Last Day of Classes and Work

Today Lila and I celebrated our last day of college classes by jumping around the kitchen and shrieking before breakfast. I victoriously concluded my day by writing notes to myself during African Civ and giggling to Kim during Islamic Civ. High fives all around.

Last night, John K was so kind as to drive me up to Andersonville so I could go to the quarterly dinner held by Kim, the Norwegian teacher. I played with her kid and her dogs, ate some very tasty food, and hung out with the death metal kids. I was surprised at the number of people there who were also taking ancient Near Eastern languages--Rob and Ryan, the death metal kids from my old class, are taking Hittite, a grad student was taking whatever it is that Zorastrian texts were written in, someone else was taking hieroglyphics. There seemed to be a lot of overlap between people drawn to Norwegian and people interested in the ancient Middle East. Very strange. Perhaps we can just conclude that people who take Norwegian are fascinating people with great linguistic capacities.

Today was also my last day of work at the Blue Gargoyle. The kids were touchingly sad to find that out, even though Arion sulked for quite awhile after I had to take her outside and give her the "you WILL listen to us when we tell you not to do something" talk. Today we talked about what year we were born. I was shocked that some of them were born in 2001. That seems absurdly recent, and it is especially impressive that in such a short time they had developed very distinct personalities. I know it sounds obvious, but for some reason it seems remarkable how much kids achieve in 6 years or so. I mean, 6 years ago I was more or less the same size I am now, and Arion, for example, was an infant! Such progress!

After we went outside we played chicken fights, and by "we" I mean, Keith started it. We each had a kid on our backs, and would sortof run at each other, the kids' legs kicking away. Probably not the most responsible idea ever, but really fun. No one got hurt anyway, and hopefully they won't tell their parents.

I'm kindof sad to be leaving. They are so interesting. Although I won't miss having to yell at them, and the noise and chaos, and a distinct lack of respect for authority (ahem, Danasha, Kenija, Rikaya, Kamariah), whining, sulking, and throwing fits. I will miss the constant comments on my hair length ("you cut your hair!"), my sticking-up eyebrows, and my imaginary relationship with any male tutor("ew, you drank off the same drink! are you dating?"). I might not miss Taylor launching herself on me or picking me up against my will (the kid is 9 and can carry me around), but I will miss all the hugs. Today we determined, to the astonishment of all, that my hands are the same size as the 9-year-olds Muhibat and Taylor. Jamie is clingy but it's kindof sweet, until you have to practically sit on her to make her do her homework. The era of me obsessing over their personalities and waking up with disciplinary ideas is over. I told them I'd be back to visit, and I think I'll probably volunteer as a private tutor.