Sunday, January 13, 2008

First week of classes

This week marked the beginning of the Winter Quarter. Katie and I are back to the nighttime work hours and having our mornings to exercise, run errands or simply sleep in. We have set up a regimen of run-walking and bicycling though this past week was harder because of the adjustment to the new hours. The first week went pretty well and we are both getting back into the swing of things.

The cats are definitely settling in. Gypsy is an attention hog and loves to sleep on the bed with us. She also prevents Ginger from getting up on the bed which leaves her downstairs crying a lot during the night. We try to call her up but she wont come. Katie is going out of her way to give Ginger attention when we get home and we will often split up the cats so that both of them feel like they are the center of our individual attention. We have bought them a cat tree and toys that are now spread out throughout the house. Its not that Gypsy is mean to Ginger she just demands attention and ginger defers to her. Ginger is the more curious and we have now opened up the entire house, except for the upstairs guest room, to them so they have a lot to see and do.

Last night we went to a party for the Pirates Week volunteers at Breezes by the Bay a restaurant right on the George Town Harbor. The food was good and it was a chance to catch up with one of our board members who does a lot of work for the Heritage Days that happen during Pirates week. We had manned a small stand for ICCI during the Savannah Heritage Day which got us the invite to the celebration.

Earlier in the day was our winter faculty meeting which had a great turnout. I am also working on my two classes, a grad course and an undergraduate course. Katie is working on a newsletter that will come out every month and is also doing a math skills class for our caribcert students during the day. Our winter enrollment is larger than our fall enrollment which means each of the last two quarters ICCI has had its biggest enrollment since Hurricane Ivan. The accrediting agency has asked for more information so we are once again working on a new response. We have found that the process of working on those is actually quite helpful in getting issues at the college identified and addressed. We are all very optimistic about where things are headed and all that we have accomplished in the six months since we arrived.

As I write this I am watching the Cowboys game on TV and watching Katie take a nap on the big couch with Gypsy asleep by her feet. A nice lazy Sunday afternoon for us both.