Wish They All Could be California Girls

The picture below is perhaps my favorite all-time photo. It has made me laugh for years and brings so many memories rushing back. Not just memories of my brothers as cross-dressers, but memories of hours and hours spent swimming in backyards around Brea; hours of dives, canon balls, jack-knives, belly flops, and flips, hours playing the classics like Colors, Marco Polo, the match game, Don't Break the Ice, and King of the "raft" to name a few; hours of races and walking on our hands, and making up synchronized swimming performances. The pool itself holds many treasured Hardeman memories: riding our bikes in it before it was filled, the day we first filled it with water and my grandpa was the first to jump it, the tragic morning our dog Odie chased Bun Bun, the class bunny, to it's death in the pool, the morning Swish fell in and my mom jumped in in her clothes to save him, the time my cat fell in with a cast on her leg, the night Travis caught Heidi smooching with her boyfriend in the spa, the time Trent slipped and cracked his tooth on the edge of the pool, or the morning Travis pushed Trent in before school while wearing all his clothes and my dad punished Travis by letting Trent retaliate and push Travis in as well. Most summers revolved around that pool and we suffered the reprecussions with often peeling skin and bright green hair but it was well worth it.

Many of those hours spent under the water were spent with the Thomas siblings. (the beautiful brunettes in the picture) Sorry Megan and Grant but I just couldn't resist posting this classic. Megan is actually the only semi-normal-looking one in the picture minus her poofed hair and too-proper leg posture so I suppose she doesn't need an apology but here we are on her wedding day- see how beautiful she turned out? Sorry Grant- hopefully your hunting and football buddies don't read my blog- I have a sneaky suspicion that they don't:) Trent and Trav on the other hand, deserve any embarrassment I can dish their way. After suffering years of being tormented by the terrible twins, I don't feel guilty showing the world their skinny, white thighs. So boys, I love you, but consider this pay-back for all those butt-slaps over Christmas break.

Growing up in Southern California, coming across a kid who didn't know how to swim was like stumbling upon a 6-toed freak. I know such feet exist but I've never actually seen one and I'm guessing they don't flaunt their extra toe with flashy flip-flops. My point is that in the community and circles I traveled in, everyone swam. period. Not learning was like not knowing how to skip or blow bubbles or jump rope- all of which are basic survival skills for kids in the surburbs. So in my narrow view of the world, I assumed all kids swim. Not true my friends, not true. I have been teaching swimming for about a month now and am still daily surprised by the general lack of knowledge my students have about how to stay afloat. I guess if you don't grow up spending summers in the pool, you don't pick up the basics and although I began teaching feeling like I knew absolutely nothing about swimming, I've found that I actually know quite a bit merely by being a "California girl."

Being the freakish perfectionist that I can be at times, I searched the Internet for swimming lesson plans and instructions on the strokes. I found some good material but the best help came from a girl with a wealth of knowledge about teaching swimming. I played basketball with Michalle at Westmont and remembered that she taught Westmonters how to swim and proper form. (My own roommates Jenny and Lori who were not raised pretending to be mermaids, received Michalle's instruction) Without any prompting, Michalle e-mailed me asking if there was anything she could help with regarding swimming and I mentioned that I could use a few tips. She proceeded to e-mail me all her lesson plans from teaching at Westmont which have been put to good use. The best surprise came from Michalle a few days later. One of the reasons I love Michalle is that I never know what to expect from her- she is constantly surprising me with her randomness which I greatly appreciate. So when I opened my e-mail from her and saw she had written, " This is so weird that I'm sending this to you and you will probably think I'm a psycho, but I thought it might help," I knew I was in for a treat. She had sent me a bunch of short video clips demonstrating exactly how to teach the stroke. These videos were soooo helpful!!! I may be a master at playing "colors" but I never swam competitively and thus never learned all the techniques and proper form. I felt like the blind leading the blind when teaching the strokes until I watched Michalle's videos and suddenly I could pretend to know what I was talking about and I think I have most of my kids fooled. Yes, Michalle is quite pregnant- yet another reason these videos are so awesome and so appreciated.



The first day at the pool with the younger kids was a scary one. We went to a pool with no shallow end! Kinda tough to teach someone to swim when they don't have floaties and I can't even touch the bottom. We worked on a lot of kicking while holding the side and no one drowned and I didn't pee my pants although this would have been an ok time to do it. (I'm not a usual pool pee-er though) Luckily, the directors decided to move the younger kids to another pool with a shallow end. My schedule doesn't allow me to go with the k-2nd grade class but these kids crack me up with their goggles and ethusiasm for swimming. Apparently on that first awful day, one of the 2nd grade boys jumped in, not knowning how to swim, had to be pulled out and was traumatized. (secretly very glad I wasn't there) On Mondays and Wednesdays, I load the bus with all the 7th-12th graders and we crawl through the Maputo afternoon traffic to one of the public pools in town. I love being able to get out of the classroom and I actually look foward to the bus rides since I get to relax and observe daily life in Maputo. The pool pictured below is the one we take the older kids to which has no shallow end. There are 2 students who don't know how to swim at all so Fabio and I rotate days working with the swimmers and non-swimmers. (I think the name "Fabio" will always make me laugh and picture the long-haired model.) He is the PE teacher who doesn't actually teach much since he doesn't speak English which is why I was asked to help instruct. I worked with the non-swimmers today and I'm still baffled by how quickly they sink- really, it's like their veins are full of lead. Holding onto a kickboard and doing the flutter kick (that's right, I'm learning the swimmer terminology) with all their might, they still don't move much and if anyone has an explanation for this, please share it with me. They are finally getting comfortable in the water although on the first day, one of the swimmers pushed Orlando into the pool- Orlando doesn't swim. He flailed his arms in true, "I'M DROWNING!" form and the pusher, Oko, quickly realized his stupidity and jumped in and pulled Orlando to the side. It was the longest 4 seconds of my life. Later that day I was telling the kids to hustle over and Oko slipped in a puddle and ate it hard. (I know, I know, there's supposed to be 'NO RUNNING' by the pool but I was impatient) When he landed on his butt of course I did the point and laugh- serves him right.








Besides not having a shallow end, the other unfortunate thing about this pool is that it is public- meaning there are always people hanging around watching and young men playing billards who always say, "Hi teacher." For the most part however, I love it here. When I work with the swimmers, we start with stretching (mainly for me) and then tread some water to get warm and for exercise (mainly for me). We then work on a new skill and swim laps but get out of the pool each time to do exercises like lunges, squats, sit-ups and push-ups. Kids seem to dread this part but I suspect they are faking and secretly love it. They haven't been getting much exercise in PE in the past and I can be a bit of a drill sergeant but I am determined to get them into shape. I have had a couple of parents talk to me about their child being extremely sore after swimming:) Ha! I don't know what their intentions were in telling me this but I felt quite proud. In the middle picture, they are treading water and that is Fabio in the background.
After I've exhausted them as much as possible, there are a few minutes of free time which involves jumping from the high dive. The kids for some reason find it hilarious that I too enjoy jumping from the high dive. When I climb the ladder, I transform back into the 5th grade version of Katie and approach the end of the board, pretending to be an Olympic diver but then jump and flail my arms and scream. Kimberly was taking pictures for me one day and tried to get me jumping but wasn't ready for my spring:)On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I ride on the bus with the 5th and 6th graders to the pool with the shallow end called the Oasis. Here they are wearing capes as they wait for the bus and loading onto it.










When Dr. Meyers first asked me to teach swimming, I wasn't thrilled about it but thought, "at least I'll get a tan." (for those who don't know, I am tanerexic and am 94% sure I'll have skin cancer) Now however, I feel so fortunate that I get to spend 4 days of the week having fun in the pool. Despite not having a high dive and being in a sketchy area of town, I prefer the Oasis because there's music and not as many men watching me yell instructions at the kids.











In the 5th/6th class there are only 6 swimmers and 2 non-swimmers and 3 of the swimmers are triplet boys from Brazil. These boys didn't speak a word of English when they first started school but they are quickly catching on and although they are very mischevious and not the best listeners, they are the sweetest little boys and swim like fish. Here they are working on their dives. The water was much greener than usual today- should I be concerned?The third and fourth graders show up at the Oasis next and most of these kids are still learning to swim. Working with these younger ones is tons of fun although I am often reminded why I prefer teaching high school. Even though they are 7 and 8 years old, they still do plenty of exercises and today were complaining of "rubber legs." I think their teacher was concerned.











During their free time the first day, I again transformed back into 5th grade Katie and decided we needed to play a game so I introduced them to freeze-tag in the shallow end. It really is tragic that they didn't know how to play this game. They loved it and it has become a ritual every time we have free play and I'm not sure who has more fun, me or them. Although I am getting an huge, ugly "x" tan-line on my back, I am loving being in the sun in the afternoons teaching kids outside of the classroom. I feel silly for ever worrying about teaching swimming.