The Non-Automatic Glass Door

Last Wednesday we went to the public pool for swimming sports. Swimming sports are an event that the school holds every year to promote house unity. The school has four different houses. Yes, like true Harry Potter: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. Of course, the school I am at, the four names are not from Harry Potter, but still very cool. The students sign up to participate in an event like the 25m freestyle, backstroke, or butterfly. There's a 50m and 100m in each of those events as well. It goes by junior girls, junior boys, senior girls, and senior boys. Juniors in the school are years 9 and 10. Seniors are years 11, 12, and 13. Anyone who doesn't sign up stays at school and goes to class like normal except for a lot of the classes are combined because so many students are out and they just have a "fun" day. Each person who participates in a race gets points and then whoever gets first, second, and third gets additional points for their house. The house who wins gets bragging rights for the rest of the year. They are only in the second term here so literally their school year is still in the beginning not the end.

I went with J early to help out. I was walking in with all of these cones and paper work and walk through the first automatic doors. I get to the second set of doors and expect like the first that they are going to open automatically. Except for they don't. Me, not really getting why, am standing there like a dope slowing moving towards the door to see if I've just missed the sensor but no, the door still does not open. Finally, the woman who runs the indoor swimming facility tells me, "um, you have to push the door open". Me: "What?" Her: "push the door" Me: "What?" It's like I so expected those stupid doors to be automatic that I couldn't process the fact that they were NOT in fact automatic. The lady came and pushed the door open. I walk through all red and hot faced laughing.

This is not the end of the door saga though. I was pleased that there was hardly anyone there yet so there was only a few witnesses to my stupidity. I figured the rest of the students and staff had probably been there enough to know that the second door wasn't automatic. To my great surprise and entertainment ALL day, many people did NOT know this fact. I was near the doors all day checking people in and telling when the next group of swimmers could go to to start blocks. I could not tell you how much I laughed at people thinking the second set of doors were going to open for them. Some would walk right up until their noses were practically against the glass, some would move slowly foward, and then back, forward again, and then back, and some would even walk through the first set of doors AGAIN and then come back to the second set to test it out. Eventually, they would figure it out, be embarrassed, and walk through to find me on the other side cracking up. It was SO good. Honestly. I live for stupid things like that.

The next day a few of my of students were like, "Ms. V! Ms. V! We saw you yesterday cracking up all by yourself by the doors!" I'd tell them what I was laughing at one of my students goes, "but, Ms. V, it's not that funny!" Oh! But I promise you it was! I wonder if they thought I was laughing at all the students who were running around completely embarrassed to be in their togs (bathing suites) in front of essentially the whole school and three quarters of the staff.

Needless to say it was a good day and I found out that there are quite a few of really good swimmers in one of my classes and I had no idea. One of them was even was in the last olympic trials and just barely missed out and is a true contender to represent En Zed in the next summer olympics. I know New Zealand is small, but sweet as! I had no idea. How wicked cool, ey?

Sometimes, I'm so happy to be so easily entertained.

Another good glass door situation was on the first night on the Kiwi Bus. We were staying at Turtle Cove hostel and had a huge spaghetti dinner for the whole bus. The kitchen in the hostel had sliding glass doors that went out to the bar area and there was a significent step down into it. I was sitting there happily eating away and this girl is about to walk from the bar area back into the kitchen. Well, she, I'm certain, was like "I am going to MAKE SURE I don't trip over this ledge and make it into the kitchen" because she lifted her leg really high up for the step, and then she SMACKED right into the glass!!! I DIED! Honestly, died. It was one of the BEST "run into a glass door" situations I have ever seen in my life! Only a few other people saw it and we didn't know each other very well so it was right rude of me to laugh but I couldn't hold it in! I had to walk away because it was a near impossibility to calm myself down. LOVE it. Oh man, I'm even laughing right now thinking about it! She needn't feel so bad. Two other people walked into the door as well. Though nobody lifted their leg as high as she did in preperation for the step. By the way this is a competely true story. You can ask anyone on the Kiwi Bus. Anytime someone wanted to make me laugh they would just say, "ask her about the girl who lifted her leg and ran into the door!" I died thinking about it before I had even said a word!

Okay... no more stories. I'm meant to be grading papers right now! ;)