The other day I had a very eye-opening lesson. The class featured Mike, a fictional man I cut out from a magazine and whose mysterious past my students had to guess using "used to". Mike used to be... a woman, there you go. What followed was a discussion on the differences between men and women. Here is what my adult students had to say about it:

"The women is very beautiful and she like rabbits."

"Men like to hit women." (This I think was intended as a joke please god.)

"The woman are delicate and the man like to drink beer."

"The men like to watch two women have the sex."

The author of this last one evidently was not intending for me to read it as he visibly panicked when I picked it up to make corrections. Later when the students shared what they had written Juan Carlos artfully changed the sentence to read "The men like to watch two women dance," resulting in me laughing my ass off along with the author and two other guys in the class who evidently didn't buy that as the original line. It was a very professional moment in my teaching career. Also professional was when a kids class student showed up late one day and was walked in by his mother. I didn't realize she was standing there because I had my back to the door and was bent over duct-taping Francisco to his seat.

This is my classroom. I have it decorated with pictures of places I've lived as well as a team photo of Joe's baseball team. Lizards like to climb up my walls and this past week there was one chilling out in the back corner. Estefany switched to the opposite side of the room, apparently afraid, but when I confessed to her in relief that I too am creeped out by them, she looked confused before explaining to me that she had changed seats so as to be farther

away from my boss Matthew, who the day before had decided to replace Nora and take over the half hour práctica lesson following my class. Understandable.

An update is in order.

I don't even know where the last few weeks have gone. I started a new round of classes last week with the little'uns and I seriously love them to death. I'm teaching 4 to 7 year olds (which, maybe I don't actually love them to death), but I also do 7 to 10 year olds and they're my favorite people ever. On Thursday I planned my lesson around learning the months and we talked about when everyone's birthday was, and yesterday when I showed up to class I received a candy wand, a pink purse, two paper hats and a fan since they'ed learned mine was on Friday. They're adorable and I've got them in the palm of my hand discipline-wise which is shocking because I've seen these kids before and they's no lambs. I figured out on day one, however, that they will do almost anything - including shut the hell up - if the reward for good behavior is being granted the right to sit in the folding chair. There are two folding chairs, one of which I told my students is my throne and is only for Teacher Megan. Folding chair number two, though, is up for grabs, and may the best student win.

Now listen up because I'm going to bitch for a little bit about one of my students. This woman is in my morning class and I've written about her before, but I think I possibly like her even less since now. Yesterday we were doing a role play activity in class. The students had read a story about a plane that crashed in the jungle three years ago and the survivors had only recently been discovered. Two people were assigned the part of the reporters and had to interview the rest about their experiences in the jungle, what they did to survive, what they ate, what problems they had, etc., the idea being that they practice using the past tense.

The woman just refused to do it. Everyone was working on inventing their persona, and she just sat there looking like Miss Umbridge. I was circulating and when I got to her I asked if she had any ideas. "No, I don't want to do it."

Ok, lady, I would expect that from a six year old. But you're like 40. Why are you here? Why do you have such a bad attitude? This is nothing new. Throughout the whole course she's what we in the industry like to call a... "pill." But it just doesn't make any sense to me because these are optional classes, she's paying money for them, and hello, she's an adult. I think even the other students are starting to feel sorry for me because today in that morning class I was told three different times that I'm a good teacher. And they don't even have the potential reward of a folding chair.

Things have been changing up quite a bit around here lately, one of the girls left for a few months traveling in Europe, and another will be heading back to her home in New Zealand in two weeks until the end of December. The guys who are currently in Mexico City will be coming back also in two weeks, and most importantly of all... I'm going to try to foster a dog!!! I have to figure out if this is even possible in my apartment, but there's a shelter here that needs fostering and Imma go check it out.

Other new developments: the cockroaches have been at a minimum, book club, spanning two states and two countries, has been reinstated, and I am turning as brown as a nut.