SOY

I keep a bottle of soy sauce in my classroom at all times.  Why?  Because "soy" means "I am" in Spanish.  We've decorated the bottle over the years, put stickers on him, and he's become "el Sr. Soy" in class, a beloved mascot that always helps the kids remember the verb.  Yo soy inteligente :)

That is until a 6th grader, assigned with the task of getting the bottle, let it slip off of his desk and crack all over the floor.

It was in the that moment, as I saw the sauce spread over the ugly blue carpet and be absorbed like a sponge, I thought, "Why on earth did I keep a glass bottle with a smelly brown liquid in this room for 4 years?"


And oh my does it smell.  Putrid.  Rancid.  Disgusting.  Asqueroso.  Ahhhh.

No matter how much cleaning product has been put on it, how many paper towels have be used to soak it up, and how much backing soda has been sprinkled...the entire room reeks of Kikkoman less sodium Soy Sauce.

If you have ever wondered what an entire bottle of 5 year old soy sauce spilling on the carpet and being cleaned up shottily by a janitor smells like, I'll give it to you in the words of my kids.  (All of these are true, anecdotal observations by 6th, 7th, and 8th graders walking into the room, who didn't see the bottle spill)...

"Mrs. S, it smells like old McDonalds in here!"

"Ahhhh...it smells like Twizzlers!"

"What is that smell?  It smells like my Grandma's garage!"

"Woahhhh...crazy!  It smells like Cheetos and Taco Bell...and peanuts!"

"Mrs. S, it smells like a baby's butt." 



Please save me.

Please...  From now on, I will always use plastic bottles!