Thursday

Some people suffer from a case of the Mondays. Yesterday, I was inflicted with the Thursdays.

It all started when I had to take my students on a field trip. We went to the Ecuadorian equivalent of Discovery Zone. The kids jumped in a ball pit, climbed up and down twisty tube slides, and traversed the monkey bars. Of course, the wild games had to be accompanied by general chaos. Here are the highlights:

-One of the two-story twisty tube slides was hemorrhaging bolts and screws. We had to close it, sparking juvenile rebellion.
-I met the cheekiest male that I have ever interacted with in my entire life (and, living in Ecuador, that is saying something). He was ten-years-old and repeatedly tried to feel me up.
-One of my four-year-olds ran away. He decided that he wanted to cross a bunch of busy streets and go to his house to get ice cream. It took us twenty minutes to find him. I have seldom been so frightened.

My afternoon was relatively tranquil. I went to a Spanish class and checked my e-mail. In the evening, I went to a friend's presentation about hiking and climbing in Ecuador. There were four other audience members: a Ukrainian, a German, a cantankerous old Scot, and a man with a machete. Mr. Machete was attending the presentation for the third time. At the end, he pulled me aside and told me that my friend was very famous, that it was an honor to be in his presence. I left the room, only to hear him have a conversation with the crazed Scot. They discussed climbing, hiking, and criminal records. Then, they left together. As Mr. Machete walked out the door, he whipped out his weapon and announced that he would have no problems with muggers on public transportation. I ran to a corner and laughed so hard that tears spilled from my eyes.