I am now at the end of my first semester of teaching, and my first semester of living in Eagle Butte. I am just preparing to go see my family for the holidays, and I will have two weeks off, during which of course I will be agonizing over what in the world I am going to do next. Up until last week, I was hoping that I would only have to teaching eighth grade in the morning next semester, since one of my seventh graders is totally done with his seventh grade work and the other two are working independently to finish theirs. Unfortunately, I found out early last week that we have a new seventh grader coming in, and she did not pass any of her work in the junior high this year. My principal suggested that I use the computer program that all the junior high students use to satisfy her first two quarters, which is fine, but now I need to figure out what to do with her for third and fourth quarter of English 7. Junior high involves a lot of creativity that way.
Racial issues obviously come up semi-often here in Eagle Butte, and many of them have been kind of humorous. One rather embarrassing episode happened in the cafeteria. I was eating lunch by a few of the girls, periodically looking to see if the big boys, who literally inhale their food, had dumped their trays yet. I’m a slow eater and talk too much, so I am never quite ready to walk them back to our building. I tried to scarf down the rest of my food after they had dumped their trays, and when I decided it was no use, I told the girls, “It looks like the natives are getting restless.” I promise I did not think at all about the implications of what I was saying! I whacked my forehead pretty well over that one later, though I really don’t know if the girls got it. Another day, Cameron, one of my juniors, was working on his essay about a novel on slavery. He was sitting on my desk getting my comments on his rough draft, and when I asked him why he thought the white slave masters didn’t want slaves to be able to read, Cameron said, “I don’t know, Miss Osthus. Why didn’t you want them to be able to read?” Suffice it to say that now he knows that none of my ancestors were in America at the time, and that I wasn’t even there, though I am rather old!
And then there was the day I was taking pictures of the seniors for the yearbook, and every one of them was wearing dark colors except for our only student who is part African American. He was wearing a bright white shirt and coat, and the first thing we all noticed when we looked at my camera was how much he stuck out. When I pointed this out to him, he asked me why he stuck out, and he egged me on by saying, “C’mon say it, Miss Osthus, what am I?” I giggled and said he was white, and then he stomped off to the other room and said that I was making fun of him for being white. That obviously was brought up a few more times, though he and I really have had a rather good relationship.
I’ve had a lot of new experiences this semester. I got my first full-time job, rented my first house, bought my first Christmas tree, and had my first mouse infestation, which most unfortunately is still ongoing. I very recently bought mouse poison, which I will begin using when I return from Christmas break, since I’d rather not find dead mice in my house upon my return. The night that I saw my mouse, was the loneliest one I have ever experienced I believe, and I really think moral support is almost a must for mouse killing, but I shall have to go it alone, I suppose. My superintendent is trying to get me a housemate, I think because he’s worried I might become lonely and be overwhelmed with my gas bill. Really, I rather like having my own house, besides the mouse thing, so I think that I will decline, though I’m meeting my prospective roommate on Tuesday. I have indeed discovered the joys of utility bills, which actually are not too terrible, but they are just one more thing to keep up with.
Finally, one more big step that I have taken is to get my South Dakota driver’s license and license plates. It all made me feel rather melancholy, especially when the lady at the Dewey County Courthouse called Pierre and said that she had “a surrender from Minnesota in the office.” It was basically like changing my citizenship, except that I can still travel back and forth freely! We’ll see how long I stay in South Dakota, but since my immediate roots are in that fair state anyway it’s not as weird as it would be moving to, say, Alaska. That might be tough, even after watching The Proposal this summer made me want to visit Alaska even more! I realized today how itchy my foot is indeed getting to travel again, but it will have to wait at least until next summer—probably longer.
I really think I need to start writing at least bi-monthly, but it’s tough enough to get one of these out each month. Since my last entry I have had Thanksgiving break, sung in a community Christmas cantata, released our first EAGLE CENTER NEWSLETTER, gone to my first Lady Braves basketball game, and gone to the AFLBS Christmas concert. The community cantata was a fun opportunity, and I met some really neat people, though I won’t run into them that often, since I was the only one from Eagle Butte. We sang in Dupree, Isabel, and Timber Lake, and we got our pictures in the Dupree section of the paper. There is an OK picture of just me in the paper, too, but the caption says “Nikki Miller of Dupree did an amazing solo during the song ‘The Safest Place.’” Yes, the world needs more editors. Many of you have probably heard me say that before! Our first issue of the newsletter turned out pretty well, too, for a first issue! Sometimes I miss Indesign from The Counterweight days, but we’re making due with Microsoft Publisher, since all of our computers have that program already. If you want to take a peek ask me and I can PDF it to you!
I had a fun day this weekend, since I really don’t have much to do with my students this week. I went Christmas shopping in Pierre, South Dakota’s capital city. Shopping is always very draining for me—I think because I don’t like spending money—but it still was nice to get out of town and see some new scenery! More relaxing than the shopping was going to the Christmas tree display in the capitol building, which really was gorgeous. The whole rotunda area of the capitol is completely decorated for the season, even the little corner alcoves, and there are three floors full of Christmas trees. My students have been telling me that the capitol area in Pierre is very interesting and pretty, and I have to agree, though I’m rather partial to St. Paul. Besides the sights of the trees, though, the smells and the sounds were also delightful. I simply love the smell of Christmas trees, and a singing group from a church was playing while I was there. They even had interpretive dancing, which kind of surprised me, and they were pretty good. Their male vocalists were extraordinary, which is always a toss-up when you try to get guys to sing in a church group.
I have two days left before I can officially say that I have survived my first semester of teaching, and in that time I have eight Christmas cards left to write (and I don’t want to hear about it—I started them a month ago!), I have a suitcase to pack, a staff Christmas party tomorrow night, a house to tidy up, presents to load in my sleigh—er, Monte Carlo, and a five-hour drive to Sisseton to make in the snow on Wednesday! I’ll pop up the pictures that accompany this post sometime, probably when I’m back in Minnesota, but for now, here is my shortly-before-Christmas update! God really is so good—He has blessed me with a smile and a laugh, with an eternal hope that I can share with others, with every material comfort I could need, and with fabulous family and friends (as well as accidental alliterative awareness). My prayer is that God would continue to use me as I “spend myself” on those around me and share everything I have (Isaiah 58). Please continue to pray for me, and let me know how I can better pray for you!
Love, Christina
