a pink cowgirl hat

It's official: I own my first PINK cowgirl hat (minus the tiara!) I am now countrified...and graduated to boot. It's been a busy past month and a half. We've bought a house, sold B's old house... I've finished school... I've applied for jobs... I've found a summer job... and I've marked COUNTLESS papers and assignments. But I can breathe. I've made it. Thank you Lord for bringing me this far!

almost 1 month

It's hard to believe I have been living here for 3 weeks already. I have been really busy ... waking up at 6:30am and not getting to bed until 11pm/midnight most nights. I really hope that it will get better as I become more confident in my teaching ability and as I gain more experience. I think it will help once I have read some of these pieces too, so that I am not trying to just simply stay 1 piece or 1 scene/act ahead of my students. I am attempting to "work smarter, not harder". Thus, I have borrowed some cd versions of Macbeth and The Tempest which I plan on listening to on my drive to work :) (That way I do not have to spend the time re-reading the passages! Smart, eh?)



Speaking of my car - it was involved in a hit and run last week. The quote for repairs is a little steep, which makes me quite nervous! I'm praying we can find out who did it, and then my insurance hopefully won't take a ding. Welcome to the country! (incidentally, I received my new insurance papers 2 days earlier which dropped my insurance by $200). Hm.

T-4 sleeps and counting

We move on Friday. Wow. There's an exam to write and a lot of packing between now and then.

it all comes to this

I am entering my last full week of university. Ever. I plan to never return...at least not in the forseeable future. It's hard to believe that all of the papers, assignments, exams, profs, friends, summer jobs...culminate into this. In a week and a half I will write my final exam. In a week and a half I will leave the university behind me as I enter the teaching world.

And I return to Calvin and Hobbes...

Picture from http://www.synthstuff.com/mt/archives/ch951231.gif

P.S. I Love You

Ireland is now on my list of places to see before I die.

***

Holly Kennedy: All I know is, if you don't figure out this something, you'll just stay ordinary, and it doesn't matter if its a work of art or a taco, or a pair of socks! Just create something... new, and there it is, and its you, out in the world, out side of you and you can look at it, or hear it, or read it, or feel it... and you know a little more about... you. A little bit more than anyone else does... Does that make any sense at all?

Gerry Kennedy: Yeah... you're saying you want to paint socks.

Holly Kennedy: [ecstatic] Maybe!

***

Gerry Kennedy: I know what I want, because I have it in my hands right now. You.

***

Gerry Kennedy: Watch out for that signal, when life as you know it ends. P.S. I will always love you.

(quotes courtesy of www.imdb.com)

***

I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

--William Blake

Don't you just love those movies which leave you feeling inspired? Maybe one day I'll paint socks too.

told off

I got told off this weekend. I got told off bad. (excuse the grammar) It was by a student, via email. I was shocked. Not only were the words offensive, but they attacked me personally. I've been told off before, but not like this. I'm not going to lie, I burst into tears. B says it's probably a good thing that it happened at home - what would I have done if it was the first time, and in front of a class?

The school said they will handle it, and I'm thankful I don't have to.

The email came only 2 days before a sermon which challenged not just be a teacher, but to be a Christian teacher.... a Christian wife, friend, etc. Now more than ever we need Christians in the school system. If we don't go, who else will?

The following song comes to mind...

God of Justice
Tim Hughes

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served
Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God
You have shown us, what You require

Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord

books

One of my assignments this semester is to create a personal writing portfolio, reflecting upon teaching English and the world of adolescence. Since we're moving in the next month, I have entered my very nostalgic phase and begun recalling the many, many people who left footprints in my life, and shaped my love for literature and writing. What a rich legacy I have.

But, right now, it also makes me sad when I turn around and see my bookshelf looking like this:

...though, in the mean time, these have become my companions:

feeling a little swamped

We're moving in less than a month, which means the bits and pieces that made up our house are slowly winding up in boxes, indefinitely. We don't know when we'll have a new house.

In the mean time, I'm teaching a bunch of junior highers for English class for the next 3 weeks. It's proving to be quite the experience, especially as I try to recall what junior high was like "way back when".

And I still have homework. A lot of homework. But this is my last semester - I'm SO CLOSE!

Happy 2009, world!

Well, it's officially 2009 in our part of the world. My computer calendar reads 1/1/2009 ... and I wonder what awaits us in this upcoming year! :)

Right now, our house is a little chaotic ... with our move just weeks away, we have started the difficult task of packing up the non-essentials, in hopes that there will be less to do when I'm in the middle of exams and B is working on his course. Our cupboards are beginning to look empty ... my office feels cluttered... and yet, there's a sense of excitement with it all. New beginnings just around the corner :)

A year ago, our little house looked even more disorganized as we hadn't even moved in yet (and the bathtub was still in the kitchen - see below!!!) ... a year later, we're taking it all apart, to begin somewhere else a new. But we don't know where that somewhere else is yet. Happy 2009, world - we pray this will be an amazing year.