Gainful employment!

I have a new job - yeah! I am officially a Teacher once again - at a Special School on Mercer Island in Seattle. It really is on an island - albeit a big one - in the middle of Lake Washington.
The Children's Institute for Learning Differences (CHILD for short) is a private school which accepts students from 4-17 from all over the Seattle area - and for whom their own school district cannot provide adequate services.
I came across the school by chance when I applied to do some supply work there. I walked in for my interview and felt as if I had been transported back across the ocean to Ridgeway! It has a very similar feel to it - high student/staff ratio, great atmosphere, wonderfully supportive staff, and a real sense of humour (born out of realistic expectations in an extremely challenging environment!) Needless to say - I supplied for 2 weeks and then somehow convinced them to offer me a job - still not sure how I managed that - but I'm here now - and I love it. I have 3 fantastic members of staff as my class team and we have a grand total of 4 students! Even with my dodgy maths skills that comes out at a 1:1 ratio! I'm not ashamed to say that even at that we struggle sometimes - not least because the students exhibit some fairly extreme behaviours - the most challenging I have ever experienced. That is good for me though - it is keeping my mind busy with all the strategizing and problem solving - which has to be good for staving off the Alzheimers!
I'm getting used to the early starts (slowly!) - although I'm not sure Fergus is too enamoured with the 6am walk in the dark so Mum can leave by 7. The 30 minute commute means I get to listen to KMPS (country radio for the uninitiated!) in the morning which always puts me in a good mood - so you see every cloud has a silver lining!!!