psych out!

i visited some schools yesterday: one i only left 6 months ago, and the other one i had not visited in 2 or 3 years. i made it to my high school in time for lunch period, so everyone was out in the halls and all the teachers were in their offices. there were a sea of faces and i recognized none of them; reasonable, since i graduated in '03 and all of the present students were born in the 90s.

i had a lovely chat with my english teachers, Mrs. B and Brown Mrs. B (Ms. M). the ones who read your writing are the ones you tend to get to know (so that they can look more favourably upon your writing =P). my high school english teachers are the reason i chose to take english as a teachable.

after a stop by my old faithful locker, i headed back out for St. Florence. i wanted to make it in a certain timeframe (to minimize class disruptions) so i decided to skip lunch with family, and subsequently skip lunch entirely (because i'm poor).

when i arrived, (nearly) everyone was in the staff room having a pizza party; they roped me into not skipping lunch afterall. oh, how i had missed the people and the staff room banter.

after lunch, i went into the primary hall to bring the students back in from lunch recess, so that i could see my darlings, now in grade 2. i had forgotten how small they were, but they did not forget me.

"Mr. Chan! I missed you!" "Are you a kid?" "Are you a daddy?" "Do you have a girlfriend?" "Are you in love with _______?" "Didn't you marry _______?" "Are you an adult?"

students i never really talked to before also came up to say, "Hi!" and "I know you!" and "Are you going to work here?"

outside one of the grade 2 classrooms, i stood to greet them. a student i did not know came up to chat.

"I'm new here. Who are you?"
"Mr. Chan. You must be Nicholas."

His eyes bugged out with amazement and he sputtered, "How did you know?!"
I pointed to the coat hooks that lined the hall. "Your name tag is right there."