Off to the Races

I haven't had much time to write, but here's what's happened during that time:

• I got hired! At Wheeler Middle School teaching Special Ed English for sixth graders. The interview process went down last Tuesday. Basically they set us up with interviews with principals of various schools based on the positions they needed and our qualifications. You would interview with as many schools possible until you got hired. My first interview was with Wheeler, a middle school located on the military base in central Oahu. I knew a few '07 Corps members who worked up there, and I heard it wasn't bad. The principal and another teacher asked me a few questions about my resume and then if I preferred to teach English or Math. I told them English, and just like that, I signed a sheet and was hired! I can't tell you how good it feels to know exactly what position I have next year. It's very exciting.
• I visited my school. On Thursday, myself and the other six '08 Corps members who were hired by Wheeler went up to the school to visit it and see our classrooms. We were picked up at our hotel by Sha and Sam, two teachers from the school. Sha will be a major mentor to us, an auntie the Hawaiians call it. As soon as we arrived at the school, they gave us leis and all the teachers came to introduce themselves. We got our pictures taken and ID cards printed out. Then we went to Sha's room, where she insisted we eat a large amount of Chinese food that had been ordered just for us. After that, we toured the school. It was in great shape. It had a nice new blue paint job and several courtyards with tropical plants. I also got to see my own classroom for the first time. I even found out that I'll be teaching a World Languages class as well. I can choose whatever language I want to teach, so I'll definitely be teaching Italian next year. It will be a riot. After the tour we ate more food and left. Needless to say, I like it here so far and can't wait for the year to begin.
• Institute began. We moved into the dorms of University of Houston on Sunday. Houston is very muggy. There's no other way to describe it. But the rooms have AC and it's fun to be living like a freshman again. I was also reunited with Sir, who's here with his region, the Rio Grande Valley. Sleep is definitely not a priority in this program. My bus leaves for school every morning at 6:15 sharp. We don't get back until later in the afternoon. I got a membership at the fitness center, which is absolutely sweet. I just have to decide which is more important: sleep or working out. There's not a whole lot of downtime for us. But so far it's going alright. I do need at least a little sleep, so I'm off to bed.