom. The 2 a.m. drive home in the pouring rain, and the hydroplaning that went with it, wasn't the best. But I made it.
Act II: Girls' Night
Our Americorps team hosted a sleepover at a church with a bunch of junior high girls. Let's just say, the teenagers had fun; I could've used more sleep.
Act III: Drama turns violent
When I went down to science class one day a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Hannah was missing. Keisha, the other girl I work with, told me she was in the office because she had been in a fight. I learned that this meant she had made fun of another 7th grader, Randi, for having a man-voice (which she does). Randi's response was to jump Hannah and begin strangling her. Meanwhile, Rachel, another 7th grade drama-addict, thought it would be a good idea to join in the fun and begin punching Hannah. I didn't witness any of this, but it sounded extremely intense. Hannah is the type that, although it is often hard to get her to follow directions the first time around, and she'd much rather socialize than do any work at all, she knows better than to get into fights. Mostly because she's terrified of her mom. And I kind of am too. My impression is that she's a good parent and takes much better care of her kids than a large number of East Lewis County parents do, but she's very vocal and intrusive if she doesn't like something that's going on. And she lets people know about it. Anyway, Randi and Rachel were suspended for 10 days. They will be back tomorrow, which should be interesting. It's also interesting because Randi is one of the team captains for the Relay For Life team I helped form, and I'm a little afraid that no one else will want to join that team for fear of getting strangled to death.
Act IV: Bernarda's Upcoming Quest
The next stage of Project Bernarda: sending her to Spokane. But only for a few days. Since she is part of the migrant program, she qualifies to go to this 3 day conference with other migrant students from across the state. She'll stay in a dorm, attend workshops and participate in activities. Basically, I think it will be both most rewarding and most terrifying experience that a girl like her could go through. She is so ridiculously shy, is seriously lacking in confidence, and is not used to interacting with strangers. However, she perked up when I told her that the majority of the people there will be Spanish speakers. It will be great if she can actually connect with people from other communities, and actually communicate with people aside from the 4 other ESL students at Mossyrock! She has also never been on a plane before, and she kept asking me about what it's like. I think she wanted me to explain the sensation of flying, which I can't really do in English or Spanish. But I told her it's fun to look out the window. And she gets a free drink. And a barf bag. This should be unlike anything she's ever done, and hopefully she has a positive experience. I think she should just be thrilled to understand what everyone around her is saying for once.
Act V: Wulapalooza!
A couple of weekends ago, I went to Salem with Liz, her boyfriend Tyler, and Kate, to attend a music festival at Willamette University. Basically it was an all-day party on campus. We got to see the sights there (it's pretty, but doesn't come close to rivaling Vassar), listen to some mediocre student bands, go wine tasting, eat some sushi, and go to Liz's favorite dive bar. I also somehow got pulled into the middle of the crowd when the headlining band was performing, and at one point basically got taken down in slow motion. I got pulled back up by a stranger, but then some girl stomped on my foot, leaving it bruised and shoeless. I stumbled out of the mob, but sent some reinforcements in to find the shoe. Liz somehow ended up coming up with it. It was epic.
Act VI: Recyclepalooza!
Apparently there's a serious palooza theme here. I thought this event could also be called Reusapalooza because it kinda rhymes, but this works too. This event was supposed to be the culmination of the civic engagement camp that the junior high students went to Cispus for. However, many of them felt that they did not really need to contribute to this event, and we as a team put a little too much faith in their commitment. We ended up getting the event together, and as a member of the donations committee I definitely did my part--got a donation of 100 reusable canvas bags, donuts, soda, and water. We also had live music, recycle games, and crafts. Basically we had a pretty well-rounded event, but our attendance was less than impressive, mostly because I just don't think it's easy to get residents of East Lewis County excited about recycling. Many of the Mossyrock junior highers contributed projects to the Recycled Art Show, and a couple of them even won. But aside from those who had taken part in organizing the event, none came. I think it really takes a lot of motivation to get these people to travel from one town to another. Oh well, we did what we could, and came away with a surplus of reusable canvas bags from Wal Mart. Now I need to figure out a good event to give those away.
I realized that I only have a little bit more than a month until I have to say goodbye to my junior high kids. This summer, I will be helping out with the school's summer program, but that's just for elementary students. I'm trying to savor these last days with my students, and I am not looking forward to saying good bye.
