You Know That Dream Where You're In School...

Do you ever have a dream where you're back in high school, or maybe elementary school even, and you suddenly realize you can't remember where any of your classes are? Maybe you lost your schedule, or you have it but when you look at it it makes no sense? I've had it a bunch of times, and other people have told me they've had versions of the same dream, so I guess it is not uncommon.

Today I felt like I was stuck in that dream!

Here is what happened. Today was my first day of new school year meetings at the new district I'll be teaching in. I had been sent several emails with the dates, times and locations of different meetings that will take place all this week. Today's meeting was supposed to be at the High School. I made sure to leave home early so I'd get there with plenty of time. I hate being the new person and having to walk in and find a seat in a sea of strangers, so my plan was that if I was one of the first people there, I'd have my choice of empty seats.

Just as planned, I arrived 15 minutes early at the high school, and found the room where the meeting was supposed to take place. But nobody was in there! Thinking I must be really early, I pulled out my phone to check my email in my spare time. I found that one of my new bosses had called me, and emailed me, saying that they hoped I was coming to the meeting. I replied to the email saying, "I'm at the room, but nobody is here. Did I get the info wrong?" I also tried calling her back, but it went to her office voicemail.

When there was no reply, I panicked. The name of the elementary school is similar to the high school, and although the info I had said "HS" pretty clearly, I thought maybe it didn't mean what I assumed it meant! So I left the high school, and drove to the elementary school. The doors were locked and the office was closed. Next, I drove to the district office. (This is a really small town, so all of these places are within about one minute driving distance from each other, luckily!) I went in and asked if the supervisor was around. I was told, "No, she's at a meeting." Trying not to get frustrated, I said that I was supposed to be at the meeting also, but that I'd gone to the room I was supposed to go to, and nobody had been there. The ladies in the district office assured me that the meeting was at the high school but that they did not know what room it was in.

Back to the high school I drove. This time I went into the office and asked someone there if they knew where the meeting was supposed to be. They told me it was in the room that I'd already been to. I walked down there again, just to make sure. Again, it was empty. I walked back to the office, at this point about ready to cry! It was half an hour past the meeting's start time!

The lady in the office spoke to someone else, and then said, "Oh, sorry, they changed the room number." She then walked me to the correct room, on the opposite side of the building, where the meeting was in full swing.

Doesn't it seem like someone would have notified me that the room was going to be different? Or put a sign on the door of the original room? And how did everyone else somehow know where they were supposed to be? My only theory is that, since most of the other people knew each other well already, the news had spread pretty quickly when the room number was changed. I, being out of the loop, didn't get the updates that everyone else did!

It was definitely not the first day I was hoping for. The rest of the meeting went okay, though. All of the people were very nice. But I hope I don't spend the rest of the school year frantically trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be!