They assumed I wouldn't understand it, but as my eyes grew wide and I called over the English teacher they learned otherwise. As I pointed out the group of students to the English teacher, they pointed and laughed at me. At that point, I went over to them and told them "Tal vez piensan que es un chiste pero mi madre murió hace 3 años. Gracias por recordarme." (Maybe you think that's funny, but my mom died 3 years ago. Thanks for reminding me) I then gathered my things and left school.
Needless to say, I was upset about the situation, and it just brought back the memories of losing my mom and how much I miss her from time to time. I spoke with the program directors on the US and Chilean side, and they told me they would do whatever they could to help. I got a call from Claudia a bit later on, and at that point at least one student was supposed to be expelled. I won't write an entire play by play from that point forward, but long story short the kid is still at the school, the teachers reaffirmed their support for me, and I feel like the adminstration finally realizes that they have to discipline the kids for things like fighting (defined as punching and kicking each other and not listening to me telling them to sit down in opposite sides of the room 4 times while I stand between them) when I send them out of class.
The following morning I was still trying to sort through it all while being at school and needed some comfort food. I began craving the chicken nuggets and fries from the Lider across the street, so I went there. It turns out their fryer wasn't working, so I walked to the McDonald's about 15 minutes away. They were only serving lunch, so I went to the Jumbo at the end of the block. There were no chicken nuggets, so my comfort food ended up being milk and chocolate cake at 9:30 in the morning.
When I was back at school a teacher told me that one of the classes asked if I could come to their class at 1:00, and I told her I would. It turns out that they knew something had happened (but they didn't know exactly what) and they threw me a spontaneous surprise party. There were balloons, chocolate, candy, and a neon orange sign saying "Don't give up!"
The balloon that I am popping in the picture was actually filled with candy inside. I have no idea how they fit them all inside, but it was really cool to see. Before the party happened and had a day to clear my head, I was seriously considering moving to another school or leaving the program and finding another job to teach English somewhere else. After this, I realized that I wasn't going to let a few bad apples get to me, and that the classes that were acting out so badly don't deserve the privilege of having me in class. I simply won't visit the two classes becuase of their behavior, and it will save me a lot of frustration and future situations.After school was over Thursday, Claudia offered to take Erin and I out with her family to lunch again. It was great seeing her family again, especially her 5 year old daughter, and it was such a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.
The weekend included tutoring my private student, playing Magic, a get together for all of the Teaching Chile people, and lots of looking for new places to live. All these things helped me keep my mind off of what happened, and the possibilites of finding a new place to live are perhaps a bit more expensvie but nonetheless exciting.
So I didn't get to the movies or get my paycheck as I was hoping, but those things will be happening this week. I have also made serious headway with finding a new place to live and am hoping to find something to move in by May 20th or so. I have some people that are keeping their eyes and ears open for me, and I know that with time something great will come along.
No comments:
Post a Comment