My First Day of School - St. Exupery

Nearly 3 weeks after the beginning of my contract I finally had my first day at the third and final school. Having not yet received my schedule as of the end of last week I set out Friday in search of it. I arrived at St. Exupery (named after the famed author of The Little Prince) 20 minutes after I started out only to learn that not only did they not have a schedule for me yet but none of the English teachers were around for me to talk to. The vice principal set up an appointment for me Monday morning with the teacher in charge of me.
I showed up Monday morning promptly at 11 and was directed to the teacher's lounge where I spent 20 minutes waiting for the phantom teacher. I finally went back to the secretary who took me upstairs to check the professor's room. It was locked up tight. I guess the woman hadn't been feeling well lately so we went to check the infirmary. Sure enough, she was there, but too sick to talk to me. The nurse then took me down to the media center to wait because all of the other English teachers were unavailable. I spent 40 minutes wandering around the media center reading French poetry that I had studied in high school (trois allumettes une a une allumée dans la nuit...) only to discover that I would have to wait another 2 hours for the teacher's to return from lunch break. Not exactly excited at the prospect of waiting 2 more hours and not wanting to have to walk back there again just to get the schedule I suggested that I leave a copy of my schedule for the other schools with them. The professors could then get together when it was convenient for them and fax me a copy of my schedule (which is what they were supposed to have done the beginning of the month). Thankfully that was agreed upon and they sent me to the cafeteria for free lunch. Almost 2 hours after arriving at the school, and having seen nary an English prof, I was finally able to return home.
I received a note in my mailbox the next day requesting my presence Thursday morning from 8-12. I showed up on time and was introduced to one of the English teachers who immediately apologized for all of the problems and informed me that there were some problems with the scheduling. The woman who was supposed to be in charge of me has washed her hands of the whole thing and only three of the teachers were willing to have me in their classroom. The rest felt it would be too disruptive since I am only there 4 hours a week and couldn't attend all of their classes. The poor woman who offered to work on my schedule and be my new mentor is also in the midst of planning a birthday party for her son that seems to have a new problem develop each day, so she's a bit frazzled right now. i get the impression there are some major divisions within the department and hope that my presence will not further those. They do not yet have a schedule for me but are hoping that next week (which is vacation for All Saint's Day) they will be able to get one to me for the return to school. Needless to say I don't know if I will ever see again the students that I worked with yesterday, but its reassuring to know that they haven't forgotten about me; and the three teachers with whom I'll be working all seem to be very nice and excited to have me there. It should be, if nothing else, an interesting school year!