Day 7 (February 9), 8:00 am.
Hmmm . . . I'm a little less spritely than yesterday when the alarm sounds off this morning. I chalk it up to the extra concentration required to teach without being conversant in the classroom's language. All of my senses need to be much more alert, because relying on words alone to make my points is no guarantee that I'll come across as intended. I do a lot more watching and showing. And ironically, I also do a lot more talking and listening, as conversations are rarely two-way. There's usually me, the translator, and the student - and sometimes someone else stepping in to lend another interpretation!
I really wish I had paid more attention in high school Spanish class.
Day 7 (February 9), 9:00 am.
As is now my ritual, I head down to the classroom an hour before class is due to start. I'm a little more apprehensive about today than either of my past two classes, because we have much less time and the same number of projects to complete, with the projects being just marginally simpler. I need to be extra organized before class begins in order to keep myself on track. I proceed to carefully lay out everything in the order that I'll need it. Cookies and icing? Check! Icing tools? Check! Stencils? Check! Stamps? Check! And so it goes through several more items . . .
Day 7 (February 9), 10:15 am.
We get a late-ish start, so I immediately feel even more time-crunched. I set a fast morning pace, perhaps too fast, and at one point, I seem to have created more questions than I've answered. (The questions - which I don't understand, of course - are coming at me from all directions! ) But thankfully, the translator is worth her weight in gold, and I soon settle into a calmer mental state.
Funny that this should be the only class out of three to end early! And with projects that are pretty darn impressive to boot, as you can see.
The calm before the storm.
The storm circa midday.
Pretty cookie egg underway.
Finished place card cookie.
A sampling of finished projects.
An impressive array of all projects.
Day 7 (February 9), 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
I spend two hours after class cleaning tools and stowing projects for next week. The Cookie Gal Dream Team (with some new additions) stays even longer! The hotel conference room where I've been teaching needs to be restored to a state of normalcy, since I won't be teaching there again until next Friday.
Cookies getting stowed for next week.
Day 8 (February 10), 3:00 am.
After several hours of fielding a looooong backlog of email (despite the fact that my primary one suddenly stopped sending me messages), I fall into bed, soothed by the smell of gingerbread. Lucky me - the cookies are stowed in my room for the next four days!
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