Mountains Beyond Mountains

One of my goals for this move was to adopt a slightly more active lifestyle. I didn't really have a choice, seeing as the Seattle area is almost obnoxiously athletic. But I knew that I liked jogging. And for all you Exegy people out there, I worked really hard on lowering my thresholds so that I would actually get out and jog. I had all the exercise clothes from my aunt; I updated my iPod playlists; Mike even bought me those ear buds that don't slip out when you run. So I've been doing that about three times a week, which got hard once school started.

So when another new teacher to Beaver Lake (I'll call her Lauren) asked me if I wanted to go on a hike after school on Friday, I was like, "Yeah! What a great and sporty way to start the weekend!" I did tell her that I'm not an excellent hiker. I'm not exactly super in shape. And she's a cross country coach, so I was already intimidated.

Side note: Poo-Poo Point, while ridiculously named, is a really popular hike. In the parking lot we were able to see at least a dozen para-sailers gliding off the top launching space. I'm not quite ready for that level athleticism, but it was beautiful to watch.

Lauren assured me that hiking Poo-Poo Point is actually really manageable for beginners. "It'll only take about 45 minutes, and the view at the top is pretty amazing."

The hike took two and a half hours. The trail started by going straight up with rocky terrain, and it didn't stop going straight up. I mean, it was a 1700 foot gain in about two miles. After about half an hour, I said to Lauren, "Please tell me that we're at least halfway there!"

"Yeah, I think so. I don't really recognize this part, but I'm sure we're close!" I'm sure we're close. I stopped believing that after the third time she said it. I had to stop pretty often because my legs would decide to go on strike like a Seattle Public School teacher. I felt like I was slowing everything down.

But I did finally get to the top. It was the big expanse of grass that we sat on an enjoyed the view:

I can't get over how amazing it is to see a mountain in my every day life. I'm a little bit obsessed. I thought my enthusiasm for seeing Mt. Rainier was a typical response to the landscape, but Mike, while appreciative of it, isn't quite the crazy fan girl that I am. 

It's not just Mt. Rainier. Yesterday we visited a friend in Granite Falls, about 45 minutes north of us. As we headed up there, the highway opened up to show a great view of Mt. Baker. 

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with seeing mountains. Seeing them feels expansive and sweeping, like The Lord of the Rings. Hopefully I can work up my endurance for hikes, because I'm not getting over these views any time soon.

7th Grade

I'm in my second week of school. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I've never taught middle schoolers before. Were they babies? Were they basically sophomores? The answer to both of these questions is "yes." Mike, who has had experience teaching middle school before, told me, "Seventh grade is really transitional. Half of them still belong in elementary school and half of them belong in 8th grade or high school."

I've decided that I'm just dorky enough for middle school. This opinion might change. Who knows how I will be feeling in March.

Here are some silly/interesting things I've experienced at my middle school so far:

• On my first day, my students were making name tags to help me out. They had to fold the paper into a prism. I told them, "Just fold them in thirds. Like this. Eh, it's good enough. That's my life motto." One of my students said, "That's really your life motto? Will you marry me?" *crickets* Then another boy at his table said, "Dude, tone it down. That came on a little strong."

• As 6th graders, my students were trained to thank the teacher after each class. After my first class on my first day, my students filed out and chanted, "Thank you, Ms. Sundt." I was like, "What's happening?"

• We were reviewing parts of speech and talking about the difference between helping verbs and action verbs. I said, "Shout out some examples of action verbs." I got the typical "run, jump, climb, walk..." I said, "Yeah, that's okay. Can we get a little more creative?" Yeah, it got really dark really fast. They came up with words like "Murder, impale, decapitate, disembowel, fart." What did I expect?

Suffice it to say seventh grade is going to be just as big a gold mine of quotable quotes as tenth grade was. Oh, and middle schoolers bring in treats on their birthdays! Score!

P.S.

Weird Things I've Noticed about Washington (a growing list)

• For the life of me I cannot find wraps or flatbreads at the grocery store. They have tortillas, but none of those fladbread yummy things. Weird. Tortillas just taste different than actual wrap things.

• I ended up talking to my students about the spider situation. I said, "What's going on with the giant spiders in the house? What can we do about this?" They told me, "They're not dangerous at all. Just leave them alone. And, anyway, there's nothing you can do because it's breeding season." Excellent.

• If there's any kind of restaurant/bar/store that you think might exist, just Google it. It probably exists in Seattle. Mike and I had a fun time going to Cafe Mox, which is a cafe/bar that is connected to a game store. I mean any type of game you might think of. People bring their board games and play them while they drink coffee or beer. If you're really legit, you can reserve a room strictly for playing Dungeons and Dragons or Risk or Settlers of Catan.