My poor wife is trying to negotiate the USPS website in order to purchase adequate postage for the packages that we are having to mail back to the Lower 48. The Postal Service is not our friend in this matter. They don't want our packages, in spite of the fact that they are the only way in which we can get these packages back to where they need to go. It is going to be more costly than we anticipated. We cannot buy stamps adequate to do the job, because they have to be mailed here. Perhaps more advance research was in order.
I am also treading water in the COBRA system. I need one month of coverage. Our insurer cannot get the packages out until Friday. Swell. And that is by email. Our coverage with the district ends the following week. We are in transit during at least part of that time. I just looove me dealing with some bureaucracy. And this one isn't governmental, which is the bugaboo that we are usually offered. This is the private sector at its inefficient best. I have worked in both arenas, and I would advise the reader not to be fooled by the rhetoric out there.
Moving sucks enough without extra stress.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
It Makes Sense, Somehow
The soundtrack this morning is the Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Session...music that takes me back a solid twenty years. Better descriptive powers than mine are needed to evoke the emotional chord that these songs strike for me. Perfect for a rainy, quiet, contemplative day. The weather is just a bit raw, and it seems perfect for our last day in this building. Lots of emotions to process.
Things in my classroom are mostly clean, and the records are updated, and the reimbursement requests are finished. I am waiting for a COBRA packet so that I may purchase insurance coverage for the month of June. I have to check out with our school secretary, our maintenance man, and the boss at last. I am in no hurry. Packing can wait. Neither of us are in a big hurry to end this, which poses the question of whether it makes sense in the first place. We have already done that to death.
We are starting to plan our activities and the things that we need to get done upon our return, which suggests to me that we are beginning to make the transition in our heads. I suspect that it is a process which has to happen in its own time.
Being posed in the middle of a change is always a strange feeling, and this one is just going to last a while longer. It can't be helped. But it will be all right, I believe. I might even be sublime, and great, and full of contentment and happiness...I like to believe that.
Things in my classroom are mostly clean, and the records are updated, and the reimbursement requests are finished. I am waiting for a COBRA packet so that I may purchase insurance coverage for the month of June. I have to check out with our school secretary, our maintenance man, and the boss at last. I am in no hurry. Packing can wait. Neither of us are in a big hurry to end this, which poses the question of whether it makes sense in the first place. We have already done that to death.
We are starting to plan our activities and the things that we need to get done upon our return, which suggests to me that we are beginning to make the transition in our heads. I suspect that it is a process which has to happen in its own time.
Being posed in the middle of a change is always a strange feeling, and this one is just going to last a while longer. It can't be helped. But it will be all right, I believe. I might even be sublime, and great, and full of contentment and happiness...I like to believe that.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Curfew Siren Sounds Later
It is summer here, now. The curfew siren goes off at 11, not 9 pm now. It has been going off for a couple of minutes now, actually. I will be glad when it stops, so it doesn't wake the baby.
We finished up today, and it went better than I think we feared it would. There was sentiment, and the principal gave us a nice little speech, and people clapped and a few tears were sniffled, but it wasn't bad overall. I think that there was just too much to get done for us to have the luxury of extended sadness. Our kids gave us a couple of big going away cards, so I need to scrounge up a cardboard tube to transport them back to Michigan in.
Tomorrow is a work day. I have a lot of the stuff on my list finished at this point. I suspect that I will not be around all day, but I am in no enormous hurry, so I am not going to sweat it. I shut off the alarm on my phone this morning, and I will be glad not to have to use it for a while.
Thursday will begin the big push to get packed and shipped. We have a few days here before we leave, and we can do some visiting, and maybe get a steam or two in before we leave.
A little wistful, a lot relaxed, and looking forward to the next part of our family adventure.
We finished up today, and it went better than I think we feared it would. There was sentiment, and the principal gave us a nice little speech, and people clapped and a few tears were sniffled, but it wasn't bad overall. I think that there was just too much to get done for us to have the luxury of extended sadness. Our kids gave us a couple of big going away cards, so I need to scrounge up a cardboard tube to transport them back to Michigan in.
Tomorrow is a work day. I have a lot of the stuff on my list finished at this point. I suspect that I will not be around all day, but I am in no enormous hurry, so I am not going to sweat it. I shut off the alarm on my phone this morning, and I will be glad not to have to use it for a while.
Thursday will begin the big push to get packed and shipped. We have a few days here before we leave, and we can do some visiting, and maybe get a steam or two in before we leave.
A little wistful, a lot relaxed, and looking forward to the next part of our family adventure.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Trash Day
They were busy and picked up lots of trash. That is done. Now, we do tomorrow's activities. Assembly and some prizes, followed by games and lunch. Send the kiddies home after lunch and clean up and do some grading. My fifth year here finished. My last, at least for now.
I like the kids in this room. They are reasonably ok, for goofballs. I don't know if they are my favorite group or not. They might be. I have some other favorites, and I know that you are not supposed to have them, but so much for that. I think, however, that this group as a whole is my favorite...I think.
Off to home, kid, and dogs.
I like the kids in this room. They are reasonably ok, for goofballs. I don't know if they are my favorite group or not. They might be. I have some other favorites, and I know that you are not supposed to have them, but so much for that. I think, however, that this group as a whole is my favorite...I think.
Off to home, kid, and dogs.
The Last Dance Begins
So we start the final week in our time here. Change is always a challenge, and especially so when mixed with conflicting emotions. Sadness, excitement, apprehension...so many and more, and often one succeeding the other.
It is impossible to write about some of the experiences that I have had here and the impact that they have had on everyone involved. The lessons I learned here myself were often difficult ones, and the feelings were often raw. Some of them still are. Some of them I will not discuss for reasons of privacy of those involved.
I will not understand all of this for a while, and then maybe not even then. We will see if it is possible to prove Wolfe wrong when he said that you can't go home. Maybe you can't. Maybe we will come back out here. Maybe it will be fantastic and joyful and everything our dreams are made of. Facing the unknown is spooky even if you are certain about the decisions that you have made, and more so if you still have doubts.
Today, we clean up. I plan to harness the activity and energy of my students to turn our classroom upside down and get it as clean as possible. In the afternoon, we have a trash pick-up drive that is mandated for 90 minutes. It comes at the end of the day, so we at least get to spend that much time outside. It looks to be a lovely day.
I had a conversation with one of my former students the other day, the first in several years. It showed me that we have done some good things out here. Maybe a fitting conclusion to our time here.
It is impossible to write about some of the experiences that I have had here and the impact that they have had on everyone involved. The lessons I learned here myself were often difficult ones, and the feelings were often raw. Some of them still are. Some of them I will not discuss for reasons of privacy of those involved.
I will not understand all of this for a while, and then maybe not even then. We will see if it is possible to prove Wolfe wrong when he said that you can't go home. Maybe you can't. Maybe we will come back out here. Maybe it will be fantastic and joyful and everything our dreams are made of. Facing the unknown is spooky even if you are certain about the decisions that you have made, and more so if you still have doubts.
Today, we clean up. I plan to harness the activity and energy of my students to turn our classroom upside down and get it as clean as possible. In the afternoon, we have a trash pick-up drive that is mandated for 90 minutes. It comes at the end of the day, so we at least get to spend that much time outside. It looks to be a lovely day.
I had a conversation with one of my former students the other day, the first in several years. It showed me that we have done some good things out here. Maybe a fitting conclusion to our time here.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Progress Comes Slowly
Packing continues slowly. Small humans can be a hindrance. We are one week out, and everything starts to count now. There are ten totes sitting at the post office awaiting postage, which will be purchased online. Some of the kitchen stuff which we are taking will get packed today. We are now using paper plates left over from the Alice/Daddy birthday feast that was held back in March. Some of out plates are packed, and more will be as soon as we scrounge up some more padding. Rumor has it that we can find some.
It is hard to mark progress in the middle of a mess, but it is unmistakable. We have relatively little time that will be taken up by school stuff this week, which makes things simpler as well. It will get done...
It is hard to mark progress in the middle of a mess, but it is unmistakable. We have relatively little time that will be taken up by school stuff this week, which makes things simpler as well. It will get done...
Friday, May 16, 2014
Friday, The Last
We have now moved towards the end of our time here. Next week consists of Monday and Tuesday only with students. Tuesday is a half day for them and we have the whole day to get things arranged up. Wednesday is a work day, but its length depends much upon how much we get done Monday and Tuesday.
My kids are done with their work, for the most part, and I am done with the grading, for the most part. I have some stuff to get finished, but I suspect today that we will spend most of our time playing with test scores.
We will focus heavily on packing and getting totes to the post office this weekend, and I suspect that there will be some more sales of household goods. My wife told me that isn't going to happen this weekend, though, because we still need to use a lot of that stuff.
We just had teacher appreciation day, which consisted of pizza, and a cake saying "thanks" to us and our Yup'ik teacher, who is retiring at the end of the year. I got my pin from the district honoring my five years of employment here. It kind of feels like a strange dream. It is hard to believe that all of this has happened so quickly. I wonder what the new adventure will be like.
My kids are done with their work, for the most part, and I am done with the grading, for the most part. I have some stuff to get finished, but I suspect today that we will spend most of our time playing with test scores.
We will focus heavily on packing and getting totes to the post office this weekend, and I suspect that there will be some more sales of household goods. My wife told me that isn't going to happen this weekend, though, because we still need to use a lot of that stuff.
We just had teacher appreciation day, which consisted of pizza, and a cake saying "thanks" to us and our Yup'ik teacher, who is retiring at the end of the year. I got my pin from the district honoring my five years of employment here. It kind of feels like a strange dream. It is hard to believe that all of this has happened so quickly. I wonder what the new adventure will be like.
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