Say "Hello"

3-18-2010
Day 11 of 365: To all the nerds, geeks, dorks, yuppies, hippies, hipsters, scenesters, scene kids, cool kids, indie kids, emo kids, skinny jeans kids, SoCo kids, drag kids, drag rats (sans spikes and army surplus), and anyone who keeps Austin weird: Please say 'hello' again to someone that you all know and love - The Converse All Star. I officially bought my first ever pair of All Stars today after a life-long hold out. They will be used as my indoor shoes at the school where I teach from now on. The reason I'd never bought a pair before is basically because I didn't want to look like any of you. While, fundamentally, that feeling hasn't changed, there is something to be said for 'trying new things' in a country that is full of new things. Note to all the athletes, jocks, cowboys, kickers, muscle heads, meat heads, roid heads, and general category of person who beats up the people in the first category: I'm not converting; I'm just trying to have an open mind, plus there were actually a handful of reasons. For one thing, they were the first pair of shoes that I found that actually fit me, which is a major victory (Read my last blog entry, Keep 'Em Up, to understand why this is a big deal). Secondly, they are similar in style to what the kids wear at school, except that their shoes are slip-ons or Velcro. Lastly, I was looking for something familiar, which meant American, and it was either these or Crocs (I work in a school, not a hospital). So my options were pretty limited, but what can you do? Let's just look at it as something that happened and try to move on.

The kids haven't seen the new shoes yet, but they'll probably dig them. They are interested in everything I do, wear and say. I may be the first white guy that some of these kids have seen in person. I'm an alien to them. Even my hazel colored eyes freak them out. It started with one kid noticing and asking me to remove my glasses so he could see them better. Then all the kids at the table moved up close to get a better look, only to quickly jump back in surprise when they saw that my eyes weren't black like theirs. They're so curious about people and things that are different than them. I'm sure the novelty won't last forever, but in the meantime it's fine with me because they really pay attention when I'm teaching the lessons. Hopefully I'll actually learn how to be a teacher before the new car smell fades.

Speaking of things that are new, I learned something new on Day 11: Buttons can be pushed a second time on an elevator to cancel a floor or stop. I found this out by unknowingly pushing the 1st floor button twice on the way down from my apartment and ended up descending all the way down to B7, the bottom floor basement. Another time I missed my floor and went almost to the top of my building, but I think somebody pushed my button after me so that we wouldn't stop on my floor. I can't prove it, but I'm gonna be watching that old Korean lady a little closer from now on.