The News Called It SNOWZILLA 08

Well, Matt and I are currently stuck at the airport. How fun!

No, not really.

How we've spent this weekend:

Saturday: Watch the entire season of Mad Men. Love snow.

Saturday night: church gets canceled, feel sad, start watching Friends.

Sunday morning: wake up to more snow, start to panic about flying out in less than 24 hours.

Sunday afternoon: drive to the store and get chains, stop in at New Seasons for soup samples. SO GLAD to get out of house.

Sunday night: debate when to leave for the airport to catch our 6am flight. Decide to stay the night with our friends' Peter and Jessica, who live very close to airport.

9pm: drive 30mph across town. Worry about getting stuck in neighborhood. On 1-84 overpass. On 39th. And Sandy. And 66th. Portland is empty and feels weird and beautiful. Barely make it to the Stitcher's.

11pm: Flight still on schedule. Go to sleep.

4am: Flight now delayed 3 hours because the crew needs sleep. Told to go to airport anyway.

4:30am: thankful we stayed at our friends' house. snow is coming down hard. matt has to get out at every intersection to scrape off ice.

5am: make it to airport parking lot. AWFUL. Snow drifts are several feet high, can't drive. SUV passes, so we follow their tire marks. Park, get out, realize if our flight gets canceled, we are, HOLY HELL, stuck at the airport. Our car isn't budging.

5:30am: check in is smooth, flight to take off at 9:15. decide to throw some extra clothes and toothbrush in my carry-on just in case. eat breakfast.

6:30am: find a quiet gate and fall asleep. pray nobody steals our bags, MUST SHUT MY EYES JESUS, PLEASE WATCH THE BAGS.

8:15am: alarm goes off, bags are still safe. go to gate. flight is delayed until 10am.

9:15: flight is now delayed until noon.

And here we wait. I told Matt it's a good thing we're so excited to see family, otherwise THIS WOULD NOT BE WORTH IT.

But hey! Merry Christmas, y'all! And pray we fly out soon!

This and That

Two weeks ago, I started teaching again. The past two days, though, I’ve been at home enjoying some snow days. These are my first real snow days ever in the history of my entire life. I can see why kids like them.

This trimester, I am teaching four of the same classes. Planning has been great, but by the last period, I am so tired of repeating myself. Last week we read a play that I’m not very fond of – do you know what it’s like to listen to students read aloud a play you don’t like four times in a row in a matter of hours? It’s PAINFUL. Thankfully, the play is now in the past, and we can move on to literature that I actually want to teach.

All of my classes are quite lovely, with the exception of one, which is really due to just a handful of kids. I’ve found myself thinking in class ah, this is why teachers burn out so soon. I’m praying this doesn’t happen to me, but judging by my anxiety and the sleeping pills I’ve been popping, I’m going to have to pray a bit harder.

And that’s all I’ve got from my little corner of the world. If I could give everyone a Christmas gift, it would be a warm, quiet house with a twinkling tree and snow outside with sun shining through the windows. A day like today.