News from here, nothing too interesting.

But life as usual is more satisfying this year, I think. Mostly because I have a job.

My job continues to go well, and I love it so much. Practically every time I go to the school, someone mentions how much they love music. Apparently parents have been telling the principal that their children like music again. This makes me very happy. It's kind of nice to be following a teacher who didn't work out well with the school (as opposed to say, following a retired teacher whom everyone loved). This gives me a lot of grace for being a first-year teacher. I am busy getting ready for the Christmas program. I gave out parts last week, which went remarkably well. Now I am trying to arrange all my songs with percussion, and some of them with dance and movement. Occasionally I wonder whether my Christmas program plans are too ambitious. But I think everything will work out. And one of the great things about my school is that everyone is so relaxed about everything. It's a nice environment for me to work in. I hate stress and pressure, and I thrive in calmness.

I am also getting to dance a little bit again! Our next-door neighbor teaches jazz and movement classes at the gym on Saturdays and she has asked me to assist her, and to help out with their Christmas program, mostly herding children on and off stage and fixing their costumes. It is incredibly wonderful to dance again. Hopefully, next semester we can work a bit more collaboratively and I can help with putting together a show.

I have one piano student now, a 16-year-old boy who has done a lot of piano playing on his own, but does not have much experience taking lessons. It is new to me to teach someone who has an attention span. It's kind of nice, as a change. He is very interested in counterpoint and theory, and is making me remember everything I learned way back in Theory I and Theory II, sophomore year. I am still hoping for more students; right now, I have a parent at the school who is interested in having me teach her kids. Hopefully that works out.

And, in non-job news, Andrew and I have (pretty much) decided to start attending Northwood Alliance Church here in Blaine. We decided that our church in Canada was too far away, and that it felt very strange crossing the border to go to church. Blaine has a huge amount of churches for being such a tiny community, but it seems like the local body of Christ is very strong and very caring and close. I guess no one church is too big, and people have to get to know each other. It is nice to see so many communities caring so much for each other. Northwood is a really nice place; we like the pastor a lot, and the music is amazing. Apparently lots of young people have left because the music wasn't rock-starry enough, but older guys playing fiddle tunes in E minor makes for a pretty amazing worship band for me. We'll probably write more about our church later, since we haven't been going there for many weeks, but that is where we are with church now.