Friday Five.
The notorious, infamous, Friday Five.
I have a new attitude regarding this class:
Bring 'em on.
Friday was bad. I was at the end of a long, tiring week. The Bug from Hell was hanging on (and is still here today). Four weeks I've been sick, tired, stressed, homesick, and having random moments of missing random things, like waking up thinking, "I should go to Target today..." and then remembering that I'm 3,000+ miles from the nearest Target. And right now I'd give anything to spend a Sunday curled in bed watching NASCAR. And don't even mention Mexican food in my presence.
To give you an idea about Friday Five, let me just mention one kid (I'll call him G, there's all kinds of laws about names and images of minors and all that...). Let me just tell you about all the things I learned about G that I really did not need to know. I knew he was a bit...different...than the other kids in year 9 (thirteen-year-olds). I always thought it a little odd that he spends a lot of time rocking his chair back and forth. I did not need to know (but now do thanks to the teacher's aide who works very closely with G) that he is, erm, getting his rocks off, if you will. Turns out, when he was a year 7, G was sitting in the Hall at an assembly and he pulled something out of his trousers. Yeah. That something.
This child does not belong at St. Peter's High School. He has proven that he cannot behave appropriately. No normal teenage boy is going to be so obvious about his bodily functions, other than farting or belching. He needs to be in a school where there are people equipped to deal with his needs, which are many. But how are the teachers of St. Peter's supposed to teach a class full of unruly 13-year-olds when one is sitting in the front of the room masturbating??
I shudder just thinking about it.
Anyway, G also happened to get mad at Mandy, the teacher's aide on Friday and reacted by throwing his backpack at one of my electric keyboards. It didn't hit in a very satisfying way so he threw it at a second one.
Good times to be had at this school, let me tell ya.
The bell rang at 3:20 and the kids rushed out. By 3:22 I was in tears with Mandy and her boss, Caroline, comforting me and telling me that I'm actually doing better with some of these kids than others (including one of the deputy heads). I was just so tired and so tired of being sick and tired, I had to get all the tears out. Caroline and Mandy were wonderful and Caroline gave me some great tips for coping with these kids and keeping them in line (stuff she's seen that works for other teachers with the same group).
Needless to say, I was shattered Friday afternoon. Absolutely knackered (Brit-speak for tired).
But Mandy had invited me to dinner with the teachers aides and I glady went along. We had Indian food at a place here in Burnham. Yummy! I'm developing a taste for Tikka Masala and Bombay potatoes and other mild Indian dishes.
So I had fun with them.
Now, on to the underwear mentioned above.
I went to London on Saturday with the intention of splurging on some cute new underwear. Two of my favorite women's magazines have recently done big spreads on lingerie and one did an article on bra-fitting do's and don'ts so I had been feeling like having cute new undies. I went to Marks and Spencer's and bought two adorable bras and matching panties. Then I spent the rest of my day in London feeling smug as I carried my purchases around. No one knew what I'd just bought but yet I felt smug that I'd invested in beautiful lingerie.
It's always nice to do something special for yourself.
My mood is improved (if my sinuses are not) today. I had a lazy Sunday and today I called the Burnham Surgery to set up an appointment with a doc for tomorrow. This cold/flu/virus/whatever has been going on long enough (almost a full month!) and I'm used to better health than this. Plus, I promised Mom and Dad I'd go to the doctor and get it checked out. I think I've actually had maybe even 3 bugs this month. The first was aches and fever and coughing, the second being major couging, the third being the plugged sinuses and post-nasal drip. I'll get it all sorted tomorrow.
Things are looking up!
Cheers,
Meg
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