Green Thumbs

I woke up feeling miserable and considered calling in sick, but had a lot to cover in my classes before Friday's tests, so dragged myself out of bed. I was feeling a little better by time to go to work, besides a headache. Yes, the same headache that's been basically non-stop for weeks now. Is it my filthy school or my eyes? One of the first things I'm doing when I get home is going to the eye doctor--my vision doesn't seem as crisp as it used to be.

After the adult class I had finished preparing for afternoon classes but no computers were free, so I cleaned a ton of old papers out of my desk. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate in 2 years! (And that's just my desk--what will happen when I start going through my apartment?!) I also sorted the school policy type papers that will stay at my desk for Tanya to refer to and the worksheets or quizzes that I've made for my classes. I suppose taking at least a sampling of the things I've made here home with me would be good.

The kids were mostly good, yet I still succeeded in making one kid cry--all right! I'm a successful teacher! I warned the class to speak only English or go outside, yet the boy (5th or 6th grade) intentionally spoke Korean, so I sent him outside and then forgot about him so he was out there for around 20 minutes. When I let him back in I gave him a short lecture using simple words. He started tearing up. On second thought, he was in the hall next to one of the scarier Korean teacher's classrooms--maybe she had already yelled at him before I did. The whole day I struck the appropriate balance between being in charge and not being overbearing.

Both my students and Tanya might have a problem when she takes over my classes when I leave. Especially with the 2nd grade class, we use a lot of Korean to aid in communication. It might be quite an adjustment.

In Jenny's and Ally's class they got a little crazy but Jenny did a great job of speaking English. She showed me her newly-painted nails and then begged me to let her paint my thumb. Am I crazy, or what? I ended up with two neon green thumbs all day!

The headache was made worse on the way home by the bus driver who thought that since I was the only one left on the bus that he could light the foulest smelling cigar ever without even bothering to open a window!

Enough complaining. I received a couple of nice long newsy emails today. Those are always nice!