Sister's Wedding

This shot was taken by my 14-year old cousin. It was also really really windy. And really sunny. And we were looking at our fantastic photographer instead of my cousin. But it's all I've got right now, so we'll just have to make-do.

Congrats, sister!

Never. EVER. Every fly through Atlanta. Especially in the spring. Or the winter. Or really any time of year. Because if you do, this is what will happen.

You will get on your flight on time and head towards your connecting flight in Atlanta. When you are approximately 40 minutes from Atlanta, a ginormous spring storm will materialize, preventing all flights from arriving or departing. For a while, you will circle the air over Alabama, waiting to see if the storms will clear and you can land. But then the pilot realizes the plane is nearly out of fuel, so you are forced to land in a puny airport in Alabama. You sit on the runway, trapped in the airplane, without food, drink, or air. The pilot is considerate enough to make periodic announcements that he doesn't know what's happening. After nearly 3 hours, the storm clears and you're on your way to Atlanta, (though it takes ages to land and then deplane since the control tower was struck by lightening). Once you land, you are told the wrong gate to go to for your connecting flight, get lost in the freakishly huge Atlanta airport and end up going through security again, sprint to your gate at the cost of destroying your shins, and deal with several UNhelpful airport employees (including one who tells you there's no way you're going to make your flight). Thankfully, your luck takes a turn for the better, and after 3 wrong terminals, you find that your plane hasn't left yet! and you schlep onto the plane.

Yesterday was The Worst Flight of my Life.

But it's nice to be home. And I've been cooking all day. And my bridesmaid's dress is actually pretty great. Hurrah.

Tomorrow is:

• the last day of class this semester
• ESL graduation
• my last day of German 102
• final exam oral interviews for Listening Speaking 4
• my last chance to write exams
  
• the day I fly home to Palmyra for my sister's sealing

some news

It occurred to me yesterday that I haven't really mentioned anything that's going on in my life. So here goes.

First of all, T-rav is moving to Tennessee to work for the summer. No, he's definitely not doing summer sales. He's going to be installing security systems (not selling) for the dudes who go out and sell their souls to sell the systems. He'll be in Memphis for May and June and then Nashville for July and August.

I'll be staying here until the end of June to teach at UVU the first block of summer term. I'm moving in with my old roommate Phin and living in Brick House, the place I lived right before I got married. I'll leave Provo at the end of June to, you know, actually live with my husband.

I'm really excited to teach my summer class. I'll be teaching Listening/Speaking level 4 (one of my favorite classes thus far), and the BEST part is that we're taking the students on a trip to southern Utah. Unlike the other level 4 classes, our curriculum focuses more on Native Americans, environmental issues, and Utah/western type history. So near the end of the block, we'll be going camping and hiking for 4 days...along with some other semi-educational stuff...which is easily justified by claiming cultural education, right?

What are we doing after August? No idea. I'm still hoping for a teaching job overseas somewhere. I'm willing to go anywhere, though I've been applying mostly for jobs in Turkey and the Czech Republic. In my dreams, I still imagine living in Italy. We'll see.

12 Steps to Thicker Skin

1. Become a teacher and put your whole heart into your teaching.
   
2. Like almost all of your students and hope that they like you back.
3. Inadvertently offend/anger a student.
   
4. Try your very best to mend the sticky situation you got yourself into.
   
5. Wait to find out if your student is still offended.
6. Stew about it and wait to hear from your student.
   
7. Keep stewing and waiting. Check your email a LOT.
   
8. Get frustrated that your student misunderstood you and decide you don't care what s/he thinks about you or if s/he replies to your email. Take that!
   
9. After a few hours, realize that you actually really really do care.
   
10. Get lots of advice from other experienced teachers, including not to worry about what students think about you.
    
11. Ignore their advice and keep worrying.
    
12. Get sick of worrying and decide that you honestly don't care if your student is offended or if s/he thinks you are a bad/mean/bigoted/discriminatory/hateful/etc. person. You know what you actually intended and if your student wants to be offended, so be it. You hope s/he is happy being hypersensitive.

I feel as though I have purged my soul. It feels good.

Of leaping and frolicking

Last night I had my very first Irish Dance recital. It was exciting! My only disappointment of the night was not getting to wear a wig (only the champion dancers and teenage girls get them). I think they make everyone look better...while they dance, at least. They're so bouncy!

My dance is a 6-hand reel (meaning with 6 people) and we're wearing gillies (soft shoes), not hard shoes, so you won't hear any clomping. But it's still pretty cool. Watch it!! I start out on the very left.