“It’s February and we are raking leaves from an orange tree…”

Every day, one of my co-teachers and I arrive at Discovery (the school we teach at in the afternoon). Approaching the door to enter, we have to ring the bell so they will let us in.  Sometimes we have to wait a few minutes for the lady that has the key to come open the door, we walk in and say hello to fellow teachers waiting for their kids, then walk through the school, passing other classrooms full of teachers and students.  We usually leave our teaching materials in the classroom (or in Kim’s case, the kitchen) in which we will be teaching.  They have us in the very back to begin the day.  It is a small grassy area with an orange tree that is right against the outer wall and next to two of the classrooms. It works well for what we do for our starting activities.

We usually start each day with snack time, in which the students (most of them) bring food to munch on before we actually start class.  Next, we sing some songs and then end up playing freeze tag (they are obsessed with this game, I am not sure why) or cops and robbers. Sometimes we need to clean the area a little bit because it collects garbage and random cleaning materials (I assume because it is at the back of the school).

Every day either Kimberlie or myself wind up the hose and then we get the trashcan and prepare the area for the students to arrive.  A few days ago Kimberlie and I were chatting while cleaning.  She was picking up leaves and raking them aside because our students are in love with twigs, leaves, and grass when she all of a sudden stopped and said: “I can’t believe it’s February and we are raking leaves from an orange tree!” We both stopped and thought about it for a while.

A week prior to this epiphany my mother informed me that it was -20 in Alaska.

This post is dedicated to all of you suffering in the cold. You want me to bring you an orange?