But I'll try anyway.
We are definitely surprised at the fact that we don't miss owning our own house, or much of the physical 'stuff' (city, shops, restaurants, etc...). What we miss are the people. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by that, but I had grown to believe that the town in which we lived was irreplaceable. Stupid I know. The people are certainly the ones who cannot be replaced.
That being said, being dorm parents on a boarding school campus that houses about 20+ other faculty (and their families) throws you into an automatic community filled with (for the most part) like-minded individuals. Let's face it, only two types of people are willing to live on the grounds of where they work surrounded by their co-workers AND their students; those who fully buy into the intentional community philosophy and are welcoming to all kinds of people and those who are REALLY cheap. To date, I think I've only met people in the first category.
I'll digress for a moment to discuss my (Derek) working conditions. First of all, they couldn't be much different from my previous teaching job. I have 4 classes introductory Biology with 13 students in each class plus an advisory class made up of 5 students. So I will be responsible (during the day anyway) with getting to know, mentor and teach 57 students. At my previous job in public school I saw that many students by 11:00 am. Now if you add in the 28 boarding students that I have some responsibility for each night then that number comes up a bit (but remains below the ~130 students I had last fall).
Second, the faculty, staff and administration like one another. In fact I've witnessed (on more than one occasion) hugs AND KISSES between folks as they greet one another after being gone for the summer. There doesn't seem to be any suspicion or mistrust between the parties as there's an overall sense that 'we're all in this together.' Which I guess is true. Unlike a public school, if any of us suck our enrollment goes down, if that happens we lose money (and eventually our jobs). I've always argued that free market capitalism and education shouldn't mix. But here I am witnessing it working quite well. Of course I'm at a pretty elite independent school whose model of education couldn't be translated directly to the public school arena. A final anecdote to illustrate the way that the admin, staff, teachers get along:
Yesterday afternoon was our first full day of meetings where all of the staff from all of the schools came to our campus for meetings in the mornings. Usually, these are full of introductions, policy updates, financial statements, etc... and this was true for the morning. But then at 2:30, we ALL (administration, teachers, maintenance workers, IT people, counselors, nurses, custodial staff, coaches, everybody) went outside, were split into 6 teams and competed in a bunch of 'camp games' like balloon toss, egg carry, three-legged race, sack race, etc... This was followed by a name that tune and karaoke competition which was followed by a really amazing picnic meal. For the entire time (2:30-6:00) I was constantly being approached by folks who introduced themselves and asked about me. It was stunning.
Enough about me.
Tina is still adjusting to what it means to be a stay-at-home mom in a new home in a new town right before Henry goes off to pre-K every day. This means that she's spending a lot of time trying to get Henry equipped with all that he needs while also getting the house put together AND keeping Hans and Henry stimulated and entertained. On most days I think she's enjoying it immensely but there are moments where the boys can get rather...frustrating.
Henry seems to have adjusted well and has found some friends in the children of other staff who live on campus (one of whom will be in the same pre-K class as Henry starting next Tuesday).
I'm not sure Hans knows (or cares) that we've moved. The life of a 1-year old is footloose and fancy free and Hans seems to have grabbed that as his motto.
To wrap stuff up I have some pics from a museum trip we took a few weeks ago. AWESOME!
