Hi friends!
Hope everyone had a great week, I sure did. I’m writing this post with a serious case of Sunday Blues –why does the weekend always go by so fast? I’d give anything for just one more day off.
This week was filled with many emotional problems in class. I’ll tell you, Dani and I have quite a class this year. They are certainly a handful. We have one student who chases his mom and dad out of the school crying and screaming everyday and then refuses to come into the classroom until second period. So we deal with that show each and every morning.
We have another student who has anxiety towards going to and eating his lunch. Before lunch he makes up some crazy excuse to go to the nurse. Obviously we don’t allow him to go which results in a temper tantrum that lasts for the entire lunch.
These are just 2 examples of about 7 students with significant emotional and behavior problems we have in our class. Even last year, I used to question why our students seemed to have so many issues. At school, we recently took a workshop and the speaker showed evidence that Chilean children are in the top 5 for social and emotional issues at a young age. I knew something was off!
^^ Practicing "Operation Daisy" aka Earthquake drills
Wednesday was a very long day for me. On the last Wednesday of each month, the teachers have to stay until 5:30pm for meetings and workshops. Dani and I met with the psychologist and learning specialist to discuss our students and make a plan. This meeting took about 2 hours and it was all in Spanish. I had such a headache afterwards because I really needed to pay attention the entire time since it was such important information we were discussing.
After our long school day, our first grade team had a baby shower for two of our first grade team members who are out on maternity leave right now. Ceci, my partner from last year, hosted the party at her house and we all brought an appetizer to share. It was a fun evening but I was exhausted and again, everyone was talking in Spanish so my brain felt like exploding.
^^ I made guacamole deviled-eggs
^^ Maida is the cutest pregnant person. Her baby is due any time now!
On Friday, my alarm clock never went off because it was set for PM not AM, so I missed my ride to school. I didn’t even wake up until 8:30am! After having a mini-heart attack, I quickly got dressed and took a taxi to school. My co-workers were really worried about me because I wasn’t answering my phone. Katy, the woman I carpool with, told me she was worried that I was kidnapped or something!
On Saturday, I went to the park with León. He was much more social with the other dogs this time. He definitely enjoys being with people more than dogs. He played with a little baby and two toddlers. That night, I went out with my friend Jose and her friends. We went for dinner and drinks at a delicious restaurant called Bar Mercado.
^^ León is getting better with other dogs, slowly.
^^ I got a chocolate ice-cream from a cute little family-owned shop
Today I met up with Fran and Benja at Parque Bicentenario with the dogs. The weather was kind of gloomy and León was a bit nervous at the dog park. We didn’t stay too long.
^^ León's favorite activities this week included untying my shoelaces while I'm walking and taking the wallpaper off the wall. He's lucky he's cute....
Laughable Moments:
I told one of my students before dismissal she had to hurry up because she was going to miss the bus. She told me, “Miss Kim, the man who drives the bus is a mister, not a miss.”
“Miss Kim, do we need to put our homework in the green carpet?” –carpeta in folder in Spanish
I decided to ride the orange bike home from Spanish class this week. I was shocked at how difficult it was, and how tired I was. Everyone else was whizzing by me and I was struggling hard. When I finally got home, I was so tired and sweaty. I realized, I rode about 2 miles with a flat tire.
I have this theory that if Chileans walked (in supermarkets, the mall, streets...) like they drove their cars, we'd all be much happier -I can't deal with the slow walking here (I post about this all the time, I know)
My friend was telling me about a wedding and he said the broom rode on a motorcycle with the bride.
That's all for now!
