The two indispensible items for this weekend’s trip? 1) Cowboy boots, and 2) a corkscrew. Ha! I bet you’ll never guess where I’m going. In fact, I’m so confident in your inability to guess where I’m going I’m just going to go ahead and put you out of my misery by telling you. My friend and I are going to leave the men/children behind and travel to an eastern Washington bed-and-breakfast. And there, we will sleep in a teepee. But, no, not some rustic KOA campground special and smelling vaguely of mildew teepee, but a teepee with hand-hewn log furniture including full-sized beds with Pendleton blankets and hand-braided rugs on the plank floor. And then, the next morning, we go on our wine tasting tour of the local vineyards—our horseback wine tasting tour. Because folks, you may not be able to get away with driving drunk, but there’s no law on the books says you can’t throw a leg up over ol’ Blaze and sing old A.M. top 40 radio songs as he staggers along the trail to the next winery’s tasting room. And this, this, sounds damn close to my idea of heaven on earth.
...to bring you a completely non-Deutch-related update on my life and chronic absenteeism!
1) I have completed student teaching! "Student teaching?" you ask. "Isn't student teaching something you were condemned to suffer through back in the dark and distant 80's?" Why, yes! As a matter of fact, it was! HOWEVER, that stint of student teaching resulted in my English/Language Arts endorsement. And, as I try to revive my long dormant teaching career, I know that I will be twice as employable with two endorsements. So, this stint of student teaching was intended to result in a shiny new Social Studies endorsement. And, unlike the first time around in the 80's, this time student teaching was an absolute and undeniable blast! I taught two periods of U.S. History & Government to 11th graders at a quasi-local high school, specifically a unit on the Civil Rights Movement. And I rocked. How do I know this? Because here a full week afterward, I'm still having dreams--normal, pedestrian dreams--that are entirely populated with black people. My psyche has never been so thoroughly integrated. Dude. You wish you were me.
2) I am brushing up my Esperanto in anticipation of another 3-week immersion course in San Diego this summer. And, after teaching Esperanto all year at the Boy's middle school, even at a very basic level, my Esperanto has never felt sharper. I can't wait!
3) In anticipation of my San Diego sojourn, I was presented with a brand new net-book computer for Mothers' Day! I'm typing on it now, trying to make the adjustment to yet a tinier world of print. My old laptop is named "Levon", so this new little sister has been christened "Lidia" (a fine Esperanto name). Isn't she cute? Okay, so you can't see her. But trust me, she's cute.
