"That changes everything"

Usually when I quote my students, it's because they said something funny. This time, one of them said something that has stuck with me for several days. I can usually tell when my students haven't practiced. When they have more interest in talking, and humming, and general wandering around the room before they sit down and get their books out, Ibegin to suspect that maybe they didn't practice. On Friday, I knew for sure that Alex hadn't practiced (because he misplaced his notebook and hadn't had it for over a week), but he was still humming, putting off playing, etc. I heard him singing under his breath "Joy to the world, the teacher's dead." He's not the type of kid that actually hates his teachers, but from what I can gather, his classmates had been singing it, and he picked it up, not really thinking about what he was singing. I asked him not to sing it, not because I was personally offended because I'm a teacher (my skin's a little thicker than that), but because of obvious problems with the song. He asked me why I didn't like it, and I said, "First of all, the words go against the Bible."
"They do?"
"Yes, in Exodus it says thou shalt not kill"
Then he made the statement "That changes everything, then!"
Does it really change everything for me? or do I continue to do what I want to do conveniently ignoring the Bible's commands against whatever it is?
I'm thankful that Alex has a tender heart, and that God used him to point out that what the Bible says really should change everything we say and do.

First soccer game

We have our first game today. I'm really hoping one of my players was able to get ahold of her mom to tell her to come later to pick her up. If she doesn't, well, I guess it's my fault if Valerie has to leave early. I didn't really discuss the fact that our team played second on Friday. Oops! This will be interesting. On Tuesday, the people in charge decided that we needed to make a trade form my team to one of the weaker teams, so that the games would be more evenly balanced. I lost one of my sixth graders, and I have gained a fourth grader that I have never met before.
My high school girls basketball team won their game yesterday. I really enjoy the coaching, but it takes up more of your mind than I realized. We ended up winning by 1 point, but it shouldn't have been even that close. The other team has 2 really tall girls, and when I was giving some of the other kids a chance to play, I conveniently forgot the fact that I needed to leave Cristina in because she's the only one tall enough to come close to defending those two. Oh well, it all worked out eventually. So far our record is 2-1.
The middle school and high school students today have ben asking every person they see to sponsor them for a walkathon to earn money for a science lab. I have told every one of them to aske me later after I have a chance to think about how much I can help. A science lab is a worthy cause, I've just had to decide that I'll only sponsor kids I teach, since it could quickly snowball if I didn't do that.
As for piano lessons, every child except one now has their piano books. 2 so far have finished their books and bought new ones, 2 more are within 1-2 lessons of finishing their books, and several more are coming close.
Monday we have off of school, and I'm planning on going to a Spanish ladies conference sponsored by a Christian college in Bayamon. David Cortes and his wife (from Mexico) are doing the speaking. I'm glad for the day off school, as well as the opportunity to go to this conference.

First soccer practice

Yesterday was pretty interesting. We're playing with seven girls on the field at once, and at practice yesterday I had exactly seven. I really enjoyed the drills and stuff, and during the scrimmage, I was reminded once again how much trouble I would be in as a coach if this weren't just intramural. I could never stay in the proper prescribed place for a coach. After the first basketball game I coached, I wondered why I was so tired. During the second game, I discovered that it was becaused I walked up and down the sidelines during the whole game. This was not just a leisurely stroll, I was walking fast and hard! The first soccer game is Friday. I'm really looking forward to this coaching thing. I have a really good group of girls with sweet spirits who are willing to listen. They have made it fun for me. I'm enjoying getting to know my students outside of class.

Walmartian adventures

Walmart is always an interesting trip, but this Wednesday it was especially fun. I really didn't have that many things to get, so Avieria and I just wandered through the store looking and talking. The first part of the fun happened in the shoe aisle. I made a beeline for the clearance shelves and started looking for my size. They usually don't have the size anywhere that fits me best, so I end up settling for something that's a little too big. It's even rarer to find my size on clearance, so when I saw a box with the correct size on the top shelf underneath 5 other boxes, I was pretty exited. To make it even better, the price was $5! So, ignoring the sign that says ask for assistance with items on the top shelf, I tried to get the box down. I really was tall enough to get it, but there was an edge that stuck out that the box was behind, and with all those boxes on top of it, it was hard to get the box high enough to go over the edge. While I was attempting my disobedience to the posted walmart request, a manager (or something like that) came along and asked if we needed help. We said yes, and the woman went off to find someone. We should have learned our lesson and waited for help, but it took so long that we decided to try again. This whole time, Avieria was saying, "Watch, we get the box down, and it won't even be the size you want!" This time she helped me work at the box, and between the two of us, we were able to get it down. Finally, I had the box with the wonderful $5 shoes in it! I took off the lid, and found..........nothing! Not only was there not the right size in the box, there was absolutely nothing in it! Right about this time, the manager person came back with help to find Avieria and I laughing so hard we could hardly talk to tell her we didn't really need the help. We kept looking in the shoe section for a while, and I could hear the workers talking about the crazy people finally getting the box down that had nothing in it. Oh well, I guess I didn't really need that pair of shoes.
Our next adventure happened in the checkout line. We found some tshirts in the clothes section that were pretty amusing, and we were discussing which ones we needed to get and wear home for our mothers to see. As we were talking, I noticed this man in the next line over repeatedly looking at us, and turning around to talk to the lady with him. I said something to Avieria about the man talking about us, when he asked her "Do you speak spanish?" She said no, but pointed to me and said that I did. It turns out that when they heard us talking, they figured that we were americans (I wonder where they got that idea ). The man was saying something about this package that he had, and I understood the words, but I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to do. I was thinking, yes, the instructions are in English, yes, I read English, but I didn't know what part he needed to know about. Finally he just handed me the package and said, "explain this to me!" It was a box with a bottle of some sort of dog medicine inside, and there were no spanish instructions to be found. He wanted to know how much of the medicine to give his dog. The instructions said to give 1 teaspoon for every 10 pounds of dog. The only problem was that I could not remember the word for teaspoon, and there was no one around who could help me come up with it. So I told him, "you use one of these (and pointed to the English word) for every 10 pounds of dog." That much I could handle. It didn't get the point across though, so I said " maybe there's something inside" hoping that there was one of those little measuring cups inside that I could look at to help him. Thankfully, we opened the box up, and sure enough, there was a little measuring cup resting right on top of the bottle and I was able to point to the measurement line and tell him how much he needed to give his dog. Hopefully he understood the instructions, and the dog survived the medicine!

Playing with $50,000

Or maybe I should say 'on' $50,000. This Saturday we went to Plaza Las Americas again, and of course I was forced to wander into the piano store that has been there since Christmas. Last time I went they had about half as many pianos, and I was hesitant to ask to play one since there is no chance of me even thinking about buying one. This time I was walking around looking at the new pianos, when the people running the store asked if they could help. I told them I was just looking, that I'd never be able to afford one of the pianos in the store. I also told them I was a piano teacher in the area. They were very kind even though they knew I wasn't going to buy, and they said if I needed any help to ask. I was about to leave, when Janelle (one of the college girls) asked if we could play one of the pianos. We were told "Of course! Whichever one you want!) I walked around the store looking, and stopped for a minute at a Yamaha 7' 6" concert grand, since my church in Georgia used to have something similar to it. I was going to choose probably a Boston piano since I've never played one of those, but when I stopped at the Yamaha, they brought the bench over for me to sit on and play. Then I looked at the price. I would have to pick the most expensive piano in the store! Almost $50,000! My dad says that's about what his first house cost, and at that price it'd better be a two-bedroom piano. I sat down and decided to play the arrangement of MADRID (Mr. Coleman, see what I learned in hymnology?), the tune that we usually sing with the text "Come, Christians, Join to Sing," that was the first piece on my sr recital. It was an easy choice, since it's the only one that I can play memorized without prior practice. The piano played beautifully, especially the lower ranges. I enjoyed every minute of it, and thanked the store people profusely when I was finished. They said, "No, thank you!" I think they enjoyed the extra people walking in the store and standing outside the window. I must say that was slightly unnerving to me, though. Maybe next time, after I've practiced Malaguena, I'll go back. I would love to play that piece on one of those pianos, only a big piano can really do justice to it. That was my weekend adventure.
This week has been fairly uneventful, but nice, especially since I finally got my new schedule worked out. This means no glaring 3 hour gaps without lessons, and about 6 fewer lessons after school. It also means that I have time to coach soccer which I know hardly anything about (I know the rules, but not much about how to instruct). I met my team yesterday and we start games next week. The sports program is intramural, and I have girls from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. Only 3 or 4 of them have ever played before, so this could be interesting. I have decided, though, that I don't mind being called coach, even though I hate being called teacher.