Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Drinking from a firehose

For schools across British Columbia, today was the first day of school.  And what a day it was!  Does any of this sound familiar to you?

“Can you tell me where J216 is?”

“Where do you want the coffee and muffins for the staff?”

“Welcome to South Kam, you are going to love teaching here!”

“How was your summer?  How are your little girls?”

“What does Mr. Smith look like?”

“How long are the classes today?”

“Someone is parked in my parking spot, can you find out who it is?”

“I went to my class and the class wasn’t there, do you know where they went?”

“We just moved here and want to register our son.  Where should we go?”

“Thanks for the coffee and muffins and the golf shirt.  I will wear it on Titan Fridays!”

“When time are volleyball tryouts?”

“There is a bolt on the locker I was assigned. What do I do?”

“Sally broke her leg last night and we need a sub, can we get someone to cover?”

“Did my textbooks come in?”

 “Can I change this class so I can get Art?”

“The floor in my class was supposed to be replaced and it wasn’t.  I moved all my furniture out—what I am I supposed to do?”

“When do our international students show up?  The LINK Crew is ready for them?”

“What is the site license code for the marks program?”

“My key doesn’t work, do you have another one?”

“Where do I get an agenda book?”

“What time is the staff getting together on Friday?”

“What is the password for the wireless for my Blackberry?”

“What time is the last bell?”

Sigh.  And the next thing you know, you blink, it’s the end of the day, and the last bus is pulling out to take our students home.  The first day of school is always hair-straight-back-buzzing-with-excitement.  Everything comes at a hundred miles per hour.  It's no wonder that I rarely sleep the night before, and  always sleep soundly the night after.  I am certain that tonight will be no different.

The first day of school--it’s kind of like trying to get a drink from a fire hose.

It's also my favorite day of the year.


2 comments:

  1. Great piece! I drank from the firehose last week. I doubled up by moving schools. It was bracing (and I still don't understand the system in some cases) but totally awesome.

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  2. Cale, I can totally relate -- I doubled up by moving to TWO schools! I was sorry to leave Heather Park behind, but stoked to be trying on the big hat. I always feel like so much has happened by the end of the week that it must be the end of Sept already :)

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