This week at school we did not have normal classes. We were out of school Monday and Tuesday, and the rest of the week was project week. Each class spent 3 days preparing different projects that they would share with their parents and the rest of the school today.
I was with my 5th grade class because their project was the only one in English. The students had 5 skits that they were going to act out for their parents. Each skit had 2 casts, and on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I took one of the skits to a different room to work on their line memorization and their pronounciation. As precious and cute as 5th graders are...I could NEVER teach them. It is too much like babysitting. The students were fighting over a stuffed monkey because that was a prop in our skit...and I mean literally fighting like pulling hair and screaming and all that. It was annoying...like I said, I could never teach them.
Today was when they performed their skits for their family and my kids did really well! They came in costume and remembered their lines for the most part and did a really good job, so I was really proud of them. Plus, it was fun to see all of the parents and see which kids belonged to which parents. The way it was set up was that 11 one cast from each skit performed, and then there was a break and at 1215 the other casts acted out the skits again. I sat through all of the skits at the 11 o'clock viewing, but after that I walked around some. The 7th grade had completed an alcohol-awareness campaign and my students had beer goggles and obstacles set up in their room, they had also completed some posters about the risks and dangers of binge drinking. I really enjoyed going into their room and seeing what they had done and hanging out with them some. Then I went into my 8th graders' room and they had done a little dance project where there were different styles of dance, I didn't stay in there very long because those students I don't know as well. I realized that my 6th graders' "stomp show" was going to clash with my other cast of 5th graders, but I had already seen my 5th graders a bunch so I decided to go watch the 6th graders. Those kids are precious too...and their show was interesting, they didn't speak in their scenes but made beats with pencils and their feet and newspapers and stuff. Luckily, my 5th graders skit was the last one in the line up so I was able to make it to see my other cast perform...and they did so good!
As annoying as it was to go to school on a Saturday, it was really interesting and fun and I'm glad I was able to go and see my students. Now, I have to write a bunch of lesson plans...fun.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Greece!
I love Greece.
Kyle has a friend who is doing the same program we are in Thessolaniki, Greece...so since we had a long weekend we decided to take the opportunity to go visit! School got out early on Friday because students were given their grade reports, and school wasn't in session Monday or Tuesday, so we figured this was a perfect weekend to make the farther trip to Greece.
We flew out of Cologne about 5 pm on Friday, had a layover in Munich and got into Athens about 11 pm. The Athens airport isn't really close to anything, so we had to take a 45 minute train to get to the city. The good thing though, was that our hostel was right near a train stop. We got to the hostel, probably around 12 or 1230...it was weird because everyone in our room was already asleep, which we didn't expect since it was like 1230 on a Friday night. There was a little bar right next to the hostel so we went to just get a drink before going to bed. We were sitting outside of this bar, just taking in the fact that we were in Greece, and this big stray dog kept coming up to our table. At first he kept coming empty handed, then he started to come with like huge slabs of raw meat and would just devour the meat and bones right next to us like it was no big deal. He came back with meat like 3 times...we were really confused as to how this dog was getting the meat.
The next morning we took at 5 euro walking tour, that was about 3 hours long. We went and saw all of the historic sites of Athens (pictures on facebook). Our tour guide was from South Carolina, so we got to talk to him some about the states. And I got to talk to him a bit about Kiawah, so that was fun. People on our tour consisted of Americans, Argentinians, Brazilians, and Koreans...so that was kind of cool.
That Saturday was absolutely wonderful in Athens! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was in the mid-60's and super sunny. It was absolutely wonderful! The tour we went on was pretty amazing too...it is just crazy to stand at some of those sites and think about how many different people have stood there and imagine what it was like back in its prime. Especially coming from America, where our historical sites don't even compare with the time and history of these sites. Hearing about all the Ancient Greek Temples and being in Athens really did make me want to watch Hercules...just to compare since I've seen the sites now you know? Plus Hercules is a wonderful movie, I did learn though that Disney left out the part where Hercules kills his wife and kid in a drunken rage one night...bummer.
After the tour, we got our stuff together and were going to go to the National Archaeological Museum but once we got there, we realized it closed at like 3 that afternoon...so we went to a little cafe and witnessed a protest march. What is great about Greece is that they give you free tap water! Unlike Germany, everytime you go to a restaurant or order a drink they will give you free tap water. In Greece, they also bring you some time of snack food like chips or something when you order a drink, and a free dessert most places. I love Greece.
We took a 4.5 hour train to Thessolaniki that night, and met up with Kyle's friend Erin and some of her friends when we got there. It was really nice because we walked around Thessolaniki for awhile before we found a nice place to sit outside, and stayed there until about 5 in the morning. The next day, Erin took us around the city some more and walked up to the old city where we got a great view of Thessolaniki. We found a nice little place for dinner that night and were there for hours just talking and hanging out, which was nice. Plus the very attractive waiter was nice to look at, and he brought us a free liter of wine.
Erin had school the next day, so Kyle and I just walked around for a little while before she came home. We went to dinner again Monday night with Erin's friends and had some amazing food. The Thessolaniki trip was great because we were able to see more of Greek daily life instead of just touristy stuff. So that was a big contrast between our time in Athens and in Thessolaniki. We just hung out for a few hours Monday night at dinner then Kyle and I had to get a cab back to the train station to catch our night train back to Athens.
The place where we stayed in the train was TINY! But it ended up not being that bad of a trip...the beds were more comfortable than I gave them credit for (which is saying too much). I found it fairly easy to sleep on that train. It took about 6.5 hours to get back to Athens, and once we did we hung out in a cafe in the train station for a couple of hours since it was 6 am. We had seen that the Archaeological Museum was open at 8:30 so we decided that we would go there for a little bit before heading back to the airport. We picked a great day to come back to Athens because all of the public transit was on strike, so the traffic was crazy and we had to pay to get a cab everywhere. We got a cab to take us to the Museum and he was nice and said he would pick us back up at 10 to take us to the airport. What sucks is that it was like 60 euros to get to the airport since it was so far away...but oh well. Like I said, not a great day for us for public transit to be on strike.
The Museum was really interesting, again just being the presence of all that history is just crazy to me. The Museum also had an Egypt Exhibit, which I definitely found myself having a new appreciation for after studying that with my students last semester during practicum. I would have liked to have a little longer in the Museum, but our cab driver kept his word and picked us up at 10 to go to the airport.
All in all, it was a great trip and I am elated that I got to experience it. One of Erin's friends in Thessolaniki, Stephanie, lives there all the time and said that we should definitely come back during the summer and go to the islands...I am planning on following her directions. I would love to go to the islands and see the beaches and typical white buildings and blue roofs!
Kyle has a friend who is doing the same program we are in Thessolaniki, Greece...so since we had a long weekend we decided to take the opportunity to go visit! School got out early on Friday because students were given their grade reports, and school wasn't in session Monday or Tuesday, so we figured this was a perfect weekend to make the farther trip to Greece.
We flew out of Cologne about 5 pm on Friday, had a layover in Munich and got into Athens about 11 pm. The Athens airport isn't really close to anything, so we had to take a 45 minute train to get to the city. The good thing though, was that our hostel was right near a train stop. We got to the hostel, probably around 12 or 1230...it was weird because everyone in our room was already asleep, which we didn't expect since it was like 1230 on a Friday night. There was a little bar right next to the hostel so we went to just get a drink before going to bed. We were sitting outside of this bar, just taking in the fact that we were in Greece, and this big stray dog kept coming up to our table. At first he kept coming empty handed, then he started to come with like huge slabs of raw meat and would just devour the meat and bones right next to us like it was no big deal. He came back with meat like 3 times...we were really confused as to how this dog was getting the meat.
The next morning we took at 5 euro walking tour, that was about 3 hours long. We went and saw all of the historic sites of Athens (pictures on facebook). Our tour guide was from South Carolina, so we got to talk to him some about the states. And I got to talk to him a bit about Kiawah, so that was fun. People on our tour consisted of Americans, Argentinians, Brazilians, and Koreans...so that was kind of cool.
That Saturday was absolutely wonderful in Athens! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was in the mid-60's and super sunny. It was absolutely wonderful! The tour we went on was pretty amazing too...it is just crazy to stand at some of those sites and think about how many different people have stood there and imagine what it was like back in its prime. Especially coming from America, where our historical sites don't even compare with the time and history of these sites. Hearing about all the Ancient Greek Temples and being in Athens really did make me want to watch Hercules...just to compare since I've seen the sites now you know? Plus Hercules is a wonderful movie, I did learn though that Disney left out the part where Hercules kills his wife and kid in a drunken rage one night...bummer.
After the tour, we got our stuff together and were going to go to the National Archaeological Museum but once we got there, we realized it closed at like 3 that afternoon...so we went to a little cafe and witnessed a protest march. What is great about Greece is that they give you free tap water! Unlike Germany, everytime you go to a restaurant or order a drink they will give you free tap water. In Greece, they also bring you some time of snack food like chips or something when you order a drink, and a free dessert most places. I love Greece.
We took a 4.5 hour train to Thessolaniki that night, and met up with Kyle's friend Erin and some of her friends when we got there. It was really nice because we walked around Thessolaniki for awhile before we found a nice place to sit outside, and stayed there until about 5 in the morning. The next day, Erin took us around the city some more and walked up to the old city where we got a great view of Thessolaniki. We found a nice little place for dinner that night and were there for hours just talking and hanging out, which was nice. Plus the very attractive waiter was nice to look at, and he brought us a free liter of wine.
Erin had school the next day, so Kyle and I just walked around for a little while before she came home. We went to dinner again Monday night with Erin's friends and had some amazing food. The Thessolaniki trip was great because we were able to see more of Greek daily life instead of just touristy stuff. So that was a big contrast between our time in Athens and in Thessolaniki. We just hung out for a few hours Monday night at dinner then Kyle and I had to get a cab back to the train station to catch our night train back to Athens.
The place where we stayed in the train was TINY! But it ended up not being that bad of a trip...the beds were more comfortable than I gave them credit for (which is saying too much). I found it fairly easy to sleep on that train. It took about 6.5 hours to get back to Athens, and once we did we hung out in a cafe in the train station for a couple of hours since it was 6 am. We had seen that the Archaeological Museum was open at 8:30 so we decided that we would go there for a little bit before heading back to the airport. We picked a great day to come back to Athens because all of the public transit was on strike, so the traffic was crazy and we had to pay to get a cab everywhere. We got a cab to take us to the Museum and he was nice and said he would pick us back up at 10 to take us to the airport. What sucks is that it was like 60 euros to get to the airport since it was so far away...but oh well. Like I said, not a great day for us for public transit to be on strike.
The Museum was really interesting, again just being the presence of all that history is just crazy to me. The Museum also had an Egypt Exhibit, which I definitely found myself having a new appreciation for after studying that with my students last semester during practicum. I would have liked to have a little longer in the Museum, but our cab driver kept his word and picked us up at 10 to go to the airport.
All in all, it was a great trip and I am elated that I got to experience it. One of Erin's friends in Thessolaniki, Stephanie, lives there all the time and said that we should definitely come back during the summer and go to the islands...I am planning on following her directions. I would love to go to the islands and see the beaches and typical white buildings and blue roofs!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Exciting Week
Okay, so Monday we were didn't have school, I like to think that it was because they were giving people a day to rest after the superbowl, but I don't think that was actually the reason. We went to the American Bar for the superbowl Sunday night, my waiter friend there reserved a table for us at the last minute. So we ended up getting there about 9:45 pm (aka 3 hours before the game actually started) just to make sure we could get our table. We were there until after 4 in the morning, since that is when the game was over. Kyle is a huge Packers fan, so he was elated with the outcome of the game of course. It was funny trying to explain the game to all of our British friends that came too. I was surprised that they stayed the whole time, but they did and I think they enjoyed themselves. Vicky ended up getting really into the game, I think she started to understand it pretty well. The bar was absolutely packed with people watching the Superbowl...I was pretty surprised, so it's a good thing we got there so early and got a table. I saw people in so many different jerseys...even a Jets one! WHOO! The crowd seemed to be pretty split between Steelers and Packers fans...some guys were wearing Packers jerseys and even had the cheeseheads to go with it, Angharad got a picture with them before we left because she thought it was awesome. It was a really great time, and I'm very grateful that we didn't have school the next day since I didn't go to bed until after 6 am.
Monday, since we had the day off, we went to the Zoo! It was a perfect day to go too...it was sunny and not that cold. It was a lot of fun, it was just me, Emilie, Tori, and Kyle but we spent like the whole day there. It was much better than the last zoo I went to, which was the Knoxville Zoo. So that was a fun day, we didn't really get a chance to look around the Aquarium which is kind of a bummer because I haven't been to one in a very long time, but thats okay. Side note: today in class the students learned the word "bummer" for the first time and when the teacher asked what they thought it meant, one kid was like "oh shit!" 7th grade students these were, and the teacher was like yea...I don't think is is quite as harsh as that though. Then she asked me if it was an appropriate word to say or if it had a really bad connotation, and I was like no not at all...I use it all the time. Just thought that was kind of interesting.
After that, my week has been pretty normal. Emilie and I went out yesterday looking for costumes for Karnival. She bought a beer mug costume and is going as a full beer stein one night which is kind of hilarious. I found a little cowgirl/southern outfit that I thought about buying since it's only appropriate for the Kentucky girl to have that. Emilie really wants me to get it and talk in a really think Southern accent all day...we'll see. I would have to also get a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, so those cost money. There was also a Bavarian costume that was cheaper that I thought about getting, that is just the classic German outfit people think of. I saw a lot of girls wearing those dresses when I was in Munich, since Munich is the capital of Bavaria. Plus, that would be kind of a nice little thing to bring home to remind me of my German adventures...and I could wear it for Halloween! Karnival is 5 days long, and most people have a different outfit every day. I think I might just pick 2 and wear those, since I am going to Paris in the middle of Karnival anyway.
Today thought I got a lot of mail and it made my day! I had a Valentine's Day card from my parents, another letter, and a package! The other letter was in response to a Holiday card I had made last semester in Dr. Henry's class that was sent to the troops. One of them wrote me back! That is really exciting, and I think I might write him back again because that is really fun! The package was from my parents and the contents were: 2 sweatshirts (I forgot to pack any and it has really been sad living without any sweatshirts), Twizzlers, Chocolate, Candy Hearts, Gum, Kleenex (which is good because I ran out since I've been sick and stole a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom to use instead), Jillian Michaels DVD, and TWO CANS OF DIET COKE!! Clearly, I am most excited about the Diet Coke. They do not have Diet Coke here, and the Diet Coke in the English shop tastes different than the ones at home. I haven't had one yet because I don't want to waste their greatness! The package also included some mail that I had gotten at home...so it really made my afternoon!
Anyway, tonight Vicky's friends from home are in town so we are going to get some sushi and maybe go out for a drink after. And I go to Greece tomorrow!! WHOOP WHOOP!
Monday, since we had the day off, we went to the Zoo! It was a perfect day to go too...it was sunny and not that cold. It was a lot of fun, it was just me, Emilie, Tori, and Kyle but we spent like the whole day there. It was much better than the last zoo I went to, which was the Knoxville Zoo. So that was a fun day, we didn't really get a chance to look around the Aquarium which is kind of a bummer because I haven't been to one in a very long time, but thats okay. Side note: today in class the students learned the word "bummer" for the first time and when the teacher asked what they thought it meant, one kid was like "oh shit!" 7th grade students these were, and the teacher was like yea...I don't think is is quite as harsh as that though. Then she asked me if it was an appropriate word to say or if it had a really bad connotation, and I was like no not at all...I use it all the time. Just thought that was kind of interesting.
After that, my week has been pretty normal. Emilie and I went out yesterday looking for costumes for Karnival. She bought a beer mug costume and is going as a full beer stein one night which is kind of hilarious. I found a little cowgirl/southern outfit that I thought about buying since it's only appropriate for the Kentucky girl to have that. Emilie really wants me to get it and talk in a really think Southern accent all day...we'll see. I would have to also get a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, so those cost money. There was also a Bavarian costume that was cheaper that I thought about getting, that is just the classic German outfit people think of. I saw a lot of girls wearing those dresses when I was in Munich, since Munich is the capital of Bavaria. Plus, that would be kind of a nice little thing to bring home to remind me of my German adventures...and I could wear it for Halloween! Karnival is 5 days long, and most people have a different outfit every day. I think I might just pick 2 and wear those, since I am going to Paris in the middle of Karnival anyway.
Today thought I got a lot of mail and it made my day! I had a Valentine's Day card from my parents, another letter, and a package! The other letter was in response to a Holiday card I had made last semester in Dr. Henry's class that was sent to the troops. One of them wrote me back! That is really exciting, and I think I might write him back again because that is really fun! The package was from my parents and the contents were: 2 sweatshirts (I forgot to pack any and it has really been sad living without any sweatshirts), Twizzlers, Chocolate, Candy Hearts, Gum, Kleenex (which is good because I ran out since I've been sick and stole a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom to use instead), Jillian Michaels DVD, and TWO CANS OF DIET COKE!! Clearly, I am most excited about the Diet Coke. They do not have Diet Coke here, and the Diet Coke in the English shop tastes different than the ones at home. I haven't had one yet because I don't want to waste their greatness! The package also included some mail that I had gotten at home...so it really made my afternoon!
Anyway, tonight Vicky's friends from home are in town so we are going to get some sushi and maybe go out for a drink after. And I go to Greece tomorrow!! WHOOP WHOOP!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Munich!
Munich is wonderful.
We had to be at the Main Station at 4:40 Saturday morning to catch the train to the airport...that was really early. The flight was only about an hour long, and then we had to take a 40 minute train from the Munich airport to the city. The traveling wasn't that bad, I slept most of the way. Our hostel was super close to the train station which was great, it was a wonderful location. The hostel itself was awesome. The people working were really nice, and the place was clean and fun. We set our stuff down in the hostel, but since check-in wasn't until 2 we set it in the luggage room and went to try and make our plans for the day. We found out information about a Dachau tour and a Beer and Brewery Tour. We had some time before the Dachau tour, so we found some breakfast. This little bakery had all these wonderful looking donuts so it was hard to pick one...when I was paying I asked the lady working what was in the donut and she said alcohol. Interesting. So I ate the donut, and you could definitely taste the alcohol. It wasn't bad, but if given the choice, I probably wouldn't get that again.
Dachau was really interesting. It is really sobering being in that concentration camp, but it was soooo interesting. There were a couple of people on our tour that were annoying, but it wasn't that bad. Dachau was the first concentration camp and it was a work camp. There were no mass murders at Dachau like there were at Aushwitz. The camp started as a place for opposers, people who spoke out against the Third Reich. As Hitler started gaining more and more control, more people were forced into concentration camps and the camp started getting more and more crowded. I think our tour guide said the camp was meant for 2,000 people maybe, and at one point in time there were like 76,000...that could be a very wrong statistic, but it was something to that effect. So while there was a gas chamber, it is claimed to have never been used. I am glad I went, but it is definitely a depressing tour. We were instructed to go drink a beer after the tour.
Once we got back from the tour, we went to check into the hostel and put our stuff in our rooms. Then we had a little less than an hour to kill before the Beer and Brewery Tour so we went and ate Donners, which were delicious. This tour was very different than the Dachau one, clearly. We went to 3 different breweries in Munich. Schneider's and Sons was the first one and it was okay...the beer I had was a dark beer and I am not a big fan of dark beers. The second one we went to was Paulaner, and at this one we were actually taken through the factory to learn how beer is made and learned the history of beer...which was pretty interesting. The monks first discovered beer during lent, because they were fasting they needed something to sustain them...thus beer was born. Every year in Munich during lent is known as the Beer Season. We got to sample 3 different beers at this one too. The last place we went was th original Hofbrauhaus, which was an experience. Interestingly enough, that Hofbrauhaus was the birth place of the Third Reich, the first couple for meetings between Hitler and the Third Reich took place in that Hofbrauhaus. It was really fun, most everyone finished their drinks and then left but there were 5 of us that stayed and hung out for like an hour or so longer. It was me and Kyle, this 50 year old British lady who was awesome, and 2 guys in the U.S. Army that are stationed in Germany. One of those guys actually went to college in Kentucky so we talked about that. At one point in time we were arguing about Ale8 and everyone on our tour was looking at us because our southern accents were coming out really strong and people said that couldn't even understand what we were talking about...which is kinda funnny.
After the beer tour, we went back to the hostel and there were a bunch of people hanging out in the bar in the hostel so we went in there and met some really nice and interesting people there. The next day, check-out was at 10 so we had to get up and get moving. We decided that we were just going to walk around Munich since we didn't get a chance to on Saturday. Munich is absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. We climbed up this clock tower thing to get an amazing view of the city. We didn't really do much except explore the city...but it was beautiful and I would love to go back there.
I kinda wish that my placement was there instead of Cologne because there is more to do in Munich, and more people speak English. But, it was nice that when we finally were done traveling and back in Munich that feeling of "home" was there. I knew exactly where I was going when I got back to Cologne, and I was relieved to be back here...so it was interesing the way that works.
We had to be at the Main Station at 4:40 Saturday morning to catch the train to the airport...that was really early. The flight was only about an hour long, and then we had to take a 40 minute train from the Munich airport to the city. The traveling wasn't that bad, I slept most of the way. Our hostel was super close to the train station which was great, it was a wonderful location. The hostel itself was awesome. The people working were really nice, and the place was clean and fun. We set our stuff down in the hostel, but since check-in wasn't until 2 we set it in the luggage room and went to try and make our plans for the day. We found out information about a Dachau tour and a Beer and Brewery Tour. We had some time before the Dachau tour, so we found some breakfast. This little bakery had all these wonderful looking donuts so it was hard to pick one...when I was paying I asked the lady working what was in the donut and she said alcohol. Interesting. So I ate the donut, and you could definitely taste the alcohol. It wasn't bad, but if given the choice, I probably wouldn't get that again.
Dachau was really interesting. It is really sobering being in that concentration camp, but it was soooo interesting. There were a couple of people on our tour that were annoying, but it wasn't that bad. Dachau was the first concentration camp and it was a work camp. There were no mass murders at Dachau like there were at Aushwitz. The camp started as a place for opposers, people who spoke out against the Third Reich. As Hitler started gaining more and more control, more people were forced into concentration camps and the camp started getting more and more crowded. I think our tour guide said the camp was meant for 2,000 people maybe, and at one point in time there were like 76,000...that could be a very wrong statistic, but it was something to that effect. So while there was a gas chamber, it is claimed to have never been used. I am glad I went, but it is definitely a depressing tour. We were instructed to go drink a beer after the tour.
Once we got back from the tour, we went to check into the hostel and put our stuff in our rooms. Then we had a little less than an hour to kill before the Beer and Brewery Tour so we went and ate Donners, which were delicious. This tour was very different than the Dachau one, clearly. We went to 3 different breweries in Munich. Schneider's and Sons was the first one and it was okay...the beer I had was a dark beer and I am not a big fan of dark beers. The second one we went to was Paulaner, and at this one we were actually taken through the factory to learn how beer is made and learned the history of beer...which was pretty interesting. The monks first discovered beer during lent, because they were fasting they needed something to sustain them...thus beer was born. Every year in Munich during lent is known as the Beer Season. We got to sample 3 different beers at this one too. The last place we went was th original Hofbrauhaus, which was an experience. Interestingly enough, that Hofbrauhaus was the birth place of the Third Reich, the first couple for meetings between Hitler and the Third Reich took place in that Hofbrauhaus. It was really fun, most everyone finished their drinks and then left but there were 5 of us that stayed and hung out for like an hour or so longer. It was me and Kyle, this 50 year old British lady who was awesome, and 2 guys in the U.S. Army that are stationed in Germany. One of those guys actually went to college in Kentucky so we talked about that. At one point in time we were arguing about Ale8 and everyone on our tour was looking at us because our southern accents were coming out really strong and people said that couldn't even understand what we were talking about...which is kinda funnny.
After the beer tour, we went back to the hostel and there were a bunch of people hanging out in the bar in the hostel so we went in there and met some really nice and interesting people there. The next day, check-out was at 10 so we had to get up and get moving. We decided that we were just going to walk around Munich since we didn't get a chance to on Saturday. Munich is absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. We climbed up this clock tower thing to get an amazing view of the city. We didn't really do much except explore the city...but it was beautiful and I would love to go back there.
I kinda wish that my placement was there instead of Cologne because there is more to do in Munich, and more people speak English. But, it was nice that when we finally were done traveling and back in Munich that feeling of "home" was there. I knew exactly where I was going when I got back to Cologne, and I was relieved to be back here...so it was interesing the way that works.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Writing Mood
Okay, so I am not really in a writing mood, but I have been writing a lot since I've gotten back from class today. I wrote a lesson plan for my year 6 English class for Friday. It is harder than you would think trying to fit the content of this English class into a typical KTIP lesson plan format...but have no fear I did it! Now we'll just have to see what Evelin says about it tomorrow when we discuss it, we'll see how that goes. I also had to post that lesson plan on Blackboard for my class tonight and respond to someone's classroom management plan from the last class. So I have had a pretty productive day so far! I have another paper due for Dr. Wood this weekend, just information about the school I am in and the students and she wants me to include some pictures. So, it shouldn't be a difficult paper to write, just time consuming.
So not much has really happened this week so far...just gone to school and hung out really. I finished Dexter...great show but now I'm going to have to wait and watch it like normal people and that for sure sucks. I am also almost finished with my Nicholas Sparks book, and at this rate I am definitely going to have to buy a lot more books seeing as how I have almost finished two books and haven't even been here 3 weeks yet. I like reading though, and it is nice to have the time to do more of it.
Apparently, there was a lice outbreak in the school like right before I got here, and one of the girls in my year 5 class gave a presentation on lice and actually had lice in a baggy that she passed around. I was sitting next to her all class, and now I am super paranoid every time I scratch my head. Ew.
Really exciting thing happened yesterday: I booked my trip to GREECE!! Yay! We are leaving next Friday afternoon and flying to Athens, and staying in Athens for the night. Then we are site-seeing in Athens and taking a train Saturday night to Thessolaniki where we are staying with Kyle's friend in our program. Then we will head back to Athens on Monday night and fly out on Tuesday. So exciting! I hope it is hot there...I didn't bring a bathing suit but thats okay, I'm not really expecting it to be that hot.
Today I was teaching about the American school system to my year 8 class. I actually felt comfortable teaching that because I clearly am really familiar with how it works. The students seemed really interested in it too because it really is completely different than their system. I am continuing the same lesson for our next class on Tuesday, so that is fun.
I think I am skyping with some people from class before class starts tonight so that should be good. Other than that, I have to finish making a worksheet for class on Friday to show Evelin tomorrow. So once that is finished, I will probably read and watch some One Tree Hill (thats the show I have moved on to since I am done with Dexter and 2 seasons behind on OTH).
So not much has really happened this week so far...just gone to school and hung out really. I finished Dexter...great show but now I'm going to have to wait and watch it like normal people and that for sure sucks. I am also almost finished with my Nicholas Sparks book, and at this rate I am definitely going to have to buy a lot more books seeing as how I have almost finished two books and haven't even been here 3 weeks yet. I like reading though, and it is nice to have the time to do more of it.
Apparently, there was a lice outbreak in the school like right before I got here, and one of the girls in my year 5 class gave a presentation on lice and actually had lice in a baggy that she passed around. I was sitting next to her all class, and now I am super paranoid every time I scratch my head. Ew.
Really exciting thing happened yesterday: I booked my trip to GREECE!! Yay! We are leaving next Friday afternoon and flying to Athens, and staying in Athens for the night. Then we are site-seeing in Athens and taking a train Saturday night to Thessolaniki where we are staying with Kyle's friend in our program. Then we will head back to Athens on Monday night and fly out on Tuesday. So exciting! I hope it is hot there...I didn't bring a bathing suit but thats okay, I'm not really expecting it to be that hot.
Today I was teaching about the American school system to my year 8 class. I actually felt comfortable teaching that because I clearly am really familiar with how it works. The students seemed really interested in it too because it really is completely different than their system. I am continuing the same lesson for our next class on Tuesday, so that is fun.
I think I am skyping with some people from class before class starts tonight so that should be good. Other than that, I have to finish making a worksheet for class on Friday to show Evelin tomorrow. So once that is finished, I will probably read and watch some One Tree Hill (thats the show I have moved on to since I am done with Dexter and 2 seasons behind on OTH).
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Weekend!
So I know it has been a few days since I have sat down to write on here...so this may be a fairly long blog...sorry!
Okay so I finally got some laundry done on Thursday night! I only was able to do one load though because laundry costs 3.5 eurosnand takes 3 hours for one load to finish, and the clothes still come out a little damp. Plus, the washer and dryer are super tiny so you can't even fit a lot into a load. So that's just great. I just finished my second load today and still have another load to do, but I need some change because the machines won't take paper money, nor do they give change back.
Friday at school I worked on my own with some year 7 students. During class I would take 4 students at a time to a different room to practice speaking English. One of the questions I asked each group was what they were doing this weekend. I had two boys in the first or second group telling me they were going to a friend's house to play poker Friday night. Later, I had in a group the boy who was having the poker tournament. I just feel like 7th grade is kind of young to be having poker tournaments, but I guess they do start drinking earlier here so they might as well gamble earlier too. Anyway, I did that all class and then went to my year 6 class. For the second lesson in that class we had an assembly that we took them too, so it was a pretty easy day at school.
After class, I just came back to my room and hung out for like the rest of the afternoon before meeting up with some people to go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. The food was pretty good, and not too expensive so that was nice. After dinner we went somewhere else to have a few drinks, so the night was pretty calm and really nice.
I woke up at like 11:30 this morning and went and got some currywurst, which is super popular and very German, with Sophie and that was actually really good. Once I got back from lunch, I just hung around the dorm for a couple of hours before heading out to the Reissdorf Kolsch Brewery for dinner with a couple of people. That place was really good, but they actually didn't have a big selection for food which was kind of surprising to me. After dinner we went to Vicky's house for a couple hours and then out in Cologne.
Sunday, Evelin and her husband invited Kyle and I over to their house for brunch. We left the dorm around 10:30 and got to their house around 11:15. They had made us a very German-style brunch which was really good. It was a beautiful day out yesterday so Evelin took all of us to this castle that was about 30-45 minutes away from Cologne. The castle was really cool (pictures are up on facebook). What was most fascinating about the castle was everything it was used for in history. It started out as a rich banker's home in 1883, he built it to show off his money. Throughout history it became a boy's school, a Catholic school, and Adolph Hitler school, a hippy hang out, and more. It was just fascinating. The inside was set up how it would have been when the banker had originally built it. The outside of it was beautiful and the view was AMAZING! We had to hike up this huge mountain/hill to get to the castle, and I am for sure feeling it in my legs today, but the view and everything else was definitely worth it.
I was so worn out yesterday, we didn't get back to the dorm until about 5:30 and then I went and got some dinner with Kyle and Sophie and just came back to my room for the night. I had class this morning from 8-9:35, then came home and took a nap because I didn't sleep very well last night. I think here shortly I might go to a cafe and read for a bit.
Okay so I finally got some laundry done on Thursday night! I only was able to do one load though because laundry costs 3.5 eurosnand takes 3 hours for one load to finish, and the clothes still come out a little damp. Plus, the washer and dryer are super tiny so you can't even fit a lot into a load. So that's just great. I just finished my second load today and still have another load to do, but I need some change because the machines won't take paper money, nor do they give change back.
Friday at school I worked on my own with some year 7 students. During class I would take 4 students at a time to a different room to practice speaking English. One of the questions I asked each group was what they were doing this weekend. I had two boys in the first or second group telling me they were going to a friend's house to play poker Friday night. Later, I had in a group the boy who was having the poker tournament. I just feel like 7th grade is kind of young to be having poker tournaments, but I guess they do start drinking earlier here so they might as well gamble earlier too. Anyway, I did that all class and then went to my year 6 class. For the second lesson in that class we had an assembly that we took them too, so it was a pretty easy day at school.
After class, I just came back to my room and hung out for like the rest of the afternoon before meeting up with some people to go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. The food was pretty good, and not too expensive so that was nice. After dinner we went somewhere else to have a few drinks, so the night was pretty calm and really nice.
I woke up at like 11:30 this morning and went and got some currywurst, which is super popular and very German, with Sophie and that was actually really good. Once I got back from lunch, I just hung around the dorm for a couple of hours before heading out to the Reissdorf Kolsch Brewery for dinner with a couple of people. That place was really good, but they actually didn't have a big selection for food which was kind of surprising to me. After dinner we went to Vicky's house for a couple hours and then out in Cologne.
Sunday, Evelin and her husband invited Kyle and I over to their house for brunch. We left the dorm around 10:30 and got to their house around 11:15. They had made us a very German-style brunch which was really good. It was a beautiful day out yesterday so Evelin took all of us to this castle that was about 30-45 minutes away from Cologne. The castle was really cool (pictures are up on facebook). What was most fascinating about the castle was everything it was used for in history. It started out as a rich banker's home in 1883, he built it to show off his money. Throughout history it became a boy's school, a Catholic school, and Adolph Hitler school, a hippy hang out, and more. It was just fascinating. The inside was set up how it would have been when the banker had originally built it. The outside of it was beautiful and the view was AMAZING! We had to hike up this huge mountain/hill to get to the castle, and I am for sure feeling it in my legs today, but the view and everything else was definitely worth it.
I was so worn out yesterday, we didn't get back to the dorm until about 5:30 and then I went and got some dinner with Kyle and Sophie and just came back to my room for the night. I had class this morning from 8-9:35, then came home and took a nap because I didn't sleep very well last night. I think here shortly I might go to a cafe and read for a bit.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday and Thursday
So yesterday I was supposed to have class from 8-935 but they were just taking a test so my teacher told me I didn't need to come...so I didn't. Instead, I woke up about 10 and just kind of hung around in my room for a while, then I grabbed a book and headed to Starbucks to sit and read before I went in for my 225 class. I was at Starbucks for about 2 hours, and I started reading the newest Nicholas Sparks book, Safe Haven. I got about 100 pages in and it is pretty good so far, the main character's name is Katie so thats fun. My 225 class was pointless, it was 9th grade social studies and they were supposed to be presenting their business plans that they just finished up, but we coudn't get the projector to work so we just sat there for like 45 minutes doing nothing before the teacher finally just gave up and let us go.
Once I got back from class, Kyle and I booked our trip to Munich! We are leaving next Saturday morning at 645 am, which puts us in Munich by 8 am. Then we are going to go on the Dachau Concentration Camp tour, which I think will be really interesting. The tour takes like 5 hours so once we're done with that I think we're just going to roam around the city a bit before we go to the original Hofbrauhaus Saturday night. We booked a pretty nice hostel for Saturday night and then Sunday we are going to do some more tourism stuff in the city and then our flight leaves to come back to Cologne at like 530 Sunday afternoon. That time works perfect because that will give us some time to get home and unpack and rest and stuff before we head to Joe Champs (the American bar) to watch the Superbowl! There is a group of like 8 of us going to watch the game which should be fun, it starts at midnight here but we don't have school that Monday so that's perfect!
Last night I was supposed to go see Black Swan with some people but I wasn't able to get a ticket because it was sold out, Emilie assured me this morning though that I probably wouldn't have liked it so it's okay. Instead I just came back and graded some papers and just hung out in my room.
This morning I didn't have class until 1145, so I was able to sleep in until 1030. I had year 7 English double lesson today and for the first lesson the teacher handed them back their class tests they took last class. One little boy started to cry and it was the sadest thing...he was just so pitiful! Some of the other boys were like giving him a hug and stuff and being really sweet which was kind of touching, but that was just super sad for me to watch! For the second lesson, I took 4 girls into a different classroom to practice the speaking aspect of English so I was just basically having a conversation with them and asking them questions and stuff.
I finally made it to the store after class and restocked my food supply...yay! I also bought laundry detergent and softener so I might have Emilie teach me how to do laundry tonight. Although I had a hell of a time trying to find the detergent because it was right in there with the dish soap and softener so I had no idea which was actually detergent and I asked like 3 people before this nice man heard me asking and helped me out. O well...I got some now and can start laundry hopefully tonight!
I think thats about all I have planned so far for the day...maybe read some more.
Once I got back from class, Kyle and I booked our trip to Munich! We are leaving next Saturday morning at 645 am, which puts us in Munich by 8 am. Then we are going to go on the Dachau Concentration Camp tour, which I think will be really interesting. The tour takes like 5 hours so once we're done with that I think we're just going to roam around the city a bit before we go to the original Hofbrauhaus Saturday night. We booked a pretty nice hostel for Saturday night and then Sunday we are going to do some more tourism stuff in the city and then our flight leaves to come back to Cologne at like 530 Sunday afternoon. That time works perfect because that will give us some time to get home and unpack and rest and stuff before we head to Joe Champs (the American bar) to watch the Superbowl! There is a group of like 8 of us going to watch the game which should be fun, it starts at midnight here but we don't have school that Monday so that's perfect!
Last night I was supposed to go see Black Swan with some people but I wasn't able to get a ticket because it was sold out, Emilie assured me this morning though that I probably wouldn't have liked it so it's okay. Instead I just came back and graded some papers and just hung out in my room.
This morning I didn't have class until 1145, so I was able to sleep in until 1030. I had year 7 English double lesson today and for the first lesson the teacher handed them back their class tests they took last class. One little boy started to cry and it was the sadest thing...he was just so pitiful! Some of the other boys were like giving him a hug and stuff and being really sweet which was kind of touching, but that was just super sad for me to watch! For the second lesson, I took 4 girls into a different classroom to practice the speaking aspect of English so I was just basically having a conversation with them and asking them questions and stuff.
I finally made it to the store after class and restocked my food supply...yay! I also bought laundry detergent and softener so I might have Emilie teach me how to do laundry tonight. Although I had a hell of a time trying to find the detergent because it was right in there with the dish soap and softener so I had no idea which was actually detergent and I asked like 3 people before this nice man heard me asking and helped me out. O well...I got some now and can start laundry hopefully tonight!
I think thats about all I have planned so far for the day...maybe read some more.
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