Forgot to include a snippet about my work schedule. I do in fact work from Tuesday to Saturday and have Mondays off. Saturday schedule is fun, and I got to teach a math class this morning. Heck, the students didn’t know that I am the worse of the worse when it comes to math but I concealed my academic deficiency quite well by putting on a rough and tough face. The kids in my class are 8th graders who embark on an academic support program in preparation for an entrance exam to independent or private high schools. On these future premises, they need to take these classes, both verbal and math, every Saturday morning from 8 to 10 am to go over the foundation of what the exam will entail. I was in for a substitution because their primary teacher wasn’t in for this Saturday.
So this morning, instead of wearing jeans and sneaker to work (casual attire for Saturday), I dolled on black dress pants, a red turtleneck sweater and a pair of high pumps for extra height and sassiness. The kids asked me, “Ms. Nguyen, why don’t you just wear jeans?” I threw them quite a stern look, “great observation, kids!” I told them, “But it has nothing to do with arithmetic, please tell me what are the primary numbers.” One kid who sat in the front threw it back, “you look prettier than my math teacher in school.” Hahh, kiss-ass game, meaning they either got bored, they knew of my deficiency in math, or my red turtleneck sweater was too distracting/shining for the horizon of blackness in their choices of clothing indicating defiance and rebellious charateristics of teenagers. Either way, I had that rough face on, stood my ground of authority, even though I was quite flattered. “Please, we don’t have much time, or you don’t have much time.” I worked my way into the tricky game, putting the pressure on them, “you got only 4 weeks to prepare for this exam, and I want you to do well!” The balls were in my court. It turned out that the stuff I covered this morning were too easy for them because all of them took fractions with a piece of cake. At the end of the period, they started asking more about me because I am a new staff. They were very privy, asking too many personal questions. It was a great class after all. 🙂 Kids just know how to work their ways into your heart sometimes, that subtle cuteness of being teenagers at that age. I began to like them…some of them will be my advisees next year when they reach high school, and I get to shape their ways into life with right direction, shed that light on them. I got paid to do exactly what I love as the work strikes directly to the core of my passion.
Anyway, looking sassy has its price — my pumps make me look fabulous but the slippery floor ruined my shasay-strides, I almost slipped a few times but saved myself because I have quite a few years of experiences in high heels. Unfortunately, when the Saturday session was over, I walked out the door, and stepped right onto an uneven pavement, unprepared of the pot whole and fell right in front of the kids. They laughed but were concerned. It was embarassing — there goes my “rough and tough” image in class. Now my left ankle is sprained.
Boo-hoo!!!
Slightly Imperfect 