Monday, April 21, 2008

Spring is here, but the cold and wind still persist, making jacket-wearing mandatory in the evenings. We've all been spending a lot of time out front, and we're definitely getting a lot of use out of the basketball hoop, although I've seen the kids try to make baskets with a lot of non-regulation balls, such as soccer balls and superballs, and various other even less appropriate things. The neighborhood is now home to a large number of kids, and they often congregate in our driveway. There's a little Korean boy, who is 5 or 6 years old (he says 6), who is always out by himself, completely unsupervised, and who often wanders over when we're outside. The girls were talking with him about the local grocery store, and he replied, "I can't go to (the store) cuz last time I go there by myself the police came. Someone call the police." I don't blame them either. He's way to young to be just wandering around by himself. Unfortunately, I don't know any Korean, so I can't communicate with his grandmother, who he either lives with, or stays with. Jeez.

While all was suburban bliss out on the driveway last week, an unseen menace was festering in the hair of a camper up at work. That's right: head lice. After nice reggae/jazz interval, courtesy of old friends I've Never Been to Brisbane, I got to camp Thursday night to find that nearly 30 kids had been sent home with lice, and that a couple of cabin leaders had some as well. It all started with one girl, who I'm told appeared to have such a large population of lice that she must have been harboring them for weeks, if not months. Of course, nearly everybody in her cabin ended up with small passengers in their hair, as did some kids in her field class. Everybody else was nervously checking their hair and experiencing phantom itching. Overnight, a couple of the classroom teachers discovered that their itching wasn't so phantom. They were not amused. It had been such a great week up until that point too.

This weekend, after carefully washing the clothes I'd worn to camp and inspecting my hair more than I normally do, I declared myself lice-free and took the kids to their first punk show - Extreme Noise Terror! I still ached as recently as Sunday. I've got to learn that I'm to old to go in the pit at punk shows. 40 is definitely not the new 20.

Sunday, I did a reptile party for an ex-coworker's grandson. What a fun way to earn money! I offered the family a deep discount, given that my old co-worker is so cool (I'm currently occasionally student teaching in her fifth grade classroom, and she's up at camp this week as well), but they opted to pay full price. The kids at the party had a great time. One girl kept repeatedly thanking me for being there. I enjoy that kind of feedback.

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