heart attack on a bus...

that's right... i literally went into cardiac arrest Thursday morning. to reiterate from an earlier blog...

DON'T BE AWAY, LATE, OR SICK from class!!! away one day and that's 10% of your grade. away two days and that's 20%. away for three days and you can say bye bye. even if you're late, that's 5% of your grade!

so what happens 4 days into the program? i'm late... 20 minutes! and it was a terrible day to be late. it was our first official day in the kitchen. i woke up pretty excited and pumped to go. everything was going smoothly. got to the bus stop in good time and got on the 6:19am bus as usual. but (and this is a huge BUT) 5 minutes into the commute, the bus starts beeping irritatingly. obviously, one of the bus' indicators is going off. soon after, it begins jolting madly every time the driver stepped on the gas. NOT A GOOD SIGN. so we're now moving at a snail's pace. eventually, we're forced to stop. i look back and see another bus on the way so i'm thinking "cool, we can hop on that one." but soon i realize that its hazard lights are going off too and moving no faster than ours. i begin to lose my cool a bit. the words "if you're late, that's 5% of your grade" kept echoing in my head. but i kept trying to reassure myself, "Herms, this is not your fault. it's beyond your control. stay cool." but those words just kept repeating themselves. all the passengers were now stranded. we weren't in no-man's-land but at 6:40am in the morning, there's not much you can do... everyone's still in bed sleeping! finally, the driver announces, "sorry folks, it's just been announced on the radio that many of the trolley buses around the city are down." i exhaled in relief... kinda. two things were now working in my favour: 1) many other trolley buses were down and 2) my chef listens to morning radio on a regular basis. so at this point, i'm really hoping that my chef has heard the radio reports.

so i finally managed to get my arse to school. how? well, apparently, all the new (year old) trolley buses were breaking down but the older ones were working! wtf?!! apparently, the new buses couldn't handle the -1°C weather... SOFT! TransLink, you better reassess these million dollar buses you just spent your money on!

i get to the classroom and pause just outside the doorway to take a deep breath. i walk in and make my way towards my chef. all heads turn to look towards me – not in a terrible way but more like a "oh man... i feel bad for you... good luck" way. i step up to my chef and say, "please tell me you listened to radio this morning." he replied, "problem with the buses, yeah?"

"yeah, the trolley buses weren't running this morning."

"ok, get changed."

"thanks, chef."

i exhaled in relief and got myself changed. after about 10 minutes, my nerves had calmed and i was in the zone again. our chef then stood in the center of the classroom and announced to everyone, "people... things happen. buses break down, etc, etc... be honest. don't bullshit me and we'll be cool." we all answer, "yes, chef!" i smile... he winks... life goes on...