Here we are!

Yesterday, there were two. Today there were four (one still wet) and one egg was moving. This is so cool!!

Night Air II

After my walk the other night I really wanted to know if my memory of the Little House on the Prairie book was correct, and it was! I started to read the books all over again, and in the second one of the series (that's the one that's actually called Little House on the Prairie) I found what I was looking for, I couldn't find anything about my night air recollection, though. In chapter fifteen, called Fever 'n' Ague the whole family gets sick with malaria.
That's where I read this:

"Mrs. Scott said that all this sickness came from eating watermelons. She said: 'I've said a hundred times, if I have once, that watermelons - '
'What's that?' Pa exclaimed. 'Who's got watermelons?'

Mrs. Scott said that one of the settlers had planted watermelons in the creek bottom. And every soul who had eaten one of those melons was down sick that very minute. She said she had warned them. 'But, no,' she said. 'There was no arguing with them. They would eat those melons, and now they're paying for it.'

[...] No one knew, in those days, that fever 'n' ague was malaria, and that some mosquitoes give it to people when they bite them."

Kitty present

Sorry about the length of this fragment, but if you fast forward to 2:00 you'll understand what Dennis the cat left me on the yellow carpeting in our study today! Thank goodness for Biotex.
Love this movie, by the way. It's so funny!

Making babies

No, not me! I know that we are married now, and that I am 26 so in the making babies-demographic, but sorry: we're not ready yet. However, two of my chickens are working on making babies: Kuifje and Ellen. They had both been broody for a few days already, and I had tested how determined they were by letting them brood on one of their own eggs. But since we don't have a rooster anymore, that would never work out. M's uncle donated some eggs from a chicken who does have a husband, and now they're both hard-working brooding chicks. In about three weeks we'll hopefully have ten little ones in the hen house!

Concert

Paradoxically, I hardly ever went to a concert while I studied at the conservatory. There just wasn't any time. Now I'm totally making up for that, though: this month I'll be going to to several concerts.

Last night was the first one: I went to Darlene Zschech and Michael W Smith in a big soccer stadium close to where I live. I had never seen or heard Darlene before, but I did know Michael's music. I have several of his cd's (thanks to Those Crazy Jarboes who introduced me to his music) and had been to one of his concerts before. I was able to sing along to almost everything! Thank goodness the lyrics were projected on the big screens so I had a reminder for the lyrics that I hadn't memorized. Of course I bought one of his new cds (Stand, even though the Christmas cd looked good too.)

It was so cool to hear 15000 people sing along to the songs. Especially "Let it Rain" and "Above All"(video) were really impressive and touching. If he ever comes back to the Netherlands, I'll be there again!

... Makes you stronger

My teaching this week was so much fun! Apart from my little difference of opinion (which will be talked about on Monday) I had such a good time. My students this year are really cool. It seems to be so much easier than it used to be to work with them.

Of course, five years ago I walked into a VMBO-school ready to take on my first job as a middle school music teacher. I taught in a music/geography room with little or no musical instruments. I'd never taught a thirteen year old before, because I had just graduated from elementary education college. But I was armed and ready to take on whatever came on my way. And boy, did I find a lot!

Teaching music to these teenagers turned out to be a difficult thing. Especially the second years (eighth graders) gave me frequent stomach aches. But every discussion and every problem was a new bit of experience. And now, I find myself free of stomach aches. The kids don't surprise me anymore when they ask if I am pregnant. I now know that whenever I am a little tired and don't think to straighten my back and suck my tummy in, it makes the kids think I'm expecting. So I can reply with a joke and not be shocked. And this is true for so many other things that happen every day or week.

The fact that I am done with music college probably helps, too. The past four years I always had a mind full of to-do-lists concerning college. Now all I have is my four day job (and of course husband and house) to worry about and I'm so much more relaxed. The kids probably feel that, too. And especially my mentor group is a "warm bath", as we say in the Netherlands. They're a joy to teach!

After a few less positive entries, here's a happy one again. I love my job!

What doesn't kill you...

... Makes you stronger. Isn't that a famous expression? I'm going through one of those times at work at the moment. One of the other teachers (who shares a room with me) called me last week and accused me of all kinds of horrible things. I block her progress, I say no to everything she wants to change, I can't think outside of the box. In short, I'm a horrible person at work and there's no fun working with me.

It totally made me think, and shocked me too. Am I really that narrow-minded? Do I really get scared when things go differently? After a lot of thinking and talking to different people, I realised that I do say "no" to a lot of things she wants to implement. But only because they're against school or music department rules or agreements. And maybe I sometimes try to stop her, because I know ahead of the time that the thing she wants to try won't work. I've shared lots of lesson plans and work sheets that I've made with her, thinking that she would appreciate not having to make them herself. But she accused me of trying to make her into a copy of myself, teaching wise! I was baffled. Here I was, trying to be nice, and she totally used it against me! That taught me a lesson. I won't share things with her any longer.

Last week I sent her an e-mail, inviting her to stay a little longer on Monday and talk to me about this situation. She did not reply, but Monday she had called in sick. Of course, there is a flu going around. But it did seem like an awful coincidence in my narrow-minded suspicious mind.

Big fat bummer

It's a big fat bummer if you get a €69 ($97) bill from customs. Especially if this concerns "import taxes" over a $100 wedding gift. And it's even more frustrating when you find out that appeal is not possible. Grrr.

The joys of home ownership

"Good morning ma'am"
"Good morning."

"Well, that's obvious, isn't it? It's broken."

"That might explain the cold in here."

"How much longer did you say you'd live here?"

"Probably not more than three months."

"It's not worth fixing ma'am."

"It's not?" (thinking: but I'm cold already and it's only september!)

"I'll call the office and ask them how much the part costs."

.....

"Yup, that's what I thought. Not worth fixing ma'am."

"Well, how much would the part cost?" (thinking: can I please make my own decisions?)

"At least €200, and that's without taxes and installation costs. Would you like my advice?"

"Sure."

"Put an electric heater in your living room and put an extra blanket on the bed"

"OK, thanks."

"Can you please sign here? Because of the road block down the road I had to charge an extra 15 minutes for the detour I had to make. My office will send you the bill later this week."

"Sigh. OK, thanks again."

"Have a good day ma'am."

"You too."

Kayama

We're going to sing this in our choir soon. Isn't it beautiful?

Night air

Do you remember reading that Little House on the Prairie story where they ate watermelons that had grown in the night air and they got sick? I don't remember in what exact book it was, but I had to think of it as I was taking a walk tonight.

It's so cool to have the time to take walks after dinner, without constantly thinking either "I have to do this and that assignment, why am I walking instead of working" or "I'm really too tired to walk but it's good for me and will help me get better soon". Tonight, all I had to think about was how beautiful the scenery around our town is, and how lovely the fresh air felt. I could feel that fall is not far away. It gets dark sooner and because it's been rainy, lots of leaves have fallen. But you know what? That's ok.

Soon we'll be closing the curtains before dinner. It'll be apple pie and tea time. I love the coziness of fall. And when we live in the trailer it's bound to be cozy anyway so I might as well enjoy it!

Getting to know each other

First year camps are always exhausting. The point of the camps is to get to know the kids, and have them get to know each other. We definitely achieved those goals.
Not alone did I catch a total of only eight hours of sleep in two nights, I also had to be on the alert all the time. Because with a camp house full of twelve year olds, lots of things happen.

Usually, these things are limited to "Mrs. S, Andy stole my shoe and now he won't give it back", "Mrs. S, I can't find my shoe and I promise I looked everywhere!" or "Mrs. S, I need a band-aid because I fell". This time around however, I received some very different complaints: "Mrs. S, George went up the attic (not allowed) and found pancake mix which he dumped all over our sleeping bags". "Mrs S, George is smoking in the orchard" (Of course smoking was not allowed, and the orchard was off-limits to the kids.) Two minutes later: "Mrs. S, George says he wants to sleep with me" (he said what??? he's twelve!), as well as (different girl) "Mrs. S, George tried to choke me but he says he was only kidding".

Needless to say I went and found George, and the other three teachers and I had some serious talks with him. At first he didn't confess anything! But, after only two hours (!) of interrogation he finally fessed up to smoking, and "some other things that you probably don't allow". He had lied and did so many things against the rules that I took him home on Thursday morning.

After that, things quieted down in the camp house. Of course there was some (ok, a lot) of talk about George, but at least everyone agreed that what he did was not ok. And for some reason, the all seemed to want to be good examples after seeing this bad example. The kids were nice and polite, and some even voluntarily took their dirty dishes to the kitchen. There were no kids complaining about boring games (whiny tone: "I don't want to do that, that's stu-pid), and when we had to clean the camp house on Friday morning everyone pitched in. Boy, did we get to know each other!

Camp II

It's time for the annual first year camp. I'll be back on Friday, probably very tired (because I don't expect to sleep much in a camp house with 32 12 year olds). I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about!

Creepy

When I see a spider, I usually grab a cat, put it near the spider and then it eats it. This is one of the reasons I am happy to have cats. Unfortunately even the cat didn't like this one: it ran away from it!
Thank goodness my mother-in-law was close and was able to kill this horrible creature. Brrrrr!

Mentor

Because I'm graduated and work four days a week now, my school asked me if I wanted to become a mentor. Dutch people know what this is, but for Americans it's something mid-way between a home-room teacher, a guidance counselor and an elementary teacher. Every class of 20-30 kids (I only have 18) has their own mentor. The mentor is the person who monitors their grades and who they can talk to if something is wrong, or if they just need some attention. The mentor is also the person the parents contact when they want to contact school for questions or remarks.I teach my class music, Dutch and study skills, so I see them 9 times a week.The school year is only three days old but already being a mentor gives a whole new dimension to my teacherhood. (Is that a word? It is now.)

My mentor group is a class of first year students (7th graders, for the Americans). Everything is new to them in our school, and most of them don't know any other kids in their class yet. So it's up to me to make them comfortable with each other. I'm really going to try and make them bond, because I want the atmosphere in the class to be as positive as possible, so that when they're settled in and the hormones start acting up there's already a good relationship between the kids.

Yesterday I taught "my" kids 7th period, which was their last period of their very first day of high school. They were so enthusiastic! They told me about how they walked to the gym and it started to rain, how the math teacher's glasses were crooked and how their German teacher told them they would start working when the class didn't have any more questions for him, so they chatted with him all 50 minutes.I think they're cute. And they're my kids!

I sincerely hope they stay this upbeat and happy...

Mobile Home

Last night I bought a mobile home. Or should I say "manufactured home"? In Holland we call it a caravan. Whatever the name, it's going to be our temporary housing while we remodel our house. We need somewhere away from all the dust and dirt, that is water tight and will keep our feet warm. But it also needs to be put in our back yard because we can't (and don't want to) afford to rent a second house while we remodel this house.

I was having coffee with my mom in law when my dad in law walked in. I was telling the story how I had ridden my bike to some local camp sites to hang up ads asking for a mobile home. Dad in law said he knew someone in town who had one for sale. He called the guy and the two of us went over there (M was at the fire station). He showed us the trailer. It was everything we wanted! It has two bedroom (so we can make one into a closet), seperate shower and toilet areas, a kitchenette (with gas stove and lots of cupboard space), a dining corner and a big couch, and gas heating. It looks old but neat and well taken care of. Unlike so many trailers for sale this one doesn't smell like cigarette smoke and there was no visible fungus. And the best part of it was the price. We were willing to pay no more than €1000, but the guy asked for only 250! And an apple pie, but that was because he said the price was low and so I said ok, I'll bake you an apple pie and we'll seal the deal. So after sealing the deal at 250 I guess the apple pie was part of the deal.

Hurrah! We're going to live in a trailer! (People that know me well know that I am not a big fan of camping. But trailers are ok).

The trailer in the picture looks just like the one I bought. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it, but I'll post one later.

Blessed and lucky

Blessed and lucky, that's what I am. I come from what we in Holland call "a warm nest". We have a great relationship with my parents and my brother and his girl friend. We don't fight, we just get along and respect and help each other. My brother and I have had every opportunity to study and broaden our horizons.
I have a great husband and within a month I received my college diploma, my wedding ring and the offical ownership certificate of our house.

The past few days I've seen that I shouldn't take all this for granted. Blessed and lucky. And grateful. That's what I am.

Sad

We're really sad. One of my dad's brothers, who had been an alcoholic for a while, decided on Tuesday that it had been enough. He left a note saying he no longer wanted to bother everyone, and he didn't know what else to do. He was sorry and he loved us. Then he commited suicide. It's horrible. The viewing is tomorrow, he'll be cremated on Monday.

A tale of two bunnies

The people M works with gave us two rabbits for our wedding. They said the way he talks about the cats made them feel that more pets would be welcome at the M+N petting zoo... And apparently he had talked about his new lawn mower a lot so they wanted to give him two other "lawn mowers".

The girl next door was at our wedding too, with her sister and her mom. They immediately offered to watch the rabbits for us when we were on vacation, because they have a bunny too and a big rabbit hutch. We thought that was a good idea and so there they went. This week they are on vacation, so I'm watching them.

I went over to feed them last night and everything was ok. This morning I went over there to check on them, and the door of the hutch was open and I saw only two rabbits, not three! My little brown bunny (whose name is Worm, because that's his boss's last name) was gone.

I looked around and looked around, but I couldn't find her. I went home and called M, who of course could only advise me to go back and look. The neighbors have a walled garden, so she couldn't go anywhere.And when I went back, she sat underneath the garden table, looking at me! I'm so happy... I put her back with the other two and made sure everything was closed really tightly. Phew, what a relief. I don't know what I would have told the little girl if the bunny hadn't come back. Well, I do know: the truth. But I would've felt really bad about it...

I do