Friday normalcy

We were so tired from the trip back from Mazatlán that we only stayed about 30 minutes at Shania's house.  It was nice to meet her family.  I hope to get to hang out with them more.

We got home around 8:30 and Alma went straight to sleep.  I did some things and suddenly it was 11:00!  

Friday was a typical school day.  Maribel had told me she would be coming by to pick up the educational materials I had bought with Fulbright money to store in the office until Yuri gets back (ha!), so I had taken the one box I had to school.  I started throwing away trash and cleaning up my area.  Sandra commented that the year was coming to an end (I'm getting sensitive to this and was close to tearing up).  We made small talk while the other Sandra (a special ed teacher) worked on the decorations for the Mother's Day celebration.  Since we hadn't had school during Mother's Day due to the flu, we would be celebrating Tuesday.  Of course all her classes/groups were cancelled so she could make some glitter letters for the banner.  When she asked me if we celebrated Mother's Day in the US, I explained that we acknowledged it at school, but we didn't take a day to celebrate it.  It was a holiday that always fell on Sundays and was more for family celebration.  I guess because she was the special ed teacher working on glitter letters instead of working with her kids for the fourth or fifth time this year, it struck me oddly when she said, "Y'all don't celebrate much in the US, do you?"  I said no, but then she said, "Y'all are just colder, huh?"

I've had this conversation before.  I've even been the one saying it.  In comparison, we're much colder.  We have more personal space.  Our things are our things and it's not a given that you'll share.  But this day it hit me and I said, "Well, no, we don't celebrate much.  We spend a lot of time in school teaching and learning."  As soon as I said it, I felt terrible.  I hadn't said it with an attitude and she wasn't offended, but I was disappointed in myself.

About that time, I went to my first class, but Rocio wasn't there, so no second grade.  I was disappointed because I've been making rapid progress with all my classes lately.  I've been covering two to three lessons a day, meaning we wouldn't have tests, but we'd get to the last chapter, even if we didn't finish.  I can't tell you what a sense of accomplishment that gives me after feeling I'd taught nothing all year.

I went back to the computer room and continued the cleanup process.  Sandra and I resumed our conversation and she asked me when my last day would be.  I told her I thought the English department worked until the last day of June.  She said, "Yeah, but when's your last day here?"  I reiterated that I assumed it would be June 26.  She asked me if I knew Cecy, who worked in the supervision.  Of course; I've practically lived at the English office the past month.

She said that Cecy taught at her school in the afternoon and that she had told Sandra that the last day for English would be June 15.  That's one week away!  I'm not certain that's policy, but I'm pretty sure if I told my principal that, he would wish me well.

Dad comes the 18th, so I'll probably teach until then.  I want to finish my book with as many classes as possible.  I also have some personal projects I want to film the kids for (I want my students in the US to hear as much "authentic" accent as possible.  I'm going to film my Mexican students in conversations, but in order for my US students to understand and follow, they'll be very scripted conversations and the kids will have to be coached to speak slowly and clearly.  I was explaining this to my first graders this week since I'll want to use age appropriate actors for each grade in the US.  Jassiel [I think I put a picture of him and talked about his great improvement over the year in a blog not long ago] broke my heart.  I was explaining why I wanted to film them.  It's hard for them to picture me in the US and with other kids learning Spanish because they already speak English, etc.  I reminded them that I'd be in the US next year, back in my home.  That I teach Spanish to little boys and girls like them and that I wanted to film them.  Blah, blah.  Anyway, as I was reminding them that I had to leave, Jassiel says, "You have to go back to your house, right?  Because your mom misses you?  You won't be here next year, right?  We'll have a different Teacher.  But you're the best.  You're the best teacher I have.  Really.  You're the best teacher there is."  Bless him.).

All that to say that I had some personal stuff I want to accomplish in the next week and a half, too.  We'll see what the final verdict is when I ask Maribel.

After recreo, I taught my 4th graders who are few but can spend a whole class doing nothing, so it makes it a bit tricky.  I left there at 11:45 to teach my 5th graders and as I'm leaving, Lety (the 4th grade teacher) says, "Dismissal at 12, right?  Oh, well!"

Ugh.

So I'll have to hit fifth grade really hard next week.