Early Lunch

At around 11:00 in the morning, the building was near empty. The sounds of dishes cleaning and a few distant televisions filled the restaurant. Mostly sports channels talking about the many upcoming football games for the weekend. I’m seated in a higher level to the restaurant and I can look upon most of the tables in the nearby section.  This host is a man who I’d say is in his mid-thirties. He is so excited for the opportunity to seat me that it’s almost overbearing. The waiter arrived, his name was tucker. Tucker seemed happy. He had short hair and a hat line around the edge of his head. He was about 23. I believe the staff’s enthusiasm greatly relies on the time of day. Most of the staff id encountered before were abrasive but they were in the night shift. Tuckers spirits were refreshing.

Before ordering I could hear the family behind me talking. I turned back and saw a younger Hispanic couple with a couple toddler aged children. The children were refusing to finish their food but the parents handled their tantrum. They said that if they don’t eat their food then they would not be able to go to the movie planned for their afternoon.

The table to the right and down a level had a couple occupying it. They were two men. I figured they were together because of their expressions. They held hands, the one on the left had a thick beard and a shaved head. The guy on the right had a hat on with some thick gasses. I heard a part of their conversation. On the right, Zed, brought up a hot button issue about the terrorist group in the Middle East. I thought it to be heavy subject matter for an early lunch. But none the less his partner, Peter, engaged him with a look of disdain for the subject on his face. They seemed to get along very well. They went on chatting for some time.  

Tucker was doing well managing our area. As there were only a few patrons in the establishment he wasn't spread very thin. The family behind me asked for the check and before you could think about it, tucker had brought them the bill. Needless to say, he was a server deserving the title.

The person who replaced the family at the table behind me was an elderly man, maybe mid-70s, named Carl. Carl sat and ordered a tuna sandwich with extra onions and an Arnold Palmer to drink. When tucker took his order he sat in the opposite side of the booth. I think this intrigued Carl, he asked tucker about his job and what his plans were. A chat was to follow so tucker was occupied for some time.  

The Partners raised both of their hands to ask tucker for the check. While he got the check, the guys talked about their plans for the night. Apparently they were going to go night hiking. I figured this was a form of outdoor adventure, they were to meet up with a larger group of friends. Zed was having second thoughts because he said, “I F***ing hate mosquitoes.”  I believe Pete told him to relax and to 

quit whining. They left and tucker came back to attend to Carl and I.

I asked for the check and I spent the time to look around. Carl and I were the only ones left. From what I could see on the other half of the store, the staff was mostly cleaning and joking with each other. Tucker got stuck with a task from the manager on the other side of the room.

Carl got a phone call from who I believed to be his daughter. He told her not to worry and he was fine eating alone. I could figure that Carl lost his wife. The daughter must’ve asked about his day yesterday because he began to tell her in an orderly fashion. His grandchildren came to visit him the day before and he went on and on about them.

I left after a few more groups of people had entered it seemed like business was about to start taking off for the restaurant.

Night out

As I walk into the restaurant I can feel the atmosphere immediately. The host was friendly and the door was held open by a stranger in a Hawaiian shirt. As I found my seat, I noticed how packed the building was. People waiting for a seat against walls and tables shoved together, all of the tables that were together contained families with at least one child. Once seated the red headed waitress, Julie, looked as if she had just been crying intensely just before greeting me. Julie seemed rude, I’m sure she was dealing with other problems in her life.

The table to my left had a family of three. A young couple with an infant daughter. The father had a Cowboy’s hat on and was flaunting a jersey for Tony Romo. He has an untamed bearded and a happy looking disposition. His wife or spouse, was sitting across from him with the daughter hung around her. She is a nice sounding girl, her voice is as much as can attempt to observe. She is sitting at the same seat but a table over so I can’t turn and stare. The couple is talking about their child and spending some time with their relatives.

The table in the corner is all men in suits, I could only glimpse as I sat down but they are directly behind me so I can hear them. Mostly one of them talks. I gather that they have been there for some time, they all mention that they've been waiting for their waitress. It is Julie. Beside the wait, the one man goes on and on about the work week and appreciating all the work the other men have done. They all got the same meal, enchiladas green without onions. Beer all around except for two men with waters.

The table directly in front of me has just seated two women. They appear to be friends. Middle aged with tired looks on their faces. They both order margaritas and chips. They immediately begin to laugh and chat about how stressed they are. After the initial stories have come out, fifteen minutes in to their night, they pull their phones out and begin scrolling endless pages of anti-social media. They only stop to gossip about this or that thing that they have seen on each other’s Facebook.

Julie brings them the wrong order, actually intended for the Cowboys couple. The couple had been waiting quite some time. The phone women laugh it off but after Julie leaves they make a snooty face at one another.

The suits behind me are getting louder with more comedic stories about their boss. They all leave after all agreeing to go somewhere else. The Cowboy’s couple talk about how good the food is and how happy they are that their daughter has stayed asleep.

The phone ladies ask to see the manager because of the slow service. They may have been being a bit unreasonable but never the less, the manager comes with an apologetic story.

When the Cowboys couple leave they look very happy with the night and leave a formidable tip for Julie. They joke about her being “pobrecita”, this means poor thing in Spanish. Probably commenting on the large crowd and heavy workload for Julie. They seemed to be very nice and good people. The wife mentioned an appointment for the daughter as they were leaving and that’s the last I saw of the Cowboys couple.

The table behind me has been filled with what I believe to be college students. They only spoke Spanish, very well. I am not so fluent with the language but I could make out various phrases. It sounded like they were talking about a paper they had to write as a group for some class. I figured there was two guys and two girls, just by their voices.

The phone woman once again speak to the manager, but this time they are complaining about the food. It has not met their standards. The food was “cold” and “without flavor”. The manager attributes the temperature of the food to the slow service from Julie. The women receive a gift card to the restaurant and finish their meals, pay, and then leave.

The tip for Julie is almost nonexistent. From my perspective I could see how hard she was working and how much she was doing at once. She was unhappy with the tip but she moved on and continued to serve the rest of the crowd in her section.

The Spanish students behind me have ordered their food, from what I understood, they teased each other about the different items.

The night has slowed down, at least in my section. I’m starting to see a pattern in woman that go to restaurants as a pair. They appear to chat about their phones and more gossip conversation than other topics. But I don’t have much to work on for that yet.  

Field Notes 1

It was a rather warm morning for being so early, so early in fact that I’m not usually one to see such an early part of the day. Looking up in the clear sky without a cloud in a sight and feeling nothing but the hot sun beating down on my face made me think of the extremely hot days that have yet to come.

As I walked into the restaurant I felt a cold gust of air come over me as I opened the door, at first I actually thought it felt quite refreshing, but after a minute or so sitting at my booth I began to feel cold. After getting myself situated and placing my order I heard the woman that came in slightly after I did that was seated directly in front of me mention that it was cold inside, and upon her making that comment I looked up at her and noticed that on the back of her neck she had a small tattoo of the playboy bunny, we’ll call her Curly. Curly had a little boy (I'm assuming her son), we’ll call him Bomber as he did have an angry birds hat with the bird that explodes on it, he was about 3-4 years of age. Bomber had extremely long for a male, it seemed as though it was even longer than his mother’s (curly) hair. Bomber would not sit still and kept standing on top of the booth looking back at me on a consistent basis, most likely the typical behavior for a child of his age. Curly seemed extremely “picky” as she placed her order with many rather annoying specifications. As the two finished up their meal and headed out, more and more people began to trickle in.

With Curly and Bomber gone I could more clearly hear the annoying sound of older country music in the background.

The sound of a foreign language caught my ear and drew my attention to an Asian family. Tourists I assume as they were all wearing out-of-state college t-shirts and were dresses as if they are prepared to sit in a car for multiple hours. Two younger boys, about 5-7 years of age and an older woman and an older man, I assuming the mother and father of the two young boys. They were rather quiet and stayed to themselves as they patiently awaited their order which was taking extremely long to come out. I noticed that at first one of the young boys decided that they needed the bathroom, so the father got up to take him. Then shortly after the father and son returned to the table the other young boy decided that they also needed the bathroom, so the mother gets up and takes him. I find it unusual as to how siblings seem to want or do the exact same thing as their brothers or sisters, I’m guessing that that is just the role of the older sibling taking on the role of being a role-model. Overall, the family seemed average as they finally received their long-awaited order and began to eat.

As some people leave and new customers arrive, I noticed that all the older customers, which seem to be above the age of 40 have ordered coffee. Also, I have noticed that the older country music has stopped playing and has instead turned into more modern country music. The air conditioner has again kicked-on and it is getting to be an uncomfortably cold environment.

Most of the customers that have shown up are in pairs aside from the few families that have children, and all the pairs of customers at tables are male and female. These male and female pairs all seem to be spouses to one-another and engaged in what seems to be small talk as neither of them seem to be deeply engaged in conversation.

A lesbian couple have entered and are sat at a booth. One of them seems to have more a masculine and serious appearance as the other appears to be more feminine. The more masculine woman (we’ll call her Sergeant) has a haircut to that of what could be considered a male hair style. Sergeant is also wearing baggy pants and a white collard polo shirt. What gives her her serious look is more within the tough looking sunglasses that she has on. Sergeant, specifically, seems to draw the most attention from people. Especially the attention from one couple that seem to be staring. I find it oddly enough that the lesbian couple have two boys, both about 3 years of age. They seem rather well behaved as they both keep to themselves and interact amongst each other.

The Boot Store

As I walk into the boot store I can see all the different types of hats and country wear they have here. I am greeted by a man name Billy he is the manager of the store he is wearing a country still cap, button up shirt, cinch jeans and chukka shoes. His shirt was blue as well as his jeans his chukka shoes look wore out and old. He is a white man about 40 years old and has a goatee and a mustache. Both are clean and trimmed. Billy is the man to go to if you want a hat shaped whether it’s a felt hat or a straw hat. He will do about any style you want for a hat and does not charge to much.

As I start to look around the store another man comes out of the office in the store. His name was Jake. He is a younger Mexican man about 25 to 30 years old. Jake is wearing a button down shirt and blue jeans I think they are cinch but can’t tell. Jake is a nice guy always has a smile on his face and wants to help the customers find anything they need.

A little while after I enter the store I notice that Becky isn’t at work. Becky usually works week days but IS have noticed the last couple times I have come in she hasn’t been working. Becky is about 5’10 and white with blonde hair. Becky is usually wearing a country style T-shirt, cinch jeans and these high heel flip flop shoes. Becky is the girl that takes orders for clothes that have ran out or clothes that you would like them to start selling. You can always ask if a hat or shirt or jeans look good on you and she will give you her honest opinion.

As I walk around I notice that they have many different hats to choose from. They have felt hats that range from black, brown, and white. They also have straw hats. The straw hats are nice but some are a little too expensive for my taste. I notice that they even carry some Mexican style hats. I personally think these hats are ugly and ridiculous to wear. They look like a taco shell.

When I’m checking out at the store a Mexican man comes in he is wearing a black shirt and black pants. He had on a black hat that was shaped pretty nice. As I look at him I see the boots he is wearing they are Mexican boot they are black with lime green on the tops. The boots curve towards the end and come to a point. Back where I’m from we call these boot cockroach killers. We call them these because of the point they come to which is nice for when you are trying to kill a cockroach in a corner of a room.

I stayed at the store a little bit after I check out and a man and his boy walk in. The man didn’t really catch my eye but his son did. The son was wearing a black shirt, black pants, a black hat and black boots. His boots we nice but you could tell they have been worn a lot. His pants are what caught my eye they were pulled all the way up to at least his belly button from the look of them. I haven’t really seen anyone wear their pants that high in a long time and I kind of felt bad for the kid cause it didn’t really look to comfortable.

After I saw the kid I knew it was time to leave so I told Billy and Jake bye and walked out of the store. As I was leaving I was thinking of all the different ways certain people wear country clothes whether it be hats, boots, jeans or shirts. Not really anyone wears the same outfit the same way which is pretty interest.

Sit, Stand, Kneel, and Listen

It is late in the morning and the sun is shining bright and the sky is clear. As I near the building, I hear the church bell rings. I hurry into the building and find a seat near the back. There is chatter among the people filling in almost all of the pews. Some are kneeling in prayer as the service nears the start.

Two children, looking to be young teenagers, start down the aisle heading toward the front of the sanctuary. One boy and one girl, they wear long white gowns that reach the floor with a brown rope tied around the waist. As they proceed down the aisle, they carry tall poles with crosses on the top of them. Once they reach the sanctuary, they priest greets them and they take a seat to the right of the stage.

Everyone stands and bows their heads in prayer, then join in song. The worship group plays a very upbeat song that everyone sings and claps along to called, “Asi Se Alaba A Dios”, or in translation, “So God is Praised”. Following, another prayer is said and everyone crosses themselves. The singing continues as everyone remains standing. Afterwards, another prayer is said and we are asked to be seated.

I noticed that the age group varies greatly. There are people from very age group, from infants to elders.  Also, within the first twenty minutes of my study, I found that there is a pattern of stand and sing, kneel and pray, and sit and listen. The pastor sits in a seat the represents something like a throne. He also, like the alter children, wore a long gown at about floor length, except for his was black with a gold rope wrapping around him at the waist. When singing the song “Aleluya”, or “Hallelujah”, the worship leader walks across the stage, back and forth, holding a bible up high in the air. Then he stands behind the podium for the rest of the song still with the bible in the air.

There are padded bars beneath me to kneel on, and we are asked to kneel and repeat after the pastor. This prayer is called “Prefesion de Fe” which is a confession prayer for everyone to come clean of their sins. Then, the pastor begins his sermon. His words are powerful and he really uses his voice to move the people.

A group of people come to the front of the sanctuary with woven baskets. It was time for offering. The music plays as the baskets are passed around from one pew to another. To my surprise, the offering basket didn't come around just once, and not even twice, but three time. During offering “Como Cusca la Cierra” is playing in the background as the pastor prays as well as the people.

The alter children then each pick up a candel stick and walk from the sanctuary to the end of the aisle, nearing the doors, then back up to the sanctuary.

Leading up to communion, the pastor reads inserts from the bible and the crowd says back to him with a written response that is projected up on the screen. It is as if they are having a scripted conversation. Then, the pastor holds the wine and bread in the air while a prayer is said. Everyone kneels and prays, then stands and sings. Although some are strangers, we all come together as one. We join and hands and raise them in the air. Following, we are asked to greet and bless our neighbors.

Once communion comes, everyone stands. The pastor stands at the front of the sanctuary and the people spill into the alter to receive their daily bread. I also went up for communion. As I reached the Pastor, he placed the bread on my tongue, held out the chalice to my mouth and I took a small sip. Another surprise, the communion consisted of the drinking of real wine. 

First Day at Day Care

After signing into the place of which I will be calling my workplace for the next couple of months, I hear younger children in the back. If you haven’t guessed already, I will be doing my work study on the daycare of which I will be observing for another class. As soon as I walked into the classroom, I see the children of the age of five sitting on the ground listening to the teacher reading them a nice little short story. For the most part they seemed really interested.

Taking a closer look, I noticed that the little female children were more into the story, while most of the male children were into the story, but their eyes where wondering around. They were becoming more and more uninterested in the story and started to get antsy.

After the story was over, the children were told go to the tables. When the children got to the table, they were then told to draw, what they thought of the story. After being told to do so they were busy drawing. I observed that these the female children were using more of the bright colors, while the children of the male descent used more dark. After about five minutes, the children started to socialized.

When the kids started to more and more louder the teacher then came in and started to telling the children to show their drawing. After that they were instructed to stand and show and explain their drawing. The other kids were all amazed at each others drawings. They were engaging and asking questions about what they had seen.

Soon it was time for the children to go outside. Soon as the teacher announced that, the children ran to the door. When they touch foot on the play ground all you could see was little ones running everywhere. They were so happy, running and screaming. They boys and girls together were playing with each other. Some would come up to the teacher with tears in their eyes from either falling or hurting themselves from doing something.

After they were outside for thirty minutes, the teacher blew the whistle, the kids came running lining up behind each other. Their faces blushing and sweating. They were told to go wash their face and hands and get ready for lunch. They kids were giving turkey sandwhiches, chips, fruit, and some milk or water. They all seem to really enjoy what they were given. I  could see that their eyes were getting heavy.

The children, knew what was next. They all graved their blankets and got on the floor to get ready for their nap. The teacher played a Magic School Bus episode, and not even ten minutes in the children were sound asleep.

When the children were sound asleep, it was time for me to leave. The teacher had told me that when the kids woke up they would be getting picked up by their guardians, and the afternoon crew would be coming in.

What To Buy?

The options are endless here. People are pacing back and forth to each vendor of goods. The environment smells of a cornucopia of food, cologne, perfume, and that new clothes scent. Families, single individuals, and couples scan the complex with a keen eye for anything that attracts them. I find this place overwhelming with a buzz of propaganda.

A family approaches the candy store line, parents and two children, a boy and a girl. The Shorts Wearing Family is in awe of the selection available. The children are so ecstatic of such variety that they become indecisive. First choosing an item and then replacing it. The parents try to speed up the process, with reluctance the children pick what they want and go to the register. The Short Wearing Family pays and exists, children by the hand.

My eyes catch a middle aged man, dressed in a suit, talking on his cell phone. Mr. Business walks into the shoe department and strolls the isles, head on a swivel, taking it all in. He hangs up the phone and examines a pair of formal loafers. Uninterested or not to his liking he puts them immediately down. Mr. Business walks to the counter and converses with the employee, using hands gestures in his discussion. The interaction takes only seconds and Mr. Business exits swiftly returning back to his phone.

I walk down the main hall to the book store area and notice an elderly woman walking alone. Moving slowly with a cane, Sweater enters the book store and into the non-fiction isle. She looks book to book meticulously, almost with a face of disappointment. Sweater comes to a book and pulls it off the shelf. She puts on her glasses, and reads the front and back text then proceeds with the book to the check out. Sweater leaves out to the parking lot exit.

A couple walks past the book store to the clothing shop. The Hand Holders survey the room and move to the t-shirt section. They point out several garments and then move to the pants section. The Hand Holders observe the pants but seem to be more concerned what the other thought of them. They walk out without a purchase.

Blue Shirt, a middle school aged looking boy comes into site. He is glancing from side to side down the building as if he was looking for someone in a hurry. Blue shirt continues down his path and disappears into the crowd of people at the food court.

I see a group of women transition towards a sun glasses stand. The Sandals Group women start trying on different sun glasses and looking at them in the mirror. Two out of the four girls buy a pair. The Sandals Group women walk over to a nearby bench to sit and talk.

Another family maneuvers through the area with a baby in a stroller. They make their way towards the book store. The Newborn Family goes to the children book section and strolls slowly. They pick out what looks to be a pop-up book, then purchase it. The Newborn Family baby begins to cry while they head out.

The Modern Jungle

Week 1 Observations
As I walk into the Modern Jungle from one of multiple entrances, I enter the Honey Bear book store and walk toward the exit which leads to a walkway that ends on the other side of the jungle. A Stargaze coffee shop is positioned on the right side of the store in which the smell of coffee and sweetness fill the air. I exit the book store and walk to the other side of the jungle, observing people as I do so. The air seems thinner here and smells of dust and different spices and foods from the feeding hole. It is a Thursday afternoon and I am interested in observing what type of people come to the jungle during this time, what type of social interactions occur, and what age groups are present.

Once exiting the store, I search the surroundings and approach a sitting area in which a woman, probably in her 40s, is sitting alone and playing on her phone. She is wearing large sunglasses which don’t allow me to read her expressions very well. She is holding a few full bags from different stores. As I sit down, she does not seem to acknowledge my presence and continues to play on her phone so I continue to observe other interactions occurring. The sun is shining directly on us from two large windows up towards the ceiling, creating an emphasis of light and warmth. However, as I begin to walk onward, I notice there are other spaces in the ceiling which have similar windows allowing light to shine directly to a specific spot. Dim lights illuminate the rest of the areas creating a darker and calmer mood.

It seems that, within the crowd, there are multiple age groups from toddlers to 75 years of age or older. It is hard to determine a person’s age, so therefore I will simply assume a general age group in which they can be in. In addition to age, there are vast differences in body type, race, gender, style, and overall presentation of oneself. Small children and toddlers purposely try to attract attention from many of those around them. As I continue walking, a 3-year-old is ahead of me between a man and a woman, most likely in their mid-20s, who are presumably his parents. He stares at me from behind, smiles, waves, and embarrassingly turns his head when I smile back. Generally, I have noticed other teenagers around my age (17-19) seem to be anti-social and unaware of their surroundings. For example, a couple of teenage girls pass by me and stare for a brief moment, so I smile, but they react back to me by simply turning their heads and returning to their conversation… “I’m getting better about spending my money”.

Due to these differences in characters, they each act differently, especially since they do not know they are being observed. A lively older woman of about 70 briskly walks by me and smiles. She has a glowing aura as she waves and says, “Hi Pretty girl! It’s so good to be young and pretty!” My cheeks begin to blush from such a kind complement and my immediate reaction is to simply thank her as she waves goodbye. While she seems to be much more experienced, friendly, and consistent in her actions, others, such as many of the teenagers I have been observing, are wandering around with no clear direction as to where they want or need to go and for no identifiable amount of time.

While walking back towards the other end through which I came in, I notice many of the similar people, which I had passed, acting and performing similarly as observed before. Overall, what struck me the most was the large amount of older people (60s-80s) which were present. It made me realize they must have experienced an unexpected change in life from working or going about their life in a different manner to sitting at The Jungle for the afternoon. These people seem to be very aware of their surroundings as they ponder and observe those around them. Later on, I hope to focus on this specific age group in comparison to others.

Upkeep

It just turned evening as everyone gathered in the warm shop that was filled with fans fighting against the hot air. There is many people ranging from mostly middle aged men to a few kids. There was only one person working who I assumed to be the owner. I can only imagine how he was going to handle the many people in his shop. However he seemed more focus on refilling the fridge with drinks and snacks then the people.

Slowly he took players names one by one and added them into the tournament roster, not paying to the kids asking for the cards that were displayed in the display cases. When everyone was placed on the Roster, he did roll call, like how a teacher would to his students on the first day of school. When the games started, everyone was engaged against their opponents, and volume of the players decreased and the shop was more quiet.

A blond teenage boy lost his match but it didn't seem to affect him much. He went up to the counter and asked the owner if he could purchase a certain card. He seemed like a regular since he knew the owner's name without asking for it. A little boy then came up which I assumed to be his little brother since they looked a little identical. Soon after  problem occurred, the Teenager was down one dollar. His little brother offered him some money in exchange for his snack. Before the teenager had a chance to respond the owner told him that he had exactly one dollar in store credit. The little brother then became upset since he wanted his brother's snack and he wasn't going to get it anymore.

Time passed and large man got up and few of his (which I assume) buddies as well, and they all walked out of the shop for a smoke. They seemed a little angry, probably because they lost or they just really needed a smoke. Meanwhile the owner was taking a break and was eating a cheese pizza. One thing I notice is that most of the middle aged men knew each other in a way. Even the ones form Las Cruces knew the men from Alamogordo and El Paso. They refer to each other as nerds even though they clearly were themselves.

As things started to wrap up, The blond teenage boy's mother walked in to give him his lunch money. It seemed though the teenager had an obsession since he would rather spend his lunch money on cards. Some people stayed after the first tournament was done, because another tournament was started and I was told that this one usually ends at 5:00 am in the morning or when the sun starts rising. These people seemed very dedicated and passionate in the game.

Different card tournaments are held here, maybe the people are different as well.

How can we help you?

I walk into the mediocre temperature room, and sit in the swivel chair. Across from me sit lowered eyes of Red Shirt who is eagerly waiting for his turn. Red Shirt has come with his smaller friend, Striped Shirt. They are both speaking their language together, and cast forwarded glances of humor in my direction- there must be a joke that I can not share with them. Striped shirt makes amicable gestures towards Red Shirt, and his body language is also towards Red Shirt. They have similar facial expressions in the aftermath of the joke, both with slightly half up-turned smiles.

When they had interacted with me, it was brief and amicable, as the make their arrangements. They continue talking, and walk out together, in a way that is hard to tell who walked out the door first.

Next walks in Glasses, with his wife and child. They come forward, and the child--Little Head--walks over to our children's toys and begins to play. Glasses makes all the arrangements and Long Hair--Glasses' wife--simply looks around the room and watches to make sure Little Head isn't getting into trouble. Glasses speaks quietly and succinctly, and does not linger with small talk. Long Hair only says 'thank you', and once the interaction is over, they take Little head and walk out the door.

Troubled Girl, who has come in before, walks in again with a concerned look on her face- she needs a specific item, but we cannot appease the conditions for it that she desires. She attempts to compromise, but becomes agitated and leaves. Her hands were gently wringing themselves during the interaction, with eyes that did not quite meet the entire time.

There are also, near me, Nice Hair, who swivels in the chair and--with a mirroring concerned expression--ask Troubled Girl what she needs. Once Troubled Girl has, not quite, been helped and leaves, Nice Hair resumes looking through something on his phone and listening to music, sans a concerned expression. Nice Hair's friend, Cool Shades, plays the same music ritually, and take it in passively. Aside from talking about the tasks at hand, the two discuss weekend plans, or else continue on homework assignments. But, they did often mirror each other in reverting back to phone use once the talking quieted. One was wearing jeans and a t shirt, and the other khakis and a t shirt. When conversing, they had similar expressions of elation and concern, which must mark some familiarity or friendship. They have probably known each other for a log enough time to be familiar, but are both comfortable with being on their phones most of the time.

Duck Duck Goose!

Driving to a local school for an observation learning I needed for one of my classes on the university I am having different thought processes and what I will be seeing in the next few hours that I haven't before. I am calm, excited, and curious as to what I will be observing and how I will do as a viewer of the classroom. As I drive it brings back memories when I was a young adolescent in school and they type of things I would learn and what different personalities I would be around. At that point in time in my own life I had a lot of fun. So I wondered how things would be now that I am on the other side of the "fence" being a observation learner for my future job. As I began to walk into the school office with my other classmates from the university we had small talk as we walked and were pretty much wondering the same type of things that were lying ahead of us. How will they react to us? Will they like me? Is this what I really want to do? With all of that thought process in our minds we get ready to walk in the building and as we begin to check in the main office we all encounter Mr. Head Hancho and Mrs. Superwoman.

Mr. Head Hancho greets all of us and welcomes us to his school, he gave a really quick introduction and stormed out of the building because he had a meeting to go to. Mrs. Superwomen better known as the vice principle of the school also welcomes us and takes us into a conference room. We all briefly talk about what might happen and she talked about how excited she was for us and how things ran at her school. In all honest we were all eager to go outside and into our designated classrooms at this point.

We all took a brief tour of the school and noticed how different classes were. I immediately thought that this was not how it used to be when I was in school. Things were much different, such as the clothing the technology and how school spirited they all were.

I was assigned two partners for the first day so each of us could be together and introduce ourselves to the classroom and greet the students. We all walk to the classroom and are each excited to see what we are all going to be seeing and learning with our time needed to be spent here at the school.

I knock on the door and Mrs. Teacher opens the door and greets all of us. She was extremely enthusiastic to see us. She made it seem as if she had known us for quite sometime, and not as if we were complete strangers. The first class was about to be let out and they all were happy to see us, but sort of bummed because their class period was ending and they had to leave to another class. We did some quick introductions to them and told them why we were there. They immediately began to ask us questions. ShaggyHair asked me "Do you like football?" I quickly responded "Yes". The bell rang and the kids stormed out of the class, each of them yelling BYE!!!

We takled with Mrs. Teacher and she discussed what she would be doing this next class. We patiently waited and before we knew it the next bunch of kids began to come in and greet us as well.

I looked around the room and immediately noticed the different personalities the kids had and how they acted amongst one another. I saw some kids talk to us fairly quickly, and some students avoided us because they seemed really shy.

I walked around the class introducing myself to the students as they were doing a quick warm up for this Social Studies class. The classroom was "alive" noise was surrounding the room by these kids. I liked the environment. Mrs. Teacher began to take roll for her class.

Quickly after that she walked around her class and put her hand over some students saying Duck, Duck, Duck... Goose! Seahawk(wearing a Russell Wilson jersey) was called upon. Mrs. Teacher said "Seahawk, what is the state capital of NM? "SANTA FE!" he said loudly. "Good job Seahawk" said Mrs. Teacher.

She kept walking around. Duck....Duck......Duck....Goose!! "Okay Cheerleader, what standard time zone are we in?" Cheerleader said "Mountain Standard Time" The class was extremely alive. I was immediately impressed with how engaged the students were and believe it or not they were eager to be the "Goose" and get called. That simple game of Duck Duck Goose had the students eager and energetic.

Unfortunately our time came to an end for the day, and we had to head back to the university. The classroom continued to do their work and we said bye quick and left the room and said "we'll see you soon".