4/23/09

There's no guiltier feeling than having your 3 year old wake you up in the morning saying, "I don't want to go to school" then crawling into bed and going back to sleep. Then waking up your 5 year old who says she is too sleepy and didn't want to get up, and didn't want to go to school, and didn't want to wear a uniform. Ahhh, I love my life!!
We were able to have Suzanne Chaney come and pick us all up for school. It was pretty nice to be able to use the school drive-thru drop off....too bad I had to get out also!!
Morgan and Cole once again left for their Spanish class with no problems at all. Alysa and Laina were at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. They were both holding my leg screaming that they didn't want to go to class, that they HATED school, and they wanted to go home. Alysa can get quite the attitude when she doesn't want to do something. I couldn't get Laina to go to her class and her English teacher wasn't there who usually takes her from me and gets her calmed down. I couldn't be in both classes at the same time and couldn't get either to stay in their class long enough to get the other kid to their class. They were both crying and making me feel absolutely horrible. I finally took Laina to her class and just left her screaming then took Alysa to her P.E. class. She flat out refused to follow the directions and was giving such attitude that I just took her back to her classroom and had a breakdown. The whole time I could hear Laina still screaming that she wanted her mommy. I was at my wits end and didn't know how to handle the situation so I left Alysa and found Lily and asked for her advice. I feel absolutely horrible leaving my kids screaming (probably more for the teachers sake than the kids!!) and I'm not too sure what the culture is like here in those situations. She told me to leave and go to the other building and that she would take care of Alysa and Laina. While I was waiting for somebody to take me to the other building I could see that Lily had Alysa at the p.e. class. I don't know what I would do without Lily. She has absolutely, 100% been God's angel sent to help me through these tough times!! (Did I mention that some situation in their lives made them move to Xela a couple months before us???)
Going to the other building made a HUGE difference for me. I was able to observe the 5th grade English class and really liked the students. When that class was done, I met up with Morgan and went to recess where Cole was in line to go into his English class. They were both in good spirits so at least 1/2 the kids were happy!! At recess I was able to talk to some of the 5th graders and practice their names. They asked Morgan to play with them and asked her what she liked to do at recess. We came up with chinese jump rope. We didn't have an elastic rope or rubberbands but the p.e. teachers was there with a regular rope. We tied it up and taught all the kids how to play. I couldn't believe how quickly the crowd grew!! We even had the p.e. teachers trying it!!
When recess was over, Cole had p.e. so I went with his class. Cole still seemed very nervous to be at p.e. but was very relieved that the teacher didn't single him out at all. (Coles teacher asked the p.e. teacher to let him "blend" in) I was able to observe the 3rd grade class for a while until I got a phone call from Chris and had to excuse myself. Chris was still in Guatemala City and not having much luck finding a vehicle for us.
I sat and watched Morgans class in p.e. for a few minutes before the principal of the school came over and asked if I could teach the 4th grade English class for an hour while the teacher left for a doctors appointment.....right then!! I thought it was so strange that they would ask just anybody (yes, I feel like a just anybody!!) to teach the class with only a minutes notice!! I didn't have anything else better to do so I agreed. Wow, that class is noisy. The teachers definitely aren't as strict here as in the U.S. We got through the hour without any major problems. I kind of wonder if I would be able to teach the class for a month though. I think my biggest concern is the fact that I never could stand English classes growing up and I don't really remember anything about verbs, prepositions, etc. I would definitely need a quick refresher course!!
The end of the day was wonderful. It felt sooooo good to pick up the kids and have all four smiling. I think Laina and Alysa really do love me since they came running up and gave me a huge hug. They were in great spirits which of course boosted my spirits.
Lily brought us home from school and Cole was pretty excited to have them stay for a little while so he could play with Sebastian. When they left it was crazy homework time. Morgan got most of her homework done all by herself which was a great help. Cole once again had a ton of homework that he got extremely frustrated with and ended up having to finish after everybody else was asleep!!
Chris made it home about 8:30 and we we're all very relieved that the last two days are over!! Only one more day of school and then the weekend!! Oh, I can't wait for Saturday!!