Fall Trip to the Farm, or, That Old Bill Cosby Show

I knew the day was going to be a good one from the start: we left on time.

After we'd packed 36 kids into an old school bus with holes in half the seats covered in tape, we took off down 6th street toward New Jersey, and the farm.

Halfway down we passed a group of people sitting outside the library.  They looked like they were waiting for someone to bring food to hand out.  Some of the kids started yelling, "Who are they?  What are they doing?"  And that's when I realized that these kids are the lucky ones of Philly.  They may not go to a very wealthy school, but it's still a private school, and they still have parents who have the means to put them in this after school program.

My thoughts were broken by sudden screams from behind me and the rest of the bus joining in.  "A horse, a horse!"  We were passing one of those scenic carriage rides and the kids were so excited.  My seat-mate started bragging, "I've seen a horse before, like a million times."   The girl behind us answered, "Oh yeah?  I've seen one like ten times."  My seat-mate retorted, "Yeah, so I wasn't scared at all, to see the horse." 

We passed two more carriages causing eruptions across the bus.  I turned to the teacher and asked if we even needed to go to the farm.  "Nope!"  She said.  "Ok that's good, let's go back!"  And she started waiving the bus driver back in jest.

Once we got over into New Jersey, just across the bridge, my seat-mate turned around and started telling the girl behind me, "We in New Jersey!  We in New Jersey! We in New Jersey!"  Apparently she wasn't hearing him.  "We in New Jersey!  We in New Jersey!  We in New Jersey!  WE IN NEW JERSEY!  WE IN NEW-"

I tap him on the shoulder.  "Do you know where we are?"

He looks at me with wide eyes and says with all sincerity, "We in New Jersey."

After that we tried to play some hand game but he couldn't remember all the steps.  A few minutes later he pops his head up and tries to see out the front of the bus.  "Do you know where we is?" he asks.

"New Jersey." 

"Oh!  Good."

Eventually we arrived at the farm, and that's how I found out for sure that this is a Christian after school program, because the whole bus erupted in a chorus of Hallelujah's.

As we waited to get on the hayride one of the kids asked me, "Are you from the farm?"  I should mention this was my first time with this particular group of kids; all my junior high girls abandoned me on their day off and opted for sleep instead.

We took the quick hayride out to the field to pick some sweet potatoes and popping corn.  One girl I didn't know came up to me and asked me if she could borrow my scarf.  I told her I didn't have a scarf.  She then proceeded to tell me that she remembers her Grandmother who used to sit and knit scarves.  "But she died," she said.  "Oh, I'm sorry!"  "In 1985."  "Oh, I'm- wait... how do you remember- nevermind."

The same girl ended up borrowing my gloves with the spider logo on the back.  She really liked them.  I went to help her off the climbing rocks before we left and she said, "Excuse me, can you help me down Ms, Ms..."

"You borrow my gloves, but you don't remember my name?"  I laugh.

"Ms...." she thinks really hard and then looks down at her hands.  "Ms. Spiderman?"

"Close enough."

The kids had such a great time running around picking corn, jumping off slides and riding in the hayride.  The teachers even had fun, especially since we got to pick our own sweet potatoes.  The kids were so good and listened so well to one of the farm hands explain how to make flour and apple cider.

Oh, and we saw a teepee:

And one more because I can't help myself, these kids are so cute!
"You 47?"  One kid asks as they wait in line behind me.
"Almost...""
"48?"
"Lower."
"49?"
"Lower..."
"80?"
This was getting bad for my self esteem, and I didn't feel like explaining the concept of "lower", so I asked the other kids how old they thought I was:
"Sixty!"
"Ok, let's go."

We took a sleepy ride back home on the warm bus but we woke the teachers up in time to get the kids back inside for snack before dismissal.

All in all, a fantastic day.

Thanks for reading.

With love,
Ms. Spiderman