School was closed on Wednesday, due to 'Parent/Teacher Conferences', which I discovered to be the equivalent of 'Parents Evening' in the UK .... except it is during the day and all the kids get the day off! This would of course never happen in the UK where teachers are expected to put in a full day at school and then stay all evening to see parents in what is usually a rushed 5 minute slot which invariably after the first few, get progressively further and further behind before eventually becoming completely chaotic with everybody trying to jump in in a state of panic. Also, the children themselves are usually prohibited from attending which means you also have to arrange sitters etc. All very inconvenient for all concerned.
Not sure if it is the norm for all schools in the US or whether it is just peculiar to Ethan's school, but here, 15 minute slots are made available in advance for each teacher, for which you sign up online, receiving an email confirmation with your final schedule - a much better approach. (Mind you, I did get the sense that teachers here don't like doing ANY school work outside of the working day as more than one made indignant reference to having to prepare for the session in their 'spare time'!)
The downside of having these held during the day of course, was that Mr B was not able to attend and so, as we had been advised that student attendance was optional, I dragged Ethan along with me, (mainly to remind me of each of the teachers names and keep me from putting my foot in it, an all too easy mistake to make as it turns out. Well, honestly, how was I meant to know that Gaetano was pronounced 'Guy' and not 'Gay' and that Scarpone rhymed with phone and not pony? As we sat outside the English Dept. waiting to see Dr Spencer, I kept myself amused by saying 'Mmm Betty!' at frequent intervals which of course was totally lost on the boy who just looked horrified and kept hissing "Mum! Be quiet!" and thinking up rhymes to help me remember who we were going to see next. Well, it made me laugh anyway :D
Mr Vernado (rhymes with Mikado ... three little maids from school are we .... shhhhhh!), the Media Arts teacher, was full of praise for Ethan's advanced tech ability and the apparently complex video game that he had designed. Really? Considering that 99% of the time he is attached to some gadget or another, it came as no surprise to me. He also advised that Ethan now has his own license to write games that can be sold & published on the Apple Store apparently, so as far as I'm concerned the sooner he can start earning his keep the better. Knock yourself out! Finally, he went on to say that Ethan was much more comfortable in this class with the 'Nerds' (?!) before distractedly gazing out of the window and mumbling that he also felt more comfortable with the Nerds and how he had found his first year at High School very difficult and how the 'football jocks' had given him a hard time .... erm ... Earth to Vernado ... come in Vernado....Back in the Room! All of this was covered in the first 5 minutes ... the next 10 were spent discussing whether we had purchased our Star Wars movie tickets yet and if we were going to dress up .... THAT my friends, is the definition of a Nerd as far as I'm concerned! No wonder he is a hit with this class.
American History next with Mr Minneci (or Spaghetti as I have renamed him). A lovely man, if a bit of an old duffer, who apparently has only had 3 days off sick in 40 years of teaching (2 of those were when his grandchildren were born apparently) and who clearly loves what he does. After telling me how much he enjoyed Ethan's sense of humor and how he liked to rib him about being British at every available opportunity (they are studying the Colonies and Civil War at the moment), he then enthusiastically went on to enlighten me on the next two weeks of lessons he has prepared, whipping out a copy of the Declaration of Independence and associated quiz he has ready for next week and also a map highlighting the 13 colonies, all color coded and .... ZZzzzzzzzzzzz ......sorry, dozed off there for a minute. Oh dear, time's up, what a shame ... I was just getting into that ... not.
Algebra (ugh ... as useful as a chocolate teapot if you ask me); Spanish (no clue there either... French was my thing); followed by Biology (where I was given a recommendation for a great Chinese restaurant and where to go to buy British sweets .. Whole Pay Check apparently) all had more or less the same things to say ... doing great ... makes us laugh ... popular with the other kids etc. etc.
Finally onto Yearbook, Ethan's elective subject, where they are creating and publishing the school yearbook (and where Ethan is the only boy apparently - not that he is bothered about that!). The teacher for this class, Mrs Phillips, had worked for a large National newspaper and also been a War Photographer with the US Army, before leaving to start a family. Besides being very 'cool' (her class are allowed to listen to music and she brings in popcorn for them to eat while they work) she is a really interesting person to talk to with some amazing life experiences as you can imagine and likes a bit of banter with the kids which Ethan loves. The subject matter is approached as a realtime project with allocated tasks and deadlines, from the photography, journaling, interviews of staff, pupils, sports team captains etc., to the design and publishing of the finished product. All great skills and much more useful to prepare kids for the 'real world' than 2x +3b - c = 2 pies divided by a purple alien. Solve for x.
Sadly the 2nd meeting of the 'Mother't Tea' committee was postponed due to pressing business of Miss South Africa, so hopefully an update on that next week! I can't wait.
Today (Saturday), Mr B spent a lovely afternoon hob nobbing in the sunshine with the Scottsdale elite at the 5th Bentley Polo Championship. Ironic, that having lived close to the Sussex Polo team ground in the UK for years, we had to travel half way round the world to see our first match! The nice thing about living here is that you can pretty much guarantee that when you are going to an outdoor event, it will be sunny and warm with deep blue skies and you will not be required to bring an umbrella/raincoat/warm cardigan/wellies/carf etc. and tramp through a muddy field to get there. But to be honest, the events on the polo field came a poor second to the fabulous spectacle off the field. One of the best places I have ever been to indulge in my favorite sport ... people watching! In addition to the polo set, there was also the 'Ferrari Set', the 'Bentley Set', the older Scottsdale set and last but by no means least, the 'My Daddy's loaded' set. They were my favorite. The outfits alone were enough to keep me entertained for hours on end ... the boys all looked like they had just stepped off the Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger catwalk ... crisply pressed shorts, shirts & bow ties, blazers, fedoras, and ice cream colored sunglasses, many of them, bizarrely, with big fat cigars. The girls ... well, the girls ranged from the classically elegant, tall, slender, tanned, in maxi dresses or revealing jumpsuits, huge straw hats, dark glasses, Tiffany jewellery, to ... well, how shall I put it ... larger ... ladies with ample amounts of white flesh squeezed into too tight body con dresses, all lumps and bumps. (Clearly a lot of them had also got dressed in a hurry as there were many who seemed to have forgotten to put their skirts on!)
Ethan had politely declined to attend when I asked if he wanted to come (well, actually it was more 'What?! You have GOT to be joking?') suddenly declaring that he had a lot of homework to get done, and so we were free to roam unsupervised, predictably stumbling into the Heineken bar tent, which proved to be the best vantage point for the majority of our people watching. (I have a feeling that there were going to be some VERY drunk individuals by the end of the day!). Mr B and I are still keeping up with our dance lessons and dropped in to say hello to our instructors and the rest of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio gang who were also demonstrating at the event (**whispers** we also managed a bit of dancing but don't tell Ethan as he would be mortified ... Shhhhh|)
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| Nedko, Sarah and Isis from FADS |
Finally, in other random news, I seem to have become the focus of some very hungry mosquitos, and after a very pleasant evening grilling steaks on the patio yesterday, woke up this morning covered in large red welts which are now torturously itchy and which no amount of antihistamine or bite cream has as yet soothed. B*#tards! Thanks to all those who have offered suggestions for both prevention and treatment. No doubt I will have the opportunity to try them all in due course!
Thanks for stopping by, have a great week and until next time ...
TTFN
Bev x
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