Almaden't I already do that?

So I'm back in my hotel after my long day at Almaden Preparatory School. I got up this morning at 5:30 quite tired still, and showered, dressed, got breakfast and headed out the door with a cup of coffee from the continental breakfast. It was only a short drive there, and I arrived before 7:00 am. No one else was there, and I had to search a bit for my room. I found it, and it was locked. So I started unloading boxes and eventually a woman showed up and unlocked my room. She said "you're here early!" and when she opened the door, I said "thank you." She said "uh huh. have a good day!" and left. So I didn't really have time to talk with her, and she left right after that. I went in and looked at the room. It was a kindergarten room, completely with two single-toilet bathrooms right in the back of the room, sinks and water fountains in the room, a play area, a teacher's desk with lots of kitschy teacher paraphernalia , a spinet, and an alphabet above the chalkboard, which was less than half the size of a normal one, and very very dirty. The room also had no air conditioning. Now, this was mostly fine, especially for my Level R class, which consists of prekindergarteners. However, I was also teaching a Level 6 class (high schoolers) and a Level 5 class (middle schoolers). So that was a little weird, but even the Level 6 class wasn't bad, except that most of the kids were rather surly. No, the big challenge was the Level 5 class.

Now, picture a kindergarten classroom in your head. They usually aren't that big, right? Right. Well, neither was this one. Not a huge deal, right? Right. I was dealing with all of this, the small board, the kitschy decorations, the books (they had a copy of Lil' Wolf Saves the Day, which made me smile), the lack of air conditioning. But then I noticed that the Level 5 I was supposed to teach was a full class of 28 students (plus make-ups)! So yeah, not enough seats. I called the number on my OCI and asked the lady who answered if I could get more tables in my classroom. She said yes, and that she would come between my classes to move some more in there. My Level R went alright, except for the fact that I was exhausted and kind of didn't feel like teaching (that's a new notion, neh?). So I was even less excited about my Level 6 class, and the kids' attitudes didn't help (I can't totally blame them, it's their summer vacation and they're in a hot classroom at 9:45 am). Then my Level 5 came. Wow. So, I've never taught such a big class before. 29 students showed up. It was really crazy. But when I saw them all sitting there, the classroom full, I knew what to do. I kicked into energetic teacher mode. The class went pretty well, and I seriously think after that class I can teach anything IRD throws at me.

I had to stay for a bit afterward to make sure I could leave my materials in the room for tomorrow, and played a bit on the spinet. Then I came back here. Well, not right away. First, I drove down Tully Rd. to see where I would get something to eat. I was really thinking some Vietnamese, but I was open to suggestions. So I went down the road, looking at places to try, and then made a U-Turn and tried a place that looked like a Vietnamese restaurant, and even said "restaurant" on the outside. But when I went inside, an Asian woman told me it was just a bar. She tried to tell me to check out the market down the road, so I did. And boy, was I glad I did. This place was amazing! There was a "fast food" counter where you could see tons of steaming dishes to choose from and a butcher counter where a middle-aged man with a cleaver was hacking numerous red, glistening roast ducks, chickens, and spareribs to bits. I asked him for some roast pork, bbq spareribs and roast duck. He hacked some up for me, and put it over white rice with some veggies (sprouts, carrots, scallions) and added a soufflé cup of soy sauce. All of that was only $5.50. I also grabbed a bag of fresh baked croissants from their partner bakery that they had out on a table along with plenty of other baked goods - baguettes, breads, etc. I got two Powerades cause I knew I would be thirsty. The whole thing cost me a little more than $12. And the bag of croissants is sizeable: there are 5 croissants and they are huge. There was a ton of other stuff in the market, and I will definitely go back.

So I'm just going to try and relax tonight. It's nice to be home with some time to spare, and this way I'll be able to get to bed early. I've been taking an Aleve each day to preempt all those muscle aches that come from teaching 3 classes in a row, but I still feel very very achy. I think this means that tomorrow morning is going to hurt. I have some reporting to do online, an email to write, and some organizing to do, but on the whole I have an open night. Maybe I'll take a bath before bed. Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of the first leg of my run. If I don't completely break down from physical over-exertion, it's going to be pretty sweet to finish up tomorrow and come home.

I hope everyone is doing well.

-Alex