I survived my first 2 volleyball games last night! It was a lot of fun and also more exercise than I thought it would be because I am sore all over today. :) When I first got there it was a bit intimidating because probably 80% or more of those girls and women played volleyball somewhere and had their game faces on. :) And this is the league that is not supposed to be too serious. But then once we started playing it was a lot better and it seemed like they all just want to have fun and enjoy the game instead of being all about scoring and winning. Our first game we only had 4 of us playing against 6 so that was a given we'd lose and none of us played together before that day. The second game we lost a player who had to go home to her kids and so we played with 3 against 5. And even though we didn't start out that great, we actually won. I kind of wonder if we didn't play the worst team in the league though. :) It was fun and a LOT of running around to cover the whole court. So maybe that's partly why I'm so sore today. Hopefully next time we'll have 5 or 6 players but that's how it is when our team is made up of all moms and not all of them have husbands available to take care of their kids. I'm just so glad I get to play with someone who's into the game like I am but at the same time is nice when I mess up. It's great to be doing something active together like that too.
Today I was gone all day on a field trip with Kade's class and there were about 60 ten year-olds from 3 classes. It was very nice besides the fact that most of it was outside and it was a pretty cold day. I was in charge of 9 kids and for some reason I always enjoy watching what these kids are like, how they interact, treat each other and stuff. And I usually get more kick out of watching the girls, probably because they interact with each other way more than the boys do. :) You can tell a lot about the kids by just seeing how they're dressed and what their outward behavior is like.
I could not believe how many kids there were all about brand name shoes, sweatshirts and probably more. For some reason Under Armour clothes are a big deal right now and I can't believe how many kids are wearing these $50 shirts which is more than I spend on mine. It is probably a "necessity" for them when they go back to school. On the other hand, there are a few kids that you can tell are from very poor homes. I only noticed it because I had 2 girls like that in my group and I was told by the teacher that they will probably need my help taking notes. One had pants 2 sizes too small and kept adjusting them so they weren't uncomfortable. And the other girl had these boy sports pants on that were ripping very badly and a huge sweatshirt that looked like something an old woman would wear to work in the garden. My heart just ached for these girls and I couldn't stop thinking how I just want to take them to a store and buy them some nicer clothes. And how must they feel next to these girls that are all put together with their brand name clothes, perfect manicures and hair. At least it seemed like they didn't care or notice and maybe it's because they've been around it since kindergarten and by now are used to not fitting in. At one point, one of them just out of the blue hugged me tightly because she was cold, but somehow I wondered if there just isn't anyone to hug her back at home.
During our lunch break a bunch of kids sat around eating together. This girl close to me pulls out her sandwich and probably to be noticed or "funny" she says:"oh no, my mom made my sandwich all wrong! She knows I hate it this way." I look at her and it is just a regular ham and cheese sandwich. I just said: "well, next time you better make your own sandwich then." I could not believe she would say that about her mom. And a few minutes later I realized her mom was there helping out and was sitting pretty close to us too. :) I don't think she heard me though because she didn't hear her daughter either. It is just interesting watching these kids and how much they are a window into their homes. What a job it is to be a teacher, to have such responsibility of being a parent, caregiver, nurse, role model, educator and so much more to these kids. I'm so grateful for wonderful teachers our kids have had. I hope they know what an important job they have.
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