Clearly, I never update my blog, but now seems as good a time as any.

My work life has really hit the skids. I was assigned to the school where I'm at at the very start of September, and I'm teaching the subject that I trained in, unlike last year. Fantastic! Except for two major things:
1. The school that I was at last year had a really close, family-type feel. I could talk to any other staff member, at any time, and they would be really accommodating. Quite often, we'd have beers after school and shoot the breeze/vent our frustration. This new school that I'm at is a lot less friendly in that regard--it doesn't make me feel like I'm a part of a community like my old school.
2. My class schedule was switched on me last week--against my will and through no fault of my own. The class that I did have was a Social 10-1, an academic class that had some really good kids and I really enjoyed teaching them. However, I'm now forced to teach a Social 10-4. This is a class that is filled with kids that have severe cognitive, behavior, emotional or physical disabilities, and they have low ambition and work ethic as well. I've never taught kids this low-achieving, and I'm really not sure what I'm getting into. All I know is bits and pieces of advice I've gotten from other teachers, and what happened to their old teacher: That the old teacher made several severe mistakes in the way that she taught the class, that one of the students pushed her into a row of lockers, and that she hasn't shown up since the incident.

Second, I had to move to Calgary for this job. At the time I made the choice, it was the right thing to do, and I do enjoy my job, but there has been a major drawback: because I've never lived in Calgary, I know very few people here, and those people that I do know, it's been tough to reconnect with them, because I've been so busy with work. My evenings are filled with marking...

Clearly, I never update my blog, but now seems as good a time as any.

My work life has really hit the skids. I was assigned to the school where I'm at at the very start of September, and I'm teaching the subject that I trained in, unlike last year. Fantastic! Except for two major things:
1. The school that I was at last year had a really close, family-type feel. I could talk to any other staff member, at any time, and they would be really accommodating. Quite often, we'd have beers after school and shoot the breeze/vent our frustration. This new school that I'm at is a lot less friendly in that regard--it doesn't make me feel like I'm a part of a community like my old school.
2. My class schedule was switched on me last week--against my will and through no fault of my own. The class that I did have was a Social 10-1, an academic class that had some really good kids and I really enjoyed teaching them. However, I'm now forced to teach a Social 10-4. This is a class that is filled with kids that have severe cognitive, behavior, emotional or physical disabilities, and they have low ambition and work ethic as well. I've never taught kids this low-achieving, and I'm really not sure what I'm getting into. All I know is bits and pieces of advice I've gotten from other teachers, and what happened to their old teacher: That the old teacher made several severe mistakes in the way that she taught the class, that one of the students pushed her into a row of lockers, and that she hasn't shown up since the incident.

Second, I had to move to Calgary for this job. At the time I made the choice, it was the right thing to do, and I do enjoy my job, but there has been a major drawback: because I've never lived in Calgary, I know very few people here, and those people that I do know, it's been tough to reconnect with them, because I've been so busy with work. My evenings are filled with marking and lesson planning, and most weekends I'm going up to Edmonton to see my girlfriend, which brings me to point number 3...

My love life has been great. I've had my girlfriend for over a year and a half now (actually, we met not to long after I last updated this blog) but things haven't been perfect. Since I could only get a job in Calgary and she lives in Edmonton, we've been forced to do the long distance thing for about a year. We see each other every second weekend or so, and I'm thankful that I get some longer vacations that I spend with her, but it's still really tough. In addition to this (and the reason that I'm writing this blog) is that we do have some things that really make us different--namely, her struggles with anxiety and depression. She's had that since she was in her late teens (she's 31 now) and she tried to repress it for most of her twenties. A couple of years ago she decided to take charge and try to overcome her mental issues. However, it's been tougher than she expected, even with medication and a psychiatrist. She's been having problems feeling connected to me emotionally. She's also having commitment issues because she's never had a long term relationship before, so she's not sure if she's having some normal commitment issues, if she's not ready for commitment in general, or if she's not ready for commitment with me.

td;dr version:

Life's tough.