The Day the Winds Came

 It started out just like any other Sunday.  Well, almost any other Sunday.  Andrea was still in Chicago with her family, so I carried out our Sunday Morning Routine on my own.  I went to church in the wee hours of the morning, sang during the contemporary service, and had coffee/read the paper with my dad before returning back to Clintonville.  I spent about two hours on lesson plans for the week.  Lindsay came over around 2 for a bit of catch up.  We talked about life and wedding plans, among other things.  As we were talking in the front room, there was a knock at the back door.  Odd.  It was my neighbor, Mike (the one who lives in the other half of our house), telling me that a branch had hit my car.  He was going to move it, but he wanted me to see it first.  There was a bit of a dent, but nothing major.  Bummer, but oh well.  Linds and I went back inside, all the while observing the pick up in wind speed. 

The winds had arrived.  Lindsay was showing me some possible bridesmaids dresses when the internet went out.  And the cable went out.  And then a loud crash.  Suddenly, my back yard was a jungle.  Literally.  My car, with its one scratch, had been surrounded by tree.  Or trees.  From my back porch, it's impossible to tell exactly what happened.

Soon, the power went out.  Lindsay stayed with me until 7:30 or so when the winds had finally died down a bit.  Dad and Marge, who were both also without power, came to pick me up.  We travelled north on High Street in search of a gas station with power.  We found a BP around Morse and 71 with long lines.  Not long after we pulled in, the lights went off.  They were out of gas!  We quickly headed across the way to Speedway and successfully filled up. 

Back at Remington Rd, mom rounded up as many candles as could be found in our house.  Dad began making spaghetti and homemade sauce-- thank goodness for their gas stove!  We watched the news on the black and white battery powered TV that won't work come the digital switch in February. 

No school Monday.  The power came on around 2 AM.  The light in Allie's room was on!  Dad woke me up around 7:30-- "Laura, you better wake up; the tree's on fire."  Sure enough, the huge tree from my parents' backyard that had fallen on the electric line was now flaming.  The fire department arrived around 7:45 (they were first called at 6:30) and determined that they couldn't do anything until AEP turned off the electric.  They put up lots of tape lines and watched the fire.  All day.

Mom and I took a walk around North Bexley-- trees down everywhere.  Unbelievable damage.  Trees ripping up sidewalks, cutting into people's homes, crossing the streets.  Everywhere.  A neighbor on my block is still in the hospital with a broken leg she got when a limb hit her.  Cars are smashed.  Unreal.

I went back to Clintonville around noon.  No change in the status of my backyard.  I took a walk through the alley and discovered a bit more, however.  The HUGE tree in my neighbor across the alley's backyard was knocked over, taking down branches on the tree in my yard.  After digging through the jungle a bit, it appears that my car may be okay, although it's hard to say if it'll remain that way when (if!) the tree's finally removed.  The glass all seems intact, as does the frame of the car.  It's almost as if the limbs on my tree acted to cushion the blow of the HUGE tree.  Wow. 

Stayed the night again in Bexley.  Both houses are without power.  Both houses are main attractions for neighbors.  Everyone is out and about, surveying the damage.  No one has seen anything quite like it in Central Ohio.  Governor Strickland declared a State of Emergency.  83 counties were affected.  (We only have 88!)  Over 50% of Columbus City Schools remain without power.  And I've just learned that I won't have school on Wednesday, either. 

So, my car remains under branches.  I guess the city has to clean something before the electric company comes out, and then my unenthusiastic landlord has is responsible for the rest.  Who knows when I'll get my car back... as after I can uncover it, I'll have to repair (or replace) it.  And they're saying we'll probably have power by September 24th.

What a week!

~Laura  =)

**Special thanks to Andrea and the Columbus Library for Internet and computer usage.

The view of the backyard from Andrea's window

The view of the backyard from the alley.  Yeah-- my car's under there somewhere.

OH!  There's my car!

My parents' tree on fire.  The other third of this tree that's not standing is on the garage.

September's Here!

HELLO, Xanga World!

Well, September's here-- and with it, came Back to School time.  I have, perhaps somewhat foolishly, returned to Starling Middle School for Year Two.  Actually, it's somewhat comforting to be in the SAME PLACE for two years in a row.  Finally.  This is my fourth fall in a classroom, yet the first fall where I haven't had to start from scratch completely.  Sure, I had to set the choir room up again after dismantling it for the summer, but I knew where to put everything as I was content with last year's arrangement.  And I have some new 7th and 8th grade students, but the majority are returning choir members, so they already know my expectations and what choir's all about.  Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that I haven't heard the old choir teacher's name once this year!  Last year I heard his name daily.  "Mr. Bailey didn't do it that way."  "Mr. Bailey let us chew gum."  "Mr. Bailey didn't wear that much music jewelry!"  Daily.  This year, not once.  So satisfying. 

Not to worry; I'm also teaching band this year, so it's not all smooth sailing for me.  The band room was a disaster zone when I entered it at the end of August to set up for the school year.  That's a scary thought because I know that two the subs we had last year spent a considerable amount of time cleaning and sorting before I got there.  Danger.  With several helpers, I continued to organize the instrument room and rid the classroom of unneeded furniture (broken tables and filing cabinets, mainly).  It's now at least operable.  The band students had at least six subs last year, plus the day-to-day subs when those subs were absent.  They are convinced that I am simply one more in a never-ending line of teachers.  They do not treat me with the same kind of respect or understanding that the choir students have.  Somehow, I managed to be a second year teacher AND a first year teaching simultaneously. 

Double duty is going to be hard this year.  I'm constantly running back and forth between my rooms either to teach or because I left something important in the other room.  I have to prep not only for two subjects but for two rooms every day.  Slowly, the other teachers have figured out that I'm doing both this year.  (I'm not sure how they've been oblivious, but whatever.)  Each teacher I've talked to has told me how grateful they are that I'm there and that the band kids are getting to play instruments this year.  They've each told me how talented and organized I am and how they know that if anyone could do these two jobs, it'd be me.  Then they've asked if I got a pay raise.  If only...

On the other hand, at least I'm establishing the music program one year at a time.  The choir program can pretty much run itself now, meaning that I have my routine, the kids are familiar with it, and all the pieces are falling into place, providing me with more time to figure out the band program.  For example, how can I get rid of the piles of instruments that don't work or that I don't need in exchange for more working saxophones, flutes, trumpets, and clarinets?  Not hours upon hours of time, but more time than I would have had this been my job description last year.  Yikes.

And so it's September.  Green leaves and flowers meet football and steadily declining temperatures.  At least, I can only hope.  Old school buildings without air conditioning were not built to be populated in 80+ degrees and humidity!

Stone Soup

Monsoon, Monkeys, and Mangos

Well, folks, I made it to India and back!  What an incredible trip!

I flew out of Columbus to Chicago on July 16 where I met Emily & Jared.  They've been teaching in India for the past year, came home for the summer, and flew back on the same flight as me.  They are the reason for my trip.  We had a decent layover in Chicago (theirs was longer than mine...) before we flew direct to Delhi.  We didn't sit next to eachother on the plane, but we were actually pretty close.  Emily wrote me a note and a wordsearch and had the flght attendant pass it to me. 

Waiting in O'Hare for our overseas flight

We spent the night in Delhi, then took an early morning train to Dehra Dun for about 6 hours.  I didn't take any pictures of the men (porters) who carried our suitcases on their heads from the taxi to the train.  Pretty amazing and impressive.  I wasn't in Delhi long enough to get much of an impression other than HOT and dirty.  And there were TONS of people there!  Dehra Dun is the town at the bottom of the mountain (hill) where Emily and Jared live.  We were there long enough for lunch and some quick shopping before taking a taxi to their home in Mussoorie-- up the mountain for about 1.5 hours.  Mussoorie is known to the Indians as a 'hill station'.  It's much cooler there, so many Indians travel there during the summer to escape the heat.  Because it's monsoon season, we were essentially IN the cloud.  Every once in a while, the cloud would roll away and I'd be able to catch a glimpse of a view, but most of the time I'd just see cloud.  Monsoon also brings so much greenery-- there are ferns EVERYWHERE!  So beautiful!

Emily & Jared's Home

 A view of Mussoorie

The day the clouds rolled away a bit...

Emily & Jared had teacher things most days in the mornings, so we did lots of afternoon outtings.  We went into the bazaar several times, which had a real small-town feel to it.  Emily & Jared have their regular places they shop, so those people know them.  I had a shirt made for me by the tailor-- I brought in one of Emily's that I like; he measured me and copied the shirt. 

Emily & Jared buying fruits and veggies in the bazaar

Laundry day!

a monkey walking to school!  (well, actually away from school...)

Perhaps my favorite adventure was on Wednesday when Emily and I, with a friend of hers, hiked up Flag Hill-- a place where people hang Tibetan prayer flags.  The idea is that as the flags disintegrate, the prayers are carried away.  It was beautiful!  We sat on the of the mountain drinking hot chocolate and eating "dark fantasies" (chocolate sandwhich cookies, like Oreos) and looking out at the other mountains (or the cloud, as the case may be...).  Perfect.

Flag Hill

Me & Emily atop Flag Hill

Me playing Emily's brand new sitar!

On my last weekend there, we traveled to Rishikesh.  Now known as the 'Yoga Capital of the World,' the Beatles went to Rishikesh in 1968.  Since then, many other musicians, as well as westerners, have visited as well.  We ended up visiting Rishikesh on the same weekend as HALF of the MEN IN INDIA!!!  Young men in their teens and twenties, maybe some thirties, all wearing orange, and traveling in packs of 20-30 were EVERYWHERE!!!  They were quite taken with two white girls... Emily and I had our pictures taken constantly.  Regardless of the many, many orange men, Rishikesh was a neat place to visit.  Probably most impressive to me was seeing the Ganges River.  It was HUGE-- so swollen due to Monsoon.  If you could get away from the orange men, I could see how this place would be so relaxing.

The Ganges in Rishikesh

one of the footbridges crossing the Ganges in Rishikesh-- see all of the orange men?!

All in all, it was an amazing trip to the other side of the world.  Thanks, Emily & Jared, for being such wonderful hosts!  Be sure to check out all of my pictures on facebook! 

I hope summer has been treating everyone well!

~Laura  =)

My Visa Adventure, Part II

My Visa Adventure, Part I