A Whole New World

I could not sleep last night for the life of me. I kept waking up starting at 4 here and just could not get back to sleep.  I finally got up for good and after getting ready, Patricia and I walked to the school for our first day of teacher orientation.  I have my own mailbox at school so I checked my mailbox and signed in.  We went and had breakfast with all the other teachers and started meeting lots of people.  I could not tell you half their names but I am sure I will pick them up soon.  The most exciting moment for me though was meeting my teacher that I am working with! Her name is Jalissa Lopez and she has been teaching at St. James for 3 years now.  This will be her 2nd year teaching the 2nd/3rd grade combined classroom.  She has been teaching for over 15 years and is so enthusiastic.  She gave me a big hug and it was so comforting to know that she truly wanted me there.

After all the teachers and assistants settled down, we had to introduce ourselves and say a few things about us.  I told everyone I had just come from Kansas and I heard several people make "Wizard of Oz" references.  I just laughed to myself.  By the way, I am a definite minority on staff.  There is one other female teacher and then the male music teacher besides myself that are Caucasian.  Sister Kathy started off orientation off with a really nice prayer service.  We sang two praise and worship songs, "All in All" and "Love the Lord", which put me in an instantly good mood.  I really started to feel like I was at the right place.  Then we listened to the story of the Good Samaritan and she started to tell us of the homily she heard yesterday where the priest asked everyone, "Does it matter?" Does it matter that you go to comfort a friend when they are having a rough day? Does it matter that I say hi to a certain student everyday? Do things really matter? Yes they do.  In terms of you all, you probably wondered whether your thoughts and prayers last week mattered to me and they do.  When I start feeling homesick and missing Kansas, it most definitely matters.

Once the prayer service was over, we listened to Sr. Stephanie talk about our goal/expectation this year which is shooting for the starts.  There was a really nice quote from Mother Teresa that I would like to share with you all, "Help one person at a time and always begin with the person nearest you." Once she finished her presentation, we went to return the U-Haul and man oh man do I wish I could have kept that thing forever.  It is a beast and I enjoyed driving it very much.  We got back to school and I went up to the classroom to start helping Jalissa arrange all the desks.  We will have 15 3rd graders and 15 2nd graders so a full classroom! Before I knew it, it was lunch time.  We were getting ready to eat when one of the other teachers comes up to me and says, "Don't be offended, but you look like a nun." I know she meant it with sincerity because she told me she had a sister that is a nun but I could not help but laugh a little.  I told her I appreciated that very much and told her I had discerned that as my vocation once and decided that is not where God is calling me.  She told me to keep my options open.  Then Sr. Kathy walked up and told her the Sisters of St. Joseph might try and get me.  Don't have a heart attack though anyone, I really do not believe that God is calling me to religious life.  He and I have had that conversation already.

Lunch time ended and we finished setting up the classroom.  I put books on all the desks, cleaned, and did little things around the room.  It was about 3:20 when she said I could go because she knew that we had to settle in and actually put things away in our apartment tonight.  Before I made it out the door though, she gave me another hug and told me to tell my mother and family not to worry.  That she would take carry of me and so will God.  I can already tell she is such a faith-filled person and gives everything she has to God.  She said during the day that there is no reason to ever be sad because God will always take care of us and He has given us life.

Once we were done at school, Patricia and I put a few things of mine in her car and we went to go pick her friend up about 5 minutes away.  While we were waiting in the car, I heard Aladdin's "A Whole New World" on the radio and could not help but think of camp where Squats, Cub, Sassy, Spider, and myself serenaded our little Explorers with that song while Pepper Anne recorded us.  We made it back to our apartment and I was secretly hoping some little elves had come in to our place and organized it all for us.  That wish did not come true because it was waiting for us when we walked in the door.  We started moving and cleaning right away but I started to slow down towards the end of the night.  By no means are we completely unpacked and moved in but I think we made sufficient progress.  We sorted through lots of things given to us and doing our little touches to our personal spaces.  I still have a ways to go but it will get done this week.  I got to talk to my family as well as my Uncle John Kriegisch tonight which was nice.  We have free internet here but I was sad to find out that it does not support Skype so we might be getting a more high speed internet which stinks.  I am grateful to just have internet at this point though even if it isn't the fastest.

Tomorrow brings another day of school and another day closer to meeting my students! I can't wait! Sleeping in our apartment tonight and I might be sleeping in my sleeping bag on my bed.  No making the bed tonight.  To all my teaching friends, I hope you are having a great start with your new or same staff and new students! And remember, it DOES matter.  I love you all! Thanks for reminding me how blessed I truly am!