The Chaos of May

Hopefully by the end of this post, you'll understand why the hiatus in blogging. In a nutshell, it's been a crazy month.

Here are a few of the things I've been doing the past few weeks:

1st week of May:

-Final crunch of AP Studio Art: Guiding 13 seniors through portfolio assembly - photographing artworks, proof-reading artist statements (which is a big task when most students are ESL), packaging artwork to send to Ohio. I stayed in the art room from 8am to 9pm everyday except one. Did I mention that this is the first year we've submitted? There was a pretty dramatic learning curve for me to tackle.

-Throughout this week, my art colleague was out with Typhoid. We team-teach AP Studio Art, so I got to do all the above work for his students too. Not to mention subbing for his classes and managing the daily tasks of the art department. Despite the chaos, I definitely got the better end of the deal.

-Fabric shopping trip with 20 women to Dehradun, which consumed an entire Saturday but was well worth the trip.

An AP student working hard to finish a large canvas.

Fabric shopping trip also included a stop at *possibly* the largest stupa in the world.

20 women in a tiny shop

2nd week of May:

-Paul still out with Typhoid - more subbing and lesson-planning to help him out.

-Overseeing a sign-board painting project for a new business in Mussoorie.

-Motivating senior students to complete murals around the school - a difficult task when senioritis is in full force. Equally annoying: the logistics of painting murals (getting permissions, supplies, etc).

-Supply orders for next year (which is more of a process than it should be)

-Meeting with administrators to advocate for changes in next year's art program

-Principal's Dinner with graduating seniors

-WOSA (Woodstock alumni) tea with graduating seniors

-Farewell Chapel for seniors

Advisor group at Principal's dinner

Storm rolling in during Principal's dinner

AP Students working on a mural in the Health Center

The sign-board is finally completed! (And the student artist is very happy!)

3rd week of May:

-Paul returns!

-And my flash drive crashes and I got to spend my few-and-far-between prep periods re-making all the powerpoints and handouts I made over the weekend.

-Organizing a St. Olaf dinner with Kate and two future Oles!

-Figuring out teaching assignments for the Art Department next year (a more difficult task than it seems)

-Hosting a music swapping party with graduating seniors.

-Hosting my last advisor group meal: breakfast burritos. Rolling out tortillas for 13 people took up my Friday night.

-Immediately following (literally, the guests arrived while my advisees were still here!), we hosted a birthday party for my roommate.

-Hand-making linoleum print grad cards for 30 of my students.

-T-shirt designing for my upcoming summer expedition, not by choice.

Last Advisor Group activity :(

Notice the monkeys creepin' up in the background. There were at least 30 in the yard. We threw a lot of rocks.

I had to give a demo on how to sit in a hammock. They are a little nervous!

But they got the hang of it. Ha.

Birthday party shenanigans - Woodstock provides us with high-quality furniture.

Bags/Bean Toss/FLOWER POTS! Throwing socks filled with lentils into flower pots is very fun.

Setting up my printmaking shop while Emily reads in the hammock.

4th week of May:

-Activities with seniors (STAR is Woodstock's version of a Senior Week)

-Writing 30 grad cards and making/assembling gifts for my advisees

-Attending an art opening and reception hosted by Winterline

-Editing a stop-motion video for a class (why aren't Macs and PCs more compatible?!?)

-Setting up the AP Studio Art exhibit. TWICE. (Huge storm blew the artworks off the bulletin boards, so after spending a full day hanging it, we got to spend the next day re-hanging it!)

-Rehearsals for Baccalaureate and Graduation, which were both unnecessarily long

-Parents Banquet (hosted by the seniors' parents)

-Attending Baccalaureate and Graduation, which includes special teas and lots of photo shoots.

Baccalaureate at St. Paul's church

The graduates (with advisors and dorm parents) in national dress for Baccalaureate.

Baccalaureate photo with the advisees. We have a Japanese kimono, two Indian Salwars, Tanzanian something, two Tibetan/Nepali outfits, a crazy headdress and outfit from Mizoram, an American suit, and a Butanese chuba.

Lining up for the Baccalaureate service.

My sari!

Class of 2011!

The graduates and advisors before Graduation Ceremony

The craziest, and most lovable, Afghani girl there ever was :)

The LAST advisor group photo :(

And now, I'm done! Well, we still have one week of classes, one week of final exams, and half a week of staff meetings. I'm not thinking about the PILE of grading I have to do. Not to mention all of the preparations for the summer and next fall. Instead, I'm choosing to breath a little lighter. Today I actually found myself with free-time! Goals for the coming week: return to reading the books I abandoned last month and make progress on a few artworks.