Well, my life as a teacher at Logan Middle School is over. We officially finished work last Thursday with two days of Promethean Board training (if you don't know what that is, google it, they're super cool. Six of us had one this year, we all will next year.). Our classrooms got packed up Monday and Tuesday, and thankfully we had relatively cool weather for June in which to do the packing. I ended up with 47 boxes, which doesn't include the six or so that I brought home to work on or re-sort over the summer. Phew.
We're not sure yet when our new school will be ready to open -- at least, we're not sure how much time we'll have before the kids arrive, but we're hopeful. I'd toured the building early this spring and again last week. It's gorgeous, and my room looks pretty close to done. The technology and the furniture are about all that remained to be put in, but some rooms didn't have carpet yet, and others still didn't have lights. The kids will be going to uniforms next year and the staff going to a much more "business professional" dress code (ie, no jeans, ever), so that will be a change. Oh shucks, guess I have to shop. : )
I abandoned Eric and the kids last weekend for a trip to Chicago to see Cara and Andrew and Andrew's sisters. It was great to be able to get away for a couple of days, even if downtown Chicago on Saturday morning was best traveled with a submarine.... which we didn't have.
I've never seen rain like that down there before. Of course, by Saturday night the weather was perfect and the view from the 95th floor of the Hancock Building breathtaking as always. On my way home Sunday, because of typical traffic, I shopped at the Chicago Teacher Store (Cara and Andrew conveniently bought a house just a few blocks from it for me) and avoided the highway for a while. It was fun driving along city streets that I know well, but kind of forget. Chicago is such a vibrant city to watch. I miss it.
One of my friends put together a photo album recently that she called "My Other Life." It was her work pictures as opposed to the family and vacation shots we usually see. While I drove on Highway 20 back toward Iowa, missing the city I'd just left, I passed through the little towns just before Galena. Farms and rolling hills shone in the sunlight, the temperature was perfect, the breeze just right, and I couldn't help thinking of Becky's album title. Yep, still missed Chicago, but my other, more countrified life has it's perks, too. (Especially since it's just a four-hour drive from Chicago...)
Carpe diem.
Trela
