When I run into friends back home and in Seattle I usually hear, "wow, you've really got the dream job!" And sometimes, it is a dream. Like today, sleeping in, designing my own curriculum for an hour, and then surfing push button wave under grey skies for the rest of the day. But there are many aspects of the job that are not so dream like. Here are a few examples of the slightly aggravating, sometimes strange, sometimes bizarre, extremely un-glamorous moments:
1. Waking up in the middle of the night to the dog struggling to get out of the sleeping bag and throwing up all over the bed. Falling back to sleep. In the morning, strip the bed of the sheets, and sleep the rest of nights on a piece of foam because there are no more sheets and no washing machine.
2.Spending endless hours sitting in a waiting room reading Canadian parenting magazines, while the kids are in doctor's appointments and the ER because it's really easy to get sick away from home.
3. Scrubbing a medley of puke off the floor because in Chile, EVERYONE gets sick at the same time, except for you.
4. Driving yourself to the ER in Tennessee for giardia. Getting lost, because, well, you're not FROM Tennessee and it's 3 in the morning, having to pull over on the side of the road to explode, curl up, and want to die. Making it to the ER and being yelled at by the nurses and then admitted while everyone else gets to paddle the Ocoee, because everyone else already got sick and you waited till you could be the only one.
5. Having five classes to prepare for and little time, and whatever time you have you can't CONCENTRATE because certain boys age 15-17 want to play loud FOOS BALL TOURNAMENTS.
6. Eating a lot of budget Chilean mystery meat and 'goulash surprise' meal after meal.
7. Having to squander away SO many quippy one liners because they could be inappropriate and the last time you did that you got in trouble.
8. 17 hour road trips with cranky teenagers who want to hear "pop it rock it" by Hannah Montana played on repeat.
9. "Turn off the kayak movie, it's study hall." "Turn off the kayak movie, it's study hall." "Turn off the kayak movie, it's study hall." "Turn off the kayak movie, it's study hall." "Turn off the kayak movie, it's study hall." "Turn off the kayak movie, it's study hall."
10. I know we're sitting above the coolest surfing wave in the world and we're going to be on it very soon, I promise, but right now....can I interest you in....SAT VOCAB WORDS?? Anybody? Anybody?
11. Who in H did this to the bathroom? If you don't clean this now, you're not going on the water!? Hey, did you hear what I was-- okay, fine, I'll just leave it. (Then, clean it up anyway.)
12. 7 weeks abroad, 6 pairs of underwear, no washing machines.
13. All those friends back home who live in tidy little houses and get out of work at 5pm...that are your age....that you so desperately miss....
3 comments:
Hi Melina!. This is Rose from short story writing class. :] You have an awesome blog, I love it. I'm envious of your adventures (although cleaning a "medley" of barf sounds hard).
Take care and keep up the wonderful posts! ^_^*
Lovey, I know it's not glamorous at times, but I'm supremely jealous of your job on a regular basis. ;) You're living the good life, hon.
Love you, miss you!
My favorite comment ok i lied i have two. CLEANING up puke in chile because everyone gets sick at the same time other then me. ( i was the 2nd round of sick people) 2nd favorite, driving around tennese with whatever you had im not going to attempt to spell it. and not getting to paddle the ocoee. I hope you dont get as sick this year.
miss you
emery
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