Your clothes never wear as well the next day

This is just one of those catchy songs that everybody seems to know - and somehow, when you're feeling forlorn in a foreign country, you belt it out with tremendous might & it truly makes you smile :)  PLUS, I'm not sure if its the pH of the water here or the lack of a dryer and softener or what, but all my clothes are brittle. They're stretched-out in weird angles at wrong places. They simply just don't "wear as well." But enough with my laundry woes... onto "story-time!" :P

Today, I turned into "crazy teacher." For those of you who know me well... its "tired-giddy-whatEV-gail" but at a slightly more deranged 'I'm-going-through-culture-shock' level... however, it often helps as an alternative to tears :) As I continue to learn about the subtle cultural aspects that play out within my classroom, I often have out-of-body experiences and think "who IS this crazy teacher?!?"

It was the last stretch of the day... the last 15 minutes of school... rearing to get out for the day... when one of my sweet little girls "Nymphadora" raises her hand. "Miss Shen, 'Reginald' spit on me." I look over at Reginald and he has this penitent face, "but Miss!" I motion for him to stay quiet as I ask Nymphadora for the specifics of this spitting occasion. "Reginald was talking to me and spit on me." Thinking this probably was by accident, I look back at Reginald. "Miss, miss! I didn't mean to spit on her!" Of course then, the truth comes out as Nymphadora continues, "I told him to stop spitting on me and then he says to me 'I'm not shhhppppppppitting on you!!'" I look back at Reginald, who now sits silently guilty. I look again at Nymphadora who simply stares back at me, not necessarily hurt nor angry at Reginald, but somehow relieved to have told the story... classic little kid tussle. At this point, after an extremely long day of constant tattling, "passionate" talking, behavioral hullabaloo (isn't that just such a fun word?!), and personal, professional angst, and having to be this authoritative and didactic teacher figure, I lose it. I can't help it... I just burst out laughing. SHHPPPPPPITTING?!??

I'm now trying to control my own giggle fit as all the students have also completely burst into laughter, even Nymphadora :) As I try to compose myself back into "Teacher Gail," I look directly at Reginald and say as solemnly as possible, "Please don't spit on others while you talk." Smiling sheepishly, he nods. And now, I try to regain control of my students for the last 10 minutes of class... oh, whatEV :D

Its moments like these where I look out at my students' hysterically giggling faces and think, "I really do love these kids" :)