Sniffing markers in class (as an educational activity)

I have to keep reminding myself at times here that no matter what insanity is happening in my classroom, learning is always taking place. This is especially true with my older students in the afternoons. I will let them get away with a lot of things as long as they are learning something somewhat relevant to the course material. We were doing a unit on the five senses: seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, and seeing. One of the sentences was "My sister's shampoo _____ like strawberries." They had to fill in the blank with, feels like, sounds like, or smells like. I gave them a hint by making a smelling gesture towards the random object I was holding. That object just happened to be a dry-erase marker. I turned my head quickly and said "yuck!" That was all it took to get their curiosities going. Before I knew what was going on..they were passing around a marker and sniffing it one by one right in front of me. I don't think they understand the concept of getting high off markers yet. They couldn't figure out the shocked and worried look on my face. I just told them that some people in America have problems with smelling markers too much. They still didn't get it; they just think Americans are that much stranger.

So..when I get back home I've decided I'm going to Chick-fil-A and getting a #1 with a diet Dr. Pepper. God I miss carbs! Tomorrow will mark two weeks in Korea.