The biggest and most consuming news in my life at the moment is that I was unexpectedly hired for a teaching job here in Gainesville! I will be teaching 6th and 7th grade language arts at a private Catholic school, and I'm so excited to start. However, because I was hired literally the evening before pre-planning, I'm a teeeeeny bit busy and stressed as I attempt to get my classroom together (as well as plan curriculum for a subject that I haven't thought about in awhile due to my special education background). Everyone has been incredibly nice and helpful and tolerant of my overwhelmed-ness, if that's a word. Overall, my stress right now is a good kind of stress, and I hope to plan and organize in such a way that I can have a little downtime each evening and have most of my weekend to play. I'm not naive enough to think that will always happen, but it's a major goal of mine. Keep me in your thoughts this week, as Open House is on Tuesday and school begins Wednesday.
I've been making new friends in the area and going out for lots of lunches and dinners lately! It's nice to get out and experience some of the local places in Gainesville. As for other recreation, Tracy and I are planning to go swim with manatees at Crystal River sometime in the next few weeks; plus, we have plans to go race high-speed go karts in nearby Ocala.
Speaking of Tracy, he's doing just fine. He has finally moved on to anesthesia now that he has started his second year of residency, and from everything I've heard, this is much better than intern year. I'm so glad he enjoys what he does and feels it's something he could do for the rest of his life-- it makes him a much happier person to be around!
I visited Oklahoma a few weeks ago, too! (Told ya lots has been going on.) After over a week with family and great friends, I came back to Gainesville feeling relaxed and happy. It was fantastic to see my college friends and hear about their new jobs, additions to their families, and just life in general.
That's about all I have for now, but as you can imagine, life is keeping me pretty busy at the moment. Good luck to all my new and returning teacher friends as the new school year begins!
