a new year in san quentin

I started a new school year today in the prison here in balmy Bobov dol. I thought I would continue teaching the prisoners I had from last year. I went in all prepared for a lesson with them, I had my Jeopardy! game ready with a “what-did-Andy-do-this-summer” theme. It was awesome. But when I got to the prison, I learned that the administration decided I should get a whole new class. With 19 students. Who know no English. Needless to say, I didn’t use the Jeopardy! game.
It’s like when the new Saved by the Bell cast came on TV. I think it was “Saved by the Bell: The New Class” or something like that, and it was ok, but it was not as good as the original. The weirdest thing was that they tried to do some weird clone-like characters from the original cast. You had the quasi-Zach, and the quasi-Slatter, and the quasi-Kelly but they weren’t the same. They weren’t quite able to touch us in the same way as the original. Walking into that class today was like that. It seemed like a class of weird clones from last year, only these guys were twice the size and had more tattoos. There is the long haired, Italian looking guy who has the I-Don’t-Care exterior hiding the I-Really-Do interior. Then there is the old guy, seemingly content with the world, smiling like a big old medicated sun, in the back. The overachiever in the front, who always answers first. And the big guy in the middle who translates my Bulgarian from Bulgarian to Bulgarian to the rest of the class. But something is missing.
It’s strange to say I really miss those guys from last year. I’m excited by this new opportunity to teach a whole new set of guys, but still I miss the sense of camaraderie that we had last year. Part of me knows that this will return, I will make these guys friends too, but I still miss those wild and crazy guys.