Busy or Lazy?

I don't really even know myself. I am still struggling to find the time to keep this blog up to date with photos, stories, etc. Maybe I've been here too long and things just don't seem interesting enough to write about anymore. The extraordinary has become the ordinary in many ways. This is a selfish attitude in a way, because despite my delinquency, I know that many of you continue to have an interest in what is going on with this blog.

I mean, I'm almost 2 months behind. The hole is getting deeper. I was even considering posting a message that the blog would be going on hiatus. But I won't do it dammit!

I just finished week 5 of school. It's not easy. 6th-8th graders have a lot of energy and I have to bring a lot of it myself to keep them interested and engaged. the language barrier is an issue as well. I speak in Romanian half of the time. I'm constantly translating and speaking in two languages. Also, the place is a zoo. Kids running around unsupervised all of the time, screaming, yelling and beating the crap out of each other; and I'm not just talking about the concrete playground/jungle in the back of the school. However, I am fortunate enough to have my own room to teach in, thus they behave themselves, for the most part, when they're with me. Is it because I carry around a wooden pointer stick all of the time? Because I'm 6'4", 220 pounds? Because I yell at them in two languages? You be the judge.

I've got some really good kids, but I've also got some rough and rude ones. This is a neighborhood school, not a magnet school, if you will, like Hogas was. Thus, I deal with a mix of the good and bad. The unfortunate thing is that the "bad" ones are not really bad kids. Many of them are quite intelligent. Unfortunately, the root problem lies at home. Parents separated, divorced, indifferent, poverty, etc. Same story, different country. This is a universal theme. We're all human beings and essentially deal with the same societal problems, just in different contexts. What's the lesson? Pay attention to your kids, make sure that Mom and Dad are both around and educate them at home as well. Teachers are not babysitters or psychologists....but sometimes we have to be. This is the burden we carry. Many of us care too much.