Week one.

It has not even been a whole week since I fully moved into my loft apartment in Hersheyland. This past Monday-Wednesday I had teacher meetings and work days, but not much work got done. The meetings were brief, but as a new teacher everyone kept stopping in to welcome me, share thoughts of wisdom, ask me questions, and provide me with numerous documents. As my mom pointed out, it was probably better to have so many people be nice to me than to get a lot of work done.

The people. I'm honestly blown away by the generosity of the people here. When I student taught at Waverly, I thought it was absolutely great! I loved the students, my cooperating teacher, and how the school functioned. However, I've realized just how uncomfortable I was in comparison to my position now. Granted, it was student teaching and there were a lot of nervous and uncomfortable moments, but here everything here is just....it's "right." All of the staff I have met in the Jr. High and Sr. High are helpful, happy, and funny people. We all just click.There are 3 new teachers and we don't feel new. We feel unprepared and behind at times, but otherwise we're just one of them. Aside from the school, this town is just as sweet as its name implies. Everyone speaks, everyone's wished me luck, and EVERYONE has told me to let them know if I need anything.

The apartment. It's just perfect. I have a 3 minute walking commute. An extra room for the storage of my one too many shirts and oh so many papers. I still have a little organizing to do and a few light switches to figure out, but so far no complaints. Oh, I don't have a TV and my dryer broke, but that should be fixed any time now. I have a nice sized deck that I hope to use for those weekend mornings and evenings.

The students. hahaha. What a crew! I'm teaching a 7th block class which is mainly writing (students switch at quarter, so I'll just teach the same thing 4 times), a 7th English class, which is comprised of students with the lowest reading levels in the grade including special education students. Then I have two sections of 9th grade English and three sections of 10th grade English. 7th graders will be great if I can keep them organized and on task. I love the freshmen. I know most people dread that age, but after student teaching and now working with them again, I just find them delightful. Their combination of immaturity and wanting to be successful in the high school is somehow a perfect balance (for me). The 10th graders...the dreaded 10th graders. Notoriously known as the worst and largest class that has ever seen Hershey High. They'll be a challenge for me as well and I was already given the advice (on many occasions) "don't smile until October...maybe even December." All the kids in the school are mostly really good kids, they just want to talk to anyone that will listen (including myself) Hopefully I can change that into a positive..

The trains. I live about 3 blocks away from the railroad tracks and to my surprise they really haven't bothered me at all. My mom and I put up some energy efficient curtains and that really softened up the sound. But okay, you all have permission to think I'm weird, but I'm really intrigued by the train bell? horn? siren? Hmm...I guess I don't know what it's called. In all honesty I always thought all trains had the same blaring sound. Not so. I probably hear 8 different sounds a day. Some of them are the most beautiful chords (I know right?) that they sound like a noise from a movie where the clouds part right before the hallelujah chorus. Sometimes they're high, sometimes low, sometimes it sounds like there are three or four, and sometimes it sounds so ugly I just want to slap my wall. I know you just wasted your time reading that, but I'm sincerely fascinated. I have no TV and no room mates, so the trains are all I hear above my radio.

Sorry for typos...I'm saving my proofreading for essays.

I could write forever, but I know I'm blabbing.