PHILL! NED!

The urge to simply knock people out comes upon me quite frequently over here. Not because I'm angry, but I often feel this sense of frustration and weariness that makes me want to tell people to back off; like "don't make things harder for me. Don't push me, don't pressure me, don't upset my zen. " Of course there's the language barrier, then my emotions which make any words come out wrong - so why not just throw a right hook? In the classroom, in the teacher's lounge, on the subway, in the gym, in the grocery store........ I am on the other side of the world from all that I know and should be cut a little slack, right? When it comes to kids and co-workers especially since we're with each other all day, let's just be cool and make things easy for each other.

I let a couple of my classes make Christmas cards this week. I don't think the principal was too happy about it (not in the lesson plan) but a friend sent some stickers and glitter over in a care package so I went for it. The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever.