Summer Done List

When I looked back, I was surprised to find that this will be my 5th year posting summer done lists (2017, 2016, 2015, 2014). For me, it's definitely a helpful way to reflect on the summer and celebrate it, even though I always have a hard time letting it go and getting back to full-time work in August. One thing about being the program director, though, is that the placement testing process really forces me to hit the ground running--I can't drag my feet when the new students are arriving and there is so much work to be done. It means that August is a blur, and I don't have too much time to mope about summer being over. Instead, I look forward to being on the other side of those busy weeks, and getting into a new routine for fall, which is where I am now--after two weeks of classes--yay! Anyway, here are the highlights from summer 2018:

Work

Since I've continued as the ESOL Program Director, I had a summer contract to work a set number of hours through the summer, plus additional time for placement testing. It seems like a lot of my time was spent keeping up with email--just answering whatever questions came in--but I also did a few important projects. Preparing for placement testing was a major undertaking, too, in part because I directly oversaw our testing for International Teaching Assistants (ITAs), which our Assistant Director did last year, so it was all new to me. We have a new Assistant Director, so she and I spent some time discussing how we'd divide up the admin work between us and catching her up on changes in the program (she's been at BGSU for a long time, and was Assistant Director for a year before, but spent the last 2 years teaching in China).

Besides admin work, I always try to take advantage of the summer to invest some extra time in professional development, so I did a lot of reading (sometimes at the pool!) and watched a few webinars. I also drafted an article about my first year as an administrator for a newsletter; it's with the publisher now, and I'm waiting for feedback. If all goes according to plan, it should be published in October.

Early in the summer, I submitted two proposals for TESOL in March 2019; one on my own about applying the science of teaching/learning to TESOL, and another with my colleague about working with models when teaching genre-based writing. I also read proposals in July, as I've done for the past few years. I hope to find out within the next month or so if either of my proposals got in--last year's conference had about a 25% acceptance rate, so it's pretty competitive!

Home

During the school year, it seems like I always make excuses to avoid doing projects around the house. So I tried to take on a few this summer. My list of potential projects is longer than what I got done, but I did some cleaning out at home (including our file cabinet--lots of shredding!) and a few other areas that had gotten cluttered or disorganized. I also did some extra chores/cleaning, we got a repair done on our car, and we took a big load of books to the used bookstore for store credit. Mark and I met with our insurance agent to make some updates to our policies (and because we'd never met him before; our original one here just retired in the spring). I also made sure to spend some time out on our balcony, which seems like a space in our home that is underused. Mark and I had dinner out there a few times, and I spent some time working and reading there. I'd like to remember to use it through the fall, too.

Travel

I've already blogged about our three trips, but travel is definitely one of my favorite things about summers. I can't resist re-posting a few pics from each of our trips:

Disney World and Disney Cruise in May:

Niagara Falls with my parents in June:

Las Vegas for Damon & Jill's wedding in June:

Friends

Once we were home from all that travel, I wanted to make sure I was intentional about connecting with friends through the summer, which can be hard for me because I'm usually also content to hang out at home with Mark or doing my own thing. 

A few friends came to BG for a visit, so it was great to spend time with them. Angela and I had an afternoon at the pool which felt just like old times. Julie came over for a nice conversation at my place, and one of Mark's friends from grad school stayed with us for a night when she came to town to work on her document. 

Two friends moved this summer, one out of Stadium View into a house, and another into Stadium View (if you can believe it, actually into my other friend's old apartment!). I helped each of them a bit with unpacking and organizing, which I enjoyed. 

And I coordinated an outing to the Swan House and hosted my own open house, both of which gave me a good chance to see people and introduce some of my friends to each other. 

Entertainment

This summer, we made it to the drive-in again to see Ant Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2. More recently, we saw Christopher Robin at our local theater. We also got a free month of Netflix, so I took advantage of my chance to catch up on and start a couple of their original series: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Crown. Meanwhile, I've been borrowing some TV shows from the library: Once Upon a Time, Golden Girls, and New Girl. And I even watched a couple things on network TV: the new season of The Great British Baking Show on PBS and the summer competition series World of Dance on NBC. I also spent some time coloring while I watched some of these. 

And I read a ton of books for pleasure, some non-fiction and some summer fluff (like a couple Jenny Colgan novels, including Cafe by the Sea and Endless Beach. Like past summers, I started a series; this time, Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. I only got about halfway through the series, but I've got a hold on the next book and plan to keep reading. I also read a novel about family who moved to Alaska, which inspired me to reminisce about our trip in 2015, look back at pictures, and finish reading the guidebook I bought on the cruise ship. I really hope we go back some time.

And I tried a few new podcasts, finding some flops and some keepers. I still listen to a lot: when I workout, walk to school, cook, and do chores. I'm glad I got into podcasts a few years ago!

Miscellaneous

And there are a few other things that come to mind:

Mark and I had a quick meet up with Julie and Ben at Shatila Bakery in May, when they were visiting his family in Michigan. We also went to a few graduation parties for HS seniors Mark worked with in the band at Wauseon, and we went to the town's homecoming weekend and pageant. We watched BG's July 4th fireworks from the lawn in front of our building. 

I've been going to the Farmer's Market most Wednesday afternoons and enjoying the fresh produce and the local vibe (I almost always run into someone I know). And I did some shopping with birthday money--finding lots of good deals at Goodwill, some new sandals to wear at work, and a couple finds at a department store going-out-of-business sale. 

Now it's definitely fall, and I'm trying to embrace all that means. It's getting used to a new routine at school, and this fall, it's teaching an extra class and figuring out how to work enough but not too much. It'll come together. It's cooler weather (finally!) and the beginning of apple season, which is one of my favorite things about this area. We'll see what else fall brings, but for the moment, it's been fun looking back on all the things we did over the summer!