If Lady Gaga Were A Teacher-Would She Be Like Me?

I love "Reflection Sundays." I never know what emotions Sunday will bring and waking up to a lazy Sunday is the best medicine for recovering from a whirlwind week at Teacher Camp (my newly coined name for the school I work for). I spent the morning sipping coffee, devouring the NEW and OUTSTANDING We Like We Love magazine issue, while glancing up at Sex & the City on TV. Bri and I designed a "Things That Are Red" themed lunch, and then checked our emails and various networking agencies. I confess that I creep Facebook like a hacker on Sundays in order to catch up on things I missed in the week-but this only gave my unfortunate emotional spins for reasons I refuse to divulge on Hey Lady. Clearly it was time for a bike ride to unwind. I ended up in some kind of Driver's Ed training course and that was a scary experience, moreso when it started to rain and the crazy chinese driver's ed students started to panic and hit the gas and brake at the same time while staring at me through the windows. I mean, we've all commented on "Chinese drivers" at some point in our adult lives, let's be real here. And racism aside (Hah! What a ridiculous statement!), the drivers here are MANIC on clear days. Imagine being on a bike, in the rain, ON A CHINESE DRIVER'S ED COURSE! That would be like holding a baby while he had a knife in his grip. My lazy Sunday had very quickly turned into a Speed sequel. I made it home and Bri made me hot chocolate because she is the Liz of my life out here, and noticed that I look cold and unhappy, but too prideful to explain why. I sulked up to Trish's room and she baked brownies and watched Gilmore Girls while I straightened my hair and talked about why my feelers had been hurt. We resolved that my over analyzation and perpetual need to anticipate the future is bumming my life right out (not a shocking observation-my grade four teacher told me the same thing and yet this is a life skill I can't seem to balance). I just found this to be funny timing for an emotional spin, because I have been very chill since I have been here (except one spiral in Hong Kong but who is counting, really?). Sometimes old habits die hard, but I was just commending myself the other day for being so cool and lassez-fair about things that previously would have rocked me. I guess Lazy Sundays + a busy week at Teacher Camp with too much isolation on campus and perhaps even too much kung pao chicken = Spins Michelle.
Lesson learned.

These were the favourite moments from my week:
1. The treadmill was broken this week, so instead I danced like a wedding crasher in the gym (alone) to fulfill my cardio potential (Richard Simmonds can take a seat).
2. I played with Godzilla (the small boy with exposed genitals) at the restaurant in the alley-we threw things in the air and then let them hit the ground before racing to pick them up.
3. I Skyped with Dalyce AND Chad and that truly warmed my heart because everyone needs a reminder that they are loved.
4. I organized things in order of how good the texture feels to touch (most favourite to least favourite) around my room and desk at work. So weird-what the hell?
5. I finished 'Wild Things" by David Eggers and had a shower and a good cry.
6. I drafted ideas of where to travel for my month off in January/February and came to grips with knowing it would likely be a solo trip. It's cool. I can dig it...Any takers?
7. I caught up reading the family blog that Wesley writes-he is a genius; I love his dry wit and unprecedented perceptions of life.
8. I drank many a beer on a patio in downtown Beijing on Saturday with Bri, Maggie, and Aaron; it was a cool day that reeked of Fall, and our conversation was so fulfilling and honest.
9. I gave my classes a unit test on Thursday and Friday and it was friggin hard-and none of them 'gave up.' They all finished it and only one person cheated! SUCCESS!!!! Do you know what this means??? This means I have their respect and their fear, and it only took two months. Happy sigh. Let's hope it sticks.

These are my goals for the coming week:
1. Teach my students how to arrange their desks for group work in an orderly, non confrontational manner. Seriously.
2. Introduce a new way to silence the class and get their attention. My strategies are failing me these days and I get super bored of standing in front of them with one hand raised quietly waiting for their silence. It just feels lame-like they should throw tomatoes at me for looking like such a dick. I am going to play an alarm from my Macbook that shows a timer, so they can see when they are out of 'group work' time, and when the alarm kicks in it plays "Boom Boom Pow." This could work dramatically well, or cause a rave. We will see.
3. Do a photo-shoot with 11-11 and turn it into a writing project of some kind. Taking ideas...
4. Pull off some ridiculous Halloween costume to wear to class on Friday. I might try dressing in the school uniform, with big glasses, straight hair, and I'll just giggle the whole day. If I dressed like Lady Gaga the whole day-they would lose their minds and start tearing at my costume- Ra Ra Rararaaaaa Ra Ra RaRaraaaaaa. That could be exciting.

Time to bounce,

xox

PS. Thanks for listing me as 'teacher' in WLWL--it made my stomach flipflop when I read that!