{"id":1546,"date":"2019-04-12T00:10:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T04:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1546"},"modified":"2019-04-11T16:36:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T20:36:16","slug":"whiplash-k-im-finally-getting-used-to-this-not-another-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1546","title":{"rendered":"Whiplash! – \u201cK\u201d I\u2019m finally getting used to this…not another change!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whiplash: An injury to the neck caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, either backward or forward; And in the case of writing or speaking, can be caused by a rapid change of topic without prior notice.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whiplash! – \u201cK\u201d I\u2019m getting used to this…not another change!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There was a book of Swedish folktales that I wanted to purchase that was translated by a fellow storyteller, Richard Martin, who lived in Germany. I followed the link on his website which directed me to the Swedish website that was selling the book. I clicked on purchase the book and it said as soon as I paid the invoice (400 Swedish Krona) that I \"\"<\/a>would have the book sent to me. I entered my name and address in the U.S. and awaited a place where I could click on to pay for the book. I assumed that there would be some link which would allow me to put in a credit card or use PayPal. Neither happened. I did get a confirmation email that I had ordered the book. \u00a0A little over a week later the book was delivered by mail to my house. Included in the package was the invoice for 400 Swedish Krona. I was confused, so I emailed the publisher and was told that I had to pay in Swedish Krona, as the Swedish banks no longer take checks and there was no credit card or PayPal possibility. <\/span><\/p>\n

I could have sent 400 SK through the mail to the publisher, which is what he suggested, but I was a little skeptical of sending cash through the mail and finding a way to get Swedish Krona was not a simple task. I finally asked help from the storyteller in Germany. He agreed to pay my bill through an interbank transfer, which could be done from Germany and I reimbursed him through PayPal.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whiplash!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most of my entire life was spent teaching children that were in 4th – 6th grade (9-11 year olds). When I retired from teaching and began substitute teaching, I was careful to only sub for classes within that grade span. Then my district reconfigured their schools so that the school I was most likely to sub in was 3rd grade – 5th grade. With some trepidation, I added 3rd graders to my list of acceptable assignments. Occasionally I would accept assignments at the other school (Kindergarten – 2nd grade) knowing that I would be put in a 2nd grade class. Then came the day when I was working half-day at one school and was told that they needed me for the afternoon at the other school. When I got there, they<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

told me I had been assigned to a kindergarten class! I had never in my 40 + years of teaching worked with kindergartners. Luckily my first period with these students was lunch, so I immediately went home, which was a 3-minute drive away, and retrieved my guitar. Being a storyteller\/musician made the rest of the day somewhat bearable. I loved the kindergarteners that said I was the first boy teacher they had ever had. I did what the teacher had planned, tied some shoelaces, helped some kids with their jackets, sang and told stories and when it was all over I went home exhausted. I give a lot of credit to kindergarten teachers, it takes a lot of energy to keep up with them on a daily basis. <\/span><\/p>\n

For me, I\u2019ll stick to the older kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whiplash!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The dishes pile up in the sink in our kitchen<\/span><\/p>\n

My wife starts to wash them and I ask to pitch in. <\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s more than enough of the water and soap<\/span><\/p>\n

As we wash and wash, the end\u2019s near so we hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the water is dirty and they\u2019re not quite as clean<\/span><\/p>\n

There are smudges and marks that still can be seen<\/span><\/p>\n

So we have to start over and wash once again<\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s water all over the floor, what a pain<\/span><\/p>\n

When we think that we\u2019re done; kitchen\u2019s floor nice and dry<\/span><\/p>\n

What appears is a new pile, once again there\u2019s a sigh<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe next time we\u2019ll eat less, then again if we\u2019re able<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll just scrap all the dishes and eat right off the table. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whiplash!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Did you ever have to pay for something in a currency not your own? How did that work out? If you\u2019re a teacher, what grade are you most fearful of ever teaching? How high do the dishes pile in your kitchen? <\/span><\/p>\n

See you next time…<\/span>\u201cL\u201d if I know what to write about next!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whiplash: An injury to the neck caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, either backward or forward; And in the case of writing or speaking, can be caused by a rapid change of topic without prior notice. Whiplash! … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,9,7],"tags":[70,67],"class_list":["post-1546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2019","category-personal-stories","category-story-writing","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge","tag-harvey-heilbrun"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}