Back to school. This morning’s ride in was cold. The temperature dropped more than expected. It did not take me long to realize that a pair of gloves and a knit cap were the next purchases I needed to make. I, of course, had some at home but did not think to bring them. Actually, I did consider it but not knowing of my housing situation before hand (at least the distance and transportation issues) I left the gloves and cap. Wishing I had them this morning. I rode one handed most of the way, switching hands between the handles and the pockets. My ears were not so bad, but my nose got cold. I don’t know about you but I can usually tolerate cold fairly well except when my nose, fingers, or toes get cold, then I am freezing. So long as those three areas stay warm I am OK, but once they get cold I cannot turn the thermostat up high enough. And my nose got cold; dear god it took me two hours to warm up once I got to school. When I got finished today guess what I bought.
This week at the school is Return to the 80s week. It’s an annual thing. Not the 80s but this week and its related festivities. Turns out that this week all of the third (final) year students are on a field trip of some kind to somewhere in the world. Some are in Spain; some are in Portugal. Some even went to the US – New York I think someone told me. It is a requirement of the school that before graduation each student has some sort of international experience. Not a true study abroad thing, but at least they get out of the country.
I should say here too that the school has a sort of home room system, similar to what many people of my generation (and others before and since) might recognize. Except, in Stilwell, where I attended school, the home room system meant that the teachers stayed in the same room all day and the cohort of students travelled from one room to another for different subjects. Here it is the other way around; the students stay in the same room all day and different teachers with different subjects travel to them. Each third year teacher is assigned a cohort that they are responsible for, so these teachers made the trips with their particular cohorts. The destinations are decided upon by the students. While the third year students are away the first and second year students have a midterm projects week, a bit similar to what the American university system calls midterm exams. However, here these exams are not really that heavy in the grade book. They are more for the experience of preparing and presenting research. This year’s theme just happens to be the 80s. All week long there are no classes; well, not exactly. The teachers all assembled in the cafeteria or an adjacent study area, and the students were free to roam about the building, stay in their classrooms, go to the library, basically whatever they needed to do to prepare the presentations. They worked in small groups, typically four or five.
I spent the day sitting in the study area with and near the other teachers. Several students came to me for information – not just about American Indians but about the 80s. I was asked questions about fashion trends, toys, popular sodas, the McDonalds vs Burger King “burger wars.”So I spent the day discussing with several students the 1980s. To most of these students that decade is ancient history; many of them were not even born yet. The discussions were interesting and entertaining though. I enjoyed it.
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