Hot Cheetos and Takis

I love that even though I live in Indiana, amid cornfields and adjacent to the freak show that is NASCAR, I experience a different culture every day.  I grew up in the very definition of white suburbia.  We weren't racist or anything, there just wasn't any other significant ethnicity represented in the immediate area.  I  remember a day my sophomore year in high school when I was approached by a friend and was asked, "Hey, did you hear there's a new black kid?"  Yeah, we had so few black students that when a new one arrived, it was a school-wide phenomena.  This is not the case on the west side of Indianapolis.  The other day one of my 8th grade girl students spotted my Kroger Slim Rite drink sitting on my desk and asked, "You trying to lose weight or something?"  I said, "Ya, I'd like to be cute and thin again.  I'd could stand to shed a few pounds"  She looked quizzically at me and asked, "You don't want to be thick?"  I am quite sure my mother never reminded me as a teen, "Libby, it's fine to diet, just be sure to stay thick."

Another cultural bewilderment is Hot Cheetos and Takis.  (There is a YouTube video- you should look it up.  It illustrates my point quite clearly...)  The music department at my school is not permitted to fund raise, which poses a bit a problem when we want to buy things that the school won't buy for us.  So many moons ago administration struck a deal with us, saying we could sell an item at the school bookstore and keep the profits.  The only rule was we weren't allowed to sell candy.  So we sold Mentos because they were technically a mint.  The athletic department, who was given the same rule as us, sold Tic-Tacs.  This year though, we noticed students coming away from the bookstore with Air Heads.  Clearly the candy rule had gone by the wayside, so the music department needed to step up its game because let's face it, no kid is going to buy Mentos over Air Heads!  My colleagues had been debating what they thought the kids would want, so I decided to poll them all during lunch.  I walked around to each table and just asked them, "If we were going to sell another item at the bookstore, what would you want to buy?"  I suggested gum, chocolate, or Skittles.  After a couple tables, one kid said, "Takis!  You should sell Takis!  Everyone would buy them!" I was like, "Takis?  What are Takis?"  They looked at me like I was an idiot then all started screaming excitedly at once: "They're like these hot Cheeto things!  They're like crunchy chips, like Cheetos, only hot!  They stain your fingers red!"  Then I realized that I had seen them around and always thought they looked disgusting.  Then I realized that at least one or two students were eating them at every table in the lunch room.  Then I realized that the students that weren't eating Takis were eating Hot Cheetos!  What was this?! I could not image a more disgusting snack, but I passed on the results of my poll to the rest of the music department.  If we wanted to out-sell the athletic department with their Air Heads, then Takis were the way to go.  Sure enough, after throwing Takis into my suggestions to the tables, they were the overwhelming winner.  How bizarre...

I wish I would have started writing about some of the culture shock I had my first year.  After 3 years, some of the things that were weird at first are completely normal now, so I don't remember them.  Little things like the vernacular still make me laugh, and now that I am more comfortable, I make fun of some students.  I'll repeat back to them what they say in a very "white" voice.  "You ain't got no pencil?  Really?  Well what do you think you should do about that?"  Another little thing is the phrase "I gotta use it" instead of "I have to go to the bathroom."  That one was more popular at the elementary school, but I had some high schoolers who said it too.  I'm sure there are many more, but like I said, now that I'm more acclimated I don't even notice the little things any more.

I am still very much loving my job.  I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Every day I leave smiling, even if I had a difficult student or something.  Overall, everything is good.  It sounds so lame when I say it like that, but there is no better way to say it.  I used to be one of those teachers that would walk into the mail room and heave a deep sigh.  Now I am one of those teachers who walks into the mail room and lets out a deep contented breath with a smile on my lips.  It's such a different feeling.  It's such a good, lame feeling.