Changes schmanges

A lot has happened and changed in the last few weeks. Since our miraculous transformation in the dining room, I have learned to knit, kicked my body's butt in a bike ride, and am now a dual-language Kindergarten teacher.

This past weekend we were lucky to have my wonderful mom-in-law in town. It was fun to see her and while my dog does tend to ignore me completely when she's around, we were all sad to see her go. She left me with a new skill -- knitting. It's actually a lot of fun and I seem to be decently good at it. I started a scarf with 20 stitches and about three inches later had 37 stitches! Haha. That's not supposed to happen. The up-side is that apparently adding stitches is an advanced skill. I'm that cool :) I have since ripped the stitches out of that mini-demented-scarf and have started over, counting my stitches after each row. This time I intend for it to stay one size throughout. Hmmm...

I joined the usual group for our fun Wednesday night mountain bike ride again this week. It's a lot of fun, despite the fact that I go with a group of guys that could all quit their day jobs and become professional mountain bikers. They kick my butt up the hill and are sweet enough to find a shady spot to sit and wait for me. Then they kick my butt up the next part, and again "rest" and wait for me. They all deserve the title of "Saint" for putting up with my slowbutt each week... or do they deserve the title of "#@*#&" for picking these giant hills and encouraging me to kill myself on them each week? Hmmm...

I am now officially a part of the infamous Dual-Language program at my school. I was teamed with the dual language group last year so I sorta know what is going on although, admitedly, didn't pay too much attention. The purpose is to have our kids learn literacy in their home language (generally Spanish) while providing instruction in both languages. My teammate from last year (the dual language kindergarten teacher) took another job (to my surprise but apparently not to everyone else's surprise, but that's a whole other bitter-rant for another day). Anyway, the dual language staff and principal were unhappy with their choices to replace her and somehow decided that I was the best candidate for the job. I will be doing a Kindergarten/1st grade mix. I will be the English half while another teacher is the spanish half. I believe I'll be teaching the literacy for the native english speakers (both K and 1) and then rotating the other subjects on a weekly basis. I'm excited for the challenge and feel honored that they thought highly enough of me in my 2nd year to give me such a high-stakes position (the dual language group is always being observed by district personnel). I'm also a little nervous. Hmmm...

It's been an interesting week. Sadly, only a few short weeks left of summer vacation. Booooooooooo...