There's Only One Oklahoma

It's football time in Ooooooklahoma!!! Alas, I am not there. I can't tell you how much this saddens me. Even though toward the end of college I usually just watched games on TV, I still miss the option to go. I also miss seeing everyone decked out in their finest crimson and cream apparel, as everyone here dressed up in orange and blue on Friday. I've decided that next week I'll wear my OU stuff to the elementary school. Please cross your fingers that the rabid Gator fans don't chomp me into little pieces for that. And now, inspired by my friend Elise, a small list of things I miss about Oklahoma...

1. Certain restaurants. Taco Bueno (first and foremost), Freebirds, Jason's Deli, Sonic, ice cream from Braum's, Red Robin, Chicken Express... the list goes on and on.

2. Being able to walk in the grass in bare feet. This is something I never ever had conscious thoughts about while I lived in Oklahoma, but you can't do that here due to the ridiculous amounts of fire ants. I learned my lesson within the first week of being here, when I tried to pull a few weeds with no gloves and wound up with two nasty fire ant bites on my arm. It felt like, well, fire.

3. The ability to drive home to see my family for the weekend if I want to. Twenty hours is a little ridiculous sometimes.

4. Get-togethers with my special ed friends. I miss meeting up at Cheddar's (oh, that's another restaurant I miss) or the Library and catching up on all the events going on in everyone's lives.

5. The beauty that is Oklahoma. Don't get me wrong, Florida is very beautiful. It has insane amounts of trees (including palm trees everywhere, which rocks) and the weather is pretty much constantly warm, but there's something about the flat, pretty land when you can see for miles. This particular item on my list of things I miss will probably be intensified when fall comes around and OU's campus is full of autumn-y colors and crisp air, although I'm still looking forward to a pleasant winter here.

All that being said, Florida is still treating me quite well, and I'm happy I moved here for the experience of living somewhere else (plus it's nice to not be worrying about a long-distance relationship). It's no secret that I'd like to get back toward the Sooner State in a little less than 4 years when the Florida adventure is finished, but until then, I'll make the most of my time in a gorgeous state with beaches and tons of vacation destinations.

Student teaching is also trucking right along. I've been sick twice already, leading me to believe that they have some different strains of stuff here than they did back in Oklahoma, where I hardly ever got sick. The kids are cute though, and I'm a little sad that I'll be moving to a different school in 5 weeks. A couple kid-isms from this week-- 1. I was asked if the grass is growing, and then if grass sleeps at night. 2. I was asked if bears lay eggs. 3. When I said I wasn't married, one of the little boys said he'd come live with me. 4. Another little boy said that I should be an angel for Halloween because I'm pretty and angels are pretty.... They're a bunch of suck-ups haha. It's like they think I'm the one giving them a grade or something :)

My second placement has been changed slightly. I'll still be at Westwood Middle School, but I'll be with a teacher now who teaches special ed science (who knew they had such a thing?) and co-teaches math. Science and math. With middle schoolers. This should be entertaining.

I found out from my current teacher that one of the community colleges here offers "community education," which is a bunch of leisure/recreation classes you can take cheaply as an adult. They offer classes in oil painting, pottery, yoga, kayaking, foreign languages, guitar, and all kinds of other stuff! I think I may do this instead of join a gym. I've been running outside here, and it's cheaper to just sign up for a yoga class than to do a full-blown gym membership. Plus, with so many options, I can learn lots of fun stuff that I'd never do otherwise, and hopefully meet some people while I'm at it. I just missed the first deadline, but another set of classes starts up in early October.

Tracy has several nights in a row of working the evening/night shift, so I'm currently chilling by myself and watching the very amazing match-up of Oregon State and TCU. Should be a good game. He has next weekend off, so we may go to the beach! Yay get excited. Thaaat's about it for this week. 5 weeks till my visit to Oklahoma!