When I told an NIE classmate that I was walking more here than I do back home, she said, “Really? In this heat???” I’m pretty sure she’s never experienced a Chicago winter…though I’ve never experienced a Chicago winter like the unseasonably warm one they are having now.

There’s no doubt that I’m walking a lot more now. Just this morning my bus app told me that I had four minutes until my bus arrived and I was still on the 12th floor of my building. As soon as I got off the elevator, I sprinted to the bus stop about a few blocks away, waving at the arriving bus driver as he waited at the stop for loading passengers. I got in a good 3.5 minutes of cardio before plopping down in the air conditioned bus. I won’t go so far as to call it my workout for the day, but it’s more activity than I usually have before 7:30 most mornings back home. I need to invest in a new pair of gym shoes for my planned and unplanned workouts.

I had my first day at TS school yesterday. I was sad to leave KR because it was becoming familiar and I enjoyed working with the teachers there. I had become attached to my attachment. The folks at KR gave us a generous send-off with lunch. Afterward, Alex and I shared our reflections on our time there.

I wrote most of this post on my commute to TS. Now that I am at my desk, I can go ahead and publish it and get in some ‘exercise’ for my mind now. I get to observe two classes today. I hope to head over to the other side of the island in the afternoon to go to NIE’s library to pick up some books and read some papers for my project. I recently started a post about the time that I get to spend reading and and reflecting on good education writing. I’ll post more about that luxury later.