Last night Corey told Ethan that he would let him have a social gathering celebrating his birthday. So Eth got on the phone to see who could come and what time and where, a lot of logistics involved. He was on his phone again this morning and then came down at 10:30 a.m. to announce it started and was starting NOW and we need to go. He walked over to Corey's office door, where Corey was on a business call, and tried to get in and tried to knock... I told him he couldn't interrupt. "But Dad has to take me! Everybody is already going to be there!" "You can't interrupt, you have to wait." Corey kept on his phone call and so we woke up Jospeh to see if he could take Ethan, Dad will come down when he can." Corey got off his call shortly after 11 and was able to head down, then he was on calls most of the time there during the gathering, which I think is totally fine. Corey already put in his Skating time at Classic with a full group on Saturday. I was running kids to errands at the orthodontist, and Abi had the first of her School House Rock performances. I was going to go, but Mel missed the bus to her flute lesson so then I had to drive her to the U for that. Corey and I were both very busy as usual. We met home at 3:45 so I could take Ethan to his lesson with Ray, and we snapped a picture with his friends before Corey and Joseph took them home.
I took Ethan to his lesson where I heard another funny story. So, he and his friends have a group called the T-Rex Gang - they even have shirts they wear. Well there is an Asian student named Nathan who saw Ethan in his shirt and teased him a bit and decided he would start his own group. He called it the "Asian Mafia" and now the Trex Gang and the Asian Mafia pretend that they are rival gangs. So, after Ethan got his contact this last Friday, kids at school were teasing him that he looks Asian without his glasses. Well, with that label Ethan asked if he could also join their Mafia. Nathan looked at him and thought for a second, then said "Squint your eyes..." Ethan did:
Nathan asked "How many fingers am I holding up?" Apparently one of the rules is you have to have very squinty eyes but still be able to see. "Three!" Ethan said proudly. He was in! Well, there was another right of passage. He has to eat all the different types of Chinese candy that Nathan smuggles into the school in his backpack each day. Ethan says Nathan's locker is just jam packed of candy and he's always sharing it with everyone. Ethan has now tried them all. He wasn't able to swallow some of them and said only one of them tastes good. He showed me a few of the wrappers in his pocket from the candy allotment for that day as proof.
So now Ethan is a member of the Asian Mafia too. He walks around and nods his head to his friends in the hall as he says "Ni hao! Me gusta China!" So the Asian Mafia now is a group of Asian guys and Ethan. There is one Asian student at their school who was denied membership. A girl asked if he could join, Nathan thought and said "Let me ask the Elders..." He did, and then got back to her. "The Elders don't approve." "What? Why not?!" "Cause you're a woman." We thought it was pretty funny and gender biased of the Mafia. Teenagers...
Ok, two more stories. So in Ethan's English glass, their teacher is pretty politically correct. Nathan is in that class. They received an assignment to each choose an object that represents them and do some creative writing on it. Ethan compared himself to a saxophone. Nathan chose... a banana. "Cause they are yellow on the outside and white on the inside" and then he expounded on it in from of the class. The teacher did not like that, but what can you do when it's the person that belongs to the cultural minority making the racist remarks about themselves? Needless to say he got away with it.
Last story from a school: Ethan helps at school in the "popcorn room" during athletic events. Some girls came up to order popcorn. Ethan served two of them, then asked one of the two if the third girl wanted salt on her popcorn, and then the third girl turned around and in some irritation asked him "Did you just assume my gender?" Eth was caught off guard that he caused offense... "Yeah... but you are, aren't you?" "Yes, but somebody might not be..." He rolled his eyes "Fine" and turning back to the two girls "...does 'it' want some salt?" That exchange supplied Ethan with comebacks for a few days later he was in his math class and the topic of Mormons came up. The teacher there, who is atheist, pointed out Ethan saying "Well you're Mormon..." Ethan protested: "What!? Did you just assume my religion?!" "You're Mormon, I know you are." "No I'm not" "Your brother gave me a Book of Mormon!" "I'm less active!" Ethan protested. "No you're not..." "Ok, fine, I go, but I identify as less active..." (How junior high teachers survive working each day with smart aleck kids like my Ethan is impressive to me.) Then the teacher said "I know you're Mormon." "How do you know?" Eth asked. "You've got this look about you..." to which Ethan quickly replied "It's called 'the Spirit'" and that is where I think he dropped the mic. Pretty funny kid, he's super clever. We're taking him out to dinner tomorrow for his birthday. I think he's had a good one, and that's enough Ethan stories for today!
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