last week

so, i will have no pictures for this post and will be very vague for two specific reasons:
1. last week was one of the most difficult weeks I had teaching
2. this is the internet, and i don't want to get in trouble for posting stuff with school


So, last week we had a group of students here from inner-city Seattle. Most of them have never been outside of the city before, and if they have, it definitely has not been to the forest. Most of them were so excited to be here, until the weather happened. It was either raining (hard), or snowing, or sleeting or snowraining the ENTIRE time they were here. It broke my heart. So many of the kids desperately wanted to be here, but it's so hard to enjoy a place if you're freezing and wet the entire time.

There were a few amazing moments. We took my group out in the big canoe one day when it was snowraining out and i was sitting in the front of the canoe. It just happened that three people right behind me were complaining and just seemed miserable. So, i had an "adult" conversation with the whole canoe and asked them if they wanted to continue or to turn around. Everyone else in the canoe (i had a group of 10 total) did not want to turn around. They wanted to keep going and one girl even said "we will never have the chance to do this again. We have to keep going." wow. can you imagine how many adults would have said "yeah, i think i want to turn around."

The following day we had the option to hang out around campus and stay "dry" or to get soaked and walk to the waterfall. The hike to the waterfall is about 1.5 miles, and is a pretty steady uphill with only about 600 feet of elevation gain... which is a lot if you only ever hike around on sidewalks. Once again, the entire group wanted to push on and make it to the waterfall. I provided them with the option to turn around and this time the entire group agreed that they needed to go on since they would not be able to see a waterfall in nature again... that they would rather struggle in the rain while being cold and tired then succumbing to the comforts of home. Are you kidding me? Just to make sure i am stressing this enough. 12 year old kids from the inner-city would rather walk in the cold rain and snow for a total of 3+ miles to see a waterfall. I know I can't say that I would do the same.

I was exhausted after the week was over. Between the weather and the extra pressure to keep the group going was just a lot to handle.

This week I have another amazing group. This time most of my students immigrated to Washington in the past few years from Mexico. Most of my group speaks in spanish the entire time and want to touch and explore everything! And true to Washington weather, it is raining and snowing again.