Another Friday!!!

Yesterday was a less than interesting day. At school, I only taught 2 classes so I spent a lot of time playing chess on my laptop. After one of my classes, the teacher who barely speaks above a whisper that I teach with told me that she would be changing schools at the beginning of the new school year. Here the new school year begins in April. So I asked her if she knew what school she would be visiting. She said no, not yet. So I asked when she would find out. She said May 23. What!? Only 2 weeks between the new school year and when you find out where you’ll be working! Wow! During the last period of the day, I took a cd with some signs that I was asked to make to the principal. A few minutes after he comes into the office to tell me that the 3rd graders were practicing their songs for graduation and he asked if I wanted to watch them. Here’s what I wanted to say:

NO, ACTUALLY I DON’T. I’M REALLY ENJOYING THIS GAME OF CHESS AND YOU’RE INTERRUPTING. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER INVITING ME TO THE ASSEMBLIES AND NOT TO POINTLESS PRACTICES WHERE I WILL FREEZE MY BUT OFF BECAUSE YOU’RE ANTI-HEAT AND WHERE I WON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ANYWAY? AND SINCE WE’RE CHATTING, CAN YOU TELL YOUR STAFF TO STOP ASKING ME IF I’M COMING TO GRADUATION NEXT FRIDAY. THE SAME PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME OVER AND OVER, AND ALL OF THEM SHOULD HAVE A COPY OF MY SCHEDULE. I’M NOT SCHEDULED TO EVEN BE AT THIS SCHOOL NEXT WEEK SO WHY WOULD I COME ON FRIDAY WHEN THE SCHOOL THAT I WILL BE AT IS HAVING A GRADUATION ON THE SAME DAY? HUH? AND DO BE SURE TO TELL THEM TO ALSO STOP ASKING ME IF THAT SCHOOL IS HAVING A PARTY AFTER THE GRADUATION…FOR THE FINAL TIME, YES THEY’RE HAVING A PARTY! AND IF THEY WEREN’T, DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD TRAVEL ALMOST 3 HOURS BACK HERE JUST FOR A PARTY? I DIDN’T THINK SO. YOU’RE DISMISSED.

As for what I actually said “Sure.”

On the silent walk to the gym, the principal was like, “Maybe you can teach an old dog some new tricks.” Had I not realized as quickly as I did that he was referring to transferring the signs from the cd to his computer to print, I’m sure he would have gotten a stern sideways glance, neck roll, and a rapid, “I BEG YOUR PARDON!” Thank God for my patience with people. When I got to the gym where the students were practicing, I stood next to the teacher who was leaving. I noticed that the Special Education teacher was over the music practice so I turned to the teacher I work with to ask if the Special Education teacher was also the music teacher. I don’t know if she was feeling talkative because she’s changing schools or what but she informed me that they have been through a number of music teachers since the music teacher is on 3 years leave….3 YEARS?!...because she is ill and had some troubles with the students. So I said, “She had a nervous breakdown?” And the teacher said yes. WHAT?! This school has ISSUES! They just got a counselor….how long has this school been here? Forever! I was under the impression that he would be here all the time but he will only be here every two weeks, for two weeks from the hospital.

When I made it back to my bike in my city, I was surprised to see that the tire that I had just changed about 2 weeks ago was flat. As I walked my bike away from the station, a bird decided to relieve itself above me. I was luck though because I reacted quickly enough to avoid getting pooped on. My computer case was not so lucky though because it was in the basket on the front of my bike….sigh.

Today, I taught about giving directions at the teacher’s request. She wanted me to tell the students how to explain taking different types of public transportation. On Wednesday, when I tried to review the worksheets she replied, “Everything is okay because I have no to time to talk about Friday’s team teaching. I have a meeting that started at 3:10.” I looked up at the clock and it was 3:13. So, I said, “Well you should hurry then,” as politely as I could with a smile. This morning, while I was playing chess (hehe) she walked over to ask about the lesson. So I showed her the two worksheets that I made and explained how I would teach it. She was like, “Ok, great.” Let’s just say that it’s a little difficult to teach something like directions when you have students who still don’t know the word “walk”…did I mention it’s the week before the end of the school year?…sigh.