Sky

I'm sitting in my room at a college in Western New York, staring out of my window at the sky, which is currently the perfect shade of blue.  You know, that lazy summer afternoon blue?  It's fantastic.  Take a while this week just to stare at the sky...you won't regret it!

I've been in New York for almost two weeks now, enjoying the solitude of a small town while attending sessions on various transition issues and getting to know some of the people that I will be working with next year.  There are several teachers from my school here, which has been fantastic as I've been given a glimpse of the great people that I am so excited to spend more time with in the coming years.  They are a great group!

At the moment, it is less than 3.5 weeks until I fly across an ocean.  I can't believe how quickly time has flown!  When I get back to Washington, there will be a plethora of details to wrap up, people to see, things to pack, items to stock up on, and so much more it seems.  Definitely my least favorite part of moving to another country!

But it all certainly is an adventure, isn't it?  Things will be different, the world around me will shift, with a new time zone and new surroundings, but as long as I see it as an adventure of delightful proportions, I have absolutely nothing to fear!  Thank you for going on this adventure with me, at least vicariously!

Take care, wherever you might be!

A bit of blue sky the other day :)

Letchworth State Park is known as the Grand Canyon of the East.  It really is gorgeous!

Of course, I had to try out the panorama view on my camera on the bigger of the falls at Letchworth.  Absolutely marvelous!

Location: Houghton, New York

Local Time (EST -- GMT-4): 5:41 p.m. (6/30/2012)

Auburn Time (PST -- GMT-7): 2:41 p.m. (6/30/2012)

Chengdu Time (CST -- GMT+8): 5:41 a.m. (7/1/2012)

Summer

It's the beginning of another week and things are starting to pick up as I prepare to go at the end of next month.  School got out on Friday, which was bittersweet.  My students this year were definitely the best I could have imagined, so leaving was hard for all of us.  We know that there are bigger things for us to accomplish, though, and a long way for each of us to go.

And now the busy-ness just escalates, even with that huge part of my life done.  I am working on packing and making many a list of things to do, people to see, and places to go.  Tuesday, I'll be heading to Buffalo for some pre-departure training, so pictures will start popping up on here, soon!

Hope you are well, whatever corner of the world you might be in.

Location: Auburn, WA

Local Time (PST -- GMT-7): 11:50 a.m. (6/17/2012)

Chengdu Time (CST -- GMT+8): 2:50 a.m. (6/18/2012)

Cleaning...

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not one who likes to clean...or sort...or pack.  Definitely not pack.  And so, as I sit in my classroom after the last full day of school, surrounded by all of my little piles that I have attempted to avoid packing for weeks, I find myself writing and trying to get all of the bits and pieces out of my page and onto the screen.

I am absolutely no good at letting go.  Personality issue number 27, or 369, or whatever it is :)  As I contemplate tomorrow, 3 hours with my students and then a quick hug and sending them off for the summer, I am totally and completely heartbroken.  Even if I were staying in the same place next year, they wouldn't be my kiddos anymore.  A year old, a year wiser, and a year further along.  They will have passed 5th grade, and here I would be, starting with a new group.  Every new group is, of course, marvelous...but there are those few weeks at the start of any new thing where you are comparing every facet of it to that which once was.  I'm sure that my first few weeks in my new home at the end of July and beginning of August will be that.  No matter how hard I try, the differences are the first things that generally come to mind.

But for now, I sit in my classroom...gazing at my somewhat neatly stacked desks and seeing the emptiness on the walls...mourning the end of another wonderful year.  Thank you 5th graders, for making this yet another best year ever!  You will all always be in my thoughts and on my heart!

Location: Auburn, WA

Local Time (PST -- GMT-7): 4:28 p.m. (6/14/2012)

Chengdu Time (CST -- GMT+8): 7:28 a.m. (6/15/2012)

The CRAZY In-betweens!

It seems that the trickiest time in any transition is that in between time, where you know things are changing, but they haven't quite changed yet.  You know it's coming, you're prepared for it, your mind and heart have already started to transition, and yet you haven't actually moved yet.  The changes have started emotionally and mentally, but not quite physically.

That's the stage I'm at now.  I've been grieving the loss of a life here, and will again at some point, I'm sure.  However, at this point I haven't actually lost anything yet.  I still have all of my bits and pieces around me, my local places where I am known and recognized and run into friends, and my job and routine to rely on.  I can feel that wind changing though as I anticipate the last week of school, the last moments to pack things up, and then the departure.  But wait, that departure won't be the final one.  Oh the change that comes in whiffs and then disappears again.

The thing is, that change will come and stay, or rather I will go to it and stay.  And then it'll be a whole new something.  Wow.  I know it seems a simple thing to be in awe of, but my life is going to be radically different in two months than it is today.  I can't even begin to imagine it, and when I do I'm honestly overwhelmed.  Excited, but completely and totally overwhelmed.  He knows what He's doing with me...so here I am, ready for whatever the ride might bring.  

Location: Auburn, WA

Local Time (PST -- GMT-7): 4:00 p.m. (6/7/2012)

Chengdu Time (CST -- GMT+8): 7:00 a.m. (6/8/2012)