Radio silence....

Updates have been a long time coming and this radio silence has been a combination of being busy and having fun with friends. I spent Saturday with the lovely Miss Kristen- we went shopping at the Farmer’s Market in the morning and she came over for some super yummy spag bol (spaghetti Bolognese sauce) and then roasting of s’mores in the fire pit. Elsa joined us for the marshmallows (please excuse the picture- I look horrendous). I love late summer nights and being able to be outside at night and have it still be warm. The last few days have cooled down a little bit- today and yesterday there was some drizzling rain but hopefully this upcoming weekend is nice because I have lots of plans- Art in the Park, a book signing with Chris Crutcher, a wedding with Kristen, church, etc. Wednesday was Rosh Hashanah and even though I didn’t get any pictures of Ali, we did have a yummy dinner of honey-orange chicken (success!), rice, apples, challah and honey (OK well it was those Hawaiian sweet rolls but there was not place to buy challah in Caldwell!). It was a great night though- Shana Tova!









Some of you have been asking where I’m living so here are some pictures of the place- I love the little backyard area- so perfect for lying on the dinosaur blanket in nice weather and reading a good book. I just read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and despite historical discrepancies and some anachronistic ways of speech, I was captivated. I finished nearly 1000 pages in less than a week. I guess it’s off to the library now. Anyway, here is the place where I’m calling home for the next few months at least.

And now for the job- this first week has mostly been prepping, reading through the book, taking notes, meeting with people around campus who can help me out (i.e. the librarians), contacting professors to get their syllabi, making copies of the handouts, going over what I was going to talk about on the first day,etc. I also assumed the role of sole study skills professor on campus since Lynette is a little overwhelmed with her work so I'm it, folks. All 45 or so students taking study skills are mine.

This leads us to the first day of classes yesterday- it overall went really well. I just basically talked at them for an hour- handing out papers, going over all the requirements, introducing the first couple of assignments, etc. The kids seems decently normal, which is nice, and I only see a few problems. First of all, there is one international student who has English as his third language- on the other hand, his English is still incredibly poor and I'm worried that he understood a single word that I said in class. I also have two Chinese students in the same class but they seem to be getting more than I anticipated AND they have a friend in the class as well from Nepal who is helping him out. So that's nice. I also have a senior in the class who supposedly is taking the class for extra credits (so he can be a full-time student), and I"m a little worried about his attitude. I may have to do some more investigating. Otherwise, I have a very diverse class- lots of freshmen, two veterans, some sophomores and juniors, one mom (albiet an eighteen-year-old mom), and of course, those international students. So it's a motley crue and I'll have to work on making sure the class is applicable to all of them. I am also waiting to see what my Monday afternoon class is like and how that will all fit into the mix. So I'll try and update more.

And this is new.... got my first email in Chinese from a student. This would be great.... if I knew Chinese. Oy :)