Defying... Gravity....

Another weekend... another set of memories I will never forget. I'll start from the beginning before I get ahead of myself! Last week for some reason I was struggle with really WANTING to teach... haha idk why, but I just got in a funk on Wednesday. And i didn't even have to teach Friday, so i had a short week! anyways, i was getting annoyed with the lack of enthusiasm i had while talking to my students. so towards the middle of my lecture/discussion i just stopped. i told them that i "wasn't feeling it"... to which they all looked at me weird. naturally. and i explained- if i wasn't really enthusiastic about what i was telling them, how was i suppose to expect them to want to listen to anything i had to say. so we stopped lecturing... and played a game. haha don't worry, i made it educational! of course. In the AP class that this happened during, i was working with the students on writing Document Based Question essays (it's a pretty thorough process... and they have never practiced) so i asked them what game they wanted to play, and i would modify it to fit an educational purpose. So what did they come up with? Head up 7 up! hahaha i told them i hadn't played that since FOURTH grade! i loved it. so what did we do? we played HU7U... and the loser had to read a body paragraph from their essay. well, we played that for about 15 minutes, which they really enjoyed for being juniors in high school... next game? Catch Phrase! and they had NEVER heard of it! i was shocked. so i wow'ed them and explained the rules... and we made it educational by using the AP US History study note cards that Dr P has in his classroom. guys versus girls. hysterical. i've never seen kids get SO excited to play a history game! haha then i had my regular US history class... and i again just felt rejuvenated with playing this game... and the class LOVED it, just as much as the other class. it was a hit! needless to say, the week ended very successfully, and the students are already asking when they will get to play again!

So Friday Dr P gave me the day off because students didn't have to come to school and he said it would be pointless for me to be there... score. i watched a ridiculous amount of OTH (thanks mom!) while lesson planning all friday morning/early afternoon. Then,  that afternoon Emily's teacher Lisa took us to Cambridge... she and her husband live about a stone's throw from the Cambridge Uni campus... So we went home with her, because she offered to take us into london on saturday and stonehenge on sunday! friday night we got to hang out with lisa and her husband, kyle... they took us to an incredible sushi place (thanks for teaching me how to use chop stix dad!) on campus... we just walked there, and i fell in love with the campus all over again! we stayed the night at their apartment, which was amazingly nice and beautiful.  Saturday morning emily merideth and i were up and ready to go to london probably 20 minutes before we had told them we wanted to leave... we were a lil anxious to get going! haha and we finally took off for london around 845... took the underground into the main area of london and ate at Hard Rock. Fun Fact: the Hard Rock in London is the original! so we got to see some really cool John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Jimmi Hendrix and really famous artist's paraphernalia. Also, got to enjoy a tasty burger in fries! never tasted so good... Then off we were, on our way to Harrod's!  The "original" department store is what i hear. Well, OVERWHELMING! good grief. i've been inside the Macy's in NYC, but Harrod's blows it out of the water. That place is huge, and CRAZY. very nice... but i just didn't enjoy it too much. haha but i'm glad we got to see inside it!  But our next stop was the highlight of the weekend... WICKED!!!!! defying gravity, unlimited, for good... ahhhh words don't express. but i'm getting ahead of myself... i have to first point out that i did not have a ticket for Wicked as of an hour before the show started. but kyle and lisa said that i should go up to the ticked off 45 minutes before with my student id and say i wanted to cheapest ticket... so i did. and i scored a ticket for only 25 pounds, which in American dollars is a STEAL! AND i got to sit with emily and merideth!! so it was already off to a great start. emily and merideth both had not seen the show ever, so i loved getting to see their reaction to everything and talk to them after. ohhhh it was soooo good!!! Wicked WITH english accents... man, i saw it on Broadway about 5/6 months ago, and it was incredible, but i don't know, something about english accents, i dare say it was better! but who knows. Wicked is incredible WHERE EVER you see it!  I could go on and on, but ill spare you guys the monotony of that... haha basically- LIFE. CHANGING. where did we go after? haha back to Harrod's for a key chain and some chocolate. but believe me, that trip was in and out... and off to meet up with K&L for dinner! we grabbed some sandwiches, hopped on the tube, and headed to our hotel... which was also top notch, because it was new! definitely the nicest place we have stayed yet.

Sunday our adventure consisted of a breakfast provided by our friends at the Holiday Inn Express! and then it was off to Stonehenge... and there isn't much to say about stonehenge... haha in the words of Merideth "really, it's just a bunch of rocks" hahaha i couldn't agree more! i think it's one of those things that you are 'suppose to see' when you go to london, but i'd advise all of the world travelers, if you have other things you want to see... see those, skip stonehenge! i'm glad we got a couple really cool pix, but i don't think you would miss out if you skipped it. after stonehenge, our weekend was coming to an end and K&L began the 2.5 hour drive back to Feltwell... it was sad to go, but really this past weekend has been one of my favorites. probably because it was the most laid back. i didn't have to plan anything and was able to stay at a hotel, drive in a car... luxurious from where we were the past couple of weekends! haha but seriously, so much fun... and K&L are definitely one of my favorite DoDDS couples. I think Kyle may have seriously talked me back into considering teaching for DoDDS... but that is a little ways in the future! too much traveling to think about that now!

Let's see... today, i have worked on my Paris Vid for about 2 hours, haha so get ready for that on FB! I'm adding still shots to it now, so im taking baby steps and moving up in the digi world. Um, today Early discussed with me one of the main causes of sickness/bacteria issues/health concerns or SOMETHING like that (i tend to try and tune him out) is because people do not put the lid down on the toilet when they flush? leading to the spread of germs? hahahaha idk... i just said, "ok, good to know"... i really have come to a loss for what to say to that guy. the other day he indirectly said he wanted me to give him a foot massage?! hahaha ew. that's all. jackie had to leave the room because she couldn't contain her laughter. We all get observed (yes, we are still here to 'teach' or something) next monday!! i'm SO ready to get that over with, because then it is smooth sailing from then on... and i can focus on the important things... ITALY FOR SB!! we have the tix booked for there and back, now we just have to find places to sleep... haha minor details. oh the college life of traveling, gotta love when 21-24 year  olds plan their own world adventures just STEPS at a time, but don't worry mom, this time i'll go to Italy with plenty of Euros BEFORE i get off the plane. hahaha learned my lesson, i swear. I'm going to upload some pix from Paris below, because i didn't get a chance to with the other blog... ENJOY!


                                                              Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower

Our attempt at a "jumping picture"

Tower at night!!

It SPARKLES at night!