Hello Blog-sphere... been a long. 10 days. A lot can happen in 10 days! This past weekend we went to Scotland: what. an. adventure. Words cannot describe all of it (so i obviously made a vid, check out my FB) Train delays/terminations, long hikes, random pub friends lighting each other on fire... the usual, right? Oh, it was an adventure of many sorts! I have to say, other than the fire show in the pub obviously, the hike up to Arthur's Seat was one of the coolest things we have done yet! It took a round trip 3 hours up and down. And i don't think we had quite prepared ourselves for the intensity. Within the first 30 seconds i was panting and de-layering... haha and once we went up one side of the mountain, there was ANOTHER... it never seemed to end, but the view was worth it. Definitely a memory to last a life time. Now, for those that have watched the video... those random guys? the ones who look in their mid-30s? yea... those. here's the story:
We are sitting in this pub on Sunday night, minding our own business. There is hardly anyone in there because no one else has Monday off (it's President's Day for teachers... thus our vaca) So we had been sitting there for about 30 minutes when these gentlemen walked up. Two of them were excessively chatty/friendly. We humored them and chatted it up... 30 minutes later, their group of 5/6 were sitting at our table picking at our accents and commenting on life in England. Haha these guys were hysterical. And as my video showed... one of the guys asked "would you like to see me light this fellow on fire?" Obviously i answered with a resounding, YES! After that show... we took a quick exit to another pub. We found another friend there... but he wasn't as eccentric or a pyro. But he was very kind! Our adventure was unique, to say the least.
Now to the teach...
I've been gradually taking over more and more responsibilities. My students are going with the flow very well! They are use to using computers whenever they want, make hot cocoa when they please, and up and leave randomly! It's crazy. But they are transitioning to a more "traditional" style alright. My main issue is my teacher wanting to randomly jump in on my discussion! I don't think he is use to seeing his students so engaged, so he wants to capitalize on it. haha oh well, I'm going with it... But i'm loving teaching! The students are really great and i'm trying out new techniques/activities and they seem to enjoy the change.
This weekend...
BELGIUM! Why you ask? oh, a chocolate factory!! We are touring a chocolate factory... this is a day tour, so we are going to cram it all in, chocolate and all =) I'm sure I will make another 'highlight' reel... So keep your eyes peeled. Blog ya later.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
S.A.D. aka Singles Awareness Day
Valentine's Day... what a treat. From beginning to end- memorable, to say the least. Let's have a quick recap, because the mental images you are going to have will make you laugh...
So for those that don't know, I have to ride the 'school bus' (over here, that's code for Charter bus... no messin around) to get to the school i teach at. Well, to get on the bus I have to have a bus pass, and then to get on the base I have to have a Base Entry ID. All very official, and all VERY cool. So we arrive at our 'bus spot'... a parking lot... which is approximately 2 football fields away from our dorms. As we are huddled together to hide from the wind, i just happen to look in my wallet for my IDs... standard check. Uh... well, Happy VDay to me, i LEFT THEM in my room. So we have TWO problems: 1. i cannot board the bus or enter the base and 2. the bus is about 3 minutes away. This is where the mental images come in. I'm dressed in my "I hate VDay, but don't want to be emo" outfit... gray slacks, black top, pink sweater. Subtle, but not inviting. Once I realized my predicament, I thrust all of my belongings onto Merideth, grab my dorm key and take off SPRINTING... im not kidding... SPRINTING to our dorm, while yelling "stall as long as you can!" So, here i am, obviously dressed for work, running down the main road of our base like a crazy person. I make it to our dorm in under 90 seconds, fling open the doors grab my IDs and proceed outside again... sprinting... and i look down the street and of course, the bus has arrived. Super. this means all of my 'students' can see me, in all my glory, frantic like a crazy person. i near run into the bus because, among everything else, the bus doors are on the OPPOSITE side. strike two. luckily, i stopped my momentum in time. The bus driver was very gracious and i believe said i had 'good form' hahaha he actually has befriended all of us and is really nice. So he got a kick out of it... So there i am, panting... sweating... taking my jacket and sweater off... wide awake. haha but our adventure didn't end there. On our ridiculously long ride to school, we hit traffic. And this was not some minor stop. nope, we were on that stinking bus for 45 MINUTES! School starts at 805, i didn't arrive until 845. I put that time to good use those and finished a lesson plan/pre test i needed to make. The surprises kept coming, though. The class that was suppose to be in session was the "seminar" hour. It's basically a study hall. So i just bound into class, expecting kids to be chatty and not pay attention. WRONG. It's not seminar... it's the class im suppose to be TEACHING! Talk about having the hits keep coming. So then im just annoyed. Because the schedule said one thing, but that morning they switched it. So my lesson i had got put on the back burner for Thursday. The rest of the day was just in shambles as far as a 'routine' haha there was no chance of recovery. don't get me wrong, it was a great day... just NOT what i had planned. I was presently surprised by an anonymous cookie and flower i received?? i have NO idea. and im not sure i want to find out. haha! but i guess that was a good 'pick me up' So basically, the day's end found Merideth and i, alone in the teacher's lounge, reminiscing about our very similar days while eating all of the chocolate in sight left for VDay... when Merideth looks at me and says "And It's VALENTINE'S Day" we dropped to our knees in gut laughter while pathetic feelings ensued. Goodness i love this Hallmark Holiday! Great for a laugh!
So for those that don't know, I have to ride the 'school bus' (over here, that's code for Charter bus... no messin around) to get to the school i teach at. Well, to get on the bus I have to have a bus pass, and then to get on the base I have to have a Base Entry ID. All very official, and all VERY cool. So we arrive at our 'bus spot'... a parking lot... which is approximately 2 football fields away from our dorms. As we are huddled together to hide from the wind, i just happen to look in my wallet for my IDs... standard check. Uh... well, Happy VDay to me, i LEFT THEM in my room. So we have TWO problems: 1. i cannot board the bus or enter the base and 2. the bus is about 3 minutes away. This is where the mental images come in. I'm dressed in my "I hate VDay, but don't want to be emo" outfit... gray slacks, black top, pink sweater. Subtle, but not inviting. Once I realized my predicament, I thrust all of my belongings onto Merideth, grab my dorm key and take off SPRINTING... im not kidding... SPRINTING to our dorm, while yelling "stall as long as you can!" So, here i am, obviously dressed for work, running down the main road of our base like a crazy person. I make it to our dorm in under 90 seconds, fling open the doors grab my IDs and proceed outside again... sprinting... and i look down the street and of course, the bus has arrived. Super. this means all of my 'students' can see me, in all my glory, frantic like a crazy person. i near run into the bus because, among everything else, the bus doors are on the OPPOSITE side. strike two. luckily, i stopped my momentum in time. The bus driver was very gracious and i believe said i had 'good form' hahaha he actually has befriended all of us and is really nice. So he got a kick out of it... So there i am, panting... sweating... taking my jacket and sweater off... wide awake. haha but our adventure didn't end there. On our ridiculously long ride to school, we hit traffic. And this was not some minor stop. nope, we were on that stinking bus for 45 MINUTES! School starts at 805, i didn't arrive until 845. I put that time to good use those and finished a lesson plan/pre test i needed to make. The surprises kept coming, though. The class that was suppose to be in session was the "seminar" hour. It's basically a study hall. So i just bound into class, expecting kids to be chatty and not pay attention. WRONG. It's not seminar... it's the class im suppose to be TEACHING! Talk about having the hits keep coming. So then im just annoyed. Because the schedule said one thing, but that morning they switched it. So my lesson i had got put on the back burner for Thursday. The rest of the day was just in shambles as far as a 'routine' haha there was no chance of recovery. don't get me wrong, it was a great day... just NOT what i had planned. I was presently surprised by an anonymous cookie and flower i received?? i have NO idea. and im not sure i want to find out. haha! but i guess that was a good 'pick me up' So basically, the day's end found Merideth and i, alone in the teacher's lounge, reminiscing about our very similar days while eating all of the chocolate in sight left for VDay... when Merideth looks at me and says "And It's VALENTINE'S Day" we dropped to our knees in gut laughter while pathetic feelings ensued. Goodness i love this Hallmark Holiday! Great for a laugh!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
"I'll admit... I had a Peyton book"
Oh the weekend... the phrase "living for the weekend" has become a theme to my life here. Don't get me wrong, i realize i'm here to 'teach' and things... but listen, i'm in Europe. and my co-op teacher is a treat. so i basically have the greatest time. During my day i have found myself drifting to googling trains and air fares on where to go for the upcoming weeks... all whilst my students get yet another lesson on Indians and the inappropriate term "trash" (it is rubbish here in England... and i will never forget). I did learn a new vocab word Friday, which i think is debatable... let's take a vote: who really thinks that the word 'punk' means male prostitute? hmm...
Jackie has informed me of the boys that she believes have a 'crush' on me... i'm not sure how i feel about this yet. i mean, obviously im flattered. if only i WASN'T their teacher, it WASN'T illegal, and they didn't look like they were just getting out of puberty. Dang it. The search for my English husband continues... We do try to be extra cordial with the attractive young airmen who protect the gate of our base... batting of the eyes, excessive "thank you's" and "how are you's", followed by lots of smiling... well, this has gotten us NO WHERE. we still have no guy friends. again, dang it. However, one of the teacher's husbands plays card games with some Airmen officers and she is trying to get him to inform the good, mature officers that there are 'wonderful, bored young ladies' on Feltwell base... we have received no calls, or stalkers, for that matter. But have no fear, we still have quite a few weeks.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day... aka, Single's Awareness... I'm not sure how this is going to pan out. Let's be honest, i've been single on Valentine's day for 21 years straight now. Who would want to break that streak NOW? so for the 22nd year in a row, a single's pity party will ensue tomorrow evening. On the agenda: dinner and a movie. Classic, right? maybe a cry for good measure? Haha! I'm sure it will be fun... our evenings on Feltwell seem to come with a spice of entertainment. Tonight? fire drill. Sarah was cooking us a lovely chicken alfredo dish when... a stick of butter sent the pan of chicken into disarray and resulted in excessive smoke. Of course, I was down stairs at the time. What was my first thought? Chi O. For those of you unaware... the Chi Omega house has the annoying charm of randomly setting off the fire alarm. So believe me when i saw i drudgingly closed my computer, trudged upstairs, set my computer down, then contemplated taking it with me.... then grabbed a jacket and walked outside. Was i in a hurry? nope. i've been through one too many 'false alarms' to know the difference between real and fake. haha so we huddled outside and waited for our firemen to save the day... and our ear drums. And who showed up? ASTRONAUTS. i'm not kidding people, these men were dressed head to toe in some uniform that looked like space gear... or shiny aluminum foil. They were less than amused, so we didn't try to play the 'we are here alone and bored, let's hang out' card... haha
Let's see... this weekend we went to Warwick Castle. It's about a 2 hour bus ride and was THE most gorgeous castle we have seen yet. And it also helped that i walked around in just a long sleeve T and jeans... However, the HIGHLIGHT was when Merideth was serenaded by someone in costume. Well, one boy was playing one of those old time guitar things... and the other boy, pasty white face and all, read her a Shakespeare excerpt! haha we didn't know whether to laugh it off or play along? haha so she just stood there... and took pics and vid. of course. And then we partook in afternoon tea and scones. and can i just say, i felt SO English... it was lovely. The greatest discovery we made in the town of Warwick was the racetrack! no, not cars... horses! We stumbled upon a HORSE RACE! it just so happened that there was a race going on Saturday. So we stood in the 'peasant' section (outside the gate) and took in the sights. it was my first horse race, and definitely my favorite. haha i envisioned myself in the movies Seabiscut and Secratariat... All i needed was a large hat.
The countdown for this weekend is on... Scotland. I believe i will fit in quite well. And i have complete confidence that this week will bring more glorious stories of new vocab words and little known facts of Indian history. Oh, the weekend...
Jackie has informed me of the boys that she believes have a 'crush' on me... i'm not sure how i feel about this yet. i mean, obviously im flattered. if only i WASN'T their teacher, it WASN'T illegal, and they didn't look like they were just getting out of puberty. Dang it. The search for my English husband continues... We do try to be extra cordial with the attractive young airmen who protect the gate of our base... batting of the eyes, excessive "thank you's" and "how are you's", followed by lots of smiling... well, this has gotten us NO WHERE. we still have no guy friends. again, dang it. However, one of the teacher's husbands plays card games with some Airmen officers and she is trying to get him to inform the good, mature officers that there are 'wonderful, bored young ladies' on Feltwell base... we have received no calls, or stalkers, for that matter. But have no fear, we still have quite a few weeks.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day... aka, Single's Awareness... I'm not sure how this is going to pan out. Let's be honest, i've been single on Valentine's day for 21 years straight now. Who would want to break that streak NOW? so for the 22nd year in a row, a single's pity party will ensue tomorrow evening. On the agenda: dinner and a movie. Classic, right? maybe a cry for good measure? Haha! I'm sure it will be fun... our evenings on Feltwell seem to come with a spice of entertainment. Tonight? fire drill. Sarah was cooking us a lovely chicken alfredo dish when... a stick of butter sent the pan of chicken into disarray and resulted in excessive smoke. Of course, I was down stairs at the time. What was my first thought? Chi O. For those of you unaware... the Chi Omega house has the annoying charm of randomly setting off the fire alarm. So believe me when i saw i drudgingly closed my computer, trudged upstairs, set my computer down, then contemplated taking it with me.... then grabbed a jacket and walked outside. Was i in a hurry? nope. i've been through one too many 'false alarms' to know the difference between real and fake. haha so we huddled outside and waited for our firemen to save the day... and our ear drums. And who showed up? ASTRONAUTS. i'm not kidding people, these men were dressed head to toe in some uniform that looked like space gear... or shiny aluminum foil. They were less than amused, so we didn't try to play the 'we are here alone and bored, let's hang out' card... haha
Let's see... this weekend we went to Warwick Castle. It's about a 2 hour bus ride and was THE most gorgeous castle we have seen yet. And it also helped that i walked around in just a long sleeve T and jeans... However, the HIGHLIGHT was when Merideth was serenaded by someone in costume. Well, one boy was playing one of those old time guitar things... and the other boy, pasty white face and all, read her a Shakespeare excerpt! haha we didn't know whether to laugh it off or play along? haha so she just stood there... and took pics and vid. of course. And then we partook in afternoon tea and scones. and can i just say, i felt SO English... it was lovely. The greatest discovery we made in the town of Warwick was the racetrack! no, not cars... horses! We stumbled upon a HORSE RACE! it just so happened that there was a race going on Saturday. So we stood in the 'peasant' section (outside the gate) and took in the sights. it was my first horse race, and definitely my favorite. haha i envisioned myself in the movies Seabiscut and Secratariat... All i needed was a large hat.
The countdown for this weekend is on... Scotland. I believe i will fit in quite well. And i have complete confidence that this week will bring more glorious stories of new vocab words and little known facts of Indian history. Oh, the weekend...
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Harry Potter adventures
This week has been a whirlwind of events! But it's been less of the quantity of adventures and more quality. I've taken another step with my students... they sit next to me during lunch and talk about what's going on in their life. They live such interesting lives... especially the 'sports' kids. The basketball team is traveling to the Netherlands this weekend for some games. Goodness, if my away games were in the Netherlands I wouldn't have EVER wanted to play at home! haha and they travel on a coach bus. When i told them i traveled on the 'yellow' bus... their faces... priceless. hahaha it was complete disgust. Anyways, I was talking to one of the juniors i have yesterday. She was having a difficult time with something and i asked her what was going on...
Basically, She was born in Mississippi and lived there for three years, moved to Florida until she was 8, and then her family got transfered to England. She has been here ever since. Well, her family just found out they are being transfered within the next couple of weeks/month to the States. She was basically just discussing with me the difficulties of that whole process. It was really interesting... but sad. She was just talking about how difficult it is to go all the way through this school system until her junior year, and be transfered for her last year in HS. I cannot imagine... but the strange thing was. she was incredibly upbeat and positive. she was saying how she is excited to be closer to family in Texas (that is where they are transferring) and the chance to go to school there. But anyways, it was my first experience dealing with someone going through a PCS (permanent change of station) and ive always been curious what a student has to say about it. just sounds awful and i cannot imagine, but the vibe i got was that students are kind of prepared for the possibility. i told her that San Antonio is actually my second favorite place in TX and that alot of Tx kids end up going to college in OK =) haha who knows, maybe ill dirty rush her!
Oh! I have the CUTEST junior student in my AP History class... he has a british accent. his name is Sam. And he talks to me frequently haha today... our topic of discussion was HP7 because i saw that on base last night. So, when you have a British accented student discussing HP with you... your basically in heaven, and im sure this boy is breaking girls hearts! I probably shouldn't say i have favorites, but let's be honest... he is a top choice.
Our bus rides in the morning are growing more and more inappropriate. haha i laugh, but it's not funny... gah, the students on this bus are just a lil much. Emily had a brilliant idea of bringing our ipods and draining it out. it is amazing how much this really has helped me. i have begun listening to the 20ish minutes podcasts of Andrew Wommack (thanks dad!) and it is perfect timing! the bus ride is about 30 minutes and the podcast normally goes about that long...
Last thing... it has rained for the FIRST time here.... Not. A. Fan. my pants got wet, i had no umbrella or hood... ugh. didn't like it. but we coped! Hope the snow is treating you all well =)
Basically, She was born in Mississippi and lived there for three years, moved to Florida until she was 8, and then her family got transfered to England. She has been here ever since. Well, her family just found out they are being transfered within the next couple of weeks/month to the States. She was basically just discussing with me the difficulties of that whole process. It was really interesting... but sad. She was just talking about how difficult it is to go all the way through this school system until her junior year, and be transfered for her last year in HS. I cannot imagine... but the strange thing was. she was incredibly upbeat and positive. she was saying how she is excited to be closer to family in Texas (that is where they are transferring) and the chance to go to school there. But anyways, it was my first experience dealing with someone going through a PCS (permanent change of station) and ive always been curious what a student has to say about it. just sounds awful and i cannot imagine, but the vibe i got was that students are kind of prepared for the possibility. i told her that San Antonio is actually my second favorite place in TX and that alot of Tx kids end up going to college in OK =) haha who knows, maybe ill dirty rush her!
Oh! I have the CUTEST junior student in my AP History class... he has a british accent. his name is Sam. And he talks to me frequently haha today... our topic of discussion was HP7 because i saw that on base last night. So, when you have a British accented student discussing HP with you... your basically in heaven, and im sure this boy is breaking girls hearts! I probably shouldn't say i have favorites, but let's be honest... he is a top choice.
Our bus rides in the morning are growing more and more inappropriate. haha i laugh, but it's not funny... gah, the students on this bus are just a lil much. Emily had a brilliant idea of bringing our ipods and draining it out. it is amazing how much this really has helped me. i have begun listening to the 20ish minutes podcasts of Andrew Wommack (thanks dad!) and it is perfect timing! the bus ride is about 30 minutes and the podcast normally goes about that long...
Last thing... it has rained for the FIRST time here.... Not. A. Fan. my pants got wet, i had no umbrella or hood... ugh. didn't like it. but we coped! Hope the snow is treating you all well =)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
"Everyone just LOOKS smarter in Cambridge"
The weekend... wow. it was a BLAST! Friday we went to Bury St Edmunds on a "tour" from the Base. It is such a beautiful, quaint little town. We loved it! sadly, we didn't make the market... its only open on Wednesday and Saturday. BUT the ruins we saw were amazing and the shopping area was really cool... supposedly that's where all the teachers and locals go to do their shopping. Then friday night at jackie's was a lot of fun... she is just a typical southern Tennessee girl. haha but super sweet and was raised in military life, so when emily asked her if she missed her family and she said no... she explained she is use to it. haha but we all couldn't imagine! Saturday was a jam packed day... me emily and merideth went to the JV/V Bball games... oh. my. gosh. i have never witnessed a more painful experience in my life. all i can say it- 8 to 2 was the HALFTIME score. i don't even know... coming from a 6A school in Oklahoma with basketball as a favorite sport, i cannot even express the sight. i found myself cringing, grimacing, and hiding my eyes. part of me wanted to leap off the bleachers, call a timeout, and begin instructing my own drills... the other part of me wanted to get up and walk out and not let my most recent basketball game be the LHS Lancers struggle to dribble. haha but they are a great group of kids... the DoDDS program just doesn't provide an avenue for students to get better because of the frequent moving. Anyways- interesting, to say the least. The dance!! well... first off- stereotypical HS dance. LOTS of awkward standing, and talking with minimal dancing. Occasional songs prompted mass amounts to flood the dance floor- but i found myself asking the question in my head "why do you choose to stand in talk in front of a BLARING stereo when you could be standing at home talking at a normal decibel level?" Oh well... so is HS i guess. but the highlight of the evening was when one of my junior boys began to sing and dance in our direction... awkward... and emily and merideth HID behind me... so i had to laugh and motion for him to go back on the floor. haha the 3 of us got a kick out of that! but it was a blast of an evening for sure!
Sundays adventure has probably been one of my favorites... we went to Cambridge for the whole day. Dannell Harrison who teaches at the HS offered to take us and spend the day with us. So our first stop was Eagle's pub... this pub was fantastic! The airmen of WWII would go to this pub and hang out after their duties were done and the ceilings have inscriptions from all of the fallen airmen, also the walls have all of the emblems/patches from different squadrons... there are pictures EVERYWHERE of old airmen and pilots so its really authentic... and then the other significance is that this pub is where Watson and Crick celebrated after they discovered DNA!! How cool... they have a plaque and the seats sectioned off... so it was really awesome. Basically just FELT smarter standing in there. Then after that we went thru the market that was open... im officially sold. If only Owasso was authentic enough to have a really quaint market... i found the neatest old book in this market. it was published in 1933 and is an account of Queen Victoria! Needless to say... i was in love. I'm trying to hold off reading it until we go to France so i can read it on a street corner cafe while people watching! Ah that will be my favorite!! after shopping/looking around we went Punting... and for those of you who don't know (i was included) 'punting' is the term used for Gondola boat rides in Italy. Where the guys in the funny outfits/hats push the boat along a shallow river bend! It was fantastic... we got to travel right through all of the colleges of Cambridge... there are five colleges, let's see if i can name them: Kings College, Trinity College, Queens College, Claires College and St. Johns... The river took us right through the 'restricted' part of the campus that people can't just openly walk on. It was gorgeous... to say the least. Our guide told us cool unique facts about different colleges and students who attended... one kid, in defiance of a grade he felt was lower than he was due, shimmied up an EXTREMELY tall steeple on the right side of the outside of the college and placed an orange traffic cone on the top. The president had to issue a scaffold be built on the right side to get it down... building the scaffold took 3 days, and on the eve of it being completed.. the boy went back up the right side, removed the cone and placed it on the left! haha they are pretty deviously clever. but its a hysterical story! That was pretty much the extent of our weekend... full of fun and adventure! This coming weekend should stay pretty chill... we are going to Warwick Castle on Saturday and hitting Cambridge again Sunday i think! Plenty of updates to come soon =)
Sundays adventure has probably been one of my favorites... we went to Cambridge for the whole day. Dannell Harrison who teaches at the HS offered to take us and spend the day with us. So our first stop was Eagle's pub... this pub was fantastic! The airmen of WWII would go to this pub and hang out after their duties were done and the ceilings have inscriptions from all of the fallen airmen, also the walls have all of the emblems/patches from different squadrons... there are pictures EVERYWHERE of old airmen and pilots so its really authentic... and then the other significance is that this pub is where Watson and Crick celebrated after they discovered DNA!! How cool... they have a plaque and the seats sectioned off... so it was really awesome. Basically just FELT smarter standing in there. Then after that we went thru the market that was open... im officially sold. If only Owasso was authentic enough to have a really quaint market... i found the neatest old book in this market. it was published in 1933 and is an account of Queen Victoria! Needless to say... i was in love. I'm trying to hold off reading it until we go to France so i can read it on a street corner cafe while people watching! Ah that will be my favorite!! after shopping/looking around we went Punting... and for those of you who don't know (i was included) 'punting' is the term used for Gondola boat rides in Italy. Where the guys in the funny outfits/hats push the boat along a shallow river bend! It was fantastic... we got to travel right through all of the colleges of Cambridge... there are five colleges, let's see if i can name them: Kings College, Trinity College, Queens College, Claires College and St. Johns... The river took us right through the 'restricted' part of the campus that people can't just openly walk on. It was gorgeous... to say the least. Our guide told us cool unique facts about different colleges and students who attended... one kid, in defiance of a grade he felt was lower than he was due, shimmied up an EXTREMELY tall steeple on the right side of the outside of the college and placed an orange traffic cone on the top. The president had to issue a scaffold be built on the right side to get it down... building the scaffold took 3 days, and on the eve of it being completed.. the boy went back up the right side, removed the cone and placed it on the left! haha they are pretty deviously clever. but its a hysterical story! That was pretty much the extent of our weekend... full of fun and adventure! This coming weekend should stay pretty chill... we are going to Warwick Castle on Saturday and hitting Cambridge again Sunday i think! Plenty of updates to come soon =)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Historic Route 66 meets Lakenheath...
I gave blogging a rest for a couple days that way I would have something to write about... because, my days are becoming rather routine.
Student Teaching... I love it. I'm absolutely in love with the classroom that I'm in. My teacher is just hysterical/phenomenal. The things we discuss are quickly becoming the highlights of my day! His students are really sweet and very interested in... talking. To each other. haha but I see that as promise for 'discussions' and interactive things. Because they will be able to talk to each other. They are juniors, so that is also a source of entertainment, with flirtatious hormones and all. They are beginning to really interact with me which as been a blast. So many of them have grown up in Europe and only been to the States a few times, so it's interesting hearing their perspective on topics. A huge difference is the amount of knowledge they have on topics within our government. Where juniors in the States don't necessary know what is going on with health care or immigration, the students here want to know everything about it. It's really encouraging because it makes teaching fun! I asked my teacher if I could go ahead and start taking things over and doing lessons... which will be a blast because i'll be doing things and planning activities!
Other than 'in school' things... well, merideth and emily and I will be staying the night at Jackie's house tomorrow! Which i cannot even express the amount of relief that brings!! haha stir crazy doesn't begin to touch it. We are doing anything and everything to get off, and stay off, base as long as possible... So, Jackie offered to host a 'slumber party' at her house for the three of us tomorrow! Her husband just deployed for some training so i think she is excited to have some friends around. And then Saturday is going to be a blast!! First, there are a couple HS bball games going on which are suppose to be pretty competitive with their arch rivals from Spain, and then Me, Merideth, Emily and Callie will be chaperoning the HS Homecoming dance!! haha i'm already laughing just thinking about it... I will be bringing my camera and documenting, EVERYTHING. Then on Sunday we are catching a ride to Cambridge in the morning and spending the day up there! One of the younger teachers from the HS offered to take us and spend the day with us up there... So that's going to be a blast! Pics to come i'm sure.
I think tomorrow's adventure will prove very entertaining... the base is taking all of the student teachers AND new families/airmen to St. Bury Edwards (i think...) for the morning/afternoon. So we have a 3 day weekend =) They are taking us and letting us basically hang out and go eat/shop... And I think we are all excited to have interaction with people outside of ourselves and students! Haha oh, and the airmen... we will see how this ends up! We already had the airmen, who gave us the fire drill briefing yesterday, be extremely... friendly? borderline flirting. haha so that was fun... but i left our 'meeting' early, to watch Gossip Girl. Priorities, right? haha but sadly those are my main stories... I'm anticipating the weekend bringing more stories!
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