Being A Teacher in May

This week I spoke with my mom for awhile on the phone and she asked me how school is going. I replied that my students have increased their ridiculousness ten-fold and are absolutely driving me insane a daily basis. She wanted me to explain further and I had trouble citing all the examples of the things that make me want to pull my hair out on a daily basis, because really, it's the little things.

Except when you're a teacher, the little things in May are the little things your students have been building towards since August. Therefore, there comes a point when you. just. cannot. deal. with. them.

These little things include:

• Writing all over & inside of what were my brand new textbooks last August.
• Drawing on my desks.
• Asking to leave class because they forgot their backpack at lunch. (Really?)
• Ordering in food for lunch and having their drivers (yes, my students are that wealthy) bring it to them.
• Showing up to a test, quiz, or class in general and asking me to borrow a pen or pencil. On a daily basis. I swear my students' lockers eat writing utensils.
• Asking me to move a math quiz so it is not the same day as an English quiz. Even though in three weeks they have five finals in three days.
• Complaining about finals in general.
• Taking a quiz, going to another class for 70 minutes and then banging down my door asking if I graded their quizzes yet.
• Showing up for after school help because they didn't listen in class.

The list could go on and on, and yes, I realize none of it is terrible. But I am just sick of it and them. Yesterday, one class asked why I have been so upset all week. (Yes, they notice this) I told them it always happens this way, because of the stress at the end of the year. But then I said, don't worry I will like you again in June.

The student I was looking at said "You don't like me?"

"No, not you, everyone."

Another student asked, "Just our class?"

"No, the whole grade."

There is just so much to do before summer gets here...in fact my to do list has been separated into four categories to accommodate for everything. Sad face. But like I said, I will like them again in June, it's just this hard time when there is so much to do before summer that I am not finding their crazy idiosyncrasies as amusing as I once did.

However, there's always THIS:

Which, May or not May, totally made me laugh out loud. At least my students are funny in their sassiness. Even if they obviously didn't learn about exponents.

A Weekend of Sun & Sand Fleas

Last weekend we celebrated Teacher's Day with a half day of school on Friday, so a group of seven of us took of right as school ended for the Pacific Coast. I have been to the coast several times before, but only to kayak, so this was a different experience.

After a three hour ride to Buenaventura, we hopped a boat to the coastal towns of Juanchaco & Ladrilleros and settled in at Hotel Palma Real for the weekend. This part of Colombia is extremely rustic, with very little infrastructure, so the fact that our hotel included a swimming pool, meals provided and air conditioning was a miracle. And one I was very thankful for more than once during the weekend!

Throughout the weekend we spent some quality time at the beach, playing games and hanging out together since most of the people on the trip are friends who will not be here next year. The beach, La Barra, was mostly deserted on Saturday, so we enjoyed spreading out on the sand, reading, playing lots of frisbee, having a few beers, and playing in the ocean.

View of La Barra beach from the slippery slopes of the path from our hotel.

Welcome to La Barra!

Of course Tara, Hana and I got a Coco Loco to accompany the 30 minute walk to the beach.

We arrived to the beach to find Caleb & Angie had constructed this lovely beach shelter!

Enjoying some beers oceanside :)

The weekend was not all fun and games, however, as I returned back to the hotel that night with more sand flea bites than I could possibly count. Upon arrival back in Cali I ended up doing some Google research on sand fleas and discovered the following in the first paragraph:

"You're sitting there reminiscing about your day at the beach. The water was perfect, the sand was bright and powdery...and now your legs are itching like crazy for some reason. Upon closer inspection, you notice a series of red welts decorating your skin. You have just been the unlucky main course at the sand flea buffet. These bites are rarely dangerous, but can cause discomfort for days."

NO KIDDING.

So now I have two different anti-histamines to keep me from constantly itching. Supposedly the marks will go away in two weeks or so, at which time I can stop constantly wearing pants and looking like I just had a bad case of shingles.

Despite the nasty bites, I enjoyed the weekend of relaxation before the craziness of the next four weeks. Why is the end of the school year always so stressful??? I feel like there is so much to do between now and the blissful days of summer...yet all I seem to be doing with my free time is creating new blog pages, watching the Minnesota Twins stink it up, and making adult decisions like eating oatmeal for dinner two nights in a row.

Is it June 17th yet?

A Weekend at Club Los Andes

A few months ago I won a weekend stay for four at Club Los Andes during our annual school bingo fundraiser. A few of us have been wanting to get together for a bachelorette type party before our friend Angie is married in August, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Located about 45 minutes from Cali, the club is easy to get to and we were sitting poolside by noon on Saturday! Saturdays are never a big day for people to be out and about in Colombia, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. This was nice because we relaxed a lot without having tons of people around, but also left us to fend for ourselves a lot.

Basically we spent our time at the wave pool (not as exciting as it sounds...), the water slides (definitely as fun as they sound!), catching up on girl talk, reading (Hunger Games series anyone? Can't put it down!) and bowling.

Angie and Tara at the wave pool.

Poolside photo shoot!

The time we went bowling and learned that I am terrible but Kelsi has crazy good hidden bowling skills.

Me, Angie, Kelsi and Tara

Velco, really?

Despite some mishaps like missing dinner for lack of knowing the restaurant schedule, the weekend was great. Tara and Angie are both amongst the group of teachers leaving Colombia at the end of school year and I know I will miss them a lot next year, so it was nice to be able to spend some time with them away from the craziness of school. This upcoming weekend we are also headed to the Pacific Coast to soak up some sun, so I look forward to many more sun-filled memories as another school year seems to be rushing to an end...