Assalamu alaikum

Ramadan Kareem

Alhamdulillah! I started with a cold, and am now down to just being my usual fall congested self, and I am over my lack of coffee headache!

Well, 10 minutes later, and I am back typing. I went to deliver something, and a 6th grader came out of a bathroom followed by a preschool boy, and I was told that he looked under the door at her while she was using the bathroom. I tried to send him to the office, but he would listen, and instead started walking back to the classroom. He went to his mom, and I told her what happened also. Hopefully he will be taught a lesson!
Hah, I'm grumpy with these kids!

Anyway, back to work... Hope everyone is having a peaceful Ramadan!

Assalamu alaikum

Eek, Grades are due. Alhamdulillah, I have lived through the first quarter of my teaching life. I have had to become a mean teacher to some of the grades and it has disheartened me... I don't like to yell and be mean but if someone keeps disturbing the class, then I have to. If I kick two people out, then I have a wonderful class, and could get a lot accomplished. However, I spend a lot of time baby-sitting and don't get to teach as much as I would like to.

Last weekend, we went to a pumpkin patch to get pictures of baby with the pumpkins! He looked so adorable, standing between three pumpkins that were larger than he is... Then Sunday, we went to a miniature steam locomotive for our annual ride through the fall leaves. The miniature trains are so cool! We sit in flat cars with built-in benches, and it is a real coal/wood burning steam engine and is about waist high. The "railroad" is a scenic ride through the forest by a small river. The weather was wonderful and the leaves are just starting to change colors for Fall.

Wow, Ramadan is just around the corner and approaching quickly. There was a survey to the parents if we should dismiss school a half hour early to give more time for families to prepare for Iftar, and 85% voted to let the kids out early... I voted that we should start school after Isha, and pray night prayers instead of Zuhur, serve "lunch" at 2:00am and let the kids sleep through the fasting part of the day :D. A couple of teachers thought it was great, but I couldn't get enough support to make the change.

I can't remember any amusing stories from school... Having to shout at two of my classes all the time drains the energy out of me, and I begin to dread teaching them :-(. Then the other three classes are wonderful, and I look forward to teaching them. So Alhamdulillah, most of my classes are wonderful, and InshaAllah, I can be more effective on dwelling on the positive instead of letting a couple of "bad apples" get to me.

Today is Judo night! I get to get beat up this evening :). Last week, I asked someone to work with me on learning to fall. Falling is the harder part because you can break bones, get hernias, and other painful injuries. So I am trying to learn how to fall and not get hurt. (aside form the normal achy muscles)

Assalamu alaikum
Wow, it has been a week since I last posted! I had another busy week, and weekend... Last weekend, on Saturday I went to a Malay gathering. Alhamdulillah, it was great to see everyone again, and the food was wonderful! Sunday the school had a Bazaar and the teachers worked in shifts at the various booths. My shift was to give everyone breaks, and make sure it was going smoothly. I got to sale food, operate the Moon walk, sale jewelry, cook, clean, take out trash....MashaAllah, it was a wonderful day with nice weather and many people came and ate the delicious food. My poor wife made the egg-rolls that morning, but since I needed to stay all day she elected to stay at home with baby.

Last week I was a grumpy teacher. Something about fall is making students more talkative and I have to be meaner to get them to do work. I don't like to yell, but sometimes I have to, especially when students are being unruly and even talking back... I want to move to a country where I can carry a ruler, and use it on naughty students!!! I couldn't believe it, a teacher asked for help with computers for her class, and I was gone for less than 5 minutes and two girls were pulling each others Hijabs off in a mixed classroom. I made them both eat lunch in my classroom as a lunch detention.

Sunday, a student threatened to beat my son up. I hunted him down and yelled at him, the principal punished him and made him apologize, then his mother and aunty heard about it, and fussed at him again. Then he goes to his father and says my son was teasing him and he is just a poor innocent kid. So the father comes and tries to convince me that the 3-4 witnesses are wrong and his son is a poor innocent kid that is always picked on blah blah blah. This kid is a trouble maker, and has the reputation of being a bully. I told him I will fail him for bad conduct if he doesn't behave while on masjid property but I bit my tongue while talking to his father and let the dad live in his own fantasy world. The mom knows how the student acts, and doesn't put up with it.

Anyway, enough complaining... inshaAllah this week will be better and I am learning from the experiences to become a better teacher.

Assalamu alaikum!

Bleh, I didn't get any work done this weekend. Actually it is my own fault, but alas, now I have regrets. A friend visited on Saturday, and I rented Bullet Proof Monk, so it was either relaxing with the family, or cleaning house, except for the eating part. Sayang made lasagna  for all of us, and they brought some delicious white chocolate chip cookies :-).

Sunday, we went to the Masjid to visit friends, and go to the near by butcher. When we got home, it took the afternoon off and played with my kids instead of doing my school work.

Assalamu Alaikum!
Jummah Mubarak

I was late for Friday Prayer :-(. All I have to do is walk upstairs, but alas, my other responsibility is to chase the boys upstairs, make sure they behave while taking Wudu, and be an over-all hall monitor. Then I heard the Imam start, and was thinking "wait wait, I still need to talk Wudu also" (Teachers can not use the student bathrooms for our own safety because of the perverts in recent history) But Alhamdulillah, I get to yell at kids to hurry to Jummah :-), Can't exactly do that in public school :D

I agreed to visit my Grandmother more often while my parents are traveling, and take her for her errands. Last night, she was telling me about when her and grandpa were squirrel hunting, and trying to clean it for dinner. They were in the process of pulling the skin off when my mom (as a 3-4 year old) came out and asked "Papa, why are you taking that squirrel's britches (pants)" I enjoy hearing the positive stories of when she was growing up. Unfortunately, she grew up during the Great Depression, so there is a lot of sad stories that she sometimes dwells on too much... My parents have to keep reminding her to think of positive times and to stop depressing herself.

Assalamu alaikum All!
Eek! Yesterday, I was helping monitor a computer lab presentation to 1st graders. One student kept causing trouble, so he ended up in the office with his head down on the table (time out). The little ***** fell asleep and wet himself!! One of the other office workers cleaned up the rest of the mess :-( (I wasn't really thinking of a bad word, but I couldn't think of an appropriate name so you get to fill in the blanks.)

Yea, a student called me mean today! I told them that I would try to live up to the expectation and be extra mean. I guess this spread around school as the rest of the day, students kept commenting on how nice I was as if I should live up to that expectation instead of the mean one. Teaching... I get to tell kids what to do, and get money for it :D

Assalamu alaikum
Alhumdulillah! I have survived three weeks of teaching and so far I love it! We had our first excitement this year. The school is in the progress of building a new addition, which will more than double our space! After labor day, we had more rain than usual and with the water being rerouted because of the building effort, it came into the school. By lunch time, we had school cancelled, the students out, and about two inches of water on the floor. My first job was to get all the computers and power cables off the floor before the water covered them. Then five of us (two teachers, principal, and a couple of volunteers) started moving water outside, while the construction company started these big pumps to move that water into the nearby creek. After 4-5 hours of hard work, the school was ready for the students to come back the next day.

Muahaha, I am such a mean teacher :-) The school uniform is navy pants, and a light blue oxford cloth shirt. I came to school wearing the same type of shirt and a little first grade girl came up to me saying "Amu, why are you wearing the school uniform? You're a teacher, not a student!" I knelt down beside her, put my finger over my lips to quiet her and whispered "Don't tell anyone, I beat up a kindergartner, and took his shirt" Her eyes got real big as she started thinking about what I said and she looked at the kindergarten classroom for a kid without a shirt! As she was looking in the classroom, I sneaked away...

I want to write more, but I haven't gotten my time organized yet :-( so inshaAllah, later...

Hope everyone has a good day!

Assalamu Alaikum!

Alhamdulillah!!!
I have survived my first week teaching and am getting organized, but I have too much homework! The staff here is delightful, and most of the students are also wonderful. (Fourth grade is the most challenging for me because I am not use to working with that active of an age group. Turn my back for one second, and at least three students are our of their seats and talking to their neighbors! On the plus side, I am learning how to write on the chalk board while facing the class :D )

MashaAllah, my newest son has doubled his weight this past three months and is starting to coo and laugh with us when we talk to him. Alhamdulillah everyone is healthy and hopefully getting wiser. My kids are behaving themselves in my classroom (My sons get to attend the Islamic madrasa at reduced tuition since I am working here so they are getting an Islamic education now). So please make dua for me that I am an effective teacher and don't torture the kids (students) too much!

Assalamu alaikum

Alhamdulillah, I took my kids, and two extra boys camping last weekend. It is like my final free weekend before school starts! We went to Mark Twain National Forest, and the whole weekend was a mishap of events! (well, for me anyway, the everyone else still enjoyed it)

When I was in university, a group of us use to go to this cliff and rappel and climb, so the original intent was to climb and camp. Unfortunately, they moved the roads around, and the cliff is on the other side of a farmers field which is posted no trespassing. We drove around back roads for almost 2 hours trying to verify that that was the correct spot, and got stuck in a creek bed. The gravel bed was loose enough that my tires sunk down, and the bottom of my car was resting on the rocks! I flagged down a passing truck and he pulled us out.

Then we started looking for a camp site... My favorite site in has been turned into someone's house. It was a wonderful site with a natural spring on one side, and a creek on the other side, so plenty of running water to wash and play in. Next, the camp ground alternative that I use to go to is closed and abandoned. The road s barred by a gate, and all the camp sites have been returned to the forest. Finally we found a really nice pull-off to camp at, but it was without water, so we had to go to a nearby artesian well to make wudu. Overall, the trip was a success.

We hiked to a natural bridge near the campsite, and along another trail to another cave. (I live in a cave state, with over 6500 caves ranging from a couple of meters deep to several kilometers deep). We roasted Halal marshmallows and hotdogs over a campfire, and swam in nearby rivers.

ARGH!! School starts next Thursday, and I am behind already! I have to start reading textbooks so I present the material in a similar fashion. Teacher workshops start this Monday for me to attend, so this weekend I am going to be writing lesson plans, and figuring out what I am going to do this first week of school. One really exciting aspect, since I am a full time teacher here, my kids get a discount so they are going to have a Islamic education this year including classes in Deen, Quran, and Arabic!

Baby is doing well, and is starting to smile at us when we talk to him, and coo back to us. He is slowly becoming mobile, and started rolling over last week.