Sometimes kids don’t get it

I hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day. I spent it with my students teaching them how to make paper hearts and making pig hats (see photo–the coming lunar year is the Year of the Pig). We decided to make the paper hearts into valentines for our mothers, so I had them copy “Happy Valentine’s Day! Love, _____” from the board. When I saw that they were copying the _____ rather than adding their name, I wrote “Love, Luke” on the board and worked with each of them to make sure they signed their English names.

After I left work the kids decided to draw me “thank you” pictures, each of which was carefully inscribed with “Happy Valentine’s Day! Love, Luke”.

After work I spent a good five minutes climbing the fence to get back into my dorm. The gate to my school closes at ten, so if I get back late I have to shimmy over the fence. The security guys have all told me it’s fine to do, but the goddamn fence has spikes. When they say it’s fine to do I guess they’re just leaving out “if you’re stupid enough to try”.
Usually I’m able to avoid the spikes, but when the weather is icy mistakes are easy to make and the spikes seem extra sharp. So far they’ve claimed one pair of jeans and a jacket. I’ve put in a request for a new apartment–hopefully I’ll be moving soon.