God, are you punishing me??

i take it back....i take it all back....

teaching is God´s way of punishing innocent human beings who "think" they have something good to share with others. seriously, what did i ever do to deserve this???

was it that time in seventh grade when i harrassed Mrs. Johnson about the metric olympics? or back in high school when we were smart ass teenage girls to Mr. Girard?? please, i am sorry for all i have done, but don´t make me go back to school and teach!!

let me give you some highlights from my day:
---today i had two kids, not one, but two throw up in my classroom
---today i was dished out 12 year old attitude, by kids who are obviously too cool for school
---today i sang the "wheels on the bus" 14 times and i still had kids picking their noses
---today, and this tops it, i had one child, who will remain nameless for confidentiality sake, actually climb up my body grab my neck and bite my arm....i do not kid here.

to every teacher i have ever had in my life----you are my idol. i could never do what you do, nor do i want to ever again.

i have tried to be creative. i have tried to be nice. but i´m over it. these kids are not nice. okay, there was that one kid who offered me his toni mixto( a delicious yogurt treat that i politely declined--who knows where that cup has been). but the majority no. and on top of it all. they do not know a word of english----so me teaching english, has really turned into me being in front of a classroom stuttering out spanish with english vocab inserted here and there. i honestly do not know how people do it. and the thing is, teaching is such a crap shoot. one year, you could have an amazing class---kids who actually listen, kids who actually do what you say. and then the next----it could be like all hell has broken lose.

so today i had my septimo (7th) class for two hours, then recess, and then kinder for two more. two hours of those little devils. talk about two different worlds. septimo was just pure attitude. and i dished it right back. i told them, hey, i´m not the one going to school next year, i don´t HAVE to know this information, so really, it´s only yourself that you´re hurting if you don´t want to learn. and then i said, i have kinder kids who listen better than you (which of course is a total lie, but i had to make them feel really bad)....that shaped them up a little, but it was still a war zone.
and then.....

kinder.

really there are no words for kindergarten teachers....they are little angels sent to this world to take care of other peoples´awful children. we all owe our lives to kindergarten teachers. i mean this one´s throwing up, the other is throwing blocks, that one is jumping off the table, the next is eating jello (seriously where did that kid get jello?)...i mean come on people----what do i have to do to get you to listen????.....well i´ll tell you.

ladies and gentlemen, the hokie pokie. if teaching is god´s punishment, then the hokie pokie is god´s savior. children love the hokie pokie, no matter how ridiculous you look doing it, they will do it again and again and again. and never tire. if i didn´t do the hokie pokie 20 times today....

so as awful as today was on a whole....there were moments of pure genius, hence, hokie pokie. maybe i exaggerate a little. maybe i´m just coming off a tense day, but seriously, this shitt is hard. the past two weeks i have had no voice whatsoever. i have been taunting my roommates with rhymes and songs...which is really just asking for a beating. i have entered into the elementary world, and i´m going to be there for at least two more weeks. but it´s true, they´re not all bad. of course after class is over, they all run up to me and hug and kiss me and tell me how much they love me, but of couse i´m only thinking to myself, you little hypocrite---playing mindgames with me.

yup, so that´s been my life lately. i´m still great though, health is solid, attitude, solid----i´m just really happy. despite my adventures in grade school of course. went to the beach this past weekend, so that was awesome. and tuesday lupe had karla and i over for a cangrejada which was delicious. so yeah as i always say, estoy contenta, estoy feliz.

still missing each and every one of you. don´t think for a minute that you are not in my thoughts and prayers, because you are. everyday.

i love you all,
cuídense,
jamie