languages day

Today I had a 'day off' work...instead of normal classes we had Activities Day, where each year level did something different. I decided to spend my day with the Lowers, doing a whole day of languages! (I was so keen to help out with the Uppers' drama day it was embarrassing,but unfortuntely no gaps were needed. Sob.). I also got to wear nice clothes today, because for once in a blue moon I wasn't doing P.E! I broke out my brown heeled boots and purple dress, I felt like a human being again, as opposed to the fat blob that I feel like in my trackies and hoody. A comfortable blob, but a fat blob all the same.

I actually had the easiest job in the world - my job for the whole day was to sit in on the classes and take pictures. It's a hard life, being a gap teacher...

The first class was Mandarin, which was so interesting, because I have absolutely no idea about it. Up until last year I was still unaware that Mandarin and Cantonese were different things, and called them both 'Chinese'.....I'm such a white girl.. Anyway I learnt that for one word in Mandarin, it can mean 4 different things depending on the intonation of your voice. Additionally, when you write a character it all has to be in a certain order. I'm totally sticking with French at uni, I nearly died.
The second class was German, where the girls learnt a song about 'mein hut' which has 'drei ecken', and I sang along enthusiastically, delighting Frau A. but making the Lowers laugh hysterically.
'Miss Peters, you're not supposed to sing!'
'Girls, Miss Peters can sing as much as she wants'
Winner! On break duty we made up a little dance about 'mein hut' - I am actually 10 years old. I sang the song to Janet at lunchtime and she couldn't understand me because my pronunciation was so appalling hahaha.
After break we had Spanish, which I nearly fell asleep in because I'd eaten the entire dining hall contents at lunch. Nothing much to report there, except I realised that I can't pronouce Spanish either. French major it is!
Following those three classes, we took them upstairs to do a massive general-knowledge-about-languages quiz. It turned into something like house trivia at mac.rob - very loud, very competitive and very stressful (but minus a Mr. Richards sitting at the desk looking overwhelmed while we screamed 'OREADS ARE CHEATING!' at him). One team was steaming ahead because they had native french and spanish speakers - of course the other girls complained but they had to contend with me giving them extremely obvious hints, like subtley pointing to my head when they were stuck on what 'la tête' meant. Some of the answers were hilarious - at least three groups replied to the question 'Who was Salvador Dali?' with 'a chef'' ('I'm sure he's a chef Miss Peters, I'm positive!')
Lunchtime passed by with me taking photos (and numerous jumping photos) of the girls in their costumes. Some were fantastic, they had really gone to a lot of effort. I lent C. my scarf and she was stoked, she was so careful with it until she gave it back at 4, it was so cute!
To finish off the day the girls made mosaics. It was very messy and very glue-y, little bits of coloured paper were flying everywhere and I spent the first 10 minutes sorting out fights.
'I want to do a dragon but A. wants to do the german flag and now C. is crying and I hate this and...' ARGH. I rediscovered my inner child and sat down with the shy, quiet group and helped them finish their mosaic of a dragon. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I had a little hypo at about 3.50 (tested at 2.2, yuck), so had to head outside for a bit and wolf down a jam sandwhich - I felt really bad because it looked like I was slacking off to eat.! :) Fatty boom-ba much.

Come 4.00, I headed back up to the flat, relaxed, then headed off to babysit S. at 5.30. S. is in Transition (aussie version = Prep) and is one of the sweetest little girls in the world. She's so much fun, I did her spelling and her homework with her, then played a very one-sided game of monopoly ('Take another chance card S, we'll just ignore that 'go to jail''). Her house is amazing - I'm rethinking my money isn't everything philosophy, because living in a house like that would make life a whole lot easier! It wasn't like a lot of rich people's houses where it seems like you've stepped into a magazine - it was really homey but beautiful, with a massive backyard, pool, and carpet so soft you easily could have slept on it.

I headed back to Godstowe, came down to the computer rooms and watched some Glee with the others. New episode...amazing. Darren Criss is the most amazing, incredible person in the entire world and I want to marry him. I have never had a celebrity crush this massive, I am a 13 year old again. The site we were watching it on died halfway through and we screamed so loud that I'm suprised Australia didn't hear.

The problems of a gap year student - glee episodes stopping halfway, no more milk in the fridge, going down to dinner and realising it's sausages...the list goes on :) Tomorrow I'm back to a normal day, with swimming and P.E and Turner House in the morning, which means having breakfast with the Turner girls and sewing hems/filing/folding laundry for 2 hours. Yes! I love Thursdays!
I hope you're all enjoying Uni and lectures and free food on campus and all the rest of it - if you're in a lecture now STOP READING AND PAY ATTENTION. Jaymee Klonis I'm looking at you.