Do I really want this?

Today I said goodbye to my students. That sounds odd because I've been on maternity leave since March. But today was the last day of school. I went in for the end of the year party, taking my girls with me. I told my students about the joy and pleasure it has been to teach them, work with them, nurture them, cheer for them at ball games...and then I told them I won't be teaching next year.

My students had mixed reactions.Some of them are genuinely disappointed. They like me and my teaching style. Some of them could care less who is at the front of the classroom. They might like me but would just rather not be in school. Others are happy to see me go. Our personalities clashed, and they still haven't learned the life lesson of deciding to get along with someone that you must work with.

I know I will miss them. I love my students. I enjoy my career. But I love my girls more. Even though our babysitter for the past 2 years was an amazing stay-at-home mom, I still hated leaving my little girl with somebody else all day, everyday. When we brought our second child home, I wondered how I would be able to do it again. I couldn't imagine leaving both of them to go back to the classroom.

So, I found some work I can do online from home. I packed up my teaching supplies. I said goodbye to my students and coworkers. And as of today, I am officially a stay-at-home mom.

Yes, I do really want this.

"Unproductive" Days

The past 2 days have been rather hectic. For some reason, schedules were off. Both of my girls are definitely schedule babies. They like it when things happen at the same time everyday. Since things were happening at all the wrong times, they were grumpy. I spent 2 days trying to not be grumpy, restore the schedule, and help them not be grumpy.

Translation: not much housework got done.

Now, thankfully I was able to do quite a bit of housework Monday, and my husband is very understanding about these things. However, by the time I woke up this morning, I was rather discouraged.

But while I was talking to my grandmother, she reminded me that the most important thing I do right now is take care of my girls. Yes, that does require at least a minimal amount of housework so that we can wear clean clothes and eat off of clean dishes. But in the long run, helping them through a rough day is far more important than having a spotless house. Thanks, Grandma.

The Dining Room

My dining room is a constant source of frustration for me. It is the first room we enter as we walk in the  front door, so it is easy to just dump our stuff on the table. Today, I finished cleaning that area. I realize that I must be vigilant in keeping it that way, but now I can maintain instead of needing to climb the mountain.

Entry area

I cleaned up the laundry area and entry way today. Including the time that I had to stop and comfort a crying Sophie or take Belle to the bathroom, it took me about an hour. Now I should be able to fold laundry on top of the dryer (a goal I've had since I managed to get the laundry monster off the couch). Also, I swept the tile at the front door and sorted through the stuff on the small table there. My hubby and I will have to work together to keep that orderly since he's generally the one who drops stuff there.

Hooray! One area done.

Next: The stuff on top of the freezer and taking stock of what is in it.

How did it get this bad?

I realized a few weeks ago that I really needed to clean our apartment. I could try to blame the mess on the fact that we have a new baby. But it was a mess before she was born. I could try to blame the mess on the fact that I was pregnant, working full time, and had a toddler. But it was a mess before school started this year. I could try to blame that mess on working full time and having an infant. But I think you realize these are definitely excuses at this point. What I need to do is just clean the place and work to maintain that.

 I tried to set up a schedule for cleaning, but it wasn't working! I was able to accomplish it some days but not others. Overall, the situation was not improving. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then I realized that I was not using the system that has worked for me in the past. Traditionally, I start at one end of our home and work my way toward the other. I only do basic maintenance or necessary chores eveywhere else until I get there. After I clean each room, I go back and maintain it as I clean the others. I got behind on this as I tried to work full time. I will keep up with it this time.

This time around, I'm starting at the front door and working my way toward our bathroom (the other side of the apartment). It will probably take me longer than I would like since I do need to care for my two little ones, but that's okay. The important thing is restoring order.

Okay, so I don't post very often. I would rather talk to people than type to no one specific. But my sister has been bugging me to post, so I'm posting. If anyone has ever wondered what the true chain of command in my family of origin is, that should tell you something right there.

I'll try to summarize that past few months for those who are still diligently checking my blog.

December: While my family had hoped to send my sister for a visit over the Christmas holidays, that idea never became more than that--a hope. So, Mom and I hastily boxed up gifts and paid way more than we normally would to send them to each other. I went ahead with the other plans like cooking a turkey and making the dressing from the family recipe. We even had a bit of Christmas with family in a modern way. On Christmas morning Matthew logged in to Yahoo and turned on the webcam. The view was me preparing Christmas dinner. My parents plugged their webcam into Dad's laptop, and we saw them prepping the vegetables in anticipation of making the same recipe that I was working on. Of course, by the time we actually sat down to dinner, they had been in bed for some time.

January: School started back up, but unfortunately some of teachers were still in North America. The sixth grade teacher had sprained her ankle and was unable to maneuver sufficiently to pass through security and manage her layovers. The high schoool English teacher came down with the flu only a day or two before she was supposed to fly back to Seoul. Both teachers were delayed by 2 or 3 days, requiring some interesting schedule adjustments all around. Furthermore, during this time, Matthew started teaching Jr. High Bible 2 days a week. Pastor Johnson, our Bible teacher, returned to the U.S. during the Christmas holidays to be with his wife who was having cancer treatments. (She has since finished her treatments and is doing well.) This added a whole dimension to preparing lesson plans for the week. Jr. High Bible has about 35 students in it. 35 more of anything to grade is always daunting.

Well, it's getting late here. I will try to post again tomorrow night, giving February and March news. After that, no promises, but I will make an effort to post more frequently.

An Interesting Saturday

Saturday Morning

Dec 2 was the "annual" meeting of foreign teachers to "ensure quality of education". It was a big waste of time. All they did was read the immigration law to us and then subject us to pointless speeches (that if you have an education degree, you've heard the contents of at least 3 times). Then, to kill time, they had a horrible excuse for a music group "perform". The whole event was insulting. I spent 6 years in college and earned a teaching certificate and 2 education degrees. The event was organized by a person who obviously has no clue about education--during the sessions she learned "Success breeds success." I could've emailed her that and saved 500 people a lot of time.


Saturday Afternoon

After the morning meeting, several of us went to Express Bus Terminal and went shopping. (Yes, it is a bus statation, but it has several floors, and the top ones are devoted to shopping.) I was inspired while we were there and bought several items to put together table centerpieces. We used them as gifts at our staff Christmas party.


Saturday Evening

Our staff Christmas party was Saturday evening. We had loads of fun. We had finger foods, sang Christmas carols, and had a gift exchange. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and helped make up for the wasted morning.