What a week!

Sometimes when writing from Melbourne, there isn't a lot to say, hence the greater frequency when we are traveling. Melbourne has become "old hat" I guess. But this week had no shortage of stories.

First off, I am pretty sure I worked my last day at the horrible place where I taught. The situation there continues to go downhill and it just isn't worth my time any more. The final nail in the coffin was Monday. During my lesson a 5th grader that wasn't even in my class, came over and would not leave us alone. He would just yell at the class, or run through and mock the stretches. It became evident to me that the only way this class was going to continue was to remove this boy from the situation. Now in 7 years of teaching "normal" students I never laid a hand on one. The occasional pat on the shoulder for a job well done but even that would make me nervous for a lawsuit. But this place (as I mentioned several times) is different. So, I picked this boy up by the shoulders to keep his arms down and keep him away from my body and walked him over to the main office. I then had to move him to my left arm so I could open the door with my key. At this point he got an arm free and pulled out a pen and proceeded to stab me repeatedly! This is a 5th grader! Once I got the door open, I let him go inside then he ran off. This is just one more issue in a long line of issues from this crazy crazy place. I hope to go on a bit of a tirade about all the little stories about this place, but I want to be careful because the teachers at this school are such great people. It is just out of their control. Until then, check out this video. The kids in the crowd are my students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVgd1tbaZwc



In other news, I have been spending a bit of time at a place called Australian Technical College. It is just my kind of kids. Most didn't do very well in the regular school, and are sent here to do carpentry, mechanics, etc. while still getting their full diploma. So, as you can imagine they are kind of rough kids... but great kids at the same time. the teachers there have told me that it is the toughest place to teach in Melbourne. Then I tell them about where I teach. The biggest difference between the ATC students and the Jewish kids, although both sets hate school, don't want to be there, and feel it is a waste of their time. The ATC students don't loathe your very existence.

Anyway, on Thursday they had a footy game against ATC-Bendigo which is about a 2 hour drive. These kids treat the F-bomb like a period... they can't finish a sentence without it! So, two hours of me trying to correct their language, then 1 1/2 hours of a footy game where all they wanted to do was brawl the other school, then a drive home. Now on the drive home is when it gets real funny. The bus that I was on gets a flat, and there is only me and another teacher. Good news: The bus had a spare tire... Bad News: Bus lacked the specialized tool to get the spare tire out... more bad news: Even if we would have had that tool the tire was seized up from rust (the bus was a real junker). Now after calling RACV (Aussie equivalent to AAA) they decided the only way this was happening was with a tow the bus into the next town. Surprisingly enough the tow truck lacked the capacity to carry 10 boys and 2 teachers. So, the other teachers rode with the tow truck in to town, while these 10 boys and I walked along the highway out in the middle of nowhere. Who da' thunk I would be just strolling down the road in the middle of Australia with a group of students? Eventually, a few hours later the bus was repaired and came around the bend... just as a gas station (that no doubt had a meat pie for sale) came into view. I hadn't eaten all day, and this was the light at the end of the tunnel. But alas, we hopped on the bus and were happy to actually be heading home again. What a day!...

What a week!