Field Trip

One of my 10 students make it to our school field trip today. I honestly thought we'd have a better turn out than that, but, no. The Spanish group had 5 student (out of 12) so at least we had a small group.

We took a ferry to George's Island and had a barbecue there. I won't get into the logistics, or lack of logistics, or multiple trips to buy supplies before the ferry took off. I will say the BBQ was tastey, if a bit heavy on my pocket. Until I mentioned bringing chicken it was going to be hamburgers or hotdogs only. Since I can't stomach either I volunteered to bring shish kababs. And corn to grill.

My boss was surprised that the corn was as good as it was, and that it went over well. Apparently nobody here grills corn? I love grilled corn...

On the trip back we sat on the lower deck and watched the yachts go by. My one student who showed up talked about how she wants to go on a plane someday. She would love to travel, but she's never been outside of Massachusetts. If she could go anywhere, she said, she'd go to Puerto Rico to see where her family is from and maybe meet some of her extended relatives. That would cost $1000 for her and her daughter, a figure that seems unreachable to her.

Another student lost her shoe on the way home. Her $20 flip flops that she'd only worn twice. She surprised me with her quick acceptance of the loss. She tied a plastic bag on her foot and prepared to walk to the T station to go home. I volunteered to take her home so she wouldn't have to walk around town with a bag over her foot (although I thought that was pretty creative thinking). Wow, she lived on the way opposite side of the world. I'm amazed that she makes it to school every day, it takes her an hour and 45 minutes every day to drop her son off at daycare and take the bus into school.

Sometimes I get frustrated that we're working in the summer, that attendance is bad, that we don't have any money for supplies or books. But I wish for the world that these students could make it in life. They're all on welfare and they get subsidized food, daycare, housing. They can't can't quite picture a life with a regular job or a regular income, although they'd like to be successful.

So even though our trip got off to a rough start, and ended with one less shoe, it was a good time. I think it's important to get to know the student's beyond the classroom. I'm just glad I didn't have to eat hamburgers to do so.