We had our first earthquake drill today. I have been asked to be a part of the Search and Rescue Team for our school. I feel a little bit honored because nobody asks me to do anything brave. Ever.
Ex. #1 - As a fake cop one summer our squad leader guy (who had been rejected for the Police Academy at least four times because he was too fat) was showing the new squad members some self defense moves. I stopped him to ask a clarifying question and he stopped for a moment before saying, "Oh... not you, Hansen. You just run like hell!" Imagine the confidence boost!
Ex. #2 - At the middle school each adult had a task during an emergency. There was the Search and Rescue Team, the nurse tent, the parent mediators, the Fire Dept Rep, etc. Me? I was in charge of the morgue.
Ex. #3 - At the same middle school, our whole crisis intervention team was going through crisis intervention training. (Imagine!) What this entails, really, are non-violent skills that can help an aggressive or violent student calm down or, if needed, be physically restrained. We had to practice our new moves. We all rotated between being the kid freaking out and being one of the adults. I was the kid freaking out every single time because my principal told the rest of the team that under no condition was I to be called to help restrain a child. She looked at me as if it would be the death of me and made every other person promise never to ask me to do anything. The others nodded as if this could have been left as an unstated understanding. It was so obvious!
So imagine my delight when they asked me to be part of the Search and Rescue team. Because, really, I can be pretty awesome in an emergency. When it's over... I'll puke and be worthless. But right in the middle of an emergency I'm on top of things.
Today I got to practice. I collected the cards from teachers that say who's missing. Almost every card had a name. The Search and Rescue team went in to look for them. I was just wandering because this is practice. Nobody's really in the building. But the others... they were running into rooms, using flashlights, rushing about looking in closets. So I asked my partner what was up and she said, "We're rescuing the kids on our cards." But not really, right? I mean... they're all outside? "No, they're in here somewhere. We need to find them." What? Seriously? Like they were all in the bathroom or something? Because they're probably outside by now. "No, I mean... they're all in here... on purpose... so we can practice finding them. They're all together somewhere. Supervised, of course." So... we're playing hide and seek right now? "Uh... yeah."
I heard a yell, "They're in here!" This was followed by a deep sigh of relief as all the rescuers ran to... my classroom! Here there were at least 20 kids that we "rescued" today. They were coloring while the rest of the student body froze outside while we played hide and seek inside.
In all, our earthquake drill lasted over an hour. For hide and seek.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
i really don't remember earth quake drills like that. I do how ever remeber this trailor thing that simulated an earth quake and that was REALLY fun!
we just had tornado drills growing up. duck & cover!
and i totally want to be at your school playing hide & seek now. perhaps i can convince my co-workers in the heavy afternoon hours to have some fun...or practice our hurricane skills.
and em, why would anyone ever put you in charge of death? you can't even watch "house!" congrats on the upgrade from "you will never survive" to "meh. you'll do."
Um, I beg to differ. I seem to recall falling through an iceburg and you didn't even take pictures!!!
awesome. i want to play.
That wasn't an emergency, Teju. That was funny.
Also, I turned the heat on in the car on the way home. :)
I'd want you around in case of an emergency. At my school growing up, it was hurricane and tornado drills, as well as bomb drills... actually the bomb drills were usually real. We got evacuated ALL THE TIME. Welcome to the ghetto.
Post a Comment