Sweet!

Did you know that we in NYC don't have school on Monday? I didn't either! Boyfriend had to tell me, and I didn't believe him at first.

And actually, we have the next Monday off as well! Two three-day weekends in a row. Wow!

Today I gave the quiz to my poor children. Bwahaha, I am evil. In fact, later when it was writing time, I said warningly, "Alright, I'm coming around with my clipboard...of DOOM!"

I just use it to keep track of who I speak with and about what, for my assessment notes. There's no way I can do sit-down conferences with the kids--they need constant supervision and me moving through the room.

Also, my friend who's now a part-time coach hooked me up with some copies of worksheets this afternoon. Also awesome!

Because, and I haven't mentioned this yet, our copy machine situation has unbelievably gotten worse. For the last two years, the faculty had access to ONE machine.

However, to get access to this machine, we have to pay ten bucks to get a copy code, with a limit of 5,000. (Which no one would ever get near, but still, it's the principle.)

And yet! Not only that. We had to bring OUR OWN PAPER. Three bucks per ream really adds up, and the paper just goes and goes.

Not only all that, but many times the stupid thing would jam, or run out of toner, or have a line of five anxious teachers waiting on it.

So how, you ask, could it possibly get any worse than this? Oh-ho, just wait, my friend.

The teachers' lounge on the second floor had to be reclaimed for classroom space. The lounge was relocated to somebody's closet-sized office on the fourth floor. There's no room for the full-size fridge, or more than a couple chairs, let alone a copy machine.

Well, unsurprisingly to those of you who have ever worked in an office, copy machine company policies are rather sticky. To be precise, the machine cannot be moved by anyone other than the company. It sort of makes sense, because it is a large and unwieldy machine, and we do not have the luxury of an elevator in our five-floor school building. We wouldn't want any damages being put on us and being denied coverage or whatever.

And of course, the person who has been dealing with the machine and the company for as long as I've been there has left the school completely, due to health.

So we are about to finish our FOURTH week of ZERO copy machine.

We do not get to make copies! No machine for us! What teacher needs copies, anyway?

I am adamant about not spending any money on copies this year. I made that promise to myself before school started, and I have kept it up in the face of this terrible adversity. I've gotten a couple things copied from my coach and/or AP. But it is a PAIN in the butt to not have that simple technology at our disposal.

Argh.

On a happy note, tonight I completed an application. Not a new job, per se, but a delegation leader for the student ambassad*r program that initiated my travel bug, back in 1993 at the ripe old age of thirteen. The travel happens in the summer, and they send groups all over the world, but mostly to Europe and Australia/NZ, with some to China and Egypt as well.

I'm really excited about this potential opportunity! The trip involves 24-hour supervision by the leaders, but the trip is free. I love helping kids open their eyes to the world outside their own community.

Speaking of travel with kids, we have distributed fliers for an information meeting next week, for the D*C spring trip. Whee! Another teacher apparently has some excellent contacts and might get us in some good places for a bit cheaper. Doing the bus and the hotel separately is pretty cheap, as it turns out. I'm looking forward to getting numbers set so we can actually start booking everything.

Tomorrow is Friday. On Saturday, I'm taking the ATS-W. Then I have a long weekend to enjoy! It's gonna be a special one, too. Hurrah!