Playing Teacher

Once a month, beginning last Thursday, we go to this public high school to teach a class of 4th year students. 

I sort of miss high school - its sweaty rowdiness and the uncaring noise, the snickers and snarky laughter that fill its halls. It's hard to believe there used to be a time when the highest stakes only amounted to exam papers and unnecessarily extravagant projects. 

For the first session, we taught these kids basic concepts on personal hygiene and first aid. Playing teacher, as I discovered, is a powerful way of luring out repressed nostalgia. Did I ever display the same lack of care towards my uniforms? I try to remember all our inside jokes and surprisingly come up with a hundred.

To quote Sondheim, from Merrily We Roll Along (hello, Repertory Philippines, you may want to do this one next year!):

Something is stirring, shifting ground. It's just begun.

Edges are blurring all around, and yesterday is done.

Feel the flow, hear what's happening.

We're what's happening.

Don't you know?

We're the movers and we're the shapers.

We're the names in tomorrow's papers.