Saturday, March 14, 2009

March Madness

I know what you're thinking... two blog postings in one day! This is un-Holly like.

This past week was spirit week at Tirana International School. Monday was pajama day (yay!), Tuesday was movie star day (you should have seen the super heroes in my classroom. I had Batman, Spiderman, Superman and Indiana Jones. I kid you not. Hannah Montana, princesses, and High School Musical characters were also represented.). Wednesday was black day (which wasn't the best day to take my kids to our local pizzaria; they came back covered in flour). Thursday was crazy hair/ mismatched clothes day (this was my favorite! Tommy, who is my student who I have the most stories about, came bursting into the classroom. "Miss DeKorte, said Tommy, you are going to laugh so hard." Then he pointed to his pants. He was wearing his underwear on top of his pants. "My dad, explained Tommy whose dad is a teacher at TIS, is wearing his underwear like this so I wanted to too." I howled with laughter and had tears running down my eyes. I'm so kicking myself that I didn't get a picture.). These days were all leading up to Friday, which was school colors day. In the afternoon the female teachers were set to take on the girl's basketball team followed by the male teachers versus the boy's basketball team. The teachers are the only people that these teams can compete with!

I have to say, I was really nervous. There were 8 of us female teachers playing against 8 girls. We did 4 on 4 since the court is small. The girls knew the rules of the game. None of us teachers really did. It was trial by error. Stephen, who was the ref, kept calling fouls on the teachers. We made him stop and explain every call so we could at least learn what we were doing wrong. Something about waiting to play defense until the girls crossed the line... I fell because a little girl pushed me, but I got called on it and she had a penalty shot. How is that fair? Really, I'm still confused. (In the process I ripped a big hole in my pants, right on my bottom... embarrassing!) Arta sprained her finger, but that was the only real injury. Even though we really never had practice as a team, the teachers played very well as a team. We were great at passing! Our shots need some work, though I did make 3 baskets. It was so fun! The teachers won by 4 points and some of the younger ones (12 year olds) left in tears. Our director is now calling me Da Court. Ha! Helen (one of my swimmers who was guarding me) came up and challenged us to a rematch after spring break. Bring them on again!!!!

Sarah's killer dribbling skills!

Yes, I over-think everything, including the puzzling question, "Who should I throw it into???"
Nice shot by Amy!
Teachers in motion! I love this action shot. Entela was taking pictures with my camera. She was sick this week, so represented the teachers as chief photographer.
I still don't know if Hetty and I were playing basketball or if we were dancing. We'll call this picture "Dutch B-ball."
Go Mrs. Paco! She is the 6 year old teacher who kept the team laughing and light-hearted the entire game.
The second of Tracey's penalty shots that insured a teacher victory!!!
The heckling students...

The male teachers versus the boy's team was also a fun game. The male teachers didn't have many substitutes so they played the entire game. They cracked me up. Our director of curriculum called time at one point, and said, "Hey Flori, I need you to put my finger back in the socket." I could never be a nurse; (my hat is off to you Melinda!) it was so disgusting. Florian popped that finger right back in and Sarah and Tracey used the splinting techniques we had learned at a first aide training. He was out for the rest of the game... Nevertheless, the teachers won that game too! We rock. Our school has a fabulous community feel. Younger students and parents showed up to cheer on the teams. The older students crowded the balconies to boo the teachers (which distracted me horribly during 2 of my penalty shots!). I really do like teaching in this environment.
Jump shot! Our director is VERY tall. The student up against him is only in the 9th grade and matches his heigth.
Wayne sinking the shot! Way to go teachers!

By the way, for the 3rd day in a row I'm listening to blaring Albanian music. Our landlords are celebrating a wedding downstairs. Tracey got us invited to the Sunday night "Groom's dinner." I might have some other cultural event to share by next week!

3 comments:

Andrea said...

can't wait to hear about the "Groom's dinner" I always love reading about your adventures and see your "action" shots! :) Also, wanted to tell you, my sister has an awesome rice recipe on her blog, I know you asked about one, and she posted it on her blog www.isitlupus.com.... check it out under her recipe section :)

Jennifer said...

Holly, you were wearing sweats. How on earth did you rip your pants??? I am pondering this.

Vanest said...

I love these pictures! Way to capture the game and our fine teamwork...I don't know about you, but I think one more game and we'll be ready to go pro.