Grade point average

 

Ever wondered what this is? Well, Dan is just starting to find out.  It is 10pm and he is lying awake worrying about a piece of work tomorrow which will be ‘graded’.  He is worried that he’ll get a low grade because he doesn’t know the systems yet.  He is wondering what the point of the grade is and how the people who always get low grades must feel.  He is hoping that people don’t tell each other their grades and has observed that his classmates seem to be taking this grading thing in their stride, so maybe you get used to it.  He is wondering what a grade actually measures and how you record things you can’t measure, which might actually be more important for a person and for a school.  Also he says it’s really hot at school and sometimes he gets a heat headache.

For the first time, school here seems a far cry from Preston Street.  I resent the system making him so worried.  He is nine, too young for grading.

Hike in the Indian Peaks Park

Entering Indian Peaks Wilderness

 On our first weekend we set off in our (slightly battered) car-share car, up into the Rockies.  In less than an hour and a half we gained 5,000 feet, driving through rocky and impressive Boulder canyon.  A friendly, deputy dawg-style ranger welcomed us into Indian Peaks Park and wanted to discuss Tom Daley’s performance in the Olympics.  The walk to Lake Isabelle was stunning and mercifully flat, as we were in no way adjusted to the altitude (Dan had a very bad head ache by the end of the day).  The last bit of the walk was steeper and it was sooo  beautiful and absorbing: glaciers and a ring of mountains of 13,000 feet (4,000m) with names such as Navajo, Apache and Shoshoni.

Coming up to Lake Isabelle

At Lake Isabelle with the Peaks behind

Lots of chat about mountain lions and bears, and we developed a drill: when an adult says “Bear!”, the children stand between and scope stones to throw if the bear advances,  The adults put their backpacks above their heads and command the bear to go away.  At one point I thought I saw a snake, and jumped a little, but it was just a dappled, swirley mushroom.

Dan's first impressions of school

Dan in his school uniform, 1st day!

Dan writes:

I think that school is absolutely fantastic and the students in my class say about my teacher, “Oh, Mrs. Thompson rocks!”.  And she does.  The schedule’s a bit complicated but I’m getting the hang of it.  Mum’s really helping and it’s a great school.  I like it on Wednesdays we have music, art and PE all in a row.  At “recess” we play a game called wall ball and it is really really really fun. I’m pretty good and it requires good skills (catching, throwing, running).    Sometimes 20 boys play the game together.  The salad bar at lunch is quite new to me. 

Playground 1st day

Mrs Thompson in pink, high-fiving her students

Biking in Boulder

A Boulder bike path - a monster bike ride on a very hot day

Is a complete joy!  There are bike paths pretty much everywhere you want to go, even ‘downtown’ – either separate paths (“like a little road” as Morwenna said) or a separate lane on the road.  There are a couple of creeks through the city and bike paths run beside those – good and shadey during the present hot hot days – which take you under all the main routes.  You can ride over pedestrian crossings and most pavements are empty (car culture pervades even in Boulder) so that’s OK too.  Drivers are impeccably courteous and unbarging and we are getting the hang of four way stops.  

Our landlord left good adult bikes for Mat and me to ride, and Dan and Morwenna have bikes from a super 2nd hand gear shop in our local shopping centre - very excited.  Gears for the first time for M. So bikes will be our main form of transport while here: off we set in single file like a family of ducks.   Unsurprisingly, it is quite hilly, and Morwenna works about 4 times as hard as the rest of us (small wheels) so the legs spin around and she is getting very tough on the hills.  Dan rides round in a world of Bradley Wiggins.

Morwenna adds: my new bike: it has 6 gears, light blue with flowers and says ‘Hotrock’.  It’s good going downhill and straight.

Our house in the The Boulevard

Our terrace at the back of the house

View from the terrace

Unpacking in the main room

Our townhome, as our landlord calls it, in Greenbriar Boulevard, is increasingly referred to by us as ‘The Boulevard’.  Built in 1976 it is on the very southern edge of the city with views over open land to the south and the start of the Rockies to the west – the Front Range, which is a name I love, beckoning us on to other, higher, more mysterious ranges beyond.  It’s part of a complex with houses around us which look very similar.  

 It has everything we could wish for from a practical point of view (and lots more that are a welcome bonus: a nifty barbecue, a printer, a kettle (yes this is big deal here apparently).  But it is very strange to be living in SOMEONE ELSE’S HOME, complete with textured sludgy grey walls (those of you who know Mat’s interior décor instincts will know how much he’s loving that) and a wan, rather sinister painting of mother and child on the sitting room wall.  Dan and Morwenna are very happy as king and queen of the basement complex, with their own bathroom, tons of room and a swivel chair which is a great toy – also by far the coolest place in the house.

Dan arranging his treasures

We will be doing no gardening this year.  Mowing, snow shovelling, and watering are all done by the home association.  It’s all super-organised, and after less than a week here, super-organised is what I’m beginning to expect – not just for the Boulevard but generally.

Morwenna settling in

 Things didn’t get off to a good start with neighbours due to Dan and Morwenna’s inability to keep the shrieking down on their bikes very early on our second morning (which of course felt to us like lunch time).  We are trying to make amends but people don’t seem to be home very much – although they usually leave their houses wide open.

2nd morning brekky at 5.30am!

Our first hike

Shanahan Ridge Trail - 10 mins bike ride from our house

Info on bears and mountain lions

On the trail

The mornings are beautiful and cool here, so we are taking advantage of our jet lag by getting out early.  The ‘trails’ are a big deal in the mountains here, good maps, and each starts at a ‘trail head’.  Our first  - close to town so a short bike ride from the house - gave us a very tempting glimpse of what is to come.  We are at 5 ½ thousand feet of altitude here, so gaining a bit more after only 3 days of adjustment caused some puffing, but the amazing views and heady pine scents draw you on.  Also the promise of a bear round the next corner!  Reasonably commonly sighted, according to friendly fellow walkers, but too busy eating at this time of year (loading up for hibernation) to bother much about us.  Just don’t run away or advance towards.  Hope that’s enough advice.

Packing up and the journey

Packing up in Montague Street

Our life fits into 11 bags and one violin case.  It includes a teapot (apparently not always available in the US?), a tent, bike helmets, winter coats and a surprising number of pairs of shoes, photos of the rabbits and a card from Ms Moore (head teacher at Preston Street) and some photos from Mull.  And constantly-checked immigration docs.

Heathrow to Denver, Dan and Morwenna handled 4 films on the trot with relative ease, which takes care of 7 hours of a nine hour flight.  It was 35 degrees on arrival on Denver with the sun just setting – 2am in Edinburgh.  We all dozed on the one hour trip from Denver to Boulder, which is just as well as it is a depressing procession of strip malls, hotels and industrial flatland.

Waiting for the taxi