Frogs and Mating Snakes

Here I sit, with a big bowl of microwave popcorn with extra butter and nutritional yeast and a full glass of wine on the Friday after my first week with students.  I have a puzzle to work on later and some ice cream in the freezer.  I feel like I'm ending the week in the best possible way!

It feels like so much time has passed since where I left off in my last post, but it is just because so much has happened in the past week.  I rushed off to Portland last weekend to collect all of my things from my storage unit and say goodbye to the friends and family that I am leaving behind by moving down here.  I got to Ashland on Thursday night and stayed with my parents before heading out Friday for a nice long ride together with my mom.  I'm not very used to driving with other people in my car so it was interesting spending five hours in such close proximity to another person.  We made it after many stops for bathroom breaks, gas, and traffic.  I love my mother but being in the car together that long sure did make me nervous, especially when she took a turn driving!  I feel much more comfortable when I am behind the wheel.

We finally arrived and I got ready to head downtown to spend the evening at Italian Fest with two of my best friends (I'll just refer to our little group as The Trio from now on).  I got to see some other good friends while I was there, including the friend I made at my previous job.  After almost two years spending 8 hours a day together, we became pretty close and I am REALLY going to miss her company.  I don't know what I would have done without her the past couple of years and it was a tough summer not seeing her much since she was busy getting married and going on a honeymoon ;)  and now I am gone but I hope we can always keep in touch.  J & M, I plan on visiting whenever I get a chance to come up.  You guys are the best!  Anyway... Italian Fest.  It was a lovely evening of lasagna, gelato, wine and good company.  Afterwards I stayed up til the wee hours of the morning chatting with The Trio about everything that happened in the last couple of weeks in all of our lives.  They were sweet and celebrated my bday with me, a few weeks early since when my birthday gets here in a few days, I will be all alone down here on the river.  

I spent the rest of the weekend packing, spending time with other people I will miss dearly (including my best friend and her kids), and eating some of Portland's delicious food.  There is so much that I am going to miss about Portland, but the traffic and constant chaos is not part of that!

I finally got back to my new home on Monday afternoon and was in my classroom until late that evening working on last minute decorations, organization, and lesson plans.  First thing Tuesday morning the kids would be arriving and I was a ball of nerves!  I spent 2.5 years with all the same kids and was very anxious about meeting and connecting with a whole new group of kids.  I really struggled to make a solid plan before knowing the kids at all so that first day I had planned mostly fun activities and procedural things.  

Somehow, I was able to sleep just fine Monday night.  Maybe it was because of being so exhausted from the weekend so full of driving, packing, tearful goodbyes, and just a general lack of sleep.  Whatever it was, I slept well and got up early to get to school and get ready for kids.  They started arriving at about 7:45 and for the next 20 minutes there was a continual stream of students and parents coming to meet the new teacher.  Everybody was extremely nice and many already knew a bit about me from whatever the newsletter that went out had said and whatever they'd heard from others in this small community.  Many were excited to have a local Native person as a teacher since there is such a high population down here.  I am really hoping to be able to incorporate as much culture as I can into my teaching.  

As first days go, mine was excellent!  There were definitely a few hiccups and there was one breakdown (not mine, fortunately), but we all made it through and I was feeling good about it that evening.  

I was up at the main house chatting with my pseudo-aunt that night when I got a text from my dad.  Since we were in the middle of an important discussion, I didn't look at it right away but when I did I found out that my grandma had just passed away.  It felt like deja vu almost... The last time I started a new job, my grandpa had passed away but that time it had been a few weeks in rather than on the first day.  When he passed, we had kind of seen it coming and I had been to visit him about a month before so I felt like I'd had that time to say goodbye.  As for my grandma, she lived in Washington and I hadn't actually seen her since I was a teenager but we kept in touch on Facebook.  She spent a lot of time on there and it had been so neat to be able to reconnect with her that way.  Just the night before she passed away, I had thrown out the thought of starting a blog and one of the last things she'd done that night was write to me to encourage that I do it so she could keep up with my adventures.  Finding out she was gone hurt really bad and I felt/feel awful because I was so close when I was living in Portland and kept telling her I would come visit but I never had the time or money to make the drive up to see her.  It is scary for me because she (as my dad's stepmom) isn't really that much older than him, and although she has had health problems recently, she still seemed like she was doing well and had a lot of time left.  Anyway, that's when I started this blog and why it is dedicated to her.  I wish I had taken the time to be more a part of her life.  

So, that was my first day of teaching.  What a way to end!  That rough evening led to a very rough second day.  I had been overly ambitious and my students weren't able to handle all the tasks I tried throwing at them and being in an emotional state already did not lead me to having the most clear thought process for the day so everything was crazy.  I tried having group rotations but the activities I had, the groups I had formed, and the structure were all wrong and it was utter chaos.  It was too much for a second day and I was not in a good place to deal with it in the moment.  The best part of the day were the sweet students who came in excited to be there.  I had one student bring me a delicious plum he'd picked from his yard and another who brought a frog.  Apparently his mom had told him that she wasn't sure he should bring it in because his teacher might not appreciate it but he insisted that I would.  He was right :)  He had it in a jar with holes in the top and a bit of water at the bottom.  He nicely asked if it would be okay to share with everyone and I of course supported that.  He even brought  frog book that he went through to identify the species.  It was awesome!  This same kid also wrote a story about snakes mating later in the week, so I think I know what I can expect from this little rugrat.

Third day was the charm.  I worked out at least the biggest kinks and things went shockingly smooth.  I was given cupcakes and flowers in the morning and the students were practically angels all day.  After that day I started to truly feel like I could do this and that everything was going to work out.  I still have a lot to do such a assigning student jobs, implementing a positive behavior support system, dealing with assessments so I know where all the kids are at, and then getting our daily schedule set so that we can all feel comfortable with the routine.  

The kids had pizza at lunch today.  It smelled and looked amazing, so I talked to the cook (whose son is in my class) about what the process is for teachers to eat school lunch.  Apparently she makes everything from scratch and all the fruits and veggies are organic.  That sounds WAY better than my boring PB&J that I had for both breakfast and lunch today.  I may start eating school food sooner than later if it keeps looking so darn good.  

Alright, the popcorn is gone and I think it is time to go get the ice cream and work on my puzzle.  This is thankfully a three day weekend so I can go see friends and swim in the river tomorrow and still have time to take a trip to Eureka for supplies and get ready for next week.  I have some more reorganization to do in my classroom because we will be moving the piano into my class since I am the only who can play.  I am SO stoked about it :D

 The plum one of my students gave me.  I totally thought it was a funny colored apple at first.

 The beginning of the mating snakes story with accompanying picture.  The student needed help with the writing, but the story was all his.

 The beautiful flowers I was given on my second day in my awesome wolf mug that I hold my highlighters in :)

 A sweet treat.  

 First note I caught being passed in class.  She really didn't try to be sneaky at all.  She put it on his desk right in front of my and I scooped it up before he had a chance to even open it.  I think she is giving him too many options.  This should be a YES or NO question.

One of my kiddos spends a lot of time in Hawaii and made me this picture to show what it's like in case I want to go.  I like the drink with the umbrella ;)  Is that really an appropriate stencil for kids?

Me, right at this moment.  I forgot to mention that I gave my bangs a chop job this week too.  This photo masks it a bit, but they are pretty rugged.  I also carried a big box of books with a case of water on top of it from my car to my classroom yesterday and my back has been in pain since then.  Apparently my mom is right about lifting with your knees and not with your back :(  I hate taking more than one trip to carry things and have a bad habit of completely overloading myself.  I could hardly move this morning and it still is pretty bad.  I'm really going to miss my insurance covered chiropractic visits these next couple months.  Any suggestions for remedies other than tylenol and rest?

 

You Look Like a Teacher

My first week in this new little town was a hoot!  I came straight here after packing up all my stuff in the morning after the last day at Mountain Dance.  I was really disappointed to miss the annual Hippo Rock trip but hopefully now that I am down in this area, I'll get to swim in the Salmon River more often.  

It was about an hours drive and I was sweaty, sticky, dirty and sore from a weekend of lots of walking, dancing, and very little showering.  Lucky for me, I have family just up the road from the school that I am staying with and made a quick stop there to shower and put on clean clothes before heading back to the school.  When I got to their house, there was a woman cleaning the cabin that I would be staying in.  Very sweet woman who suggested I shower up at the guest bathroom while she finished.  When I got out and was getting ready I talked with her a little more.  Mind you, so far she has seen me dirty and stinky and now clean but without any make-up, a towel in my hair, and not at all what I'd want someone's first impression of me to be.  I then found out that her son was going to be in my classroom so she had a sneak preview of the new teacher.  Oh well!  I guess I'll have to get used to that in a small community.  I'll ALWAYS have to be ready to run into students or their families.

I then jetted down to the school (a cool 3 minute drive) and got to work on my overwhelmingly dirty, messy, unorganized room.  I was still in a bit of shock about getting the job and this didn't help.  Luckily, the principal's daughters were there to help out and they took care of a lot of the manual labor while I tried to wrap my brain around what to do with my walls and furniture.  

At this point, it was mid-afternoon and all I'd had to eat all day was a few dried bananas that my dad had given me and some crackers that had been in my car for a week.  I was starving and low on energy and inspiration.  The nearest grocery store with any kind of selection is 15 miles away, otherwise it is basically like corner markets and even those aren't close (except one but we'll get to that later).  Thankfully, my family invited me up for dinner that night and made delicious steak, rice, green beans, tomato-cucumber salad, and pie.  Oh, it was divine! I then went back down to my cabin and slept in my new bed for the first time.  

In the morning, I awoke and was hungry again and still had no food.  I didn't want to drive all the way to town to get food because I had so much to do at school to get ready and so little time.  I decided that I would go check out the local store and hopefully find a granola bar or something.  I had driven past this place several times now and it wasn't much.  It looked pretty dirty from the outside and never had any cars out front, but it always said it was open.  I pulled up in the gravel out front and the owner was standing out on the porch.  He went inside as I approached and was behind the counter when I entered the door.

The place was practically empty!  There were about three long rows of shelving but other than the very front of two of them, there was nothing on the shelves but dust.  What they were stocked with was candy and chips.  In the refrigerated section were about half a dozen six-packs and a few bottles of water.  I didn't know what to think but felt like it would be rude to just turn around and leave after coming all the way inside.

The first thing the guy says to me is, "You look like a teacher!"  I definitely had a picture-book confused look on my face and said, "I am a teacher."  How did he know!?  I was wearing a dress that I'd bought a while back for Mountain Dance and really don't think of as being all that teacher-y.  

We started chatting then and I told him I'd just been hired at the school up the hill.  He was kind enough to let me know at that point that this was mostly a beer store... So, maybe not where I should be shopping for breakfast at 9:30 in the morning.  I grabbed a bag of chips, a candy bar, and a bottle of water and went to check out.  He told me he'd give me the educators discount and charged me a flat $5.  

The rest of our conversation went like this:

Him: "Have you found a place to stay yet?"
Me: "Yeah, I have some family up the hill so I am staying there until I can find my own place."
Him: "There isn't much around here.  If I hear of something, want me to let you know?"
Me: "Sure!  That would be great.  Thank you."
Him: "Alright.  I'll just call up to the school then and ask for the teacher from Oregon."
Me: "Oh.  Yup, that'll be me."
Him: "I saw your license plate."
Me: "Oh ok.  *nervous laughter* Well have a good day."

When I got to school and was telling the story, I was told to check the expiration dates on the things I'd bought because more than likely, they'd be expired.  Sure enough, the chips had expired a couple weeks prior.  A few days later, when I opened the Snickers, it literally crumbled out of the wrapper onto my lap.  Gross!  I don't think I'll be trying to do any emergency shopping there again.

The rest of the week went well with setting up my classroom and talking with other teachers. I had a really hard time planning for my students before i'd even met them and really didn't have much time between classroom clean-up and set-up, professional development and training, and then getting ready to head up to Portland to get all my stuff.  

Our training included What to Do if There is A Mountain Lion on the Playground with Students.  Our school has also invested in some super awesome new technology (iPads! Woohoo!) so that even out here in the country, our kids are not at a disadvantage over kids in the city schools.  I thought this was funny since I am coming from the city and have never seen this nice of stuff at a school before.  The only problem is that even though we have all this amazing new technology and some incredible techies who know how to use it, there is a bit of an issue with internet out here.  Pretty much all of the apps or programs for these iPads and computers require internet, at least to download.  Unfortunately, we have limited internet and just having ten of us trying to download an app at the same time completely stopped up the server and made it so nothing else would work.  There is also a limit to how much internet we can use in a day so we need to make sure to not use too much otherwise the other classes and teachers will have to go without.  

In the middle of our first day of professional development, the cook came in with an urgent message that a Deadly Storm was on its way our direction.  Thunder, lightening and quarter sized hail were predicted to be hitting all around us and we needed to stay indoors.  I sent the news link to my parents with my predicted future headline: New Teacher Struck by Lightening.  

I got a real kick out of these small town problems.  As much as I am going to miss staying caught up on New Girl and Castle and all my other favorite TV shows that I was used to watching on Hulu and Netflix, I am looking forward to reading more and being a healthier person.  Everyone here is so nice and welcoming.  They all seem happy to have me here and more than willing to help me in anyway.  

My last day of my first week, I had planned to take off by 2:30 or 3 so I could go get packed up and then head up to Ashland for the night before going the rest of the way to Portland.  At 3:30 I was still in my classroom and the custodian came in and told me another storm was on it's way and I needed to get out of there.  "Leave," he said, "Go get your stuff and I don't want to see you back here 'til next week.  Have a safe trip."  I took that as my cue and off I went for a last amazing weekend in Portland.

The fresh food I can gather from the garden.

My little cabin

The red sun shining through the smoke and trees.

City to Country in T-Minus Seven Days

This blog is to document and record my transition and some of my favorite stories from my move to a small town in Northern California (population 284 now that I'm here) from the biggest city in Oregon (Portland!).  This was a very last minute and yet perfect timing job offer for me.  I decided this last spring that I was going to move on from my previous place of employment in Portland, for a variety of reasons but the main one being that I was ready to have my own classroom and wanted to pursue that more fully.  I interviewed in numerous districts in the spring and the only offer I received at the beginning of June was in Eureka.  It was for a middle school teaching position and was going to be a 3-month temporary hire until they knew if they had enough students. 

 I began making plans to move down to Eureka and applied for my California teaching license.  I found a friend to stay with, gave my 30 days notice at my apartment in Portland and started saying my goodbyes.  With the reality beginning to set in, I had a minor freak-out about leaving my newly pregnant best-friend, my other two best friends from childhood, my recently active dating life, and all the amazing summer fun that exists in Portland.  I decided I would just sign up for subbing and if nothing else came up in the area then I would have that to fall back on and that it would be a really nice break from the stress of my old job.

Unfortunately, my apartment wouldn't revoke my 30 days notice when I called mid-July so when I completed my summer teaching job I had to jump straight into moving all my stuff out of my apartment and into storage until I had a reasonably secure job with which to apply for future renting.  I was moved out and enjoying my freedom from work and rent by the end of July.  Boy was that next week amazing!  I spent everyday enjoying some new thing that Portland had to offer.  I had just gotten my big summer paycheck and was living the high life in the city. 

After a week, I packed up all my camping gear and headed down to the Klamath River for the Karuk Mountain Dance.  I was looking forward to spending the next ten days away from all connection to the outside world and just focusing on the task at hand.  I was honored to be sponsoring one of the Purity for the camp of Ameekyaram and was overjoyed to have a job again after the 8 years since I stopped dancing.  I was also excited to be returning to everything I had going for me (socially, if not professionally) in Portland once Dance was over.

On my second night there, I happened to be present during a conversation between an old acquaintance and several good friends.  They were discussing their new jobs and my acquaintance (we'll call her Sally) mentioned that she had the new job as Principal at one of the best schools of the river.  She started saying how she was still trying to find a teacher before the school year started and then looked at me and this was how it went down:

Sally: "Oh Neva, you have your teaching license don't you?  What are you doing these days?"
Me:  "I'm actually recently unemployed and homeless."
Sally:  "How would you like to work at my school?"
Me:  "Ummm..."
(This is where I was really torn because I had made all these plans for when I returned to Portland since I assumed it was a done deal and that is where I'd be.)
Me:  "That sounds amazing.  Can I think about it and get back to you?"
Sally: "Sure.  I'll be here tomorrow."

So, I thought long and hard for the next 24 hours and consulted with everyone I had a chance to talk to at Dance.  The thing about this school is, my best friends' mom used to be the principal/superintendent there so I had heard about it for years and what a wonderful place it was/is.  I'd even considered applying there before but it hadn't been the right opening at the time.  This time, it was the exact grades I have always wanted and I had just bought the book about Teaching with Love & Logic in Powells in Portland during my week of unemployment which is what this school bases their discipline on.  I couldn't think of any better fit job-wise and nobody else had any thing to say about why I shouldn't do it, even those who may be biased about keeping me in Portland.  After all my internal and external conversations about it, I decided that I had to take it so the next day I told Sally I'd do it.  Within the next couple days I sent in all my paperwork online, went out to town and got my fingerprints done for the district, and had a job set up to begin the day after Mountain Dance.

I took a little time during the middle of Dance to email my two best friends who were still in Portland and let them know the news.  I cried just writing the email because I am going to miss those ladies more than I can say.  I might be tearing up a little now just thinking about them...  (I love you both!)  Trio for Life!

I also made the call to the fellow I'd kind of been seeing and that was also a fun conversation that went a little something like this:

Me:  "Hey, hows it going?"
Him:  "Good.  How are you?  Whats going on?"
(I wasn't planning to be in service at all for a couple weeks, remember, so this call was pretty out of the blue.)
Me:  "Oh, you know... Pretty good.  I got a job."
Him:  "That's awesome!  Congratulations!"
Me:  "Thanks.  So... I'm not coming back."
Him: "Oh..."

And it went on from there, but that was the good part. 

Anyway, it came down to a few tough conversations but as I said before, this job was just TOO perfect to pass up, especially when it arrived on my plate as smoothly and effortlessly as it did.  I will miss Portland and everyone and everything I had up there, but my friends/family know that this is what I have wanted and an incredible opportunity for me so they support me all the way. 

To all my students in Portland, if any of you ever see this, I love you all so much and am going to miss you like crazy.  I still have pictures and gifts from you guys that I will take with me everywhere to remind me of you.  I wish I could have said goodbye to more of you but I hope that on my many visits to Portland I will have a chance to see some of you or run into you when I'm out and about.  You are all such incredible young Natives and I am so thankful for my time with you.  Transitioning to a whole new group of kids is going to be hard for me after being with all of you for the past 2.5 years.  Shoot me a comment if you can so I know you've found me and I can keep in touch :)

So there it is.  This is how my life went from City to Country in T-Minus Seven Days.