Baltimore City Teaching Residency

Thursday evening, I stopped at Ma Petite Shoe after visiting ReNew Organic Day Spa. The ReNew Spa Package was extraordinary.

My Dad loves chocolate, so Ma Petite Shoe (a.k.a Shoes and Chocolate) seemed like the perfect place to pick up a father's day present. After choosing a few decedent items for his gift basket, I started chatting with the young sales woman. Eventually the conversation turned to work and she told me about her acceptance into the Baltimore City Residency Program. In the fall she will begin teaching kindergarten at a Baltimore City School.

I was immediately interested and after grilling her more, the program still sounded fantastic. Baltimore City Schools has formed a partnership with Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame. If accepted into the program, residents participate in a four week intensive training in June or January before being placed full time as a classroom teacher. If working in a "high-needs" school, the teacher certification and Master of Education degree are fully subsidized. The next cohort will begin with training in January 2008. Needless to say, I looked into it.

I'll be at Baltimore Yoga Village after work today. I am going to take the Ahimsa Yoga class this evening, which BYC describes as "a flowing, intuitive and joyful practice that opens the heart and mind". After driving to Rochester, having a jammed packed weekend of visiting everyone we know, and driving home, I am relieved to be visiting BYV.

Maybe having a daily yoga and meditation routine in the morning would help me stay centered when I am away from home. I've felt myself go into a slump filled with negativity over the past few days.

I've also started a lacto-vegetarian diet. It's been about two weeks without meat and I don't miss it. My next step is to start cooking meals from my new Ayurvedic cookbook. One step at a time though. All this change and activity is wearing me out. When we arrived home Sunday night, I was overwhelmed by the housework that had piled up and our new family member- a tuxedo cat named Sweet Pea.

All day Monday I was fretting over cleaning, catching up with my online writing course, grocery shopping, and taking care of Sweet Pea. Then a co-worker gave me a lift home and reminded me "not to sweat the small stuff". Her advice struck a chord with me. I delegated shopping to my supportive fiance, decided to put my writing first and only cleaned the first floor of the house. I'm still tuckered out today, but I'm proud of my progress.

I know that yoga tonight will put me more on track and I'm excited about trying a new class. Until then...Namaste.