And so it begins...

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Well this is it. The start of the 3rd week of school. I always say that the 3rd week is the determining week, when the kids are the craziest, your plans and to do list are highest, and it seems like it will never end. Our school is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. We had a big celebration the first day, with guest speakers, a flag raising ceremony, and cupcakes for everyone. It was simply nice. We will continue to celebrate throughout the year. Dave and I are getting better at learning our schedules and sharing our room. Everyone has been helpful and understanding as we work in our new school, new curriculum, and new country. Some of the things that make it purely different from last year: 1. Latvians give flowers for everything. It feels like any excuse to celebrate is good. (The best excuse for Dave and I? We need to buy a coffee maker. Let's celebrate by going to dinner!! Yay!!! ) An odd number, even numbers are for mourning. So the first day of school, the kids brought flowers to their teachers in droves, colorful, small, big, many, few, you name it. 2. Some of you have seen this post I'm sure, but a lot of my students don't speak English. Specifically the entire class of 3 year olds. I did momentarily feel like a bizarre version of Sesame Street, but I am getting there, slowly but surely. I have my triumphs and the days that we are reduced to not so triumphant, but we will get there. They are in awe of Dave by the way. Something about the beard would be my guess. (Santa Claus!) 3. An International Day celebration in October which is arranged by yours truly. The music is all us, while the arranging mostly falls to other staff. It's around 600 people. I've been picking songs but its made all the more daunting by the fact that we will head to fall break for an entire week right before the performance. Hmm. 4. An entire week for breaks. Fall break, ski break, Easter break. 3 weeks for Christmas. 5. A back to school BBQ that was yesterday. Complete with bouncy castle. :D 6. I don't teach as much, which leaves me with more planning time. It's not exactly a problem, but when I have been used to making 200 copies, answering 6 e-mails, calling 2 parents, and writing emails to 5 people, and eating lunch in about 20 minutes, it's been interesting to redo my time management.

Well, anyway we hiked in Poikani Forest with a bunch of the staff after the BBQ yesterday, which the Latvians believe to be magical. Literally. The woman in the office warned us about the good and bad energy of the place, and not to linger in a place that we felt bad energy. Frankly, I felt the forest really didn't want 20 people traipsing down the paths together making noise, but it was a very OLD forest and Dave and I would like to go back sometime when we can go slower. People leave coin offerings and notes to the spirits there, which is interesting. Latvia still has a small part of the population that holds to their old beliefs.

Today Dave and I walked around our neighborhood some more. We found where the train station is that is close, and the vet that we need to visit so Tasha can have more hyperthyroid medicine. The path over the train tracks is interesting, as there are no warning lights or signs, you simply need to be smart about checking for trains. And then on you go down the street. We can feel it is getting darker here, and they are predicting a bad winter. For us Wyoming kids, I think that we can handle it, but all the same, I'm glad we brought our heavy coats. 😊

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