Getting into the swing

It's really a pity that I've got that one class that just hasn't gelled. I'd hoped that they would by now, and there's still a chance they might, but...at least not so many are showing up, which means I don't have to deal with quite such a large group of unruly kids....now they're a slightly smaller group of unruly kids.

My Thursday, Friday, Saturday block is about to begin. It's my busy time, from tomorrow morning until Saturday afternoon. Of course it's not all work, or not work-work. I have my Japanese lesson tomorrow afternoon, then aikido in the evening. Friday I'm swamped with classes, ending with those unruly kids I mentioned. Then on Saturday, of course, I get smacked with the little ones.

Let's talk about those kids. I've got two very different ones this term. One is a demon. On the first day of the term, when I had a sub, he bit the sub's thumb. Last week he was drawing a picture, just scratching his paper with a pencil until it was half black with the graphite. "What's that?" I asked. "Jikoku," he said, which means "hell." The kids either has some issues, or he's Satan's spawn. Another, a little girl of 8, I think is an angel...well, a mischevious angel. She's so quiet and pleasant, does what's she's told, tries hard, plays well with others, and is just plain nice to have. If I could have a classroom full of her, I would be a happy teacher.

In other news...I went rock climbing again today. I decided I like it enough that I should just bite the bullet and buy shoes, because that way I can buy a month-long membership and go whenever I want, whether it's for an hour or two or all day. I'm going to try to go 6 to 8 times a month...we'll see. If I go at least 4, I come out ahead over paying each time, so I'll at least get my money's worth.

Today, though, my elbow started hurting. Strange...I had to stop after a few hours as I just couldn't hold onto anything anymore. I'll go again on the weekend, I think....see how busy it is...

Hope all is well with you folks.