The moment we've all been waiting for

So you know those super cheesy "inspiring" teaching movies about teachers who go into a classroom full of hoodlums and after some standing on desks or ballroom dancing or musical training, suddenly every student is this passionate, intelligent, functional member of society?

I hate those movies, FYI. But my mom's a teacher, so I've seen a LOT of them. And every single teacher in those movies always talks about this big MOMENT where something finally clicked for one of their problem kids, and that's when it all became worth it for them.

Well, I'm a substitute teacher. So, I don't see kids long enough to really affect them, or inspire them, or have fabulous silver screen moments with them. In fact, if anyone ever televised any of my moments in the classroom, I think it would produce some pretty boring footage, since some days it feels like I'm repeating the same line over and over again. And the line is usually, "Excuse me, why is there STILL talking in this classroom?"

But today, I had my moment. And it doesn't make any sense. When the bell FINALLY rang, and the classroom started emptying, I felt the tightest little hug around my waist. I looked down, and looking back up at me was by far my WORST student ever. I mean this kid LICKED his own desk to get out of doing work. I had to take his water bottle away because he was somehow shooting water out of his nose at people. I had to threaten to send him to the office when he refused to do the assignment I gave him, because he said his regular teacher NEVER makes him do boring work. And this kid was hugging me at the end of the day? He said "Goodbye Miss Miller! I hope you come back and sub for us again, because I like you!"

Naturally, my first instinct was to check my back for the "kick me" sign or whatever other trick he had up his sleeve. But there wasn't anything there. The kid genuinely LIKED me. And damn it, I liked him too! Lord only knows why, but it's the kids like that who make the measly pay and sore throat worth it at the end of the day. Because if nothing else, there's ALWAYS a good story.

Adventures on the East Coast

I'm back from the east coast and am thrilled to report that everything went more or less swimmingly. My credit card statement makes me want to cry a little bit, but I'm trying to tell myself that's just the sign of a good (and much needed!) vacation!

I started in Georgetown with my sister, and instantly loved it. All the brick row houses and the gorgeous trees and cool storefronts made all the walking (and trust me, there was a LOT of walking) a fun activity in itself. I ate some great food at Taste of Georgetown, which is a huge event for charity that lets you sample some of Georgetown's best (and fanciest!) restaurants. I saw my first college football game, which was miserably hot and we ended up losing in overtime when the other team intercepted the ball and basically ran endzone to endzone, but it was an experience! And I saw all the touristy stuff in D.C., which I've seen before, but either blocked out or never paid attention to in the first place, because it all felt pretty new to me.

Then, things got REALLY exciting. I grabbed a taxi (the driver of which was more obsessed with serial killers than I am... little scary), hopped on a train, and was off to Philadelphia! I figured out the subway to my hotel, and was amazed at how easy everything was. Then I had my own personal tour guide for the day, and he drove me around to some amazing sights. My first cheesesteak, Rocky steps at the art museum, all the founding fathers type stuff - it was great. Then he took me to a state park near where he lives, and seriously, I'm still dumbstruck at how phenomenally gorgeous that place was. I didn't even bother taking pictures, because they wouldn't be able to capture even a fraction of how cool that place was. I didn't want to leave! It's been like, a week, and I still wish I hadn't left. We went to dinner with one of my friends from high school that I haven't seen since graduation and her sister, witnessed a pretty intense lightening storm (by my California standards at least), and then tucked in for the night.

The next morning, the real adventure began. I rented my first car, a zippy red little thing with a spoiler that made cop-watching tough, but was pretty freaking adorable. Then for the next 3 days, I drove all over eastern Pennsylvania looking at potential grad schools and the towns they were in. Again, the scenes from this place were astounding. The foliage was almost in full-swing there, and, for lack of better words, I fell completely and head over heels in love. I even told my mom that I liked the driving part of the trip best, because everywhere I looked could have been a picture on a postcard.

I am a little disappointed that none of the grad schools had that "perfect fit" gut feeling that I'm looking for, and I am definitely going to need that before I move across the country. So, there's a possibility that my east coast dreams are ending here, and even though it will always be a great place to visit, it will never really be home. And I guess I'm okay with that. The only problem is none of the places I'm looking at really feel totally right to me, and I'm getting really panicked that I'm going to misstep somewhere and end up in a place that isn't right for me for the next 3 years, only to take the risk and move to another place that may or may not be home after that. But THAT is a topic for a different posting. This California girl has some laundry she needs to catch up on :)