This morning was the day Pineapple and I had been dreading for months... Our last Bachi class together. :( I had stayed up til two in the morning making them their paper plate awards and strawberry shortcake, so by the time I got to school, I was still pretty darn sleepy. I was doubly disoriented by the fact they weren't in their classroom, but in a different classroom upstairs. Maybe it was because it was a different room, maybe it was because it wasn't an official class, or maybe it was because I walked in too early... But I wasn't greeted one last time by all of them suddenly pushing back their chairs and standing to greet me with adorable little smiles on their faces and a cute little mumble of "Good morning, Chelsea!"
:-/
I still vividly remember that first hour on my first day at CISTA, walking into that room of Very Tall 11th graders, myself nervous as could be, and having them all suddenly jump up and greet me with expressions of wariness on their faces. I was completely freaked out by it, as I had never witnessed something like that before... And especially not something so formal done on my account! And the worst part was, I didn't know the magic words to make them sit back down...!!! I just kinda smiled sheepishly and said and awkward, "Um, hey..." and waited for the teacher to come in behind me and do something about these standing statues in front of me, eyeing me up and down.
As the year wore on, though, this little ritual became one of my most favorite moments each week. It was just so sweet and made me feel so ritzy titzy every time! And to have my favorite class of students i considered more like friends than people obviously below me made it all that much more amusing! True, I never really learned what the secret word was to make them sit back down... But eventually they knew my giggle meant, "Okay, I'm starting to feel awkward here... Please put your tushes back in your chairs." Now that I think about it, though... It wasn't just the respectful act of standing. That had obviously been drilled into them for years and they have to do it... No, the part that got me was Pineapple's look of authentic happiness and excitement each time, another's sheepish grin that always ended up in a knowing chuckle when I'd make one of my silly faces at him, another's professional demeanor he always had which quickly faded as soon as he sat down and began to talk about his weekend.
Man, if I'd only known that first day that this class would turn out to have some of the most awesome teenagers in it! I miss our classes together typing this... And I can't help but wonder if I'll ever have any student who even comes close to being as awesome as Pineapple or Favorite... or, for that matter, Fabulous or Picasso or Nacho or Lucille Ball or any of them. <3 Aww...
Anyway, the mini party was cute and my favorite part was when I gave each one a "lucky penny" and they all took it so seriously!!! So cute!!! All week long they'd take it out of their pocket right before and exam to show me they had it, or wrote about it on Twitter! Shows you how something that literally costs one cent can carry so much value. <3
At the end of class neither Pineapple nor I cried... Mostly because I knew I would see her and the rest soon. But knowing that it would be our last time together in that capacity made my heart quiver for just a moment.
There were a lot of things I loved about my experience at CISTA, but they were definitely the best part. Knowing every Monday morning I'd get to hang out with them for an hour always made getting up that first day of the school week so much easier.
I know I've said this a million times, but man do I love my Bachis. <3
XOXO
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