It's been an intense week back after my winter break from work. Monday actually went pretty well (I think we were all in shock after having a week off), so I should say it's been an intense two days.

The class I work in now consists of 11 full day students and 2 half day students - meaning that in the afternoon we have a grand total of 13 kids: 12 boys and 1 girl. This means that if one student is even remotely off, the rest go off as well and the room can get very loud. We've had several meltdowns, a few children vomiting (not because they're sick, mind you), and one child who just pulled down his pants in the middle of recess and attempted to pee on one of the other kids - simply because it amused him.

Not only are the students stressed, but the staff is stressed as well. The teacher, Kerri, is going through cse annual reviews (think parent-teacher conference that includes various chair-people from the district offices, in addition to creating various lesson plans for the new students, and all other teaching duties. The younger assistant, Jessica (she's 25), just broke up with her boyfriend over break and found out that her roommate has moved in with her boyfriend and is engaged to be married to him in October and she wants Jessica to be her maid of honor. In addition to the emotional stress she's handling, Jessica has to figure out where to live come October. She's also going to school for her master's degree. The other asssistant, Ada (she's 37), just found out that her father is dying. She will be flying to the Dominican Republic tomorrow evening - leaving her husband and two children back here. She may be gone only a few days, but it could also be longer. She wants to take her father back to the States with her so that the doctor's here can treat him, but at the moment he wants to stay in the DR. Typically we don't get substitutes when any of the assistants need a day off. Since Ada will be taking more than one day off I'm not sure if we will actually resort to using a sub.

Either way....the next few days are going to be just as stressful as the last two for me. Any and all prayers for everyone in the classroom that I work in are appreciated.