I am a teacher?

The past couple of days have been the kind of days where you realize that 24 hours in a day just isn't enough. Sunday night I get little to no sleep at all. The nerves, excitement, and anticipation got the best of me. Monday morning I woke up at 5:40 so that I could get to school by 6:45 to finish all of the last minute details I had neglected to accomplish during the weekend. 6:45 in the morning is definitely pretty early, but it seems so much worse here since the sun doesn't rise until almost 8:00. So walking to school at 6:45 felt and looked like walking to school at 3:00 in the morning. Neverless, I arrived to my classroom (I'm pretty sure we were the first ones there) and got to work. I really didn't know what to expect, but I thought I was ready for the challenge. My homeroom of fifth graders (5C) began to arrive shortly after 7:00. I was in no way ready for them to come into the classroom so I kept working inside with the door closed. Around 7:40, I found Gina, the friend from La Crosse who had been a teacher here last year, and asked her what I was supposed to be doing. She let me know that I would need to go to the "patio techado" where my kids would be waiting in line. At the "patio techado", we received the welcome back to school message and then all of the teachers/staff introduced themselves. We ended our time at the "patio techado" praying in English and Spanish (Colegio Ingles is a private, catholic school so the students pray every morning before class).
Next, I lead my students back to the classroom and began my first real day as a real life teacher. I was actually quite amazed at how well behaved the students were and how efficiently we got through all of the material I had wanted to cover. Before I knew it, the students were lining up and heading to religion class and my first half of the day was over. Little did I know, my second half of the day would prove to be nothing like my first of the day. My sixth grade students (6C) rushed into the classroom after their lunch/recess break. I was told that I would have an extra student in my class bringing the final number to 30 instead of 29. I was fine with the idea except for the fact that my room only had 29 desks in it. I was told not to worry, that a desk would be brought to the classroom as soon as possible and that the extra student would just sit on the floor for the time being. From the very first moments of class, I realized that this would be my challenging group. Four or five boys were continuosly goofing around and testing my limits to see just what they could get away with. I had to stop the class almost every 5 minutes to ask them to be quiet and listen. It was a continual battle and I could feel my voice leaving me very quickly. I struggled through the information I wanted them to know and was extremely grateful when it was time for the class to head off to computers. When we got to computers, however, the teacher told me that she didn't have my class on her schedule. She must have seen the panic in my eyes because she quickly agreed to take them for the half an hour anyway. The students returned a half hour later and luckily the end of the day was only 10 minutes away. I was more than relieved to hear the end of the day bell sound and stood quietly as the students rushed out of the room. Gina soon came to my room ready to head home for the evening. While I had other things to get done, my brain was frazzled and I decided to leave with her. The rest of the evening was kind of a blur - I was stressed and tired and eventually decided to just go to bed around 10.
Today with my sixth graders went better, but I still wouldn't say things are at the level I would like them to be. I just need to keep working on being organized and consistent and eventually they will learn. I've been very firm and will continue to do so until the classroom is running how it needs to be. It has been a good learning experience thus far and I know I will continue to learn and grow as a teacher as time goes on. Hopefully this post doesn't sound too horrible, and stay tuned to see how my life as a real life teacher progresses!!