Time to enjoy the view....???

No hurricane, just rain and a day off. I arrived at school a bit late and several Mexican teachers had not come so Patty and I had a room full of 7-12 graders for the first hour of the school day. Then the kids got as smart as the teachers and they started to cell phone their parents to come and pick them up. It was raining steadily a good part of the morning and I hope it will rain all day again tomorrow.

I left school today before eleven and came home and wrote an email to Elsa, the owner of the school, telling her that without a copy machine in the English Lab I would have to quit. She promised us a copier two weeks ago and I have begun to realize that she has no intention of buying us one. I simply cannot teach getting all my curriculum off the Internet without a copier I can depend on each day. The one at school is constantly breaking down or the door is locked so I cannot get inside the copy room without finding the one person on campus who has a key (and believe me she is not easy to find). I really thought Elsa understood my problem and would do something about it, but now I realize it was just the Mexican way of not being able to tell you no. They tell you yes and then never follow through, hoping you will just carry on and make do. Well, too old and tired for that to work now.

Money is scarce at the school, I know, but that is not my problem. This is a much better place to work than Mission but it too has its own brand of craziness that I cannot deal with. So today, just like the day a few weeks ago when I walked out because they did not give me my own classroom, I drew my line in the sand. Working at Mission did teach me some things, I guess. My dear sister made a comment to me over the weekend that I might as well be doing charity work with the amount they pay me and she is right. Other dear friends have told me to try not to be so neurotic, but I am neurotic when it comes to teaching. I have always been so and will always be I'm afraid. I just need to accept my limitations and move on. This experience has been much more fun and certainly very rewarding. However, going in each day unable to have the lessons I need for the day is just not working for me. In fact, it makes me even more neurotic. (Is that possible?)

So my plan is to continue collaborating with Harry on the novel which we have put on the back burner because of our teaching, take some Spanish conversation classes at a language school in town, and sit and enjoy the view. I suppose I will also have to do some cooking and washing up and maybe even fire my maid who comes every week to clean and do my ironing. My god, what a princess I have become here in Mexico. It must be time to go home.