25 third-graders, the metro, and Santa Lucia
Wednesday is my day off so I chaperoned a field trip for Summer's third grade class today. What a blast.
We took the metro which was an experience. Let's just say that we were very conspicuous. There were all of these business people on the train. And us :) Guess what happens when a subway train jolts and there are 25 third-graders on board? Lots of high-pitched screams! It almost felt like our class was a circus act performing for a bunch of people who desperately needed to ligten up and crack a smile :) We performed well.
Then we watched a play at the discovery theater at the Smithsonian. We got off the subway on the National Mall and I had one of those "I can't believe I get to live here" kind of moments. I love living in DC. There are so many amazing monuments and museums right in our backyard!
The play was great. It was a presentation on all the different December holidays. What's sort of cool is that I was giving props to the four actors on the way out and one of them said, "Thanks, Pastor Mark." Kind of caught me off guard. Turns out he attends our Union Station location. Pretty cool.
By the way, I discovered that there's a Swedish holiday called Santa Lucia. Evidently, it's customary for swedish kids to bring their parents breakfast in bed and give them presents. The swedish are brilliant :)
The cool thing is that I'm 25% swedish. So I think the Batterson family is celebrating a new holiday this year!
We took the metro which was an experience. Let's just say that we were very conspicuous. There were all of these business people on the train. And us :) Guess what happens when a subway train jolts and there are 25 third-graders on board? Lots of high-pitched screams! It almost felt like our class was a circus act performing for a bunch of people who desperately needed to ligten up and crack a smile :) We performed well.
Then we watched a play at the discovery theater at the Smithsonian. We got off the subway on the National Mall and I had one of those "I can't believe I get to live here" kind of moments. I love living in DC. There are so many amazing monuments and museums right in our backyard!
The play was great. It was a presentation on all the different December holidays. What's sort of cool is that I was giving props to the four actors on the way out and one of them said, "Thanks, Pastor Mark." Kind of caught me off guard. Turns out he attends our Union Station location. Pretty cool.
By the way, I discovered that there's a Swedish holiday called Santa Lucia. Evidently, it's customary for swedish kids to bring their parents breakfast in bed and give them presents. The swedish are brilliant :)
The cool thing is that I'm 25% swedish. So I think the Batterson family is celebrating a new holiday this year!
4 Comments:
Man, I should have been Swedish...I like that holiday.
I went to elementary school in Wheaton, MD (right up the red line) and we took trips into DC every once in a while. In fact, I remember taking one trip (eighth grade or so) and then for lunch we went to union station. Who would have thought a I would be going to church there years later!
I just booked a flight to Switzerland. I'll send you a Toblerone.
Also being of Swedish decent, I should tell you that Santa Lucia Day is actually December 13...so your kids should be bringing you breakfast in bed in just a few hours! Actually, by tradition Summer should be wearing a white gown, with red ribbon sash, and a crown of electric candles.
By the way, Saint Lucia was a saint because of her kindness and her love. She was an Italian Christian who lived in Sicily in the 4th century.
The way she became a saint was that a man who loved her and Lucia didn't like him, Lucia's mother asked her to marry the man but she refused so the man heard about this and he said he would burn her. But Lucia prayed to God to have the power to survive the fire. Because of her kindness to others her wish was granted.
(We have a Swedish family in kids ministry - they speak fluently and I am sure they could fill us in on all the details!)
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