I got bitten...

The last month has been hectic to say the least! For the month of July the only day I've had off have been Mondays and I have been feeling it to say the least. I have been getting the extra hours from two different centres so have been zooming all over the place. Working at different centres has been very eye-opening. It's interesting to see how other centres operate and how they are structured. With different centres come different students which obviously means new challenges. The first challenge- teenagers. One of the classes I covered are the "smart teens". In the class, the age range was from 13-16 and so very different to the 10 year olds I had been teaching up until that point! They were very shy and very reserved and they were hard to get excited about literally anything. I tried a few jokes to pass the time (That the TA really found funny) but unfortunately went over their heads. It wasnt until the last three lessons with them that I found the sweet spot. Stickers. Strangely enough they were still into stickers! Side note: this came as a huge surprise as in one of my junior classes, I walked in with the sheet of stickers and student picked them up and looked me dead in the eyes "Teacher, what the F**k are these?" Anyway back to the teenagers. After I had won them over with stickers, the next winning move was games. If there is one thing that gets teenagers going its throwing balls at each other. Dodgeball went down like your drunk uncle at a BBQ. Fun for everyone to watch! My last lesson with the teens ended with a test which for one lad , was not so great. 20 minutes in he was out cold. Trying to wake him was like waking the dead. After what felt like excessive force, he woke up, looked me square in the eyes and uttered the words that touched my soul "Teacher, I'm tired, no more English". Fair play little dude, fair play. I also covered a K4 class, these babies and I do not say babies lightly were 3 years old. THREE! At three kids are still coming to grips with their own language, let alone trying to learn a new one. The first half of the lesson I was trying to get any english word out of them! With tears in their eyes they would tell me their name, but not much more. They slowly warmed up to me and began to participate a bit more. All except Nick. Nick would not say his name, how old he was or repeat any of the language (apple, banana, orange or juice). The whole lesson he was running around saying nothing. The show had to go on so I had to focus on the other 5 students that were learning. I would keep coming back to Nick, showing him one of the flash cards, trying to get him to say something, ANYTHING, but with no luck. With 10 minutes of class to go I make one last attempt to get him to say something. Me: "Nick, what's this?" And clear as day he replies Nick: "Teacher, apple." I can feel the tears coming. I grab all the other flashcards from the pile and hold them up to him. One by one, he says all the words perfectly. I am beyond proud. I hug him. I cant help it. The one kid who I thought was taking in nothing was taking it all in. Easily one of my proudest moments to date in this country. He then bit me the next lesson so my pride quickly disappeared. Lucky I did get my rabies shot, I just didnt think it would be a kid to take me out. The only other notable thing is that I have signed up to be my centres community representative. A pretty flashy title for a pretty straight forward job. All it means is that I help with all the charity events and work as a middle man for my center and some middle management. My first point if order is arranging a quiz night to raise money for the kids that we sponsor to take English lessons. Yet normal quizzes are boring. My quiz will have rounds such as How many Danny Devito's and bad tinder stories. Also hoping to have a blind date auction as well! Oh yeah I'm back on the Horse too! As of Monday, I have rented a bike and I'm back on the road! So far so good! No new crashes! No new scars! Even though the security guard at my building offers to drive my bike up the ramp every morning. (I've crashed on the ramp and so has my friend ) I think he just doesn't want to be responsible for the dumb westerners. Real talk: I say every article about how much I love it here and how everything seems perfect. Obviously it does have its downsides. Nothing is amazing all of the time and I've had some bad days here to say the least. Somethings have been really hard. Seeing my friends hangout without me, missing my family and the home comforts to say the least. The biggest things that I am missing are the ones that hurt the most. One of my best friends has recently qualified as a lawyer. A huge moment for her, and having been there for the ups and downs of the process so it sucks not to be there to celebrate the success with her. My Nephews second birthday. I love that little Boy like you wouldnt believe and to think I'm missing his birthday breaks my heart. Christmas and Birthdays. There is a lot that I will miss being here. It is hard. It's sad and hard and sucky. But at the end if the day it doesn't change the fact that the good days outweigh the bad ten-fold here. Unfortunately for me, at home, where I was, that wasnt the case. It seemed to be bad day after bad day with no breaks given. In summary, Yes it has it's bad days but the good days make it worth it. My family and friends understand though. No amount of distance changes our relationship. Missed birthdays, missed events, they know I still love them. And that's it.