Just Another Manic Monday

Yesterday was a national holiday, the kind of holiday that involves dressing up in costumes and marching in the street in the blazing hot sun for hours. (No, I didn't march, but I watched many others do so.) Traditionally, the day after this particular festival is declared a day off as well. But this can't be done in advance. Oh, no. It must instead be done late in the evening before or even early in the morning of the day being so honored.

When you're kind of hoping a day is going to be a holiday, and even taking votes from everyone you know, and speculating endlessly on it, and then it turns out not to be...well, let's just say it's not easy to go into such a day with a great attitude. Because really, blessed are they who expect nothing, for lo, they shall not be disappointed.

Yes, we had school today. No, the government did not declare a holiday. While in theory I applaud this decision (we've already missed school for unrest, education is what this country needs, we have another day off later this week, yada yada yada), in practice I feel disgruntled and irritated that I had to work today. Because I'm not rational, that's why.

We're coming up on the end of the school year, and the usual mad rush to turn in writing has begun. I am carrying home large heaps of drafts each day. In addition, a couple of my students are interviewing me for the profiles they are writing. And I'm trying to get all my grades posted and various other tasks accomplished. But eventually they turned off the generator at school and I left my classroom.

I got home and was told that we were out of water. It turns out that a toilet ran today and emptied our château d'eau, our rooftop hoard that keeps us going while the power's off. It's hard not to cry when that happens - thinking about all that water, gone to waste. But hey, you can't cry over spilled water, and we just hauled some buckets from the cistern. (And yes, we are incredibly privileged to have water that we don't have to walk miles for.) My daughter loves the bucket baths - she says it's just like Little House on the Prairie.

Off to grade student writing!