My Last College Course

This past week has been crazy. We got back from camping on Sunday afternoon, had dinner with my parents, the Carlisles and Dutsi from Germany (a man who knew my dad, Harvey Carlisle, and my cousin Mike Leishman from their missions) Sunday night. Monday morning at 8:00 I started a college course (6 credits in 6 days), Tuesday night we had enrichment at my house. Needless to say I am exhausted. The class that I took will be the final credits I need to move over a column on the pay scale for my district. I will have completed 45 credits beyond my master's degree which means I am the farthest I can go without getting a PhD and that is not going to happen. On the last day during a break I was walking around and all of the sudden it occured to me that this is probably the last college course I will ever take. Of course that will probably not be completely true, but there is sort of a symbolic nature to the whole thing. Interestingly enough the focus of the course was relaxation, finding your focus, and staying motivated in your teaching. They had us do a lot of excercise and stress releving as well as listen to inspirational speakers. One of the days I was required to go to the UofO campus and have several tours of the museums and campus. It was fun to return to the place where it all began and see a lot of the changes. I drove with one of my co-workers and right from the beginning we started the day off lucky. Many of you remember how bad parking is on campus, and now they charge $8 per day to park. I told my co-worker that I thought we would get lucky. I had him drive to the back of the museum and there was a spot that said for visitors. We needed a parking permit, but I went inside and told the guard we were taking a tour and needed a permit and he gave one to us free of charge. I have always loved the art museum and have taken my students there several times. I am excited that a comic book exhibit is coming this fall and plan to incorporate this into my writing classes.

After the tour we decided to go and see the new education building. This has been built right across from the institute building. It is on the spot that used to be the tennis courts and these old houses I used to have classes in. The building just opened up in June, and our luck held because when we arrived they were giving out free food so we got a free lunch. The building was beautiful. They had these stations where a group could sit around a table and there was a large flat screen that someone could hook up their laptop computer and everyone could see what the person was doing.
Here is a shot of the institute building where Ken and I met.

This is a picture of the Health building that has been remodeled. Ken's dad worked here for 15 years before he opened his practice in Pendelton.

Because luck had been with us for so much during the day I told my co-worker I would like to find the brick that Ken's mom purchased for Ken's dad. Ken and I had tried to find it several times to no avail. We asked a security guard where they were and he pointed us to an intersection. It was filled with hundreds of bricks. My co-worker and I tried to find it but it seemed like a difficult task. Just as we were about to give up my co-worker realized that he was standing next to the below brick. He said, "Isn't your husband's name Ken". I ran over and looked and sure enough he had found Ken's. I had forgotten that Susan had purchased one for Ken too.

The other amazning thing that was updated after we graduated was the athletic center. It was so nice. I would have worked out there all the time. There is a climbing wall.

There is also a nice running track that looks down on the basketball courts.

We also got a tour of Autzen stadium. I remember running down on the field after the game that solidified we would go to the Rose Bowl. One of the guys in our tour group (Eric Johanesson) was a senior on the football team that year so it was fun to talk with him about his memories.

They have also added seats to the stadium and it is really nice. In the Casanova Center they have a model of what the new basketball arena is going to look like on campus. It is supposed to be ready in 2010.

Later in the day I was remembering how I always used to buy falafalls from an Israeli guy. He had this stand next to the book store and would serve these delicious falafalls. The more I thought about them the more I craved them. I have actually tried to go back twice in the past 10 years and he has been closed or the stand wasn't there. I decided that our luck had been so good I wanted to make the trip to see if he was there. I walked all the way across campus and sure enough there he was.

I had to take a picture and it was so good.

To end the day we took a tour of the Natural History Museum. It is a small museum, but it is a fun day to take kids. Plus every Wed. from 11-4 it is free to the public and you can get a parking permit for free to park in their lot.