Moving Day

I had a really interesting experience today at school. Right now it is spring break, so there are no kids (and barely any teachers) at school. Today, my co-teachers thought it would be a good idea to switch offices with the 6th grade teachers. They had been planning to do this since December, but a construction project on a new office slowed them down. Anyway, the whole process was very interesting, although I was totally useless because I didn't understand how I could help (stupid language barrier).

Since we were only moving half way around the school, no one felt the need to get boxes or anything. The books were just carried down the hallway and set in a big pile on the floor. Apparently dollys don't exist in our school either, because the men used a giant cart (!) to move the desks and cabinets.

The moving process was not orderly either. While subject teachers moved out of one office and into the other, 6th grade teachers did the same. It's a wonder all the right stuff ended up in the right room! ( I still have no idea where my stuff is btw).

The most interesting part (although it infuriated me at the same time) was seeing the male-female interaction and roles. Some of the furniture was way too heavy for a couple of women to move, but some of it wasn't bad at all (in my opinion). Mostly, the men moved the furniture and the women cleaned. When there was a piece of furniture that needed moved and a man wasn't right there, the women (like 3 at one time) would push/pull the piece to the door. Then they would grunt and groan trying to lift it over the ridges (we have sliding doors on tracks) until a man came along.

It was very funny to watch, until I was the one moving furniture. Now, if you know me, I don't really like to accept help on things unless I really need it. I very much like to show that I am just as capable as anyone else. However, the general consensus among the men today was that Katelyn is a wimp. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because I pause before moving something to see the best way to move it. Every time I reached for a piece of furniture, a guy would rush over and take it from me. By the end of the move, I was hopping mad!

Not once though, did I see one of the men sweep the floor, or dust a cabinet, or move a pile of papers.