What have I been doing during these hellacious days of preparing for the start of school?
1) Watched two videos and endured several hours of info regarding Blood Born Pathogens and Hazardous Waste. (In short: We are no longer aloud to have Simple Green because it is toxic, regardless of what the bottle claims…and never lick blood).
2) Sat through hours and hours of curriculum planning, which I have found to loathe. I can’t wrap my mind around any exciting lesson plans when my classroom is filled to the ceiling with boxes and furniture is scattered throughout the room.
3) The entire school’s staff introduced themselves one by one which resulted in a very long morning.
4) We are currently in the process of visiting each child’s home. This involves driving all over Seattle, getting lost, knocking on stranger’s doors and meeting kids in the privacy of their decadent homes. If we are lucky the parents are kind, the child welcomes us, and food is provided. We are unlucky if the parent is disgruntled, the child hides from us, and the younger sibling is screaming because he doesn’t have a teacher yet.
5) I found myself struggling to put together a puppet theater for my classroom. This was a noble project because my mentor has had the theater in a box for two years untouched because of her dislike of assembly. I put together a bed frame and a few particle board shelves so I assumed I could figure it out. I cheerfully screwed four 2″ nails into the wrong holes before I realized I was supposed to have used 1.5″ nails. Than I noticed I couldn’t undo my work because I had inadvertently stripped the screws. Now the World’s Most Dangerous Puppet Theater is leaning against my classroom wall, precariously balanced on its poorly nailed feet, swaying at the slightest breeze. I felt so bad, I’m coming back on Saturday with Josh armed with a power drill and more screws to undo my damage.
6) I am thrilled that the school feeds us on extra long training days. Why just this afternoon I ingested salmon, asparagus, and potato salad which I wasn’t necessarily hungry for but it was free and I love seafood.
7) To reward our hard work and encourage team building the entire staff went bowling on Tuesday. I was deliriously tired, but when I spotted the funky shoes and was given a special school bowling shirt with my name embroidered on it, I went crazy. During the second game, I was gutter-balling so regularly I started goofing off. While hefting a fifteen pound bowling ball down the lane I hurt my back. Then, instead of cooling off, I hurled a fourteen pounder down the lane before retiring officially due to injury. To top it off I got carsick on the school bus ride back to the school. Bleh.
8) My bus ride is becoming questionable. It’s fine in the morning, fast and efficient, and the six block hike from home to the bus stop and than the additional six blocks from the bus stop to the school seem like a refreshing work out. The ride home is another matter. I do not like waiting for twenty minutes after a nine hour day in 80 degree weather while sitting in a bus shelter that smells like pee. I catch the bus on 50th and 15th right around the corner from a methadone clinic, a soup kitchen, and a food bank…which attracts a sort of rough and tumble clientele. I walked by six handcuffed and sitting on the curb gentlemen of all ages and ethnicities the other day, surrounded by several undercover cops writing out reports on the hoods of their undercover cars. I can only assume it was some terrific drug deal gone wrong…and speaking of drugs a crazy man smoked crack cocaine out of a pipe right in front of me the other day. I was wrong when I thought druggies didn’t get up early, it was a sunny, beautiful morning around 8:30am and I was waiting on the corner of 23rd and Cherry for the #48. I was so shocked by his brazen drug use that I wasn’t even fazed when he stood in the middle of the street and screamed at cars that swerved to avoid hitting him. It was an awkward moment. He politely offered me a hit and when I declined he offered me some weed as another option. I told him “No thanks, I’m going to work right now.” Luckily, the bus driver didn’t let him on the bus, and when I confessed to the driver my anxiety he told me to file a report to metro…which I did.
9) Tomorrow I’m sitting through 8 hours of CPR training…and than hurray for the weekend!