little random bits from this week

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I can't get through the first day of 3.5-5 Year Olds without having at least one child scream for his/her mother for at least 35 minutes. And this one kicked, too...if I have any bruises tomorrow, I'll know where they came from. Other than that, classes have been going well, though.

~*~

Having nothing else to do tonight, I found myself taking various quizzes about politics and religion (two separate categories, not quizzes that dealt with both) on Selectsmart.com. It's been entertaining...apparently either I'm Wesleyan/Methodist (yes) or an Orthodox Quaker (huh?). But my favorite result came from a quiz entitled "Political Roots," where my first place result was a four way tie between Anarchist, Christian/Social Conservative, Liberal Socialist, and Social Democratic. I didn't know it was possible to be all of those things at once. The quiz was written by a Canadian, I believe, so perhaps politics are different up there. At least it confirms that my political opinions don't fit nicely into any party.

~*~

I have four different NPR stations on my pre-sets for my car radio (jazz and blues from Ypsilanti, classical from East Lansing, Michigan Radio from Ann Arbor, and Michigan Radio from Detroit). Does this make me insufferably elitist, or just really lucky to be living in a place where that's an option? :)

~*~

As I drive to work each morning, I drive over a spot on Plymouth Road where it looks like the Latin word "via," meaning "way" (as in "Via Dolorosa" or "Way of Sorrows"), is written with tar on the pavement. It may be a sheer coincidence where tar was spilled at some point, but I'd like to think that a group of Classics students from U-M (which has a very good Classics department) decided to label the road appropriately at some point. It makes me happy each time I go to work.

almost done with the first semester

I'm exhausted (and judging by how difficult that was to type correctly, I'm really exhausted).

But I survived one end-of-the-semester party yesterday (10 kids, about 8 parents, and 4 or 5 younger siblings, complete with lots of snacks, all in a fairly small classroom). Tomorrow I have three more end-of-the-semester parties (all of which will be smaller), a scavenger hunt with the English Language Program that I've been the planning person for all semester, and a pizza party afterwards. It's supposed to be over 90 degrees. I get even more tired just thinking about it.

But then, I only have to go in on Monday and Tuesday to do wrap-up stuff, and then I'm off to North Carolina to visit Tif for a week.

~*~

I got this email from Reina's mom this week (Reina was the child who cried for over half an hour the first day of class):

Dear Sally,

Thank you for your efforts to teach my daughter .
She does not speak English very well, but she loves to attend your class.

After she arrives back at home, she said that she had a good time.
She seems to be happy,while She is doing homework.
We are looking forward to your next lesson.

Sincerely,

Tamami I.
(Reina's mam)

We've come a long way. And Reina's learned a lot of English in just six weeks.

~*~

Link of interest, particularly for Mom: Strange Maps.

from the mouths of little children...

Yeah, I'm not that good about doing regular updates. Part of it is that my life just doesn't seem that exciting to me right now, and also, moving to Ann Arbor has been more of an adjustment than I realized it would be (it seems like the last six months or so have been nothing but major adjustments...this is wearying). I like my job a lot, but moving to a city where I don't know a lot of people (however, *wave* to Cary!) and I won't be here long enough to build long-term friendships has been challenging. But I have Ukrainian conversation time with Svitlana, think I may have found a church (two, actually) for the summer, and generally run up my phone bill. So I'm hanging in there.

And as I said, I really enjoy my job. The kids say the funniest things. Kay, one of my 4-year-olds, has a very stubborn streak to her...as well as a misunderstanding of reflexive pronouns. Last week, we were learning about feelings, and she said, "I angry." "Why are you angry?" I asked. "I angry because Daddy help me on monkey bars and I do it yourself!!!" She's very big on the phrase "I do it yourself."

Also from Ryan in the same class: "Who that?" (looking at the mailbox for a child who hadn't yet joined the class). "That's Mia," I said. "She's going to be the new girl." "Why we need new girl?" he asked.

My kids really are what keep me going some days. No matter how tired or drained or lonely I get, teaching them cheers me up!

shrug your shoulders and laugh...it beats the alternatives!

"Today was...interesting," I said to my mom on the phone tonight.

"Someone threw up?" she asked.

"Among other things," I answered. Apparently when you've worked in schools as long as she has, you just understand this stuff inherently.

So yes, I had a child throw up in class today (all over her Mother's Day card, which while it was unfortunate for the card, did make clean-up easier, as throwing away the card removed most of the mess). This was the same class where kids who had had indoor recess today at school still couldn't go outside due to rain so I had lots of antsy little boys, the electricity went off for a few seconds, and when it came back on, it set off the security alarm for the building, which the police had to come reset.

And did I mention that there was a parent in class today who had been concerned that her daughter was developmentally delayed and too young for the class and wanted to come observe? Of all the days to come... Fortunately, she seemed to be understanding about the chaos and see that in fact, her daughter was just fine. (She left right after the policeman...I don't know if her curiousity was satisfied or if she just couldn't take it anymore.)

Never a dull moment with this job.

be not dismayed, whate'er betide--God will take care of you

I feel richly blessed with furniture tonight (and exhausted from moving it). The guy in the apartment above me moved out today, and he told me that I could have any of the furniture he left behind. So I have a couch (still up there, until I dispose of the futon I had), a table, a coffee table, a TV with DVD player built in, a stool, a computer desk chair, and a really, really nice mattress and box springs. Nikki, the girl across the hall, helped me move it all downstairs.

So, for having picked a place more or less at random off of Craigslist, this apartment has worked out to be a really good deal. Not overly expensive, good neighborhood, and now, lots of furniture for free.

Teaching...it's a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it. I have two classes of 2 to 3 1/2-year-olds, who come with a parent, one class of 3 1/2 to 5-year-olds, and one class of 4 1/2 to 6-year-olds. I'm sure I'll have lots of good teaching stories this summer, but tonight I'm too tired for them. As I said to Mom on the phone, I didn't go for a walk tonight, but I think I still got my exercise in.

home sweet apartment

I think the last post should have ended, "And when my life gets sort of settled, I'll try and start blogging again more regularly." As it turned out, I spent close to a week and a half (minus the weekend) living in a motel before moving into my apartment for the summer on Wednesday. Wednesday was also my first actual teaching day, with four classes; as well, I had horrible allergies. I basically managed to get the bed made and call Mom and Tif before falling asleep.

My apartment is great. It's part of a huge old brick house that's been turned into a bunch of apartments, largely populated by grad and law students. It's a little shabby in a good sort of way, with wood floors and detail around the doorways. The apartment itself is pretty small. It's got the same amount of rooms as my place in Ukraine--living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, but the rooms are smaller. But it's big enough for me (although sorely lacking in counter space in the kitchen). The girl I'm subletting from left me her furniture (which I can keep after I move out), and I'm inheiriting several other items from the guy upstairs who's moving out, so it should be pretty cozy once I get things organized.

This was originally going to be a much longer post including a section on teaching, but since both Tif and Melissa called me during the composition, I think it's time to close for now.