Ham Blockage

I have a piece of ham stuck in my throat. Well, maybe not anymore, but I can't tell. Three years ago I had to get my esophagus stretched because its too small (not terribly common, but not unheard of). They told me in 2-3 years that I would have to get it stretched again. Well my three years is up and a piece of ham let me know that. I freaked out Friday morning (after an entire torturous night of trying to get the ham to go up or down) and made Thurm take me to the ER in SLC. They basically told me to wait it out and it would go down. They didn't have a doctor on staff that could do the procedure and they ONE doctor that they called was booked. So I've been suffering for four days and I think it has finally gone down. Moral: I will chew my food 50 times before I swallow.

Adena asked what the school district was going to do to fix our situation with the door. Apparently some time this week, someone will be out to build a wall on their side of the room. Our side will still just have a door that goes nowhere. Whatever, as long as its sound proof. Did I mention the electricity? I guess they can't switch the electricity over, so our neighbors have to pay us $30 a month in utilities. I can imagine the problems that might arise.

I had my first day of work at the elementary school as an ESL teacher today. I really dug it. But I didn't have any students today. I was just organizing my office, doing some paperwork, and looking over the teaching materials. I just liked the atmosphere and it was fun finding a book of stickers that I can hand out as rewards. After work, I went to the casino to say good-bye to my co-workers ( I missed my last day due to the ham in my throat). They had bought me a candle and wrote a really nice card : )

I am supposed to be helping Thurm grade papers but I'm guiltily blogging. Hope everyone is having a festive December!

Two become Eight

For the past week Thurm and I have had a family of six living with us. When we first arrived in Wendover our neighbors asked us if we needed our extra bedroom. They have four kids and are living in a two bedroom apartment. We, of course, sympathized and wanted to help out. So we said "Of course! Please have our extra bedroom." It was our understanding that a wall or heavy double doors would divide our two apartments and our extra bedroom would become theirs. It has been months since this transaction has been talked about and so I was surprised to come home for lunch one day and have three men in our house discussing how they were going to change over this room to the other apartment. Being ever trusting, I assumed these men knew what they were doing.
I came home from work that night and heard children in our home. But at closer examination, the kids were just in our extra room. The men had basically just put a deadbolt on our flimsy cardboard door and cut a door out of the opposite wall for the other apartment. We can hear every word our neighbors say and they can hear every word we say. Tonight I listened to the mom read her children a bedtime story as I brushed my teeth. I walked past some cheerios laying on our floor that had somehow made their way underneath the door to our side. Thurm & I have been talking in hushed whispers to try to keep some privacy. The poor little girl who lives in the room has heard every noise that comes from our bathroom.
I've been assured by the School District who owns the property that the situation will be rectified this coming week. We'll see.