Gosh, the last few days have really solidified the reality of this whole thing. Over Memorial Day, I cleaned out all my closets and completely transformed my random "junk room"/second bedroom into a hospitable living space for two children I've never met. I still have a bunch of paperwork to complete, but the housing preparations are pretty much complete. It's pretty amazing! It seemed really overwhelming to get it all finished, and now it's done--who knew?
I've also had an email exchange with a woman who is finishing her Fulbright year in the CR right now, who has offered some really important and useful information about lesson planning, as well as emailed me thirty-or-so files that she created over the course of the past year to use in her classroom. If I am understanding Honza correctly, I will be more of a wandering teacher next year so that all of the upper-level English students, particularly those preparing for their Maturita exam, have the opportunity to practice their English with a native speaker. It just really occurred to me, as I was reading through a set of essays on The Grapes of Wrath, that grading papers will not be a prominent feature of my teaching position next year. While there will undoubtedly be some new challenges and struggles to conquer professionally, it many ways next year is going to kind of feel like a year off--I'll teach fewer classes each day and grade fewer papers. Odd! Exciting, of course, but odd!
I received my packet today regarding the Washington DC orientation at the end of July. I made my travel arrangements today, so I'll fly out on the morning of July 31 from Eugene to DC, and then leave DC on the afternoon of August 3 for Prague, which will be the same day the Machs arrive in Oregon! It's crazy--at the risk of sounding kind of stupid, it's finally occuring to me in a visceral way that this is really happening! I'm going to Europe for a year!
If nothing else, mark your calendars for the evening of Friday, July 27--big party in my parents' backyard!
63 days to go (which will undoubtedly go by in what will feel like five minutes) . . .
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2 comments:
"junk room"? I thought it was the sewing room! If death is greater than disillusionment....
One girl's sewing is another girl's junk . . . how's PR?
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