Sigh. I'm sorry, sweetie. You're working in a school without a lot of parental support, from what I've gathered.

Kristin, where is your tag from? I may need it as a mantra.

Not entirely -- I mean, the parents care a lot. But they also work a lot, and they rely on their kids to keep them informed, and I think in some cases the kids just didn't tell the parents. And a lot of the parents rely on the kids to translate -- one girl did bring her mother, and proceeded to give me attitude during Back to School Night, in front of her mother, because she knew perfectly well her mother wouldn't understand. She's on my list of people to ask our parent liaison to call, but the list is so long... I've been to a bunch of parent conferences, and I have one tomorrow (the second in three weeks about the same girl, and unlikely to be much more help this time than the last), and some of them involve parents who are ready and willing to send their children to Mexico or Guatemala to live with relatives and go to REALLY strict schools if they don't behave. It's just so hard for the kids to fight the peer culture of the school, which is that goofing off and giving attitude is the normal thing to do.

Um... right. What was the question again?

Oh Em. The question isn't important. The answer is how much you rock despite difficult circumstances.

Daisy, it's from LA Story, one of my all-time favorite movies.

1) I heart Emily

2) I heart JZ beyond the telling of it

3) Som Tham is still unspeakably yummy

4) My little Year 2 (Grade 1) whizzkid continues to impress me with his spicy brains. Having made his mark on day one of the school year by writing a VAST list of words including things like elephant and atmosphere when I asked everyone to write down any words they could spell, and having written 1 + 1 = 2, 2 + 2 = 4, 4 + 4 = 8, 8 + 8 = 16, 16 + 16 = 32 and continued merrily doubling well into four digit numbers when I asked them to write down any sums they could do, today his response to the question "so what have we learnt about what plants need?" (I'm looking for 'water', 'sunlight', 'soil', that kind of thing) is to launch into telling me all about how they make carbon dioxide, and how their leaves make food using chlorophyll and sunlight. I fucking love this kid. He's slightly taller than my knee. It's like teaching Roald Dahl's Matilda, if Matilda were a pleasantly rounded tiny wee Thai boy with THE cutest accent you have ever heard in your entire life.

Bless my kids.

eta

...sorry, that sounds a bit mememe and crap of me coming hot on the heels of Emily's difficulties. I have ENORMOUS respect for what Emily's doing, and for her guts and spicy brains. But apparently I'm very easily distracted and self-involved, because my brain skittered over to my own wee monsters almost immediately. And they're so bloody CUTE, damn it.

Fay! We had the Supernatural premiere today!

Oh, and today our math coach made me cry. So that was fun too.

Fay, my father (he of the Cairo trips) will be traveling through Bangkok soon (apparently having decided that one shouldn't let 40 years go by without a trip to Thailand), and this just seems like TOO much of a coincidence. So tell me what small token you want brought to you from the United States, and I shall commission my father to get it to you, because clearly some sort of offering should be made to the gods of coincidence to show that we've noticed.

Matilda is adorable!!!! As is her mama!!!

I mean, the parents care a lot. But they also work a lot, and they rely on their kids to keep them informed, and I think in some cases the kids just didn't tell the parents.

That was me in school. Though not because I didn't want her to go, I'm sure most of them would have said some flattering, or if not, at least helpful things. I just always forgot.

I'm planning on going to Budapest next year with a friend. I've started researching, but I really need to get a passport. I almost got a free trip to NY next weekend, but that trip might be on hold. I mention this because my trip to Vegas was my first ever somewhere without family or in driving distance.

Wait, I lie, I went to the Bahamas once with my dad.

...sorry, that sounds a bit mememe and crap of me coming hot on the heels of Emily's difficulties.

What? No! Ridiculousness! There is no possible reason you should refrain from telling your here-is-one-of-the-glories-of-teaching story just because I gave a here-is-why-teaching-sucks-big-donkey-balls sermon!