Rocking that *International* Paradise

“I think teaching is maybe the only profession in which we get to say ‘Happy New Year’ twice a year,” my assistant principal told us last week at our first middle school staff meeting of the upcoming school year.  She’s so right.  I’d been thinking exactly along those same lines for the past few days since coming back.  My mind has been a whirl of plans and goals for the new school year.  How can I make my classroom run more smoothly and more effectively?  How can I start a routine to be even more active and healthy?  Which places will we travel to this year?  It’s a new year, and we’re starting fresh.  But at the same time, not really.  It’s my second year here, and my friends and I are so excited to already know so much.  There’s none of the stress of last year wondering where to buy curtains and how to get there and how to spend our weekends and who can help us get our internet turned on.  We, the brave 2 nd years, are the people who can answer all of those questions now.

This summer was good for me.  It gave me the chance (perhaps a chance I didn’t even know I needed) to slow down, reevaluate, and enjoy.  When I catch up with friends and family, the almost inevitably ask me two questions: “How much longer do you have in Guatemala, then?” “What happens when you’re done there?” Sometimes I wonder if they’re working as secret spies for my mom, checking to see if I’ll tell them my hidden plans to never come home, travelling the world forever and ever.  Of course, that’s not true.  I tell the people who ask the exact same thing that I tell my mom: “I don’t know.”  I thought, originally, that Guatemala would be my last international teaching job.  But, I love it.  A lot.  And that leads me to believe I would love another international location just as much.  So I’m leaving the possibility of one more international post open, and I’m keeping an open mind to returning to the States but not to my state, and yet it’s also quite possible tha

Of all the adventures on this summer’s road trip, the story of our drive up to the top of Pikes Peak deserves to be told.  So, it’s a bit past due, but here’s what happened on that Sunday afternoon at the end of July. After we conquered Manitou Springs’ Incline and had a hearty breakfast at a buffet next to a stream, Rachel and I, Carrie, and Josh and Amanda drove to the base of the Pikes Peak road.  The ranger on duty at the toll booth warned us we’d be going through “some weather” and told us we would need our windshield wipers.  Amanda patted the windshield and assured her with a smile that we had good ones, and we were off. The drive up the mountain is beautiful, with forests and meadows dotting the sides of the road and great views into the valleys below.  The first probably 12 miles up the peak were quite pleasant, with only a few clouds in the sky to hint at the “weather” we were bound to encounter. Photo by Rachel Hix  Sure enough, though, those clouds eventu

I spent two weeks on the road with one of my best friends in the world, and we packed a lot of sights in, so it follows that I have about a month of stories to share. Except, the best memories I have from our epic road trip don’t translate well into stories.  They’re the moments of over-tired hilarity and inside-joke ridden silliness that had me laughing until I couldn’t breathe.  So I’ll by and large skip over the stories like those of D’Artagnan, the dino cats, the Utah black hole, and the dead baby elk.  I’ll share instead our highlights.  Rachel and I crossed 7 states, visited 5 national parks, and crossed paths with 10 different friends and family members.    The third day of our road trip brought us to the first big stop…the Grand Canyon. It was…grand. Grand. photo by Rachel Hix Then it was on to Antelope Canyon in Page, UT, followed by a brief stop at the Glen Canyon Dam as we passed it.  Antelope Can