5/6-17/13

Hey all, I apologize for the long absence from posting. You'd never believe how busy teaching makes me. I keep telling myself I'll post daily, but by the time I have finished my school day, prepared my lessons for the next day and had some dinner, I'm too exhausted to end up posting! The life of a new teacher, I'm almost always working from scratch. I'm also working in a new program and I have nothing on file for the topics I am teaching.

Well anyways, enough with the excuses and on to the explanations of all that I have been up to. To be honest not much happens during the weekdays. Other than teaching and planning. So instead of addressing each teaching day I figured I'd give you an overview of the general going-ons (not sure if that would be the proper use of the phrase) of a new teacher.

First off, I now feel like a full on teacher. I am teaching about 75% of the work of a full time teacher. Since this is such a small school it means that I am teaching two different subjects across grades 7-11 basically. So the prep work is insane! I know that later on if I end up in a small school like this (where the humanity teachers teach nearly every grade, and multiple subjects) I will be able to function!

Yesterday, I had my midterm review meeting with my cooperating teacher and the head of humanities. I left it feeling so happy and even a bit proud of myself! They had plenty of nice things to say, and I ended up with a great list of new things to start learning in the second half. It was so awesome to hear that I am meeting and even exceeding expectations while teaching. They approved of my ability to handle advice, and even my willingness to seek out help when needed. All I'm going to be working on the next few weeks are getting in some more grading practice (I may even be doing some grading on their end of the term exams!!!!), and just expanding my current skill levels. Basically, I am doing well!

I started out my time here, wondering if I'd be any good at teaching... Now I feel like I can do this. I am proud of everything I have done so far and I am planning to just keep on going! I have continued to fill in job applications over the last few weeks, and now I feel more confident with the idea of possibly having internviews. If I'd been invited to one when I first got here, I'd have doubted everything about my abilities. I would have floundered with being unsure of if teaching was what I really wanted to do... Now, with the help of my cooperating teachers, I am starting to realize I may actually be capable of doing this!

So, now that I've given you a bit of an update in the teaching world I figured I should move on to some of the more interesting aspects... MY TRIP TO SWITZERLAND!!! In Germany, there is a holiday on the 9th of May I'm not fully sure why, but it meant that we were given a long weekend break. Chelsea and I had previously decided we would spend the long weekend in Switzerland. We chose a very beautiful small town called Grindelwald. When you think of Switzerland, it is probably what town you'd be imagining. It's pretty much straight out of a storybook!

The mountains are hidden by clouds but still beautiful!!

I had my first experience staying in a hostel, and it was amazing! The hostel we chose was a bit more of a family friendly type, with very friendly owners. Chelsea and I had our own room, and man was it tiny, but it was clean and calm. We only were there in the evenings so the size wasn't a huge problem. The best part of the hostel was the view though! It overlooked the town and the parts of the mountains we could see that weren't hidden by clouds.

The hostel we stayed at!

So for those of you who have been waiting patiently it has clearly been more than a day... Sorry, things seem to get so busy so fast that I don't even realize how many days I've gone with out updating the blog...

Ok, to continue the story... So the pictures for some reason uploading out of order so I will be telling you about Saturday the 11th, before the 10th. Saturday was the day we had chosen to take the tram up the mountain to see the amazing mountains we'd been looking up at from our hotel....

The weather had not been nice when we left, but as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains we broke the cloud layer. We came up to what felt like the highest point in the world... After eating a small breakfast the mountain skies cleared even more and we were left with a beautiful day!

Out on our hike in the snow!

We had taken the train up to the Jungfrau mountain area. It is this really cool station built right into the mountain, and from there you can set out on a number of different adventures. Some people were out skiing, others were sledding, and we chose to go on what was meant to be an easy hike. Ha, nope... I have not had the pleasure to hike in snow, and so this trip was far from an easy hike for me. It was beautiful though, and so worth it. For awhile I felt like I was conquering the world.

Looks like a gentle incline from this view point, but it lied! 

Along the trail.

At the end of the trail we were hiking was a small little cafe. The hike took us quite awhile (ok I'll be honest, it took me a while), but while I was hiking I decided to make some friends. As I was struggling to climb a couple were doing the same, and I just decided to start up a conversation since we seemed to be suffering equally. The wife and I hit it off and in no time we were sharing where we were from and how we ended up on the mountain. 

Surprisingly, the couple I chose to talk to had spent the last 10 years or so living in Connecticut. They were originally from India, but go figure the first couple I was brave enough to talk to had just come from the US! We were able to share stories about the things we missed from the US, as well as all the things we loved about Europe. It was a great time! 

Eventually we did make it up to the cafe, where our new friends joined us for lunch before hiking back down. The hike down, though, was so much easier than the one up and it was great fun to talk as we walked. The only downside... I forgot my sunscreen and ended up with the worse burn I've ever had... on my face!

We hiked up to that for lunch.

Beautiful view of some of what we were seeing.

A successful group!

Now, lets rewind in time. If you remember in this crazy out of time story, we arrived Thursday. So Friday was our first day to explore the area. Chelsea and I set out on an all day exploration of the lower parts of the mountains. We chose to do a hike that was recommended by the woman who ran the hostel, and even though it was a wet day we had a blast!

This would be the crazy path to the hostel we climbed up with our luggage, but this time we are heading down for the day.

Another section of the path.

Once we got down, our exploration began by looking at the local church. It was a cute little church, so naturally we decided we needed to go on in and see how it compared to the many other churches we had seen in Europe. So as we were talking we stepped up to open the door, and nearly had a heart attack as the large door swung open on its own... Ok, so just think of it this way... Chelsea and I had been talking about the cemetery on the church grounds as we walked up to this door (usually they would not open on their own) and it swings forward and no one is there.... Let's just say we were startled and both of us thought... GHOST???? Well the good news, it wasn't a ghost, apparently you can install sensors for doors that swing open, and we were able to see it. But even knowing that, it didn't stop me from jumping nearly a foot when it happened again on the way out of the church...

Grindelwald Church

So after being scared nearly to death, Chelsea and I decided to still explore the cemetery  Though it sounds morbid, you wouldn't believe how beautiful the cemeteries in Europe are. The markers are elegant and grand, they seem to tell stories as you walk through the paths examining each stone.

A marker honoring two brothers who were struck by lightning and killed while atop one of the beautiful mountains of the area. 

We finished our exploration of the markers and headed off on a hike to one of the many view points surrounding the town. It was a hike that took us 1000 ft up in elevation and it took us just under two hours to do. Like the hike on Saturday, this one ended with a lovely place to sit and eat while resting before heading down. It rained on us for most of the time, but it gave the area an eerie beauty that reminded me so much of being home.

Hiking around the area.

Still just exploring.

The path up the mountain.

Looking up the road for part of the hike.

Homes are actually up this high....

People keep all types of animals here. Those ones are goats, but other people have cows and chickens too.

Looking up as we continued on.

Woot, me working my way up the trail.

Nearly to the top part.

Yes, those tiny houses below are where we started the day...

Nearly there....

Woody made the hike with us and he joined us for a nice meal.

We made it to the end of the trail and I was very proud!

I could explain so much of this trip in the blog, but honestly I think the pictures tell the story for me... We went on an adventure in a beautiful area. I conquered hikes I never thought I'd be capable of, and I took the pictures to prove it. I stood at felt like the top of the world. I hiked in the Swiss Alps. This was the most rewarding side trip I have yet to take so far. Though it was an expensive place to be, the relief of finally seeing the mountains has made me happier than I ever expected to be here.

I am continuing my adventures right now in Poland and will update you later on, but for now enjoy what I filled in and may be one day you can ask me about the trip and I can tell you even more details! Good bye for now!

4/28 - 5/5/13

Well, I have been absent from my blog for the past week... I am sorry to all of you who try and read it regularly. Simply put, life has been very busy and has left me little time to write. Also, I'm limited on my internet and so I was unable to log in long enough to update the blog...

So let me begin catching you all up... Last Sunday (the 28th), I was busy working on lessons for the week at Starbucks. Nothing very excited happened, but I did manage to get a lot done. Like Sunday, Monday was mostly a work day. The lessons seem to be going better each day, and after school Chelsea and I met up for dinner. Overall, the first half of the week was pretty uneventful. Some lessons go better, and I work on learning a bit more each day. So Tuesday, was spent similarly to the previous two days. 

Wednesday was May 1st. For those of you who don't know, the 1st of May is a holiday here in Germany. That meant NO SCHOOL! So Chelsea and I decided to have a bit of an adventure. Originally we had planned to go and see some of the museums but the weather was too beautiful to just stay inside. Instead we decided to find the begin park known as Teirgarten. 

A crane in the park as we were walking

It really is funny to think of Berlin as a city when you so easily stumble across these parks. They are pretty beautiful, and as you walk through the city you suddenly land in the midst of a forest or a huge park. It is so strange, but one of the nice things about the area. So back to the story, we caught the train down to the park and set off walking around. As we wandered we found a place were boats were docked. These were free row boats that all were welcome to take. So naturally we did what any person would do... We went out on the water. 

Though the sun was hiding at times behind the clouds, it was a beautiful day as we rowed out into what really was a small lack. Too big to be a pond, but too small to be a good lake. We soaked up a bit of sun and laughed as we tried to easily maneuver the boat.  I still remembered how to row, but it turns out it is harder to do with another person. We ended up doing some unintended circles but eventually figured it all out.

The little lake

Sitting in the row boat

Some of the water around the park

Out in the little lake together.

After we finished our time in the boats we headed back to shore and continued to walk through the park. We eventually made our way out and could hear some music being played and decided to follow it. On the 1st of May, it is a time when people are allowed to protest and while some of the rougher areas will see riots. We knew we were in the area where there wouldn't be riots but we wanted to see where the music was coming from. It turned out to be from a large collection of what seemed to be like fair booths. There were food, and people giving away free things. You could sign petitions and number of more political things, but over all it was a safe place to walk. 

We enjoyed walking around and had some currywurst and fries for lunch. Though the clouds had moved in we were able to see some more sights. We ended up after walking around it was time to head home. I had lesson planning to do and was tired out from the walking and the sun. 

Currywrust for lunch

Where the booths were set up.

Thursday and Friday were more like the first part of week. Full of lesson planning and time in school. As far as teaching went those two days both cooperating teachers were very pleased with the progress I was making! I got several complements even, and I am feeling better each day about my time here. My students are great, they are different from students I've worked with in the past but they are still great. I am more at home each day in the classroom here, and I think it will end up being sad to go when the time comes. 

After an uneventful Thursday and Friday, Chelsea and I decided to see more of the area on Saturday. I had (and still have) a cold, but it was a nice day and so I pushed through it. We began are day by catching the train to the east side of Berlin. We headed to the East Side Gallery. 

The Gallery is part of the Berlin wall that is still standing. From what we could tell it seems that every ten years people are allowed to change the paintings. This area (unlike the other section of the wall we saw) is when that people are not suppose to graffiti on... Sadly people still do add things and it took away from some of the very cool and beautiful murals. Overall, it was interesting to see and be allowed to touch a piece of history, but I was sad looking at it. It's one of those things where you realize how terrible the wall must have been in the past... 

Me in front of the Wall

One of the many paintings along the wall.

The East Side Gallery, this one image is really just graffiti at this point.

Enjoying so sunshine after looking at the wall..

So after we admired the wall we decided to head towards what has so far been my favorite stop... The Ritter Sport Chocolate store! This was an amazing chocolate store! Some of you may have had Ritter Sport chocolate at home (you can buy it in the states but it is really expensive), but did you know it was from Berlin originally? I don't have the words to express the fun this shop was... Simply put I was like a kid in a candy store, haha!

Not only was this a store you could buy chocolate in, it was also a store where you could create your own custom bars! Chelsea and I each made one and it was so much fun! While waiting for the chocolate to set we headed upstairs in the shop to the cafe they had! Oh yes, a full shop where you could buy so many chocolaty goodies (oh and lunch as well). I was able to order a smoked salmon wrap (the salmon was good, but not as good as what you can find in Dad's store), and Chelsea had a good salad. We finished our lunch and ordered dessert. I had chocolate soup and churros... By chocolate soup they meant a bowl of melted dark chocolate for you to dip the churros in! It was amazing!!! Chelsea ordered a little chocolate peppermint mouse, with raspberry toppings. All in all, a very sugar filled day!

Chelsea sitting next to the sign during lunch!

Part of the menu

My yummy dessert! It was so good!

Our lovely lunch! The wrap was pretty great.

By the time we finished up at the chocolate shop we decided to call it a day. It was still pretty warm out, and my cold made it so I was pretty tired out. We said our good byes and I headed home to curl up for the night.

Today (Sunday), has been a chill day. I spent the morning reading and getting some of my work together for the coming week. It will be a short week, Thursday is a holiday so we get the long weekend off. We are heading to Switzerland, but you will hear more about that later. Back to today, I meet up with Chelsea and we walked around Olympic stadium. It was about time when you consider I live right next door to it!

The stadium by my house!

The Olympic rings!

We are spending the rest of the day watching the Hobbit (which I so kind was given for Easter) and working on my lessons for tomorrow! I will try and post again tomorrow, but there are no promises. Some days I go home and end up crashing after I get my work done because I am so exhausted! I will try my best, but I am not sure if I'll have much to share before Thursday.

So I will end today by giving you a word of the day... schokoladig. It means chocolaty! A very useful word I think! Well good bye for now, have a great day!