Expect the Unexpected

My first week as a teacher assistant at Kramer Elementary has ended, and I will be back tomorrow for week two. I think that in itself says something. As life goes, things do not usually go according to plan, or maybe I should say, according to my plan. I left my apartment with plenty of time to get to the school, and also left the directions to the school sitting on the counter in the kitchen. So, I had to turn around, pick up the directions and dash to school....but not too quickly, since I just got a speeding ticket on Friday night(I do NOT think i was actually speeding, but that's another story).

The principal was not in on Monday morning, so the assistant principal kind of just sent me around to different places for the morning and just about noon told me that I would be working with the special needs students for the next couple hours....well long story short, the next couple hours turned into the rest of the day, into the rest of the week and "until further notice." This threw me off guard and caused me a great deal of confusion since my job title is bilingual ESL teacher assistant.

So, for now, I am doing my best to stick with it, its definitely not easy, but I'm learning, hopefully I will learn much more because I know nothing and have no experience what so ever working with special needs children. It's only been a week, and I can already say, its been, challenging, at times stressful, at times joyful and at times rewarding. Most of the time I've wondered what I'm supposed to be doing, where I'm supposed to be going, what I'm supposed to be saying, and not knowing what is expected of me, if I'm failing or succeeding. But kids are still kids and bring many little moments of joy to my the day. The kids at this school, from what I've seen so far really are kind, welcoming, funny and try to help me and the teachers and the special needs kids.

One absolutely wonderful thing about working at a school, the day ends at 4, Monday-Friday! No nights or weekends, no working on holidays. Which means, for this semester I can spend time with friends, have time to relax or do whatever in the evenings. Next semester, I can take night classes and hopefully have time for homework.

My last post was mainly about Patton...the crazy dog, well good news for me, Patton has a shock collar now, it hasn't been used yet, and I think it has one of those high pitched whistles on it, so maybe we wont actually have to shock him. But, I think my quality of life will be much much higher without his barking.

Yesterday I went to the State Fair. I think I could dedicate a whole blog to the state fair. It was a lot of fun! I love going to the fair! I think it was even more fun for me because we got to use public transportation and take a taxi....that's one of those kind of weird things that I love that most people do not at all enjoy. Our fair experience was complete with corn dogs and other fried foods, a picture in front of Big Tex, the car show, African acrobats, a fair ride, and a juicer demonstration. We just missed the pig race, I was a little disappointed, but there's always next year....

This time last year I was in Scotland, I think I had already gone on my trip to Dublin and was getting ready to go to Paris. ...things are a little different this year, I went to Kaufman a couple days ago, and I'm going to Italy(Texas) and Waco this afternoon. Not quite as glamorous.
Right now I'm sitting in Starbucks, in Westvillage, a little more glamorous, enough so that I felt the need to look slightly fashionable and dressed up at 9:30 in the morning to sit in Starbucks to read BBC news and write a blog. I just discovered last week that if you have a gift card you can use the Internet for free! and all these years I had been holding a grudge against Starbucks because I thought it was very rude of them to make people pay for Internet.

So, hopefully my days of, "I hate working retail and I need a job" are over! I got the job as a bilingual/ESL teacher assistant at an elementary school in Dallas. I hope that it turns out to be a great job, but even when it isnt perfect, I'm going to stick with it, at least for the children :-)

Hopefully the next time I write an actual post I will have something to talk about. Because right now, not a whole lot has been happening....a major part of the past couple weeks...my attempt, mostly failed attempt to train my roommate Dana's dog. I'm not trying to train him to be a circus dog or to be a tv star, like Wishbone, like I tried to do with my little dachshund Bob. I'm just trying to get him to stop his painfully high pitched incessant barking, and trying to teach him not to pee in the house anymore. Maybe because he isn't MY dog I don't feel a particular attachment or affection towards him. To quote someones facebook status, its a "hate hate relationship with love sprinkles on top." You may think that sounds a little harsh, but last night I turned around in the kitchen to say something to Dana and stepped in a puddle of pee, a couple days ago, I was awoken at five in the morning by his barking, and a few days before that I woke up to the sound of him throwing up on my favorite quilt that I made with my grandma. He also discovered the trashcan a few days ago, and basically any time we leave the bathroom door open, or have trash in the kitchen he manages to make a big gross mess everywhere. I might stop by the pet store and buy one of those high pitched whistles or a shock collar...or both. I wonder if this is what having children is like? I start my job on monday, I think I'll like him a lot more when we spend less time together.