Well maybe you can...but it's never the same. As the countdown clock ticks down to my first trip North since leaving last May, I feel as though I am going to a foreign place, instead of to a place I lived for 13 years.
New Orleans has so quickly become home. The city, the language (yes it is different here), the job, the weather, the people.
I am much delayed in posting photos and of talking about my job. It sometimes feels like there is so much to say that it is silly to post it all and so little to say since what seems so "new" to me is just life for the people that are from here.
I will try to use the upcoming (brief) break - ok the plane rides (all four of them in 3 days) to write up some of the more interesting anecdotes...but will start with this one as a set-up. The kids here (teenagers really) have a very unique set of slang and jargon that they use all the time. It is often hard to tell if they are mocking you, insulting you or just talking to you...for example, if you ask someone how they are they are likely to respond "I'm Gucci".
So after getting to know some of my new 10th grade students I asked one of them what some of the words meant. In addition to being entertained at the idea of getting to explain all of his slang to his teacher he also said the following comment:
"Alright Ms. Eaton, I'll make you a deal. You teach me how to read and I'll be your Hood Dictionary."
My very own Hood Dictionary...I am a lucky girl...
No comments:
Post a Comment