Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Will Be Trouble

I held my first day of Summer School yesterday but it wasn't until today that kids actually showed up (after I yelled at them for not being there). But that's boring and no one cares about it so let me tell you a story instead:

Today, while I was playing sports with my 6th and 7th graders in front of the school, a couple of boys around that same age walked up and lingered. You know the type: mullet, short shorts, flip flops...OK, maybe you don't but it's totally the sh** around here so, of course, all my girls start to giggle and point and act absolutely ridiculous.

One girl would yell over to them that another girl was in love with them and then another girl would yell back that it wasn't true and that, in fact, it was the first girl who was in love with them and then they would all laugh and giggle and the boys would look pleasantly uncomfortable (or uncomfortably pleased?) and ignore them.

Um, barf.

I'm not saying I didn't used to do these things (I totally did) but having to translate it in my head and feel the full force of these kids' first attempt at flirting was not my favorite thing. I'd like to think my flirting skills have improved since I was in 6th grade but I still practically yell across rooms to boys and say, "Hey, my friend likes you!" It's slightly more subtle than that but only slightly. I have a horribly recent example of just such an occassion but I'll keep it to myself. Let's just say it involved Sofia, a sweater vest, and me thinking I was the slyest girl in the bar. I wasn't.

Anyway, it just struck me as funny how similar kids can be no matter where they're from and what language they speak. I wonder if I was in some small village in Africa instead of some small village in Bulgaria if I'd have to put our soccer game on hold so those kids could yell at a couple of boys? Probably.

Ah, youth. I didn't appreciate it when it was mine though the idea of repeating it sounds like absolute torture.

Despite their antics, I really missed my kids. I've designated Monday's as game days, Tuesday's as sports days, and Wednesdays as excursion days so tomorrow we're off to hike in the local mountains. It'll just be me and a crap-load of kids hiking up a mountain I've never actually hiked. My goal is to bring back at least 90% of them. I feel like that's pretty reasonable. Wish me luck!

-Age