staying at home.

i received another call from a bilingual school the other day. a few months ago, the first school i worked at here after getting married was calling because they needed a social studies teacher. for the life of me, i couldn't explain - or make them understand - that i want to stay home with my baby. it was pretty frustrating, especially when the director told amalio that i would soon tire of being at home and be chomping at the bit to take their job. his cockiness pissed me off. sure, there are days i wish i was working - surrounded by adults, having conversations about things other than samil. but my life is varied enough that i'm just not bored.

i work two days in a language institute - 6 hours a week. and at the end of every class, i thank heavens that i get a break before the next one. i love teaching kids. and i think i'm pretty good at it. but i have them an hour and a half, twice a week. no behavior issues. and they're genuinely happy to be in class. but, i set a precedent when i started to be the "energetic" and "creative" teacher... and most of my classes include tons of "total physical response" methods. tons of jumping, bouncing, running, skipping, crawling. its tiring. i couldn't do it everyday. in the evenings, amalio takes the baby and i have a mini-institute in the house. i have 27 students - some kids, some teenagers and some adults that study english with me. i teach everyday, sometimes with samil is tow - mostly hanging out in his walker or crawling around. thankfully he is well behaved and my students love him. plus, they understand that i have a kid that is my first priority. thats why i don't charge them a ton of money.

so when the school called today, while i was quite flattered that my reputation caused them to seek me out, i was a little frustrated having to explain myself and our family situation. someday, i told them, i'd be back in work. but right now, i need to make sure samil is good.

i like my time with samil. i like the freedom of being (mostly)self employed. i have friday off. we walk everywhere. we go to museums, stores, to visit friends. i can pay my bills and put some money in the bank every month.

i might get bored. permanently. but it hasn't happened yet, so we're going to keep on keeping on. sorry, bilingual school, but i can't come work for you. i'll give you a call in a few years.