I realize that I have disappeared from the world of blogging
for quite some time. If any of you are familiar with the rush of activities,
grading, and events required of a high school teacher at the end of the school
year, then you know where I’ve been. To top it off, I also had to move to my
new apartment the same weekend as graduation. So, yes, the word “busy” just
doesn’t seem to encompass how I have been feeling lately. More like trapped
beneath a cascade of enormous responsibility or something along those lines.
Despite the enormity of my recent schedule, I have also
experienced a season of great blessing. I don’t mean to sound cliché or cutesy.
I truly have been overwhelmed with how much I love these students, this school,
and this community. With coaching track, helping my freshmen navigate their way
through writing their first full-scale research paper, reading my creative writers’ “mini-novels,”
prepping for graduation, and saying good-bye to students and staff, I have felt
God’s presence more at work here than ever. BFA is truly a special place that
has already left it’s mark on my heart.
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| Sprint Medley Relay takes 5th at European Championships |
I feel compelled to write a few lines about how fast the
year flew by…about how it seems like August was just yesterday and I was a
scared, nervous little first-year teacher waiting anxiously for the first day
of school. It’s true, the year has escaped with lightning speed. The faces that
were exactly that—just faces—at the beginning of the year have become real
people who I now know and love. The students who were just names on a roster
are now individuals who, even if they don’t realize it, have influenced my life
in so many ways. I know... I’m a teacher, I’ll have lots of classes and lots of
students. But what teacher ever forgets her first year of classes? I know I won’t. Thanks
guys for making it a year to remember. :)
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| My Creative Writers |
So, now that it is summertime in Kandern, what am I up to?
With the mounting of my last WVU cross-country poster, I am at last fully
settled into my new apartment. It is a small one-bedroom place attached to the
home of an older German couple. It’s cute… some of the furniture and especially
the curtains and the wallpaper is rather antique-looking, but I don’t mind so
much. There’s a lovely backyard, a kitchen with an oven that works, and the best
part…the BFA cross-country course is literally a one-minute walk outside my
front door!
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| Outside my new apartment |
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| Summer means time to cook! :) |
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| View from my kitchen window |
Next week is work week for me at BFA—painting the school
hallways and watering the flower beds is what I have heard is on the agenda so
far. And…the best news, after work week my parents are coming to Germany! I am
so excited to get to see them! I have been away from home for almost 11 months
now and I am more than ready for a nice long visit with my parents. I hope that
they have been training well because I have lots of hiking trails planned for us
to explore. :)
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| The Kandern trails |
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| Mom and Dad are on their way soon :) |
