Dinosaurs, Bronchitis and Lent

With the start of Lent (the Great Fast) also arrived my very own, first ever, harrassing case of bronchitis--of course, it only came after a month-long bout of illnesses following close on one another's heels. With the mixture of children and cold weather every day, my immune system had no chance, and my gleaming-white health records (which I presumed to have originated from Mt. Olympus) found themselves to be rather dirty.

Having said that, I haven't been to any of the Lenten services here yet, but (oh boy!) I have a whole month to look forward to! Actually, I like the Lenten services--they're very cleansing and appropriating. I do think of how much the chants and the hymns mean as they are being sung--how the beauty of the moment puts you in a place of awe and humility. This also makes me think of how having the services in a different language will affect me. I don't have the services memorized (HA!), so I won't know entirely what's going on unless I read the service beforehand. This makes me think that my Lenten experience is going to be more of an observation, just like much of my life here. I don't know how I feel about that, but I know that whatever happens, it's for the betterment of my soul. I love that word...betterment :) It sounds like "bitter mint". I don't really enjoy bitter mints.

Prior to Lent and my illnesses, I taught about dinosaurs in my kindergarten class. Usually, my job is really easy. All I have to do is show up, read the lesson plan that my assistants have written, and teach. They've been doing this for years, so they're prepared almost every step of the way. Well, for teaching about kinds of dinosaurs, they told me the day before that everything was entirely up to me. First I thought "cool!", but then I realized I had a night to plan it. I came home and cut out 10 different dinosaurs, and started thinking of ideas for how to give an educational, fun lesson for them. Finally, I had an idea--a dinosaur hunt! I wrote down everything required for the dinosaur hunt and went to sleep.

The next day's lesson went like this: At 11 am, we talked about different kinds of dinosaurs, just naming 10 of them. At 11.15 am, I took 18 kindergarteners into our huge bathroom and we imagined putting on our safari hats and vests and boots, while my assistants prepared the room. At 11.20 am, we walked out of the bathroom to see all the chairs stacked on the tables to make mountains, all the blue rugs brought together to make a river, all the brown linoleum represented the valley, and their locker room became a dark cave. The supply closet door was partially closed with a fuzzy green dinosaur tail peeking out, and two of my assistants were shaking the door and making scary noises from inside. From the CD player came jungle noises.

Out we walked from the bathroom ever so quietly, so as not to disturb the dinosaurs. We walked through the mountains, past the scary closet door (of course, I sacrificed a few of my fellow safarians for the good of science, and let them peer inside). Then through the valley to the bank of the river, then through the river to find another valley and a dark cave at the end. "What do you think is inside the cave?" I asked. "Is it a dinosaur home?? Maybe we should investigate? Go in quietly!" As I sent them in (before me), my third assistant JUMPED out of a dark corner with a fuzzy green dinosaur hat on, roaring in a marvelous fashion. A great scuffle resulted in going back through the valley, the river, the other valley, the mountains, and returning to our bathroom safe-haven.

Once inside, we took off our safari boots, hats, and vests. Then I drilled them about what kinds of animals live in the places we had been to. It was pretty awesome.