So I have officially made it through my first day of intensives! Got to work at 8:45 and was running out the door as soon as the last class ended at 7 pm. The day wasn't as bad as I expected though I bet by Thursday I will be exhausted. With only a half hour break for lunch the day kind of flies by in a combination of being super overwhelmed and spaced out. I really enjoyed my intensives class as I have taught half of the kids (six in all) and they were some of the best students I have had and also adorable. The three that I have not taught seem super smart and well behaved so it should be a pretty relaxing and fun class. It is nice to have some new students in the middle of the term as I am getting a bit sick of the classes I have now. The class structure and material is also different which is refreshing. Its definitely a long day but its nice to finish at 7 rather than 10 and have the possibility of going out to dinner/lying around my apartment doing nothing.
I am a little more concerned about tomorrow for two reasons. One is that it is a group of lower level students which I tend not to do as well with (probably because I actually have to teach English to them). Danielle had them today and she said they were pretty good. I am pleased because one of the students, Miles, is maybe the funniest kid I have every met. I don't think he realizes how funny I think he is as he often asks me what is going on when I am watching him/laughing but I have never met a kid with more severe and yet endearing ADD. This kid cannot sit still for more than five seconds nor can he focus during a 15 min quiz without reminders ever 2-3 min. But he is great- generally good attitude, energetic and funny (probably just to me).
The second thing that I am not looking forward to is my first afternoon class tomorrow. It is a class of the second to lowest level and pretty much all elementary students. Before intensives this class was 12 students- all but two of them the most poorly behaved boys EVER. No matter how positive and energetic I try to start out with by the third hour I just want to curl and and die. Not only are they horribly behaved but they are not very smart. So I am either desperately trying to get everyone to behave and listen to me or I am trying to explain the most basic concept that they would have learned months ago if they every listened to a teacher. Things have slowly been improving (of course, when there is only one more month) but the catch is that at least 5 students are being added to the class starting tomorrow. One of our teachers is leaving and so our classes are being combined. My only ray of hope is that it will be all girls which will potentially mellow all those boys. I feel so bad for the two girls in the class now because they are super smart and get very frustrated with all of the boys bad behavior. So Tuesdays and Thursdays will probably be my hardest days but they go by so fast that its not so bad. And I always know that there is a big glass of wine awaiting me at home.
The rain has mostly stopped but it was overcast all weekend which was a bummer. I had to work Saturday morning but spend the afternoon hanging out with friends at this great restaurant with amazing sangria and no other customers. We then went to Korean BBQ for dinner and then hit the town. Sunday was spent cleaning my apartment while I listened to Amy Winehouse on repeat in commemoration. Pretty depressing day what with her death and reading about the horrors in Norway (not Sweden Pete). Weird to have Amy Winehouse's death the same day as my dad, probably why I though it was so extremely sad. It is the first death of any sort of musician that I really respect in my life, and particularly jarring that she was 27. All my original idols of middle school, mostly people introduced to me by my dad (except for my ultimate idol Kurt Cobain who Pete gets credit for) were part of the fated 27 club: Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix most significantly.
Hoping that next weekend is finally sunny so that I can work on my "tan" at the beach. I can't believe its already the end of July, the 23rd totally caught me by surprise as I haven't felt like it has been summer at all. Hopefully I will get some quality beach time in soon and make it through intensives without going crazy.
I hope everyone is having a good summer and getting nice and tan and relaxed!
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