blog 11

Object #1:

During the last week of the Spring semester of '08, I had to take an extended lunch hour to go to the school where I did my junior field experience. They had a nice farewell luncheon for us with an array of food and drinks, as well as speeches by the supervisor, teachers, the vice principal, and others whom we had worked with. Toward the end of the luncheon, each of the 6 of us who had performed our field work in this school were given a gift bag and a card. At first I didn't open my gift bag because I didn't want to be rude. I finally did open it, though, while I was walking out of the building. I quickly sifted through the tissue paper and opened the end of a box that lay inside. There was a picture frame in this box, and I remember thinking it was kind of strange that they would give us a picture frame. I also remember thinking that it was pretty ugly. So after I figured out what it was I closed the box, and didn't look at it again until I got home later that night. When I went to show my mom what we got (because I put the gift bag on the table when I walked in the door, and she asked what it was), I opened the box, and took the picture frame out completely. It was at this point that I realized WHY they had given us a picture frame. It was not just an empty picture frame, it was a picture frame (still an ugly one..) with a picture of one of the classes I had been teaching once a week, all semester. Once I saw that, it all made sense, and what started as a confusing gift was instantly a sentimental one. In the 15 weeks I spent with those 7th graders, I really grew to enjoy them, and it is nice to have a reminder of that experience and of some of the students I spent my Wednesdays with.


Object #2:

A (still unopened) box of Rubbermaid containers. Last year I couldn't think of anything to buy my mother for her birthday, nor did I really have much extra money TO buy something. So I got creative, and instead of buying something, I decided that I was going to take her to New York to a taping of the Montel William's show. (the tickets were free, and she likes Montel. It all made sense!) So as it turned out, I wasn't able to get tickets to any of the Sylvia Brown days, but it was still interesting to go because neither of us had ever seen a tv show taping before. The studio is MUCH smaller than either of us thought. Anyway, so the show we wound up going to was one that Monel was giving away all kinds of prizes and random things. One of the things we got was a coupon for a free box of these Rubbermaid containers. We didn't win anything that wasn't gven to all the audience members, but we did try coconut water (which was nasty), got a book that was written by one of the guests, and were told we were going to get a copy Monel's new book in the mail (still haven't seen that one). Although I still havent opened the Rubbermaid box, or the book we got, it was still a nice day out and a pretty good birthday present for my mom. =)