"I am alive!
How are you going? I hope that you and your family are well and not terribly affected by what the world has come to. We can only hope and pray that we will come out stronger after this is all over.
One of the last few times we were together in Melbourne, I remember you pulling me aside and reminding me to send an "update" in a couple of months. Clearly, I did not hold up my end of the deal. To say that the transition back to America was challenging is saying it lightly.
I was hired as a high school mathematics teacher at HLV High School in Victor, IA, a small town of about 800 people. I teach six math classes and up until school was closed, was working around 65 hours a week. (School literally consumed me from mid-August until mid-March.) I'm hoping that my hard work will pay off next year.
On the eve of 15 March, the Governor of Iowa recommended that schools close for the next four weeks to mitigate the spread of the virus. As of Friday prior, schools in Iowa are closed for the remainder of the school year, which generally goes until the end of May. The materials that I have prepared have been posted online for student access, but it is entirely voluntary. Only 8-10 out of my 60 students are diligently taking advantage of the material.
I was looking forward to seeing all of my Aussie friends at the RI Convention in Honolulu, but alas, we will need to reunite another time.
On a lighter note, I am now a Rotarian! Back in February, I joined a club about an hour away from Victor. It is the DG's club and it meets in the evenings, which is convenient for me. (Only one other club in the district meets in the evenings.) Our club is in the process of merging with another, so I can't tell you the name of our new club because we haven't figured it out yet! Everyone is very friendly and I am looking forward to working with them at events and projects.
On Friday morning, Iowans woke up to a blanket of snow. Good thing I had a pair of R100 socks to keep my toes warm!
