Another Year. Another City.: homecoming and the fair!

This was supposed to be published two weeks ago, but for some reason, I never pressed submit. Whooops!

The weekend is only halfway done and the weekend has been super exciting. Last night was Jackson's homecoming football game which ended the whole week of homecoming festivities. City Year has been dressing up all week to follow the themed days (Monday was "Think Pink", Tuesday was "Twin Day" etc) and we wanted to continue showing our support by going to the game. We got permission to leave the office early so we could tailgate with some of the faculty before the game. I've never tailgated a high school football game, but I guess there's a first time for everything!

My team had each volunteered to bring a different dish, so we were well prepared for this tailgate. When we showed up, though, we were put to shame by the other people there. There was pulled pork, chicken, burgers, the list goes on and on. There was also ladder ball and corn hole, just to top it all off. We tailgated for about a half hour before the parade showed up. The parade was hilarious. Each of the winners for each grade for homecoming court was riding on top of a fancy sports car and the band and ROTC was marching down the street. It was so funny to see my students in ROTC and band because they were so serious and focused! Now that I know they can, I'm definitely going to use that as motivation in class! hahahaha think of it as blackmail.... :)

After the parade, we tailgated a little bit more before heading into the game. Jackson scored the first touchdown, but after that, it was pretty much downhill from there. The students were a ton of fun to watch at the game, though, which made it all worthwhile. I was surprised at how well behaved they were when they don't have to sit still and pay attention. They were also hilarious when they would interact with us. We'd say hello and they would do a double take since we weren't in our uniforms. Some of them would come hang out with us for a little bit, but others would be really shy and run their friends. It was so funny and cute. Even though the actual game wasn't that great, it was a lot of fun. The halftime show by the band was great and there was even a Conga line! It was pretty impressive, especially considering the band is mainly freshmen who just started playing this past August! We left not that long after halftime, but it was such a great Saturday night.

Today, Adrienne and I decided to venture out into Jacksonville and go to the fair! The students had been talking about it all week, so we wanted to go check it out. It was definitely an experience! It was a lot of fun, but I can see how it would be a high schooler's dream come true! There was a dog show that we watched, tons of rides to go on, and TONS of food to eat. We didn't have any tickets, so we didn't go on any of the rides, but we did watch the dog show which was great and see a ton of animals. We got funnel cakes and soda like little kids and called it a day. It was a great afternoon!

The day was topped off by a monumental win by Notre Dame! While it wasn't the best game in the world, the Irish came back to tie it up and ultimately win in triple overtime. It was so exciting! Oh and to top it all off, I found out that Manti Te'o's brother helped move Mike out yesterday. How cool?

Anyways, have a great rest of the weekend! Only six days until I'm reuniting with Karen and Sara and frolicking around the DC/Baltimore area! CANNOT WAIT!!