Inspiration: Roddy Stickers

This morning I had a fun phone conversation with my Mom and sister. I got to hear a bit of the telethon in the background.

However, there's no labor day in China, and I was busy at work making good-bye cards for Amy and Claire. We are all going out to dinner tomorrow night for their "leaving-do" which is what the Brits call good-bye parties. I made two big cards and everyone was given a Roddy sticker to represent themselves. I choose Sherlock Holmes Roddy to represent my essence. However, I brought them to the gym with me after work, and I dropped one somewhere between the gym and my apartment. I went back when I realized that I had lost it, and tried to retrace my steps, but it's gone. I'll be back to the drawing board tomorrow!

The new teacher stopped by briefly today. He looked exhausted and overwhelmed. I bet I looked like that too when I first started.

I taught two small star classes this evening. The first class, the one with the violent one, was complete chaos. Not even the normally behaved students were listening to me. Finally, I got them all sitting down in their little chairs, which was quite an effort, and I stomped me foot and said, "I'm angry" and erased all their little stars on the board that they earn when they are being good. The exceptionally bright student in the class whispered, "Teacher is angry" and they all nodded their little heads. (It was actually pretty precious and it took all of me to not smile at that moment). The rest of the class still wasn't great, but they were trying hard to listen. At the fifteen minute break between the two classes, I went to the teachers' office and vented to Miles who shared his own small star war story. Ryan came walking back into the room after his own small star class and he just sighed and said, "I lived to survive another small star class. Thank God it's over!" It's a rough world for a small star teacher sometimes.