Valentine's Day

Yesterday was a change for me, coming from a school where Valentine’s Day is (for some undisclosed reason) a taboo holiday, to a school where it is celebrated in force. 

At my old school, students would bring in valentines and presents for each other, but after homeroom in the morning, the chocolates and teddy bears and flowers had to disappear into lockers…or they’d be confiscated.  It was a covert celebration each year. 

At my new school, students are encouraged to come out of uniform—wearing red or pink.  Student government sells roses all day (since they grow all year round here, they’re cheaper—students could buy a dozen for $7.)  Kids brought in goodies for each other (and their teachers!) At morning recess, there was a special tiendita (snack counter) where the APM (PTA equivalent) moms sold Valentines snacks.  At lunch, there was pizza and sushi for sale, as well as cheesecake. 

The pile of goodies I had amassed
before 1st period 

AND we had a shortened schedule of classes so that for the last hour and a half, we could celebrate with a Valentine’s Day carnival (put on as a service learning fundraiser by the 8th grade).  There was an ice cream sundae station, a blindfolded make-up artist station, a photo booth, a cake walk, a spot where you could pay to duct tape the principal to the wall, and many more.  I spent my time on the small soccer field where students could pay to throw wet sponges or water balloons at their teachers…or dump entire buckets of water over their heads.

Hyung and I were up for the 2nd half hour shift, and before we started, we stood watching Carrie and Aaron take their turn.  Carrie stayed mostly dry.  She kept shrugging at us and saying, “See?  I told you.  They don’t really throw at the female teachers.” 

Ha.  Yeah right.

Within minutes of taking my seat, I’d had several buckets poured over my head, and plenty of sponges and water balloons lobbed at me.  (My personal favorite was an eighth grader who sat in detention while I was on duty last week that came up and yelled, “This is for the detention!” haha).  I had 2 boys who came up with 2 buckets of water asking, “Will you give me an automatic 100?  No?  Are you sure?  Okay, then this is for you!”  I got a lot of water, but Hyung got even more.  He started catching the water balloons and lobbing them back.  Some of the kids ended up almost as drenched as we were.  Almost—but not quite. 

Hyung getting doused while I looked on
Photo credit to Carrie

Annette enjoying a nice cool bucket of water
Photo credit to Carrie


As I changed into dry clothes, I left a puddle on the bathroom floor.  I couldn’t have been more wet had I jumped into a swimming pool with my clothes on.  But what fun!  And hopefully the fact that I got so drenched means we raised a lot of money for a good cause. 


So that was Valentine’s Day at school.  I ended the school with a pile of chocolates, 5 roses, 3 cupcakes, and a big smile on my face.  Those kiddos definitely showed a lot of love.  

My roses

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