9.02.2011

Teaching Update

Whew, thank goodness it's Friday!

This last week since the earthquake has been a bit of a blur for me and I am so glad for a long weekend.

I figured I'd take today's post to update all of you on the state of my school and student teaching placement.

As I mentioned last week, my school was located right by the earthquake's epicenter.  It was by far the scariest experience of my life.  Our school was so damaged that it is no longer safe to go inside and is likely beyond repair.  We will not be returning to the school at all, rather, we are moving into another elementary school.  It is a tight squeeze--we are acting as two separate schools within the same space.  The high school is also damaged and unsafe for the rest of the year--to see a video from inside the high school at the time of the quake, see below:


Because of all this, the kids will not be returning until September 12th!  This week, however, we teachers have been busy.

Professional movers that know how to respond in disaster situations have been moving EVERYTHING out of our ruined school.  They load it into large pods called c-crates and then transport those to our new location.  The last two days, all of us have been working hard to unload the c-crates--moving large furniture, filing cabinets, and countless other classroom materials.  The move has involved long days of manual labor.

My teacher was so kind and told me to take today off from the move and I couldn't be more thankful.  I'm hoping to have some time to read blogs as I relax and get ready for the holiday weekend.

Finally, I'd like to thank you all for your continued support during this hectic time of my life.  I'm happier than I've ever been, but the last few weeks' events have been quite overwhelming.  Additionally, I've been so busy that I have little time to reach out to all of you reading your blogs or responding to your comments.  I'm sorry for this and am so thankful that each of you have continued to come back.  Your comments continue to make my day!

Have a great weekend!