My community
Barb, 2nd Grade teacher. She is 26 and is from Chicago. She's the youngest of seven. She wants to see the world and has done well so far, student-teaching in Hawaii and traveling to Kenya and various European countries. She's with me in the long-distance relationship club. Her boyfriend is from Kenya and when she got the info about me, she tricked him, saying, "Hey, one of my roommates went to Kenyon College!" He got all excited but then she explained the college was in Ohio. She's very environmentally conscious and liberal. She's an eternal optimist and loves to camp and hike. Probably the community-mate I get along with the best and would love to go on a road trip with. She's also a certified special-ed teacher and taught three years in Chicago, so she's the only one of us who has any idea what she's doing.
Donna, Kindergarten teacher. Donna is the "baby" of our community, being the only one just out of college. She got a B.A. and a M.A. in four years, so she's super smart. Her master's was in American West history, but so far she hasn't really let us in on any cool historical info about our area, but she's really quiet in general. She was a cheerleader in college and had a big social group she hung out with, so I think being here and having no one her own age except us is really getting to her. She's from New Jersey, I can't escape it. She's probably going back to school to get her Ph.D in history, so she'll go from teaching kindergartners to college students.
Maureen, Primary Teacher's Aide. Her Assiniboine name is "Swift-Running Water Woman". She's probably the best known around here because she runs every day. She graduated from college the same year as me, and spent last year teaching swimming and working at Starbucks (in Seattle, no less). She's very elegant and graceful, and is always getting annoyed with me because I don't always realize when she's joking and when she's being serious. She's very good with the bon mots. She was an English major in college, and a German minor.
So there you have it, my community. It's different being small, all female, and us all having the same schedule. But even though were together constantly, we get along very well. None are really fast friends like Emily and I were last year, and no one else likes board games or baseball, so that makes being out here a little lonely sometimes. But its a good community, and I like that we're doing Spirituality night once a week instead of once or twice a month like last year.
