It Is Not As Easy As Some Think

Hey hi everyone! :-)

My keyboard is gradually wearing out so if you see some weird spelled (missing (“a”s mostly) words you'll know why. :-)

Life is going okay this week. We actually had our last snow last week and I am riding my motorcycle again. Yay!! At least I am hoping it is the last snow. :-( It was a long cold winter. Fine though. No matter how cold it got outside it was warm and cozy inside our little home. Did have a couple glitches though. When a public water main burst in January the resort turned off my water pipes for 10 hours while they fixed it. But at -30 it caused my pipes to freeze and my back water tank to burst so had to bypass tank for 6 weeks until that was fixed – thanks to Dad. A challenge, but doable. Then a couple weeks ago the electrical pedestal caught fire. That was the one that made me cry because it happened while I was at work. Miraculously it didn't burn the RV down. But it was teary for me because Harvey and Pearl are at home alone during the day, and it the RV went up in flames it would be the end of them. As a joke, when I am leaving in the morning for work, as they are sitting on the couch staring at me, I give them instructions: “if someone knocks growl once then run and hide under the covers, if a flood happens run and hide under the covers, and if there is a fire run to the corner of the yard and wait for someone to save you.” Never thinking that any of those things could actually happen. ...Now that the weather is improving I am just looking forward to a nice uneventful Spring and Summer.

All is great at work. I work with really great staff who are nice people, great teachers that are really invested in teaching, and of course the students that make each day interesting. I am so thankful Jehovah gave me the motivation and ability to get that training. However, I was recently reminded of what people think of teaching, or maybe it is about what people think of teaching English. :-/ When I was taking my teaching program, the instructor told us that many native speakers think that anybody can teach English because they speak it. But when you actually hear someone say it, it leaves you feeling deflated. When a group discussion about teachers came up among none-teachers recently, I just sat there and said nothing, and then eventually tried to offer a couple small insights into what being in a classroom is like, and then someone turned to me and asked, “you still just teach English, right?” ...yup...sure. When other people talk about their jobs inside my head I am always in awe because I think about the skills that person must have to do what they do, whether it is working at McDonald's, or being an artist with special talent, or doing some job of intricate skill a person got special training for. (When it was slow a while back I had time to talk to a McDonald's worker about the best things about her job, and it was really nice to find out some details and gave me some insight.) Anyway, this morning, I was feeling a bit defeated about this. I guess I don't have pride about my job per say, but feeling it is nice to be somewhat respected for what you do...like anyone else, so I started reading an essay written by another teacher on the subject and it really put things into perspective for me. He was a molecular biologist that decided to become a teacher and what he learned. Since some of you reading this are classroom teachers too, if you want to read it it is can be found at this link: http://www.musingsonlifeandlove.com/2010/09/13/the-hardest-job-everyone-thinks-they-can-do/ And you know what....maybe I will never be respected for my work by some, and I guess that is okay too. :-)

Okay, it is the long weekend. Very exciting. :-) Soooo, I am going to study my WT, then go into town to do some GEOCACHING. A cool activity where a person hunts for hidden “treasures” or spots in an area. I decided I will take my GPS unit on my motorcycle and see what I can find. There is an international website of maps for anyone interested.

And finally, wash the truck and motorcycle so they can be all sparkly for the week. :-)

I have been able to have a couple discussions with students about the Bible lately so that has been great, AND our Memorial attendance on Thursday was 189. Awesome numbers for our area.

Have a great weekend!

Love to all,
d :-)