Observations of a High School International Cooperation

Today was the end of the semester. It was officially a testing day but, it should have been referred to as "Watch a Video at School" Day! However, I greatly enjoyed a conversation with a young lady during lunch. She is of Vietnamese background. Her mother and her aunts own a local nail salon. Recently between customers they have been totally engrossed in a soap opera...but not just any soap opera. This soap opera truly took International co-operation!

Her Uncle downloaded and recorded the program off of the Internet. He lives in New York. He then mailed the DVDs to his sisters in Charlotte. He has sent over 200 hours (that's right...200 hours.. of the downloaded soap to his sisters.) As it was explained to me, the soap is all Korean actors, performing an American script and dubbed into Vietnamese! It took me a few moments to process that!
Again, I learned something new as I am enjoying my "Observations as a High School Sub!"

Observations of a High School Sub- Death by Chapped Lips

While subbing in a 3rd grade classroom a student approached me with an emergency! He had chapped lips!! He then went on to give me a detailed explanation of why he needed to go to the office to call his mother to bring him chap stick.... "People can die from chapped lips" I tried to calm him concerning his fears however, he then went on to explain that he saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel about a person who died from chapped lips! I am no match for the Discovery Channel. I sent him to the office. (Sorry office girls!)

Observations of a High School Sub- Collecting Papers

I made another "rookie" mistake while subbing. I asked the student to pass their papers forward and I would collect them. It was taking them forever.... Then I noticed, they were copying the answers from the papers as they were passing them forward. When I said..."Hey, you are copying answers!"... they looked at me and literally said "So?"

Next block I went to each desk and collected the papers!

Mother of a soon to be Bride: "Our Wedding"

When Alysse and I were driving together in the car, I remarked about how great something was going to be at "Our Wedding!" She burst out laughing. Mom, you just called it "Our Wedding!" Oooooops!

Mother of a soon to be Bride: "The to do list"

Alysse was sharing the progress of the wedding plans with her fiance', Harry. We have booked the venue & ordered the wedding dress! His response was, "You pretty much have the wedding planned!" He has NO idea....

Before she boarded the plane we compiled an extensive "To Do" list. When I say extensive... I mean EXTENSIVE! It was 4 pages long. This list was broken down by items to be accomplished by the end of each month from now until the wedding. We literally have 98 items on our "to do" list!! This is the difference between the men planning a wedding and the daughter & her Mother of the soon to be Bride!

Mother of a soon to be Bride: "The Venue"

Today Alysse had to fly back to school. We had two items on our "to do" list for Christmas break, the dress & the venue. We accomplished them both! After calling several locations, looking countless hours on line and visiting four locations, we made a decision. We picked The Ballantyne Resort...It is BEAUTIFUL! It had everything we were looking for and more. However, I had to share all the research with "The Father of the Bride" I laid out my comparison worksheet explaining all the details. His eyes just glazed over.... I kept showing him all the money we were going to save by choosing various options.... All he saw was the money we were going to spend!

Observations of a High School Sub- Christmas Song Pictionary

OK, OK... this is an rookie mistake... what was I thinking???

When playing Christmas Song Pictionary with 9th grade students, make sure you remove the song title "The Nut Cracker" (I couldn't get to the board fast enough to erase that visual!)

Observations of a High School Sub- cell phones & prison

I generally learn more when I sub than I present to the students. I recently learned the following information while subbing:

A young lady was explaining that her sister was mad at her because she missed her phone call from her boyfriend in jail for the week-end. She then went on to explain that cell phones are not able to receive phone calls from jail. Then another girl quickly commented, "No that's not true... My daddy's been in jail for 10 years and he calls my cell phone, You just have to call your provider and get a special code" The first girl responded, "That's good for your dad but it's not worth going through all that for the occasional weekend jail stay"......I hope I never have to use this new knowledge!

Observations of a High School Sub- my cuffs!

I was subbing in a double block High School class (That's 3 hours!). The class only had 8 girls. We had approximately 45 minutes worth of work, but no problem... girls can talk! During the conversation, I overheard one gal say "Man, they made my cuffs too tight!" Another girl commented "They did that to me when I got cuffed as well!" Girls! I asked, Why did you get cuffed? One young lady went on to explain her poor judgement in stealing from a grocery store. Then the other girl offered her story.

There was a shooting in her neighborhood, when she heard the shots she took off running. The cops thought she knew something and pursued her. When they caught up with her, they cuffed her & took her in for questioning. I asked, "What happened to the person who got shot?" Her response, "Oh, he was shot 5 times, he died". "Did you know know him?" I responded. "Yeah...I knew him and the shooter, but I didn't tell the cops who the shooter was." Everyone was listening.... I responded. "That must have been traumatic for you" "Ma'am", she said, "It should have been traumatic, but in my neighborhood that is just the way it is!"

This is Charlotte, not New York City, Yet this is a very real part of Charlotte, the city I live in. There are so many needs around us if we just stop and notice. This is not my side of town, not my neighborhood, yet, this is still my city. My heart went out to this young lady. When I think of her, I pray for her. Our world needs Hope.... (Romans 15:13)

Mother of a soon to be Bride: "The" dress!

I have had an exciting holiday break with Alysse. Right before she came home for Christmas break her boyfriend proposed. After quickly asking if he had her fathers' permission, she excitedly exclaimed Yes! The date was set for October and I became the "Mother of a soon to be Bride!"

This entire break has been filled with organizing the wedding plans! She & I quickly decided the two items on our agenda for Christmas break was to find a venue and find a dress. It is amazing how much time can be spent on appointments and information gathering to accomplish theses two goals.

After years of collecting Bridal magazines and countless hours of watching "Say Yes to The Dress!" It was our turn to share in this special shopping spree! After a quick stop at a large Bridal store, we headed downtown for our appointment at a specialty Bridal shop. It was a fantastic experience from start to finish... All the dresses looked fabulous on her from the Kenneth Pool to the Modern Trousseau... each dress had an individual name! Once purchased the brides name is sewn into the dress in blue and a sketch of the dress is drawn by the designer and given to the bride. Wow!

Then it happened, they put her in "The" dress "The" perfect dress! It really was just like it is on those TV shows! I teared up and she exclaimed, "this is the dress, I LOVE it!" She was breathtaking... my baby, now a soon to be bride, beautiful beyond words. Then the price tag... we left without the dress.

More appointments were made and dress shops visited, but none of the dresses lived up to "The" dress. Alysse was a good sport, maintaining a great attitude... but as we looked back at the pics, and talked through the styles, we kept going back to "The" dress.

I have never experienced an attachment to any piece of clothing, it is just a dress. When I purchased my own wedding gown, I found it at a side-walk sale for $99.00, no alterations needed, and I gave it no more thought. I liked my dress. I remember really liking my veil. My sister-in-law wore my dress when she married my brother and my veil was worn by a total of three different brides. We sure got our $99.00 out of my purchase. Practical. That was who I was... Practical.

Now here I am 28 years later, drawn to such an impractical purchase. But... it really isn't just a dress it is "The" dress! No man, (no husband, or father of the bride) can truly understand I am sure. But a mother and daughter sharing this time together, we get it. She wants to look and feel stunning for her day, not just for her guest, but for her husband to be. It's not a dress, it's a memory... a moment.... And that is what I cherish now, the moments and the memories.

OK, OK now I am justifying this impractical purchase.

Amazing blessings came our way. A dear family friend DONATED the photography! The wedding was moved to a Sunday, a great savings! Another connection and tweaking got us an incredible savings on catering... and this list of some practical choices combined with incredible, surprising blessings continued. Monies were moved and subtracted from various columns in the wedding budget (I'll write another blog about this word...wedding budget, because it is really just a word) However, truly, the amount we were saving was well more than the extra amount we would need to pay for "The" dress.

Alysse and I had lunch at the Red Bowl today... a fabulous Chinese restaurant in Charlotte. She has a little less than a week left before she returns to Missouri for school. We have a contract in front of us for an incredible venue..(yet another soon to be written blog) Just for fun I always open my fortune cookie, it read: "Seize from every moment it's uniqueness, especially this week." We then headed down town to the speciality bridal shop. You guessed it... we ordered "The" dress! She must have thanked me a hundred times. We certainly did seize a wonderful moment. I am sure there will be many more wonderful, frustrating, exciting, practical and impractical moments as I live life this year as the mother of a soon to be Bride.

Observations of a High School Sub- inclement weather

I was called to sub on the last school day in December. It was a cold rainy / snowy day. The following announcement was given over the intercom: "Due to inclement weather all after school activities have been cancelled, with the exception of Drivers Ed!" What more can I say??

Back to Blogging!

It's been forever since I have blogged, not because I haven't' had anything to write about, but quite the opposite, I didn't know what to write about first! So I didn't write at all, big mistake! In addition to Hope Church responsibilities I began subbing as a High School teacher for Charlotte schools. I will certainly have some blogs entitled "My Observations as a Sub!" My daughter also became engaged, so I am sure I will have several entries as 'Mother of the Soon to be Bride" I also signed up for a class at our local community college and have tons more going on. Sooo I know if I am aware of my surroundings I will have many interesting stories to share and life lessons to learn... Back to Blogging for me!