This past weekend Jason and I tried to go to our home opener football game but it got stormed out :( We did however meet up at the "Hurricane Bar" with another new teacher Heather and her husband for a few drinks at the marina on the island before heading over the Gene and Nancy's to stay for the night. Saturday Jason and I spent the day at the beach on Hilton Head and we LOVED their public access, especially compared to Tybee Island in Savannah. HH was less crowded and had much nicer facilities such as showers and bathrooms (and parking!). For those of you who do not know much about HHI, it was only developed in the 1960's by a man who wanted to create a community that could exist with nature. The original community was called Sea Pines and then neighborhoods spread from there. Because of his original vision, HHI has very strict building codes. There are no neon signs, billboards, or any bright paint colors. As Gene says it takes an act of Congress to cut down a tree limb. The entire island is very wooded with tons of birds, animals and bike paths (oh, and golf courses!). You will be driving along and then--- "oops, I think I just passed the grocery store!" You can not see anything from the roads because of the trees. The beach itself was wide and had clean water but very few waves so it felt more like a lake than an ocean. But it is a very nice beach with far fewer rescues like Tybee!
Classes are still going good this week and I am already approaching Thursday! Today was picture day and of course I forgot, so I will be featured in the yearbook this year rocking a ponytail. SWEET.
I have my other bookclub this Friday and the featured book is called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a memoir about a woman who grew up in poverty because her parents chose to roam from place to place in the west instead of providing for their children. It is painful to still watch as the children adore their parents despite the wrongful things they do to them and the amazing ways they can survive and find food. I have found the book so far and enjoyable to read because Walls simply tells the stories- she doesn't give emotional commentary. It is also interesting to see the development between the siblings and how they will all turn into successful productive adults in big cities like New York while their parents are still homeless in the same city. It really is a fascinating and heartbreaking story. It has made me enter my classrooms with a little different attitude because I now wonder how many of my students feed themselves or live without basic amenities like AC, heat, or even indoor plumbing. Worse than those lack of physical conditions, the children in the book also lacked emotional care, which I definitely see everyday. Sometimes I wish people would just not have children when they can not be responsible enough to care for them.
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