I am tired.

I havent posted in about ten days. That's unusual for me when I actually have stuff to say, but things have been so crazy and I have been so exhausted that I am either working at school or sleeping at home. Literally. Today is the first day in three weekends that I find myself doing something useful such as updating the gradebook, making a practice packet for Spanish 3, planning for Spanish 2 and cleaning my room/bathroom a bit.

My aunt and uncle were visiting this week, which added to the stress and the need to entertain. Nevertheless, it was nice to have family visiting and EXTREMELY nice to see one of my favorite uncles visiting us -- which hadn't happened in.... almost 6 years I think. My uncle left this morning, but his wife is staying unti late late tonight and then she's headed to another friends' house to spend about another week in American soil.

The classes have gotten a lot better. After carefully wording my feelings in front of seventh hour class, and giving them a piece of my mind, I have achieved the unthinkable: a seventh hour that is productive and actually works when I ask them to. They're actually a much more pleasant group now than they were pre-"pep talk." I wish they knew how much Spanish they know as a class. I have stopped using English (which pisses them off a lot), but they DO understand me. And some of them talk beautifully -- they just refuse to accept that they are good... and it's seventh hour... and they are juniors... and they are boys (for the most part)... and they are all close friends... so they figure "why work?" I am wondering if posting this will screw things up starting tomorrow... but I am confident in them and in the fact that I am making a little impact.

Peter's dad passed away a week ago. I found out -- sadly -- through facebook, after weeks of having Peter semi-telling me something and then getting kicked off the internet, or having half conversations through email. I knew something was going on, but I had no idea of the magnitude... and when I found out I just felt so broken. I felt like I had not done my duty as a friend, as someone who truly.madly.deeply cares for him. I called him and then emailed him... I have been meaning to call him again, but I will do so tomorrow when hopefully his life starts getting back to normal. The news really messed me up on Thursday, and the fact that I already had so much more emotional stuff going on did NOT help me... so I found myself teary-eyed in the classroom more than once.

On Tuesday I had a huge fight with my mom and dad. I had gone to an informal interview for district 27J, but didn't want to say how well it went. It went beautifully. I met up with the department head of the foreign languge dept. She is a younger teacher, has her masters degree and wants to REALLY change things around. She is re-constructing the department from the bottom up and we had a very interesting (and also a bit idealistic) conversation.... even though it was a bit out-there, though, I felt like just by talking to her and sharing my ideas and seeing that I am not as far-off as I thought, my passion and my love for teaching were re-energized. When I got home I was ecstatic, but didn't want to talk about it because I know 27J is far (about 1 hour away) and that if I am to teach up there, I have to move...

Well my mom and dad pushed and pushed until I told them I had loved the interview and would be going on a couple more AND that I would be visiting the school during spring break so I can see the demographics and experience this brand-spanking-new (4 years old) high school. Needless to say, the truth never goes well with my parents and between the time I went and came back from Target my dad had already "done the math" and figured out how much money I would spend by driving up to Brighton every day, told me that I simply needed to stop the talks because Brighton was not an option, called me immature, and told me I pretty much can't make career choices on my own.


SO.

The day I sign a contract dad, is the day you will find out I got a job.



xoxo,
Miss Bee