Miscellaneous Updates

Since  my last post, the weeks have flown by! We enjoyed another lovely Thanksgiving in Grand Rapids, Michigan with Mark's aunt, uncle, and cousins. This year, all the cousins who live in the area joined us for the Thanksgiving meal, so we had a lively day full of family and food, with lots of little ones playing underfoot. One family who usually comes down from up north in Michigan had a brand new baby, so they didn't join us this year. Still, we had a great time catching up with everyone else. Aunt Debbe Jo and I also continued our tradition of making Christmas wreaths with various greenery from their yard.

We came back to BG on Friday, and after unpacking and having some takeout for dinner, Mark and I went ahead and put up our Christmas decorations. Since then, I've really enjoyed the festive atmosphere around here. We've been watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music...it's been refreshing to soak up all the hope and joy of the season. It's also been fun having some packages arrive and wrapping them to put under the tree. We've never had so many presents at our house!

It's also been a bit hectic wrapping up the fall semester. After Thanksgiving, we had two weeks of classes, then finals week. I think I've never been quite so busy at the end as I was this year, but everything that had to get done did get done. I really enjoyed the semester despite feeling a bit harried all the time; my administrative job has been a positive challenge, and my students this semester were excellent. I'm pleased to say that I got all my grades posted  yesterday, so I'm officially done with Fall 2016! In the past, we used to have our final assignments (papers, presentations, quizzes, etc.) due during the last week of classes, but now we are required to use our scheduled final exam time. This is probably a good policy change, but it does mean that I wasn't able to get nearly as much planning for the spring semester done as what I'm used to, so I'm feeling a bit behind. On the plus side, I'm really looking forward to my schedule for the spring. I'm teaching a graduate level class in the TESOL certificate program for the first time (Theories & Methods of TESOL), which is a huge undertaking, but I'm excited about it! I have a lot of reading to do over break to make sure I'll be able to stay a step or two ahead of my students, but I should enjoy it.

In the midst of all that work stuff, there's been plenty of holiday celebrating, too. I organized a trip with some colleagues down to the Swan House in Findlay, my first proper tea since they reopened. It was lovely!

There was also an end of semester English and GSW department gathering and a Christmas party at some friends' house last night. Last weekend, we had our first big snow of the season; about 5-6 inches (which may be more than we got at any one time all last season). At the moment, unfortunately, we're getting very cold rain, mixing with snow. Thankfully, we've been able to stay in today. It'll be interesting to see what kind of winter we're in for this year!