go for the throat

whew. I am home. I am close to exhausted, but I am trying to push just a little bit more so that tomorrow can be ok.

The badminton tournament was stupendous. One of the members of our olympic badminton team came up to give clinics to the athletes, which was really cool. She also played a game with one of the coaches, who also used to compete in badminton. Now, I don't want to sound like an asshole, but I never really considered the possibility that people actually play badminton professionally. I never really considered it as a sponsorable sport at all. So I am feeling the shocks of flabbergastation at having seen a professional-level match. boggled-mind.

The kids were really good, I have to say. The usual shenanigans with ignoring curfew to talk to a boy, yada yada, and the whining and complaining about the delays were there, but nowhere near the level you would find among suburbanite teens, so I feel happy. They are good kids, and we had a lot of fun.

Also, chillin' with the other coaches was fun. I was absolutely surrounded (submerged?) in Newfoundlanders, and I tell you my repertoire of dirty jokes has just ballooned - an exponential balloon, even. We played countless rounds of Bulshit and Bitch. Both very good and fun card games. Bulshit was the most fun because while we were playing, some of the kids would come and sit and watch sometimes, and they would get so disturbed by witnessing their teachers yelling "BULLSHIT!" at the top of their lungs!!! It was hilarious! And the best part was that I could say with a clear conscience, "There is a time and a place for everything. This is the time and place for Bullshit." Because, really, a card game in a shabby community centre in the middle of nowhere is the perfect place, and being stranded is the perfect time, for swearing. So there.

I think the thing I loved best about the trip was getting to be human with the kids. I get so tired of always having to be professional and uptight as a teacher - no wonder kids forget that we are people who get angry and laugh until we cry, and tell dirty jokes and yell obscenities! Those ten kids on the trip will be poking me in the ribs and pretending to draw on me with marker and laughing at my terrible jokes for the rest of the year, because we got to have fun and be reasonable on this trip.

Remind me to tell you the one about the bucket and saucer.

ps there was a community feast tonight, I dropped in briefly, and one of my wonderful students (not a badminty) fed me a piece of seal trachea. I couldn't chew it, but it didn't make me puke, either. I think I'm not very squeamish. At least, not about food.

pps the Coach has this funny funny habit of saying, "Kill him" when he is watching one of his athletes play. He means to smash the shuttle, but I still find it funny. I mean really, does badminton strike you as a violent sport?