Tomorrow is my last day of New Teacher Orientation. I will be very, very happy. Today was one long day of Classroom Management. Two hour stretches sitting in wooden auditorium chairs with fabric over them in an auditorium that made people sweat the first half of yesterday and then freeze the rest of the time. Awesome.
I e-mailed my department chair about my room (or lack thereof). When I heard another teacher talking about how she was supposed to be a 10th grade floater, but got lucky, I knew that I was probably the one that took her place. And I was right. I now have no actual classroom, but share other people's classrooms when they are on plan or duty periods. I guess three of my classes are in the same room, which is the room of one of the teachers I met on Monday.
As for the rest of the teachers on my academy and in my school, I've only met the new ones, some administration, my vice-principal for my academy and the principal. All of them are totally nice, welcoming and awesome. I'm enjoying getting to know the ones I've gone through New Teacher Orientation with. We've been sharing lots of ideas and all that geeky teacher stuff, so, so far, I feel really supported. It is pretty amazing.
So, all of this leads me to being totally over not having a classroom of my own. I do have a work desk in the English work room (each core subject has a work room where you go work during your plan periods, if you have no academy meetings), so I have personal space. Plus, dealing with keeping my stuff organized on a cart will be much easier than organized a WHOLE ROOM when I've never done this before! Also, I don't have that much stuff and the money we're given to get supplies for the year probably would be a little tidbit of what I could use for a whole room, but will be more than comfortable for a cart! It's still exciting, cart or classroom.
The drive hasn't been too bad, either. Today I was excited because I got on the road pre-4o'clock traffic. Unfortunately, it was a day for accidents and I had two 15-20 minutes dead stops on the way back. One was just five miles from home! So frustrating and hot! I was always stuck in the sun to the point where I actually tested my crappy-running A/C (yet another thing to check out on the car, oy!), which worked pretty well. Ugh. At least it was on the way back and not the way there. I will be really glad that most normal school days I will be before the major commute times.
Today also involved: setting up medical/dental insurance, medical flexible spending account (to be used for eye care, mosly), payroll stuff, getting my first letter/card from Miss Julia as well as our car and renter's insurance. Yesterday I sent out some of my first mail from Williamsburg (ooh, exciting!). Yes, we are totally adults now.
Oh, and we totally managed and handled a good-sized leak in our second bathroom last night. I went in to take a bath (I've missed them!) and found water all over the floor and dripping a lot from the ceiling. The realtor was really quick in responding and the people below us had called them five minutes before. I love this apartment.
So, we've been here a week. Things are going good and will hopefully continue that way.
Start sending me letters! I'll write you back!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
we have touchdown
Yes, yes, yes. We are finally in Williamsburg and unpacked the last box last night. We are pretty much settled, just a few more things to put in places to complete the feeling of "home" (for now). We are loving this apartment and this town. The apartment has so much space, we didn't know what to do with it at first. Now, we're looking forward to being able to host visitors pretty comfortably! (yay!) The cats finally adjusted. Well, Gabriel adjusted pretty quickly, he's pretty easy. Jackie took a while and was a little strange for a few days.
David started Orientation yesterday and seemed to enjoy himself. I had a new teacher orientation for my high school yesterday and I'm really happy I was placed at this school. The people who are also there and on my "academy" are pretty awesome. Today started New Teacher Orientation for the district and I am overwhelmed! I'm pretty sure it'll be okay, though.
This is short, but mostly to just make sure the internet knows I'm alive. We both have a lot of stuff to do to get our years started, so things feel nice and crazy. The heat and humidity is finally starting to subside and we are looking into fixing up bikes (and getting my one bike we had to leave behind down here) so we can ride around town. It's a good enough size to where we could do that and avoid being in the car as much (especially me). Speaking of the car, my Jetta and I have bonded a lot now that I'm driving anywhere between thirty minutes to an hour (depending on traffic) both ways. I'm becoming a good city driver and loving traffic reports.
David started Orientation yesterday and seemed to enjoy himself. I had a new teacher orientation for my high school yesterday and I'm really happy I was placed at this school. The people who are also there and on my "academy" are pretty awesome. Today started New Teacher Orientation for the district and I am overwhelmed! I'm pretty sure it'll be okay, though.
This is short, but mostly to just make sure the internet knows I'm alive. We both have a lot of stuff to do to get our years started, so things feel nice and crazy. The heat and humidity is finally starting to subside and we are looking into fixing up bikes (and getting my one bike we had to leave behind down here) so we can ride around town. It's a good enough size to where we could do that and avoid being in the car as much (especially me). Speaking of the car, my Jetta and I have bonded a lot now that I'm driving anywhere between thirty minutes to an hour (depending on traffic) both ways. I'm becoming a good city driver and loving traffic reports.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
cross that off yr list!
This week has been one crazy, run-around thing. The good thing is that I've gotten a lot done, despite the massive, oppressive and amazing heat wave we got hit with.
Saturday, we finally got to go to Paw Paw to St. Julian's and do a tour and wine tasting. We wanted to wait to go with my parents so we didn't feel so young and more people equals more entertainment. We then hung out at the cottage and tried out this HUGE 11 foot inflatable island called the Funsomethingorother, which I started calling FunFest '06. This big circular, inflatable thing has two "beds" (complete with inflatable pillows!) on the sides, creating the circle, and in the middle, there is mesh, creating this "WHOA. I'M IN THE WATER, BUT NOT! It's CRAZY." feeling. We had tons of fun on that thing, I think we all regressed to being five years old and amazed at everything. The last weekend we're in Michigan, the family's going out again Saturday through Sunday. I think we've planned to meet up with them on Saturday and entertain ourselves some more.
Monday, I finally got to eat lunch with Jen at Saffron. She had never been and I had never been for the lunch buffet. Man, it was good. I am really glad there will be Indian food in Virginia. I can't live without Middle Eastern or Indian food. I love it. Anyway. Jen and I talked a lot about how she basically got screwed out of a job for KPS (surprise, surprise!), how glad I am I didn't have to try and find a job around here, and how summer school is. It was great to see her, I hope we can see each other again before we leave.
Nearing the end of Jen and I's conversation, I stumbled upon a decision I didn't know I had finally made: I want to get my Master's. And I know what I want to do with it. I would like to be someone who was qualified to create and implement after-school and summer school programs. Oh yes.
Tuesday, Natalie and I had plans to go to South Haven. Because of the wedding and working 2-3 jobs at a time, I haven't really had a chance to go out there. Plus, my parents have their cottage on another, closer lake (smaller and not public, too), so there really hasn't been a reason to go. But I did miss it. Which is how it got added to the "To Do Before Leaving Kzoo/Michigan" list. At first, I was kind of bummed David couldn't come along with us because he was scheduled to work. Then our alarm acted up again and didn't go off (it happened on Monday, too. I woke up with ten minutes to spare. Awesome.) David was still sleeping by the time I got home from work at 1, so he was already over two hours late. And out of a job (unfairly). So, David got to come! It was perfect. The lake was actually warm and we thanked the 100°+ weather. We had some delicious food and ice cream and went home happy and sleepy.
Wednesday, I finally got a haircut. I got it cut a while back, really cute, and grew it to the length I wanted for the wedding. Last night, I finally got to cut it. It feels great to not have hair on my neck anymore. Then, I hung out with Meg and Mike, we watched Project Runway, 30 Days, and laughed a hell of a lot (as per usual when one or both of them are involved). I'm going to miss my sister a lot. Oh! There was also an amazing storm, mostly lightening. We put up our car windows not 30 seconds before the downpour. Amazing.
On Thursday, I was home from the first job, and making food and getting ready to head to the second job for the day when I happened to peek outside. There was this adorable little kitten outside. I went outside to pet her and offer food/water and noticed that she looked pregnant. And she was. She is very sweet and cuddly and I immediately called Animal Rescue and e-mail SPCA, even though they were probably full to the brim with kittens/cats. They were both interested in taking her in because she was skinny, young and pregnant (with fleas. But we did manage to get rid of all of the fleas except the ones around her face because the shampoo shouldn't get near their eyes/mouth). Today we drop her off with Animal Rescue. I'll miss her a lot. She was very cute.
Today, we were supposed to go to Food Dance for breakfast. I got up and realized that we had left the gift card at my parents' house. Plus, there was some drama with the cats getting out through a screen that popped out at three in the morning. Gabriel finally came back at five a.m. (Jackie is always easy to lure back with treats). They got a little freaked out (well, that's an understatement) by mopeds starting up while they were waiting on the porch to be let back in (such good kitties!). All is well now. All cats home plus an extra (for the next hour).
So, David slept some more and I watched the movie Stay (that was just okay, as well). Then I called up my dad and we headed to the storage unit we'll use to make the move a little easier. We have to move out of our apartment andl ive with my parents for a few days, so having a storage unit doesn't burden them with finding space for our crap and it'll be easier to load up on the actual day. We did make it to RibFest today and tried two different kinds of ribs. One had a really good Texas tangy sauce, the other were really delicoius, but we went for the sweet sauce which was just okay. Tonight, we're meeting Katy at 8 at O'Duffy's. So, this weekend is still a major success in crossing things off of our "to do" list.
Next week, there will be Binder Park Zoo, another possible trip to South Haven with Meg on her day off, finishing up projects, and packing up. On my last Friday at job #1, they're throwing me a going away party of some sorts. That weekend, I would really love to get a group together to go to the Metro. It'd be perfect because they have a relaxed section and a dance area and they let in 18+, so Meg could join us. It'd be an awesome way to end our time here and see my favorite people one last time.
Saturday, we finally got to go to Paw Paw to St. Julian's and do a tour and wine tasting. We wanted to wait to go with my parents so we didn't feel so young and more people equals more entertainment. We then hung out at the cottage and tried out this HUGE 11 foot inflatable island called the Funsomethingorother, which I started calling FunFest '06. This big circular, inflatable thing has two "beds" (complete with inflatable pillows!) on the sides, creating the circle, and in the middle, there is mesh, creating this "WHOA. I'M IN THE WATER, BUT NOT! It's CRAZY." feeling. We had tons of fun on that thing, I think we all regressed to being five years old and amazed at everything. The last weekend we're in Michigan, the family's going out again Saturday through Sunday. I think we've planned to meet up with them on Saturday and entertain ourselves some more.
Monday, I finally got to eat lunch with Jen at Saffron. She had never been and I had never been for the lunch buffet. Man, it was good. I am really glad there will be Indian food in Virginia. I can't live without Middle Eastern or Indian food. I love it. Anyway. Jen and I talked a lot about how she basically got screwed out of a job for KPS (surprise, surprise!), how glad I am I didn't have to try and find a job around here, and how summer school is. It was great to see her, I hope we can see each other again before we leave.
Nearing the end of Jen and I's conversation, I stumbled upon a decision I didn't know I had finally made: I want to get my Master's. And I know what I want to do with it. I would like to be someone who was qualified to create and implement after-school and summer school programs. Oh yes.
Tuesday, Natalie and I had plans to go to South Haven. Because of the wedding and working 2-3 jobs at a time, I haven't really had a chance to go out there. Plus, my parents have their cottage on another, closer lake (smaller and not public, too), so there really hasn't been a reason to go. But I did miss it. Which is how it got added to the "To Do Before Leaving Kzoo/Michigan" list. At first, I was kind of bummed David couldn't come along with us because he was scheduled to work. Then our alarm acted up again and didn't go off (it happened on Monday, too. I woke up with ten minutes to spare. Awesome.) David was still sleeping by the time I got home from work at 1, so he was already over two hours late. And out of a job (unfairly). So, David got to come! It was perfect. The lake was actually warm and we thanked the 100°+ weather. We had some delicious food and ice cream and went home happy and sleepy.
Wednesday, I finally got a haircut. I got it cut a while back, really cute, and grew it to the length I wanted for the wedding. Last night, I finally got to cut it. It feels great to not have hair on my neck anymore. Then, I hung out with Meg and Mike, we watched Project Runway, 30 Days, and laughed a hell of a lot (as per usual when one or both of them are involved). I'm going to miss my sister a lot. Oh! There was also an amazing storm, mostly lightening. We put up our car windows not 30 seconds before the downpour. Amazing.
On Thursday, I was home from the first job, and making food and getting ready to head to the second job for the day when I happened to peek outside. There was this adorable little kitten outside. I went outside to pet her and offer food/water and noticed that she looked pregnant. And she was. She is very sweet and cuddly and I immediately called Animal Rescue and e-mail SPCA, even though they were probably full to the brim with kittens/cats. They were both interested in taking her in because she was skinny, young and pregnant (with fleas. But we did manage to get rid of all of the fleas except the ones around her face because the shampoo shouldn't get near their eyes/mouth). Today we drop her off with Animal Rescue. I'll miss her a lot. She was very cute.
Today, we were supposed to go to Food Dance for breakfast. I got up and realized that we had left the gift card at my parents' house. Plus, there was some drama with the cats getting out through a screen that popped out at three in the morning. Gabriel finally came back at five a.m. (Jackie is always easy to lure back with treats). They got a little freaked out (well, that's an understatement) by mopeds starting up while they were waiting on the porch to be let back in (such good kitties!). All is well now. All cats home plus an extra (for the next hour).
So, David slept some more and I watched the movie Stay (that was just okay, as well). Then I called up my dad and we headed to the storage unit we'll use to make the move a little easier. We have to move out of our apartment andl ive with my parents for a few days, so having a storage unit doesn't burden them with finding space for our crap and it'll be easier to load up on the actual day. We did make it to RibFest today and tried two different kinds of ribs. One had a really good Texas tangy sauce, the other were really delicoius, but we went for the sweet sauce which was just okay. Tonight, we're meeting Katy at 8 at O'Duffy's. So, this weekend is still a major success in crossing things off of our "to do" list.
Next week, there will be Binder Park Zoo, another possible trip to South Haven with Meg on her day off, finishing up projects, and packing up. On my last Friday at job #1, they're throwing me a going away party of some sorts. That weekend, I would really love to get a group together to go to the Metro. It'd be perfect because they have a relaxed section and a dance area and they let in 18+, so Meg could join us. It'd be an awesome way to end our time here and see my favorite people one last time.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
moving ahead at an alarming rate.
It's getting close to leaving Kalamazoo behind as far as being in the category of "residents" goes. Next time we're here, we'll be "visitors"--that's crazy to think about.
We're pretty close to getting there. Not just timewise, but also in setting up the place we'll be living in. All of our utilities are taken care of, the cats are up on their shots and we know how to transport them, and I'm getting closer to finding out more specifics of my job with Norfolk. The biggest thing we have left is packing up. Our house is the messiest it's ever been because we have boxes, clutter and general ickyness. Why clean now when we have to clean in less than three weeks? Why even bother when we have to pack it up? Sure, it kind of drives the neat freak in me completely nuts, but I've learned to surpress those urges to throw all of it out and remind myself that it's only temporary.
It's all very exciting, but very strange to think about. I've lived in this town my whole life and now I'm leaving. I've been talking to people about how it feels to finally move away and settle in another town. The worst thing is knowing we're there for only two years, then we get to move again. Well. Part of me says that's the worst part of it all, the other part says "Move, move! See it all! You got the world outside of Kalamazoo! Go! Do it!". As always, I'm split in two.
We're pretty close to getting there. Not just timewise, but also in setting up the place we'll be living in. All of our utilities are taken care of, the cats are up on their shots and we know how to transport them, and I'm getting closer to finding out more specifics of my job with Norfolk. The biggest thing we have left is packing up. Our house is the messiest it's ever been because we have boxes, clutter and general ickyness. Why clean now when we have to clean in less than three weeks? Why even bother when we have to pack it up? Sure, it kind of drives the neat freak in me completely nuts, but I've learned to surpress those urges to throw all of it out and remind myself that it's only temporary.
It's all very exciting, but very strange to think about. I've lived in this town my whole life and now I'm leaving. I've been talking to people about how it feels to finally move away and settle in another town. The worst thing is knowing we're there for only two years, then we get to move again. Well. Part of me says that's the worst part of it all, the other part says "Move, move! See it all! You got the world outside of Kalamazoo! Go! Do it!". As always, I'm split in two.
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