WOOOOOOOOAAHHH!

Wow, I have been in Madison since Monday morning(holy crap, that's just yesterday morning!) and I am very overwhelmed. I don't want to say stressed out because that has a much more negative tone to it, but I for sure have A LOT on my plate right now. I was bored during one my inservices so I made a list of things to update about so I wouldn't forget anything. I still will probably forget many things.

OK, to start...I got to Madison around 11:30 yesterday and picked up paperwork at the district office. They said they'd give me the rest of the week to fill out most of it so that's good. I didn't have to stay there too long, and then I drove to my school. On the way I drove by a house I saw on Craigslist. I couldn't get a hold of anyone so I thought I'd see if there was a different number on a sign or something, but it looked kind of sketch so I decided to forget it. I went to school and met the secretaries, both very nice. They gave me keys and showed me where my room is. My room is pretty spacious and there are good and bad things about it. The good thing is that I have lots of space, it's my own space, and I found a lot of resouces/books that the teachers in Owatonna had that I can use again. The bad part is I have a chalkboard(ew), and they had about 5 gazillion old music series textbooks on all the shelves. I very quickly unloaded my car of teaching stuff, and promptly moved all of said text books to the storage closet off of my room. I only left out the most recent ones. The room is full of dust, not necessarily messy, but it seems the previous music teacher left as it was. I moved around all of the string instruments that are apparently being stored in there(another not so great thing, but after I moved them to a better place I don't notice as much). I moved the xylophones and metalophones around to be more efficient with my space. My computer is also ancient looking. I don't have a username or password yet so I haven't bothered to try to use it. Some of my cabinets are still locked and I can't find the key so maybe tomorrow I'll get in there and can see what surprises are in there. I bought some more storage for my props and things and ticky tack stuff to hang posters.

After being in my room for a few hours I went to my first apartment showing. LAME AND DISGUSTING! I soon realized that Theresa and I were going to have to up our budget to live somewhere safe and decent. So first one was a fat no, the second guy showed up and I flat out told him I already knew I wouldn't like the place because the neighborhood looked creepy and he said he could tell by just meeting me that I wouldn't like it, or fit in. He offered to show me the apartment that he lives in, in a different neighborhood. Turns out, while we have to spend $800/mo instead of $700 this apartment is much much nicer and it is in a residental area in Fitchburg/Verona area. We will live about 5 minutes from Collin's family, ha. :) This is all assuming everything pans out tomorrow when I turn in the rental application. We should be able to move in on Friday evening. I realized today, however, that I do in fact have the storage key in my purse. Dumb move, so I guess either the storage lady will have to meet Theresa and Dad on Friday afternoon or I'll have to mail it to them? I'll call her tomorrow. I am excited about the apartment. It is spacious, things match and are fairly new, it has washer/dryer in unit, and 1 car garage underneath the building. The guy is really nice and he manages the apartment, he seems like someone we can trust and like he takes pride in the apartment looking good and staying in good shape.

Last night I spent the night at Chelsea's. She is a friend from high school. It was really nice to catch up with each other and we chatting pretty late and had a glass of wine. I did not sleep well at all though. It was hot, and we slept in the same bed. I was worried I would keep her up all night, and I am getting over being sick with what Theresa had(cough). We had to get up really early and I left for my first day of inservice.

Inservice = boring, but somewhat informative. I met some people, but I probably won't see them again except tomorrow. I got my TB test done, turned in insurance paperwork, and got my picture taken for my ID badge. I also ate lunch with my principal, which was nice. She is a nice person and easy to talk to. Talking to her about my classes made me a little nervous because she kept mentioning how I will probably be most challenged with behavior problems. She also wants me to really adapt my teaching to the interests of my kids(duh), but basically wants me to do hip hop/rap stuff. NOW, I will totally do some of that, but not all the time. I don't think that's what she meant, but I just don't know what to expect. I am working at a school with far more African American students than white. We talked about the previous music teachers and I got to ask her some other kinds of questions too. We had sessions on positive behavior reinforcement and I can't say that I learned anything new. It is always a good reminder though. We also had a session on diversity and how Madison is FULL of it. Just another way to get me nervous. I am in no way racist, or prejudice, BUT I also have not been in a situation where I have had to deal with kids with such different backgrounds from my own. I know all of this will be good for me, and I will be a better teacher and person because of it. Inservice was at Lafollette! So nice to be back at that school, it is where Capital Sound had Tues/Thurs rehearsals. I also saw John Wallace, the principal from South in EC, or I guess I should say former South principal. He must have followed me down here. Sweet. I spotted the bowtie and converse shoes immediately. Side note - there are 32 elementary schools in this district! That means there are 40-50 elem music teachers! Holy crap.

So I have another full day tomorrow with inservice. Then I am turning in the rental application, and going back to my classroom. Thursday I have a free day at my school, with only one meeting with the principal and I have to get my TB test read at the district office too. I am staying at the McCormicks tomorrow night. I told them I'd probably be there around 7:30pm. Hopefully they let me go to bed early. I need it. Friday is another all day, all school inservice(not just new teachers) and it is at Falk. I am looking forward to that to actually meet the teachers I will be working with. So that's that. I am going to get my pajamas on and go to bed now. It's hotter than hell so I hope to get SOME sleep. I prollllllly forgot lots of things but oh well. Bye!