Skip to main content

Fare Thee Well Summer Vacation...We Hardly Knew Thee

It's official, summer is over. Tomorrow morning I will be standing at the front gates of the school, once again greeting bewildered and terrified middle school students. I've been working on my classroom all week long, preparing for the onslaught of pandemonium and laughter that 12 and 13 year olds tend to bring with them wherever they go.

Right now, my room is beautiful. Organized, clean, orderly. Bulletin Boards have been decorated, desks have been arranged, copies for the week have been made, papers have been filed. I always start out the year this way, so many plans and so much hope. But it is never too long before my room, along with my mind, surrenders to the chaos. Because I am teaching the same group of students I had last year, I know that a pool will begin on the first day to how long they will be able to see the top of my desk. Last year, the longest period was three hours.

*Sigh* It's hard to say goodbye to summer days, but say goodbye I must.

Goodbye hours of uninterupted reading time...

I especially enjoyed reading the Twilight series. I'm not ashamed...I'm a member of Team Edward.


Farewell lazy pool days...


And impromptu getaways...

Goodbye to family visiting adventures...


Farewell to Arts and Crafts Time...

And mid-morning bike rides...

Until next time.

**The first day of school just wrapped up. The kids think that my desk will be covered, and my new-found organizational tactics thrown to the wind, by Wednesday. They have such little faith in me!**

Popular posts from this blog

Años Viejos, Pyromaniacs, and Fireworks...Oh My

I have to admit, it has been quite awhile since I have actually been awake to ring in the new year and say goodbye to the old.  Dave and I have always been a bit more concerned about the eight hours of sleep necessary to enjoy life rather than seeing the ball drop.  But this year...is different.   It is 12:58 and the neighbor's hired band just started, there are rapid fire explosives (aka fireworks) going off in three minute intervals, and the car alarms throughout our block seem to be answering the loving call of said fireworks.  There will be no eight hours to start off the year for the Richert's this time. Nothing about our experiences in Ecuador could be classified as typical, and New Year's Eve is proving to be no exception.  The evening started out quite and low key, dinner at home with a movie.  There were the occasional firework, but that isn't anything atypical.  I was even contemplating continuing the tradition of snuggling into bed by 10:30.   Before I called...

Christmas in Colombia (The post is better late than never...)

As promised, here is the Amazing Richert Christmas Adventure 2008, with special guest star, Sherry Silvers. Bogota, Columbia.   As you can see...this city and I were obviously made for each other.  Bookstores, libraries, and coffee shops were on every block.  Yes, the majority of the books were in Spanish which causes some slight difficulties, but I don't like to focus on those kind of details.  I'm more of a cup half full kind of gal.   Also, the city is bike crazy.  There are hundreds of miles of bike lanes; we saw bike lanes throughout the city and even along the highway.  They just created a bike/walking lane in the middle of the highway, incredible!  They even close off some of the major streets every Sunday and holiday so people can ride their bikes through the main arteries of town without dealing with the potentially dangerous obstacle of cars.  The city had me at hello. Dave found a wonderful place for us to stay that was right in the heart of the historic district of ...

Ecuadorian Fun Facts

D and I have been reading up like crazy, trying to prepare for our huge move to Ecuador. I have started to share little fun facts with my students each day about the customs and the food. I have found that the more disgusting the fact, the more the kids love it. Some of their favorite facts: * Guinea pig is considered a delicacy in Ecuador. It dates back to the time of the Inca's and is referred to as cuy. The Ecuadorians call it cuy because of the sound the guinea pig makes when it is roasted. * You never flush your toilet paper down the toilet in Ecuador, you place it in the trash cans next to the toilet. * Hot showers are a rarity, with many showers requiring you to connect the electrical heat wires inside of the shower stall yourself. This gives you about three minutes of hot water along with an electrical shock. * Animals that might be living with you include iguanas, bats, snakes, rats, various bizarre insects, and of course, guinea pigs. * The celebration beverage...