School begins again

We returned from break and have started school again. I'm glad this is only a 2 day week, because I am already tired!

Though we have had a break, some things never change. The first morning back, my 1st period freshmen boys gathered around the mini-basketball hoop affixed to my classroom wall and resumed their morning ritual. I won't call it a game, because there are no teams, no rules, no scoring system. Here's how it works, as far as I can tell - the boys stand in a semi-circle around the hoop. Whoever has the ball shouts the name of an NBA player, moves towards the hoop, and shoot/dunks the ball while the onlookers emit various primitive grunts and noises. My suspicion was that they were mimicking the NBA dunk contest - but soon I realized that there was no connection between the name shouted and the action that followed.

So for a good 5 minutes, this is all I hear:

"Ohhhhh Gasol! Ughhhh. Yeahhhhhh! Ko-beeeeeee! Hrrrrrmphah! Ahhhhh--GARNETT!" And so on...

Oh teenage boys...At least the advantage of this type of communication is that everybody - Koreans, Americans, Chinese - can be included in the fun. Leave it to the NBA to unite the world.

-alan