Wrong Thing Right Time

I apologize for the length of time that has passed from this post to the last. Last Sunday morning I woke up with “allergies,” and proceeded to feel worse as the day progressed. I soon realized that my “allergies” was actually the flu. By the end of the day, I was in bed, barely able to get up. Thankfully, I was able to easily skip school on Monday and slept through most of the day. By Tuesday I was feeling pretty badly still, but able to go to school, and by Wednesday was still feeling pretty uncomfortable, but got some good work done. Now, Thursday, I am still battling symptoms but feel closer to par than I have for a while. While I would have loved to avoid this whole thing, it really did come at the right time, and I thank God for that. Because the students were gone on senior trip, I had no classes to teach. So, when I was at school, I worked quietly at my computer without the pressure of standing in front of a group of students and trying to think and act coherently with 20 pairs of eyes watching. Rather, I could do all my sneezing, nose blowing, coughing, and moaning in relative privacy, and was able to come home each day to sleep and relax. :) I still feel pretty congested in my head, so please pray against a secondary infection in my sinuses or ears. That would be a hastle!

So, as I said, this week has been pretty laid back. Mr. Forman’s Aunt and Uncle are visiting (originally English, but live in Australia). His Uncle is only 8 years older than him. On Sunday we all went to a local vacation town bordering the Alps for tea and cake at this cute hotel. I thought I could handle the trip, but realized about 15 minutes in that it was not a good idea, as Uncle Jeff said, “Well, you’re deteriorating quickly!” What I saw of the scenery was lovely, however! The town itself has several Roman baths built over the originals. Jan said we would go sometime soon. They are essentially the same as the original Roman baths: heated pools to varying degrees which you move between. It’s supposed to be for healing and therapy purposes, but people just go for fun too (to those who read Jane Austen, these are the same type of baths her characters visit in the Bath, England). I also learned about a new, easily-accessible, hiking trail on our drive home. I hope to explore it as soon as I’m feeling better. I learned that most of the isolated pockets of towns within a 30 to 60 mile radius are connected by hiking trails and wooded pathways. The scenery in between towns as well as the quaintness of the towns is incredible. The weather here is still unusually lovely – I hope it stays that way!

Well, the Hamlet unit is almost here! I just finished my required 5 long-form lesson plans (these are the “training” lesson plan forms that no one uses in real life and all teachers-in-training hate. They take quite a while to write because of the detail required. This internship requires the first 5 be this way, then I can continue with short form, or “block,” planning for the remaining time. YES!). I feel like a nerd, but I just checked out two books from the library on contemporary literary criticisms of Hamlet (one by Harold Bloom) and am so excited to begin reading them. Jill and I also mapped out what I’ll be teaching for the rest of the semester. It’s was weird to be talking about when Jill will starting taking the classes back again around Dec 1. I realized that though I have a lot ahead, the end is not that far off. Wow!