Brainwaves and Facial Expressions!

Monday began as a typical day with all of the students arriving bright and early. I again joined the students in the classroom for another wonderful day of school. Now note, that according to Betsy, she gets her best thoughts and all of her ingenious ideas when playing Angry Birds. (Weeks ago, she had agreed to quit, but that only lasted a few weeks. When we confronted her about this issue, she admitted that she had stopped having good ideas, thus she had begun playing again...knowing that it would stimulate her brain and aid in its thought process.) So apparently she had been playing again yesterday because during math class, she rushed into the classroom and slapped Kevin's desk before shouting, "I just had a brainwave!" I know what you've been doing, I thought, envisioning her playing Angry Birds. But without waiting for us to recover from our sudden start, she began to excitedly explain to us the ingenious plan she had just devised.
      After lunch, I sat in the library reading the book my mother had sent along with me. Yeah, I know--the kids were astonished that I homework to do, too. I mean, what was my mother thinking, sending oodles of books across the ocean with me, hoping I'd read them in my "spare-time?" So anyway, as I sat reading The Screwtape Letters and listening to the students practicing their guitars in the background, the door flew open and Betsy stepped into the room, laden with various school-related items. She took a seat next to me and spread her conglomeration of things on the table. At that moment Amanda burst into the room with Juan in tow. "What are we doing for story time?!" She asked as Juan darted towards the bookshelf in search of his favorite book.
     Without looking up, Betsy slowly shook her head, "Ya know, I really haven't gotten that far." She shrugged dejectedly, "I just seem to have no inspiration." (I choked back a laugh and bit my lip.)
     Amanda frowned, "Well, we could at least do a Bible story or something...tell it, act--"
     "I've got it!" Betsy jumped up from her chair, hands desperately chopping the air. "I just had a brainwave!" We all braced ourselves for whatever was coming next. "We should act out the story of Esther...well, you act it out, I'll narrate/interpret it." Without waiting for a response, she nodded decidedly. "Good." So that was that.
     Gone was my laughter as I sat stunned, wondering what exactly had just happened in those previous twenty seconds of my life. And why had my name just been mentioned? Inwardly I cringed...that was not a good sign...literally. And while I really should not have been surprised, I couldn't help the little flutter in the pit of my stomach when they informed me that I would be Esther in our Bible play. Oh dear. But, in reality, it was so much fun! Amanda was a fantastic Vashti and made a wonderful candidate as we girls all stood in a line awaiting our turn to "meet the king." Amanda grabbed Larimar's guitar and with a grin, she called over her shoulder, "I'm going in with a bang!" Oh my gosh, this girl is hilarious!
     We continued the story this afternoon with me as Esther, Betsy as Mordecai, Amanda as the scribe and Mizael as Haman. Let me tell you, we laughed so hard! And just a warning: tomorrow is the day Mizael (Haman) will be hanged! And while I'm not anticipating anything too drastic, I am thankful that Rebekah (a qualified nurse) is on the premises.
    Then it was on to math class. You all know what that means.... *involuntary shudder* I no sooner sat my butt on a chair (which by the way, I'm finally able to do as it's been slowly healing from the traumatic encounter at Charcol Frio) when Betsy told me to grade Kevin's homework. Oh boy--literally. But then, when I found a repetitious error, I kindly confronted him, asking him to reread the problem to see if perhaps he could find where he had originally made the mistake. Let's just say; that entire ordeal was much more than I'd bargained for. Instead of simply fixing that one errant problem, he then asked for guidance on several of the other problems he had to solve. And problems they were indeed! I conceded to helping since no one else needed me at the time, and leaning over his book, I read the equations. After a while, we formed a system that actually worked quite efficiently. He would figure them out by himself while I used the answer book (an advantage of being the teacher's assistant) and then we'd compare answers.
     He would figure out a problem and then look at me, with an eyebrow raised, "Correct?" I would nod and he'd continue to the next one. It did not however, take him long to realize that apparently my facial expression changed slightly as he wrote his answers, depending on whether it was correct or not. I noticed this after he wrote an answer and I smiled. "I knew it was right," he told me proudly, "Your face told me 'yes.'" Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. Okay, Mr. Smarty...bring it on. He finished the next one and looked at me. I fought to keep my facial expression neutral. He stared at me quizzically, "That right?"
     I stared back at him, "What do you think?"
     He caught on within seconds and knowing that I laugh at everything, he devised what he must have thought to be a brilliant plan. I on the other hand, disagreed. After each problem, he made a goofy face, thinking that if I laughed, his answer was correct. Honestly, I don't cave that easily! So I devised a plan of my own....I desperately needed to work on my facial expressions (one of the Signing parameters, I don't excel in, but am determined to.) This was the perfect opportunity to practice. I waited until he had completed the next problem, checked his answer and then looked to me for conformation. He wiggled his eyebrows and made a face. My stony expression remained unchanged. It was obvious that he had not expected this reaction...His facial expression clearly told me so. I chuckled inwardly as he tried once more to get a smile out of me. Again, so such luck. I didn't even blink. He heaved a sigh. "Tell me! Right?"
     I raised an eyebrow and shrugged nonchalantly, signing, "What do you think." I laughed as he groaned and rolled his eyes, responding with, "I think yes!" I glanced down at the book and paused for suspense before adding, "I think yes, too." I watched as he scrawled his next answer and again looked at me. I forced a frown and ducked my head. "Oh Kevin, really?" I rolled my eyes and compared his answer to that of the book, still hidden on my lap. I grabbed my red pen and shook my head, still frowning.
     One glance at his perplexed face and I about lost it--very nearly blowing my cover. He was beginning to freak out. "No! No! It's not wrong--" He signed dramatically. "Ugh, really!?" He ran a hand over his face and I bit my tongue as he wearily eyed the red pen moving closer and closer to his book. His fingers drummed nervously on the desk, "I understand it..." he tried again to dissuade me and prolong the inevitable.
     I shrugged. Willing myself to keep my face blank, I lowered the pen. The instant it touched his book, he yelled before slapping a hand to his forehead and slumping in his chair, seemingly defeated. I squelched the nearly overwhelming urge to laugh. Seriously, dude--It's not that big a deal. He jumped up and cracked his knuckles as he watched me write with the dreaded red ink on his paper.  =) A smiley was all I wrote. After several seconds he glanced at me. "What?! It's right?" He slapped his knee and only then did I release the laugh I had been suppressing all that time. "Yup, it's correct."
     He jutted up from his chair, arms/hands flailing. "What?! What?! It's right? Why did you do that?"
     I simply smiled and signed. "Because you said I was so easy to read. Do you truly think so?" He slumped back in his chair as I continued. He wasn't getting out of this that easily. "You also said that my facial expression always tells you yes. Does it really?" I tapped my pen on the desk. "I'm not as easy to read as you think...."
     That seemed to subdue him for a little while at least. And a little bite of humble-pie would never hurt anyone. But what made it all the funnier, was thinking back on it, I had asked many individual people a few weeks ago about their opinions of my signing...ironically, him being one of those persons. His immediate advice to me?  "You need more facial expression!"  Ha-ha, yeah, you got it, Amigo!  No problem....