Christmas vacation has officially started. It is Thursday morning and I am sitting in my apartment…totally enjoying the fact that I don’t have to teach for a full 10 days. The last 2 ½ weeks were beyond hectic...and I now have time to write.
I believe I spoke to soon…it is now Saturday, my writings were interrupted by the invitation to go to the ruins (again) and a waterfall (which I have been to before)…but I got to spend my entire afternoon with two very awesome guys. So I am definitely not complaining. I suppose before I tell about Thursday I should mention about the last 2 days of school and of how these guys came to vacation on our island.
Tuesday night was our Christmas concert. And I’m not sure if any teacher was really looking forward to it…I just couldn’t wait for it to be over. We had been practicing for such a long time…I was so tired of singing We Three Kings with my kids and I was tired of practicing with my kids during every morning recess. Tuesday morning dawned and there was my little class in our class room all lined up in order singing We Three Kings at the top of their lungs as I made them practice the timing of the song over and over again, since their practice in the gym Monday morning was less then wonderful…I was making up for that, since we only had one more practice before the performance. I told all 17 of my students (one was absent) that I wasn’t going to let them sit down until they got the song perfect…so 45 minutes later I let my kids sit down for 5 minutes while I got ready to take them down to the gym for their final rehearsal. I am not going to mention all that went on in the gym, because it was a long process and rather boring. But my kids knew their song and that was all that mattered to me.
Tuesday evening found me sitting in my classroom waiting for my kids to come. I told them to be in the classroom at 5pm, people here on the island generally run late…if you want them to be on time you have to tell them to be there an hour before the program actually starts. In true island fashion most of my class didn’t arrive until 6:15 p.m. and the program started at 6:30p.m. Once I had all but three of my students we headed down to the high school (that was “backstage” and also where we were going to be waiting until it was our turn to go and sing) the first grade classes were in the science room and I spent my time yelling at both classes and telling them to be quiet (ha telling 36 first graders to be quiet is like telling a rock concert to keep it down) Thankfully Jen is also a strict teacher, and even though she was else where at the time it didn’t take long for her kids to listen to me. I got them quiet and then ran outside to find Jen…I was unable to find her…but somehow Alex made it downstairs (apparently he left his class with Eric…poor guy) and was talking to two guys that looked somewhat familiar, except I knew they were not SM’s from our island. Unfortunately I was unable figure out who they were…because Allie (the biology teacher) ran into the science room with a shriek when she saw two of my boys looking at probably the only working microscope there. I rushed inside…apologized to Allie, scolded my boys, then looked up to see the shorter of the two guys looking into the classroom. Flustered I told the first graders to keep it down…and left my aid in charge. Outside the classroom I again searched for Jen and asked her if there was anything that I could do. She sent me upstairs to talk to the teachers up there. I ran upstairs to find out from the 5th and 6th grade classes if they were missing any students. Mark (one of the 6th grade teacher’s) had no idea and told me that maybe 3 were missing. Then I walked into the room where all the 5th graders were…things were insane…the teacher in charge wasn’t doing a very good job of watching the kids, chalk board erasers were flying, kids were decorating their faces and the faces of others with chalk, soda was on the floor and generally everything looked awful and was out of control…he also had no idea and I left him to deal with his class…As I trotted down the stairs I was like “Alex, Alex, Alex it wouldn’t hurt to discipline your kids once in a while.” But I didn’t have time to think about that…we were already running late. …After that Jen and I ran back to her classroom hunting for two missing kids, but they weren’t there…as we past the gym I looked inside to see if I could see those guys…but I didn’t have time to really search. Back to the science room we went and lined up our kids. Once my kids were all in line it was time to go. Jen lead her class and I tried to lead mine…except my kids were not paying attention…Triston appeared to be frozen in place. Thankfully Raz shooed my class through the hallway and soon my little brood was running after me, just like it was practice... As the first row filed onto the stage, I was like…well this is it…please don’t blow it.
I don’t know why I worried, everything went really well. They were all so cute…up there just singing away, twisting back and forth (exactly the thing I told them not to do), looking everywhere but at teacher and generally not paying attention at all…but they didn’t go faster or slower then the piano and when they finished I was beaming just like any parent would. I led my 18 little ducklings off the stage as if I was a proud mother duck (although I would never wish 18 little ducklings on any duck) I was so relieved that it was done with…I went to the back of the gym, told my kids to find their parents and then talked to Becky and watched the rest of the program.
After the program the guys found Marlawat and I. Suddenly it all came back to me. These were the same to guys that were in Hawaii…fellow SM's, who we met while swimming in the ocean...Anyway Marla had to leave and so left me to entertain the guys. I invited the guys to come to our classrooms the next day during our class parties. I knew things were going to be crazy, but I figured that since they were also teachers and use to the noise. Things were pretty much chaos in my classroom and I didn’t have time to talk to the guys, cause my kids were just going nuts…but I think they had fun...really I don’t particually feel like remembering Wednesday…just think of small kids at a birthday party…only that they are all giving and getting gifts...that would have been my classroom...and I was very glad to leave it at 12:30 p.m.
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