Sister Alice was a nun at my High School (one of 4 or so). She had had a pace maker put in her heart shortly before I started school there. She had some other health issues which affected her mobility and forced her to wear orthopedic shoes.
Sister Alice is one of the deepest ladies I know. She was 100% dedicated to her labor as Vice-Principal and teacher all the same. She grew up in Massachussetts and I remember she had an interesting story about how she decided to become a nun. Actually, I never heard the full story. I kind of wish I had dared ask the nuns at school more questions about their travels to clergy, but I didn't.
Anyway, our school always had animals in it. They were not school pets, they were just stray animals: roosters, hens, chickens, dogs, dogs mating, cats. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, the kids at school abused these animals to some extent. One such instance being this black cat.
To the surprise of many, Sister Alice took to this cat very dearly. This cat would hide from everyone but come straight to her. Surprisingly, for a cat anyway, the cat followed her EVERYWHERE. As it turns out, the cat was a pregnant female and shortly after this love began, she had 4 little kittens.
There are a good number of stories relating to the kittens and the cat. A lot of people in the administration office did not really appreciate sharing their space with them. The end of the 5 cats living at school was a bout of stinky diarrhea in the Administration office. They were quickly given away then, all but the original mother of course.
My favorite story:
Sister Alice taught what you guys would call Honors English. One section each for 10th, 11th and 12th grades. I believe this was during my 12th grade. The kittens and cat had contracted the cat version of pink eye. Now, because the mother was afraid of the students, she taught this habit to the kittens and unless they were all "chilaxing" at the Sister's office, you would not see them.
Our English class was right before lunch. The kitties needed eyedrops to cure the pink eye infection, but as I explained the Sister's mobility was not such as to pursue cats throughout school. So, our duty for a week was to leave class and find the cats throughout the yard, catch them and hold them still while she adoringly put the eye drops in their eyes.
That is how a number of people from my class ended up wearing scratches all over our arms. The Sister was very strict and tough. Most people would say they "deaded" her, but if you dig deeper and consider this story, you can easily see that we all were fond enough of her and her labors to get scratched out to lend her a hand.
Next time, I will tell you how 6-10 people from my class ended up with strange moles all over our arms for a couple of weeks.
Showing posts with label notre dame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label notre dame. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Catholic School Stories Pt. 1
Puerto Rico schooling is such that whenever possible, a parent will pay to send a child to private school. Most private schools are Catholic and much more affordable than in the US. I went to many schools leading up to the 7th grade. When we moved towns, my mom managed to find us a spot at Notre Dame and my life changed. Yep, even though I am not Catholic and my parents weren't either, we all agree that ND is a life changing school. If you are looking for schooling in PR, look no further and contact me for details, but if you are reading my blog, I will spare you and instead bring you the first of (hopefully) a series of stories from school.
STORY ALERT (may be boring):
Unlike the stereotype, we did not have nuns running all over the place. We also did not have priests. Our school was run by what I consider liberal Redentorist priests assisted by the nuns of Notre Dame, who are also quite liberal and wear simple blueish skirts with white button down shirts and short hair. We had something like 2 priests and 4 nuns. While all but 1 of the priests that went through were Latin American, the nuns were all American. They had been in Puerto Rico for a long time and could converse to some extent in Spanish. The nuns and American priest had quite the American accent and confused the genders of stuff constantly, but you get over the initial funniness of that after a bit.
We had a huge campus (by PR standards at least) and our sports teams were at the top of the lists. Our school also had a very intense/dedicated science program and a strong focus in that area so we competed in many science competitions and belonging to the Chemistry club was just as elite as belonging to the Varsity team.
Our principal is a visionary. An amazing guy really. He has been in seminary, he taught every AP Chemistry class until a few years after we left and while he was not the day to day moderator of the Chemistry club, as a chemist and early member of it, he was quite involved.
The Chemistry club initiation took place close to the end of every year (as close to St. Patrick's as possible) of High School and was officiated by the principal. It was a semi-secret event to which only teachers and Chemistry club members along with special guests are invited. A demonstration proceeded with the legend that a nun, a long time ago had encountered an elf in the school who eventually died. She kept the bones of the elf in a coffer and every initiation, the elf likes to come and visit. The recipe is written in the history of the school. He had all the props, setup the Bunsen burner and added all the chemicals and would stir in the "bones". Supposedly, as he stirred, the bones of the elf would contort and reveal the future of the school.
It was awesome! I do not know if my classmates liked it as much. The elf spoke in parables of wet twins (water fountains) and things of the like. It was up to the attendees to decipher the predictions. Eventually, an explosion would occur and the elf would materialize (really a purple foam) in a cloud of smoke and all the guests would rush out the doors and proceed to the reception.
Why don't we have stuff like that as adults? Why don't we make everyday life interesting like that? It surely isn't just teenagers that enjoyed the demonstration, the teachers (the ones that had been there for a long time anyway) made sure to attend. So what happens when we grow up? When do we become boring and uninterested?
STORY ALERT (may be boring):
Unlike the stereotype, we did not have nuns running all over the place. We also did not have priests. Our school was run by what I consider liberal Redentorist priests assisted by the nuns of Notre Dame, who are also quite liberal and wear simple blueish skirts with white button down shirts and short hair. We had something like 2 priests and 4 nuns. While all but 1 of the priests that went through were Latin American, the nuns were all American. They had been in Puerto Rico for a long time and could converse to some extent in Spanish. The nuns and American priest had quite the American accent and confused the genders of stuff constantly, but you get over the initial funniness of that after a bit.
We had a huge campus (by PR standards at least) and our sports teams were at the top of the lists. Our school also had a very intense/dedicated science program and a strong focus in that area so we competed in many science competitions and belonging to the Chemistry club was just as elite as belonging to the Varsity team.
Our principal is a visionary. An amazing guy really. He has been in seminary, he taught every AP Chemistry class until a few years after we left and while he was not the day to day moderator of the Chemistry club, as a chemist and early member of it, he was quite involved.
The Chemistry club initiation took place close to the end of every year (as close to St. Patrick's as possible) of High School and was officiated by the principal. It was a semi-secret event to which only teachers and Chemistry club members along with special guests are invited. A demonstration proceeded with the legend that a nun, a long time ago had encountered an elf in the school who eventually died. She kept the bones of the elf in a coffer and every initiation, the elf likes to come and visit. The recipe is written in the history of the school. He had all the props, setup the Bunsen burner and added all the chemicals and would stir in the "bones". Supposedly, as he stirred, the bones of the elf would contort and reveal the future of the school.
It was awesome! I do not know if my classmates liked it as much. The elf spoke in parables of wet twins (water fountains) and things of the like. It was up to the attendees to decipher the predictions. Eventually, an explosion would occur and the elf would materialize (really a purple foam) in a cloud of smoke and all the guests would rush out the doors and proceed to the reception.
Why don't we have stuff like that as adults? Why don't we make everyday life interesting like that? It surely isn't just teenagers that enjoyed the demonstration, the teachers (the ones that had been there for a long time anyway) made sure to attend. So what happens when we grow up? When do we become boring and uninterested?
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