Well, 2009 is already off to an interesting start. On Wednesday I drove back to Greencastle because I wanted a few days alone to relax before going back to school on Monday, and also because Carla was coming for a visit. That morning I awoke to find Ohio covered in snow and slush, and it was still coming down. I hate midwest weather, not to mention driving in it! Thankfully I got out of the bad weather about an hour into my drive and after many delays and accidents (not involving me or course!) I finally arrived back in Greencastle. A few hours later Carla and Petra showed up and we enjoyed the evening together eating pizza, going to a party, watching the ball drop, and also watching two movies. It was a GREAT night.
The next morning we slept in until noon and finally decided to go out around 2 pm. My Zune wasn't working properly and I needed to sync it with my computer, but unfortunately my laptop's power cable was also not working. I knew it was going to die soon but it still caught me off guard. So we decided to go to my school and I would use the computer in my classroom to get on the Dell website and see about ordering a replacement since the library was closed.
Upon my arrival at school I found my classroom in utter chaos as two men were hard at work sucking up what appeared to be water with two enormous shop vacs. The carpet was soaked. I didn't want to bother the workers so I went into the main building to see if anyone else was around to fill me in. Inside I found my director, who informed me that the pipes froze during break (most likely at the very beginning, when the temperature was deadly), resulting in a flood in my classroom. Aside from the wet carpet there didn't seem to be much damage, except for one big thing: my teacher's manuals. I keep all of those and most of my workbooks on a little shelf under my desk, and Elaine told me they are all just completely waterlogged. And there is a possibility that my computer may be damaged because the tower sits on the floor, but we're not sure yet. The guys were cleaning up around my desk and I didn't want to get in their way to try and turn my computer on so we just left. Most likely we'll have to replace all the teacher's manuals because Elaine doesn't think they're salvagable.
This brought back memories of a flood that happened in our Jenkins apartment last year and I couldn't help but laugh...looks like I'm a disaster magnet.
Also, in case you're wondering, I found a replacement cord at Wal-Mart, basically the only open store on New Year's. With a power supply for my computer I was also able to sync up my Zune and now that's working again too. Yay!
Anyway, I'm definitely a little stressed out now because I don't know how long it will take to get new books. Thankfully I already planned our first week back and made copies before I left for break, but after that I don't know what I'm going to do. ARGH! Here I was thinking I was on top of things and ready for the new year and now I feel like that's all been turned upside down thanks to some frozen pipes. Maybe I should move south. Pray for a miracle!
We also went to see "Marley and Me" and ran into some of my students! It was such a cute movie and I loved how the family stuck together through even the hard times. I'm not going to spoil the ending but I will say there wasn't a dry eye in the theater when the lights went up. Even I shed a few tears and I've NEVER cried during a movie.
Well, two more days of freedom before we go back to school and I'm hoping my students are refreshed and ready to learn again. Haha...who am I kidding? When I talked to Ryan (a student of mine) at the theater last night he informed me that he had no intentions of returning to school on Monday...that's more like it!
Happy New Year!!
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