August 7, 2012

August 7, 2012

                Dan and I have officially made it to Denver and have unpacked almost all of our belongings. Our friend Tom was gracious enough to come over yesterday to help Dan unload the moving truck since I am absolutely no help with my restrictions. Our drive from Detroit to Denver started out very eventful .The cat and I simultaneously had panic attacks when we hit Jackson because Dan felt bad for her and let her out of the cage (bad, bad idea) but by the time we hit the Indiana border we were both ok (and the cat was back in the crate). Chai had some drugs to help her calm down but it made her loopy and uncomfortable. I am just glad that we all made it alive. When we hit Iowa we drove through a crazy rainstorm which we had to immediately pull over to the side of the road. We couldn’t see a foot in front of the vehicle and it’s a miracle that Dan got us over safely. The rest of the drive was easy and we made it to Lincoln Nebraska for the night. Dan, Chai, and I had the best night’s sleep of our lives that night and were ready to finish the trip the next day.

                We arrived in Denver around 3:30 MST and signed all of our apartment papers, got our keys, and unpacked the car. We had a gift certificate from my cousin Jeff and his wife Katie for J. Alexander’s that we had been saving for a nice occasion so we drove about 7 minutes and had dinner there. The waiter was very kind and gave us lots of great tips about Denver. We learned that we are living in a very nice and safe area, that I am teaching in one of the richest school districts in the country, and that you can go to jail for 6 months for having ANY amount of alcohol in your system when driving. Not .08, ANY amount. After dinner we went to Target and found out that everything in Denver has an 8% sales tax. Garbage bags were $7.00!! We are going to be poor, really fast.

                On Monday Dan and I ran a million errands trying to get all of my hiring stuff together. I met with the head of human resources and she gave me my forms to get fingerprinted, forms to send to GVSU to verify my graduation, and a ton of other papers. We then drove 20 minutes to the DMV to get my Colorado drivers license but after waiting in line I found out that they don’t give licenses there? It was frustrating. Next we went to the sheriff’s office and got fingerprinted which was only $10.00 for two sets of fingerprints! Take notes Michigan! You’re $67.00 is bolognas. The county sheriff’s office was right next to the field where the Bronco’s practice and they were having a training day. Lots of people were there to see Payton and I was secretly hoping to see him. When we got home Dan and Tom unloaded the truck and then we went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was not nearly as good as Monterrey’s.

                Today I had my first day of teacher training called “first year forum”. It was for first year teachers and it was nice meeting people who were just as scared as I am for the first day of school. We learned that in the state of Colorado you don’t actually get your real teaching license until you have completed a certain amount of professional development hours your first year and most districts make you go to a bunch of classes on your days off, super far away, that are terrible. But, in my district, these first-year forums count as ALL of those credit hours! So that is pretty awesome. I got to meet my superintendent and she is absolutely wonderful. I can tell she has high regards for music and was very straight forward with us about everything. I have a feeling that I’ve hit the school district jackpot. All of the mentors are super nice and have a passion for teaching and I can’t wait to get assigned one for the year.

                When I came home today, Dan had unpacked most of the apartment, and we are finishing setting everything else up tonight. The only thing we can’t figure out is where to put the liter box. Once we go grocery shopping I will feel settled. I have so much to do this week with all of my PD, forms for certification, classroom set-up, and lesson planning. Two weeks is not enough time before the children come! Hopefully everything will be ready by then. Dan is enjoying his few weeks off before he starts school, obviously the first thing that he set up was the television and sound system. I can only imagine that our neighbors are going to hate us.