Well, this was a different week: I was sick all week!  I guess it was convenient that I was sick this week because this is the only week this year that I have a break between classes.  The timing couldn’t have been better.

My daughter was also sick, about a day ahead of me (she got sick on Saturday, I got sick on Sunday), so the two of us spent Monday together.  We watched a lot of TV.  On Tuesday, she was better, but I had moved from the sore throat phase to the coughing phase.  I decided that today would be a “frozen disaster movie” day.  I watched six movies that all dealt with the end of the world through freezing or a global ice age.  I started with the worst rated movie and went towards the better rated movies.  By doing this, each movie got progressively more impressive.  It was a pretty good day!  Alas, by Wednesday, my cold was turning into bronchitis (I’m allergic to dust and pollen, usually well-controlled through medication… unless I get a cold, then it kicks in, and I get bronchitis).  I spent my time taking more medication and breathing a lot of steam.  The movie theme for today was the extended trilogy of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”  The first movie of this series had made it to America from Sweden last year, but I didn’t realize that all three movies had already been made.  Not only that, but the Swedes had actually made six movies: 1A&B, 2A&B, 3A&B.  Each section was about one-and-a-half hours long.  For international distribution, each A/B section was condensed into a two hour movie.  I could also watch the condensed versions on Netflix, but I had the time so I watched the full nine hours of movies instead of six.  The series was fantastic (though sexually graphic in parts).  I highly recommend it!  No wonder the book series was such a hit.  Thursday, I was in worse shape so I slept a lot and spent more time breathing steam.  I only got through one movie, Vanilla Sky, which was interesting but weird.  I watched original Star Trek episodes after that.

Because I was sick, I had to turn down sub jobs for both Monday and Thursday.  Both these were jobs requested well in advance so I hated cancelling these because they had requested me specifically.   By not taking them, I felt I was letting the school and the teacher down.  On Monday of this week, I had gotten another specific request (for Friday) and this one was in the History department at the High School.  Yeah! Finally!  Up to this point, the History department wanted to have nothing to do with me, or any other sub, because they had a sub they liked very much and they didn’t want to “risk” using any other sub.  I had mentioned my frustration about this last week to the sub they were using, who happens to be a good friend of mine and suddenly, I get this request!  She had put in a good word for me!  This was quite an opportunity, and one I could not pass up.  Dead or alive, I was going to take it, so on Friday, I dragged myself out of bed, breathed in a lot of steam, took a lot of meds and headed off to school.  The teacher was going on a field trip with his AVID class and he was there when I arrived.  We had a great chat.  My wife is also an AVID teacher at the Middle School so this teacher knew my wife and has worked with her.  He learned that I was looking for a History job and that I liked Geography and World History best, which were also his favorites.  The both of us also talked about our mutual love of travel as well.  We really hit it off!  If I did a good job, he may recommend me to the department!

I had seen his classroom before and thought it was the best classroom I had ever seen anywhere.  It was so full of interesting things; one couldn’t help but learn in an environment like this!  Today, I would be showing a video on the Philippines to his three Geography classes and a video on Israel/Palestine to his AVID class and World History class.  The AVID class had two students, since the rest of the class had gone off to UC Santa Cruz.  These two students were staying behind so they could take a college placement exam.  The Israel/Palestine video was interesting: it showed six different perspectives of life in and around Jerusalem as seen through the eyes of children of different faiths.  The other film on the Philippines was interesting, but also full of blood and gross foods.  Many of the freshmen students were squeamish.  This teacher’s prep was third period.  There was also an assembly today and there was a break somewhere in between as well.  As a result, I had a two hour block with nothing to do.  I rested on a couch and watched a Star Trek episode and an episode of Top Gear on my iPad.  After that rest, I felt pretty good.  The last three periods of the day were a breeze and all of this teacher’s classes were wonderful.  I even knew a few of the students in one of his classes: our new pastor’s son, and friends of my daughter.  I would also see the pastor’s son tonight at my house because we were having a potluck with his family.  It was a good day and I survived to tell the story!

Saturday will be a day of rest… and maybe I’ll start that portfolio now.