Adventures in Michigan
The weather this weekend has been windy and at times quite rainy and apparently knocked out the power at my school. Last night I had a hard time getting to sleep, I was just awake, which meant I stayed up to finish reading my latest Christie mystery and kept the bedside lamp on to insure I didn't oversleep. I didn't, I even got to school earlier than I did last week, but almost no one was there and the middle school head told me there was no school. They were meant to have called me to let me know but I didn't see any message and now I have the day off. I went and actually had breakfast at my hotel and am now sitting in the Starbuck's in Birmingham, which is becoming sort of my local cafe. Due to sleeping oddly, I'm a bit sore and I'm considering going to a movie later today as its that sort of day.
Yesterday was unexpectedly exciting as I got hugely lost, while the storm was raging. There are two Barnes and Nobles not too far from where I am and I decided to explore the one I hadn't been to before. It turns out that one is sort of close to where I'm staying and has a much bigger selection, so I plan on going there more often. On the way back, I decided to stop at a grocery store as I've been feeling sick and getting some good herbal tea seemed a good idea as well as a chance to grab a quick dinner.
At this point I was on one of the big main roads and I knew that if I turned around, I should be able to get right back on the street I needed. That didn't happen because when I finished grocery shopping, it was pouring sheets of rain and windy enough that it was going sideways. There were points when driving that I felt my car shift from the force of the wind. I thought I knew where I was well enough to find my way back, but sadly this wasn't true. Instead I ended up going the wrong way, but it wasn't easy to figure out due to rain and most of the streets look the same.
I pulled over and got directions back to where I needed to be but somehow either didn't take as many u-turns or too many u-turns and ended up on the right street going the wrong way. I didn't catch just how far off I was until I hit the end of the road. I need to explain something about Detroit streets to show just how far gone I was. The big streets around Detroit go by something mile, the Detroit city limit is 8 mile, the place my hotel is on is called Maple and 15 mile. So I turned onto 15 mile and took it to a point that it dead ended into another street, I think I was actually close to the shore of Lake Michigan. Basically I ended up in the next county over as I work and am staying in Oakland county. I'm posting up the map, because I'm still kind of boggling at how I was on the right track but so much the wrong way.
View Larger Map
The weather was amazing to drive through as I kept going in and out of the storm, which meant sometimes the rain was in sheets, then drips but the wind was always there and the light was fantastic. I ended up getting two beautiful pictures of it and getting home to find out that I actually bought a tasty frozen dinner and had a nice hard cider. It was the sort of adventure that was good to have on a weekend when I didn't have anywhere to be, but it left me feeling a bit worn out today. Batty reminded me that I can make my phone directions tell me when I'm going wrong, which would probably help. Though when I had a GPS that spoke to me at the job interview in Rhode Island, it annoyed me more than it helped me. It's just a matter of figuring out what works for me.
I have my Yuletide sign up pretty much set, I know my requests; two that I keep doing in hope that I'll finally get them and two new ones. I'm still debating on my last offer and need to put in the details of my Yuletide letter. My offers haven't changed that much either as I've learned what I can write and there are some I'd love the chance to write.
I'm also posting in this post a list of what I have accomplished since starting at my new school and what's in the works. In time, this list will hopefully grow into a professional blog post, but for now as I'm feeling tired and worried about what parent-teacher conferences are going to be like, I need to have this down.
-Have a plan for setting up course books, need to follow up and figure out if I've heard from everyone, still need English lists, then can add to the collection
-Put together drill plan
-Have plan for website, still putting it together
-Helped with Wendy's class, will help with Egyirba's
-Library Design submitted cost of proposal, sets in motion library renovation
-Sorted donated books, need to sort again and add to collection
-Need to renew periodicals, have to talk to Carmen to make sure we're on the same page with this
-Am present in the library, connecting with students
-Helped start role-play club, will help with video game club, students want to make gaming more a part of the school, they know I'm an ally
-Working on a compromise for gaming in library, part of a larger discussion about resources and use on campus
-Part of curriculum discussions, mainly listening but active in them
-Working with Ttari to create a better system for organizing AV material
Outside school
-Have a place to live, will move in 1st of November
-Am getting familiar with the area
-Went to the zoo
This entry is also posted at http://ceitfianna.dreamwidth.org/356425.html. Please comment wherever you'd like.
Yesterday was unexpectedly exciting as I got hugely lost, while the storm was raging. There are two Barnes and Nobles not too far from where I am and I decided to explore the one I hadn't been to before. It turns out that one is sort of close to where I'm staying and has a much bigger selection, so I plan on going there more often. On the way back, I decided to stop at a grocery store as I've been feeling sick and getting some good herbal tea seemed a good idea as well as a chance to grab a quick dinner.
At this point I was on one of the big main roads and I knew that if I turned around, I should be able to get right back on the street I needed. That didn't happen because when I finished grocery shopping, it was pouring sheets of rain and windy enough that it was going sideways. There were points when driving that I felt my car shift from the force of the wind. I thought I knew where I was well enough to find my way back, but sadly this wasn't true. Instead I ended up going the wrong way, but it wasn't easy to figure out due to rain and most of the streets look the same.
I pulled over and got directions back to where I needed to be but somehow either didn't take as many u-turns or too many u-turns and ended up on the right street going the wrong way. I didn't catch just how far off I was until I hit the end of the road. I need to explain something about Detroit streets to show just how far gone I was. The big streets around Detroit go by something mile, the Detroit city limit is 8 mile, the place my hotel is on is called Maple and 15 mile. So I turned onto 15 mile and took it to a point that it dead ended into another street, I think I was actually close to the shore of Lake Michigan. Basically I ended up in the next county over as I work and am staying in Oakland county. I'm posting up the map, because I'm still kind of boggling at how I was on the right track but so much the wrong way.
View Larger Map
The weather was amazing to drive through as I kept going in and out of the storm, which meant sometimes the rain was in sheets, then drips but the wind was always there and the light was fantastic. I ended up getting two beautiful pictures of it and getting home to find out that I actually bought a tasty frozen dinner and had a nice hard cider. It was the sort of adventure that was good to have on a weekend when I didn't have anywhere to be, but it left me feeling a bit worn out today. Batty reminded me that I can make my phone directions tell me when I'm going wrong, which would probably help. Though when I had a GPS that spoke to me at the job interview in Rhode Island, it annoyed me more than it helped me. It's just a matter of figuring out what works for me.
I have my Yuletide sign up pretty much set, I know my requests; two that I keep doing in hope that I'll finally get them and two new ones. I'm still debating on my last offer and need to put in the details of my Yuletide letter. My offers haven't changed that much either as I've learned what I can write and there are some I'd love the chance to write.
I'm also posting in this post a list of what I have accomplished since starting at my new school and what's in the works. In time, this list will hopefully grow into a professional blog post, but for now as I'm feeling tired and worried about what parent-teacher conferences are going to be like, I need to have this down.
-Have a plan for setting up course books, need to follow up and figure out if I've heard from everyone, still need English lists, then can add to the collection
-Put together drill plan
-Have plan for website, still putting it together
-Helped with Wendy's class, will help with Egyirba's
-Library Design submitted cost of proposal, sets in motion library renovation
-Sorted donated books, need to sort again and add to collection
-Need to renew periodicals, have to talk to Carmen to make sure we're on the same page with this
-Am present in the library, connecting with students
-Helped start role-play club, will help with video game club, students want to make gaming more a part of the school, they know I'm an ally
-Working on a compromise for gaming in library, part of a larger discussion about resources and use on campus
-Part of curriculum discussions, mainly listening but active in them
-Working with Ttari to create a better system for organizing AV material
Outside school
-Have a place to live, will move in 1st of November
-Am getting familiar with the area
-Went to the zoo
This entry is also posted at http://ceitfianna.dreamwidth.org/356425.html. Please comment wherever you'd like.