My Not-So-Snow Day

I admit, there are days when I get on my school bus, just after 6:00am, with an hour and a bit’s dirt road journey ahead of me and I dream of maternity leave. While I love my students, my school drives me crazy and the days, usually a full 12 hours, are long, exhausting and hard. The journey home can take 2 hours and then there’s still the 20 minute walk, often in the rain. Sometimes the mere thought of Monday morning is enough to bring on an extra bout of morning sickness. I occasionally get out my calendar and try to estimate when I’ll finally not have to endure this nightmarish schedule, but then I have a great teaching moment, and I forget where my count was up to anyway. My students are wonderful, full of surprises and intensity, making each day very, very different. They are rowdy, for sure, and my school takes great pride in its liberal, hands-off approach, with which I usually disagree, but I have learned to love them and boy, do I try my hardest, when the door is closed and it is just us, to teach them. We have made small steps, but every now and then I feel the satisfaction of conveying not just a individual lesson but a lifelong passion, just as I did so often when I was at Tower.

Today, however, I am home. It’s our Christmas Concert and my duties begin at midday, and go until late tonight. I thought the lazy morning would be great, resting, doing laundry, catching up on some emails, but being home alone in this little city apartment is lonely and time passes slowly. The morning sickness struck again last night and still lingers on and I miss Steve and wish we were together. Maybe weeks or months of this wouldn’t be so good after all. Steve and I arrived here with two suitcases each and maybe all the books, stationary, photos and bubble baths (ahhh…) I used to be able to soak up given 20 minutes of lazy time are now being missed. Or maybe it’s not that. Times like these, I realize why living 10 miles away from our two families was such a blessing. I miss Boston, especially as they are getting their first snow! If this was a snow day, my nose would be pressed to the window. Colombia has been an adventure and a challenge we hoped for but I can’t wait for 16 days! We are going home!