Being in Oregon still feels so surreal
to me – like at any given moment I will wake up and be in that cracker box
house in West Valley. Take this morning
for instance. It was definitely cooler than
any day that we’ve been here since we had come out for spring break.
I had dropped by the middle school to
ask a few more questions. The front door
was open, and there was a light on one of the offices. I think I heard a vacuum cleaner in the
distance. It was before 9:00 am and perhaps was too early and so I decided to
return at a later time.
I drove to the pool which was still
closed. I decided to sit on a bench and read until the instructor and
lifeguards started filing in, and then walk down to do some water aerobic
workouts. I took a few pictures from my
cell phone (as I had left my camera at home by the computer) before I notice the manager
and then the instructor. As I made my
way over the hill and around the building, I couldn’t help thinking how none of
this had existed for me just a month ago.
I wasn’t even aware of the existence of this part of the world.
My aerobics start at 9:00 and go for an
hour. Jenna has swim lessons that start
at 10:30. I allowed her to stay home while I was in the water and then returned
home for her. We had twenty minutes of
waiting time and stopped at the school to ask the questions and I was also
given the forms that I’ll need for registration.
After her swim class, we went to the music
building which sits between the elementary and the middle school. We introduced ourselves and I told the
instructor that I was interested in putting Jenna in band. He assigned her the clarinet and she had a
four-minute instruction on how to put the instrument together and take it apart
and gave her a first ten minute lesson on how to play each note. He gave us a book and the clarinet and
instructed us to return to the school to pay a rental fee.
Students are encouraged to practice the
instruments during the summer so that they will be somewhat familiar once
school starts. I had been interested in
starting Jenna in band when she was in the 5th grade, but when the leadership program was introduced
to elementary
school she attended in Salt Lake, it appeared that they had dropped the band program. Now Jenna has the opportunity – which at this
time she is not at all happy about – but she felt that same way about my having
put her in the dual immersion program and theatre and those turned out to be
pluses and band will, too.
The school district does not offer a
foreign language program until High School, but I am happy to say that Jenna
will not lose her ability to communicate in Spanish. Halla, a student who moved to Myrtle Creek
from Mexico, speaks no English and so the school plans to assign Jenna as Halla’s
buddy. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
Last night Jenna played with friends for
the first time since we’ve moved here. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a program to girls ages 8-12
which is supposedly similar to what the boys get with scouts. The program is called achievement days or
activity days. We had taken Jenna to the
church last night and she and Casey decided it would be great to continue
playing together after the activity was over.
We brought Casey home with us.
Jenna was sooooo excited to have a play date with somebody – finally.
I think we had only been home just 30
minutes or so when Casey’s younger sister, Carly knocked at our door. She had with her Casey’s friend, Callie. So Jenna, Carly, Casey and Callie played
together and Jenna was in her glory. It’s
the happiest I have seen her in a long time, actually. She was hoping her play
date would never end. Of course it did
end. The skies grew darker and Roland’s
eyes became heavier and he suggested sending the girls home. I told Jenna she could walk down the street
with them and then return. I went out to
the street to watch her – but it was so dark outside I really couldn’t see
them.
I heard my neighbor across the street
and yelled out to her, “Hi, Judy.”
When she seemed to respond, I had to
cross the street to ask her to repeat whatever she had said as I couldn’t hear
her.
I saw Jenna return to the house – along with
the three girls she had walked down the street with.
“You girls cannot walk each other back
and forth to each other’s houses all night!” I yelled.
Judy started laughing.
“Casey’s mom wants to talk to you. She’s right behind us.”
The girls started playing games on the
front lawn before Callie and Casey’s moms walked across the street to join Judy
and me. We must have all been visiting
for 20- 30 minutes before Josie and Tara collected their girls and each went
in a different direction. Jenna was
beaming and excitedly asked me, “Can I tell you what we did?” and started in
with every detail beginning with activity days. It was quite amusing to hear
her trip over the names of the other three as she explained the details of “duck,
duck goose” and “mother may I”. I am so
happy to see that sparkle back in her eyes!
This afternoon I took Casey and Jenna to
the library for an activity. We met the
mayor – who, as it turns out, is my neighbor from just up the street (next door
to Judy) and there was a programs and gifts and prizes and Jenna received a
free t-shirt from a drawing.
I had planned on creating this post
while Jenna and Casey played together, but Jenna asked if I would play a board
game with them – which I suppose was necessary as Casey wasn’t quite getting the
joy of playing it. After a while, Callie
came over and the three girls played together.
Now Jenna is at an outdoor concert which I could have attended as well,
but chose to write this post instead.
I did feel a few drops fall down from
the sky. Not a heavy rainfall. It looks like it could rain however. It really has been a great experience being
here.
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