One Week of Pure Chaos

I have now been back in Manila for one week. I vacillate between the feelings of "I never left" and "Didn't I fall asleep in my bed at Gramma's last night?" It has been an incredibly full week of emotions, hello's, retreating, setting up shop, and all the other fun stuff that goes along with the beginning of a new school year.

The staff retreat was amazing. The planners did such a good job of planning a rejuvenating retreat. I came back to Manila still feeling the pressure of the beginning of a new school year but in a much better place emotionally.

I encountered some unexpected changes when I arrived on campus this past week. A variety of things happened to change the schedule I thought I was to teach this year. These include only 2 Grade 7 classes. They are going to be a bit bigger classes by Faith standards but still smaller than most classes that you find in the US. I am teaching a speech class this semester rather than an Oral Interpretation class. Those don't sound so different, you say. Yes, but they actually are quite different. Same principles for the most part but fairly different content-wise. I am grateful for another teacher who has taught this class (in fact taught this class to me) for many years and has all of her materials and curriculum together. And finally, the one that I did expect - World Literature. It has been a cramming week as I try to pull together everything that I need for 3 preps while spreading stuff out between the four spaces that I will claim for the year. I have one room for middle school, two rooms for high school, and an office. I'm setting up shop in the office for the year in hopes of having an airconditioned, central place to work. I'll most definitely be getting my workout as I hike around campus.

Some things are hard about being back. The reality of some of the changes from last year is difficult to deal with. There are families and friends that have left Faith and their presence is sorely missed.

So here we are at Year 2, 2008-2009. It promises to be crazy and wonderful and difficult all wrapped up into one. I started one of my four classes today and my other three will start tomorrow. Off to a roaring, or meandering, start.