Crazy Monday.

Monday June 3rd
Phew.... wow. So, we started an updated schedule accounting for Rob going to the US. So, I was saying I have my Kindy kids till 2:30. I used to have a break. Now I have 10 minutes and then go straight to teaching my 1st graders. Its tough. Today I had one of my co-teachers ask if I had a test graded that we finished my last hour on Friday. I laughed. I told her I had not had a break all day to get any grading done, and I still had one more class until I get to sit down. Granted, I do get to sit down for lunch... and occasionally sit down while teaching, but it is never a sit down to catch my breath. I do not get a breather until 3:30. Then, that is the only time I have to grade my work and re-energize. On Wednesdays, I will have my 1 on one, then go directly to another class. I am not exactly sure how Tuesday/Thursday will be... but I do know that I will teach straight till 3:30. Then I think there is a break, then 2 more hours of teaching. I teach a lot, which is actually pretty good. It just is very energy intensive.
Today in France. Sharon cried... when Sharon cries, I bet everyone in ECC can hear her. She is really small, but the decibels she can hit is staggering. She was mad because I made her put her stickers away (because she was not paying attention, then she kept playing with a princess tiara. So I took it, and put it on my head. She laughed, the class laughed, then as I was giving it back to her all of a sudden. BOOM. Wailing. So I sit next to her for a minute, and realize she will not stop any time soon with me there. So I tell the class I will let her do her thing, and I will keep on teaching. As soon as I turn around and go back to the board she stops. Instantly. Then 20 seconds Ronnie comes in. As soon as she sees him. She bursts out crying again. So of course he takes her. She comes back happy, and the entire lesson of just letting her cry was destroyed. It is so FRUSTRATING. I know I have mentioned it before. All of us foreign teachers feel the same way. Then during snack/play time Kelly cried. I have no idea why. I walk out to go put the dishes and trash away, I get back she is sitting on the mat sniffling. That evolves into a cry. Thank God she does not cry as loud as Sharon. I can only assume that someone said something to her, did not play with her or knowing Kelly she said something to someone and they responded by saying something back to her. She cried for a few minutes, regathered herself, and was fine. Then during the lesson after snack time, Juliet wept. She wept because she was not done with the page and everyone else was. This is a common thing for her. She is the slowest of the class. Christine and I were talking about the ranks, and she ranks the lowest in all education forms. Reading, speaking, writing.  Our class is basically 2 levels. The smarter fast kids, and the slower and/or naughty kids. The exception is Sally. She does not do work, but she is the best speaker and best thinker of the class. She formulates her own ideas and is the best at forming sentences. She just does not work. So we classify her as a slower and/or naughty. Andy is smart, but never speaks or does work so we cannot gauge him very well. We are making progress. It goes Fred, David, Sharon, Julie, Sally, Andy, Kelly, Juliet.
Jack in my Australia class was gone today.  His mom called Christina teacher and said he doesnt want to go to ECC any more because he does not have any friends. This was a shock to me, because he plays with the other kids during lunch, talks to them, messes around with them, and gets scolded with them. It is not like a student that never talks to anyone or plays with himself. She Christina and I both talked about it and neither of us have seen anything. He will be in school tomorrow, so we both are going to keep an eye out.
Denmark... Well today for half of the time I was with them, Angelina and Erica were feuding. The other half they were best friends. The problem was these periods were not congruent. It makes it hard when they are drawing pictures of eachother with hearts, and 5 minutes later they are saying Angeline "Teacher, I am very angry at Erica..." or Erica "I am going to tell my mom about...." Then 5 minutes after that they are giggling and laughing together. They are both completely different personalities. Sometimes they are inseparable, other times they are enemies... Aye aye aye.
Noting exciting happened in my Canada class. They were not on good behavior, but not bad behavior either. They acted like students act on Monday. Same with my Greece class. Except after class, one of the girls wanted to draw a heart on my hand. Of course I let her. She wanted to make sure that I understood that the ink comes off with soap and water. It almost seems like she may have gotten in trouble some time for drawing something on someone. I just loved how concerned she was about it.
After work I went to Gunpo to buy a hiking backpack. It was on sale on craigslist for 45 bucks. I needed one. Last time I went out on an excursion with my friends, I had a gym bag. Not easy to get around. Since we are talking about going out again to a beach this weekend, I felt the urge to buy something.  The coast of any type of outdoor backpack starts at about 80 new. So I saved a few bucks and now I've got what I need.
Got home and got a beer. Normally drinking alone in my apartment is not something I do often... but today was a very long day for me. I just wanted to take my pants off, put my feet up, and enjoy an cold beer. It feels good.