What a Day!

Before I go into details, I must admit that today was certainly not the WORST day I have ever had. But equally, it was not the BEST day either. It all started off with waking up a little late this morning and the power being off. Let me reiterate that I live on an island in the carribean, and while we have plenty of heat, humidity, and mould, we don't always have plenty of power. When the lights go out, the 8 gallon electric hot water heater can't heat, which means that there is just enough hot water for one shower in the morning. I know that 8 gallons may sound like a lot, but trust me, it isn't. But I digress. I woke up late, which meant that my roommate hit the shower first, and I had a lukewarm / borderline cold shower this morning. My favourite. Then I walked to school (I live about 1 minute away) and simultaneously got stopped in the middle of the street by a parent and almost run over by some freaking moron. Although, who exactly the freaking moron is here could be debated. I did stop after all. After my brush with death, the child's parent, who so wisely stopped me in the middle of the road to talk to me, tells me that his daughter didn't bring her notebooks to school today. Now I have to wonder, a) was that really worth almost dying over? And b) why didn't she bring her journals to school?!?!? We have only been doing this for the last 193 days. I just don't get it.

But on with the story. Today was Sport's Day. Read: The kids rotate from station to station playing different sports all day. ALL DAY! For teachers, that equals 6 hours of wasted time that we can never get back spent sitting and watching children run around. I shudder at the thought of all the things I *could* have been doing instead, like cleaning out my cabinet, organizing my classroom, finishing report cards, etc.

But it gets better. Tomorrow is the all-day play practice at some theatre for the whole school. Just imagine one room without air-conditioning, and over 100 kids who are supposed to stay sitting and remain calm and QUIET for 6 hours while the disorganized Theatre Arts teachers try to figure out what the hell they are doing for the final performance of the play, which is the day after. Oh joy! Nothing like a little advanced planning to make things go smoothly. Suddenly, I have turned into a babysitter. Only 8 more days to go!