My students didn't say anything to me this week, but I missed the sound of my own (writing) voice, so here we are.
Despite having only had a month of school between the end of winter break and this past week’s semester break, I was looking forward to the week off, likely because of general pandemic burnout that makes any and every obligation more draining. For the same reason I found myself growing more and more irritable as the week went on, because the end of the week meant the end of break which meant i would have obligations again. Frankly, I am sort of dreading going back to school next week—not only because there will be some combination of online and in-person schooling that I don’t quite understand yet, or because I’ll have to wear my FFP-2 mask for hours on end, but maybe a combination of those, plus the fact that, if I am to have my full schedule for the first time since late October, that will be like starting all over again (perhaps especially because I haven’t seen some of these students since, well, October). And that, dear reader, is filling me with dread.
I’m being dramatic, of course. I hope it won’t be as bad as I’m currently imagining it will be, though it probably will be exhausting. But I’m hoping being back with the students in person will re-energize me and remind me why I was once so excited to share with you all the fun/funny/interesting things they were saying and what I was learning from them.
The week wasn’t all bad. For the Big Game™ (well, that was bad; let’s not talk about it) I made nachos (WITH homemade queso; this is my platonic ideal), spinach-artichoke dip, and these cupcakes, which were just as moist and plush as promised and can officially be added to the list of baked goods I can make with just a whisk and bowl. Another hopeful, originally by Melissa Clark but also endorsed by, of course, Deb, is a blood orange olive oil cake, which I plan to make since I got a kilo of blood oranges for 1.49 EUR! So that’s something to look forward to.
The highlight of the week, however, was by far going skiing on Wednesday. My mentor teacher, kind and generous as ever, invited me and last year’s TA (who now lives in Vienna) to go with her and her husband; we left flat and grey Eisenstadt shortly before 8 in the morning and arrived in a mountainous winter wonderland, a ski mountain called Stuhleck in neighboring Styria, shortly after 9. Steady snowfall the past few days meant the snow was fresh, going on a random Wednesday morning meant it stayed that way. It was so, so lovely.
Now, if you need me, I’ll be listening to the complete chronological playlist of every song played on The O.C. because it matches my mood. To a better week next week!
Em