Balancing The Days

The most common example of balance in the world is Yin and Yang.

They say that there's the good in life, the bad in life, the bad in the good and the good in the bad; and that's said to be the balance of life.

I got a first hand experience this weekend of how the bad and the good will balance each other out.

I work both Saturday and Sunday mornings as a swim teacher.

Saturday was rather rough, but today was good.

First off, I can't catch little kids that jump in the water because of my thumb/wrist (I was giving my grandmother's dog a bath and I slipped intothe tub) and I was told that someone would be in the water with me at all times in case two of them jump at the same time (because that happens quite often), so I was feeling relieved about that.

Upon arriving to the pool on Saturday I realized that the only person that would be in the water with me would be a practice teacher.

I'm fine with that, but the practice teachers move around and I wasn't guaranteed someone there with me when I knew I needed them, so I borrowed one from someone else.

The practice teacher I stole from a coworker was a guy, probably had a head on me but he's sort of lanky and I thought it was going to be fine.

He came to the first class with me and one little girl started crying and refused to do anything.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong because she's usually really good and loves to swim, so I sent her over to her mom.

They came back over a bit later to the class and the mom explained that it was the practice teacher and she was afraid of him.

I managed to distract her and play games until the class ended, so that all worked out.

After that, I had my last class of the day.

I look forward to my last class, I have the two cutest little girls.

One is always smiling and ready to jump in while the other is really sweet, quiet and still nervous to go into water where she can't touch.

It's understandable at her age, but I don't think she'll be ready to let go of me in deeper water any time soon.

Halfway through the class, the little girl that's always happy to swim just lost it.

She didn't want to swim anymore, she was sobbing and her mom wouldn't take her out of the class and left her in the pool.

I still had another child to teach, so I called over a float teacher and got her to deal with the situation as I continued on with the class with the other girl.

That was my last class so I just left the pool and put it behind me.

It was a rough morning, it was the worst day of lessons yet.

I didn't know what to expect on today, but I was happy with the results.

My first class is a class with both the parent and the child, and I have 10 (parent and child duo) enrolled in the class.

Today, only 4 of them showed up.

It was the most bizarre thing, but I loved it. 

It was a lot quieter, I wasn't buzzing, I could watch what each kid was doing and not think "Oh no, did this kid already do it yet?"

It was so nice, I didn't do as many songs as I usually would, I didn't have to yell as much so it was nice and calm first class.

After that, I have a class where only one kid is enrolled in it, but she didn't show up so I got 20 minutes in the hot tub which was the nicest thing ever.

After that, I only had 3 more 45 minute classes.

I usually find them brutal, but I was able to fill the time up easily and we did fun things, so it was a really nice.

I left the pool feeling pretty good about today and today's lessons.

I feel as though I still have a lot to cover, but I still have at least five more weeks of lessons.

I wasn't as overwhelmed as I can be on Sunday mornings and it was nice to be able to take a breath and really think about what I'm doing and not worrying about the next thing, the next drill, the next song or the next game that we're doing.

I had a bad day at work on Saturday, but I had a great one today.

We always have good days and bad days no matter who we are in he work and what we do, but the days will always be there to balance each other out.

One More Girl, no longer online

Final Decision

As the majority of you may know, from the start of the summer to just recently, I've been debating whether or not my decision to switch schools was the right one or not.

I'm glad to tell you all that I think that I have my final decision on the matter.

I am happy that I did it.

Of course a piece of me will always miss my old school, all of my old friends are there, everything I ever knew is back at that school, but I'm happy with my new school.

I didn't think that I would make many friends, but I did. I have a handful of friends that I talk to every school day. I can't say that I have best friends right now, I'm not particularly very close with all of them, but I do have someone that I have hung out with for a week straight (and there's also this next school week to be added to that) and I find them easy to talk to.

School is still something that I don't specifically look forward to, but I feel as though there's something more for me there.

I felt fine at my old school, but now I feel...accepted. I feel as though there's something for me at that school that I didn't have before.

Of course I still find it terrifying to walk in the hallway at times, but that will probably stay until the rest of the year.

Something else that's really exciting is that I made my school's boys baseball team!

Well, I'm sort of on the team.

I am one of four AP players which means I'm an affiliate player. That means that I only play in exhibition games or if we have a secure spot in a tournament.

I'm happy with that because all the boys who tried out are high level baseball players.

I don't find myself wondering what if, of course I get nervous sometimes when I arrive at the fields for a practice or game, but there are three other people on the bench and then I take a breath and realize that everything is going to be okay.

During the summer, my older cousin was telling how it's a good thing to be nervous sometimes and back then, I was wondering "How? How can it possibly be a good thing?" But now I understand. 

Being nervous isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of being human.

I still have many things to learn about the school and the people in it, but I think it's going to be a good year.

Everything is falling into place for me at the moment. I start working as a swim teacher this Saturday, I'm volunteering at the museum, I'm a peer tutor during some of my lunch breaks and helping other students learn french, I don't feel too stressed (yet) with my homework and I have people to turn to when I need to talk to someone.

I don't know what it is, if it's the things I listed above or not, but something feels right at the moment and I really hope that that feeling doesn't change.


One More Girl, no longer online