Rockstar, whirlwind, insane day of the century!

So, I left the house at 7:45 this morning.  I taught classes at 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 4:30.  Then, I taught a private lesson from 5:30-6:30.  Then I went home, making it there shortly after 7 pm.  (There is a transportation strike today, in addition to the national strike about retirement age -- unless the metros and the buses also want to maintain the right to retire at age 60...)

Not only was my day crazy, but somehow, in my very limited freetime, I managed to almost explode the staffroom printer, catch a million viruses on my USB key, and spill some kernels of corn from my salad on the floor.

At the end of the day, I was nothing but exhausted.

But as I was leaving school, I caught up with another teacher and we walked together for a while.  We complained together about our long work days, how we have to be constant actors, putting on a show for a class of 30 or more kids, attempting to keep their attention for even five minutes.  And then, after I did a fair amount of griping, she said, "Tu regrettes?"  And I realized, no, I haven't regretted a single moment since I've been here.  True, not every minute/hour/day has been a dream, there have been hard moments (maybe the hardest moments I've experienced), and there have been times when I wish things were different.  But at the end of it all, I have been living in France, I have discovered a passion for teaching, and I have met some incredible people.

For me, there is nothing like standing up in front of a class and knowing they understood me because they just laughed at my (bad) joke.  There is nothing like making my class spit as I tell them to stick their tongues between their teeth and blow (we're still working on the "TH" sound).  There is nothing like watching them perform a mini-scene that I've FORCED them to write. 

I love my job.  (Also, I'm really tired.  Goodnight.)