Life life life

had a good beginning to the fall break this weekend... doing a whole lot of nothing. ha
my bud S is in AR visiting his bf, they've been doing a lot of back and forth lately due to the long distance relationship but he's such a great guy, he deserves the happiness. man I had a really busy week in school last week. I mentioned the 15 y/o kid from Honduras who entered the country alone via a traffiker through Mexico and was left in AZ to die and he had to turn himself in, right? well he's living with his dad who he hadn't seen since he was two, having been raised by his gramma. well anyway, this kid has become a real behavior problem, a sort of dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was all right one day and then despondent the next... well it's pretty difficult 'cause you can see the kid is struggling with all sort of feelings, yet you also have to follow though with consequences for behaviour of doing nothing, disrupting class, or not following instructions. Eventually I had referred the kid, then another teacher, to where the VP conferenced with the dad and we had a note sent back saying the dad was sending him back to Honduras. Well we don't believe that til we see it, and I have to say the kid was a lot better all this last week. ha but we were waiting for the ball to drop. You may remember the 2 kids I mentioned the 17/ pregnant sister and 15y/o brother. well they weren't at school the last 2 days of this week. and the brother was being a real problem. this kid was so happy and fun the first part of school. anyway, now with his sister being pregnant and what with living here 2 months and finding it sucks being away from their mom and dad, they aren't adjusting so well. turns out they live with an aunt who is single with 3 kids already. she had threatened to throw them out but can't really cause she gets more food stamps with them in the house. Well the brother's behaviour, what with all his rage and uncertainty inside, got him a lunch detention, and he was so angry and defiant, he wouldn't even eat his lunch, and we are sitting there in our classroom with the kid saying, hey eat your lunch, no reason to be angry at your teachers etc etc.. anyway, the good thing is the school has a lot of resources. We contacted a counselor who can get a translator and work with the kids, also the latino agency for a welfare person who works with homeless situations in the neighborhood ( some kids live with relatives who don't have legal custody which makes them "homeless"), and then also the teacher at school who counsels and works with pregnant teens. anyway, your tax dollars at work. Of course we want to teach these kids English and wish them the very best opportunity. We actually have about half of our kids who were born in the US and have legal passports, but after being born were taken back to Mexico and then returned now as a teen to ------- ?? learn English? get a job? send money back to the family??? I dunno. I like to think its the current situation of danger in Mexico that makes parents sent their kids away. half of our kids are living with some relative other than the parents which I think is also sad at 15.
the night class is going well, and I'll be busy all this next week grading essays that are due tomorrow night. Starting in November I am doing to be teaching on Thursday nights also, taking over a class for another teacher, so that will give me some extra $ to help pay for the Dec trip with my sisters. I wanted to link to this article "Black and White Twins" that someone had passed along on a social network. let me know how you're enjoying fall. I plan to check out the new Whole Foods store in OKC this afternoon maybe for buffet lunch or dinner. Also I've been watching "Doc Martin" non stop on youtube. I'm on the 4th season, and man after a marathon of watching episode after episode all last week, it really makes you see the difference in culture, I find myself wanting the reserved characters to just EXPRESS SOME FEELINGS!!!! now and then please... ha ha.