Post started at 8:36 PM: (finished around 10:50 PM)
Okay, so I spent all weekend getting ready for the first day of school. Friday I worked for about 6 hours, Saturday I worked for a couple of hours before I went to bed and Sunday I worked for another 6 or 7 hours. I say worked, but I don't really feel like I got a lot done, just tried to get myself organized and ready for the first day...

That said, It was an interesting first day of school. Not entirely bad, not entirely good. Lots of opportunities to improve, and I'm not ready to start running for the airport either...

I started the day fairly well prepared, I thought. I got there early enough to make my copies and have a cup of tea before things started to get crazy. Then, we spent the first hour with our Form Tutor Classes (Homerooms) and sitting there, I started to get sick to my stomach. I quickly pulled myself together and decided that it was probably the tea I had this morning - the pot looked a little less-than-clean. Then, I met my first class - a large group of year 7 students. To put it mildly,we had some issues. I asked them to take out a sheet of paper and they just stared at me. So I asked again and they replied that they didn't have any paper. "No paper," I questioned, "then what is in your bags?" It went on..."If I asked you to empty out your bag on the table, what would I find?"Come to find out... The school provides them with Exercise books (i.e. paper) and truly, they do not carry paper with them to class... Go figure! I'm not sure if this is a UK custom or just at the school that I am at, but it left me chuckling the rest of the day. Well, chuckling until I met my class from hell - a very large geography class! This class meets after lunch (I think that may have been a factor in their behavior today) and they were completely out of line: constant talking, disrespect, all the things that I won't tolerate... Long-story-short the class ended up "copying lines" on the first day!! Ugh - they put me in a mood! The year 9 class that I had today was a little talkative until I put them in assigned seats. One boy I had to call down twice, then I saw him sitting with his back tome, mimicking me as I spoke! Grr! I sent him into the hall, made him sit out there for 5 to 10 minutes (threatened his life, but only a little - kidding!), when I brought him back in, he was much better... Now I just have to figure out how to handle that geography class!! I came home, had a cup of tea and wrote out about 30 quiz questions - figure maybe I can get them to behave by threatening their marks(grades), we'll see tomorrow!!

I got a lot of "Where are you from?" questions today. They were funny. The year 7 kids that I have said, "we love your accent!" Too funny!! (Partly because that's what I'd say to one of them!)

It's not quite as easy as I'd hoped it'd be. School ended and I SO wanted a beer! Instead I settled for some hot chocolate... Not quite as exciting as my life in Charlotte...