Thursday, September 16, 2010

"The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men", or I am Dreadfully Behind in Bleak House

Remember my last post? The one where I promised to post within the next few days about the next section of Bleak House? Well, a funny thing happened (but not on the way to the forum): literally thirty minutes after I posted, I received a call from a principal wanting to interview me for an English position. I had submitted my application the night before (the night before!), so, needless to say, I was a bit caught off guard. We set up an interview for the next afternoon (the town is five hours from my parents'), and I called my mom to share the exciting news.

And then they offered me the job. On the spot. I didn't even know that schools could do that, much less that they would! I was quite surprised (possibly the understatement of the century), and the drive home was pretty much a blur. The next day I found myself driving back to the school, fighting a cold, signing my contract, looking for an apartment, and trying to get ready to start school on Tuesday. That's right: I got hired 5 days before school started!

Despite the stress and insanity that has been my life the last few weeks, I am unspeakably grateful that I am teaching full time. I am teaching four different classes (three of them new), but my five years of experience have come in handy! And I get to teach To Kill a Mockingbird, which you might remember was one of my teacherly wishes.

I finally found an apartment a week ago, but I am still getting internet at the apartment figured out. There is also the small detail of preparing for all these classes, and the planning is something of a beast since two of those classes are block, which essentially means two classes for the price of one! It has been an intense experience, but my new co-workers have been incredibly supportive and kind, and I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

So if you have stuck with me through this rather long, personal post, then you deserve to know what bookish things I will be talking about in the near future. Bleak House will definitely be making a return, but first I will have to get the Hunger Games series out of my reading and blogging system.

4 comments:

tediousandbrief said...

Congrats on the job! And thanks for stopping by my blog this weekend! Your blog seems cool, so I'll definitely be following it!

I responded to your comment on my post about The Hunger Games (sorry I was gone this weekend). Just also wondering, why is To Kill a Mockingbird one of your teaching dreams? I'm supposing you really like it, but why else? What did you like so much about it?*

* Note: I read it, but it was back my Freshman year of high school and don't remember all too much about the book.

Marcie said...

Congrats on your new job! I hope you like The Hunger Games. I still have to read Mockingjay but the other two books were fantastic. I do hope you finish reading Bleak House. I have a love/hate relationship with it, but the story is starting to come together which makes me like it more. I look forward to reading your thoughts on BH.

Read the Book said...

tediousandbrief: Thanks for stopping by! I was able to teach To Kill a Mockingbird for the past five years at my previous job, and I just LOVE it. It is a wonderful, well-crafted novel that gains something with every read: I just noticed something today that I hadn't noticed before, and I've read the book at least ten times. If you haven't read it since high school, you must, must, MUST read it again. And then let me know what you think! ;)

Marcie-I'm actually on my second time through the Hunger Games. I really should be reading Bleak House, but Dickens has never been great "read while your brain is fried" material for me. I hope to get back to BH sson, especially since I will set the Hunger Games aside after I finish Mockingjay (no matter how much I want to read it again! Thanks for visiting my blog!

JoAnn said...

Congratulations on the new job! I'm enjoying Bleak House, but behind schedule...it may end up taking the rest of the year.