Well, a new year, new students, and so therefore new ways to try and date the American teacher. They're finally getting creative, although of course not subtle, as nothing in this country is. I do have to say that my 8th graders just make me smile and laugh at their obvious, but oh-so-cute affection; while my 10th graders are just plain obnoxious (4 out of my 5 of my 11th graders are female and I had them last year, so I don't get any trouble from them). There is something about my 8th graders this year. I don't know if it's just a good batch, or if strategies of raising children morphed in the last year, I'm not sure. But these guys are just so into life! I have two male students in my 8A class who just give me the widest smile every time class commences. Today, as they were all filing in to the classroom, the little guy named Dener just stood right in front of my desk and had this big ol' smile plastered on his face. "Hi teacher!" he said. "HI!! Fine? Yes?!" "Yes, thank you Dener. And you?" Students filed past and tried to get by, but he fought his way to maintain his position in front of my desk with a big giant smile on his face. His height may come up to my chest. I really couldn't help but smile kindly on him and try and show him as much appreciative attention in return that I could. I expect an apple on my desk any day now.

The 10th graders, on the other hand are neither subtle nor cute. In fact, they're downright insipid bordering on contemptible. A few nights ago, after class ended three of the girls came up to me and said "Teacher, a bo é um bom pequna." Basically translated as "You are one hot babe." There was nothing I could say that would make them feel as ridiculous as they sounded to me, so I simply said "thank you ladies." A few minutes later one of the more infatuated boys came up to me and said (translated) "Teacher I have some doubts/questions about the material. Can you bring me to your house so you can help me learn better. I want to learn more." Riiiiiight I thought. Not only is it completely inappropriate (at least in my culture) for a teacher to invite an underage male student to her house, but PLEASE! You don't even have doubts on the material, you're just being ridiculous. Which is basically what I told him. Today I had those same 10th graders write an assignment in class. They were to write 5 simple sentences about themselves or someone else using adjectives and adverbs we had learned that day. For example: I am very hungry. This same cheeky boy decided to write about me and all my glorious beauty. "Nadia is very beautiful. She is extremely intelligent." (Oh yes he used my first name). I feel so honored, loved, and appreciated. It's kind of a game I'm playing with myself: see how many times I can get hit on by my students before I actually hit one of them :) Of course I'm just kidding......