A More Mundane Post

Once upon a time it was this morning and Paul had taken his shower and was ready to leave the bathroom. Only, he couldn’t, because the bathroom door ‘locked’ and he was stuck. I tried the handle from the outside, and he tried it from the inside, and nothing happened. (Keep in mind that our bathroom has no windows or doors other than this one.) So I went and got the screwdriver; only, there were no screws in the door handle. Eventually, after about 15 minutes, much shouting, and some tears, I had to hammer the handle off and pass a screwdriver in to Paul, who managed to fidget with the locking thing enough to get himself out. After that, we had to clean up the Benalyn on the floor from Paul’s attempt to hammer himself out.

It was not a happy morning.

We’re in week two of winter camps. Paul gets a new group of kids tomorrow, but I have the same group for three weeks. Today, I had one kid spit out his gum twice, and give me the crackers he was eating. He was still chewing a new piece of gum when he left. I’m amazed that parents send their children to these classes. Some of my kids are bored, while others have to be forced to pick up a pen. Most of them just copy from another’s work anyway. There is no concept of ‘do your own work’ here… which is fine for aiding a group-mentality society, but not so fine when it comes to test time. Then again, these kids know that the curriculum I teach isn’t directly on the test (though it’s usually relevant), so they don’t bother. I suppose it’s the same as teaching anywhere. I just feel especially bad for some of their parents.

Camp, for both of us, is done by 12:00. The rest of our days are spent in a relatively empty office making more plans and reading things online. (You would think that means I get a lot done, but it doesn’t always.) Paul’s school sends him home at 2:30 so they don’t have to heat his office. Gas is ridiculous here, and there is no such thing as insulation or double-paned windows. I share an office with the one other teacher who is at the school to answer questions. Once a week a class of kids comes in, dressed in uniform, to clean the school. They’re here at 9 and gone by 11. It’s bizarre.

It’s snowing here; a pleasant, soft sort of snowing. One of our friends was sent home early from work because of the snow, and it made me think of Nashville, where sometimes they give ‘snow days’ based on the weather report.

Ps. For those of you who are interested in such subjects, we had to throw out the ‘Feel the clean Cosmos’ toilet seat – it was broken. If I could have taken a picture of the toilet seats at the store, I would. A few were out of our price range, but came with heated seats and bidet functions. Other choices included: clear plastic sparkly, teddy bears with clear top, large pastel florals (seat plus top), Christmas trees with Santa (seat and top – and not even on sale!), and beach-theme (umbrellas, sandcastles, etc. – also seat + top). We opted for the most simple – plain white with a sailboat and harbor on the top. My favorite, however, was a floral cloth cover for your toilet seat, aptly named, “Fabric Cover A Piss Pot.”