Not too shabby

Last week I asked you to hypothesize how many of my 25 students would show up to class this afternoon. This weekend was a holiday weekend, and Monday classes and Tuesday morning classes had been canceled. I was certain quite a few students would extend their holiday; I was wrong. 24 of 25 students showed up–and the one student absent was only gone because of a delayed train. And that is the reason I am completely ruined for teaching in America. Sorry folks, I’ll take Chinese students any day. I rewarded my students for their presence by drawing this on the board to help with the lesson:

Kudos to whoever can appropriately identify what “this” is and why it was included in a writing lesson.

I headed back to class today refreshed from the holiday weekend. In addition to Sam’s bash, I had all the “girls without dads” over for a Sunday brunch of crepes. Earlier this year when the single gals on the team had a get together, Jude asked his mom why she wasn’t invited. Jennifer explained it was because she’s married. Jude replied, “Oh, so it’s just the girls without dads?” The name has stuck. Anyways, we enjoyed a leisurely morning of chatting and eating our fill of crepes.

On Monday we had birthday bash #2 as we celebrated Daren’s special day with a “Blast from the past.”

The party featured sub sandwiches (a real treat around these parts)…

…wonderful gifts like giant coffee mugs with Spanish writing on them (you can find anything in our small market…check out Will’s reaction to the giant mug)…