Adventures in..

I have not dropped off the face of the planet. I am just relearning how to balance this teaching thing with this, well, life thing.

I am officially not a first year teacher anymore (as of this week). It's great to finally recognize things and school traditions that I was part of last year at this time.

I'm loving all my students. My load is the PreK, K, 3rd, 4th and (sorta) 5th). I have my hands full most of the time and when they're empty I search the building trying to fill them. We had some major staff changes over the summer and I'm getting to know all the new teachers and new assistants and I'm enjoying that part a lot. One of the things about being an ELL teacher is that I really get to know almost everybody in the building. I'm probably closest with the 1st and 2nd grade teachers which is pretty ironic since I don't see many of their kids. But it does mean that I get to build stronger ties with people throughout the building. The community is just amazing and I can't imagine being much more lucky with this school. And to think, I got this job off of Cr*igsL*st! Oy, the luck! We had to do some serious "practice" testing here- a whole days worth, how dull and depressing. The worst part is that the kids aren't supposed to get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water and when they finish they can't read or draw. Just the rules I guess but it's hard to see and harder to enforce.

My folks visited at the end of September and we have a great time. Mom spent two days with me at school. We were part of the first grade (hi A!) lion hunt- we read an AMAZING picture book called Library Lion and then played the lions in the hunt. Some of the kids are still calling me Ms. Lion. Other kids (smarty 3rds, mostly) have been calling me Ms. T Jr (since my mom is also Ms. T) : ) They think they are really cute and smart. Too bad they're right.

The September visit turned into a meet the Faukers type event ("Who are the Faukers? Us or them" my father asked) since my dad suggested that N's folks come down too. It went about as well as could be expected. My dad was an absolute angel and balanced the situation out perfectly. Thanks Dad. Once again I realize why I'm such a daddy's girl.

Wedding planning is moving. We've met with the Rabbi once and we're going again tomorrow. She's great and we're very lucky to have her. We have a local locale about 10 minutes from home and we're working on the other details. I'm sorta into it in a chill and relaxed way so that's nice. It helps that we have 11 months. If N and I just chip away at all the planning hopefully we'll stay grounded and anxiety-free as the date (10/19/08) approaches. Meanwhile N has taken charge of the legalisms we'll need to deal with before really meeting with a family lawyer. Any suggestions in the DC area? Anyone to stay clear of? We plan on dealing with the DP registrations as soon as it's the new year. I'm looking forward to that. It just feels more comfortable and secure to be moving in the right direction to make sure that our relationship is protected.

What else? I've been carpooling to work with one of the second grade teachers, who also happens to be an alum of my college. Set her up with my BF here in DC and things are going pretty well. So my yenta-ing is impressive. So far.

The garden was beautiful this fall. It's actually interesting, since this is the first full year of full garden in this space, but I actually am not minding the gardening to be slowing down. It's not because of the work though, I love the yard work. It's more because it's the cycle and the cycle is comforting. I love to see my garden in all its faces. Next year though? I'm growing argula. We coulda put a kid through, well, summer camp, with the amount of cash we spent on that amazing spicy green. YUMMMMM.

Ok, so I'll add links later because I gotta run, but this was fun! I should blog more often!