Bulgarian Daze

I am officially….A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER. As in, the-phone-rings-at-5am to-tell-you-you-are-working substitute. Yeah, that kind. I have worked in almost all the grade levels, including 6th and KINDER!!!!!! I prefer 6th. Really. I will take “love” over “urine” any day of the week.

So, mostly I just work at Logan (HI LOGAN!!!! I miss you guys!!) But now and again I take a job at another site. And I have learned the miserable life of a substitute teacher where nobody knows your name–cue Cheers music here. The other teachers act as though you have never taught a day in your life. The administration acts as if you are just a random person from the streets, reminding you of basic procedure like how to have the kids walk in line and how to do recess duty.

So perhaps someone can answer this…did anyone stop to think that maybe, just maybe, the kids are misbehaving becaue there is a substitute? Not because the substitute doesn’t know how to teach??????? I mean, REALLY!!!!! DID ANYONE EVER THINK OF THAT???????? Because I’m pretty sure that after teaching at Logan Elementary for 10 years that I KNOW HOW TO DO RECESS DUTY, Mr. Principal at Scripps Ranch. In fact, I am pretty sure it is YOU who cannot handle recess duty. p.s. Mr. Principal North of the 8, kids congregating to gossip about their cute outfits does NOT constitute a horrific offense.

Ok. Enough if that. Got it off my chest.

Anyways. My fourth graders from last year are laughing at me when they see me teaching a class of “little kids” because I used to tell them that I taught them (”big kids) because they didn’t act like Kinders, nor should they. And now they tease me. It is like a sick revenge.

I am SO SO SO ready to teach again. I miss it SO much. I like my own room. And my own kids. And my own rules. I actually like my job. And I want it back. In just 4 months, I will have it again. And I’m sure that just one month later I will be lamenting the woes of teaching. All the work. The low pay. The bad days. Blah blah blah. It is still better than staring at a computer all day. Well…except that part where you have to spend DAYS filling out report cards. All except that….

One of the hardest parts of moving to Bulgaria has been leaving our dogs behind. Sure, we had Houndsome with us and he was a barrel of laughs. But we also have two other, sweet, sweet black Labs that we left with friends and family. One of our dogs–our girl, Lola–was living with another dog which was a Lab/Pit Bull mix, Bailey. Bailey has been the greatest dog for years, but something happened when Lola came around. He went crazy and tried to eat her twice. We tried everything, separating them, supervising them, training them, but the first chance he got, he tried to eat her for dinner. After the second time, Bailey’s owners worried about him going crazy around children, and upon the vet’s advice, ended up putting him to sleep. His Pit Bull self had come out and he probably wasn’t going to go back. Sad, sad, sad.

The last time we were home we couldn’t take Lola out swimming or running because she was still healing from her wounds. So we were determined to take her, Guiseppe, and our boy Lab (Lola’s father) Dakota to the beach.

One sunny, Saturday morning, we drove to all four corners of San Diego County to retrieve all of our dogs. We I was a bit worried about if they would all still get along because they have been separated for 8 months. But, of course, they did! We loaded them into the truck and headed to Fiesta Island, our favorite doggy place to visit.

The dogs spent a couple of hours cruising the beach, sniffing other hounds, chasing the ball, and swimming through the bay. Here are some pictures:

Notice Guiseppe. He refuses to join the action. This is not new for him. Every once in a while he will get a pinky toe wet, but.nothing.more. He chooses instead to guard our section of the beach and should any other dogs come by, they would be subject to his approval. (All dogs eventually get approved, though he must sniff them and follow them a bit first).

Lola is our Swimmer Extraordinaire. She will NOT stop unless we stop throwing the ball. In fact, I got a call two days later that she was acting depressed and mopey. No, no, I said. She is just achy, you know, like when you haven’t exercised for a year (say, after foot surgery or something like that) and you H.U.R.T. for days after the first time???

Dakota is our Gentle Giant. He looks big and scary, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. In fact, Lola drives him crazy, CRAZY, and still he licks her and loves her. She steals the ball from him every single time he has it, even if he is swimming in the water at the time. After playing with her for a few minutes, he eventually just hands it over to her and gives her a lick. So cute!

(Lola and her dad, Dakota)
And so we hung out for the day, then we took them all to the groomers to get a bath and a blow dry (which they LOVE). Then we drove to the four corners of the county and dropped them all off. Fun times. We can’t wait until out reunion is permanent and we can swim with our hounds in our backyard pool everyday!!!

**More hound-y pictures in the Gallery!!****

The Revenge of “Sissy”

Yup. That’s right. I made a mobile of all Barack pictures along with a sticker I got at a street fair that said “Democrats Value All Families” with the gay/lesbian rainbow symbol and hung it in the kid’s room.

Heh.

Heh.

So, since we have been here, we have been staying with my brother, sister-in-law, and two year old nephew. Technically, he’s not two yet, but he will be in a couple of weeks. His name is Daniel, but we have renamed him Diggy, after Rev Run’s son Daniel who they call Diggy. Don’t ask….

Diggy is full of funny tricks. For example, at night, when it’s time to go to bed, he excitedly runs to his room and YELLS at us “‘Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!”, blows a kiss and plows into his crib. He loves to count. He does well up to the number 10, but then skips to his all time favorite number, 13. When he gets mad or is starting to throw a tantrum, for some unknown reason, he decides to close his eyes while crying and walks around until he runs into something, thereby compunding the reasons for crying. It’s like he is playing Blind Man’s Bluff–do you know that game?

But the best trick of all…in my Republican family…is that I have now sufficiently trained him to correctly identify Barack Obama. He can’t quite say the full name yet, but he can point to the picture. And he does so with such zeal and enthusiasm, as if he LOVES Barack. I whisper to him how Barack will be our next president.

Heh. Heh.

So now we have a war here. My brother is teaching Diggy to call me “Sissy”, which I HATE!!! He thought it would be easier to say than Kristy, but I would prefer to remain nameless. Now Diggy says “Sissy” occasionally, so I have to retaliate with some bold Barack Obama move. And I have a plan. But I cannot reveal it here. Not just yet. The spies could be reading. But I’ll keep you posted…

…probably because I am not writing about them. Man! I’m soooo busy here. Well, ok, that may be an exaggeration because I lose a couple hours a day just hanging out with my 2 year old nephew. But other than that I am kind of busy. But, here are some stories I am going to write about in the next week. I promise. Really. (Plus the kids are coming back from Spring Break, so I gotta write!)
1. Being a substitute, the good, and the woes

2. Family Reunion Day with all three hounds

3. Our 8th Anniversary–featuring Mark Cassanova

4. Reason #204 why we won’t get the right visa and will have to stay here an extra month

5. How I gained the American 10 pounds that I now must lose

6.  Funny 2 year old antics

7. Eating lobster in Puerto Nuevo (should probably go with “How I Gained 10 Pounds”) with an added bonus of “My Driving Experience in Mexico”

Any others you want to hear? I am taking special requests. All this and more coming…starting tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Well, part of the reason I have been busy is because I am teaching Intersession at school and I need to spend all of tonight filling out incredibly bureaucratic, long, and tedious progress reports. Good to see things haven’t changed much in my absence…

Check back tomorrow, and/or Saturday. Really. Do.