September 23, 2012

Hello Friends and Family! We can’t believe that we’ve already been here for two months! We are starting to feel like real Coloradans, going on long walks, hiking, attending festivals, and I even registered to vote in the state of Colorado! (This swing state needs me) Dan has started class at The University of Denver, he has two communication classes that meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 4-8. I have been trying to learn how to fend for myself for dinner each night (not going so well). Thankfully, after a temporary deli job, Dan now has an office internship at a home healthcare company; it fits perfectly around his school schedule! Now I’ll only have to make dinner two nights a week J.

School is going very well. My students, parents, and staff seem to really love me which was my goal. My mentor had me visit a master music teacher on Tuesday which was fantastic. This teacher not only was amazing, but had great advice for me and said that she would be a resource if I ever needed anything. I feel so lucky to have so many people that I can go to in this district! I am so thankful every day for the job that I have, it is beyond perfect and amazing. On Friday we had a “no contact day” where the teachers had an in-service.  We learned about all of the different classroom features on our iPads and how to incorporate them into lessons. After the seminar, the former-former music teacher, who just had a baby and is moving to Chicago, volunteered her time to come help me learn how to use my SmartBoard. It is so cool and interactive! She had hundreds of lessons for each grade level and I am excited to start using it in my every day lessons. I have my 1^st grade concert coming up in a few weeks and I’m starting to get quite nervous, I hope we can pull it together!

Dan and I finally made it out to the mountains to go hiking last weekend. We went to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater which is in Morrison, Colorado, about 25 minutes from our apartment. I really hope that we can take our families there when they come visit HINT HINT MOM, DAD, AND DAVID! The park was absolutely beautiful! Dan and I were driving up the mountain and somehow missed the park entrance so we ended up driving quite a ways up the steep slopes. To make it even more difficult there was a bicycle race going on so there were hundreds of bikers going up and down the mountain too. Dan had never driven on a mountain before and I was one nervous passenger. Once we got to the park (and safely back down the mountain) we parked the car and started to explore the amphitheater. The ramp to get into the theater was very steep and I’m shocked that everyone can climb that just to see a concert! Once inside the theater we saw hundreds of people running, jumping, and doing push-ups/sit-ups up the seats of the theater. These people are nuts! I barely made it up the steps in a timely fashion and all these people were running up and down them. Once we got to the top of the steps we saw an insanity yoga class going on. Not just relaxing yoga but really intense yoga! With the altitude, there is no way Dan and I could ever do that.

We toured the amphitheater visitor center which had photos and videos of past performers. Some of the bands/artists that had played there were The Beatles, Bruce Springstein, U2, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Dave Mathews… Tons of amazing artists. Our goal is to see a show or two next summer. After we left the amphitheater we went hiking on a 1.5 mile trail around the park. The first part of the trail was all downhill which was very nice. Unfortunately Dan got stung by a bee literally 30 seconds into the hike (it might have been my fault for swatting it) but he was fine and we carried on down the path. By the time we got to the uphill part of the hike I was really feeling the altitude and my back muscles. Dan was a pro at hiking but was kind enough to go snail speed for me. We were not the only foreigners on the trail though as we passed people from Wisconsin and Texas, it made me feel better. I cannot wait to go on more hikes (perhaps some easy ones for a while).

Last night Dan and I went downtown to the Denver Oktoberfest. It was located in the ballpark district and right next to Coors Field. The festival was hosted by Samuel Adams Beer and we bought one giant beer stein to share between the two of us. We chose the Oktoberfest Beer and it was absolutely delicious. They had live bands playing, tons of German food, and hundreds of Denverites having a great time. We met up with one of Dan’s classmates and her friends and practiced our “making new friends” skills. Hopefully we will be able to meet more people soon J

Goals for this week are to finish planning my fall programs, Dan will start his new job, and I will be continuing my physical therapy. Photos of our hike are available on Facebook.