After school I taught my first piano lessons. I have Juan Fer and Georgy Orellana. Morgan and Cole had school until 3:00 so Lily brought me, Alysa, and Laina home to do the lessons. However, when we got home, I realized that Chris had the remote control for the alarm system and I didn't know how to turn the alarm off. We all had to sit outside and wait for Chris to come save us!!
The lessons went pretty well and the boys are really excited to learn to play the piano. I don't really know what I am doing so if anybody has any suggestion, PLEASE let me know!! I am hoping to eventually get my Spanish to the point where I can help teach other people in the ward.
My music instruction continued at my choir meeting tonight. The chorister wanted to meet with me so I asked Lily if she could help translate. She ended up not being able to make it so I was on my own. I think we did remarkably well attempting to communicate!! Apparently she is new to this calling and doesn't know anything about music or conducting and she wanted me to help her. It was pretty funny because I kept saying 'abierto' (to open) instead of 'arriba' (up). She had to keep correcting me. There is still a lot to be learned!! I am thinking that I might start a basic music class before choir for those that want to learn to read music. I am also trying to decide if I am going to: A: follow the conductor on Sunday, B: follow the congregations singing, or C: play the music the way it is supposed to be played!!
Today was also very sad for our family. When we went to Mexico, our security guard Mario was transferred to a different job. Today we found out that this past Saturday he was killed in a motorcycle crash. We still haven't had the heart to tell the kids yet. Every day they say that they miss Mario.
Wednesday 6/3/09
O.K. So, I am officially the meanest person at the school!! I actually made a kid cry at school today. This one kid (very nice kid but with no self control at all!!) repeatedly gets out of his seat and doesn't follow directions. I was pretty frustrated with a group of the boys and I told them that if I had any more problems that they would lose their "Fun Friday". So of course the first thing the kid does is get out of his seat and start messing around. Of course I had to follow through with my warnings and I took away his Fun Friday. I felt so horrible when I looked over and he was sitting (YEAH, he was sitting!!) at his desk with his head down. I did talk to him after class to make sure that he understood why I did it. I also told him that he had one more day of school to show me how well he can follow directions and that if he is really good he could earn back some minutes.
There was a lot of rain again today. Every time it rains, the ceiling in my 4th grade class leaks. The room is soooo tiny that we can barely fit the desks in the class and I can not fit in between them to go down the aisles. When the ceiling leaks, I have to try to figure out where to put the kids that are getting wet when there is no extra room at all!! It sure takes away from the class! Fortunately, the classes in our building (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade) will be moving back to the main building at the end of the month so there will hopefully be more room and less leaks!
After Chris got done with work, we went to pick up his new car. It is so weird to see him driving a car rather than a big truck. It is definitely easier to maneuver a car here than a big truck!!
Thursday 6/4/09
So, Cesar A. (the kid I made cry yesterday) was wonderful today. I only had to talk to him once and he earned some minutes for Fun Friday (on Thursday since there's no school on Friday this week). However, I made another kid cry. Wow, I am on a roll!! I swear this other kid has a serious case of ADHD!! He can not hold still or keep his mouth shut for two seconds at a time!! UGH!! After p.e. he came in and gave me a hug so apparently he wasn't too upset!
Overall the day went much better today. The kids are really responding well to the rules (for the most part) and participating in class. We had our Fun Friday/Thursday and the kids had a blast. The fourth grade class even got cookies that I made for Morgan's birthday. A group of girls from the 4th grade made a little party for Morgan during recess but wouldn't let the rest of the class participate. I told them that I was going to save the cookies that I had brought for the party and use them for the whole class. Wow, I think I won the heart of a few of the kids with the cookies!!!
I seriously don't know how people can work full time, raise kids, and keep their house clean. Our house is a mess!! I was so excited to have Friday off from school so that I could get the house cleaned, do the grocery shopping, etc. Unfortunately I have been informed that there is no school because it is parent - teacher conferences and they want me to be there. UGH!! What am I seriously supposed to tell the teachers since I have only taught for 1 1/2 weeks and all of the grades are from before I came????? Plus, I will have to have the principal there to translate. So much for a peaceful day spending time with my kids!
Friday 6/5/09
What a waste of time!! I went in for parent teacher conferences from 7:00-2:00. There were 10 parents that showed up. It was such a pain trying to keep my kids entertained in another room while I sat with the parents, Spanish teachers, and the principal. I didn’t have a clue what they were saying and then the principal wanted me to talk about each kid. Everything had to be translated to the parents but then nobody bothered to translate any of the responses for me. I don’t have a clue what any of the parents said or how they felt or what they want!! Oh, well!
I am so exhausted. The teacher that I am filling in for only took a month off after her first baby. However, this time around she has a 10 month old and a newborn and no support system anymore. The principal thinks that she might need a little more time before she comes back. I am mentally preparing myself to finish out the school year. (It ends in October!!) I am really hoping that she comes back soon though. I really feel like I am being taken away from my responsibilities as a mother and a wife. (Not to mention the things that I want to do for myself!!....go to Spanish school, learn to play the marimba, learn to weave, volunteer at an orphanage, volunteer at the bishop’s storehouse, and work on my many sewing projects, etc.)
Saturday 6/6/09
Although it is Saturday and we told the kids to sleep in, Morgan was up at 5:30 and Cole at 6:00. I hadn’t slept well (yes, I finally caught the crud that the rest of the family has had!!) so I tried to sleep in longer. I was very pleasantly surprised to wake up to Chris bathing Laina and the rest of the kids already dressed. We spent the majority of the morning cleaning and changing their rooms. Each month we rotate rooms and who share with who. This month Morgan and Cole are back together and Alysa and Laina are back together. The system works well because it forces us to clean the rooms really good as well as all of their bedding.
While we were cleaning, we realized that we’d been so preoccupied with other things that nobody had said or sung happy birthday to Morgan. Everybody hid in one of the rooms while I “yelled” at Morgan to get upstairs and help. When she walked into the room (thinking she was in trouble!!), she was extremely happy when everybody yelled “surprise”, and sang to her.
For Morgan's birthday, she wanted to have the Orellanas over and barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs. Since we didn’t have a grill, Chris went and got one and told Morgan it was her birthday present. In addition to her new grill, she got to go shopping with Dad for some new clothes. She only found one sweater though. When she was done shopping, we went to get her cake. She wanted an ice cream cake from Sarita but the first store we went to was all out. The second store we went to only had little tiny ones so we ended up having to get two.
Morgan also got some new books for her birthday. One of the books she’s been waiting for for over a year and I think she was pretty shocked to see that I got it for her.
And as usual, the bags from Grandma Hunsaker were a huge hit with all of the kids.
To end the day we had a fun barbecue with the Orellana family.
We are so lucky that they are here and have been such good friends to us. They have really helped us out a lot. Not to mention that the kids love having some friends that can understand them!! I keep telling the Orellanas that they need to send their kids to the states with a foreign exchange program. They said that that is a dream of theirs but they don’t think it will ever become a reality.
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