My Journey South: Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss (meeesss long /e/ sound)

Well today was the first day of my educational career and it was not anything like I thought it would be. All in all it was a pretty good day and it was fun getting to know the kids and such but ufta it was CRAZY. So this morning we decided to head to school early so that we could do some last minute things and go over what we had prepared. Well when I woke up this morning at 6:15, it was pitch black. For a moment I thought I had woke up way to early but I checked my clock and it was indeed 6:15. So after I picked out my 1st day of school outfit, the roomies and I headed to school. Well school was crazy at 7am because parents were bringing in their kids and getting situated. I would say they were a tad early:).

When I got to my room, there were parents and kids waiting outside for me. I was caught a little off guard and all of the work I was planning on doing...didn't happen. I would say I met at least 12-15 moms’, who were so warm and friendly, and of course greet with a hug and kiss on the cheek. That was for sure new for me hahaha. I even had one mom already tell me that her kid needs to sit in the front. I met her for like 5 mins and she is already inserting her parenting input:). However, I wasn't sure how the morning was suppose to go and when we were suppose to meet for the greeting, but my students quickly informed me. How it works is, they line all the grades up in lines in the outdoor gym and then they do the salute, Mexican anthem, Lord’s Prayer, and some "hail Mary's." That alone was a new experience for me:).

However, I thought the sight of it was quite a sight. I know that sounds a tad corny but as I was standing there (looking at the kids in their lines while the parents were all lined up around while this was happening), I thought about how different they value their education than in the US. There were parents everywhere and you can tell that they take an interest in their child's education. I just thought if every parent in the US treated the first day of school or even school alone like this, how different the educational world would be!

So after all of that jazz, I directed my kids back to my classroom. I had the third graders first and I already love them. They were so good and wanting to please. I may have some problems but so far they seemed pretty accepting of the rules and procedures. I got so into my schedule that I almost forgot they had specials. One of these reasons is that I don't have a working clock in my room. I have tried a few batteries but I finally took it to Erendira and she gave me a new one. I thought all of my problems would be solved but no. The brand new clock stopped working as soon as I got to my room. I think that I am cursed:) The rest of the morning ZOOOOOOOMED by....and I didn't accomplish much because someone lost their locker key, someone had a locker issue, and then someone spilt their drink for their lunch so I had to go and find someone to mop that up. It was quite a hassle:). I still can't get over how fast that time with and I am wondering how I will get through the material and yet stimulate and engage the kids because we all know how exciting workbooks are.

The afternoon definitely set a different pace. It was crazy from the get go. They have music right after lunch and recess and when recess is over, I am suppose to meet them in front of their lockers and take them to music. However, they don't know who I am and they were crazy from recess. So it was almost impossible to do it in an orderly fashion. So I go a half an hour later, I go and get them and they are even more ecstatic. So I finally get them somewhat quiet so that we could go over the rules. I have this clapping signal so they know when to be quiet and freeze so I don't end up yelling so much. Even though we practiced, they totally tuned me out. At one point it was so frustrating that I was just standing there waiting but they finally shaped up for a split sec and I said there will be consequences, even on the first day. They actually surprised me because they got a lot further than the third graders and I had an extra half hour where we did some get to know you questions. Even during that they wouldn't stop talking. I already had to move some kids. I hope tomorrow gets better since they will have their first day crazies out. The fourth graders asked me a ton of questions and it was always miss, miss, miss. If I had a nickel....:). But the afternoon flew by and apparently I was suppose to tell my kids to go to their lockers and then hold them until the bell rang but no one really knew what was going on. Also, I had after school duty which was psycho as well because here all the kids meet at the door and they have a number system where the parents line up outside in their cars and the kids' names were called. This honestly took almost 45 mins! CRAZY!!! But I did get to bond with some of my fourth graders:)

So at about 3:30, we got home and collapsed. Our feet hurt and we were just plain tired:) We decided that we would go back to that place that sold empanadas but it was a no go because they were closed....so we kept walking and ended up at the InterMall. We ate at Opa's and it was spectacular and it was just what we needed. Emily and I got this roast beef roll up thing and Breanna got a burger that was pretty tasty too. It tasted like there was butterscotch on it...so a little odd cuz I wasn't expecting that taste but it was good. Their fries were AMAZING. The best I've ever had....I will for sure need to go back just for them:). We walked through the rest of the mall when we were done and we found the IMAX theater which we will be going to soon:) and the ice skating rink. Breanna and Emily said they definitely want to try it out. Check out the pic of Breanna wanted to trade teaching in for skating:) After the mall, we got back and just chilled and did some planning for tomorrow. I caught up on some emails while Breanna took a power nap. She had a rough day because her kids don't know English really at all and they don't care and listen. Both of us also have a hoarse voice for all of the talking we did today! Hopefully tomorrow is a calmer day!:)