Random things that made me smile today...

* For this first story, keep in mind that I work at a school where English is a second or third language for most of the kids. Thus, their vocabulary is still very much developing. Soooo - for Valentine's Day, I had bought some miniature Snickers bars and just had one on each of their desks this morning. On my morning power point, I had written a short note that said "Happy Valentine's Day! Enjoy the Snickers bar. Just be sure not to 'snicker' more than usual today. -Ms. Junge"  The first student in the room read it and said "Miss, what means snicker?" I had to smile at the fact that I hadn't really considered that they might not know this word. Being 'that teacher', my reply was "Look it up in the dictionary and find out!" And he did. Score one for me!

** We had early release for teacher inservice today. As we were walking into the theater for our speaker, we were greeted by my friend Conor approaching us - handing out Valentines. Three things that were awesome about this. 1)I'm pretty sure he probably printed them off the internet using the school's color printer.  2) They were all 'Twilight' themed. 3) On the back he had written - To: You     From:  Conor.
Nothing shows how much you care like addressing Valentines to 'You'. He cracks me up.

*** As I was walking home from the gym today after work, I decided to stop at the little fruit/vegetable stand to get some bananas and strawberries. I thought I had put my wallet in my bag, but when I went to pay the 14 dirhams (rougly $2) for a bag of fresh strawberries and 3 bananas, I realized I didn't have my wallet. I did have 7 dirhams. So, I tried to ask him if I could just buy the strawberries...or just the bananas, since I didn't have enough money. Of course, Vegetable Guy doesn't speak English. Yet, we continue to try to communicate. He motions to the other lady there, as if she might be able to help. I finally figured out that he was telling me to take all of the items and just 'pay later'. Keep in mind that this is not even my regular Vegetable Guy, and other than walking by after the gym on occasion, I'm not sure he knows me either. It's just another example of how kind and wonderful Moroccans can be. Sort of like going to the Keystone Grocery store back in the day, buying a 'pop' and a candy bar, and telling them to just charge it to Mom and Dad's account. So now I have to go back to the gym tomorrow so that I can pay him the other 7 dirhams - plus a nice tip!

**** One last thing that made me smile today - sharing Valentine's Dinner with Jim and LuAnn. Pre-dinner festivities included watching some awful, AWful movie that revolved around a story line of a former playboy bunny who got kicked out of the mansion and started her own sorority as a house mother or something? One couldn't help but chuckle. And then LuAnn's cooking skills made our tummies smile as well - pork loin (not easy to come by here), roast beef, red cabbage, asparagus, salad, and some red wine. 'Heart them' so much!