The Cockroach Strikes Back

Alive, but exhausted. Seriously, I think teaching first graders in a language they barely understand is probably one of the most tiring things you can do. I guess that's my excuse for not writing.

So much has happened, but Steve filled you in on most of it. I do have another part to the never-ending roach story. He was dead. Steve killed him. But his ghost or vengeful relative flew into my room last Thursday night. I was alone. My roommates were out and in bed and Steve had already left. He flew up to the ceiling and crawled on my bed while I watched in fear and horror. Finally my moment came. He moved up under the corner of the curtain where I couldn't see him and I attacked. There behind the curtain he was smashed onto the wall. I closed the windows quickly, took my things, and snuck into Beth's room to sleep in her extra bed. I have decided that my windows must remain closed at night. It is the only solution.

School stories- I am getting to know my kids better. One is very spoiled and has been told by his father to show the other kids who is boss (meaning him, not me), one loves to talk all the time (and he is the coordinator's son!) but he knows very little English even compared to the others, one has a VERY difficult time staying in his seat. Those are just the most noteworthy. They drive me CRAZY sometimes, but they tell my that they love me and I am beautiful on a regular basis. They know how to sweet-talk the teacher already. My room is almost always chaos central. There have been pencil stabbings, pencil breakings, pinching, hitting, only one full out attack that I had to hold kids back, etc.

We had a giant moth for a long time. The kids loved it. One day there was a huge worm in my room. One of my boys was sure that it had eaten the moth, but it was really only about half the moth's size!

We had a hornet attack one day. Well, it entered the room and flew around. The kids were running and flailing uncontrollably. I finally sat down on the floor and they all huddled around me. We sat like that until the hornet hit the fan and fell down dead. After examining him, we continued class (playing? Same thing- right?).

Our favorite book so far is Green Eggs and Ham. Our favorite song/chant is 10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The ninth grade class down the hall hears it every day.

More stories to come, trust me. The weekend at the resort was great. Really relaxing. I ate more than I like to think about. We got a little sun, had some drinks, etc. Sleeping in air conditioning had to be one of the best parts. The latin dance show was so cool! The dance club was so lame. The dj played random sounds to cover transitions inbetween songs or to "spice up" songs that he must have felt were lacking... Our "favorite" was a siren that had absolutely no beat. He loved the strobe lights so much that we had them for about half an hour. I just couldn't look after a while. The music was also so loud that we could feel it vibrating our heads no matter where we were in the room. He consistently "enhanced" the atmosphere with fog machines.

All we had left for dinner today was hamburger, mayo, and chips. It was pretty good actually. We got payed today and set up our bank accounts but it won't all be good to go until tomorrow. That means we go shopping tomorrow.

Also, it rained a lot today. My laundry has been hanging out on the balcony since last night... I need to get home and check on it. I'm still at the guys' apartment.

I can't wait to hear from you all again. I really miss the comments when I don't write. Have a good night and God bless!