Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] If you really knew me if you really knew me if you really knew me if you really knew me, you would know. Hey, who are you? Who, me? Yeah, you. It's Monday.
[00:00:17] Hey everyone. Welcome back to if youf Knew Me Mondays, a student powered Park Day inspired podcast that builds belonging by sharing stories and perspectives from the margins of our school and community. Say what?
[00:00:28] I'm Noam, an eighth grader at parkday, and if you really knew me, you'd know that my favorite part of the rain is when I'm falling asleep in my bed on a Friday night listening to the calming sounds of the rain pattering on the roof, excited to bundle up and relax all weekend.
[00:00:40] My name is Shay and I'm also an eighth grader. If you really knew me, you know that I love the rain. Definitely not when my socks get soaked, but I love the sound of rain and it gives me an excuse to get cozy and watch movies. And I'm Lucien and I'm also in eighth grade. If you're really new me, you would know that I enjoy playing video games when it rains because I don't have to go outside.
[00:01:01] And today we're talking about rain, rainy school days, rainy day memories, and how to stay warm when it's pouring outside.
[00:01:08] Every year, right before our falliday break, Park Day hosts Grandparents and Special Friends Day, a memorable event of hosting, you guessed it, our grandparents and special friends. This year, on our special day, it rained a lot. So we took the opportunity to ask our visiting family and friends about their own experiences with rainy school days.
[00:01:27] That and so much more. Starting now.
[00:01:40] So we had a few big questions as we splashed around campus with our microphones. What do you remember most about rainy school days? What was your favorite rainy day activity at school? And how do you like to get cozy on a cold and rainy day? We spoke to grandparents and special friends from all around the globe, from Australia to Ethiopia, from Jamaica to Japan. Let's hear what they had to say.
[00:02:01] First up, we asked, what do you remember most about rainy school days?
[00:02:06] My name is Layla. I am Imani Gilligan Jones's aunt and I'm visiting today for Special Friends Day. I'm so excited. I remember being inside and doing a lot of artwork.
[00:02:18] I remember most about rainy days being stuck inside and not being able to go outside and play during recess, which was a super bummer.
[00:02:30] Well, I grew up in LA and so we didn't have too many rainy school days and so I remember having being pretty bummed out when we had to stay inside during the Rainy school days. And our teachers were very desperate to figure out how to entertain us. When I was a kid, I grew up in Humboldt county where it rained all the time. And I used to love playing in the rain. And I would go out and I would collect. It was like kind of in a redwood forest sort of zone. And I would collect all types of materials from the trees and leaves and build forts and see how rain proof I could make them. And I would just hang out like all day, just hanging out in the rain in my little forts. It was very fun.
[00:03:12] What do you remember most about rainy school days? Wearing rain boots and just jumping in the puddles and becoming a muddy mess. Hi, my name is Valerie and I am visiting Lucien, My grandson and I grew up in Singapore where we get a lot of rain. In fact we get monsoons. So my favorite rainy day memory is that when the monsoon comes it, it's super wet, you can't go outdoors. But it actually gets a little bit cooler because Singapore is very tropical, it's very hot and humid. So we love the rain because the rain cools things down.
[00:03:48] So what do you remember most about rainy days at school? We actually did not have any rainy days at school because I am from Ethiopia and school for us was during the summer and during the winter we stayed home. There was no school during the winter.
[00:04:05] So my name is Tamaru. I'm an uncle for Marco. And so I used to go to like a summer school during the rainy season. And when it rains our school doesn't have a ceiling in there, so it makes a lot of noise. And then you try to listen to music from your inside your head. And that's what I remember.
[00:04:50] The children were very happy. They were so happy to run into paddles and just step and get dirty. So I was in sixth grade in math class and there was an atmospheric river that came in and I was sitting next to the window because that was my favorite spot. But the teacher had forgotten to close the window. And we started having lightning and thunder and the rain actually along with hail came in and like blew in and like spread all of our papers and like kind of flipped her book and her face. Rainy day memories from school. So I grew up in Tokyo, Japan and I went to an elementary school right by my house and across the, what is it, the playfield, there is a overpass for Shinkansen which is a bullet train. And oftentimes it goes, you know, like every hour we see a really fast train going by. And I remember one thunderstorm, lightnings and, you know, just huge crazy typhoon, stormy day. There was this epic lightnings across the sky. And then there was this fast training, like zipping by the bullet train zipping by. And then we were. I think it was a recess, so we were just all. All playing in the. In the rain. I don't know. It was just this vigil that I remember. Well, I grew up in Daly City, just south of San Francisco. When I grew up, it was foggy all the time. In fact, sometimes it was so foggy it felt like it was raining. I never left my house without a coat, even when it seemed the weather was forecast to be really nice and sunny, because once that fog rolled in, you're freezing. And for a while when I was growing up, we couldn't wear pants, so I used to wear shorts under my dresses and stuff. My name is Ellen, and I am Opal's nana. Could you please share what rainy school day memories you have, if you have one? I do have one. I didn't go to school in California. I went to school in New York. And we had a lot more weather. Snow and rain and cold. And there was a special room in the school. When you came in off the bus, you had to go in the special room and leave your boots and your raincoat and your. Anything like that that was wet in this special room. And then at the end of the day, you come down and you'd spend the next hour or two trying to find your stuff in all of the mess.
[00:07:17] I'm Susan. I'm Opal's grandma. And I grew up in England, where it rains a lot.
[00:07:24] So we. I used to cycle to school and get. We didn't have plastic or anything to wear, so we had these coats that actually absorbed the rain. So when you got to school, you were always very, very soggy and had to sit in wet clothes for all the rest of the day. But I. At the beginning of the year, I used to sit on the left hand side of the classroom where there was big, big pipes that were the heating of the classroom. So I used to steam throughout the day because I was keeping warm there. But there was two pipes, two big pipes, and I used to be able to stick my feet between the two pipes. Every year I got chilblains, which are little sort of blistery things on my. On my toes because I used to stick them in between the pipes and they used to get really hot.
[00:08:07] I'm Leah. I'm Ryu's older sister, and I'm in college, so I'm Visiting him for the day. What do you remember most about rainy school days? At my school? At my middle school, we used to always watch movies instead of going to recess on rainy days. So we would all get together in the auditorium and we would all be really wet, and we would watch movies together. And I remember we always used to watch the same movie. And especially around the holidays, we would always watch the Grinch. So I got really tired of that movie. I also, I love the rain, so I used to like playing in the puddles with my friends.
[00:08:41] And I also, I really liked the smell after it rained. So I like to go on walks with my. With my parents and my friends after it rained. I'm Jo Balletti, and I'm visiting my granddaughter, Ella Whelan. Oh, yeah, that's me. Oh, rainy day school days.
[00:08:58] Well, it was nice because my parents would drive me to school. That was my favorite part. So they didn't make me walk like they did usually. So that was the good part. The bad part was sometimes they couldn't pick me up. So then I did have to walk home in the rain.
[00:09:16] Oh, I'm so happy to talk about this. I've forgotten all about it. But when I was in grammar school, on rainy days, especially like in first grade through fifth grade, we did folk dancing in our auditorium. None of us knew how to folk dance. It was total chaos. And we did so much laughing and had so much fun that we got to have hot chocolate afterwards. Not all bad. My name is J.P. and I'm visiting my cousin Tara in the third grade. I grew up in Jamaica, so our rainy school days were mainly during the Atlantic hurricane season, which is between June 1 and November 30. That was pretty cool for us because we would often have some storms that would come through. It wasn't safe to go on the road to pick us up. So sometimes if there was a storm, you couldn't come to school. And I remember one year there was a storm where we couldn't leave school for hours. And we were all at school for several hours.
[00:10:14] Parents were worried, but as kids, we were all fine because we just played games all day.
[00:10:21] We had to move classrooms for separate lessons, and so one of them must have been about a quarter of a mile walk. So on rainy days, by the time you got to the classroom, everything, you're all soaking wet. Coats, wet bags, wet. Yeah, I hated that we even heard about a rainy day. Halloween. Okay. My name is Charmaine Davis. When I was in second grade and I had made my own costume, which was a dead bride.
[00:10:54] And I was worried that my makeup wasn't creepy enough. And we had an outside parade and during that parade it started to rain and it made my makeup that looked normal look way more creepier. And so that was really special to me, actually.
[00:11:14] So what is your experience with rainy school days? I always forget to pack my jacket and end up paying for it. Yep, and my umbrella too. We didn't only talk about rainy school memories, but the topic of rain brought up so many other stories and related topics. When I dream and remember my dreams, there is always rain in them. Always. Sometimes it's out the window, sometimes it's in the room, sometimes it's heavy, sometimes it's light. Always. And when I was in college, I told my mom and you know what she said? She goes, well, you were born in the biggest thunderstorm of the decade. Isn't that wild? Wow, that's so interesting. Whenever I'm dreaming, I never take note of the weather. But it's so cool to see how rain can spark feelings and take people to a deeper place. They could even rekindle some of your oldest memories that you haven't thought about in years.
[00:12:09] I remember when I was about 10, I went to this area. We called it Boulder Creek. But it really wasn't a creek except when it rained.
[00:12:20] And I saw off in the distance in the middle of this huge puddle what I thought was a.
[00:12:32] I thought it was some kind of jewelry. It was this big silver colored kind of plate.
[00:12:44] And I walked out into the middle of that and got myself wet almost to my knees and found it was just an old coffee can. So I was a little disappointed, as were my parents when I got home, walked in the house trailing all the mud and crud from Boulder Creek. Even though rain gives me an excuse to play video games. If I'm being totally honest, I'm not a big fan. This was a common theme. While we heard many people who love the rain, we also heard others like Lucien, who don't love a rainy day. Turns out rain can be polarizing a favorite rainy day memory. I can sort of remember, you know, having soup and watching a movie and making popcorn and doing puzzles and stuff like that. I have not favorite rainy day memories. Like my high school didn't have an auditorium or a cafeteria or a gymnasium. So it was a little difficult when it rained for lunchtime. So there were overhangs and there were benches and we sat underneath the overhangs and, and ate and were cold and kind of wet. So that wasn't really so particularly fun.
[00:14:06] I like how it makes you feel warm and cozy when you're inside. And I don't like getting the bottom of your pants wet when you're walking. You know, I love the rain. I think I'm really like a plant and so I feel like when it's raining I just feel like it's making me feel alive. So I've always loved the rain and rain boots and you know, raincoats and umbrellas. Yeah, I dig the rain. What do I like to do on a cold rainy day? Complaining about the rain mostly. I really enjoy that.
[00:14:36] Would you rather be outside splashing around or inside playing your favorite games?
[00:14:41] For me, I'd say outside. I'm an athlete and always down for a good game. Rain or shine. I prefer staying inside and playing a good game. One of my all time favorites is Monopoly because it lasts all day. And finally, after a long rainy day, there's nothing better to do than get cozy and warm. Of course, there's a lot of different ways to do this. We turned the mic over to some of our fourth grade friends. Here's what they captured. My name is Jacqueline Paul Gordon and I visit my granddaughter Lucy. Hey, that's me. How do you like to get cozy on a cold rainy day? Oh, put on warm sweaters and long pants, cover up and look at watch tv.
[00:15:22] Thank you. You're very welcome. How do you like to get cozy on a cold rainy day? I love to read. So I'll sit in my bed and I'll get a nice hot cup of tea and I'll read with my covers on and it's nice to be in a warm place when it's raining outside.
[00:15:38] What do you like to do to get cozy on a rainy day?
[00:15:42] I always layer up, make some tea and just hang out on the couch. And for me, rainy days were a wonderful day for poetry, sitting, being cozy and reading poetry.
[00:15:59] So what's your go to cozy thing on a rainy day? Hot chocolate or a bowl of soup? A fuzzy sweater, A nap or binge watching your favorite series? Not a bad choice if you ask me. I'm always forced to binge watch all of Harry Potter with my family every time without fail.
[00:16:16] Well, that's a wrap on today's episode. What did you hear that resonates with you?
[00:16:21] Rainy days aren't just about getting drenched. There are so many memories, feelings and stories associated with rainfall. Not all good, but certainly not all bad. Whether they're stories about playing in the rain or finding little ways to stay warm. Rainy School days are a universal experience.
[00:16:38] Well, kind of. That was interesting hearing that school happens during the summer in Ethiopia and there's rarely rain then. And that, my friends, is exactly why we make this podcast.
[00:16:49] Thank you to all the grandparents and special friends who visited from far and wide, and to those who shared their rainy day memories with us. We also want to thank all of the event organizers and the teachers who put so much love and effort into this special day. And especially to Jackie and Miguel for creating such a perfectly curated rainy day program.
[00:17:10] Lastly, we want to thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can let us know by leaving a review wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and be sure to share this with your grandparents and special friends. Maybe it will inspire some more rainy day storytelling.
[00:17:23] Once again, we're your hosts, Noam, Shay and Lucien. This has been if youf Knew Me Mondays. See you next time, rain or shine.
[00:17:36] What can I say? It's been a morning of amazing energy.
[00:17:42] The rain, the cold weather, not so cold. But nothing has stopped us to have a beautiful day today. And we're gonna close with third, fourth and fifth graders.
[00:18:01] 1 It'll rain sunny day I know Running down my water I wanna know have you ever seen rain?
[00:18:48] I wanna know See the rain coming down on Sunday I It.
