Gblebh

Normally, today is my Monday because I have been starting a new round of lessons on Thursdays. However, Jean-Jacques suggested that I change my strategy and I’ve decided to stop my current method, get everyone caught up, and begin the fresh topics on a Monday. I think this makes a world of sense for a few reasons: 

1. Jean-Jacques and I will be able to better implement suggestions we have for one another if we teach the same lesson every week.
2. My Monday classes are slightly more well behaved than some of my Thursday sessions, which would make my life easier while I am learning how to best teach the new topic.
3. I think my Thursday periods could benefit from a more “polished” lesson.

To get everyone caught up, I showed a MythBusters episode today. It’s about idioms and the hosts test to see if there is scientific evidence to support the verity of two sayings -- "Cold Feet" and "When Poop Hits the Fan". It was fascinating to watch the students’ reactions to the show because many of them were either extremely interested or horribly bored/sleepy. I’m hoping that it was the former reaction and not the latter. 


Unfortunately this morning was not as relaxing as I had hoped; I received an email from my grandmother explaining that she was unable to post comments on the blog. This was not the first communication that I have received from frustrated readers. Over the past few months, I have spent countless hours attempting to fix the plethora of problems that iWeb and MobileMe have thrown my way. 


At my wit’s end, I decided to give the programs one final chance to remedy themselves forever. I searched the internet for advice that would help me enable comments for people using web browsers other than Safari; I quickly discovered that many others have been frustrated by the same issue, but that they were unable to remedy the situation. That was the final straw for me and I mentally signed the death certificate for my website at web.me.com/katie.tetu. 


It took most of my morning to create the new blog at blogspot.com. However, now that I have learned how to edit settings, post pictures, add copyrights to my photos, and create new entries, I’m a happy camper. In many ways, I prefer using iWeb because it’s an easier program to use and I have more control over things; however, blogspot.com is known to work and I don’t think I’ll have as many issues as I did with iWeb. 


I’d better not experience more problems!

A visiting dignitary

The past few days have been a blur with Margot’s visit. She arrived on Monday and left this morning.  Her presence was productive, and it was fun to see her. We attended two banquets (one hosted by No.1 and the other by No. 2), went to a tea house to chat with Margot, and ate lunch with her and some people from my school. Yesterday morning at around nine o’clock in the morning, Margot and a some people from No. 1 visited the apartment to ensure that everything was in order. (It didn’t take too long to clean everything up; Jean-Jacques is so wonderful because he’s The Dust Warrior and constantly vanquishes the foe with broomstick in hand.) After the home visit, we toured the school’s museum, which was fascinating since I learned some interesting information about the school. We then walked to a famous building on campus and waited to start a meeting that I never attended because I had to leave early to prepare for class. 

Margot and a few teachers observed a lesson that went extremely well. The students were excited by the content and essentially forgot that we had visitors. I was pleased by the observation and I think that all the spectators (students and and official watchers) enjoyed the session.

Today ended up being excellent. At the start of it, I wasn’t sure that it would be a wonderful Wednesday; although I slept a considerable amount last night, I’m still a bit sleepy today. (I went to bed late on Monday and slept horribly.) I had a headache this morning and struggled to teach. However, the lunch rest was wonderful and my headache vanished.

This afternoon, one girl asked if she could bring a camera to the next class because, as she explained, “I want to record this time.” My heart melted because I think that she enjoys my lessons so much that she wants to be able to remember them. 

One boy had some horrible wounds on his face. He was obviously conscious of them and attempted to hide them from the world behind a hand. As he walked into the classroom, his head was down and he was obviously embarrassed. While the students were working on warm-ups, I walked up to him to ask if he was OK. A neighbor explained that he had hurt himself from “running”. I’m not sure this is a logical explanation, but I’m in no position to pursue the issue any further. As the period progressed, the boy seemed to forget about his face, participate in the activities more, and smile broadly. Needless to say, I was pleased that he was able to focus on something considerably more pleasant than his injury.

Now I’m home, listening to Shakira, processing photos I snapped yesterday, and enjoying a moment to breath since this week has been busy. I’m especially happy that our lives are back to “normal”. I hadn’t realized how much I depend upon a routine. When my comfortable schedule is thrown out of whack, I feel discombobulated. Life here is crazy enough already, so I tend to cling to any semblance of normality. 

P.S. The chicken in the photo above was stuck on the roof of a next-door building; it’s gone now, so someone must have rescued it, or it gathered the courage to fly-fall from the space. For a couple days it was an unhappy creature and looked extremely confused. Hopefully it’s in a better place now.