I turned in notice on Friday, right before the break. I'm not signing on for next year. This has been years in the coming, and I just can't take working in this environment anymore. I'll spare you all the details (you can look back over 3 years of blog posts to see my discontent) and just leave it at this: I'll be employed elsewhere next year.
So, since my last post, Nick went to visit his mom in New Zealand. He was gone for two weeks, and had a good time do all kinds of fun New Zealand-ish stuff.
Also, Erin and I went to Montana to visit our friends Jan and Sarah, and to drop off resumes and interview with a few School districts. We have decided that we're going to do whatever we can to get out of Vegas this summer, and Montana is where we want to go. We would like to wind up in Missoula, but the school district in Helena was awesome, and the principal in Troy is the kind of guy I'd like to work for. Overall, Montana turned out to be a lot more progressive than we expected, which was fantastic, and we're really hoping to get job offers in the next few weeks. Anything will be an improvement for me. I think the stress of my sucky job is a huge part of what's been ailing me for the last couple of years. I realized over the last few weeks that I have been genuinely unhappy lately, and my job is the main thing making life that way. I need a change.
So anyway, we drove 990 miles nearly straight north on highway 93, which runs right by our house, 100 feet or so away from our front door. We diverted twice in order to save about 60 miles, and to get the chance to drive through some desolate, but pretty, landscape.
After a night in our van and 2 in Missoula with our friends, we drove the 200 or so more miles to Troy.
Troy was an interesting place. A town of great poverty set in a beautiful river valley. The school is 70% free/reduced lunch, which is a demographic that tells a lot. Even the worst of our inner city schools doesn't have that high a number, and the poverty is easy to see in the condition of the buildings and the prices at restaurants and stores. On the bright side, the schools seemed quite progressive, and the small-town feel of the place would be a welcome change. Also, it would do us some good to be able to work in a community like Troy, as you don't really get the same kind of opportunity to combat poverty in a city school setting. AND the sheriffs' calls section in the local paper are hilarious.
After our interviews, we headed to the Kootenai Falls, at the suggestion of the elementary principal. He told us we'd love it, and he was right. It is the canyon that the River Wild final scenes were shot in, and it didn't disappoint. Here's a picture of Erin and one of me:
The pictures don't do the place justice, but they can give you an idea.
Shortly after these two pics were taken, I took a mis-step and sprained my ankle. I've never sprained my ankle before, and goddammit, it hurt. Not only that, but we were out on the cliffs of the falls, so I basically had to crawl out of there to the path, then hop-hobble through the forest and back to the car. It was probably 1/2 mile, but it seemed like much farther. It wasn't pleasant, as you can see from this picture Erin took of me on the steps of the bridge we had to cross to get back over the traintracks to the car:
So we did make it back o the van, and by the time we got there, my foot was swollen pretty bad:
In the next town, Libby, Erin ran in to get some frozen peas and an Ace bandage. I managed to keep my foot wrapped and elevated for the next 4 hours as we drove back to Missoula, via Kallispell.
Anyway, for the rest of the trip I hobbled around on a cane, including when we interviewed in Helena the next day (the human resources director was sympathetic). Thursday we packed up and headed south, staying in Salt Lake that night and getting home Friday.
Nick came home yesterday (after 24 hours of flight and plane changes) and we have just been taking it easy in preparation for getting back to school tomorrow.
So that's what we've been up to. Hopefully we'll have job offers within a few weeks, though Helena said hiring could stretch on into mid to late May. We're just playing it by ear at the moment, not counting our chickens before they hatch, but hoping none the less that they hatch soon (and somewhere in Montana).
4 comments:
I think after that goofy pose in the picture that Erin took of you, you were due for an unfortunate injury.
It was dork Karma.
The balance of the Universe has been restored.
Missoula rocks. When I moved back to Lubbock, when B and first started dating -- I swore I was headed to Missoula. I even went so far as to call random people living in Missoula and ask them questions about living there. They are quite proud of their progressiveness -- or mostly, their live and live attitude toward others, progressive minded or not. Sadly, living in Missoula was not the way things turned out, geographically speaking.
As for Troy and the 70% free/reduced lunch and poverty issue -- it's sad. The last district I worked at teetered between 80% and 90% free/reduced lunch. It was only 20 minutes from the city where I live. It was just unbelievable to see such large-scale poverty. Even the city where I live has districts within it at 70% (or more) free/reduced lunch as do most urban areas. Then in stark comparison, there are the suburbs, which have the direct inverse percentages of the lunch program. It really angers me that we don't distribute our education more equitably in this country, which claims not to have a class system -- bah, humbug on that. We do have a class system.
I wish you all the best luck in getting to Missoula. I wish I could go.
Maybe if you weren't such a dork, your dork Karma would improve. Until then, thank God for frozen peas (and your high tolerance for pain of course). Happy Hobbling! :)
P.S. No matter where you go in Montana you will still be a dork.
P.S.S. I am happy for you but just so you know - Montana will never be as cool as Colorado! (but I'll still come visit ya)! LOL
Post a Comment