And so week 4 begins

While I am still feeling overwhelmed with just about everything, I am settling in somewhat and finding my adventure to be enlightening. I still do not have a permanent assistant, though the administration is working hard to remedy that situation. Something I am not used to. I even had one of the assistant principals assisting me last night for the last hour of school. One only one sadly, but he did give me insight into Hermiston. More than 35% of the resident are under the age of 18, 50% of the residents rent, Hermiston is the "hub" of a wheel for seasonal workers that turns through Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Pendleton. I may have got the percentages wrong, but you get the idea. Hermiston is fairly diverse place, something totally unexpected.
The AP feels that the community as a whole is fairly tolerant. I know they are friendly, but then I am white and white-haired and female.
I feel in my bones that I will retire here, well I am may retire from here and move back to Salem, but I don't plan on a move if I don't have to. Maybe out of the one bedroom apartment eventually, but I am thinking this tiny home of mine is an excellent way to catch up on my bills and maybe two or three years down the road have the funds to move into a house or duplex. I don't like the physical moving part of moving to a new home. Not one bit at all. Where is Scotty when you need him to beam things around?

Week Three and the students

Thanks to Denise, Joseph, Matt T., Brandon, Matt C., Ryan, and Juan I am nearly settled into my apartment. I have my big-screen TV, couches, bed, and other furniture and I am feeling a bit more human. I do not miss those beanbags one iota.
Finished the first week of school this past week, much in the same way Willamina runs its schedule, Hermiston begins the week before Labor Day. Couldn't have students the first day as there were no computers up and running. But on Tuesday the first trickle began. While the cultural makeup of my new students is far different than at Willamina, the core of who they are is very similar. I had maybe two Hispanic students in Willamina, here in Hermiston the majority are Hispanic. I am going to have to expand my student  library to Hispanic literature, not a huge issue, an enlightening one.
My first negative issue with a student I traced back to me. Yes, me! A student looks and somewhat acts like an adult I knew outside of school while living in Salem. Now that I have pierced that I am better able to see this new student as himself and not with the weird feeling I had initially. Thank goodness. Though there is another student, once he starts and I get to know him I am hoping his vibe, one I am all too familiar with, will slip away.
Getting a weird vibe from a student isn't all that uncommon, but I really hate to start out our relationship in the classroom with an issue. I have always prided, yes one of the seven deadlies, on my ability to rise above what the students' actions are and who the student is as a person. Separating the out of school personality with the in school personality is not as easy at it sounds and can sometimes be a dangerous thing for me and my other students. But the knowing makes the classroom climate easier to read on many levels.
Hermiston High staff continue to amaze me. They are a generous group and that is what is keeping me bright and bushy as I wait anxiously for that first paycheck and my ability to begin to catch up on bills that have been falling the wayside as the months drolled on on unemployment. I am luckier than many on unemployment I found a wonderful position only about one year after being laid off.
The scariest part is now I have rent, something I haven't had to worry for many many many years. Not being able to just repair, kill off bees, or feed the wild birds is a hard proposition for me. Pigeons are birds, but they are everywhere and I have yet to hear more than one or two song birds. Maybe that's the life here in Northern Eastern Oregon, I certainly hope not. Oh, and seagulls, do to Hermiston's close proximity to The Columbia. That is a new river to explore. I understand there are river walks to walk with Emma, once I get her here, a dam to explore, and a huge number of parks for the size of the city.
Having to drive 35 miles or so and into another state to shop at places like Target, Best Buy, etc is an annoyance. I prefer to spend my money in my home state, sigh.
Well I have droned on. Must go down and check on my laundry, another new experience for me.

First week in Hermiston

So, here I am sitting on my beanbags beginning week two. Hermiston is a nice place to live. The people are very nice and what is even better they are supportive of their schools. Which means their kids and really makes the transition to this much smaller town a tiny bit easier to cope with.
Moving from a house to a one bedroom is quite an adjustment, but I am working it. I have to say of all the schools, ok I've only been to two longer than a few months, Hermiston's staff is the warmest and most supportive I have encountered. My daytime counter part, I am the teacher in the newly christened Innovative Learning Center night school, has fanagled a delivery truck to help me move the rest of my furniture and most importantly my school supplies from Salem to Hermiston this weekend.
Joseph Thornton and his wife Denise will make the drive to Salem help me load up, spend the night with his family in Vancouver, and then drive back to Hermiston on Saturday. I can't express my gratitude to Joseph and Denise more. They are two of the best examples of the people I have met here. Not that anyone I have met wouldn't be good examples. Joseph's two assistants, I still am waiting for mine to be hired, Becky and Jacky are on my list of the best assistants to work with, even though I only met them today. I have been blessed with some of the best assistants a teacher could have in my nearly 20 years of teachers. I wish one of them wanted to make the transition to the night school, but that ain't gonna happen.
Right now I am looking out my sliding glass doors to see sunshine glinting off of thick gray clouds. First rain, if it happens, that I will see since my move. I will take some pictures of my new surroundings once I am fully moved and settled in. It has been 27 years since my last move. This is hard really really hard and I have even questioned the choice I made to accept this position on more than one occassion this past week. I know that once my stuff is here I will begin to heal and recover and when I pay for Emma to come too my healing will be complete.

Susan Witting Albert

So along with The Coffeehouse Mysteries and The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries I have also discovered another series written by a favorite memoirist, The China Bayles Mysteries. I was obsessed with herbs back in the 80's and 90's but I could never keep the darn things alive. Now I have one of my favorite genres to read about them too!

New book series

Just found a new series to get addicted to. As well as her series under her pen name
I haven't found a copy of the first in the Haunted Bookstore Mysteries series yet, but I will.
I am fascinated that this author has found two things I find most satisfying: a coffeehouse and a bookstore. I am looking forward to reading both series.

It's been awhile

It has been a very long time since I waxed on and on here. A lot has happened. On the 10th I went with Kelsey and her family and Andrew to the Marion County Fair. It is far more noisy and populated than when I used to show my sheep and horse back in the 70's. Ok, that was like 40 years ago, wow. There are rides and food and booths and the public there. We were lucky to have our own parents show up to watch us show our animals. Got my cotton candy fix by buying to huge bags and I also ended up with heat stroke or exhaustion, still trying to figure out which. I'm still having dizzy spells and that scares me, but I have no medical insurance so I will just have to endure.
Two weeks I had a phone interview with a person from Lincoln ESD about a position for an Outreach Worker. A job I am way over qualified for, but one that would fit nicely with how I want my career path to evolve. Haven't heard back yet, so I guess my saying I wouldn't move to Toledo until I felt secure in the job was the wrong thing to say. I think that is one of my problems in interviews, being too honest. We'll see, I have an interview in Hermiston next Friday. What really scares me is them offering me the job, but not being able to find a place to rent. With my crappy credit and at least one dog I'm probably not a good risk for someone that has a place to rent.
Went to EZ today and bought cherries, boysenberries, blueberries, and veggies. Went yesterday but I made an error with my credit card so couldn't pick up anything yummy.
Oh, almost forgot I did make Molly's shortcake and it was wonderful. Still have six frozen in the freezer, maybe boysenberry shortcake. It's actually more of a sweet biscuit, but it is wonderful and very easy to make. Ease is what I look for.
Watching Masterchef and there are only a few true home cooks left. Anyone who knows how to cook truffles is more than a home cook in my mind, but luckily I am not in charge. As I watch them cook in the initial episodes I think about my "signature" dishes and whether I could pull them off in public without my family as the judges. They want main dishes, not sides or desserts. What would I cook? What would you cook? Have to think about it.

Recent events

Well the last time I tried to post I got an error message. I hope today is going to work out better for me. Tonight I am fixing a grilled chicken salad. Grilling a chicken breast, boiling some eggs to chop and add to the salad, Roma tomatoes, an avocado, sunflower seeds, and the salad mix from EZ Orchards. Oh and green onions. Should be tasty.
Matt and the girls are outside filling up water balloons, well Matt is filling and Lauren is breaking them as fast as he is filling. I do believe by his tone of voice that he will stop filling up balloons very soon if Lauren doesn't stop breaking them all.
Still job hunting, nothing much this week, last week was way more fruitful. Must have three every week and so far I am meeting that goal. Though I have to apply for some jobs I am marginally qualified for. Though those jobs hurt far less than when I get rejected than the ones I am over qualified for.
Back to the salad, Kelsey bought some nasty frozen chicken breasts and I am hoping that they will taste a bit better grilled, I am hopeful. The veggies I just bought at the EZ stand and they are all fresh, so that part will be very good and tasty. Then some fresh strawberries for dessert. If I am motivated maybe I will make some shortcake. I'll use Molly Wizenberg's chosen recipe from her blog this week.
I can smell the roses I picked yesterday, mmmmm, they are wafting aromatically over here because of the breeze. Smell like raspberries.