The Move, New Jobs, Etc.

For our dear friends in Washington, just so you know, we are not dead!  We made it safely to Utah without any problems.  We moved into our new apartment, bought new couches (we sold the old green futons), and have pictures on our walls.  It feels like home here, though we miss our old home terribly.  We miss our friends, our neighbors, our ward, the Puget Sound area.  We are happy, however, to be so close to our families.  They have helped us out tremendously as we have gotten settled and found our new routine.

Tomorrow marks three weeks that we have been here, and so far things are going really great.  Chris is enjoying his new job managing the bakery.  He is happy to be back with his old friend Jeff who is a much nicer boss than the Olympia bakery owners. 

I was incredibly blessed to find a full-time teaching position for next fall.  I didn't expect to go back to teaching immediately since my teaching license had expired last June.  My plan was to work as a leasing consultant somewhere while I took classes to renew my license, and then hopefully find a job the following school year.  When I announced on Facebook that we were moving down here and I was looking for a job, one of my old mission friends suggested I apply for an elementary French immersion teaching position since I had my degree and I was fluent in French.  When she told me about this opportunity, I knew in my gut that I would get the job.  During our last few weeks in Washington I had my first two interviews over the phone, and then a week after we arrived here, I had an interview with the principal and district immersion director.  The interview went great and the principal offered me the job right during the interview! 

So I will be a kindergarten teacher in a North Salt Lake public elementary school.  I will have a morning kindergarten class and an afternoon kindergarten class.  Because my classes are part of the Immersion Program, half of each session will be taught in French.  The 1st grade teacher will be a girl I knew from my mission--her family is from the states but they were living in Grenoble, France for her dad's work.  Since both Chris and I served in their branch in Grenoble, he knows her and her family too.  In fact, November 2002, both Chris and I had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at their house (they had all the missionaries over from our whole district).  She and I will be the only immersion teachers for this school since they are just starting the program this fall.  I am absolutely thrilled and thankful for this opportunity.

Because Sam will be starting kindergarten next year and because I will be the immersion kindergarten teacher, he will be in my class.  I'm nervous to see how well he will behave with his mom as his teacher; I am hopeful he will learn quickly that he will be treated the same as the rest of the class.  On verra bien!

In the meantime, I have been substitute teaching in the Salt Lake School district.  I have been lucky to have a subbing assignment just about every day of the week.  So far I've done every grade in elementary school, a middle school math class, and a high school French class.  Some days are challenging--being a sub and having your own class are two different things entirely.  Overall, I am very happy to be back in the classroom.  Teaching and the French language are my two passions, and it feels so incredibly good to be back!