Tuesday in Texas - Gift Giving and Receiving

This is my last week of school for this academic year.  I have already given four exams.  I give two tomorrow and two more on Thursday.  I'll play in the orchestra for graduation on Thursday night, spend Friday finalizing and submitting grades and then it is over. Though I am more than ready for some much needed rest, I don't like that the end of the school year means having to say good-bye to those students who are leaving us and going on to continue their education at four year institutions.

There is one student in who is transferring in the fall that I will particularly miss though he has not even officially been in any of my classes this year.  I had him in a sequence of courses during the 2013-2014 school year; however, he has come to "sit in" on a couple of my classes throughout  this year as well.  He was a fantastic student when he was officially in my classes and has been an asset to this year's students in his unofficial capacity this year as well.

At the end of each semester, this student, whose family is Vietnamese, would bring egg rolls homemade by his mom, to class on the day of the final exam.  These were the best darn egg rolls that I have ever had.  This opinion was echoed by all who ate them!  On the final day of his last class with me, he gave me a gift of a whole pan of frozen egg rolls ready to be fried.  I had egg rolls for the entire summer!   This may have been one of the best end of year gifts that I have ever received from a student.  I found myself rationing egg rolls over the next several months not wanting to eat the last one.

Today, on this student's last day on our campus, he came by my classroom as I was giving a final exam saying that he had a gift for me.  To my surprise, he gave me a copy of his mom's egg roll recipe that he had handwritten himself, a package of frozen egg roll wrappers, and a few other ingredients that are most easily found at an Asian supermarket.  What a thoughtful gift!  It is moments like this that make all the long days and late nights in a teacher's world worth it!  I doubt that, even with her recipe, my egg rolls will taste half as good as his mom's, though that is certainly something for which to strive.  If I get good at making them, perhaps I will share the recipe in a Food Friday post.  Until then, I will have fun practicing.

On another note...

We have a winner in the gift basket giveaway!  Once the winner has received her basket in the mail, I will share here what my awesome gift-giving daughter chose for the basket.  I don't want to ruin the surprise for the recipient.

The winner was randomly chosen.  It is Sherri Stone!  Congratulations Sherry!  If you will send me your mailing info either via a Facebook private message or to my email address (kriselliott61@gmail.com), I will get your goodies in the mail.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to visit us here and leave a comment.  Tracey and I appreciate your support and your friendship!  Stop by often.  You never know when we might have something else to give away!