Summer break:  Day one!

Another year logged and graded!  Can you believe?  This year flew by.  I mean really fast. It still feels like I just got here.  This time last year I was going through close-out hell in UAE and new-hire paperwork hell for this job.

Some of my good UAE friends are going through that now.  I don’t envy them (although I know their next adventure will be as exciting as mine), but I am thrilled that I’ll get to see them in a few weeks.  We’re flying to Dominican Republic to cheer on Jordan & Wilbur’s wedding — whoop whoop!  I cannot wait to pool drink, beach nap and OMG go to a spa with them again!  Mama needs some pampering with her girls.

Joe and I have got it good. Because we’re finally living in an area that isn’t as hot as the sun, we’re not rushing to get out of here.  So, we’re piddling around Belgium next week, then driving to a friend’s house in Bavaria (I might even get a chance to go to Poland to shop for pottery — ewwww yeah!), then flying to Dublin (Slainteing it up with Derrick), then DR, and then off to Brazil for 10 days, and then Jordan & Wilbur will fly back to Brussels with us.  Sooooo woo hoo — lots and lots of catching up with friends and fun times. Then in August I get to go back to work to a job I really enjoy, and welcome year two of my life here — which we hope will continue for quite a few years!

One of the many perks to being a teacher is the annual end-of-year reflection.  It’s nice to have that time to sip coffee and think about all that went well and all that went south way too quickly — some years it’s more crap than good, but mostly it’s more positive.  And while we’re oh sooooo happy to be getting our break, we do think fondly of our kids and all that they taught us — yeah even you “Johnny” who may or may not have given me a twitch from refraining a cuss word or two.

For me, this year, the bad was mostly outside my little bubble.   I don’t like where things are in the world right now, but the optimist in me clings (desperately at times) to the notion that change for the better will happen.  I’m not naive; there’s more chaos to come before some sort of calm, but working with teenagers always gives me hope.  Of course they’re still hormone-riddled, angst-obsessed, volatile beings, but they’re on the cusp of the adults they will become, and I always see way more hope and good than helplessness.  So, yeah, I still believe the young will fix some of what we broke — while knowing they’ll also break some things of their own.

I’m not going to bore you with my thoughts on all the different movements and walkouts taking place in my home country, but I will say I’m glad people (especially the young) are waking up and getting their voices heard.  It’s my hope all those voices will join to lead us to progress and smother out much of our senseless harm.  So, that’s my first-day of summer break reflection for you.  Time to refill my cup of coffee and get on with my deadline-free days.

While Badger gets to go to Germany with us, he’s ticked we’re not taking him on our other adventures.  LOL he thinks giving me the sad puppy eyes will change my mind, but nope he’s going off to doggy summer camp!