Innocence...Ohh Sweet Innocence...

What's up? What's up? What's up? I hope everyone is doing well as can be expected. Even though I have always enjoyed my time here, it is even better being able to hang out with a good group of people who like to have fun...even if the majority of them are Canadian (and I mean Canadian Canadian, not Flava Flav Canadian...I know Vic and Karl with understand what I mean). It is nice to sit back and have a few cold ones with people where there is no language barrier. The school and the staff are great (as I have mentioned before) and I feel like I am finally starting to get into the swing of things.
I would like to tell you all a little story. This happened yesterday and I am still laughing over 24 hours later. One of the things that I haven't noticed and/or appreciated until late is how much younger kids are here than back home. By younger, I am talking about their innocence. Kids here are still kids and enjoy being kids. One of the classes I teach is sixth grade Ancient Civilization and we are learning about the Mayans. The students have done very well at learning and one of the lessons we did was on Mayan art. So, for a fun activity we are making Mayan masks out of paper mache (?). We started these on Tuesday and will be done by the end of the week. The kids love it and I am very happy to see that they are having fun while learning from my teaching. Anyway, one of my students' name is Kris. His dad is from the States and his mom is Thai. When I first began teaching I noticed that he really liked to be in charge and he is ALL BUSINESS!!! I get such a kick out of him every single day. He wears these thick, dark-rimmed glasses and always has a serious look on his face as if he is creating nuclear biology formulas for the government. He was going to be gone for a day last week and came to let me know. "Mr. Jon!" he said, "Ya know you got some pretty good stuff going on over here and the concensus (he ACTUALLY used this word) is you are OK. I would love to stay the rest of the week, but I got business elsewhere that I need to take care of. I just wanted to let you know what is going on so we are on the same page." He says this to me without cracking a smile. So I told him that I understood, appreciated him letting me know, and I would see him next week.
Kris is back in time for the making of the masks. I let him help me set up and explain how things are going to be organized. We get started and it comes time to blow up the balloons. Everyone has no trouble blowing up their balloon except Kris. Luckily enough, he is standing right next to me and I get to watch everything close up. He finally gets it blown up and now comes the part where the balloon must be tied. He starts trying to tie it but can't get the end of the balloon through the hole he made to finish the knot (this is when it gets funny). As he struggles to make the knot, he starts saying, "C'MON GET IN THERE! GEEET IIIIN THERE! THE HOLE IS TOO TIGHT AND THE THING IS TOO BIG!" I am trying as hard as I can not to laugh out loud and then he finally ties the knot. "You know Mr. Jon, getting it in the hole is much easier the second and third time than the first," he said. "Well, Kris, " I replied, "I have a feeling you will be saying those words again someday." By now I am about ready to pee my pants. "Explain to me what you mean Mr. Jon. I don't understand," he said looking confused. This was the question I didn't expect him to ask and caught me off-guard. "Ummm....Ummmm," I muttered, "Have you ever played golf?" "No," he said. "Well...try playing golf once and you will understand...just make sure you have a wife first!" He smiled happily (still not understanding...Thank God) and went to his station and worked on his mask. I then stepped outside my room for about 30 seconds and had a great laugh.
Well, that is all I really wanted to share. I hope that you found it humorous, because I sure did. Take care of yourselves and keep livin' the dream. Until next time, don't forget to appreciate the innocence you can only find in a child. We were like that once too.