I'm sitting at a Pete's Coffee and Tea in Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport. The seating area is so tight that this is reminiscent of Paris, complete with the Phoenix couple at the next table, who have, I feel certain, been to Paris together. I guess the difference is that it's 70 degrees here, and I can look out and see a remarkable skyline of jagged mountains, while in Paris it's 27 degrees and visibility is low.
Perhaps you can tell that I'm unabashedly in favor of warmer climes these days. This morning I went on a run around Lake Merritt in Oakland CA, where I've been visiting Tess for the past several days. There was nothing like it. This is exactly what the lake looked like at 7:23, before the sun officially rose at which precise moment the fairy lights turned off. It felt so glorious to be able to be outside on December 30th before sunrise!
I went to Sacramento on Wednesday. I am considering a move to Sacramento after this year of the MAT. There is a teacher shortage in California, and there is a temperature shortage in Indiana, and a shortage of a commodity in very tight supply anywhere outside California: Tess Marstaller.
I took the Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento. The ride was beautiful, affording many views of the water and of the countryside. It reminded me of the ride from Toulouse to Lourdes. Well, actually le Sud-Ouest is much, much more beautiful, but the similar climate pleased me. I loved the idea of living in the Southwest of France when I lived there, but could never figure out how I could adjust to living so far from family, and to being a foreigner all the time. Northern California seemed to be offering many of the same benefits, much closer to home.
I had been in touch before I arrived with the Quaker Meetings in Sacramento to see if there were any public school teachers in their midst. I was connected with Alison, who came to pick me up at the train station, and dedicated the next two hours to driving me around, touring schools and neighborhoods, talking school culture and district climate with regards to things like administrative oversight, emphasis on testing, and profile of student bodies. I'm overwhelmed by gratitude for this Friend who donated her time and energy to helping me make an inroad into this city.
Here's the upshot of the day: I want to live in Tahoe Park, and teach at West Campus high school!
My time with Alison and my exposure to the schools would have been enough to make me feel good about moving to Sacramento. A few other things glazed the cake with icing:
1. The art museum.
The Crocker Art Museum is phenomenal. Fairly small, but with wonderful traveling shows and a stunning permanent exhibition in the original mansion, which itself is an elaborate building like an art jewelry box. I felt like Mary Crawley walking down the grand staircase.
2. The waterfront walk.
A path goes for 32 miles along the rivers in Sacramento.
3. The cops on horseback.
Nothing steals a girl's heart like seeing three cops on horseback. Rather gives the impression there isn't a ton of crime.
4. The park full of homeless people.
I had my picnic lunch in a park where homeless people had gathered to talk and spend their day. Alison told me that on Christmas there were three organizations providing food, and they had way too much. I liked at least that the homeless were allowed to congregate here, right outside the public library in the center of downtown, and that there are organizations, even if not exceptionally organized ones, to help them.
5. The flat whites, and coffee shop patrons like Lisa
At the end of the day I was at a Starbucks next to the train station, waiting for my train to board. A woman ahead of me ordered a flat white. I asked her what it was. I got one too, made with almond milk, and it was the best thing ever. I just had another at this Pete's. Lisa, the woman who explained flat white to me, had the most fantastic colored purple lipstick on. Feels silly to say a caffeinated drink helped secure Sacramento in my mind, but it did.
6. At this Starbucks I saw the headline of the NYtimes having to do with how CA is at the forefront of the climate challenge. Encouraging.
Perhaps you can tell that I'm unabashedly in favor of warmer climes these days. This morning I went on a run around Lake Merritt in Oakland CA, where I've been visiting Tess for the past several days. There was nothing like it. This is exactly what the lake looked like at 7:23, before the sun officially rose at which precise moment the fairy lights turned off. It felt so glorious to be able to be outside on December 30th before sunrise!I went to Sacramento on Wednesday. I am considering a move to Sacramento after this year of the MAT. There is a teacher shortage in California, and there is a temperature shortage in Indiana, and a shortage of a commodity in very tight supply anywhere outside California: Tess Marstaller.
I took the Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento. The ride was beautiful, affording many views of the water and of the countryside. It reminded me of the ride from Toulouse to Lourdes. Well, actually le Sud-Ouest is much, much more beautiful, but the similar climate pleased me. I loved the idea of living in the Southwest of France when I lived there, but could never figure out how I could adjust to living so far from family, and to being a foreigner all the time. Northern California seemed to be offering many of the same benefits, much closer to home.
I had been in touch before I arrived with the Quaker Meetings in Sacramento to see if there were any public school teachers in their midst. I was connected with Alison, who came to pick me up at the train station, and dedicated the next two hours to driving me around, touring schools and neighborhoods, talking school culture and district climate with regards to things like administrative oversight, emphasis on testing, and profile of student bodies. I'm overwhelmed by gratitude for this Friend who donated her time and energy to helping me make an inroad into this city.
Here's the upshot of the day: I want to live in Tahoe Park, and teach at West Campus high school!
My time with Alison and my exposure to the schools would have been enough to make me feel good about moving to Sacramento. A few other things glazed the cake with icing:
1. The art museum.The Crocker Art Museum is phenomenal. Fairly small, but with wonderful traveling shows and a stunning permanent exhibition in the original mansion, which itself is an elaborate building like an art jewelry box. I felt like Mary Crawley walking down the grand staircase.
2. The waterfront walk.
A path goes for 32 miles along the rivers in Sacramento.3. The cops on horseback.
4. The park full of homeless people.
I had my picnic lunch in a park where homeless people had gathered to talk and spend their day. Alison told me that on Christmas there were three organizations providing food, and they had way too much. I liked at least that the homeless were allowed to congregate here, right outside the public library in the center of downtown, and that there are organizations, even if not exceptionally organized ones, to help them.
5. The flat whites, and coffee shop patrons like Lisa
At the end of the day I was at a Starbucks next to the train station, waiting for my train to board. A woman ahead of me ordered a flat white. I asked her what it was. I got one too, made with almond milk, and it was the best thing ever. I just had another at this Pete's. Lisa, the woman who explained flat white to me, had the most fantastic colored purple lipstick on. Feels silly to say a caffeinated drink helped secure Sacramento in my mind, but it did.
6. At this Starbucks I saw the headline of the NYtimes having to do with how CA is at the forefront of the climate challenge. Encouraging.
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