Saying Goodbye

Well, I gave my notice at work and they are sad to see me go. They even asked if there was anything they could do to make me stay. That was nice. I'm glad. It's nice to know you'll be missed. I've had many teachers and several parents come to say goodbye already. Even the head of the Board came to say goodbye before he left on his holiday. I thought that was pretty nice of him. I had one little girl give me a big hug and tell me she's really going to miss me, then she wouldn't let go. She's in Grade 2. I've never even taught her! But she's a cute kid. My own students don't really seem to care too much, although I did have one girl say she was really going to miss me, and her mom said that they're sorry to see me go. Another mom said that it seems as if all the best teachers leave this school from year to year. Interesting!
I had my students write a persuasive essay this week, and the topic was whether or not I should continue teaching. I explained to them that I didn't have my license in Ontario yet, and it may be even harder for me to get a job in the area I'll be living in then it is here. Most of them are of the opinion that I should give up teaching because teachers have to be surrounded by kids all day and don't get paid very much to do that. Some said that I yell a lot so I should get a job I don't have to yell so much and where people won't borrow my stuff and lose it (apparently that makes me yell!) I actually really enjoyed reading their essays, some had very good points. One girl told me to give up teaching because I should go into student counselling because I'm always talking to kids and giving them advice and helping with their problems. I thought that was really nice and is actually something I've considered quite seriously. Maybe I will take the advice of an 11 year old! Then there were a few kids that wrote really nice essays about why I should continue teaching. One boy told me that I inspire students and I explained things to him really well, so I should continue to inspire and help other students. One girl told me that I listened to her and helped her with her problems, and made her more interested in reading and writing, so she hopes I choose to continue to teach. A few years ago a boy wrote at the end of the year that I helped him most when I helped him with his problems, and helped him make a plan for changing his behaviour. Those essays actually bring tears to my eyes and make me want to continue teaching. Maybe I just need this break. I still don't know what I'll do.
Packing has started. We pulled everything out of our storage closet last weekend and sorted through it - what we're keeping and what we're not. This was the mess that we created.
Then we did manage to get it done within in the day, and get all that we're keeping back into the closet, and then we put all our camping stuff that had been in the hall closet for the past year! Last summer we took all our camping stuff out of the storage closet and left it in the hall closet, thinking that we wanted to go camping and we were more likely to go if our stuff was more easily accessible. We never went. Not once. So we've put it back into the storage closet until the move. We have a hallway full of things we want to sell or give away. We have a living room full of empty boxes for packing, empty boxes that Ian has been bringing home from work all week. And we have people coming for Waffle Sunday tomorrow. I have no idea how we're going to fit guests in here too!
This will be the last Waffle Sunday. I'm excited to have our friends from here together again, and to see them all. A few don't actually even know we're moving yet. In fact, most people don't know we're moving yet as we really only decided in the past couple of weeks that we were going for sure. It will be a bit sad I think, and I'm definitly feeling a bit sad about leaving this beautiful city and some wonderful friends behind... I hope our friends will come visit us, and I told Ian that when we get a house, I need a large picture of mountains hung on the wall. But back to Waffle Sunday... We're trying to do it up a little more this time, go out with a bang I guess. We'll have the requisite waffles, and I'm thinking fruit salad, in addition to strawberries and whipped cream for the waffles themselves. We'll do some bacon or sausage as well, and I'm trying to think of something else. I don't really have much flour left, although I was considering making cinnamon buns... Maybe I'll buy a bag of the frozen buns and make Land of Nod cinnamon buns... They're not quite as good as the real thing, but a nice sticky treat to go with breakfast. I will definitly post pictures from the Last Waffle Sunday, if I remember to take any!
Three days of work left, a busy few days after that with Canada Day and a friend getting married next weekend... But then I'll be full time into packing. Seems to be a lot to do. Wish us luck!