Home at Last

Sweet Moses it feels good to be back.

Don't get me wrong, Europe was incredible and Utah was amazing, but anyone who has lived out of their suitcase for a month straight knows that it's a taxing affair. And oh the joy it was to come home and sleep in our bed. We actually napped for 5 hours on the day we got home, then slept in till noon the next day. I think we were "traveled out", if there is such a thing.

After awaking from our temporary sleep coma, I got a phone call from the stake presidency instructing me to be early for church today. You know where this is going, right? So anyway, you're talking to the new Elder's Quorum President/High Priest Group Leader (they just combine the priesthood bodies here on account of it being a branch. I'm sure that won't be time-consuming or challenging at all, right? Especially when school starts.

All is well here in North Carolina, where Celeste and I will enjoy a relatively carefree lifestyle for the next couple of weeks before we head to Boston/Maine for our anniversary. But when we return, it'll be all nose to the grindstone from there. Another school year lurks beyond the horizon. I can feel it in the water...

Europe vs. Utah - Who Wins?

Canoeing on the Provo River

Europe and Utah...

These two geographic locations are rarely compared, probably on account of them being so radically different and distant from each other. We probably never would have done it either, but seeing as we just spent 2 weeks in Europe and are almost done with a 2-week trip to Utah, we figured why not?

EUROPE PROS: beaches (REAL beaches), castles, architecture, diversity, history (REAL history), crepes, Diagon Alley, chocolate, user-friendly public transportation, foot-traffic only streets filled with shops, restaurants, and street performers.

EUROPE CONS: public urination (mostly Paris), general absence of familiar faces, occasional language barriers, sketchy hotels

VS.

UTAH PROS: family, friends, childhood memories, wakeboarding, homemade rootbeer, Costa Vida, mountains, sunsets, mountain sunsets, shaved ice shacks, cheap matinees, 4th of July celebrations, driving on the right side of the road.

UTAH CONS: lopsided political system, Andrei Kirilenko, inversion, BYU


Well, we're a month into our summer vacation, and we've only spent 1 night at our apartment in North Carolina. We'll get back this week, but we still have a vacation to Boston/New England in a few weeks. Some of you might think that all this traveling is a little overboard, but ask yourself: what would you do if you had 2 months paid vacation? Doubtful any of you would just sit around. We figure we many never have the chance to travel like this ever again, so we might as well cash in while we can.

Jack, Les, and this place called Europe

Last night at about 8 p.m., Celeste and I limped to our front door and stumbled through it, officially marking the end to our long and exhausting European adventure. What a fool I was to think that I would actually be blogging last night, as I had promised in my previous post. After visiting 6 cities, 4 countries, walking over 30 miles, having an airport sleepover, and finally learning the true meaning of jet-lag, blogging quickly dropped to the bottom of our priority list. Instead, our priorities went something like this: collapse, stand up, limp, collapse, shower, brush teeth, collapse.

All that said, Europe was INCREDIBLE. "Incredible" doesn't even do it justice. It was scrumtralescent. Seeing as there is no way to share everything with you without boring you and making my hands cramp, we're going to do a quick highlight reel, along with some rankings and just a sampling of the pictures we took that are sure to make you jealous.

STOP #1: Belfast and Derry, Ireland
DURATION OF STAY: 4 days
HIGHTLIGHTS: Seeing my sister Mandy and her husband Bryan, going to Bryan's work to see the sets and production offices of "A Game of Thrones", a new HBO series that will come out next year, eating a delicious meal in an Irish pub while local folk musicians filled the air with their music, touring Belfast City Hall, Dunluce Castle, The Giant's Causeway, seeing the most beautiful and emerald green coast under heaven, walking through Derry where "Bloody Sunday" occurred back in the early 70's (you know, the U2 song, British Army, the IRA and all that), teaching Mandy to play the guitar.
LOWLIGHTS: Being absolutely screwed up on sleep. Jet lag, coupled with the fact that the sun rose at 5 a.m. and didn't go down until about 11 p.m., was extremely unforgiving on our bodies. Never before had our internal clocks been so confused and angry at us.

STOP #2: London, England
DURATION OF STAY: 2 days
HIGHLIGHTS: Spending time with friends Andy and Erin and listening to their evolving British accents, The London Eye, an organ performance at St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament, Buckingham Palace, one of those cheesy but well-worth-it double decker red bus tours, seeing J.K. Rowling's house, a stroll through Hyde Park, discovering the magic of a raspberry sorbet on a sugar cone (over and over again), highly impressive street performers, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, riding trains, the beauty of the Thames.
LOWLIGHTS: Only having 2 days there, developing blisters on the feet.

STOP #3: Paris, France
DURATION OF STAY: 3 days
HIGHLIGHTS: Climbing the narrow winding staircase to the top of Notre Dame, a romantic night stroll along the Seine River, Le Saint-Chapelle with stained-glass that gives you a headache just thinking about how it was created, the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo at the Louvre, King Louis' Versailles Chateau and gardens, and taking a rowboat out onto his personal canals, The Musee de l'Armee and Napolean's tomb beneath the Golden Dome of Invalides Cathedral, the Arc d' Triomph, watching the sun set atop the Eiffel Tower.
LOWLIGHTS: Having our hotel lose our reservation on our first night in Paris, forcing us to scramble for a place to stay, the place we ended up staying, the pillows at the place we ended up staying, discovering on day 2 that our shower was no longer in service at the place we were staying (do you see a trend here?) Not speaking the language, the Orly Airport, adding blisters on the hands to the existing blisters on the feet from the rowing at Versailles.

STOP #4: Barecelona and Valencia, Spain
DURATION OF STAY: 5 days
HIGHLIGHTS: Seeing Mandy again (she joined us for this last leg of the trip), attending church in Valencia where Celeste served her mission, seeing Celeste's apartments and meeting friends from the mission, swimming in the Mediterranean, La Mercat de St. Josep, touring La Sagrada Familia and learning about Gaudi architecture, beaching it up in Barcelona, walking La Rambla and watching in disbelief at some of the street performances, The Gaudi Musem and Casa Milla, The Montjuic Castle, Palace, and Fountain, The Picasso Museum, authentic paella, eating Celeste's favoirte Spanish treats and candies, walking Barcelona's endless web of charming streets, alleys, nooks, and crannies, more raspberry sorbet.
LOWLIGHTS: Pain with practically every step, discovering how much this whole thing cost us.

I know that's a lot to swallow all at once, so if you want to sift through all the info and find out what we enjoyed the most, Celeste and I have created a Top 5 list of things we did:

CELESTE'S TOP 5 PLACES, SITES, OR ACTIVITES:
1. The Irish coast
2. Swimming in Valencia in the Mediterranean Sea
3. Visiting the Mission
4. Cathedral of Notre Dame
5. London Double-Decker Bus Tour

JACKSON'S TOP 5 PLACES, SITES, OR ACTIVITES:
1. Dunluce Castle and the Irish coast
2. Swimming in Valencia in the Mediterranean Sea
3. The city streets of Barcelona
4. Cathedral of Notre Dame
5. Versailles Chateau and Gardens



Also, of the six cities we visited, we've ranked them in order of which we enjoyed the most. Be it known, however, that we enjoyed them all immensely, so there's really no dishonor in being last on this list.

CELESTE'S EUROPEAN CITY RANKINGS:
1. Barcelona, Spain
2. London, England
3. Valencia, Spain
4. Paris, France
5. Belfast, Northern Ireland
6. Derry, Northern Ireland

JACKSON'S EUROPEAN CITY RANKINGS:
1. Barcelona, Spain (without a doubt)
2. Paris, France
3. London, England
4. Belfast, Northern Ireland
5. Derry, Northern Ireland
6. Valencia, Spain

Now we're in North Carolina, but not for long. Tomorrow we leave for Utah and another 2-week vacation. Behold the fruits of being a teacher.

At the airport, near the end of a long, long journey

Last stop: Barcelona

We´re not going to write much now. Our trip is winding down and we´re in our last city: Barcelona, Spain, where Celeste served her mission. Spain is incredible. The Mediterranean is warm and inviting, and the weather is perfect.

We fly home on Wednesday. Check back then for a proper synopsis of the last week of our trip and many, many pictures to accompany it.

We love you all, Marta.

Europe Week 1

Well, we've only been in Europe for 4 days and we've already had plenty of adventures. Far too many adventures to share with you now on limited internet time with extreme jet-lag still plaguing us on a daily basis.

To sum it up very briefly, I almost got ran over by a car just minutes after landing in Dublin. Weirdest thing: they drive on the wrong side of the road here. Silly Europeans. We saw the Northern coast of Ireland, and yes, it is as green and beautiful as you could possibly imagine. We spent the majority of yesterday afternoon picking our jaws off the ground while we toured castles, ruins, and the greenest coast God ever made.

After 3 wonderful days in Ireland with sister Mandy and brother-in-law Bryan, we headed to London, which is where we currently are. We've only been here a day, but have already seen the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Pauls Cathedral, and the inside of a pay toilet. Pretty amazing stuff. Also, I'm constantly tempted to bust out my Irish/British/Scottish accent (it all kind of blurs into one). Dangerous, right? I'm just waiting for myself to slip up and get punched in the face by a drunk Brit bitter about England's rubbish performance at the World Cup.

Anyway, that's all for now.  So much happening.  So much to come.  Including pictures that will make you jealous.

Cheers!

The Last Day of School

I wasn’t prepared for this.

All year long, I’ve been thinking (and sometimes daydreaming) about the last day of school. It seemed as though it would never come, like a carrot luring a donkey on the end of a stick. It didn’t seem to matter how many plans we made or events we scheduled for the summertime, it felt as though the school year would never actually release its kung-fu grip on our lives.

Then, very suddenly, it did.

I knew it was coming, too. For the last several weeks, I’ve been administering end-of-year tests, attending promotion/retention meetings, and cleaning out my classroom – all signs that the end was near, and that my time with these kids was quickly drawing to a close. So how did I get blindsided?

Thursday was the last day of school. Kids came in wielding yearbooks with grins plastered onto their faces. There was a generally jovial spirit about the hallways. Kids sat where they wanted to for the first time all year, and laughed and talked through much of the day. They watched a movie in one class; made ice cream in another; they played a review game in mine. All in all, it was a low-key, low-stress day for everybody.

My last class ended at 1:30. The bell rang (just as it had all year) and kids began to file out of the classrooms and into the hallway on their way to their next class (just as they had all year). At this point, the reality of the school year ending still hadn’t hit me, and I stood at my door, watching students walk (and run) away from me.

I knew something was different, however, when students started coming up to me to say goodbye. Goodbye? This was new. Some threw their arms around me, some just yelled, “See you Mr. Olsen!” as they walked by my room. As these goodbyes occurred one after another, I finally started to realize that I wouldn’t see most of these kids ever again. And while I probably would have rejoiced at this news back in September, it was June now, and part of me wasn't ready for goodbye.

Then came Antonio. He had been one of my favorite students throughout the year. He was the kind of kid that said very little, but when he did, it was worth remembering. True to form, Antonio didn't disappoint:

“It has been a pleasure to have had a teacher like you.”

He accompanied these words with a bashful grin and an outstretched hand. I shook it, and responded, “Antonio, it has been a pleasure to have had a student like you.”

With that he walked away, disappearing behind a corner down the hallway. By this point, I could feel the emotion welling up inside of me. I quickly retired to my classroom and closed the door behind me.

I started breathing heavily and staggered towards my desk in the back of the room as images of my students faces flashed in front of me. I turned off the lights so that passers-by would think I was away from my room.

Soon my heavy breathing gave way to a sustained weeping that went on for longer than I care to admit. I was a broken man at that moment, and there was nothing I could do to fend of the tidal wave of raw emotion. My body shook as I cried. I dropped to the floor and sat with my back against the wall in the back corner of my classroom. My door didn’t have a lock, which meant anyone could have walked in at any moment. I was in no mood to be seen, so I sat on the floor, hiding behind my desk, crying like a child in the lap of my mother.

Many of the tears were happy ones. I rewound many of my favorite moments of the school year and played them back in my mind. I thought about Christmas cards my kids had made me, about our field trip to Washington, DC, and about the time I came back to school after missing a day of work because of sickness to Gabrielle’s “Thank you, Jesus! Mr. Olsen’s back!”

Of course, many of the tears were born of grief. I couldn’t help but think about how many of them will never outgrow their poverty, and how even now some of them hardly have a place to call home. Some of them have already started their lifelong and life-ending careers in drugs and crime and violence, and it hurt because I wasn’t able to change that.

It took me awhile to regain my composure. I eventually did, returned to my feet and started to clean up the mess my kids left as they hurried out of my class. What a year it had been.

The Finish Line

For the record, I tried to get the "Chariots of Fire" theme song imported onto our blog. I was unsuccessful, as you can see, so please read the following post with that song in mind. You know: Dun dun-dun, dun dunnn, dun, symbol crash, etc...

It's finally here: the last week of school.

Looking back, there was a time when being at this point of the school year was unimaginable. Back in September and October, when we were battered and bruised by the day to day of teaching, we didn't even allow ourselves to think of June, for fear that its false hope and promised triumph would only depress us and further encumber our work.

It's been a tough year. There were days when I honestly had to ask myself, "What am I doing?" There were days for both of us when we were pushed to - and nearly over - the edge. We can both still remember the first time we were threatened by a student, the first time we felt unsafe at school, or those memorable moments when they call you things you wouldn't feel comfortable repeating in front of Satan himself.

Of course, it wasn't all bad. For every student I had tell me they hated me, I had 10 that told me they loved me. For every kid we had to throw out of our classrooms, we had 20 that stayed and listened and learned. It's impossible to paint a rosy, unblemished picture of our first school year as teachers, but looking back over the last 10 months, we can't help but be happy for our victories, for the success of many of our students, and for the learning experience this grand social experiment has been.

This week we reach the finish line. In August, we start the race all over again.