It's been a week.

I'll try to give you all a quick re-cap.  Last wednesday was "awful."  It was an extremely hot day.  And on top of that, I caught some sort of horrendous stomach bug.  Teaching kids when you have a violently upset stomach is not an easy task, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  So for every one of my teachers who has had to fake it and make it through class, Bravo.  The teaching wasn't so bad, but it was, again, hot, and the day was long.  I had to teach 5 classes.  That's not terrible, really, but in conjunction with everything else, I just wasn't having a good day.
My stomach continued to revolt throughout thursday, and the teachers at school noticed.  I assured them that I was fine, but I was unable to mask my pain completely.  That day was mostly a blur, and a concentrated effort to make it through each class.  I finally felt better at the end of the day, and was able to make it through band rehearsal that night.
Fridays are always hectic, because I teach "six" classes.  I teach 4 whole periods, and then do and half into lesson with some of the younger students.  It's fun, but its quite the hectic scramble.  Some of the 5th graders decided to cartwheel out of class.  I didn't quite know how to respond, so I just continued with the lesson while the teacher went to collect them.  It was hilarious, but I kept my cool and continued the lesson.  The 6th graders were "supposed" to do a worksheet.  I had one planned for them.  But the Language teacher saw it and turned it down flat.  So I had to come up with something to do, and fast.  I made it work with Janken assassins and parachute man, and decided that it would be fun to incorporate that into the rest of my lessons.  Also, I have this friday off. WOO!
Speaking of schedule changes, it gets really difficult to remember what classes have learned what when things are constantly changing with m schedule.  On wed, the 5th graders are a full week ahead of everyone else, and I have varying degrees of sixth grade differences through the rest of the week.  I made an excel spreadsheet to help me remember, but its tough.  Especially because I'm not prone to being very organized.
This past weekend, we all let loose at the duck.  It's a bar named "The Drunken Duck," but since we're regulars now, we just call it the duck.  Then saturday I spent being productive around the house until I went to a charity event at a club.  It was fun, and I ended up with a new shirt.  Ryota asked if we could trade shirts.  I don't know why.  I don't know if its common in Japan for people to trade shirts with each other, but he asked, and I said sure.  So he got my crummy wife beater, and I got his snazzy afro t-shirt.  I was down. Then we left the club and went to a snack bar.  I made friends with some of the band members from the club, and we had a good time.
Sunday was indeed a day of rest.
Monday was intense.  I only taught for an hour and a half. Two 45 minute classes.  But both of them were double lessons.  So two 5th grade classes at a time, twice.  Made it seem like forever.  But it really wasn't.
Then, today, I walked into school and was told that my bosses would be observing me today.  I don't know if I've expressed this clearly before, but Tuesdays are my least favorite days.  They are all 6th grade, and it's the first time I teach the new lesson.  So if it's going to tank and fail, I have no idea until after my first class tuesday.  The problem is they were scheduled to show at 10, right during my first lesson.  Luckily, for whatever reason, they didn't come.  We'll see what the rest of the week holds.  Now I'm off to sleep, so I can be ready for a long day tomorrow.
Dexter OUT