Thursday, December 17, 2009

Ilan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

It's only 10:30 in the morning, and this has by far been the worst day of teaching so far. As great and amazing as last week was, this week has been basically a total nightmare. I don't know why the students are being even worse than usual this week, but they are and I am not happy about it. Today started off when I woke up and wasn't feeling too good, my stomach was a little upset and I had a bit of the shakes. I felt a little better after I showered and ate, but still not 100%. I rode my bike to school, and as soon as I locked it up I felt this unbelievably intense pain on my right elbow and I look down and see this GIANT black wasp stinging the living daylights out of me. I swatted it away but it just flew up and stung me above my right eyebrow. The pain was almost unbearable and I could feel my eye and elbow swelling up like crazy. I ran to the bathroom and put cold water on the stings but it was too late, they were already swollen and throbbing. I went to the nurses office and she gave me some medicine and put some cream on the stings and the swelling went down, and so did the pain, but it still really hurt. I walked into my first class feeling pretty awful, but hopeful the class would go well because I prepared a game of Bingo to play. It did not go well at all. The students didn't seem to care about the game, no one really played, and I just stood up there looking like an idiot. Then, to make things even worse, my coordinator Pat came in and asked me to talk about an incident that happened with a student yesterday in one of my classes. This student, who is the worst student I have in any of my classes, came in 20 minutes late, sat down and started talking. I asked him to stop repeatedly, but he just ignored me and continued to talk and disrupt the class. I told him that if he didn't stop talking, I would ask him to leave. At this point, he just got up and left the class. I guess he went home and told his parents that I "kicked him out" of the class, so they came in today to complain about me. So, I had to sit there and explain to Pat what really happened so she could explain to his parents. I am not in trouble with the school or anything, but it just sucks and I was really upset that it happened. This kid is a problem in all classes it seems, Pat told his parents that he has repeatedly been in trouble with other teachers, not just me. I still have 4 more classes to get through today, then I have to do private tutoring tonight. I cannot wait for this day to be over. Tomorrow I'm going to Bangkok for my programs mid-semester reunion and I can't wait to get out of here and see some familiar faces.

1 comment:

  1. Ilan -

    Every single day with teaching is a new day. Bad days happen, but don't let them get you down! A whole new day comes after, complete with its own fresh start! Don't give up, I know you can do this!

    Love love love,
    Kathy

    P.S. I love the title of this post. Great reference. :)

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