The Eve of Departure

Tomorrow is D-Day....or should I say M-Day? M standing, of course, for mathematics.

After teaching for half a day, at noon I will board a bus with my four returning Math Olympiad students and head to the Taichung Airport. Destination: Hong Kong, where we will compete in the annual ACAMIS Maths Olympiad middle school competition. Last year we took 3rd place and this year, since I have all four kids coming back for a second year, I'm hoping we can do that if not better (keep your fingers crossed for us!).

At this time last year I was very amazed at the fact that I was solely in charge of four teenagers during international travel. I am still amazed by this fact. Although I consider myself to be a somewhat mature and responsible person and I learned a lot last year being a teacher in an international school, I still have only been responsible for myself throughout my entire life. Now at the age of 23, I am taking children to a different Asian country and I am the only adult in charge of their safety and well being. The only adult. Man it is weird to think of it that way.

The reality of the situation is, these kids are so good that I really don't have to worry. Last year the only problem I had was that they got a tiny bit annoying when I had spent 36 hours straight with them. Sure I left them standing in the middle of the Hong Kong International Airport terminal and told them to meet me at the gate at boarding time before speed walking away from them, but they were already in the secured area. I knew they would be fine! I'm pretty sure that is to be expected when you spend that much time with your middle school students.

This year I am expecting about the same. Especially since, just like last year, I am staying in a hotel while the children are staying with families from the host school in Hong Kong. This gives me a much needed break and then I'll be well rested and ready to go for the competition on Saturday. After a long day thinking about mathematics, the team and I will board a plane that night and head back to Taiwan.

It will be a whirlwind of a weekend but I'm really looking forward to it. You don't really get these types of opportunities teaching at a public school in Minnesota, so I'm trying to really take advantage of it. Just think, by this time tomorrow I will be sitting in Hong Kong- not too bad of a school trip, huh?!