My boss Lynda asked me to help run her afterschool program for K-12 kids. Today was basketball day, and she told me to find a way to keep the kids interested. So I casually leaned against the wall and thought while about fifty kids poured in and filled the small room. They were in chaos, some shooting the balls, some milling about, but I couldn't think of a good plan. After a couple minutes, when a bunch of kids had left, I told Lynda "Sorry, I guess I failed you, I couldn't think of anything."

Without a word, she got up and left. As soon as she was gone, I thought of a way... I asked the tallest kid in the class to come over. He just barely missed touching the ceiling with the top of his head. I bet him that he couldn't dunk the ball without putting his head through the ceiling tiles. He said "You're on!" and I knew I had people hooked. Unfortunately, there were only about a dozen students left, but I tried my best to be exciting and encouraging. After a while, it broke down a bit when more kids arrived and the room was too packed for sports.

Some of the other staff put on some music, and the kids immediately dropped down into yoga positions and started dancing in unison, waving their arms intricately about. They must have done this many, many times before. I tried to follow along, laughing throughout at how complex the dance was. Debra, Lynda's assistant, came in in the middle and laughed, sitting down next to me. I was relieved, because Debra would surely tell Lynda about the success of the program. The next song that came on was "You are my sunshine," and everyone stopped moving and bowed their heads while singing along. Since I don't know the words in real life besides the chorus, the tape kept skipping and blurring at other verses. Finally, it hit a snag and kept repeating, so it was time to move on.

I called in Chinese takeout, and it arrived instantly, fully set up in the back of the room. There was a beautiful ebony cabinet in the middle filled with rice dishes, while a long set of foldup tables held other dishes just behind. I got there first, just before the line stretched around the corner and into the administrative office. The rice layout was amazing, with 5-6 dishes laid out in lacquered dishes covered with tinfoil. In one case, a three-tiered flower pot held sticky rice in the outer rings surrounding the short plants. I quickly filled my small bowl with each kind of rice, and tried a few delicious spoonfuls here and there. I suddenly felt guilty for being the coordinator yet rushing to eat first, so I put my bowl down at the coordinator's table where my coworker was sitting and dashed off to be a server at the main tables. But there was no food and no line left, just piled empty dishes. While I had been busy filling up on rice, everyone had served themselves, eaten, and left. I grabbed the few bits of shrimp left and popped them in my mouth. All in all, I considered it a successful and fun day for the kids.

posted by Larry at 7:48 AM