Last week was much better than the week before. The problems guys were gone a lot, which made my class flow much smoother. Monday morning three of the guys came to school late and didn't bother going in PE. The coach came out and took them to the office. Since it was the second time in as many days that they were in there, the principal suspended them for a couple days. Until Thursday it went very smooth. Johnny and Stevenson were still in my class, but if it is just them, I can control them even though they are the most trouble. On Thursday all the guys came back and it was crazy again. I easily have six kids who are constant trouble. It is so hard to deal with that. I was giving a lecture and I looked over and they are sitting on their desks just having a party talking really loud. I am used to talking loud in class and I couldn't even be heard over them. I told them to listen up and be quiet and no one even acknowledged that I said anything. I got so angry that I gave them three laps the next day. Then I slammed the door of this cabinet and told them I was sick and tired of them not paying attention. All their eyes were huge and they were completely silent. They had never seen me angry before. I feel kinda bad because I don't like loosing control, but sometimes they just push you until you are mean to them. The teachers that have been here a long time are very firm and raise their voice often. The kids don't really like them that much either. If I were teaching here again, I would probably be like that. To maintain control here you have to be so strong. The kids are used to running over everyone by 8th grade. They've had a bunch of pushover teachers in the past.
After that I was having a hard day. At recess we went to the gym and were playing some volleyball. Before I came here I had never played volleyball before and I'm pretty bad at it still, although I am mostly competent. I can usually make the ball go where I want. We had several low fast serves that came in right over my head. They are super hard to pick up especially with an overhand hit. I kept trying to do it but it kept shooting off all over place. The girl behind me could have picked up at least one or two with regular hit and I should have let her take it but I didn't think about it. They got frustrated with me and then I felt bad. Then I served into the net and I was even more frustrated with myself. I didn't really say anything but we just went back to class and I prayed and tried to pick myself up. I guess it was just everything together that was getting me down. One of the girls came up and told me she was sorry. But I didn't really think to much of it after that. The next morning we had free day at PE and I usually just sit and watch but the girls told me they wanted me to come play volleyball with them. Then again at recess they went out of their way to make me feel welcome to play with them. It surprises and touches me how in touch they are with other people's feelings and how they go out of their way to reach out to me. They can be so wild sometimes you don't think they would be so sensitive. The fact that they care about the way I feel makes it worth all the crap I go through sometimes.
Saturday night we had a birthday party for Zac and Tony. It was legen -wait for it- dairy! That is not other word to describe it. We played music out of this giant speaker and just rocked the place. A bunch of the guys drank a bunch of coffee. I remember Damien running down the hall, literally running down the walls. He came to the door and just kicked it straight open without even stopping. I guess it wasn't latched because he was super lucky not to have broken it. None of the guys could sit still all night, it was crazy. We messed around and danced a bunch. It was great because everyone knows that we are all friends and so there is no pressure with the girls. We just danced and didn't care if we looked stupid. The majority of the people there had never been to a dance club before so most everyone were noobs and looked stupid out there. At the end they brought out the cake, after everyone got a piece Katrina plastered the birthday boys with cake in their face. It was really funny and we got some sweet pictures.
Today is Monday, Feb 1st and I started the month off great. I took my kite out and Lauren helped me launch it. I went to put the board on my feet and after I got one foot in my kite powered up with a gust of wind. So I just stood on the board and it pulled me along pretty nice for a bit then I got jerked straight about and I was in the air. I didn't go very far that time but my board went off the one foot I had in it. I didn't worry because I had a leash on it. I steered the kite over to the edge but it was pulling me out fast. When I went to bring it up to the middle, so that I could try and get on my board again, it lifted me straight up and I got serious air that time. I could have kept going up but I was depowering the kite. The farther I got out the more powerful the wind was getting. I went down wind a ways and finally the wind died down. I went to bring my board up and realized I had lost it somewhere along the way. The handle that my leash was attached to had come off and the board was nowhere around. It took me awhile to swim back in to shore and get everything packed up. I went back along the shore and some kids told me they found my board. Sure enough, some Marshallese grabbed it when it washed up. I was so stoked and it was actually an answered prayer because I was praying the whole swim in that it would wash ashore and not off into the ocean someplace. I lost the handle so I've gotta figure out how to get another one or another way to attach the leash. But I'm super stoked because I stood on the board briefly and got big air. Lauren says my feet were about 5 feet up. That feels about right, maybe a little higher.
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