The English Department: Spirit Week and Fall Break

As advisors for student council, Brian and I are always especially busy during two annual events: prom and spirit week. The latter was earlier than usual this year, which meant the kids and we were really scrambling to pull everything together. It went well, though, and here are a few photo highlights.

A new theme day this year was Ninja or Pirate Day. This was my somewhat lame pirate costume:

Luckily, Brian redeemed Team Jungman by going all out with his ninja costume:

(If the hoodie looks a little snug that’s because it’s mine.)

The students always have fun dressing up, too, so here are a couple of group shots to give you a taste of what campus looks like during this week. This is my 9th grade English class on Crazy Day. (Note Brian in the background behind the girl with the telephone.)

And here is my 10th grade World Lit class on Decades Day. Yes, that is his real hair, and yes, the girl in the back is wearing roller skates. Awesome.

Brian and I wore outfits we previously featured on this blog when we had a ‘70s party our first year here (Bri is still proud of his homemade bell-bottoms); however, I thought Brian’s mustache merited another photo. He freaked his 6th graders out by convincing them he grew it overnight. :)

The fact that spirit week was earlier than normal meant we had to rush around quite a bit to get organized, but it also meant we had our October break the following week, which was a nice way to recover. Brian and I spent four days in Kribi at our favorite hotel, the Ilomba, and it was just what we needed. Here is a photo of a relaxing breakfast by the ocean.

This is a better shot of the view from the hotel restaurant.

This is looking back toward the boukarous (cottages). Ours is the second door from the right.

We had great weather and spent most of our time reading on the beach; since we both got pretty sunburned the first day, though, we moved onto the covered porch of the main building the next day. We were soon joined by an unusual visitor.

Here’s a clearer photo.

Later that evening we played a few games of giant chess—Brian destroyed me each time.

I triumphed later in gin rummy, so things evened out over the course of the trip.

Both of us decided to leave all schoolwork and even our laptops at home, and it was wonderful to take a break from responsibility for a few days. Here’s Brian finishing a book late one evening. (I can’t remember if I’ve posted shots of the Ilomba’s tables before, but they’re enormous crosscut sections of local trees—amazing!)