When I woke up this morning, I had to remind myself that Mom and Caleb weren't here. Checked their flight status to make sure they got off okay.
I gave a test in each of my classes. A couple kids complained, but most seemed to expect that I would follow the schedule. Even though we reviewed yesterday, they didn't do as well as I'd hoped. I decided to give them extra credit in 5th grade and the opportunity to correct their answers in 6th grade.
After school, Sarah and I went down to the market and bought space heaters. We'll have something to keep us warm now when the city power goes out. Even though we have more amps, we can only use one heater at a time. I can use mine to dry wet things, so it is nice even with city power to dry off all the towels I've been using for my leaky wall.
In the evening we had our team meeting. Sarah and I picked up pizzas from Pizza Hot, then met everyone at Lisa's house. Andy is out-of-town for a basketball meeting, so Lisa has the kids by herself until Monday evening. We had a nice time hanging out and a good Skype call with Dave and Lisa. It is hard for everyone to be back after time away, but being together makes us a little less aware of the feeling of isolation.
Thursday, January 10th:
** Snow! ** This morning was painfully cold as Mary and I taxied to school. We could see white flakes starting to fall and halfway through my first class it was really coming down. By the end of the lesson, they were all at the window enjoying the snow. I had a good lesson with each class. A lot of the students asked about my mother and brother. When they learned that they'd left: "Did you cry, Miss?" "You probably miss them now."
During the breaks there were lots of snow fights. The classes were soaking wet and I had to be careful not to slip (my kids were cute as they cautioned me, "Miss be careful when you are walking in front of the board. We don't want you to fall!")
They finally decided to cancel school after my last class (12 pm). We had to wait to make sure the kids got off safely and even then the traffic was so bad it took forever to get home. It was fun to see the city covered in white. As John pointed out, probably one of the few times everything looks clean.
View from our balcony:
In the afternoon it was nice to dry off and cuddle up under warm blankets. I checked the flight status of Mom and Caleb's remaining flights, and was thankful that they had gotten off before the snow fall. Mary made white chicken chili for dinner, which was a nice warm meal for such a cold day. Ended the evening at home, very grateful for city power!
