16 DAYS - JOB

I rarely talk about it here, but I do actually work. Yes, I have a title. I am a teacher.

It should be ingrained by now. Save a few obvious contenders, "teacher" is by far the noun I hear most. If anything under the age of twelve needs my attention, there's a pretty good chance they're shouting "TEACHER. TEACHER. TEACHER." until I make some indication that I've heard their wolf cries.

I'm actually still Miss Handsome, or generally just, Handsome Teacher.

Of all the things I did not anticipate feeling at this point in the deal, it was missing children.

I've never been super attached to kids. The same goes for animals and pets, or really anything I am meant to take care of. I love a select few. The rest are nice, but really just ornaments on a tree full of complex, full-sized humans that I adore.

This past week as I took long draws at their faces from the front of the classroom, I realized I consider them my peers. I don't recall being too good at being a kid. Maybe I was in my head too much, stuck on my internal bantering or perhaps a bit too conceited to ponder the rest of the world.

Point blank - Children have taught me that I am not cool.

Now I sing songs, dance, do charades, laugh at myself, make funny faces, scream, shout, pout, take chances, fail and wiggle.

Yes, I am making a cliche point - Teaching is so rewarding. But 18 months ago I was lying in a bed considering if it was possible for me to stand up in front of a group of 12 children and lead some kind of discussion, and now I dance on stages in front of hundreds of people. Or maybe that just happened once.

So here's what I've learned: Life is a series of Whatevers.

These are my two favorite kids: Steve and Johnny. They were in a class together, but one of them moved. They are polite, focused, sincere and just hilarious. On the right is Bofill Teacher. He's been my foreign co-teacher since June. Before that it was Frederikson Teacher, and he's actually coming back in two weeks to take my job. I'm learning it's hard to stay out of this country once you've had a taste.

Here's to teaching -
For inviting children into my life.
For paying me the big bucks.
For giving me confidence and forcing me to ACT A FOOL.