The New Place

The papers are finally signed and I now owe an arm and a leg for my new place. Its in a great location! I can take the 3 minute walk to school every morning just across the street and football field or walk several blocks to Smiths to fill up the fridge. The last few mornings I've even been able to watch football practice from my bedroom window.

This morning was "new teacher" orientation. They briefly taught us how to use the online grading system as well as some of the new features on Microsoft Outlook. Out of the thirty or so new teachers in the district, there was only one single female and she had a few more tattoos than I would prefer! haha I was suprised how many older teachers joined the school district. The District Administration is a fun group and very personable. They made it easy to feel welcome and I now feel exceptionally happy to be employed here!

One of the new teachers I met was Clay Rodgers from Gillette, WY. He is a big fella and an assistant football and wrestling coach. He was fun to talk to, especially when the administration started informing him of the moving allowance we have as new teachers. He had already moved and not saved any of his reciepts, no reimbursments for Clay! Then he found out the technology dept. forgot to register him into the computers. At lunch he was the first to order and the very last to be served, the wrong meal! It was fun joking around with him and drawing attention to our boisterous corner.

This afternoon I went to Home Depot, bought a few gallons of paint, and ordered some new carpet. Big Day!!! Its going to be a busy fall, with new improvements and buying new things for my new place.

My First

Jackie, I'm taking your advice! I'm creating a blog to let everyone know whats happening in my life while teaching in Green River, WY. Actually, I'm only taking a break from creating lessons. HA! I honestly didn't think it would be this difficult deciding what to teach to high school students. So many standards and requirements need to be met, its hard to organize everything to make the semester go by nice and smooth for myself as well as the students. I now believe what people have been telling me, "the first year will always be the hardest!"

This summer has been one to remember. It went something like this.......a couple weeks at home irrigating, fencing, playing and listening to Mom and Dad pray for me every meal and family prayer to first, find a good job and secondly, to find a wife! It didn't take long for me to get the hint, so off to Utah to I went, "applying for jobs," which really meant, "find a wife!" I did apply to a few places around the western states but the only school interested was Green River, WY.

On Thursday, June 12 when I rolled into Green River for the first time, I thought the town looked like a cross of Great Falls and Browning. Not impressed!! I thought to myself, "I DO NOT want to teach here! This interview will be good practice since its my first ever." I stayed at the Super 8 that night very relaxed and careless. On Friday morning I waltzed into the interview room acting like myself, carefree. I made them laugh a couple times and the interview was over.

Little did I know that making them laugh was the wrong thing to do because on Monday, I got the call. I knew it was them making me an offer so I didn't pick up, I let them leave a message. I listened to the message and had to think hard if I actually wanted the position. I knew I wasn't having much luck anywhere else and this might be the only opportunity for a long time! So I thought I would call Mom and let her know. When Mom answered, I asked her if dad needed me to come home for the second cutting of hay because there was no way I could make it because Green River offered me the job. Mom screamed a couple times and then she said, "hold on, I need to go outside for a minute." Then she screamed "Wahooooo" a couple times and then started crying. That will be a moment I will never forget!!

Since then, I've bought a townhouse very close to the schools I will be teaching at. My position requires me to teach a couple classes in the morning at Green River High School and then I get to spend the rest of my day at Expedition Academy, the alternative high school. So here I am, creating lessons and trying to buy into dads new saying, "your wife will be a teacher in Green River!"