Oh boy!

I had the best of intentions to blog yesterday. . . and then it was sunny.  Yesterday was a holiday, Waisak day.  It's a celebration of the birth of Buddha. It was also a school free day.  Some folks got Monday as well, but I won't complain since some didn't even get Tuesday off.  I could really whine about the fact that in Spain it would have turned into a puente with both Monday and Tuesday off for everyone, but I'll show some self restraint.

I spent part of the morning out in the sun being stared at by all the Indonesians.  Yes, I know it's a Muslim country but if you can wear micro mini skirts in public and at restaurants then I can wear a bikini at my apartments. A "quick run" to Ranch market resulted in a massive bill for a single bag of goodies.  I did, however, find cool ranch doritos, chorizo, salami, blue cheese and chevre.  The dinner of olive oil, pan fried eggplant, portobellos, asparagus with cheese bits and sea salt was divine.  After shopping but before dinner I managed a swim and had a great long chat with Carla.  Not a bad day!  Capped off with a dvd and then an unfortunately horrendous night sleep.  Ugh,  so much for being rested after a day off.

When a holiday day breaks up the week it always feels like there's an extra Monday.  Today felt like Monday.  I'm glad it wasn't. I'm really glad that in reality I only have to survive two more days (plus business class tonight) to get to a weekend.  If the week were any longer, there might be bloodshed.

One of my classes has decided to see if they can drive Ms. Melissa off the sanity cliff by semester break.  They are a difficult class for many reasons but namely that of fourteen kids, only four are girls. With ten boys in the class, I've run out of room to separate the naughty ones.  There are about five boys that talk, sing, yell, get out of their seats, throw things, you name it.  A couple of those boys can be neutralized when there is distance between him and his mates.  Short of installing seat belts on the chairs or moving some of the chairs to the ceiling, I'm outta space.

A second class is evenly split between girls and boys.  This is the highest functioning class. I don't know if its because of the class, if the homeroom teacher got them in line or if that class just randomly got the best kids.  Their scores are the highest, they are the least likely to turn in work late and they listen the best in class.

My third class is in the middle but usually leaning towards the better class.  This group is nine girls and six boys.  They can get rowdy but I can control them for the most part.  There are a couple of really smart kids and they work together pretty well.  Even the lower level kids work hard.

It's just that first class.  They are lazy, perpetually turning things in late, shouting, screaming and goofing off class. Siiiigh.

My two pronged approach of rewards (stickers that can be traded for rewards of game time, erasers, etc) and punishments (lines, homework) has worked as well as I'd hope, EXCEPT with this one stupid class!  Add that to the fact that my school computer is loused up once again, and it's been a long day.  You'd think that with the frequency of trips the computer guys make to our teachers room they'd learn to just fix it the first time.  But no, this is Indonesia.  I figure his incompetence is planned because it keeps him employed.  Unfortunately they won't get someone who actually knows what he's doing. Instead they keep these guys on and permit them to do a piss poor job.Of course I assume he could plan and plot to be incompetent when in actuality he's not and that's a big leap.

All that will make this weekend even better as there is dinner with D on Friday, softball tournament on Saturday and lounging on Sunday on the books!