on being domestic

Today was the first day of school. Now I am a real teacher - sort of. This week the high school kids are planning slash going on the high school leadership retreat, for which I am a chaperone. I get to spend the night with them at the camp grounds... should be pretty fun. I actually have to borrow a sleeping bag because, shockingly, I didn't bring one. (That was sarcastic - I didn't bring anything. It's really very sad.)

Anyway, things went fine. I think I'll be okay at this whole teaching thing, now that I have my own classroom. I keep thinking back to my student teacher days, all the stupid things I did, and all the right things I did, the things I loved, and the things I hated, and really I am just so glad that this is my very own room with my very own rules and my very own strategies and philosphy and style. I mean, I have the school's, too, of course, but no one will be standing over my shoulder every day, and that will be great.

So anyway, I felt very domestic today. After school I hung around and chatted with the fellow teachers and a couple of the students. We worked out some other things with the retreat (our job is never over... even when the clock stops), among other things. I took the dog on a walk like always, only it was raining outside, which made it not as much fun. She was already dirty, but gosh, then she was really dirty. There was a back to school bar-b-que (I wonder what the etymology of that word/phrase is) at 5 for the whole community, so I went to that. I'm playing the violin with my next door neighbor's daughter, perhaps giving lessons, perhaps just playing together - either way, it's good news for me, because I need to play! It should be fun. She's super quiet, so I'm hoping she'll start talking to me soon. She also rides horses - she spent the summer jumping, which is just cool. I saw pictures. Oh gosh I miss riding horses. Anyway, it was a good time.

And then, now this is the domestic part, I came home and I cleaned. I know, I can't believe it myself. But my house was (and sort of still is) just messy. I gave my dog a bath first. Yipes, she was dirty! And the gross thing is, she's got so much hair that a lot of sand and stuff just stays in there. Her bath was seriously, I stuck her in the tub, shut the shower door, and just turned on the shower to get her wet. She was like, get me the freak out of here. She was good about it, though. So I soaked her with the shower head, then turned it off so I could scrub her with soap, then turned the shower back on to rinse her off. Then I wrapped her in a towel and carried her to the living room and let her sit in my lap (which she loves) while she dried off a bit. Then I went down to my other neighbor to borrow a broom and a vacuum, and I vacuumed my whole house (well, apartment) and swept my kitchen. The dog sheds... so I also vacuumed the couches. I was so proud of myself. :) And then I gave the dog a really bad haircut - just because she has so much hair, it's ridiculous, and it makes it hard to keep her clean - but I couldn't get her to sit still a whole lot to make it a good haircut, so she looks a little silly. Her hair is shorter, though, and now she's just a little fuzz ball, so soft and clean and fresh. Well, for a little while, at least. But she's playing now, which is awesome. She is getting into playing with her rope toy that a neighbor gave to us. It makes me happy. :)

Anyway, I need to finish my laundry still, not that you needed to know that. But I know some people have been wanting to see my village, so I have a photo from my window.



That's my neighbor's dog. He's a malamut (sp?), and he is so freaking gorgeous. He's usually inside with her, so this is a rare moment. That light blue building is the district office. Behind it is the school. So I walk about 5 minutes to work every day. It's nice. That big road there that you see is the main road that goes all the way up and down town. Here's another photo to put it in better context.



That orange building is the same one that's on the far left side of the first picture, so the road that leads to it is the main road that goes south towards the mouth of the river. All the roads are gravel, though there's talk of paving them to help with the dust in the summer time. I don't know if it will happen before winter. It's also been raining a lot, so they may not be able to.

Anyway, this is a little boring and kind of pointless. Hope all is well with you all! Don't forget to write! :)