I'm Here to TEACH!

One year ago I was anxious to begin student teaching.
Six months ago I was so thankful it was over. (I was also a college graduate!)
One month ago I accepted my first teaching job.
Three weeks ago I found a place to live.
And five days ago I moved.

Over the course of the year, my life has changed in ways I never could have imagined. This was the year that I decided I really wanted to be a teacher. This was the year that stretched me, pulled me, and twisted me in ways I never thought I'd go. And this is the year that I begin my career. After jumping through many hoops, I find myself here, in Ellinwood, KS, USA. And guess what? First graders get to call me Miss Everhart once again!

There is just something about moving to a small town and having your own place and classroom. Now I know it's not for everyone, especially the small town part, but as my friends would say, it's perfect for me. And thank goodness this town is so friendly. I have already made friends with the grocery store owner (because I went to the store the first three days I was in town). I've also met a few friendly faces at a 4th of July get together. I feel like I'm making friends, but heck, it's a slow process, because I'm still sitting here eating ice cream and blogging all by myself on a Friday night. No worries, I'm still so happy to be here.

I'm constantly reminding myself that I am here to be a teacher. However, a few weeks ago, that message wasn't so prominent in my mind. When we came to the "big city" to look for a place to live, there was one, yes, one place to live. Apartment B in the four-plex caty-corner from the Lutheran church. Now, this is no Pebblebrook (my very nice apartment in Manhattan), in fact this place was complete with fluffy brown carpet (that I described as "afro hair") and a very ugly green bathroom (Mom says it's official name is "avocado green"). In the hopes of making me a "good Lutheran," my principal suggested I take Apartment B because that was the only thing in town. So, I of course took it. I was pretty disappointed in what I would be moving into, but I just had to remind myself that "I'm moving there to teach!"

When I moved in on Monday, the "ugly bathroom" and "afro carpet" were the least of my worries, because when we walked in we had a few more problems. Let me list them; air conditioning broken, moldy fridge, dirty bathroom and kitchen, and a hand full of other tiny issues. But the biggest problem of all? EVERYONE HERE IS A KU FAN (or so it seems). Don't worry K-State friends, I will not grow weary and sway back to the crimson and blue; I bleed purple through and through (and I'm going to let everyone know)! But here I am again reminding myself that "I am here to teach!"

A part of moving to a small community is becoming a part of it. Now, on the 4th of July, I felt like I came pretty close to "becoming a part of the community" by being on the front page of the Ellinwood paper. After barely missing an old woman's head with a firework and almost catching her tree on fire, all I could say to myself was, "seriously, Andrea, this is how you make your entrance to the town?!" Thankfully, I wasn't the one to start a fire -- someone else in town got that privilege (Ellinwood knows how to do fireworks). Anyways, if you do it the right way, it's important to become a part of the community, especially as a teacher. So I will give it my best to do so.

There is a nice little Baptist church outside of town (no luck in making me a "good Lutheran," Mr. Sjogren) and in fact, I already have church buddies. Conveniently, a family friend from 4-H is from here and her parents go to church there. My friend gave me his grandparents address and so when I went for my walk tonight, I found myself at their house where they were outside. I left their house after a half-hour conversation, with one big smile on my face and a ride to church for Sunday morning. Slowly, I will become a part of this community.

I couldn't be happier to be where I'm at. I know I will have struggles that will stretched me, pulled me, and twisted me in ways I don't think I will ever go, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I will try my hardest, never give up, keep smiling, and I will teach.

As for the green bathroom, fluffy carpet, once-modly fridge, filthy apartment, and KU fans.... that will all be okay, because that's not why I'm here.

Thanks everyone for all of your support. I can't wait to begin this journey. It is my hope to keep up this blog going as the school year begins.

Below are some pictures of everything Ellinwood:

Ellinwood Grade School 

Classroom with windows! Lots of windows! That does a kid good.

My classroom full of stuff. Needs some work!

My lovely "home" for at least the next year, if not a few more.

Living room. Not to bad, eh? You hardly notice the carpet once I added in Grandma Everhart's "ugly chair."

Here's a good thing about the apartment; the kitchen (even if the counter tops, cabinets, oven, and microwave were all filthy). 

You can't even tell the shower, toilet and sink are all "avocado green." It's really growing on me, especially since I covered it up!

And here's to being an Ellinwood resident. (Happy 4th,  just a few days late). 

Until next time,

Andrea

What Now?

Well, I've been done student teaching for 19 days now and I consider today my second official day of unemployment since the holidays have now passed. In the days before official unemployment, I treated them as any other college holiday break. But now that I'm faced with official unemployment, I'm getting a little nervous of the future. Though I've completed student teaching (and since that's what this blog is for), I've decided to update anyone who chooses to read this, on my life in the past 19 days and what might be coming up in the future. Here we go...


In my days of "break" I went back to good ole Gypsum. Unfortunately I wasn't there much because we always had something to do. If we weren't in Salina shopping, we were somewhere else shopping. We made a trip to Wichita and KC as well as about 1598 trips to Salina. We did our usual holiday traditions: Christmas Eve Church at First Baptist in Salina, Christmas light looking, Georgetown Santa's, etc., etc. I made a big purchase as well: a new Canon Rebel T2i. I love it. If I'm ambitious enough I will do what I've always wanted to do: start a business. I also made time for some baking. It's not the holidays without some baking. I made the annual Cromwell Family Poppy Seed Loaf. My grandma and mom would make about 50 loaves a year and deliver them to friends and family, so I like to keep up the traditions, however I only got 17 loaves made. Even the batter is good. :)

Here's the recipe:


3 c flour   

1 1/2 tsp salt     

1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seed

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 1/4 c sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 c milk

1 c oil (i usually just use 3/4 c)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp almond flavor

1 1/2 tsp butter flavor

Blend dry ingredients with fork.  Mix eggs, milk, oil and flavorings;  add to dry ingredients.  Beat for 2 minutes.  Pour into greased and floured pans.  Bake 1 hr at 350.

Glaze topping:

1/2 tsp butter flavor

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond flavor

3/4 c brown sugar

1/4 c orange juice

1 stick butter

While loaves are hot, poke with fork.  Pour glaze over loaves.  Cool.  Remove from pans.

I also got very domestic and decided to teach myself how to do the lattice top to a pie. It's a smidge tricky, but not too bad. Kind of fun actually. Here you go...

1. Start with a pie crust. I like to use the Jiffy crust where you just add about 4 tsp. of water. That's the best I think. Unless you're super domestic and make your own. Lay it out and cut about 1 inch strips. I used a ruler to measure out - but you don't have to. (See the upper left of this picture for the example)


2. (Refer to the same picture for this step) Start by doing about two or three strips going the same way. Use every other strip to lay across the pie going the same way. I started with three (they are the ones going horizontal in the picture). Then using the strips that you skipped, lace them with the others, only going the other direction (they're the ones  going vertical in the picture).


3. Keep doing this for all of the pie. HINT: keep your scrap dough if you have any. You might need to make additional strips.


4. Once the lattice top is finished, go ahead and edge the pie like normal. This is a bit tricky. I just kind of folded the edge under.

5. It takes a bit of practice - but not to bad! Once you've done all that, top it with some sugar and put foil around the edges (remove for the last fifteen minutes) and stick it in the oven! Easy!


If you have scrap dough, just make some dodgers! It's what my grandma always did. Lay out the extra dough, coat on some melted butter and pour on the cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about 8 minutes. Oh yum!

And those are the things I like to do the most. :) If you need help with the lattice top see this YouTube video!