Homesick...

Yesterday was the first time since I've been here that I've felt homesick. It was my second day of teaching; it's my first full week this week. It is so overwhelming trying to keep all the classes straight and prepare for each one with the right materials. Just on Monday I taught 10 classes!! Beth, my co-teacher, has been really helpful in preparing me before each class. I took really detailed notes about what I needed for each one, so I can refer to them later. The classes are back-to-back, and it was really stressful trying to keep up before the bell would ring.

The classes went well-it seemed that (for the most part!) the students liked "Jamie Teacher." About halfway through my classes, around 6pm, I got a really bad headache. No one had any headache medicine so I tried to tough it out. I made it to about 8pm, and had to ask Darren to cover my class while I stepped outside. I felt really nauseous and dizzy, and had a really bad headache still. Luckily, after the class Darren covered, I had a 40 minute break before my last class. I couldn't make it though. Darren sent me home at about 9pm. I walk to and from the school though-it wasn't too far of a walk, but I felt every step last night. I made it home okay and went right to bed.

I think it was the combination of my headache, not drinking enough water, and the stress of trying to keep up that did me in last night. I want to make sure that I'm doing the job right, and I want to do my best to catch on as quickly as possible. I think I wore myself out. I need to just go with the flow and take things one class at a time. It's going to be okay if I have to step out of class and go get a book I forgot or something. I just have to keep telling myself that.

When I got home last night, all I wanted was to be back in the States, in my own bed, and be taken care of. Being homesick definitely made me feel worse, but luckily, I was able to go right to sleep. This morning, I'm feeling much better. I'm going to make sure I drink water constantly today and bring headache medicine to the school in case I need it. Your prayers for a more successful teaching day would be much appreciated :)

Overall, yesterday was good, right up until the end obviously. Darren came to my house in the morning to set up my own Internet and cable connection, but couldn't get it to work. He was on the phone with the workers for awhile, but it didn't help. He told me I have to wait until Saturday for someone from the company to come set it up. It's kind of frustrating because I was looking forward to being able to Skype with people this week :( I'm bumming Internet off of my neighbor, so the signal strength is pretty low. It constantly goes in and out, so it's really difficult to get a good connection. I can't WAIT until I can start talking to people from home!! :)