To be student at RVA is kind of like being at camp all year long. I sit here on Friday night tired from the second week at school, but happy. I am still wearing my long sleeve shirt, wool sweater, scarf and fleece, not to mention my double layer leggings and yoga pants, and wool socks. Tonight we played a game called “staff hunt”. All the staff goes to hide in hedges, trees, ditches, one even in a trash can. Then 5 minutes later, about 100 children, kindergarten to 6th grade, are let loose to try and find us. Not being totally familiar with all the elementary grounds, I had staked out a somewhat comfortable looking flower bed that was away from a lot of the traffic. I made a b-line for it and wriggled around to get a comfortable position on the bumpy ground under the long leaves of the lilli like flowers. Did I mention I also had brought a hot water bottle? (another great idea) and I stuffed that under my fleece. I was feeling almost comfortable.
I soon heard screams of children hot on the search. In a little while I heard the foot steps of kids, and the beams of flashlights cutting through the dark night. (kids second grade and under got to have this advantage.) But no one bothered to inspect the flower bed very carefully. As it got quiet again, I began to wonder if I was sharing this spot with any other creatures, there was a loud russell on the other side of the bed. There was something dark sticking up and moving, fear struck in my heart for an instant as I considered if this could be my greatest fear... a snake? But as the moon light caught it I could tell it was the tail of a cat and I shooed it away. However at this point I was getting a little lonely and even hoping that someone would find me. Part of the game is that when kids find you, you give them a piece of candy. I still had my pretty big bag, so I decided to have a piece. Mmm, lemon. Then whenever kids would come near I would russell my candy wrapper in hopes they might get clue. Finally one of my students Joshua was passing by, a bright young guy. I was sure he would see me, he starred for a while. Finally I made a move and he saw me and then came with 3 others in his group to claim their piece of candy. Finally a little excitement! I waited and waited, I recognized the voice of another of my students saying that we still had 45 minutes! My hot water bottle was loosing warmth rapidly and my initially comfortable position was not so comfortable any more.... I ate another piece of candy.
Another one of my students found me with his group. Then little boy searching on his own whilst singing “Jesus loves me”, pronounced, “I found you” with no help from me at all. Then he said sweetly that I could keep his piece of candy for myself, he must have been pretty good and was already sick of candy! I told him thank you and that I had already been helping myself. Finally the finish bell rang and I climbed out of my hiding place covered with grass and dirt and made my way back the meeting hall. I met a few students on the way, and shared more of my left over candy. They had had a ton of fun, which was the point after all :) While lying on the cold ground wasn’t maybe my ideal way to spend a Friday night, I am thrilled to be here teaching these kids, a part of their lives and contributing to a fun Friday night! And I have to admit it wasn’t all that bad :)
