Subbing 2: The Revenge

No, not really. Actually, it was a great day. I subbed two classes: the first was an extremely quiet and obedient seventh grade class. Once again, we talked about the first Thanksgiving, and I described maple syrup, although it was a short class period so I decided not to hand out samples this time around.
My second class was a group of ninth graders. The head of the English Department suggested that I play some games with them, or come up with some fun non-academic activities. I had several games in mind, including twenty questions, dictionary, etc. However, they all wanted to play a game they called "Name Animal Plant", which involves choosing a letter and coming up with words that start with that letter in a variety of categories. First was J, and I got a number of interesting replies, including "Jailbird" for the animal category, "Junk food" for the food category, and "Justin Timberlake" for pretty much every category.
Next was 'Q'. They had a hard time with this letter, because, well, it's a tough one. The two girls sitting in front of me spent several minutes struggling to find a country or city beginning with Q. They kept suggesting Cuba.
"How about Queens?" I said. They looked confused. "It's a part of New York," I explained.
"Are you from New York?" the girl asked.
"Yup," I answered. "I'm from New York."
At this, a general shriek of excitement emanated from the student body, and followed by a grinding screech as about twenty adolescent girls dragged their desks forward until they touched mine.
"Have you seen famous people?" they all demanded.
"A few," I said. I was tempted to tell them about the conversation I had with David Sedaris, since that is probably the most exciting famous person encounter that I've had, but I knew they were talking about movie stars. I told them a few stories about the summer I spent working at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. They went crazy when they heard that I had actually seen Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep, but I had to explain that I had just seen them, not actually talked to them.
"Have you met Brad Pitt?" one kid asked me.
"Nope," I said.
"Why not?" he demanded, as though he were under the impression that Brad Pitt just hangs out in Central Park shaking hands.
"Uh, " I said, "Uh..I'm not sure. He just doesn't really come around visiting, you know?"
"How about Nicole Kidman?"
"Nope," I said. "I've never met her."
"Have you been on TV?"
"Well, kind of." I explained about how I've been briefly on camera a few times, but I think they expected me to say that I had guest starred on
Friends or something.
"Have you met George Bush?"
"No, and I really don't want to."
"You don't like George Bush?"
"No, not at all!"
"Do you like the Chicago Bulls?"
"I really don't follow basketball..."
"Do you like Greece? Do you like Greek food? What's your favorite movie? Who is your favorite actress? Do you know my second cousin who lives in New York? Have you ever been to Hollywood?" The questions kept coming, and despite the fact that I was giving some really dull answers, they were all hanging on my every word. At the end of the class period, I had four girls ask for my email address so they could show me around Thessaloniki. It was quite adorable, and very strange. I'm back in high school, but I am definitely way more popular this time.