Catholic Schools Week

Later today: My car was egged last night. Stupid punk Yakimites. But the really sweet part of the story is that Steve asked to borrow it (his car is broken) and went and got it cleaned for me.

Currently reading The Giver with my seventh graders.

We had a crazy week of school this week, due to Catholic Schools Week. There are three Catholic schools in the valley, and each of us had tons of things to do during the week, as there was a theme for each day. On Friday all of the schools got together for a mass, and it was fun to see everyone all together. It was also fun because Steve was there too, and LV Elizabeth, who is one of the young volunteers in Yakima. And then we had a staff and teachers luncheon, which was a good time because we all got to mingle together.

Kelsey, the girl whose place I took in the community, is up visiting this weekend, and she is a lot of fun. We went out last night and ran into a ton of parents and coworkers, and had a grand old time. One of my student's parents picked up our whole tab! This is one of the wonderful things about such a small town. I didn't pay for anything that I ate or drank last night. But we met some other young people through said coworkers, and they actually seemed like people we might see again, which is good. So things are looking up on the friends front. :)

Off to run some errands...I want to hit up the library and some stores this afternoon. (I have a lot of Christmas gift cards.)

You've Got a Friend in Me

I think some people were a little bit thrown off by my last facebook status which claimed I was a failure at making friends. There are some reasons for this is Yakima though, reasons I am about to explain. First of all, my roommates are my friends. They are amazing and wonderful and since I work with two out of the three of them, I see them ALL the time. I would like to invest in friends to just hang out with on a Friday night or something like that. The only people I know in Yakima besides my roommates are one married couple who don't like to go out, 2 Catholic volunteers who work with Steve and don't like to leave their house, and 7 other Catholic volunteers who move in a pack of on-the-prowl for a date mode. Needless to say, it is uncomfortable to go out as part of a crowd of 8 or more girls, 7 of whom are desperately seeking attention.

I know that I am a fun person to be a friend with. I have amazing friends in New Jersey. I'm just getting really lonely out here. I met a guy a few weeks ago who seemed cool and alarmingly well educated for Yakima, but he's not really interested in the idea of friendship per say. So that was a bust.

It's to the point where Kristin and Kristin went to Seattle for the weekend and Steve has basketball, so I spent last night by myself and will spend probably all of today by myself. I have tickets to a concert tonight, but no one to go with because Steve has a dance to chaperon. So I guess I'll have to go do that by myself tonight as well.

It gets more than a little lonely here in the Palm Springs of Washington.

Procrastination

I am becoming an expert at things to do when avoiding actual work. I would like to blame it on the fact that I have a terrible cold and feel like garbage, but to be completely honest, it is a talent I have developed and perfected as a teacher. This morning I deposited my paycheck and went to Fred Meyer to invest in cold supplies and toothpaste. That's been about the only useful thing I've done so far. Yesterday I came home from school and spent an hour and a half cooking a vegetable and chicken soup so I wouldn't have to grade papers. At least I can enjoy said soup while I sit on the couch watching You've Got Mail and pretending to work on coursework for UP.

Yesterday I got together with Sr. Alice, a Sister of Providence who works at the parish. It was really great to sit and talk to someone about spirituality for the first time in months. She gave me a really interesting book of poetry to read which I'm excited for, and we have plans to get together in two weeks. It was slightly awkward, but I think the first time you get together with anyone is like that.

So I'm going to attempt to get things done for this week. We have grades due, and I also have to start teaching my work sample materials in the next. Now if only I could breathe properly...

Oh, Yakima

So last weekend was a lot of fun, but I'm still tired from it. :) Kristin and I decided to go on a date because our other two roommates were out of town for the day on Saturday. So we got dressed up and went out dancing at a local sports bar. It was a pretty ghetto place...it was "ladies night" so we didn't have to pay to get in. It reminded me of frat parties where they let girls in but not boys. But we had a good time, and our friend Elizabeth came too, and we danced the night away.

This week at school has been going better than last week, but it's still kind of difficult to manage the kids. I don't like doling out punishments, but I have a bad feeling that I'll be giving some detentions by the end of the week. yuck. At least on Friday we have a half day and we have Monday off entirely, so I'll be working on getting my grades put together by the end of the week. double yuck.

Tonight I think Kristin and I are going on another date. Normally we all go to trivia on Wednesdays, but Steve has a game and kristin has to work on a paper, so it will just be me and Kristin H. this week. I hope we win.

I'm trying not to think about how much I wish I were in NJ.

Back in the Daily Grind

Currently almost finished with Seeds of Hope.

This first week back at school has been difficult from a management perspective, but actually surprisingly productive educationally speaking. It's almost like I have to reteach the students to respect me and listen to me. They're really good kids, but they're also seventh graders, which means they know what's best all the time.

I'm trying to start preparing them for the huge standardized test that they have in April, but I hate the idea of preparing them for something like that. I'd rather assess in different ways, but the State of Washington does not agree with me there, and unfortunately, they make the rules.

Life in the house is great. I think we all needed a break from one another for a little bit, but now that we're back, we're having a great time. We went to trivia last night and signed up to lead it in May. Tonight we're going to find somewhere to watch the national title game, hopefully with some friends from Steve's school.

Nothing too exciting, but after the travel drama, that's actually really nice.