We're off to South America!

With much excitement and anticipation, we headed to the airport at 4am this morning. Our 3 hour flight to Houston was crowded but uneventful, thank goodness. We are in Houston now for 4 hour layover and then will enjoy a 7 hour flight to Lima. I'm excited for this crazy adventure! Watch our progress at paradingthroughperu.blogspot.com. Off we go!

Bump Bump Bump!

Bumps in the road seem to be a common theme lately in regards to travel.  The most recent bump is the political unrest in Puno/Lake Titicaca in Peru - our 3rd destination of our trip.  It has several tiny islands made of reeds, along with all their huts/homes and canoe boats.  We are so totally bummed, but what can you do?  All the travel advisories are telling tourists to stay clear for the next few weeks. 

SO we began today readjusting our air-tight itinerary and so far have found no more bumps in the road, but one.  Carolyn has points we're using for a free room for our last night in Lima to use at a Doubletree hotel - yep, finally a HOTEL instead of 14 days in hostels and 3 nights in tents!  We needed to add a night there to finish our re-routing of the trip's details, but found out that OF COURSE we couldn't use her points on a 2nd night - it would cost like $250 for the room the 2nd night.  FORGET THAT!  We're only spending like $5-15 per person per night the entire rest of the trip, so NO we won't be staying there 2 nights!  Oh well.  Not a big deal.  We're getting used to changing at a whim's notice!

If you'd like to follow our adventure, we're going to TRY and upload pictures and stories to the following blog:   www.paradingthroughperu.blogspot.com    and we hope you'll enjoy our little journey.  Don't forget to leave a comment or two!  We leave on Sunday morning for Lima and should be in Cuzco by noon on Monday.  We signed up for some rock climbing/zip lining on Tuesday and will hook up with some tours for the surrounding areas the rest of the days. 

Saturday (6/18) is the BIG day - we begin our Inca Trail Trek into the Andes Mountains at Km88, ending on Tuesday (6/21) in Machu Picchu at sunrise.  We'll stay in Cuzco 2 nights, where we should be able to upload pictures and stories from the trek.  We head to the Amazon Jungle/River for the next 4 days and then will spend a few days in Lima before heading home.

Grad Night at Priest

The row of teachers who we texted with
all during the ceremony!  We had so
much fun back and forth!

At the HS gym - about 150 graduates
It was pretty full on both sides!

Tuesday night was the annual 5th grade graduation ceremony at my old school.  I had decided that afternoon to NOT go - I was so tired, but at the phone call-prodding of my friend Pagano, I decided to show up.  I'm so glad I did - as I walked into the area where the 5th graders were waiting, the delayed recognition and excitement to see me was awesome.  I've known all those kids since kinder - and I even taught many of them English in an after-school program when they were in kinder.  I felt on cloud-nine to have them so excited to see me and grateful that I came to see them.  The teachers were so welcoming as well.  Pagano and I sat up in the bleachers (HS gym) to watch the ceremony - it was weird to NOT be sitting down with the staff in front, but we sure had a great time texting Dawn and Megan back and forth, entertaining ourselves and laughing lots.  I was excited to see that so many of those non-English speaking kinders - now 5th grade grads - had earned so many academic awards, including Gabby who was named TOP student in the 5th grade and awarded a $1000 savings bond for college.  Her parents came right up to me afterwards in the crowd and it was fun to congratulate them.  Miriam's parents, Leslie's family, Gabby's family, Amber's family - they were all so excited to see me - and more.  I haven't felt that great in soooo long!  But as much fun as it was to be appreciated, I still know that it was my time to leave last year and that I am where I am supposed to be - being tested and tried, learning my weaknesses and areas in which to improve, and to be around another good set of teachers.  I'm grateful for where I was, and I'm grateful for where I am now working. 

Carina, Lauren, Rich, Christina, Dawn, Megan
Some awesome friends!

Afterwards, as a tradition we started 8 years ago, we all met at Friday's and visited in the bar area until late - I left at 11:30pm and many of them were still hanging out.  We laughed and laughed all night long.  I was floating on air as I walked out to my car into the fresh air - again - haven't been that carefree and comfortable around co-workers in a long time - they are comfortable to me - and treat me as if I hadn't ever left, although over and over I heard how much they missed me.  How nice it is to have left a place while things were still positive so that I can return to that comfort and support without feeling out of place.  Even my old boss, who's retiring, was really glad I came.  There were several teachers there that had left within the past few years - just came to see their old kiddos graduate.  I think that means a lot to kids.   I was happy.  And it felt great to feel happy.  I didn't realize how long it had been.  I love and miss so many friends there and am glad I can still call them friends.



Alejandra - now in 10th grade - was
in my last 3rd grade class I taught.  She's almost as
tall as me!  Her brother Max graduated.



Pagano and I in the RIFF-RAFF section of the
bleachers - she moved to Calif last year and I left
the school, so although we were given corsages,
we decided NOT to sit down with the current staff.

Did you hear? Summer is near!!!

Wow - what a week.  Where to begin?  Life raced by so quickly that I'm not even sure what was accomplished well.  The week disappeared right out from under our feet. 

Memorial Day
I am very appreciative of those willing to step up and defend our country and/or defend those who are unable to defend themselves.  I admire our soldiers and their familes.  I look at Pete Quitano - the son of a teacher-friend who's HumV was blown up 7 years ago.  Pete was burned badly all over, lost his fingers, and still has an open wound in his chest that won't close yet due to scar tissue.  Yet, Pete continues to have true American blood running through his veins - he's completely independent, in college now, and has a girlfriend.  I see what families go through who have soldiers and appreciate their sacrifice.  I work with a gal whose husband is in the middle east, leaving his 2 young sons behind.  It's a sacrifice.  So I hope that people stopped to think about why they had a day off work for a BBQ and thank a soldier.

Carolyn and I went hiking up the Raintree trail - it was a beautiful day and we had the trail to ourselves most of the way up and didn't start running into a few people until the way down.  We made it up over 2 miles before having the trail blocked with snow at the 2nd saddle overlook.  We tredged a little in it, then decided not to risk injury right now.  Our packs were of the weight we plan on carrying on our trek and we did OK with it.  Of course, we only went 4 miles and have to be able to do 9 in one day and do that for 3 days!!



BEFORE



AFTER



That night we went to Mom and Dad's for some grilled hamburgers and the fixin's of a typical-good Covey BBQ.  The entertainment being mom PAINTING my bald spots with a new "hide your bald-spot" type powder.  You see, I have a side-effect of a condition all us Covey girls have - and my hair is disappearing more and more each year!  Anyway, it was sooo funny.  I didn't realize how bad my scalp is getting until I took a "before" picture with my phone, then compared the "after" shot.  Wow.  If it didn't itch and feel like talcum powder on your head, I may have considered it.  Thanks for the thought, mum.  I'm going to have to start thinking seriously during the next 5 years or so about either a hairpiece or something drastic.  Or else I'll just have to hang around short people who can't see it!  I did, however, have a 4th grader at lunch one day last month ask me why I didn't have hair there.  Maybe it's a sign.  :o)

NEW KIDDOS
This year we've had the opportunity to assess our "next year's" class without them knowing that we were probably going to be their teacher.  There is a reading assessment that we performed on each student on our proposed list over the period of 2 days.  I'm not sure if this will be my class or not, seeing as how I'm still very hopeful that another teacher, Shawn, will be returning due to a miraculous legislative decision we've yet seen.  So I didn't find myself bonding to them just yet, although assessing them gave me a sneak peak into what it would be like to have my own class again.  Some of them are super smart, some of them are struggling quite a bit. Some of them are super shy and some of them are silly and hams.  I'm trying to wrap my mind around this and hope to be up and running full-speed ahead in August. 

WORK RETREAT

Thursday my leadership team at work had a special "retreat" away from school to review the year's goals' progress and start planning the following year.  I was fortunate enough to have a mom who let us take over her comfortable home all day long - and we sure turned it into a conference room....a really comfy one!  We played a few "Minute to Win It" type games to start and when we needed a break - they were quick and fun.  We got a lot of work done and I think everyone was glad to have been away from the building for the day - you can get so much more done when you're not being interrupted. 

1st one to empty a kleenex box
pulling out one at a time using
only one hand



Stack 6 dice on a popsicle stick in
your mouth first!







Get out 6 ping pong balls from a
kleenex box tied to your butt
w/o using hands!



Our boss was a great sport



PAIN IN THE BUTT....

Thursday I began to feel the effects of another possible "burst cyst."  I'm not sure, because it wasn't as strong as the big one in October, but in the afternoon, I knew something was not right.  I made an appt for Friday and snuck away at lunch to TRY and see the doc.  Long talk.  Not thrilled.   



From my goodbye party last year, but
they were all there again, plus some



GOODBYE SAYS IT ALL.....



Megan & Carina - 2 of my favs



Friday night I headed over to Annette and Megan's going away party at Dawn's.  I always have such a great time getting together with my gal-pals from my old staff.  We laughed and talked and shared and laughed until it was REALLY late!  Those girls/ladies absolutely make me feel great - of course, many of them ARE my girls - I helped mentor them since they were 1st year teachers.  As we were, it was amazing to think that I've been gone for a YEAR already.  It seems like I'd never left.  There's a real comfort in being around those who are your friends, your fans, and your cheerleaders.  I love and miss them lots.  I will always be appreciative of my Priest friends - and I will miss Annette (who retired and is moving back to Maine) and Megan (who's moving to Calif).   But I have no doubt that I'm where I'm supposed to be, no matter how much my mind and heart fight it.  It truely is an amazing staff and I hope to allow myself the leeway to fit in someday.  Not sure what holds me back........

  I will really miss Megan and Annette and I wish them well.

 

Annette & Amy - last year's
Priest 5th grade graduation



 The older I get:

**the faster time seems to escape me

**the more friends move away

**the more I realize I don't know as much as I thought

**the more cautious I become in relationships

**the more time it takes to thing things through

**the less multi-tasking I can really do

**the less sense I seem to make when nervous

**the less effective I feel in all areas of life

**the more tired I get

**the more I enjoy exercising and hiking

**the earlier I go to bed

**the more I try to slow down and remember to enjoy life

**the more I realize that work is work, but is not life itself

**the more thankful I am for good people around me - who are patient, kind, and butt-kicking