For Iris

The one person in the world who reads this crap.

Whew! Looking back at the older posts, I'm really amazed that I've survived this year. There are three more weeks of school left for me. (I am leaving a week early to have a chance to visit my mom.)

I am STILL amazed and incensed by how people live here. The boy with the cigarette burns? His mother brought charges against him that were somehow related to some sort of joy ride that left the kid driving back alone, and totaling the car when he hit the gas instead of the break trying to avoid a pedestrian. He did avoid the pedestrian, and he was okay. But the mother brought the charges against the kids to protect her self and several other adults involved in whatever it was that actually happened. And then . . .

Before they brought him up on those charges, his mom threw out her husband (his step dad) when his natural father got out of prison in Chicago on sex offender charges. Yep, the sex offender was living in the home with this kid and nine other siblings. And when the court date rolled around last week, he didn't show up. They took him to Chicago with them. And the freaking police department knew the sex offender was in the home--cause I told them!

They argued with me, and condescended to me, but called me back later to tell me that I was right. And still did nothing.

And the kid was so worried about being taken to Chicago; he talked about it all the time. I feel really upset that he's not here now. But he's gone. And I am too, almost.

Another kid, a ten year old who can't read a word and is not retarded at all, lives in a half destroyed, trashed out store front in the old main part of town. He smells horribly, but after going to his house, I understand why. The entire place smells that way. His mom is cracked out. He cooks his own breakfast, if he eats. We bought him clothes because he was wearing the most pitiful things you can think of. He misses school almost half the time. He had to write and illustrate a sentence with the word "friend" and he wrote, "Friends always make love." That's also what he illustrated. Poor, poor kid. He has absolutely NO idea how to learn. He lacks even the social skills involved in school attendance.

Currently, the biggest thing is my schizophrenic student who keeps masturbating in class.

And the little princess diva who always gets what she wants. She STRUCK me in class the other day. When I insisted that she be removed from my classroom, they had to call the police because she refused to move--and the cop was trying to handcuff her by the time she decided to get up! Of course, her parents don't answer the phone anymore.

And the principal didn't even suspend her!! That part really pisses me off. One, because it's insulting to me, but even more so because it's not what's best for the girl. Her entire problem is that no one ever disciplines her. Every time she's sent home, she gets to go buy things she likes--because her family doesn't want to listen to her fits. Her honest future plans are to drop out of school as soon as possible and have babies.

Three more weeks. Just three more . . .

And that also means that I have just three weeks to get rid of damn near everything I own. This is so overwhelming! I'm planning to be in Taiwan on June 10. I've got get rid of almost all our possessions, meager as they are. I really wish I could keep my books. I'm going to look into mailing them, but I'm afraid that's going to terribly expensive.

And I have a few things that I just don't want to get rid of, and my treasure chest that I usually leave over here with some friends. Maybe I'll still leave it with them, if they'll agree to keep it again. Then I could take it with at a different time, after a visit.

I'm both excited and worried about returning to Taiwan. I worry that once my boy has learned Mandarin, he'll feel like he's a part of something so much larger than I am, and I'll seem so irrelevant and dumb to him. This means I'm going to have to 1, study with him very seriously, and 2, keep him in English schools as long as possible.

Well, that's it now. All updated. My ridiculous ramblings about a place on the delta--like living on Mars. Please, God, grant me some peace for a while. I need a rest.