perspicacious.org

I worked yesterday on changing out the classroom unit and setting out the practical life shelves. Practical life activities are things like pouring water from one glass to another or spooning sand between small bowls. The activities are on trays that the children can get out whenever they want. This was the first time I selected and put the work out myself. We'll see tomorrow if the kids like it. If not, well, it was fun digging through the cupboards and finding pretty dishes and spoons and beads and things.

Today I bought a bed. Hooray! I have had enough twin bed lumpiness to last me a long time. I got pretty much the cheapest bed available, but it seems pretty comfortable and will undoubtedly be loads better than what I've had since leaving Albuquerque in June. (That would be: tents, sleeping bags, cots, airbeds, the floor, one lumpy twin bed and one lumpy futon. In that order.)

I also saw Lord of the Rings in its butt-numbing entirety. I did like it, and some of the battle scenes had me grabbing hands and shielding my eyes. Its biggest faults are being way too long and not knowing where to end. The special effects were pretty neat. All in all, not bad.

If you'll excuse me I'm going to try out my bed now. Goodnight.

This week has mostly come and gone, managing to seem long in spite of Monday's holiday. Short weeks will do that to you– throw off the kids' routine so that they'll be twinging and restless enough to make up for a day off.

We've had prospective parents and students in and out of our class looking to fill some spots. It's very distracting. The Montessori environment is catered to small people– low shelves, small chairs, small tables, small materials, no teacher's desk, etc. Any person over 3 1/2 feet is pretty distracting, and 3 extra adults put the kids on edge. And me, because I want the kids to behave when we have visitors. Of course it's exactly when they choose to throw tantrums and spill things and wet themselves. They're preschoolers, after all. We've had one new kid start so far. He is cute, but whiny as anything. Less than a week and he's getting on my nerves already.

The temperature dipped unfathomably low this weekend– minus 47 degrees was the low, I think. Your nose hairs freeze pretty quickly at temps like that. Trips to the bathroom required a hat and scarf along with the down coat and monster boots. I spent most of the weekend wrapped up in blankets. It was surreal, but kind of fun. In a true moment of ridiculous Alaska-ness I said, "Oh look, it's warming up to minus 35 degrees!" And I meant it.

Saturday night, and my thermomter is reading negative 43.7 degrees. Just thought I'd share. I went out to do laundry tonight and had to go out twice to start the car and let it run. I'm so, so, so happy to have working heat in the van. Especially since the forecast calls for more of the same, though it may get up to (yes, up to) 10 below by Monday.

Have a lovely long weekend, everyone.

I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to let you know that I made it back to Fairbanks without too much hassle. I did get stuck in Seattle for a couple of hours while the airport staff frantically tried to clear the ice off of the planes– it was snowing at the time. I got back at 3:00AM on the 2nd, so it was a sort of a long day.

I've been back to work since Monday, and it's been alright. The kids are a little wacky– we've had to stay inside for the last 3 days because of insane windchill. It's not too cold out, but -5 degrees Fahrenheit with a 15 mph hour wind feels like -45, or something equally obscene. We go outside unless it's colder than -20, but we also have to take the windchill into account. Because we want the children's noses to not fall off or anything.

The heat is fixed in may van. It seems to work once I have my foot on the gas, which is weird, but I'll take any heat I can get. Today I drove the van without any mittens. That was a big deal.

I'm house sitting, so you probably won't hear from me until next week. Have a good weekend!