Sight Visit

Hi Friends!

Well I'm sad to say if you read my last blog that little cliff hanger I left you on was true. Loretta and I were feeling pretty good about ourselves and yet we knew the feeling wouldn't last. Our next week out on the road was in Grand Mound, Wa which was a small town, no big. Loretta and I actually stayed with the State Representative Dan Sweeker and his wife Debbie Sweeker so that was pretty cool. They were really laid back. Dan (we're on a first name basis ha!) and I actually had a really interesting conversation about acupuncture. Neat. Haha! Their home was very cozy and it was so nice to have a big room to myself. Yes in my last blog I stated that all I needed was a bed. This infact is true but having a big room to yourself and your own bathroom filled with colorful towels can make a girl feel like a princess. My room also had a treadmill in it so it was like I had my own personal gym.

They also were very much into farming and had 4 black cows in their backyard, a vegetable garden/flower garden and a chicken coop. I ate eggs that came straight from a chicken's bottom. Never done that before. I just thought that was kinda cool. The Sweekers also had the sweetest big dog named Bandit. Ever since I was little and was attacked by my Grandma's big dog I have had a phobia of big dogs. I'm little. However, Bandit helped me start onto the path of recovery. He was just so sweet and friendly.

What made this week nice was Loretta and I actually got to hang out with some fellow TAD's: Dan and Adam, both very nice guys. At the beginning of the week we met up with them for an afternoon in Seattle. I had never been to Seattle and I thought it seemed like a pretty cool place. We went to the famous fish market, the gum wall, and the pier where we all posed for a painting but only Loretta and I were painted in it. Haha! Later we went to Olive Garden. It was a good day indeed. We met up with them later on in the week, we went to this barn that was actually a bar where we were the youngest ones there. Everyone else was at least 60 years old and we were the "Crazy Younsters" that were "Cuttin a  Rug" on the dance floor. They didn't actually say that but I could FEEEEL their eyes saying it. Nonetheless, it was still fun. We also met up with Loretta's uncle who was a very nice man. I'm sure it was really nice for her to see her family.

Well that was the fun part. If you read the title of this blog post you may be wondering what the heck is a Sight Visit?!?! Well friends, a Sight Visit is where someone from the home office at Missoula Children's Theatre comes and watches us teach the kids for the week. We thankfully had Kepler who was our trainer and is a nice guy so we weren't too intimidated. With this job you never have it down perfect. Everday something new happens with the kids, rehearsal spaces, the accompaniest, parents etc so getting in a routine is not possible; you just have to be able to think on your toes and be able to go with the punches sometimes. Kepler was just there to give us some pointers on how to improve. Ok I'm down with that, I'm not perfect. I'll take all the help I can get to be the best TAD I can be. Still scary. Why?

WELL Kepler came during the worst possible week! Attitudes were coming from every direction and sometimes I had to go to my happy place. Although it was good to have Kepler there to give us a few friendly tips on how to avoid some of those issues and a few others which was nice. He did this job for about 5 years so he's seen it all and was really encouraging. Thanks Kep! We even got a free meal courtesy of MCT. Thanks MCT!  Looking back it was good that he came during a bad week because now we'll be more prepared for if some of those issues happen again.

This job can be so absorbing that you forget that there is another world outside of it (My brother's getting married in 2 weeks!) and it definitely seemed like our week was dragging on and on and on. SO when it was over it was nice to know that we had a whole new group of kids waiting for us the next week. A new start. We even started the next week in Burlington, Wa off well. We met up with Dan and Adam in Seattle, Wa for a little lunch. Yep next week is a new start and I'm definitely going to try to apply what Kepler told us at dinner.

"Try to suckless." If that doesn't work, "Punch a baby in the face with a bag of puppies".

Hahahaha!!!!

-Jen