School Days

Wow! We have been so busy it is unbelievable. I thought we would be able to post a lot more often, but between school work and the internet shorting out (which it did all weekend), I will have to try to cram a lot in in a small space.

To start off, school has started and so far it's been great. I have a class of JH1 with 22 students and Jon has 21 JH2 students. JH2 is kind of grade 7 part two. After grade seven, the students are put on the credit system, so the school tries to hold off as long as possible before they are forced to take on that responsibility. So in general, Jon's kids are a lot older and a lot more rambunctious than mine. They can be a bit of a handful, but I can't stress enough the fact that in general every kid is a good kid. As soon as you tell them they are being wrong, they apologize and everyone moves on as though nothing has happened.

Outside of school, we are still managing to be pretty social. Last Saturday night, we were actually invited to not one, but two BBQ parties, and in true Jon form, we didn't turn either down, but attended both. For those of you who don't know, our furniture and stuff has gotten kind of mixed up, so for now the school has put us in a hotel. They're doing everything they can to help us as the hotel is 250 dollars a night or something outrageous like that PER PERSON. We spend a lot of time at the school...mostly for internet and a kitchen, so it's really become like a second home. Neither of us are complaining though...it means we're just putting away money since our only expense is groceries.

I'll close with a transcript of a conversation we had with some of our students outside our hotel window. I hope you find it as funny as we did. We woke up to the sound of rocks banging against the hotel and teacher-Jon kicked in.

Jon: Hey! Stop throwing rocks at the hotel.
Kid: Oh...hey, Jonathon.
Jon: Hey...what are you doing throwing rocks at the hotel?!!
Kid: We're not throwing rocks at the hotel. We're throwing them at the birds.
Jon: But the birds are in front of the hotel! Go throw rocks at them in the field or something.
Kid: There aren't any birds in the field.
Kid Two: Oh hey, Jonathon...I just peed in a cup.
Jon: Why are you peeing in a cup? Go use a bathroom.
Kid Two: I filled up three cups.
Jon: Errr....uhhh
Kid Two: (holds up cup to show Jon. Spills pee on his hand and drops the cup.)
Kid Two: Can I come to wash my hands off?
Jon: No, you can't come in. Get outta here and stop throwing rocks at the hotel.
Kid One: We were throwing them at the birds, Jonathon.
Kid Two: We'll go away and come back when we have more questions.

[FIVE MINUTES LATER]

Several children: JONATHON! SHAWNA! JONATHON! SHAWNA!
Jonathon: WHAT?
Kid One: Ralph has a question for Shawna. [Nudges Ralph]
Ralph: Shawna...what are we doing for gym?
Jonathon: Find out what your classmates want to do...come to an agreement and tell Shawna on Monday.