I forgot about posting videos to blogger.  I'm going to attempt it again to see if I'm doing it right - it has been so long that I actually forget what I did last time!  I seem to remember re-sizing the video, but I didn't do it with this one... hopefully it doesn't take 80 million years to load.  I figured out how to put videos into my iMovie projects, so I made a short little video montage of clips from the NZ south island trip:

So this week has been exceptionally out-of-the-ordinary.  Our school was struck by tragedy when one of our teachers lost her 16-year-old son in a car accident on his way home from school on Tuesday.  Shocking, tragic.... there are no words to describe how everyone feels.  That extreme low was followed by an extreme high on Thursday, when we had Jerry Goebel visit our school for our student retreat - he taught the girls songs and dances, did skits with them, and did a whole heck of a lot of motivational and inspirational speaking.  It was fantastic.  Then we had our own classes for sessions during the day, and we were given the freedom to come up with our own activities to supplement Jerry's sessions.  Sister Zelie and I had my grade 7 homeroom class, and we did an activity called "7 Acts of Intentional Courtesy" where each student came up with 1 for each day of the week.  Then we did the age-old "Warm Fuzzies" project where each student writes something nice about each student in the class, and at the end they have a page of anonymous "warm fuzzies" that they can decorate and take home to keep.  It was just what we needed at the end of an emotionally exhausting week.

I took Friday off for professional development, and I spent Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday in Saskatoon for the SK Music Conference.  It was awesome to see all of my other music teacher friends from around the province (it really is a small world in our profession), and I picked up some good ideas to use with my bands/choirs, and I also was reminded that I'm not alone in my frustrations or my joys.  It was good to be reminded of the fact that almost everything that I experience in my job, whether it's those hair-pulling moments of frustration (that I won't mention on a public blog) or the complete joy that comes out of a good rehearsal or a moment where you know you've made a difference in how a student understands something, etc., we're all in it together.  The triumphs and frustrations go part and parcel with the job, and this weekend we were able to gather as a group of a couple hundred music teachers to debrief, share ideas and stories, and learn from the masters in our profession.  It was awesome.

Now I'm back at home and am allowing myself to take the night off - I fully intend to watch TV, paint my nails, have a bath, and just relax and enjoy doing things for myself.  Ahhh. :o)

In blog friend news, my friend Marion is now in Korea teaching English for a year.  I've linked her blog to the right (and have paid tribute to an old inside joke a la "The Music Man" in the title of her blog), and I'm so looking forward to hearing about her Asian adventures over the next 12 months!

Also can't wait to see new pictures of Miss Charlotte as they appear on Fish and Sam's blogs.  She gets even more adorable with every new photo, if that's possible.  What a beautiful little baby girl! :oD

And with that, I'm out.  I'll try to blog more - I like reading friends' blogs, so I figure I should reciprocate.  Plus, it just feels good to write sometimes.  Love you guys!