Feelin good

I woke up to sweat beads pooling on my forehead. It was eerily quiet. I could tell something was different before I even opened my eyes. After realizing that the air conditioning was off, I tried the lights and found that they too didn't work. No biggie. I'm sure we just shorted out, I told myself. I went to Surangles and got some stuff for this weekend and headed to school. Upon reaching my classroom I realized that there was no power there either. Apparently, a bill should have been paid that wasn't. When I got to class, with no fans or lights of course, I was surprised to hear that none of my kids had power either! Apparently, it was an island wide power shortage. Common. Nothing weird about that.
After this small detour from the daily routine, things went back to normal. I started off the day excited about teaching, patient, and happy. Unfortunately, at lunch I had to talk to a parent about their kid cheating and write the first two names of the year on the board. It's not that school was bad, just typical. No one in my class knew what a hamster was! So I googled it to show them, which started an endless cycle of googling sharks, spiders, snakes, bunnies, butterflies, and tons of other things. It was actually really fun and most of the kids were quiet! It was Mariah's birthday, so at the end of the day her mom and aunt came and brought cake and pizza. Win!
After school I went to 3rd grade to get some stuff I left there and experienced a miracle. So far this year, Austin has been complaining about this girl in his class, Patsy, who should have been held back. Apparently she hasn't done any work, is way out of her skill level, and doesn't even talk in or out of class. She is really shy and really blank faced any time he says anything. He's been working really hard to get her moved back a grade, but it just isn't working out. Anyway, she has to stay every day after school to get one on one help with every single assignment and needs motivation to even write her name. When I went in to get my stuff, Austin was talking to a parent so I didn't want to interrupt. I saw Patsy, staring off into space with an open handwriting book on her desk. Another girl in her class, Diem, told me that she was supposed to go to page 45, and she was only on 40. I asked Patsy why she wasn't working, what was wrong, how she was doing, and lots of other questions just to get her to talk to me...but no answer. She just stared off into space. "Let's surprise Mr. Austin and do this page of handwriting while he's talking!", I said. She didn't even look at me, but her finger touched her pencil. A minute later, she picked it up. She started on the top of the page, which I immediately countered with positive feedback. "I love how you do your loops on your H's! What beautiful handwriting you have. I wish I could write like that." Every word she wrote, I'd say another positive thing. She kept going and going and finished the whole page. Then, to my surprise, she started on the next page! It was amazing to see her keep going and she even smiled at me as I complimented her capital G's! Once she finished, she went to the back of the room and read while she waited for her mom. When her mom got there, she didn't want to go home! She told Austin that this was the first day her daughter wanted to stay at school! I just sat there smiling, feeling so proud! Needless to say, Austin was completely shocked that she had not only responded, but finished two pages! It was so exciting to teach someone something, and motivate them to do their best!
After school, we went to get supplies for this weekend. When we got back, we decided to just relax and put on a movie. While we were watching, I noticed a huge trail of ants. Being me, of course I wanted to know where they were going, so I followed the trail. My heart jumped up into my throat. I shrieked like I had been burned. Under a bench in our house was a HUGE dead cockroach that the ants were eating! There were hundreds of ants covering the cockroach so that it looked like it was moving. Normally I'm pretty calm, but I just couldn't deal with that one. I made the boys flush it down the toilet while I shuddered. Another sad thing that happened today was that I did my laundry. The sad part about that was that once I put it in the dryer I just left it. One hour later I went down to check it and found that not only did I not click the start button, but I had also lost all my quarters! Luckily, Jojo was outside right at the same time and had some quarters to give me. Oh well, live and learn eh? I am so excited for tomorrow that I just can't even explain it. I am all packed up: Bible, water, plates, silverware, clothes, hammock, flashlight, sunscreen, snorkel gear, etc! All I need now is for it to be tomorrow already!