One my greatest benefits of being a teacher is
having summers off. This is a time we get to visit with our family and friends
we don’t get to see for 9 months.
Also, we get to eat food that doesn’t come from a can. Another plus is that Monica is able to
get more than 1 mile away from me if she chooses. (The answer is yes, she
chooses.)
We
left Nunam Iqua on May 21 and went to Las Vegas. When we planned the trip it sounded like a good idea. When we got there it was hot, noisy,
crowded, hot, noisy, and crowded. Since
I don’t like giving other people my money, I didn’t do much gambling. I mostly wandered around the casino
floor with a beer in my hand wondering why we came here. Then I lifted my glass
to my mouth and remembered. We did
have fun, but I think we’ll go straight home next summer.
We spent most of the summer in an oven. I realize most of you did too, so I
won’t go on about the heat; but good hell it was hot! It made me think about
the 50-degree summers up here and contemplate just staying. But the whole ‘eating food not from a
can’ thing kept me on course.
Without having to work during the day, I was
able to catch up on some TV. So my
morning routine would be to get up, sit in the recliner, get back up and make
coffee, sit back down in the recliner, turn the TV on, get back up and get my
coffee. (These workouts can be
exhausting.) Another benefit of summers off is having the option to wears
pants. On my legs. While watching TV I realized that the
reality shows have exploded. I
guess they have been there for a while, but I just noticed how many shows are
on TV about ordinary people doing boring, random jobs. It’s not like they have lion tamers on;
they have people running a cake shops or people bidding on storage units. How bored do I have to be to watch
other people’s lives that are more boring than mine? So I spent the entire day watching people bid on storage
units. There are a whole lot of TV
marathons on in the summer.
This summer also marked the loss of a very
important man in our and many other people’s lives. Monica’s dad passed away at the end of our summer
break. This was very difficult for
Monica, as her dad was very important in her life. She was able to spend most of her summer with him and was beside
him when he passed a way. Bill
will be missed by many people for the rest of their lives.
I was able to attend my family reunion in South
Dakota in July. This is always a
highlight in my year because it is good to catch up with family. It was also fun to talk with my cousins
who are teachers to compare our classes.
They teach on an Indian Reservation so we found that we face many of the
same challenges. I also noted that
as we were discussing our classes, I had more cousins who were teachers at our
table than we have teachers in Nunam.
The summer is done for us and soon school will
start. Although I will miss
smoking ribs and pork butts, visiting with family and friends, and not using a
can opener, I’m looking forward to the school year. This will be my third year up here and we don’t regret for
one second our decision to come live up here. It’s nice to return and hear kids and adults greet us with
“Welcome home”. It’s good to have
two homes.
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