Well, this is a LONG overdue update... and I promised some of you it'd be the best ever... so I'm starting it with a NEVER BEFORE SEEN picture of David and I and our proud little guy on his graduation day from Puppy Training Class. That's right... you're seeing it here for the first time! So there! That's a great way to start right? :-) So our much loved little Oskar is an official puppy school graduate. He can officially sit, lay down, roll over, shake, stay, leave a treat and take it when told, and come. Now, demonstrating them in class in front of the trainer and other puppies...? That doesn't seem to be his favorite place to demonstrate his new skills. But he's pretty good at all of them at home which makes us happy. He'll get better at dealing with the distractions as he gets older... we hope!Things are clicking right along here in Philly. Hard to believe we've now been here over 8 months! I'm officially half way through my second semester and every day when I stop and look behind me, at what I've accomplished, it boggles my mind in a wonderful way. My class load this semester is very different from last semester. Fall was very "academic and research" heavy. Spring is very "practical and playing" heavy. I'm singing in choir, playing oboe in Wind Symphony, and taking oboe lessons. I'm investing a lot of time practicing, making reeds, and participating in rehearsals, but it's all very fulfilling. Definitely challenging at times, and feels like a lot of pressure (especially in the hot seat right under the director's nose in the top wind band), but it's also pushing me to be the best I can be and give the most I have which is part of why I wanted to come back to school in the first place. I'm also in an aural theory review course which I don't care for at all but am still appreciative of because I'm definitely improving and learning. So I GUESS it's good. I'm also in the coolest class ever though, it's the coolest because me and my grad student friend Jeanette designed it ourselves. Yep! We created it and got approval from the department and got one of our favorite professors to teach it and three other grad student girls to take it with us. We have three phases: jazz, rock, and fusion. We each compose a song in that style, rehearse the group informally on our song, and we all get to play secondary instruments. So I'm playing trumpet, electric bass, acoustic guitar, and drums. It's so much fun! Every Friday afternoon is the BEST! And I hope I can take so much of what I'm learning from that class, about teaching informally and teaching popular music, and bring it into my next classroom.
In addition to all of this, the teaching side is going well too. I'm getting to conduct a new non-auditioned band on campus which also includes community members. It's SO exciting to have the opportunity to rehearse and conduct- especially at the higher level beyond middle school. It's been very challenging as well- really working on my conducting habits and rehearsal skills. But I feel like I'm improving so much every week and I'm really excited about conducting at our final concert in about a month!
David is doing well. I'm realizing that everyone might not know that he was promoted to an HR coordinator position within his company. He works with the HR manager of the company doing hiring, firing, and running special projects. We are so happy that he is with a company now that recognizes how much he has to offer and how hard-working and talented he is. Although he is working really hard, he really enjoys the job and the challenges it brings. He's sure this will be really great to have on his resume down the line and really likes what he's doing.
I'm just 6 short weeks from being done with the semester, meaning done with my first year of grad school, meaning half way through the program, meaning ALMOST summer! And boy are we getting some nice weather around here. We've been having 65-75 degree weather the last few days and it looks like it's going to be continuing for a bit. I'll take it!! We are hoping to make plans soon about when we'll be able to come back and visit the good 'ol Northwest, so stay tuned for updates on that. You have to know that after 8 months of being away from so many people we love so much... we are very eager to get back and catch up with many of you.
Love to you all!
Haley
