Back from the Big Easy

So I imagine it's about time to let you know how the trip to New Orleans went. It was awesome, and we are already talking about doing it again next year. Let me give you a quick intro to the cast of characters, then I'll share some impressions and stories from the week.

The chaperones
Me
Emily--organized just about everything for the trip/fundraising/etc (and did most of the worrying while I was like, meh, it'll be okay...:-p) She's amazing.
John--is excellent. Though he regularly makes me cover my ears in response to his language or descriptions...:-p

The students
Boy Who Speaks in Noises--shy, somewhat socially awkward 9th grader who's getting better at using words, but often just makes noises when you ask him questions. Affectionate, sweet kid.
Hometown Supremacist--our token white boy who wants to be a gangster. And is convinced that his city is better than everywhere; New Orleans has nothing on us.
School Laureate--poetry writer, drama queen, personable--and until this trip thought I was a mean teacher!
Say Anything--Earlier in my blog I think I called her Miss Quiet-but-funny. She actually isn't that quiet. Nothing embarasses her.
Clean Freak City Boy--wore long sleeves, pants, latex gloves and work gloves, and a shower cap/hair net so he wouldn't get anything in his hair while we worked. Amusing kid.

Because of our plane delay fiasco, we didn't get to NO until Tuesday afternoon, so we actually only worked for about two and half days (Wed-Fri morning), which was enough, I think--it made the trip half work trip/half family vacation--nice because most of the kids had never been on an airplane let alone on a vacation like this. (Clean Freak had only been out of the city once before this. He's 18.)

Our days were spent in the neighborhood of Hollygrove, within sight of Xavier University, if that means anything to you. It's a little surprising how many businesses are still boarded up--but many are operating as if nothing happened. The neighborhood was a mix of houses that had been fixed up, houses that still had a FEMA trailer sitting out front, and houses that were overgrown and looked as if they should be condemned. According to one of the Americorps guys we worked with, for many people it's less about saving the frame of the house for financial reasons and more about saving it because their great-grandfather built it with his own hands.

We spent most of our time wearing awesome face masks with pink filters and wielding crowbars--tearing down moldy drywall and insulation, pulling out nails, sweeping the debris out to the curb, cleaning out any leftover family possessions (Easter baskets, photos, books...), as well as clearing garbage from around some houses and weed whacking. The kids worked really hard, and we got a lot done. It was a bit of a shock for them at first, I think. Lessened because the family's possessions had already been removed for the most part, but Clean Freak's first reaction when we walked in was still, "Man...it makes me want to cry."

I'll be back with more stories and pictures tomorrow. But it's the best Office episode ever ("sorry you grilled your foot, Michael") and I have to go finish it...

catching up

This is going to be a nice long catch up post...so sit back and relax while I fill you in on events of the past week or so...

First, some non-school related SaG violations that I saw recently in Smalltown, USA on the way to a baby shower. Please let me know if these spellings are actually acceptable and I'm just ignorant.
1.) A car repair shop advertising "wheel alinement"
2.) the Smalltown Dinor
The best (worst?) part is that both signs were definitely permanent signs attached to the building, we aren't talking hand-lettered cardboard here, folks.

And now, school.
To begin with, it was a crazy, long week because the accreditation committee was here for the first few days, which reminded me of a first date because we all had to be on our best behavior, the school had to be spotless, etc, etc... I think that overall it went well, though we won't hear for sure until May. The guy who's sort of in charge of the whole thing told us that he's been in the private school arena for a long time and he really envies the community we have at our school. That was neat to hear.

Other things that happened recently...

I spent some time proofreading yet again...
“For example, the ‘Great Parables of Good Samaritan,’ Jesus continually shows an extraordinary concern for the outcast (such as leopards, blind, public sinners).”

I drove some kids to golf after school.
FS (riding shotgun): What are you doing now, Ms. Book?
me: I'm going to run some errands.
FS: Aaron? Who's Aaron?
me: Noooo, ERRANDS, as in e-r-r-a-n-d-s, like I have to stop at a few different places to do stuff.
FS: Oh. Why didn't you just say you have to go out?

I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Emily as we shopped for plane tickets to New Orleans. Shopping for a large block of tickets when prices keep drastically changing is not a fun activity.

I played my first game of basketball ever (okay, maybe I played in gym class at some point in elementary school?) in the student-faculty game. The students won. It was really fun though! (even though I had no idea what I was doing...)

We met at the school at 6 this morning to go to the airport to go to New Orleans. Halfway to the airport the van's transmission tapped out, causing us to coast to a stop at the edge of the highway during rush hour. We frantically made phone calls to people (no one from school answered at 6:45am...presumably they were sleeping in on their first day of spring break) to find rides for 7 of us plus luggage. Thank goodness for my pastor who was able to borrow another family's fifteen passenger van and come to our rescue at 7:20...we piled in, hoping to make it to the airport in time for our 8:40 flight.

We herded all of the kids and luggage inside at the airport...only to find out that our flight had just been cancelled due to the ice storms that hit the east coast this past weekend (where our connecting flight was). The next available flight was tomorrow morning, meaning that we had to call David to come back for us, drive home, drop kids off, and figure out how to get to the airport tomorrow. Thank goodness the van got fixed this afternoon! (the transmission fluid line came off and we lost all of the transmission fluid...so it's a good thing we pulled over quickly) So, tomorrow morning, at 4:45, I will be driving a van of kids and luggage back to the airport for round two.

The kids were good about it though, obviously it was a bummer...but no major complaining, just some disappointment...and hopefulness that everything will go well tomorrow!

Prayers are appreciated!
:)

Gerber babies...and baby prevention

Today's school events are begging for a blog post. So here I am. Special thanks to Cody and his picture phone for capturing the following shot. The biology classes have been studying genetics, so this could be a new member of the plant kingdom. We're thinking we could make quite a bit of money selling these things...

Yes kids, that is probably the only condom plant you will ever see. Unless we propagate them, in which case maybe one day you too could own one!

note of clarification: this was discovered by a teacher during all school cleanup...we did not intentionally plant a condom just to take a picture...

Anyways, to recap, this year I have been told that I resemble Audrey Hepburn and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Let's add another to the list.
Basketball Star: You know what you look like? An over-sized Gerber baby.
Energetic School Spirit Girl: That's a compliment! Gerber babies are always pretty.

For comparison, here is the original Gerber baby...

Ways I resemble the Gerber baby:
1. I'm white.
2. ...that's all I've got...


I sort of feel like any other stories I have are anticlimactic. So enjoy those two. I'll share more later :)