Christel and Faith

I was in Epping on Wednesday and I got to spend a couple of hours with Stacey, Christel and Faith. I hadn't seen them since Christmas (!!) and Faith has gotten so big. She is very animated and completely enthralled with everything her big sister does. Christel was her usual funny self and she kept me entertained for my entire visit. It was impossible to get a picture of the two of them where they were both looking at the camera and smiling, but this one is still pretty cute!

Girls Weekend in Boston

Sarah and I spent a girls weekend in Boston and it was great! Both of us were very happy to get away for a few days and be in the city. We used to go to Boston at least once a year before I moved overseas, so it was fun to start up our tradition again. No matter how many times I've been to Boston, it is always great to go back and spend more time there. I'm definitely a city girl!!

Our weekends in Boston are usually filled with shopping, sight seeing, and drinking wine and this weekend was no different. The bar in our hotel was great and we spent some quality time there. Here we are when we returned to the bar after going out to dinner (we had already been at the bar for pre-dinner drinks too). We also went to a great piano bar and listened to this woman sing show tunes, which was super fun.

Before we left on Sunday, we stopped by Fanueil Hall to have lunch at Wagamama, my favorite noodle restaurant. I first ate at a Wagamama in Amsterdam and loved it! I thought they were only in Europe, so I was very excited when they opened two in Boston in the last couple of years. It is very yummy and it always makes me so happy to eat there!

Sunapee

I realized I haven't taken many pictures of Sunapee so all of you can see where I am living now. It isn't nearly as exciting as Berlin or Lima, but it is still a nice place to live. Here is a shot of the harbor at Sunapee Lake. Everything is closed up for the winter, but I'm looking forward to spring when there is a little more going on around here.

My friend Karen came to visit at the beginning of the week and we took a walk through the harbor and around part of the lake. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was nice to be outside and to show Karen the "sights" of Sunapee.

The three story building up on the hill is my apartment building. I'm really happy living here and the building is in a great location. I'm right up the hill from the harbor, so it will be nice to walk around in the spring and summer. Spring is coming, right??? :)

Newport Winter Carnival

Winter Carnival in Newport is quite a big deal. This is the 93rd year of the Winter Carnival and according to people in Newport, it is the longest running winter carnival in New England. There is a full week of events, including snow sculptures, sports, town suppers, the Winter Queen pageant, and a parade. The sculptures in the town common are pretty impressive - on this one people can slide down the back of the alligator.

My students had to play for the parade, but instead of marching in the parade (don't ask - for some reason the previous band director didn't have them march) we set up on the Common and played as the parade marched by. It actually worked out really well - we got to entertain the crowd on the Common before the parade started and everyone was very appreciative. It was incredibly cold (don't let the sunshine fool you) and windy and my kids weren't super impressed to be out there, but they did a good job and were good sports.

The whole event was actually a lot more fun than I expected. I had forgotten how nice it is to be involved in town events - that was something I missed when I taught overseas. It is always good to get out in the community and for people to see the great things the kids do. And spending time with the kids at something like this is fun. A couple of my kids were super sweet and brought me a strawberry and whipped cream covered Belgian waffle - they had met before the parade for breakfast at a local restaurant and when they were telling me about their plans for breakfast earlier this week I told them how much I loved Belgian waffles. It was such a nice surprise to see them bearing this gift for me and they looked so pleased with themselves for their good idea.

Job Fair = Friends

The job fair I attended last weekend in Boston ended up being a bust. I only had two interviews and both were for choral jobs I wasn't interested in at all. The day was a huge waste of time and it was disappointing not to have it be more successful. I'm not completely discouraged yet - my associate says it is still early in the private school job search process and I actually got two referrals on Monday for instrumental jobs that I am interested in - one in NYC and one in Oakland, CA. I'm still optimistic that I'll find the right job for me for next year.

The best part of the job fair weekend was that I got to see a lot of friends in Boston. I stayed with Rosemary, which is always great. She made me homemade mac and cheese and we made smores in the fireplace and it was just great to hang out with her. The job fair I attended was also the same weekend as the international job fair in Boston that I have attended in the past and that friends of mine go to. Since there were no jobs for me to interview for at my fair on Saturday, I headed over to the other fair to meet up with friends from Peru. I had lunch with Terie and Kelani and heard about Terie's potential new jobs (she decided on Istanbul, which is very exciting). It was so great to see Terie and catch up with her. I also got to see Philip, my principal from Lima. He and his family are moving to Thailand next year. I miss working for Philip - he was a great, supportive administrator for me and I would love to work for him again. It was so good to see him.

I rounded out my weekend of catching up with friends by meeting David, Deb and Isabel for breakfast in Exeter on Sunday morning. They are friends from Lima, but Deb is originally from NH so I get to see them when they are home, which is great. It is always so good to see them and to see how much Isabel has grown. They are headed off to Zambia next year, so I am saving my money for a trip to Africa at some point while they are there.

All and all it was a good weekend. Seeing friends I haven't seen in a long time definitely made up for the lousy job fair.

"You're wild!!"

I spent last weekend visiting Nicole and her daughter Sierra. I hadn't seen them in what seems like a long time - maybe last spring when I first got back from Peru? Sierra is 9 months old and has grown and changed so much since I last saw her. She is adorable and super fun!! It took her a little while to warm up to me, but once she did I was rewarded with lots of beautiful smiles.

Nicole's husband Joshua was away for the day on Saturday, so we had a nice girls day - grocery shopping, playing with toys, reading books. Sierra LOVES to read books and listens intently when she is read to. She is a girl after my own heart!

Nicole and I have been dedicated fans of "Dirty Dancing" since the weekend in 7th grade when we saw it for the first time, and watched it probably 10 times in the course of 2 days. Yes, we've been watching this movie for 20 years! We've often watched it when we are together and we both can quote nearly the entire movie word for word. I found this "Dirty Dancing" trivia game and I couldn't resist getting it for Nicole. We played it over and over again and loved it!! It was so fun and we had a great time answering the questions and acting out the scenes and dances. And then, of course, we had to watch the movie. We decided we will show the movie to Sierra when she is in 7th grade so she can enjoy it as much as we do.

A New Day Has Dawned

What an amazing day! I luckily didn't have to teach at noon, so Christine (the choir teacher) and I headed to the school library to watch the inauguration. I have never been so excited! Watching Barack Obama be sworn in as President of the United States was an incredible moment, one I will remember for the rest of my life. It was inspiring, moving, and hopeful. A new day has dawned for our country and I am looking forward to what our future together will bring. Hope and change are good things!

A Good Weekend

I knew I would enjoying living back in NH, but this weekend was the epitome of how great it is to be here again. I spent the weekend seeing friends and family and it was great!! Friday night I was invited to dinner at the McNallys - Mary and I went to high school together and we've kept in email touch the last few years, but haven't seen each other since our 10 year high school reunion in 2004. I had never met Mary's husband Matt and her kids Emma and Ian and it was great to get to know them and put personalities with the pictures I had seen from Mary's updates. It was a great evening - yummy food (Matt made an amazing tofu/peanut sauce/asparagus dish), good wine, and great company. It was so nice to catch up with Mary and we marveled at the fact that we are both living in Sunapee. A guy we went to high school with lives here too, so it is amazing to me that three kids from Epping ended up in Sunapee, of all places! Thanks to Mary and Matt and the kids for a great night - I look forward to hanging out with you guys again soon!

Saturday was Eloise's 3rd birthday and I headed up to camp to celebrate with the Moore/Fairbairn clan. It is always great to be with them and Eloise was very happy with her birthday party. Here she is checking out the cute Webkinz I got her - yes, I'm up on my popular kids' toys, thanks to the Moore kids. And I'm happy to report that ALL the Moore kids are finally a fan of me. It took Emerson a few years, but I think he is my buddy now. Alex and Eloise have always thought I was pretty fun, but Emerson was never my biggest fan (he didn't love that I would come visit and sleep in his playroom, which meant he had to clean up his Legos). Tides have turned lately and Emerson and I are loving each other a lot more these days. He even told Jean that I was part of the family. I'm in!!!

I rounded out the weekend by meeting my brother for dinner at the Common Man in Concord. Marc and I haven't hung out just the two of us in a while, so it was nice to spend some time together. We caught up on all kinds of things over yummy Common Man food and beer. It was a great way to end a fabulous weekend!

The Countdown Is On

Obama Countdown
created by James Miller

First Day Of School

I survived my first day of school and it went well! I think I might have been a little excited to get started - I woke up at 2am, then again at 4am, and finally jumped out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:45am. I drove to Newport at 6:45 in the ice and pitch darkness and was in my office by 7am. Kids starting trickling in to introduce themselves and check me out - they were really cute about it. And some other teachers popped in to say hi too, which was nice. I had gone to school yesterday to meet the choir teacher - her name is Christine and this is her first year in Newport. She is super nice and answered all my questions yesterday so I actually felt like I was ready to start today. I think she and I are going to work well together and it is nice to have a music colleague again after being the only HS music teacher in Peru.

My classes went well today, for the most part. I really enjoyed the HS band and I know I am going to have a great time with them. We sightread some music and I am anxious to receive the other music that I ordered yesterday (the existing music library is filled with crap that I refuse to subject them, or me, to). The kids were nice and very helpful. The MS band was a bit of another story. I've never been a huge fan of middle school and I think these guys are going to be a challenge. There are some very nice kids in the band and they weren't horrible, but there were a couple of kids who were just crappy. I know it will get better as they get used to me, but I was EXHAUSTED after the MS rehearsal and, of course, it is the last period of the day every day!

All and all it was a good day and I am looking forward to going back tomorrow so that is a good thing! School finishes at 2pm everyday (so early!) so it is nice to have some time in the afternoons that I can spend in my classroom and get things done so I don't have to bring a lot of work home. I love setting up a classroom and getting things organized and it appears that the man I'm replacing wasn't very tidy or organized, so I have lots of work to do!

Thanks for all your good wishes for my first day of school. I appreciate the love and support!

The Year In Photo Review

Here is a recap of 2008, month by month:

New Years Eve

I am so happy to be back in NH! It is great to be so much closer to my friends again and not feel like I am a million miles away. I spent New Years Eve up at Wanakee, visiting with Jean, Mike and the kids. I headed over there pretty early on Wednesday since it was snowing and I didn't want to get stuck alone in Sunapee for the night. We had a chill day and then Lisa and Erin came over later to help us ring in the new year.

Our evening consisted of Trivial Pursuit, Bananagrams, a couple of bottles of wine, and brownie sundaes. What more could you want for a festive New Years Eve?? Here is our picture at midnight, just a few minutes before Erin went home, Jean and Mike went upstairs to bed, Lisa crashed on the living room floor, and I snuggled onto the couch.

I wish you all a wonderful 2009. I am looking forward to a new year and a new chapter of my life!

Newport MS/HS

I spent a few days this week in my new classroom at Newport Middle High School. When I walked into the room on Tuesday, this sign on the board greeted me. I think I am really going to like these kids! :)

The band room is incredibly large and only a year old. I have never seen such a great space and I am really looking forward to getting settled in and start working. I am a bit nervous about starting on Monday morning, but more excited than anything else!

Update

I've been feeling some self-imposed pressure to write posts about the past few weeks and all the holiday fun that has been going on. The idea of documenting everything that has happened seems a bit overwhelming, so I've opted for an abbreviated version. We spent Christmas in NH and it was great to be with family and friends. Our time together at Marc and Megan's house was spent watching Ralph open his gifts, in addition to opening some of our own.

I visited the Bellens on Christmas night and had a good time playing with Christel and holding Faith. Christel was the recipient of the quilt I was working on and while she, at 3 years old, wasn't super impressed with it, Stacey loved it and was very happy to see that her hard working teaching me how to quilt had paid off. I am very pleased with how the quilt turned out and I know Christel will treasure it in years to come. Here were are snuggled underneath the cozy quilt.

All and all, it was a great Christmas with family and friends!

Christmas Festivities

The month of December seems to have flown by! I can't believe we are only 2 days away from Christmas. There is 15 inches of snow on the ground in Corinth, so it definitely looks like Christmas. I've been busy the last few weekends with the usual holiday performances. I finished up my work at Foxcroft Academy with our winter concert on the 13th. It was sad to leave those kids, but they were very sweet to wish me good luck in my new job. I feel very fortunate that I had the chance to work with them and get to know them the past few months.

In addition to performances at FA, the choir at Mom's church had a big performance this past weekend. I've been directing the choir this fall in preparation for their Christmas Cantata. We've had a great time rehearsing every Wednesday night and I've enjoyed getting to know this group of church people better. They did an amazing job on the cantata and it was so fun to stand in front of them and conduct them in their performances this weekend. We all had a great time and I am so thankful to all of them for their energy and commitment. Here is a (bit blurry) photo of me and the choir as we warmed up before the performance on Saturday night. We sang to packed crowds both Saturday night and Sunday morning and it was great! Mom and I also had the choir over to the house for a party after the performance Saturday night, which was very fun. Lots of yummy food and good fellowship!

New Job!!!

Yes, you read that correctly - I have a job, a full time job!!! A few weeks ago I was hired as a long term sub for MS/HS music in Newport, NH. At that time, the job was only going to be for 4-8 weeks, beginning Jan. 5, but there was the possibility that the music teacher wouldn't be back for the rest of the year and I could stay through June. I heard from the superintendent today and it is official - the music teacher isn't coming back this year and the job is mine for the next 6 months! I really got a good feeling about Newport and the school when I went out there for my interview. The principal and superintendent were great and they just built a new fine arts wing on the school with a beautiful, HUGE band room. The job is 6th grade beginning band, 7-8 grade band, and 9-12 grade band and jazz band. I had a chance to hear the HS band the day I was there and they sounded really good. It was nice to see full instrumentation (I had no brass players in Peru - very tricky when it comes to band music) and they played at a pretty high level for such a small school. I can't wait to get in there and start working with them. I'm planning on going in over Christmas vacation to spend some time in my classroom and choose music and all of that stuff that I love!

And, of course, I need to find a place to live. I'm working on a couple of leads and hope to have something lined up in the next week or so. Then the next task is going through all my stuff in the basement and deciding what I need to take with me and what Mom will continue to let me store down there. I'm very appreciative that I could live at home for the past few months, but I am also very excited to have my own place again. And to unpack all my things, some of which I haven't seen since I packed them up in my apartment in Concord before I moved to Berlin.

So, things are looking up in my world and I am very excited about it! I'll keep you posted on further developments. And you're welcome to come visit me in the Newport/Sunapee area anytime!

Christmas Preparations

I have to admit that I do like living at home during Advent. My mom always decorates the house really beautifully and it helps get me in the holiday spirit. We were a little slow getting the tree and the decorations up this year, but they are up now and everything looks so nice.

Most of my ornaments are in storage in the basement (in a box that I wouldn't even begin to know where to find), but it was fun to put up all of Mom's ornaments. She has lots of nativity and Noah's Ark ornaments that are beautiful, but my favorite one is this very old picture of Marc and I. Yep, that would be 1979 - I was 3 and Marc was only 3 months old. I love it!

My mom has always collected Nativity sets and she has some really neat ones. I've bought her ones from the places I've lived or visited, so it is quite a multi-cultural collection. Here is a sampling of just a few of them, arranged along the windowsill in the dining room.

I hope you are having a beautiful Advent!

Giving Thanks

The past 12 months have been pretty rough for me, but I am hopeful that the holidays will signal the beginning of a new, better year. I used to measure time in school years as opposed to calendar years, as I'm sure all teachers do, but lately the marker of time for me tends to be events and big things that have happened. It was exactly a year ago that the whole situation in Peru started and that marked the beginning of what I didn't know would be an incredibly hard year for a variety of reasons. But that 12 month period of change, uncertainty, pain, disappointment, and frustration is over and while I am still dealing with many things that occurred during that time and I still have lots to come to terms with, I am looking forward to the next 12 months and am figuring that they really can't be as bad as the last 12 have been.

In the midst of all the bad stuff this past year, there have been moments of great joy and happiness and I am incredibly thankful for those. I was sitting in church last week (zoning out during Mom's sermon - sorry!), thinking about what I had to be thankful for, given how this year has played out, and while the list isn't incredibly long, it is very important to me. These things have kept me going this year and have helped me to remember that there are good things out there and that I should continue to look forward.

It seemed appropriate that the calendar end of my awful 12 months should fall at Thanksgiving, when we pause to remember what we are thankful for. So here is my list of things I am so thankful for in the past year:

1. My friends who have held me up and loved me through this entire year, even when I may have been a bit difficult to love. I hope I can be as good a friend to all of you as you have been to me.
2. My mom, who is truly the bravest person I know. As much as I think I am all grown up and I don't need her to teach me things and mother me anymore, I realize that she is constantly striving to grow and be a better person and I CAN still learn from her example.
3. The kids in my life who give me lots of hugs, make me smile despite whatever else is going on, and remind me that I am loved. Caitlin, Lauren, Alyssa, Ross & Kassie Clark, Christel & Faith Bellen, and Emerson, Alex, & Eloise Moore bring me lots of joy.

And some highlights of the year, in the midst of all the rough patches:
1. Family dinners in Lima with Reada, Dave, and Tim
2. Karisti's visit to Peru the month before I left
3. Chicago and Iowa with Karisti and Michelle
4. Footnotes at Wanakee
5. George's Pond with Mom, Marc and Megan

I am very thankful for all the good things in my life and I look forward to a new 12 months ahead. Happy Thanksgiving!

Update

I feel the need to blog today because a) I haven't updated in a while, and b) I changed the background/layout of my blog and I want to show it off. However, there hasn't been a ton going on lately, so I'm afraid the update may not be super exciting.

I'm continuing to substitute, with varying degrees of success. I had a few weeks where it was really slow and I only subbed one day each week. That was rough. Then this week hit and I ended up subbing 4 days (and could have done a 5th, but chose not to). This week's subbing was at a local elementary school that I really like. I never thought I would enjoy being back in an elementary school, but the kids and teachers at this particular school are really great. And I've learned some important things about myself and what I want in terms of teaching, specifically the age range of kids that I enjoy working with. High school is obviously my first love and I know I am a good high school teacher. But I also really like teaching kindergarten. Who knew??? I can't imagine I would ever choose to teach kindergarten over high school, but at least I know I can survive a day with 18 five year olds and hold my own. Now 2nd grade is another story... no thanks! It looks like I can do either end of the age spectrum, but not the middle. Keep me away from any classes older than 1st grade and younger than 7th grade and I will be a happy teacher.

In addition to subbing, I've started actively looking for full time jobs for next year, and even for the rest of this year if something comes up. I had a lead about a long term sub position at Singapore American School starting in February that was really appealing to me, but they ended up hiring locally (thanks to Michelle M. for all her help - if she and I had had our way, we'd be teaching together in the same school again). I'm following a few other leads for possible jobs for the rest of this year, but nothing that I am ready to write about yet and possibly jinx (fate/karma/luck hasn't been on my side this year, so I'm not taking any chances). And as for next year, who knows!! The international schools are starting to post their openings for the 2009-2010 school year and more jobs will be posted over the next month, with hiring to start in full force after Christmas. There is a tentative opening in Prague that I'm going to pursue and this job in Singapore might open up for an overseas hire for the fall, so that is an option too. And jobs at private schools in the States will start to be posted, so hopefully CS&A (the recruiting company I'm using this year) will start to refer me to some of those jobs too. I really have no idea where I'll be in the fall, but I'm open to anything at this point. !

So, that's the story for now. It is snowing here in Maine today, so I'm hunkered down for the day. I think I see some knitting and quilting in my afternoon/evening plans... I hope you are warm and cozy wherever you are and are enjoying this winter Saturday!

By the way, any guesses where the picture on the top of my blog was taken? I've been going through pictures from the last 4 years and reminiscing. I'll give you a hint - for those of you who received my Ofoto albums when I lived in Berlin, you've seen this picture before. It was taken exactly 4 years ago next weekend - my first Thanksgiving overseas. Any guesses??

It's A New Day

Here is a link to the new will.i.am video "It's A New Day". I highly recommend checking it out. Very inspiring. It is truly the dawn of a new day in our country!!

November Weekend

I've decided to be creative this winter and try to make some Christmas presents. I got into quilting in the year before I left for Berlin and started to make a quilt for myself that I never finished. Stacey was a great, very patient teacher, but I don't think I had enough patience for it myself. However, now that I am living at home and not getting many calls for subbing, I have a lot of time on my hands, so I am much more focused this time around. Here is the quilt I'm making, in its earliest stage. There will be no more pictures of it until it is done, as much as I would love to show it off in its various stages of completion. But the quilt is a gift for someone who reads this blog, so I don't want to give anymore of it away. Look back for a picture of the completed quilt after Christmas.

Saturday night I went over to UMaine Orono to hear Kate play her oboe recital. Kate was one of my students at West and we've kept in touch over the last few years. Her recital was great and I"m so glad I could be there! I'm very proud of her and all she has accomplished as a musician in the last 4 years. She has grown so much since the last time I heard her and it was so fun to see her play again. She played a great piece by Copland, "Quiet City", that I loved and I highly recommend you give a listen to.

On Sunday Mom and I drove to Portland to meet the Clarks for a late lunch/early dinner. I haven't seen them since I left Hedding in August (they have a cottage there too so I got to see them every day throughout the summer) and it was great to be with them and to get lots of hugs and love from the kids. Here we all are at Build A Bear - my mom decided to build a Navy bear for Ian, the 2 year old son of our friend Melissa (she is in the Navy). The kids loved helping build the bear and we put 9 hearts inside the bear to send our love to Ian.

Our new history

President Obama

The headline of the Bangor Daily News today reads "America's Next President: OBAMA". I bought a newspaper today so I could save this headline. I want to have this newspaper to look at years and years from now and be reminded of the amazing time we are living in right now. I want to remember the incredible change that has occurred in our country and I want to be reminded of how proud I am to be an American at this very moment. I am filled with joy and hope!!

Last Weekend

I spent last weekend in NH and while I didn't get a picture of myself in my fabulous ladybug costume at Sarah and Reg's party, I did take some pictures of sweet little Faith Marie. She was 3 weeks old on Sunday and she is beautiful. It is amazing how much she looks like Christel did when she was a baby. Stacey brought out some pictures to compare and they are nearly identical!

Christel is quite enamored with her little sister, though she had some issues sharing the attention as the night progressed. Remember, she is only 3 1/2, so this has definitely thrown her world for a bit of a loop. It took me years to get used to my brother after he arrived when I was 3 1/2!! We did manage to convince her to snuggle with Faith and me for a few pictures, so here I am with my goddaughter and her baby sister. They are too cute!!

All and all, it was a good weekend in NH. I ended up spending the majority of my time at Sarah and Reg's, which is always nice. Sorry I don't have pictures to show from the Halloween party, but it was fun - a keg of Long Trail, lots of food and candy, and a big bonfire in the yard. My costume was a hit and a good time was had by all. The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key, which is fine with me. It was nice just to be in NH with my friends - I feel like it had been forever since I had been down there (more like 4 weeks, but it felt like forever).

YES WE CAN!!!

Halloween Sneak Peek

I couldn't resist posting a sneak peek at my Halloween costume. I don't usually get very excited about Halloween - I'm not very creative when it comes to costume ideas. But Sarah and Reg are having a party on Friday night and I thought a ladybug would be a cute costume. One of the perks of living at home is that my mom could help me with the costume. Actually, I should be honest and rephrase that. I came up with the idea, picked out the pattern, and ironed on the black dots, but Mom did everything else. There wasn't much "helping" on my part - I'm much better at moral support and gratitude as opposed to actual sewing and creating. I think Mom did a great job and the dress came out very cute. I can't wait to wear it on Friday! Thanks Mom!!!

Fall in Corinth

The foliage in Maine has been amazing this fall. Everywhere I drive there is one beautiful sight after another. My favorite spot is on the way to Dover-Foxcroft where I drive through this area surrounded with trees that are the most gorgeous colors, especially with the sun shining through them at 7:30 in the morning. However, I either never have my camera with me or I can't convince myself to actually stop the car and get out in the cold to take a picture, so I've just been enjoying the views for myself. I did stop the other day on the way to Bangor and take a picture of this tree that I thought was particularly pretty. It is just a tiny taste of the beauty we've been experiencing up here. I really do love fall!

Leonard Bernstein's 90th Birthday

This year is the 90th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. As many of you know, Bernstein is one of my favorite composers and conductors. This picture is my most favorite one of him and I am always inspired by the emotion on his face (he is conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood). I've had this picture hanging in either my apartment or my classroom for at least the last 10 years and my students in Peru especially were quite familiar with my Bernstein passion (I had an entire bulletin board devoted to photos of Bernstein). I told them I hoped one day to conduct with the emotion and inhibition that Bernstein shows in this picture.

In honor of Bernstein's 90th birthday, many orchestras are featuring his music this year and there have been a lot of articles about him lately. I thought this one was really great. And his official website has amazing stuff on it as well. Check it out - maybe you'll fall in love with him a little bit too! :)

Progress

I was poking around the Obama website, trying to decide which t-shirt to buy so I could wear it up here on election day (I figure I'll be the only one in Corinth voting for him, so I wanted to proclaim it proudly), and I came across this poster. I think it is really beautiful and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Good times...

Our friend Erin posted some old Wanakee photos on her Facebook page and I couldn't resist sharing this one here too. Yes, this is Jean and I, circa 1997, when we lived together with Heather at the house in Epping. Our house was often a gathering place for all our Wanakee friends and we were hostesses for some great parties. I'll be honest, I don't remember this partyu at all, but this picture is priceless. Good times, good times...

Fall Weekend at Wanakee

I spent a wonderful fall weekend up at Wanakee, visiting Jean, Mike and the kids. The weather was PERFECT and I loved seeing camp in all it's fall glory. This is the first year in a long time that I will be able to experience Wanakee in all four seasons and I'm looking forward to it. I love camp during the summer when it is filled with kids and energy, but there is something very special about it during the off season, when it is quieter and more peaceful. I love feeling like I have the place to myself. And the beauty of the foliage this weekend was overwhelming.



Jean and I spent all of Saturday cooking meals for a youth group that was using camp for the weekend. It makes for an incredibly long day (we worked 14 hours straight on Saturday), but I'll be honest, it is work I like. I've always felt like I learned how to do things at Wanakee that I would never have learned anywhere else - this includes painting, fixing toilets, building yurt platforms, putting up drywall, including mudding and taping, and mowing a lawn with a tractor. And, of course, how to cook for large numbers of people. As most of you, I hate to cook and am not good at it at all. Luckily Jean is a VERY patient teacher and we always have a good time cooking together. Some Indigo Girls on the radio and some good conversation with a dear friend even makes cooking chicken for 25 people seem like fun. :)

New Addition

It was an exciting weekend for my goddaughter Christel and her parents, Stacey and Fred. Christel's baby sister, Faith Marie, was born on Sunday morning. I talked to Stacey on Sunday night and everyone is doing well. Christel seems quite enamored with her baby sister, which is good. She's been any only child for the past 3.5 years, so I'm sure this will be a big adjustment (just like it was for me when my brother showed up after I had had the place to myself for over 3 years!). I haven't had a chance to see them yet and meet Faith, but I copied this picture from Stacey's hospital blog so I could share it with everyone. I'll have pictures of my own to post after I visit them over Halloween weekend. Congratulations to my dear friend Stacey and her beautiful family!!

Obama '08

Every day I miss my life living overseas, but one of the best things about being back in the States at this very moment is being able to be part of the election process firsthand. Yes, the coverage can get to be too much sometimes and Sarah Palin's voice (and everything she stands for) drives me crazy, but I love being inspired by Barack Obama and the vision he has for our country. I can't wait to cast my vote in person in 31 days and watch our future unfold in a new, positive, exciting way.

My friend Amanda made a great video with the music from "Yes We Can" as the background and it reminded me of how much I had loved this video when I first saw it. I thought it was worth posting it here as a reminder and an inspiration to us all.

Some changes are good...

... at least that is the mantra that I keep repeating in my head in attempts to convince myself that I am okay with the changes that have happened in my life over the last year. I haven't quite gotten myself to believe that all the changes that have happened are for the best, but there is at least one recent one that I am definitely okay with. After growing my hair long for the last year, I was desperately ready for a change. I haven't had my hair that long since I was in college and, while it was nice to have it long for a while, I got to the point where I just couldn't handle it anymore. My students in Manchester used to joke with me that the more stressed I was, the shorter my hair would get. There was a measure of truth to this - for me it is very relaxing to have my hair cut, so it is a good remedy for stress. Needless to say, things have been a bit stressful lately, so a hair cut was in order. I went in and had 8 inches cut off and I'm very happy with it. Here I am, posing with Ralph. He loves to be held like this - what a nut!

I hadn't seen Stacey and Christel in a long time, so it was nice to visit with them while I was in Epping. They came over to Marc's one night and hung out with me and Ralph. Christel thinks Ralph is pretty great (which he is, of course) and she wore him out - patting him, trying to get him to do what she wanted, laying on him. Ralph was very patient, then slept like a log for hours after they left!

Christel is 3 1/2 and has definitely reached the age where she likes to do what she wants to do, not what anyone else wants her to do. After all these years of everyone taking lots of pictures of her, I think she has gotten sick of always posing, so she isn't very good at smiling nicely for the camera anymore. I had to bribe her a bit to get her to smile for this one, but it was worth it!

Things are looking up!

I had high hopes that a change of season would bring about some positive changes in my life and it seems like that has actually been the case!! The summer was rough for me this year and I was very happy to see it be over. Now that fall has arrived, I'm feeling like my luck/karma/destiny/fate/whatever you want to call it is changing for the better. The job situation is slowly getting resolved, which I am very happy about. I've started teaching part time at Foxcroft Academy, a local private/public high school. I contacted their music teacher, Shane, a few weeks ago and asked if there was any opportunity for me to become involved in the music department. He immediately emailed me back and offered me a job! Because it is a small school with lots going on, many of the music ensembles meet at night from 6-8. I'm now directing a percussion ensemble on Thursday nights and the select choir on Tuesday night. I've had my first rehearsals with both groups and I love it!! The kids are great and they are very enthusiastic and dedicated. It is a big music department and Shane is obviously doing great things with them. I'm so happy to be able to be a part of it. In addition to directing these two ensembles, I'm also going to be accompanying the full choir that meets during the school day and Shane wants me to play piano in the pit for the musical in the spring. I'm really thankful that he is willing to have me do so much and that there is such an active, exciting music department so close by that I can be a part of. I didn't realize how much I missed teaching until I started working with these kids. I'll definitely be ready to have my own gig somewhere next year!

In addition to my work at FA, I've been slowly getting some subbing work as well. I've subbed for the vocal/general music teacher here in Corinth twice, which has gone well. Given the state of their music classrooms, or lack there of, it is pretty obvious that Corinth as a district doesn't put much emphasis on the arts and music. The music classrooms are shared with health and social studies and the choir has to meet in the cafeteria. And none of the elementary schools even have music rooms. It is sad to see and really makes me think about the kind of place I want to be teaching in in the future. But for subbing it is fine - it is easy and close by, so I'm fine if they keep calling me. Yesterday I had the chance to sub in Hampden, a suburb of Bangor. It was completely the opposite of Corinth - I was subbing MS choir and the music room was amazing!!! The MS itself is beautiful and fairly new and I just couldn't get over the facilities. It was the absolute other end of the spectrum from Corinth. I wouldn't mind teaching in a district like Hampden, that's for sure!

So, things are moving along in the right direction for me, which feels very nice. I still don't have anything full time, but I'm okay with that at this point. I'm committed to the work I'm doing at FA and I would hate to have to give it up for another job. I'm coming to terms with what this year is going to look like for me and am accepting it as it is, while also looking forward to finding a great teaching job somewhere for next year.

Retraction

Thanks to those of you who read my previous post about Sarah Palin banning books and made comments. After some further research, I found that the information was not completely accurate and I apologize for posting it as fact. Hearing anything about banning books gets me pretty riled up and seeing my favorite author, Madeline L'Engle, on the list was enough to set me over the edge. Thanks to whoever wrote the following comment:

The source (of the list, in response to Sean's question about who was the source) is the librarian releasing the list, which may not be accurate. It is accurate, however, that she asked the librarian if she would support a ban on books if a list were provided. The answer was no and the librarian was later fired along with other public officials who did not support Palin during her campaign. A little fishy, and we can come to our own conclusion as to her motive for asking the question and the subsequent firing. That's what's so wonderful about living in a democracy!

I agree with the author of the comment - it is wonderful that we live in a democracy where we can question others and form our own opinions. The internet is a powerful tool, especially in these heated political times, and it provides us with incredible access to information. It is important to be smart and to ask questions and to be sure the information is correct before we believe it as fact.

And, while Sarah Palin may not have banned books, there are still plenty of other things that make her a very scary candidate to me. I'll be using my precious vote on Obama and will be very proud to cast it.