My commute normally works like this: I leave my apartment at 7:16, take the 7:22 metro from I.P. Pavlova to Opatov. I arrive at Opatov at 7:37 and grab an apple or orange from the market and then run upstairs to catch the 327 bus that leaves at 7:45 to the school. I walk into school at 8:02 and head to my classroom and kids arrive starting at 8:25.
Anyway, on Monday, I jumped on the metro and away we went.... very, very slowly. The metro was running at a snail's pace and frequently stopping between stations. Finally, about halfway to Opatov, and not at a station, the metro just stopped. An announcement came on, first in Czech, then in English, that the metro was discontinuing service and we would have to wait there for maintenance/repairs. They fixed it pretty quickly, but I still didnt arrive to Opatov until 7:55 which meant I missed the bus to the school. The next bus isn't until 8:10.... which would mean I wouldnt get to school until after drop off starts. If my co-teacher weren't out this wouldnt be such a big deal, but I knew I had to get there. I called my boss and he said to get a cab, so I jumped in a cab and between my broken czech and the driver's broken English, managed to communicate where I wanted to go. Thankfully, the school reimbursed the ride.
When I got to school, I realized that there was no sub in my classroom... just me and 10 two year olds (which, for the record, is illegal under Czech law that requires there never be more than six toddlers under the age of 3 for per 1 teacher). The kids were all pretty good, but it was still a really, really tough morning. They finally got a sub in for me at 9:30ish, and he was helpful, but an unfamiliar adult set off lots of crying and since he didn't know the kids OR the routine.... the help was pretty limited. He also wasn't really any help at all getting the 10 kids to the bathroom, but that may be a school policy as most of the male subs arent really supposed to go into the bathrooms b/c some of the parents are really funny about it. Anyway... the sub had to leave at 12:15 so he wasn't even there 3 hours, but a lot of the kids leave at 12:15 so I only had 4 after lunch. Still, with no sub in the afternoon, I didn't get my lunch break or even a bathroom break all afternoon.
When parents arrived to pick up kids, one little boy told his mom something in Czech that he had been saying to me all afternoon. Turns out, it meant he had a pain in his mouth. When his mom looked, he has a huge gash in his tongue. I have no idea how or when it happened... he didn't cry at all yesterday, but I felt really terrible about it.
The bright spot of yesterday afternoon was going to pick up a box that my parents mailed me. The contents were as follows:
- Much needed hand/toe warmers
- An issue of Practical Horseman
- A Birthday card from MPC
- 3 boxes of Yogi Throat Comfort Tea
- 3 boxes of ping pong balls for my friend Will
- Tarragon (impossible to find here and up there with my favorite herbs to cook with)
- Post-it notes (I LOVE post-it notes)
- Bubble wrap.... admit it.... y'all love popping it too.
Today (Tuesdays) are my long days at work because it's my day to do "morning club" which is basically for all the kids who get dropped off between 7:30 and 8:25 before their teachers are in their classrooms. I hate Tuesdays for this reason... leave the apartment by 6:30 and at school by 7:20 makes for a long morning with students that aren't mine and that I often don't know. Today, I settled in at 7:30 and kids trickled in. Normally at 8:05 or so, my friend Jena comes in because morning club is held in her classroom and then at 8:25 the other kindergarten teachers come to collect kids from their classroom. Today, by 8:25, Jena still hadn't showed up and all the other teachers were collecting their kids. I couldn't leave Jena's classroom because she had students in there, but I also had parents waiting in my classroom to drop kids off. After a call to school management, I found out that Jena had called in sick and her co-teacher doesn't have to be in until 9AM normally and no one had called him. It took some sorting out, but another kindergarten teacher took her class AND Jena's until 9 and I rushed to my classroom so parents could leave my kids.
I only had 6 kids today, but one of them is super attached to Nikola and was absent yesterday so she started crying immediately. It was a rough morning and I didn't have a sub until 9:15. It was the same guy as yesterday and he was more helpful today, but I don't think he really likes working with the really, really young ones (aka, my class). Also, he had to leave at 11:30 which is right when I serve the kids lunch and things are the most hectic so it really didn't help all that much, though still nice to be able to go to the bathroom or grab a drink. I had 4 kids again after lunch and that went ok. Another really sweet teacher even swung by mid afternoon so I could run and get my lunch out of the fridge.
All kids are supposed to be picked up between 3 and 3:15 and then there is a bus back to the metro station at 3:25. If all the parents are on time and no one stays to chat, it's possible to catch that bus. The next bus is at 3:55, so it really sucks when a parents is 5 minutes late, chats for 5 minutes, then leaves and you have to wait 30 minutes for the next bus when you JUST missed the 3:25. Anyway, 3 of the kids are picked up by 3:10 so I was hopeful.... but then 3:25 rolls around and still no parent. When this happens, there is an after school club we can take kids to... that said, I have a clingy 2 year old who is a LOUD crier and screams when she gets dropped off with anyone unfamiliar (she just recently stopped crying with Nikola and me). Plus, I had a friend working the afternoon club and I just felt too guilty dropping a screaming 2 year old off when there were about 15 other kids in the class to watch. So I waited. The mom showed up at 3:55.... just as I saw the bus pull away... so I had to wait another 30 minutes. Grrrrrrrr.
Anyway, today did have its bright spots.... on the way home I stopped by a cheese shop I've been eyeing and treated myself to a small block of manchego which is one of my favorite cheeses. I'm also really pumped about election results but too exhausted to stay up to watch them (polls start closing at midnight my time... blech).
Here's to hoping tomorrow goes better and that Nikola is back and healthy on Thursday!
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