Lil' Papi

The situation has been righted. Papa (or "Little Papi," if you will) is back on the good guys’ side of the rivalry.

Yankees? What was I thinking?!!

We can fix that.

Papa becomes a citizen of Red Sox Nation.

Big Papi, meet Little Papa.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it needs repeating: There are so many people all over this country walking around in Yankees t-shirts. It’s really sad. Thankfully, I’m able to deal with it all by realizing that they have absolutely no idea of what those shirts represent. In fact, there are many t-shirts people wear over here where the wearer has no idea of the meaning behind the shirt. You could entertain yourself for a whole day just walking around town looking at the different t-shirts. I’ll try to give you an idea of what I mean: Presenting the 2006 Crazy Burkinabe T-Shirts Awards…

The Most Infuriating T-Shirt Award:
Anything with a Yankees logo on it

The Most Ridiculously Hilarious T-Shirt Award:
A huge, muscular man wearing a tight, yellow t-shirt with purple, cursive writing across the chest that reads: “Cancel my Subscription, because I don’t need your Issues!”

Most Hilarious Runner-Up:
A huge, muscular man wearing a tight, pink Powderpuff Girls t-shirt

The Most Offensive T-Shirt Award (also The “T-Shirt Most Likely to Get You Beat Up if You Were to Wear it in the U.S.” Award):
Osama Bin Laden T-Shirts (there are a ton of these around; I do not know why)

The Most Creative Avoidance of Copyright Laws Award (multiple recipients):
Shirts with the “NEKO” swoosh
Shirts with the “PLIMA” puma
Shirts with the “ADIBAS” stripes
A shirt with a picture of “Mickey and Mimi”
A Bulls jersey- No. 23- “Jorkan”

The “I Didn’t Know They Made So Many T-Shirts With a Big Picture of Mandy Moore Screen Printed on the Front of Them” Award:
All the t-shirts with a big picture of Mandy Moore screen printed on the front of them

The Way Life Should Be T-Shirt Award:
A Camden, Maine t-shirt that a kid in my youngest class wears (Note: My pink Maine shirt was not eligible for this award)

The Most Nerdy T-Shirt Award:
MathCounts T-Shirt (Hey, I did Bangor High’s Math Team, not MathCounts. Math Team == cool. MathCounts == nerdy.)


Speaking of nerdy… uh, I mean, speaking of cool math-related events, Bomborokuy High had its first “Math Meet” last weekend. I presented it as an optional after-school thing for all the kids in my older two classes. Out of 130 kids, only 5 didn’t make it (and I think they were out sick). While I know the lure of prizes sent from America (thanks to Joe B.’s class and the St. Mary’s Action Group) definitely helped our numbers, some of the kids seemed very psyched to have the chance to spend their entire Saturday morning taking math tests. It was a ton of fun. The kids got divided up into teams and chose team names: Once I convinced them that I really wouldn’t accept “Team 1” and “Team 2” as their team names (creativity is not something that is stressed for kids over here), they started getting a bit more original. Some teams went with names in the local language (Benkadi, Brigyte, Pagasi). Others chose French names (Groupe d’Union, Toujours Courageux, Les Fourmies, Les Garagistres d’Amerique; translations: Group of Unity, Always Brave, The Ants, The Mechanics of America). Still others tried to impress me with their English (Cowboys, Best Boys, Young Boys, Strong Club). I had a blast writing the updated scores up on the board in between grading each round. The level of competitiveness in these kids rivals that of the Yardley family. Despite a strong showing by all, a late surge capped off by a solid team round propelled the team “Supermen” to a first place finish with 111 points. Mr. Godsoe, you and your Bangor High Red Team name the time and place. The Supermen are ready for you. (All questions will be written in French, of course…)

The kids after the meet. Notice the lack of girls in this picture. Out of the
130 kids there that day, 40 were female students. When I brought out the camera,
all the guys rushed in front of it, striking poses and donning big, silly grins.
The girls are all off to the left of this shot, rolling their eyes.

For prizes, I let the kids choose between items like crayons and markers and little backpacks. After the meet, there was one backpack that went unclaimed: a small, bright-colored bag with a big picture of Mickey Mouse on it. Less than an hour after I had returned to my house for a bit of a repose, a kid wandered by to check out my Red Sox painting. A lot of kids come by my house during the course of each day, but I don’t ever remember seeing this one. Nevertheless, when I saw him, I knew where that last, overlooked backpack was going.