conferences or something like that and complain to my wife about their many woes. One I remember was a family telling her how difficult things were around their house the past few months as they were having to deal with the remodel of their London townhome going £1,000,000 over budget. My wife was just like, "Yes, that must be tough."

That said, most of them were really nice people and treated her very well, we just had a tough time putting ourselves in their shoes. And teacher appreciation gifts were really something. It was interesting.