Speckles of snow!

It snowed! And Saturday was the first time it stayed on the ground for a while :) But then, of course, it melted by the afternoon.  Funny to say I'm in the north and it's probably much cooler in many places south of here. 
It was the first Hallowe'en here, I hear, in a while where there was no snow on the ground!  It snowed about ten minutes today (when I was walking home of course... shivering because I'm a weakling for cold I guess.)

"It's snowing!" I said excitedly to another teacher, "I'm probably the only one to see it that way, of course."
She smiles, "no, Violaine was the same way"
(I'm translating from French so its not exact.)

So Hallowe'en felt chaotic but fun.  I'm glad I was able to smile.  It was a full day of fun! "It's Hallowe'en," the kids said, "we're not supposed to work!" I had them do some printing in the morning, which I'm not sure they were motivated to do... I wanted to keep the routine in place though.  That's important for some kids!

Well, today I got to rejoin the grade 5 class I started with.  What was once "Stacey's class"and now "Jenny's Class."  They kept calling me Jenny and I wanted to say "I'm not Jenny! Stop calling me that!"  "Well, they'd say, you look alike!" And they had all these plans and things they were going to do for the halloween decorations but, of course a lot of their plans did not happen because I didnt know what they did with it all :S  So I did what I could-messy as it is, it's their creation and that's the important thing. 

So there's snow on the ground and, while some are seeing it as "oh no, snow=cold!" I see it as "ohhh how beautiful!"

Lately I've been thinking a little more about my departure from here to tell the truth.  I keep reminding myself though, that I still have yet to accomplish what I came to do.  There's still a lot I need to do for me to feel better about coming back.  No, working at the school isn't enough.  Yes, school makes a huge difference, but school isn't the only thing that defines us as a society, I'm learning.  I want to do more and experience more one-on-one interactions outside the classroom- because they're the ones where you can be fully invested, say what you need to say and be all that you are.  Needless to say, I dont feel I'm the same person in a classroom situation. 

But it's alright, I give what I can and the bottomline is, of course what I always say, I care.  And I show it.