I had a new group of German students when I was teaching in Malta. This was called a "closed" group, meaning the students all knew each other and came to Malta together. It was my first day with them. And that meant the school sponsored a get-together the night before--a free ride to Paceville--the drinking center of Malta. Some clubs even offered free drinks to lure in newcomers, many of which were new students.
The next day one sweet, blonde young man looked quite pale. I was joking and warned the class about the sins of Paceville. Next to me was a wastepaper basket. I tapped it and said, "Listen, if any of you feel sick, you can grab this and use it." It couldn't have been more than one nanosecond after I uttered those words of advice than...swoosh....the hand of that sweet little blond young man grabbed that basket and puked his life into it.
Of course, his friends, who were sworn to protect each other, laughed until they couldn't breathe. They rose from their seats and started snapping away photos of this poor kid's greatest moment. Somehow he got himself out of the classroom and into the bathroom to clean up. It wasn't more than five minutes later than I heard terrible male screaming in German. Apparently, that was the supervisor who came with the class. This was one of the more unusual ways I had met the supervisors who accompanied their groups.
Lesson learned....sometimes the authority figure needs a guiding hand or someone else of authority to watch over him or her! I assume he learned his lesson. And was the designated driver the next time they hit the pubs.....
Posted by: Michael Bregman | 02/08/2020 at 04:26
Thanks for reading! Ilene
Posted by: Ilene Springer | 02/04/2020 at 07:38