July 4th: Great picnic/fireworks at the park
July 5th: Boarded a plane, flew to Detroit and then on to Dulles International Airport. (Washington DC). Met a few teachers who were attending the same conference and took a 2 hour bus trip down to James Madison University in Harisonburg, VA.
Made everyone a little late to dinner because I didn't "check-in" with my group before leaving the dorms. (oops) Later got to introduce myself as the "person who made you all late" at the opening banquet. Also became quite famous there for being the youngest teacher and for only teaching 6 months so far.
July 6th: Hmm...oh yeah. Thiswas the day I set my alarm for 6:00 PM. Not very helpful in gaining a good reputation to the 43 other teachers present as I hurried in late to the first lecture.
July 7th: Spent time checking e-mail and not paying attention during the lecture. Oops
July 8th: Took a nice bus ride to visit James Madison's home in Montpelier, VA. It was beautiful!
*Most memorable part of the conference is about to be posted*
Walking home from dinner, in the middle of an intersection, my new "little friend" (yes, that's what i called her) that I had started to get to know, had a Grand Mal seizure. Let's just say that I've never been so scared in my life and amazed at what adrenaline can do in such an emergency. Staying calm, calling 911, directing traffic around her, finding out her medical history, all fell in line.
Spent the majority of the night at the hospital trying to re-jog her memory and answer the few questions I could that the ER was asking.
July 9th-11th: Spent the rest of the week replaying the incident and being, quite frankly, freaked out. Meanwhile, prepared for a Congressional Hearing (being an expert on the Constitution in a simulation w/ judges) and was overwhelmed. Got the advice and encouragement I needed, and it all turned out fine. (thanks Wend)
July 12th: Boarded the bus @ 4:15 AM and drove back to the airport. Most teachers were going home, I was headed to DC. In no hurry, I was the last person off the bus. Not all of my belongings chose to come with me. (that's how I like to remember it). My camera was on the bus as I frantically searched for it before realizing the bus had left. Ended up waiting in the airport for 8 hours (literally) for it to return. Luckily it was able to and I wasn't in any hurry. In fact, I quite enjoyed my book that I was able to finish. (My Sister's Keeper).
July 13th-17th: Megan, a teacher I work with, flew out on the 12th and we spent the week here...
*More photos to come*
July 18th: Had a good time and new experiences, learned a lot, and happy to be home :)
(I am not, however, ready for or excited that school starts again so soon!)
