Practicum Block

So I've finished the first full week of my practicum block. (+1) day. It's been good/tiring/stressful/fun. A lot of times I feel like I'm one day ahead of the classes I'm teaching. I'm working one class at a time rather than looking at the big picture. Apparently real teaching can be like this too. I've taught about 10 classes? Give or Take? Some have been struggles some have gone really well. None have bombed yet. So that's good. I'm having fun for the most part. Everyone once in a while the angry eyebrows take over and I start getting a little cranky. Yes I do get cranky. I get so tired. I come home and I'm wiped. Lately I've been taking a nap right after supper. On Monday I actually fell asleep at the table.

Well two more math classes to get ready for tomorrow.

cheers

It's been one of those weeks

So it's been one of those weeks. I've kind of lost my care for doing school work this week. Thank goodness it's the last week of classes and the I can start teaching. What I am looking forward to.

1. Not Driving

2. Useless assignments

3. Useless classes

4. More time at home

What I will miss

1. My friends at school

2. My Tim Horton's coffee

All in all not a bad trade. Thank goodness for my friends at school though. I think they're half the reason I go. And the fact that I want to graduate. I'm having more fun this year. I think one of the big reasons is we have a great cohort of students. It's like I'm in theatre again. We're developing a pretty close group of people. It's too bad I won't see them on a regular basis until January again. I think I'll have to try and make it into Winnipeg at least once in December.

Back to studying.....ugh

cheers

Bud

Thursday

So I'm avoiding doing a paper again. Well actually I only have a page or two left, so I'm taking a little break. I have to hand it in Monday so you may be asking, "Why are you working on it now". I'm actually being a little proactive because I have another paper to do, an assignment and two tests coming up. And I'm speaking at an event tomorrow night and I need to plan my speech. And yet I'm feeling pretty darn relaxed. That's because Mousetrap is done and I got three assignments out of the way on Monday night. So today I've been puttering around a little, getting some stuff done and just enjoying being at home with everyone around. It's been tough two weeks though.

Last week we found out a girl from my church who is in grade 8 was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Katie has been in my sunday school class for two years. (I'm not teaching this year) On top of all the stress last week of the show and assignments this hit pretty hard. There is a long road ahead for her. She's already had 2 or 3 chemo treatments. Not fun. Then yesterday, Tina and I found out a friend of ours was killed in a car accident. Tina was on a board with Marj and I worked with her when I was at Golden West. She was a vibrant person with a quick wit and wasn't afraid to ask the tough questions. Tina is going to the funeral on Saturday.

Tina is a little more worried for me now. Marj spent a lot of time on the road. I spend a lot of time on the road.

Life goes on.

I'm speaking at the Steinbach Resthaven Auxiliary Fundraiser tomorrow. I'm doing a short 10 minute presentation on the Great Trek of Mennonites in central Asia and the issues surrounding my great-great grandfather's flight from Oklahoma to Canada in 1918. Yesterday was the 92nd anniversary of their departure. I'm looking forward to it but I hope they don't think I'm some Mennonite scholar. It would be fun to be. But I don't feel like going through all the work :-)

back to work I guess

cheers

Bud

This is How I avoid Homework

Hi there,

My name is Bud Kehler and I am avoiding homework. I have 3 assignments due next week but would rather be watching College Football. As a compromise I'm doing this instead. Not completely useless but not what I should be doing either. University is going well and practicum is going even better. I love being at Emerado School. The class I'm in is fabulous. Mon-Thurs is kind of intense because I'm driving back and forth to Winnipeg everyday so Friday is like a break being able to walk or bike to school (unless I'm running late) and then spending time with the students helping out as often as I can. I can't wait until my 5 week block. I know it's going to be a lot of work getting lessons together but it's also going to be fun to be there everyday. I feel like I'm getting to know the students now but I think that will increase 10 fold during the block.

Well my tea is done (another avoidance measure) so I better get back to that assignment. ugh

Is it really 2 years till I'm done??

cheers

A week with Griff

So this has been a pretty good week. Tina and Emilia flew off to London, ON to visit Leanne and David and Ella and Rosie. Ella and Rosie are close to Emi's age so we thought it made sense to have Emi go along. They've had a good time. It's been great spending time with Griff. On Sunday after we dropped off the girls at the airport we picked up some pop and chips and then headed home. On the way we found two geocaches. Very cool. When we got home I had a bit of a map and then we got ready for my big warhammer battle with my cousin Craig that evening. After much setting up, dice rolling, Pepsi drinking, and pizza eating we counted up the points and I ended up the winner. yay. The next day we were going to go geocaching in Morden but it was raining so we watched 2 mythbusters episodes, played computer and ended the evening watching Furry Vengeance. On Tuesday, in spite of the wind, we headed to Morden. In all we found 14 geocaches and did not find at 6 locations. We spent 3 hours biking around Morden. I was very tired afterwards. That evening I had a rehearsal (our first one). It was just a read through and I had to take Griffin along. He read his book for a while and then came and listened to the second half. He had forgotten who the murderer was and wanted to find out. Very cool. After the rehearsal we drove to my parents for night. He fell asleep in the car 20 minutes before we got there. He spent the next day with grandma while I was at the university. That evening I watched part of Alice in Wonderland with him while having a set design meeting with my mom. We got a lot of work done. We stayed a second night and then this morning drove home. This afternoon involved some computer and cribbage and backgammon. I love the fact that Griffin is old enough to do more things with but young enough that he still shows his affection with hugs and holding hands. He's growing up so fast and I can't wait to see the man he will become but for now I am really enjoying the things we can do together.

cheers

A little Perspective

It's time to put life into a little perspective. The other week I was slightly disappointed with how much money I had made. I get paid piece work and there weren't as many pieces as I thought there might be. I still made $20 an hour. I talked to someone the next day. He was excited because he's moving to a different job that would pay $13.50. He has a kid on the way too. I should just be happy I have a job. I shake my head sometimes because I am sooooo lucky with the opportunity I have to work in Winnipeg, and have the flexibility in hours and days to work. I'm also lucky because we have family who look after our kids the days Tina and I are both working. It's been one of the biggest reasons we're still in Winkler. It's hard to leave that kind of support.

Food for Thought

cheers

So It's Been A Month

Okay, so it's been a month since I've posted anything. Anyway. I thought I'd do an update on the garden, since that seems to be my favourite topic. So here we go.

This is sort of a general view of the garden from the NW corner. If you look hard (or view full screen) you'll see a lot of weeds. I hate weeds. Give them an inch and they'll take your yard. (that was bad I know)

These are the tomatoes. I'm very excited about the tomatoes because the last time we tried to grow some they didn't turn out very well. This year they are doing great. We'll even get tomatoes from those seeds I started in April. YAY!!!!

These are the peas. They don't look that great now but we got a lot of peas from these plants. I absolutely love fresh peas. So do the kids. I think we got 15 pales. Oh yeah, sweet fresh pea goodness. mmmmmmmmm

I think these are the pumpkins. This is kind of an obnoxious plant because it's trying to take over the tomatoes. Hard to tell how they will be but the plant is huge already.

Cucumbers. Tina loves cucumbers. But not so much that she will eat them all. Anyone want some cucumbers.?

cheers