The Elusive Pliage

Today I am not going to be a teacher. I am going to be a vain, shop-addict woman. And I embrace it!

I have been wanting to get myself a Longchamp Le Pliage. I’ve looked at it longingly ever since one of my colleagues brought hers out, one in such a happy yellow green I grew just as green with envy. However I also thought it was quite huge for my taste and, at that time I had just bought myself a rather expensive Michael Kors leather tote, so — I thought myself prudent and kept well away from it.

This is the thing: I now regret not having bought it then. At that time when I saw it in the mall, it had all the colors I loved, particularly the red one. There was also a time I saw a dark blue one. Now they have something that I crave even more: a long handled one.

Unfortunately, it seems like everyone who could afford to shell out the annoyingly exorbitant price (it’s just nylon but you could actually buy a leather bag with the price) has gotten one and are parading everywhere with it. Worse still, fakes have sprouted up all over the place, and I cannot help but wonder every time I see someone with it: is that the fake one or is that the genuine thing? Of course, that will go both ways, when the time comes that I do succeed in getting myself an original: people will wonder if I am carrying the real one or the one that isn’t even 10% of its original price. Argh.

Due to the weird flux of people who suddenly seems to have discovered “my bag” (I fondly think of it that way) there are no more Le Pliages that are of the color, size, or design that I like. I’ve taken to going to the malls where they appear every so often just to check if the one I like has arrived, to no avail. I’ve asked a friend who has gone to HK to look for it. Again, to no avail. The omnipresent bag seems to mock me as everywhere I see people with the size, style and colors I want but no store seems to be selling it. Talk about irony!

Ah, but I still believe that old adage: good things come to those who wait. I think there will be some point where I will be glad I waited despite the temptation to buy a fake (no one would know except myself, but that’s the hardest thing of all) or to buy something else (the Lacoste and LeSportsac ones in particular) … and sometime in the future I’ll be writing about my successful purchase.

Mark my words!

 

Gifts … Minus Two Cupcakes

Ah! The proverbial most wonderful time of the year is here. The time for gift giving (and receiving), a time for celebrating, and of course, for eating — eating, eating, and eating some more.

As a teacher, I receive gifts from my students every Christmas season, and over the years I have received quite a few that were alternately remarkable and puzzling. I’ve received everything from designer watches to pots and pans(?!?) to rabbits to labelers (I loved that one) to this alien piece of crocheted cloth that, after some puzzling, turned out to be a toilet tissue holder (why one would give a toilet tissue holder — a crocheted one, no less — is beyond me). But this year, most of the gifts I got was of food.

This, I guess, is a testament to the fact that there isn’t a lot of loose money going around. The adults in charge of gift buying must have figured that, at least, gifts of food would be used somehow. And that’s true — except I don’t usually end up as the user. The household being made up of exactly three people — and a dog — there isn’t much we could do to the surfeit of chocolates and cookies I received. So: off they went to various nephews and nieces and everyone else who happened to be within a week’s reach.

My favorite gift this year was a set of eight cupcakes. Chocolate they were and really good. However, it was also the most hilarious one I’ve received in a while, simply because I did not get the full gift: out of eight, I only received six! Telltale signs of someone having gotten hungry and eaten the other two were all over the box. Of course, I did not have to go far to figure out who did …!

All gifts, I believe, are from the heart. Whether they are expensive or cheap, long-lasting or edible, complete or — as in my case, missing two — it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the person thought of you, cared enough to get you something, even if it did turn out that the person was unable to help himself and ate some of what he originally intended to give you. All these are expressions of gratitude and acknowledgement, ones that we should always appreciate. After all, Christmas is the time for such things.

Merry Christmas, everyone! May this season of love and giving be generous to you and your family!

 

Olympics and the Spartans

Every year, the seventh graders put together, as a way of commemorating and celebrating what they had learned about Ancient Greece, a mini-Olympics of their own. To show solidarity, they name their team after their class advisers — in short, my class always ends up borrowing (and mangling) something from my name. It’s alternately hilarious and weird.

I have been a seventh grade adviser for as long as I have been teaching Middle School — so that means I have fielded, at this point in time, two teams in the past. Both of them lost, doing better in the physical feats than in the academic ones, so that my colleagues would kid me that my class would inevitably end up as Spartans and the other team would be Athenians. I was very much hoping that this year I would have a better blend, and that the third time would be our charm.

Alas, and alack! My team was Sparta all over again — which means we lost. Again.

However, one good thing that came out of it was that I now have a renewed respect for my students who might not be the strongest academically (and actually play truant most of the time) but are absolutely fantastic physically. It was a joy to watch them run and dodge water balloons and pour all of themselves out on the field: sliding in mud and sand without hesitation or heed for the scrapes they were getting, faces knotted in concentration, anguish or exultation apparent depending on the outcomes. That they brought themselves full on and really put their hearts into what they were doing for their team (and, because they carry my name, for me) was truly heartwarming. Never was I prouder of my class than I was today.

Despite the loss, congratulations, 7CS! You were fantastic today, and the fact that you played fair and well speaks of your character, and that is more important to me than any victory. I am very, very proud of each and every one of you!

 

Excuses Exmusches

It’s really amusing when students try to pass of some lame excuse when they don’t do (or do) something they know they should’ve (or oughtn’t). It’s even more amusing when the students find out you know the truth anyway — and that you only had given them the chance to come clean first — when that happens, their facial expressions are truly precious.

My favorite excuses of all time:

1. “My dog ate it.” No kidding. Someone really told me this, a third grader. The more amusing part is that it was true.
2. “I accidentally logged on to Facebook.” This from a sixth grader who was caught, instead of using the time on the computers to do his research, to be checking other people’s profiles. If we could have laughed straight to his face, we would have.
3. “It’s in my brain.” Asked for the written requirement, a couple of students think this is one way to get out of it. No dice. If it’s in your head, then write it down.
4. “I have no pen.” Again, when you ask for written work. Too bad I have extra pens.
5. (Student) The file isn’t there [in the computer]. (Teacher) How can it not be there? What, it just walked away?! (Student) Maybe! Self explanatory. And this taught me never to give wily students an opening in any argument.

 

Working with Difficult Colleagues

As a teacher, I get to work with a gamut of people: smart, not-so-smart, opinionated, quiet, unassuming, smart-mouthed. And I am not just talking about the kids!

I am not good at handling difficult people, especially colleagues. I am the first person to admit that, especially since my face is too open and shows every single emotion like a darned mirror. I like getting my way and I am used to the fact that my authority is not challenged in the classroom, so when I need to work with people who seem to thrive on either challenging others or in getting their way, it really gets my proverbial goat.

Make no mistake: over the years I have learned to make compromises. I am so good at that that my colleagues have always called me “level headed” and “tactful”, and, not meaning to pat myself on the back, but it is quite true: I try, I try. But there are some people — right now, one person in particular in the school where I work — who do not wait to think through a compromise and just act bratty: I guess I am seeing myself a full ten years ago, and it is very, very difficult to deal with them. For this particular person, I try to stay out of his way (that’s the safest) or I try to keep my dealings with him short and sweet. One thing I thank God for is that he is not under my jurisdiction otherwise it would be an even greater challenge.

The funny thing is we both know we hate each other’s guts. For some strange reason, it’s a comforting thought … at least we have no pretensions. The sad thing is that I think we could learn much from each other if we tried — no, scrap that — I tried, but he didn’t and for some reason did not seem to want to consult with me even if I could help him in so many ways in what he’s teaching (I used to teach some of the things he is doing now). But, oh well — that’s his loss because it’s not going to happen anytime soon, at the rate we’re going.

Will we finish the year without an explosion? I hope so. Keep your fingers crossed.