Insights into the High School Psyche: Confessions of a Brand New Substitute

Having substitute taught only three times, I have only recently re-entered the high school world. However, as in most life threatening situtations, I have quickly become familiar with my surroundings. My initial insights are as follows.

Three days in, I have learned the following about high schools students:

1. Like elephants, lions, bears and tigers, (oh my) high school students can smell fear.
2. Nagging, while ineffective with husbands, is extremely effective with the unmotivated student.
3. No student really likes to look unintelligent.
4. A high school student's reputation is precious. Damaging it through humiliation is deeply painful and should be avoided in almost all circumstances.
5. Often when you say "please" and "thankyou," your students will too.
6. The ability to laugh at oneself is a powerful weapon.
7. The dean will always scare a student more than you will (at least when you're 5"3'). Let him (or her) do the yelling.
8. A student would rather avoid a situation than fail in it, whether it is an assignment, a question or a discussion. Creating a safe environment for failure is essential to the learning process.
9. Students are prepared to hate substitutes long before they are prepared to like them.
10. Eyes in the back of your head are unreservedly necessary.

Three days in, I am totally glad I'm having this experience. I will never call substitute teaching easy, nor will I call it fun, but it is a great job and an incredible learning experience. I can now efficiently write my name in calligraphy, balance chemical equations and sufficiently explain the plot of Antigone.

Reconnecting

Interestingly enough, living in Waukegan is feeling more "home-y" than I had ever expected it to. Something about knowing we will live here at least three years gives our lives some permanence, and thus gives my heart permission to love the people and places that are a part of our daily routine.

I think the easiest part of our transition back here, and by far the coolest, has been our ability to reconnect with Jonah- the best man at our wedding and Kenyon's childhood best friend- as well as his wife, Katie. They are good friends, and within the last couple of weeks, we've been able to spend some quality time with them, which really makes this place feel like home.

At Trinity, I've also had the opportunity to make a great friend. Like me, Madison's part of the AP MDiv program and has placed in the same language classes I have. She's smart and fun, and I feel so fortunate to have her- we females are few and far between over there :)

God continues to provide quality people in our lives, and we feel oh-so-blessed to find them everywhere we go. Waukegan, apparently, will be no exception.

Nested... officially.

Please find a tiny video included below of our new apartment, as has been requested, promised and now delivered.

Enjoy. Please do ignore any ridiculous commentary or general disarray.

Finally

All of our open ended plans are coming to fruition.

First: I'm officially a student. (!!!)

Second: We move into an apartment on Saturday. Two bedrooms, safe, cozy enough. We're very excited.

Yay. We'll fill you in on apartment stuff on Saturday!

See, I'm not TOTALLY ignoring you.

Hey.

I'm sitting in a snuggly corner of a big couch at the Knight's house in Waukegan, while everyone but Tim and I are out cold. While he's clicking away at the family computer, I'm curled up on the couch trying to decompress. It feels good though, like my feet might hit solid ground again.

So, we live in Waukegan now. As many of you may have heard, the house that we offered on in Zion was lost to a higher bid (a cash bid, unfortunately), so we are now seeking the ideal apartment for our time here. We are surprisingly relieved about losing the house; the more we consider the responsibilities and risks of owning a house at our age, the more we welcome the convenience of temporary housing during a very transitional time in our lives.

We have narrowed our search down to two apartments, and are now considering the age old tensions of balancing convenience & necessity, location & neighborhood, commuting, working and just being comfortable. So, we're assuming we'll decide in another day or so, move our stuff in (which is piled high on Kenyon's parents' front porch), go get our kitty and get on with living here. And then start school!

On Friday, I have my Greek proficiency exam. This is me pretending I'm not totally freaked out about it. But this is it- my last speed bump on the way to academic bliss.

I keep praying that the test will do what it's designed to do: place me in the appropriate Greek class. I studied a lot in November/December, but with the holiday rush and the chaos of moving, I'll only have a few spare moments to finish brushing up before the exam. I know the language and remember its nuances, but unfortunately, the specifics are both super fuzzy and extremely numerous.

I pray that God in his great grace will take this test on my behalf, because during church the other day, I was trying to remember the Greek letter that corresponds to "h." Unfortunately, friends, there is no "h" in the Greek language.

I am officially so frazzled, I have forgotten the Greek alphabet. * sigh *

Addendum.

Correcting last post:

So, instead of applying for an MA in OT, I went crazy and applied for an MDiv. An AP MDiv, actually, which means, if it works out, they consider my undergraduate classes and give me credit toward my degree based off of similar coursework I've already completed. Instead of taking a 90ish hour degree, I'll complete a 70ish hour degree. Which, beyond being more convenient, is cheaper, shorter and full of less familiar material. Cool, huh?

And feel free to blame my lack of posting on the admissions process, applying for a mortgage, continuing to apartment shop, trying to remember Hebrew and general running about.

More later. :o)

Preparing & Reflecting

I'm sort of selfishly blogging today. I needed to sort of debrief & unwind. And as Kenyon isn't around to share a bottle of wine, I'm using you all as the perfect means for unwinding. So much is happening, so much to look forward to, so much to remember and so much to process. Here goes:

We're moving to Chicago in January. I'm using the term "Chicago" loosely, and am referring more specifically to the Waukegan / Zion / Gurnee area. I will be attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and will be getting an MA in Old Testament & Semitic Languages. Waukegan is about 25 minutes away from Trinity, and the most affordable place to live within an hour of the school. Kenyon has family there, and grew up there, so after our couple of years in my hometown, I suppose it's only fair!

We have a lot of friends who live in Kenosha, WI, which is just over the border and only about 30 minutes (when Kenyon drives) north of Waukegan. We're excited to live so close to them. In fact, we were both in a wedding for Jonah & Katie, two friends who live there now who we are particularly excited to be near. They've been bugging us to move for years now, so we're all excited about it. While I'm thinking about them, here's some pics from their wedding:

So from upper left going across, we have: 1) myself and some of the other bridesmaids, 2) Kenyon and one of his best friends, Jonah (the groom), 3) Kenyon, myself & Kristen, a friend of ours who was married to his friend Ricky, 4) Us and 5) Kenyon, Jonah's brother & Josh, one of his friends from high school. It was soo fun!

It was encouraging, to be around so many people our age who we knew we'd be able to see again when we moved up. It made leaving people here a little easier.

We're struggling with leaving my family, especially Chrispy & Sarah. We've even been spending time with my grandparents every other week, and are so disappointed that we'll have to give that up. But either way, we know it's time to go. I'll never be able to do what I want to do until I get back to school. It's time!

In less important but exciting news, we've been saving up to refurnish our apartment when we move, and have recently bought both a desk and a bedding set. These little things make it easy to get excited about the move. A place of our very very own, where we'll stay put for about 3 or 4 years. That will be THE LONGEST we've ever lived in one place. Can't wait!

More later. Enjoy your Saturday. :o)