All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

'Cause I'm leeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaviiiiiiing on a jet plane...

I'm taking off for the airport in about an hour, and may or may not post anything next week. It all depends on how exciting life at home is. So have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus (don't forget that aluminum pole!), or whatever it is that you celebrate.

Und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr...because that sounds much better than simply 'Happy New Year'. :) See you in 2006!

Map of European Countries I Have Visited (And Not Just Driven Through)

Because I miss traveling...



create your personalized map of europe

Randomly, I'm going out tonight with a classroom assistant (and recent college grad) and his friends. I feel like I should somehow be too old for this, but we'll see how it goes.

PS- I'm on vacation!!

Back after (forced) hiatus!

Guess what? I now have Internet at home! Wireless! Here's the story: I finally got around to sending a note to other people in the building, semi-introducing myself but more asking if anyone had wifi they'd be willing to share. Of course, I offered to pay half the monthly fee and mentioned that it would be very useful for lesson planning for this overworked, underpaid first-year teacher. I got a note today under my door, including the following: "Because you are a teacher, you can jump on my wireless network. ... PS- No charge!" That's right, my wonderful neighbor is letting me use his wireless Internet access for free! Minnesotans rock, seriously.

In other news: Tomorrow is the last day of school for the semester...and I don't have anything to plan! It's like Christmas has come early this year!

And I'm flying home in 3 days. Life is good.

More frequent updates in the future, now that I have wireless Internet. :)

To quote Heather:

Shoot me in the face. Seriously. I am going to snap at those kids one day and scar them all for life.

By the way, in case I haven't mentioned this before, the morning and afternoon kids have now switched places in my esteem: Afternoon is generally great and morning is rough. But today, they were both a bunch of winners. At the end of AM kindergarten, we sat there for literally 8 minutes waiting for the kids to shut up. I usually just wait for them and other kids will tell the ones who are talking to be quiet or else we can't go home. But seriously, eight minutes. Doesn't sound terribly long, but when you are waiting for them to STOP THE HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER AND SHUT THE HELL UP, it's rather a long time. And they would have gone on longer, except that it was then really time to go, so we had to rush out of there. I yelled at them in English, gave them the whole 'I am very disappointed in you and I hope this never happens again' speech. I literally was like, go home, I can't deal with you guys anymore today. Argh.

And then came Round Two. Including the three Kids Who Don't Listen To A Word I Say. They get 'breaks' (or 'time-outs' or whatever you want to call it) and they continue to talk. And hide under the table. And get up and just walk out of the classroom. And then there were kids who just wanted to take a break just for fun. At one point, there were only three or four kids doing what they were supposed to. Seriously, I am going to just start sending kids down to the office after one warning. There are very few things that really tick me off, but not listening (when I know for a fact that they understand) is one of them. (two of the others are intolerance and people who need to search through their entire car for change at the toll booth)

And then we hear at the staff meeting that some parents are complaining that their little darlings aren't making it out of the building as soon as the clock hits 3.45. Well, maybe they can come in next time and help, since there's only one of me and thirteen 5-year-olds putting their papers, lunchboxes and water bottles in their backpacks, changing into snow boots, and putting on snow pants, jackets, oh wait where's my [fill in the blank] I forgot it upstairs, gloves and hats, and zip this (no please) I can't do it with mittens on, and I swear I didn't come to school with a coat today even though it's ten degrees outside.

Thank God tomorrow's Friday. And next week has only two days! Yaaaaay Turkey Day!

PS- Mad props (ha!) go to moose, who performed four solo cello pieces at his concert on Tuesday. And he had a matching hat for each piece. You rock, o my brother.

What have I gotten myself into?

Weather forecast courtesy local news station:

'Forecast for today Wednesday November 16, 2005: ** WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON for blowing snow and cold temperatures...Highs today will be in the low to mid 20s but the strong Northwest winds at 14 to 28 mph will keep wind-chills in the 5 to 10 degree range all day. Winds will decrease this evening ...and skies will be clear with a full moon - lows will drop to near +9 degrees by sunrise Thursday with wind-chills from 0 to -5 below.'

This whole walking-to-school thing is getting old real quick.

In which there are an inordinate amount of links

Amazing how the weekend flies by, isn't it? Here it is, Sunday again, and here I am, procrastinating again. Some things never change. Although, I guess I am being sort of productive: My laundry's going at the moment. (ha...I'll take whatever excuse I can get)

Anyway. After two weeks of madness, report cards, parent conferences, and rehearsing for our Grand Opening, it's back to normal for a while. And let me just say that 'normal' feels so relaxed and low-key compared to what had been going on. The biggest event coming up in the near future is Moving Day, next weekend, and then Thanksgiving after that. Then, of course, everyone will either be (a) in a good mood due to the holidays or (b) completely stressed out due to the holidays. Hopefully, I'll be in the former category. Actually, I'll probably be in a good mood, looking forward to going home. The only downside is that I'll have to find a way to go Christmas shopping before going home, since I don't get in until the evening of the 24th. Oh well... they don't make a light-rail line to the Mall of America for nothing. (hellooo, Harry and David!)

So about this weekend: Friday was Martinstag (or link here for German speakers), and we had the big opening ceremony at school, complete with German consul and all sorts of speeches...none of which I heard, since I was too busy corralling 5-year-olds. No big loss there, though; I'm not all about speechifying. The kids had made lanterns in honor of Martinstag, and they had a couple of songs prepared, all of which went off much better than expected. Nothing like a little stage fright to get everyone doing what they're supposed to! The kids were all so cute, and we had a little parade around the neighborhood with our lanterns after everything was over. It was excellent, and I'm sure the music teacher is especially relieved.

Last night, I went to an exhibition opening at the Walker Art Center, during which I felt very cultured. Nothing like hors d'oevres and Andy Warhol. (seriously, do i sound like a snob yet?) No really, it was fun; my favorite pieces were two involving electric chairs. Now what does that say about my subconscious?

Off to either plan some lessons or read some more of my book. Let's see which happens first.

(incidentally to lj users: i can't seem to comment on anyone's lj. it blocks me each time i try. so it's nothing personal, i have been trying, and i do check up on you. just FYI.)

Hello, my name is Bridget and I am intimidated by quotation marks

You are a hyphen!


You scored 46% Sociability and 58% Sophistication.

You are comfortable around others. While you don't have to go out every night, yet you take pride in being easy to get along with. This should not, however, be misconstrued as believing (as many do) that you are without subtlety. In fact, you have the power to inform the anal retentive that, indeed, they are discussing an anal-retentive issue. Who else can do that? Quotation marks intimidate you a little bit.





Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Err...okay? Frankly, I thought I was less social (and more anal-retentive) than that; maybe kindergarten is softening me up a bit?

Lesson plans? What lesson plans?

Your Birthdate: June 9

You are a born idealist, with more pet causes than you can count.You prefer be around others, both when working and while relaxing.Generous and giving, you believe you can change the world one person at a time.You're open minded and tolerant. People feel like they can tell you anything. Your strength: Your go-with-the-flow flexibility Your weakness: Your flair for the over dramatic Your power color: Pine green Your power symbol: Circle Your power month: September

href="http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanquiz/">What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Heard on the radio this weekend:

• 'Winter Wonderland'
• 'Home for the Holidays'
• 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas'
• 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' (thanks Dr. Clare's 7th grade music for helping me recognize that one)

What the....?! It's the first weekend in November.

Speaking of the most wonderful time of the year, I bought plane tickets for Christmas break! Only I'd better have all my shopping done ahead of time, since I'm flying in at 6pm on the 24th. Looks like someone's going to be making a trip to the Mall of America.

Just over 2 weeks until Thanksgiving!

A reason why I teach

Since yesterday was Halloween, we made a big deal out of everything dealing with monsters, costumes, and candy. One of our activities was talking about and making a class graph of our favorite candy. Of course, to introduce some of this new vocab, I had to demonstrate it and exaggerate a lot (e.g.: Meine Lieblingssuessigkeit ist Kit-Kat. Ich liebe Kit-Kats!) But they understood pretty well, even though paying attention was difficult. Standard lesson; it went fine.

Fast forward to this morning: One of the kids came in with a little Halloween treat bag and handed it to me. I was pleasantly surprised and said thank you, and then I opened it: There was a Kit-Kat inside! I said something like, 'Kit-Kat! That's my favorite Halloween candy!'

Then this huge grin spreads over this little boy's face and he says, 'I know.'

Geschafft!

The week is over! Woo! Survival was a question at certain points; today was not so stellar, but who cares because it's Friday. All those report cards and lesson plans and laundry can wait until tomorrow, since I'm drained and not doing a thing tonight. That, and because procrastination is my religion.

Curriculum Night was yesterday, and I was (obviously) terrified. Dealing with kids is one thing; dealing with parents is another. My boss was making a big deal of this, since this is the school's first year and all the parents (especially the kindergarten parents) are really REALLY into their kids' education and want to know what's going on every minute of the day. Their kids aren't telling them anything and they haven't been in the classroom at all, so they've been on our backs pretty much nonstop. And by 'our', I mean 'her', because the parents don't come to me with any questions. Of course, that would be too easy! Instead, they ask everyone else involved in the school (admittedly, three people) what we're doing and why.

Anyway. I was nervous and had everything written on index cards and all that. To make a long story short, it was a success! Everyone left fairly satisfied, I could answer all the questions, and one parent even told me this morning that her husband said I did a great job. Yay! Plus, it's now over and one less thing I need to prepare.

Also, I've found an apartment! Basic one bedroom, hardwood floors, built-in cabinetry, on the third floor, in a great neighborhood. There's a grocery store down the street, a bar about two blocks in the other direction, and a movie theater about 4 blocks away. I'm going to sign papers tomorrow morning. A bit scary and very adult-like (I still don't feel quite old enough to have a real job and a real place of my own), but how exciting! Pictures to come, as soon as I move in (mid-November) and have a chance to take and post some.

See Spot fly

Dude, I am so tired. Does this ever get any better? At the moment, I've got lesson plans to do (standard), plus preparing a talk and handouts for Curriculum Night, plus figuring out how to set up my room so (a) it looks nice and (b) 25 grown adults fit on the circle time rug, plus report cards to start filling out, plus conferences to start preparing for. Gah. I just want to go to bed and sleep for a week...and it's only Tuesday!

So I'm keeping it short tonight, but have to share a great kid story: Two girls had found a ladybug and brought it into class. We put it into one of those jars with a magnifying lens on top. Everyone had a chance to look at the ladybug and then we put it on the windowsill for the duration of class. At the end, one girl wanted to keep it as a class pet, but I suggested letting it go outside (don't want to be held responsible for killing the ladybug). So as I let it out the window, two girls said 'Bye, Spot! Tschuess, Spot!'
And then one of them goes, 'Tschuess, Fleck!' ('spot' in German)

How cute and hilarious is that?

Phlegm-fueled post

Lovely, eh? I sound like Darth Vader and feel like I've got a grapefruit lodged in my trachea. Curse those germy kids. This all falls into the category of 'more than you needed to know', but if I can't get sympathy from you folks, who can I get it from?

The family's gone this weekend, so it's just the dog and me. Chilling out, watching Bravo. That's to make up for my training from 8 to 4 today, so I had to get up at 6.30 on a Saturday...heinous. What I do for this job, seriously. Tomorrow's dedicated to planning out the next unit: fall. If anyone has any great fall projects/games/activities/songs, let me know...you can earn my undying gratitude and a cookie.

I was attempting to post some photos from Salem here, but there seems to be no love between the camera and the computer. Guess it'll just have to wait until I have the energy to find the instruction manual.

And now back to our regular schedule of sitting around...

Weekend update

Did you miss me? Surely you did, since my consistently witty posts are the only thing worth getting on the Internet.

Right.

Anyway, I'm back! After a fabulous time in Salem and a looong work week, there's probably too much to write in one post, so I'll just do this randomly in bullet form:

• Salem was great! I've always wanted to go, and the four days there reminded me how much I would really like to live in New England. Just the history-filled atmosphere, the ocean, the excellent 17th- and 18th-century houses... okay, all of those sound like lame reasons but it's true.
• Salem is also a rather interesting little town; quite the mix of historical monuments and museums (Puritans, witch museums, old town hall) with new age-type stores (tarot readings, psychic places, handbooks on wicca). It also reminds me a bit of Wittenberg: cute small town that gets tons of tourists for one season out of the year but must be pretty dead otherwise.
• The Witching Hour conference was so fun! I actually didn't get to quite as many panels and discussions as I wanted to, due to sleeping late, but the ones that I did go to were interesting. But I felt kind of out of place, not having wizard robes or a Ravenclaw scarf (yes, I was sorted into Ravenclaw) or my own theories about who should hook up with whom in the books and what is going to happen in Book 7. People there were hard-core fans. It was great fun, but I don't think I'm going to the one in Vegas in 2006; don't have the money, and apparently an HP conference is not something that you just casually attend.
• Things that I bought in Salem: 'Save Ginny!' t-shirt from Harry and the Potters (band that played at the conference.. hilarious!); Gibraltars (America's oldest candy from America's first candy store); butter crunch; an umbrella (it rained nearly every day), admission to the Pirate Museum (arr!), the Witch Dungeon Museum, and the Witch History Museum; a pumpkin ale; and a Reuben.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, and it's time for lunch, so I'm off. How was your week?

Who's not going to school tomorrow?

Or Friday? Or Monday? Because she will be here? Oh happy day!

I've been taking lots of teasing for this, not to mention staying at school until almost 7.30 tonight, writing up lesson plans for a sub, but it'll be worth it. I get to see Heather and learn lots of stuff about Harry Potter and go to Salem.

Bring it on! (But not people in capes or wizard hats or things. That's a bit weird and scary.)

See you Monday or Tuesday, kids!

Phrases to put on a future resume

My laptop's battery is about to die, so I'll just share the ridiculous Advertising Slogan Generator with you. Idea shamelessly stolen from Heather, who shamelessly stole it from Jess. Thanks, you two!

Because So Much Is Riding On Your Bridget.
Today's Bridget, Since 1903.
Every Bridget Helps.
A Bridget Works Wonders.
Come See the Softer Side of Bridget.
The Joy of Bridget.
Moving at the Speed of Bridget.
Loves the Bridget You Hate. (err...what?)
Wear Bridget.
Bridget - The Freshmaker! (my personal favorite)
The Right Bridget at the Right Time.
Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Grey Bridget?
Strong and Beautiful, Just Like Bridget. (most flattering)

Things I saw at the Mall of America today

• H&M (pronounced the German way, of course) - How I missed you! Decent clothing and yet affordable...just wait till I get paid again.
• NY & Co. - the only place where I can buy jeans!
• An amusement park
• DSW - the biggest one I've ever seen
• A woman beating her husband/boyfriend/male companion with a Gap bag
• Legoland
• River of Life (or similarly-titled) church
• A wedding chapel - not related to the above-mentioned church
• Urban Outfitters - made me realize how un-trendy I really am. (shocking! hope you were sitting down for that observation)

Just the ground floor of two wings of the mall took me over two hours...nothing like buying stuff to counteract a stressful few days.

Ways to upset me in one sentence:

Tell me your child is anxious to come to school every day.
Tell me that I made you call your kid a liar.
Tell me that your child thinks I don't like him.

Sentence #3 is surely the worst thing you could possibly say to me. For one, it's not true. Some of the kids are hard to deal with at times, but I honestly like all of them. Secondly, that I could even project such an attitude is incredibly distressing.

I can't talk about this right now. Suffice it to say that, for the first day in our short school career, I have absolutely zero desire to go to school tomorrow.

Allemand right and swing your partner

'What do you do on the weekends?' you might ask? Well, let me share my exciting and incredibly trendy night-life experience: Last night, I went contradancing! One of the parents at school invited an intern (also 24) and me to this random folk dancing place...and none of us had any idea what to expect. It really could have been anything from Native American ritual dance to bellydancing; I had no idea. Luckily, contradance is neither; it's based in New England and is rather like square dancing. Which makes it semi-close to ceilis in Irish dancing. Which made it easier for me to learn.

Oddly enough, it was so much fun! I think I danced every dance, except for the waltz (I don't waltz well) and was grinning like mad the whole time. The experienced people there seemed amused. I probably enjoyed myself the most out of the group I came with; they were all ready to leave by 10, and I could have stayed longer. So fun! The only downside was a few people there...some kind of creepy guys. (as in, er, you don't have to hold me that close; back off.) So I would probably be better off finding a partner to go with if I went again...but how do you find a guy who's willing to contradance?

Moral: Those phys.ed. square dance lessons in elementary school really do come in handy.

Swedish-speaking genius warrior from Bolivia who played bass for The Barnyard Ladies

You Should Learn Swedish

Fantastisk! You're laid back about learning a language - and about life in general.Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you... And you won't even have to speak perfect Swedish to get around!

What Language Should You Learn?

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Genius Warrior. Where You Lived: Boliva. How You Died: Natural causes.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

Your Band Name is:

The Barnyard Ladies

Band Name Generator

Apparently this website knows more about me than I know about me. Either that or my subconscious is screaming to get out.

Who uses the word 'cockles' in a sentence?

Only Moose. Good to hear from you, o my brother. How's that Cockney coming?

Speaking of dialects: Arr, I missed Talk Like A Pirate Day! Every time I think of that (admittedly not often), I think of the time we went out for coffee in Berlin and discussed how one would talk like a German pirate. Matt has an impeccable German-pirate accent, just for the record.

So this week has been an interesting one... My coteacher has been out sick for the past four days; teaching by yourself when you're used to sharing the responsibility is quite the Umstellung. (sorry non-German speakers; can't think of the word right now) Tuesday was hell on a stick, rather like a corn dog. (name that inside joke!) I managed to break down twice, once almost in front of the afternoon kids. Thank goodness my director had arranged for me to observe a kindergarten class at her daughter's school on Wednesday, which subscribes to the same classroom management theory as our school. It was nice to actually see theory in practice; it does, in fact, work. However, it made me realize how much easier things are in English: The kids all listen when they're supposed to! And they follow directions on the first (or second) try! And you can talk with them about things like choices and how they are distracting other kids and they'll understand! Whereas it's all I can do to teach my kids 'please' and 'thank you'. Though they do have Toilette pretty much down.

Anyway. Thursday was great; Problem Child (Who Shall Remain Nameless) was not there and it was amazing how well the class worked. Unfortunately, he was back today and class involved a wrestling session on the floor and people being sent to the office. The kid has a real problem with authority and he honestly does not care a bit about other people, including how his behavior affects them. It's a bit scary, actually; I hope he's not the next psychopath.

But let's end with a cute kid story. When I returned to class on Thursday, the afternoon group seemed to be very glad I was back, and one of them was semi-attached to me for the rest of the day. Aww, my kids love me.

Reason #2471 why I am psychologically screwed up

Said by my dad to me just now on the phone: 'So are these first-graders you're teaching?'

Two weeks of school = total exhaustion

You know it's a bad week when you have to refrain from bursting into tears in front of your (school's) director. We had a staff meeting on Thursday which was supposed to be a half-hour long but turned into about two hours. And by the end of it, I was literally falling asleep in my chair. When we finally finished, I had a new list of stuff to do and stuff to work on, and I still had to plan for the next day. Thank goodness my coteacher took pity on me and walked me (quickly) through everything. It was a very bad day... when I finally got home, I was so tired that all I did was have a bowl of cereal, watch a half-hour of 'Scrubs' and go to bed.

I've been criticized so much this week that it's depressing. Of course, it's all been in the 'constructive criticism' sense, and clearly I need some work as a teacher (hello, it has only been two weeks), but it's starting to get a bit much. Apparently I need to work on my stage presence, posture, and facial expressions. Also, I can't forget to send more info home to the parents, do two evaluations on my kids, keep anecdotals on the students (which I haven't started yet), split them up into small groups more often, plan more rigorous lessons, move through the curriculum faster, do some more assessments, and choose things from a catalogue to order for the classroom.

Oh yeah, and one kid punched another in the face yesterday. I mean, he purposefully drew his fist back and smacked this other kid in the cheekbone. For no good reason.

Is it too late for a career change?

Newspaper article

Just noticed that my school has a fairly decent website on which you can find that newspaper article that I mentioned a while back. See if you can find the part about the 'kindergarten teacher' who 'lacks experience!'

Monday night randomness

Today we sat down and did The Rules in English. And let me just say that speaking through a puppet is harder than you might think. My coteacher had the brilliant idea that would let us get around the 'no English' rule: bring in Offizier Regel, Hand Puppet Extraordinaire Who Also Happens To Speak English. With both groups, we went through how to behave in school, what it looks like to be respectful and a good listener, and how to use the 'Denkpausestuhl.' The afternoon group seemed to understand better than the morning kids, surprisingly enough, especially since the afternoon kids drive me crazy. Must be something about not getting their afternoon naps.

Annoying Parent Anecdote: The mom of our youngest student (4 years old) asked me today if there is anything I can do to especially challenge her child. The little girl is incredibly cute and apparently really wanted to start school, and she also speaks three languages. So she's a bright one, but she's only four. Mom was saying today that she was thinking about entering her daughter into the first grade...where one of the students is nearly eight. Not a great idea. I told her I'd see what I could do to find some extra activities or something but thought, let this girl just be a kid, why don't you? School is not just about learning how to decode texts. She obviously has a pretty good time in class, now that she's loosened up, and besides, it's kindergarten. At this point, we're lucky if we get everyone lined up and ready to go in less than 10 minutes. Phonics is a little bit farther down the road, right after learning how to flush the toilet.

Besides, I learned how to read when I was three and didn't jump any grades. And look how I turned out. (ha.)

I found out today that there is a flu going around; two first-graders went home with fevers and a preschooler threw up. We proceeded to wash down every visible surface with bleach. Ah, the joys of teaching elementary school.

Side note: I just completed the New York Times crossword puzzle. In ink. Ka-ching!

You know you're a huge dork when...

... you actually tell people, 'Yeah, I posted about [current discussion topic] on my blog the other day and my friends said...'
... you covertly steal the WiFi connection from the seminary across the street
... you actually use the word 'WiFi' in a sentence
... you get very excited when your new cell phone arrives and the first thing you do is play around with the ringtones and read the owner's manual

Regarding that last point: Yay for cell phones! Or at least having a phone number of my own! Guess I just need to work on memorizing the number now.

Also, thank goodness the week is over. During the past four days, I've spent about 43 hours in school. Why yes, that does average to nearly 11 hours a day. With a supposedly 'duty-free' half-hour lunch during which I have to vacuum the mess left by the morning kids, wipe down the tables, set up for the afternoon, and decide with my coteacher how we should adapt our morning activities for the timing/antics of the afternoon session. Actually eating lunch is not part of the program.

The whole immersion thing is not quite working out as well as we had thought, either. In theory, it's a great idea; there are all sorts of studies that prove it. But for kindergarten, where the kids don't even know what school is all about or how to behave in a large group, giving all directions and setting rules in a foreign language is not terribly effective. How can you expect them to behave well when they don't even know what the rules are? I think I'm going to have to break into English for a bit next week, so at least I know that the kids know what is expected of them. (Don't tell my principal.)

Anyway, let's end on a good note, shall we? Cute kid anecdote of the week: A non-German-speaking five-year-old said to me, on Friday: 'Englisch sprechen?' Of course I said no, in German, but this made me laugh and shows that maybe the kids are learning something.

First day of school

My knees are red and sore from kneeling all day, my feet are killing me, I can't speak either English or German right now, and I was in school today for 11 hours without a lunch...but we all made it through the first day! No one cried, was homesick, had a bathroom accident or was wounded; I'd call that a pretty successful day. It didn't go nearly as smoothly as I had hoped, though...we really only got through one or two lessons today. Apparently getting school pictures taken and learning how to walk in a line (which they'll all have forgotten by tomorrow) and quieting down take a really long time to learn, so we didn't get to other fun things like reading stories or touring the entire school. But at least that's one less thing to plan for tomorrow.

Also: it was all I could do not to reprimand the kids in English by the end of the day. They were little space cadets, not paying attention at all, and once I had the attention of three kids, I had to catch a few more, and by the time the second group was listening, the first had already wandered off. And the afternoon group, in particular, seemed to have the opinion: 'If I don't understand what the teacher is saying, well, I just don't need to pay attention anymore and I definitely don't need to watch what she's doing so that I could figure out the instructions by myself.' Quite the loooooong day.

I think everything for tomorrow is planned, so I'm off to watch 'Queer Eye' (thank god for cable!) and to bed early. Sounds like a good precedent for the rest of the year, or at least the post-school-day part.

Getting my act somewhat together

My life revolves around school. I don't think they pay me enough for this. (come to think of it, when do I get paid? one of those questions I really should ask...) I was at school for another 8 hours today and managed to get the first and second days of school planned. On one hand, yay for having written plans! On the other hand, if it takes me four hours to plan each of the rest of the school days, I will shoot myself in the face. It's great working with a co-teacher, since she has a lot of ideas and it's nice to be able to talk to someone about this sort of thing, but it takes us an eternity to get anything down in writing. She and I also seem to be fairly different personality types (she: chatty, friendly, experienced teacher, outgoing, prone to brainstorming and tangents... I: want to get stuff done, not so talkative or experienced, logical and sequential). It's hard to say whether it would be faster if I worked by myself, but I suppose I'll be doing it all on my own soon enough.

Also, our school made the paper! I was going to link to it but apparently need to be a subscriber to the online newspaper. I hate to sign up for tons and tons of online things, not to mention the fact that I don't have an address yet. But perhaps when I get a chance, I'll copy down the section of the article that refers to me and post it here. (Hint: It doesn't mention my name and is not particularly flattering.)

Hey, today's post is rather self-centered. Enough about me, let's talk about me! Go ahead and write some comments about me! Seriously, though, once I get the classroom up and running, I'll hopefully have the chance to think a little bit about the outside world; I feel that school is sucking the life out of me right now.

Some rainy Saturday

It is so nice not to be in the school building. I was originally thinking about going in today but then decided I needed a break from the cinderblocks for a while. So the classroom can stay a disaster for a little while longer...I'll be in tomorrow and Monday anyway. (Nothing says 'Labor Day' like some labor!) On the agenda: cleanup, organizing everything, making labels and nametags and bulletin boards. Woo hoo.

Instead, I've spent the day so far driving around town with the family with whom I'm staying (make sense?), searching for apartments. Actually, getting the grand tour, opening a bank account and searching for apartments. Rather takes my mind off the fact that lesson plans for the first day aren't quite together yet. In the meantime, I am very tempted to fall asleep for a bit before going to a colleague's birthday party later. Probably not the best idea, but it's gray and raining outside and this couch is really comfortable and I'm so tired...

Now officially under contract

Well, I made it. Two entire days at school are now under my belt, as it were (ha!)...and when I say 'entire days', I mean '12 hours yesterday and 8 hours today.' Needless to say, this post will be rather short, since my brain is done for the moment. So, in summary:

• Tuesday: Arrived in the afternoon, went over to school, gave parents the grand tour, went over to the family's house where I will be staying until I find a place, returned to hotel.
• Wednesday: Got dropped off by parents, rearranged and cleaned up classroom*, had 2 hours of blood-borne pathogen and medication training, continued arrangement and cleaning of classroom, ran home to change, met parents and kids at open house, discussed curriculum/general stuff with co-teacher and school director, finally got back at 10.
• Today: training, discussion of rules and regulations, generally discussing everything to death...all in German.

* Apparently some parents had come in to paint the room. It looks much nicer now, prison gray having been replaced by standard institutional white, but they moved all the furniture to the center of the room and neglected to put a tarp over it or the carpet. So I had to vacuum, scrub at the carpet to get out all the remnants of paint dust, and then vacuum the paint dust. And dust the furniture and all the stuff. Good times.

On a non-school-related note, send Heather some happy thoughts! She will be returning to the US on Sunday (?) after having spent over a year in Germany. Welcome back, Heidi!

Somewhere in Illinois

Jesus H. Christ, I am never moving again. I mean it. If I need to spend the rest of my life in a small broom closet somewhere, I do not care. Never again am I packing up (not even all of) my worldly possessions and hauling them halfway across the country. Pamela, how did you do it??

Allow me to clarify:

Packing obviously sucked. I have already waxed poetic on that subject, so let's just say that I stayed up till midnight, have entirely too much stuff, and still managed to forget things (damn phone cord!).

Time in the car today: 13 hours. Thirteen. And at least six more to go tomorrow.

And for those of you wondering why my personality is the way it is, my parents and I spent the majority of those 13 hours in silence. Not because we were in bad moods, though this admittedly changed throughout the course of the trip. We just don't talk. Yay, family togetherness time. And right now, Dad's watching CNN, Mom's reading, and I'm on the computer...god, are we dysfunctional.

Midwest drivers (no offense, midwesterners) are craaaaaaaazy. We were doing 80 but being cut off and passed like we were grannies in a Cadillac. Not to mention the two hours we spent in stop-and-go (but mostly stop) traffic outside of Chicago. During rush hour. Under construction.

Good God, do we really have to do this again tomorrow? At least I don't have to make the two-day trip back, I suppose. Because I am staying in Minnesota FOREVER.

sidenote: Sorry about the bitchiness. But I really needed to gripe to someone, and the Internet community was the most easily accessible. Thank goodness for WiFi at the hotel.

Meet Willis, the telephone**

It's times like these when I realize exactly how much I despise moving. I've done it every year for the past six years, so you'd think it would get easier by Year #7... sadly, this is not the case. I hate looking at every single item I own, thinking, 'Will I need this at any point this year or sometime in the future?' and then placing it in the appropriate box/storage tote/area of floor. Making it even better is the fact that I don't know how long I'll be in MN...it could be a year, it could be a while longer. At least at college, you know what people's expectations are; I feel like I'm making this up as I go along.

Grr. Packing sucks.

On the plus side, Amvets is getting tons of stuff from me! Hope those bags of clothes come in handy, guys!

On another plus side, I've got a new toy! The new printer/copier/scanner* I got yesterday is now my new best friend. (And named Punky Brewster, according to Moose. His new kick is naming appliances after 80s sitcom characters. I guess so they get along better with Fred the cello and Woodrow the violin.) Yay for technology and ways to keep me amused. Now I can finally print out some of those pictures I've been taking for the past two years.

Enough procrastination for now. Hopefully I'll update before I leave, unless I throw myself despairingly into a suitcase first.

*sounds like I'm trying to be a technology snob, but the thing is really not that top-of-the-line. Nonetheless, it's quite cool.

**Edit: Apparently I misunderstood Moose the other day on the phone: see his comment for details. Of course, this means my violin is now nameless; I thought I had dibs on 'Woodrow' (everyone needs a favorite president) but I guess not. So, new contest: Name Bridget's Violin! Winner will be duly rewarded with cookies.

Quiz!

Good sign for my future students, eh?


Lupin - Defense Against the Dark Arts

Harry Potter: Which Hogwarts professor would you be?
brought to you by Quizilla

Red tape

All right, so now the euphoria of New Job-ness has worn off and I'm just now starting to realize that I have scads of work to do before leaving... on Monday! Just got an application for temporary licensure from the school, which might not have been too bad except for the fact that it requires a copy of my Praxis scores, which are in existence somewhere, just no place where I can easily find them. And I need to get fingerprinted and pay for that. Again. And I need to get in contact with Witt and see if they can fill out a section of this for me, since it needs to be certified and clearly the teacher certification requirements in Ohio are nowhere near as intensive as those in the great state of Minnesota and thus need to be checked over.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I also have to pay over $80 in fees? I'm tempted to tell them, you want me at the school that badly, you help me out with these fees. There has got to be grant money somewhere. I'd also settle for petty cash.

It's a good thing I didn't go with everyone to drop Moose off at school yesterday; gives me about 3 days at home with no one around (i.e., no distractions). However, no people around also means that no one's here to nag me to get stuff done. Quite the dilemma. Hence me sitting here at the moment posting to this blog.

How is everyone today?

Guess who's now employed!!

I have a job!! Let's all do the happy dance! *happy dance ensues* Amazing, eh? I come back from Germany jobless and directionless, and 5 weeks later, I've signed a contract. It may or may not be what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I guess I won't know until I try it.

So clearly, the weekend in MN was successful. I'm not going to give you the entire rundown here, because it involved a lot of touring around and schmoozing and got rather repetitive. Of note:

• Met with school staff (all 4 of them), and they're all so excited to get this school up and running. One is an ex-Fulbrighter, and we compared stories of the East. Also went out with him and two friends on Saturday and had a great time. Too bad all the 'Anchorman' references were lost on me; I have got to see that movie.
• Met with a few parents at Open House, and the guy that donated the frequent flyer miles took me out to dinner with his family. I guess I made a decent impression on them, because the school hired me despite the interview...
• Had the interview from hell. I was so nervous and apparently had prepared for the wrong questions. Plus, I freeze up in a group of adults larger than 2. Long, awkward pauses and sounds like "uh" abounded. But...
• Demo lesson went pretty well. One of the kids was determined not to cooperate, so I just started in with the other one (yes, there were only two). And since I had brought materials of my own to show them, this was obviously fascinating and Kid #1 found himself sucked in. Ha, my evil scheme worked!

So it was actually a nice weekend (job offer being a bonus!), though I must say that I don't want to have to try to impress so many people anytime soon. (whoa, too many infinitives there. does that make sense?) It's really exhausting. Some people are cut out for this whole meeting-and-greeting thing, but I'd much rather just say hi as needed and then hang out along the side and watch everyone. Or maybe if there were a limit on the number of people I could possibly meet in a day. ('Sorry, sir, but I've already met five other people. I'll put you on my list for tomorrow, though, okay?')

Anyway, though, I don't want to overshadow the fact that I have a job!! That pays! More than below the poverty line! Who's coming out to visit me?

Who's in the what now?

(Shameless plug: Today's subject brought to you by Solas. Excellent music.)

I'm flying to MN tomorrow...let's make a checklist, shall we?

1) Packing: not even started.
2) Lesson: planned, but not written down and materials not gathered. Basically what I'm doing is having the kids draw themselves and a few things they like to do, and that's it. I couldn't come up with any other activities that we could do in 15 minutes and that don't involve any sort of background knowledge or follow-up activity. I mean, you've got to get to know the kids before you just do any sort of lesson with them, right? Does that make sense or does it sound like an excuse? Because right now, I feel it could go either way...
3) Research: semi-done. Do you know how hard it is to find basic info on a random city? And Internet sites comparing the costs of living in various cities aren't particularly helpful if you aren't earning a salary in the first place and thus have no point for comparison.
4) List of possible questions to ask: uh, brainstormed a bit but not really
5) Thoughts about questions they could ask me: none.

Obviously, I'm in good shape here. I'm rather nervous, but not as nervous as I feel I should be...which, of course, makes me even more nervous, only for the wrong reason. At this point, I'm just trying not to think about it too much, cross my fingers and just be myself. I mean, they liked my application so they'll like me, right?

Right?

Bet they don't teach you that strategy at the career center.

Today's gold star goes to...

...Heather! Good guess on the (Inter)National Chain Store of Hell; you got it on the first try! I'll think of an appropriate award and send it to you. (perhaps a...certificate? Ha ha ha...I crack myself up.)

And to Pamela: Is Hy-Vee pronounced like 'ivy' except with an H at the beginning? Because I don't see how else you could say it.

Not much else to report today, except: The long-lost GBS CD has been found!! I don't shriek much (if, in fact, ever) but I actually made a similar noise for joy when I found it in my desk the other day. Quite possibly my favorite CD, and back after a two-year hiatus. Maybe I should clean a bit more often.

Off now to research MN and plan a lesson.

Two plus two equals chair!

Today's subject line is brought to you by the letters B, M, and the number 2. That's right, Moose is back in town! The letters are self-explanatory; the 2 is for the number of wisdom teeth he had out today. Poor Moose. Hey, at least it's only half as many teeth as I had out...and just think: You don't have to go back to work at the National Chain Store Of Hell two days after having said teeth out. Nearly as painful as the oral surgery in the first place.

So the weekend passed in a blur of hours spent in the car and much cleaning of my room, namely the desk. I went on a nostalgia trip, going through various papers that I'd saved from college (typical inner dialogue: 'Oh, look at this, it's my independent study proposal! The course that I didn't really do anything for but still got an A in! Ah, good times...but why the hell do I still have this form?'). Also found: notes from every German class taken at Witt, papers from 215 (oh yeah, we wrote stuff for that class!), other essays, Protokoll notes from 410, a notebook from an education class, notes on my thesis presentation, and my Fulbright application, including every single draft. I forgot how hard I actually worked on that thing...and TAs are considered 'half-brights'! Oh, the irony.

Must go take in laundry or other equally menial task now.

Welcome back, Moose!

UB & GBS

Let me just start by saying UB's Internet sucks. I've been online for about an hour and a half and have been kicked off literally 15 times. Whoops, there it just went again. Seriously, how can you be such a huge school and have such lousy Internet connections? One more reason why we deride UB. (or at least spit in their general direction)

Anyway, on to brighter things. Adrienne and I went downtown to the GBS concert last night, and it was super! Highlights: 'River Driver' and any other a capella songs, singing along to classic 80s rock, Alan Doyle proposing to the statue on Lafayette Square, and watching (along with hundreds of other people) two people having sex in a window on the 9th floor of the Liberty Building. Honestly, they were right in the window. Just a thought, but you might want to close the curtains next time. The funniest part of the whole thing was that the two of them (in bathrobes) opened the window and leaned out a few minutes later, to see what was going on...to scattered applause. Come on, guys, there's a concert in the square every week; how do you not notice all these people staring up at you? On second thought, perhaps I don't want to think about that...

And the interview is set up: I'm flying out on the 18th and coming back the 21st. And they are putting me up at a hotel, and showing me the sights, and driving me around. God, I don't feel adult enough to merit all this. Bizarre.

Reasons why Canadian TV rocks

1. It’s not American – and so is not required to broadcast such events as the State of the Union address, Presidential declarations or any other time W feels the need to interrupt regular programming. NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and PBS are all broadcasting the same event at 9pm? ‘CSI:’ is still on CTV!
2. Canadian satire – no one does self-deprecation quite like the Canadians. But not only can they laugh at themselves, they are damn good at making fun of others, i.e., the US. ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen, especially the bit about Talking to Americans. They actually managed to convince Iowans that Canada is on a 20-hour clock (obviously, the hours have 65 minutes instead of 60). I guess ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ could be considered a forerunner to ‘The Daily Show’…which, incidentally, is also carried by CTV.
3. Lax censorship guidelines – where else can you get shows like ‘South Park’ and ‘The Sopranos’ on network TV? Uncensored? And watch out for those stand-up comedy specials…though on during primetime, those are not family programming.
4. Olympics coverage – we’re gonna have to wait until next year for this, but just wait until it comes around. Leave the inane commentary behind, Bob Costas, and watch how the Canadians do it. Less human interest stories, less commercial breaks, and more events. And what? Athletes from countries besides the US compete in the Olympics? And there are sports other than gymnastics, swimming, track and field (summer) and figure skating (winter)? I never would have guessed.
5. Canadian Sesame Street – nothing beats getting to learn two foreign languages growing up. I’d watch American Sesame Street on PBS and hear some Spanish for an hour, then change the channel to CBC and learn some French. As a kid, you don’t realize that the main character randomly slips into French; somehow, I didn’t care. Besides, what other kids’ show has an otter and a polar bear as the stars? Take that, ‘Blue’s Clues’! (Sidenote: I also loved ‘Mr. Dressup’, though none of you’ll know what I’m talking about. Trust me, he’s awesome. Moose, back me up here.)

Speaking of Canada and Canadians, I’m going to the Great Big Sea concert tonight! Woo hoo!!

Let's go down ter da rub an' tug an' 'ave a Nelson!

Day Three of the Applying For Jobs Saga....
So the school to which I faxed my application yesterday called this morning, and get this: They not only want to hold an interview with me in person but are willing to fly me out there. (a la 'Bill and Ted': Whoa.) Clearly this school is more desperate than I'd thought. So...er...yeah, my first job interview, and they're flying me out there, and I have to prepare a demo lesson for a group of kindergarteners/first-graders. In German. Why do I feel like I should be prepared for this but am overwhelmed? Who wants to help me come up with a decent lesson in German? Why did I think I was actually capable of doing this job? Comments as to any of those questions would be greatly appreciated.

In other news: check this out. Reminds me of going to the pub in London with Heather and Anna, and scaffolders. (To clarify: We did not go to the pub with scaffolders. We met them at the pub.) Quite possibly the most entertaining time I've had at a pub/bar...well, ever!

I'd also like to mention that DB is my hero. He wrote me the best email yesterday. When I grow up, I want to be exactly like him...with a bit of Remus Lupin thrown in, I think. Anyone know jobs needing people of that description?

Can I get a refund on adulthood? You can have it back

In job-search-related news today: a school called me this morning, asking what was going on with my application. I told them my transcript still hasn't come in (damn you, registrar!) but everything else was done. Which was kind of a lie, but I finished the rest of the application this morning after she called, so it's not a lie anymore. Now I need to run out to OfficeMax or someplace to fax in everything (but the transcript) before the school has a board meeting at 6. And she wants to set up a conference call next week so I can do a phone interview with a lot of people at once, it seems. Er...okay? Don't really have a choice, do I? Interviews scare the crap out of me, and I never pull them off well, particularly over the phone. But if this school is in such desperate need of people as it appears, maybe it won't matter.

Other than that, some family issues going on today. Not really necessary for the blogging world, I feel. If you really want to know, ask; if it affects you, you know about it already. Wow, doesn't that sound all cloak-and-dagger.

Post #1

Welcome. Obviously, I've succumbed to peer pressure and have decided to join the technological world with a blog of my own. Never mind that I usually don't have much to say... well, at least it'll keep me from being bored to tears. (this way, I can bore the rest of the online world to tears! ha!) You would think that I'd have a blog sometime during the past two years, when I lived in Germany and did more interesting things, but no: living at home again and job-searching are clearly far more interesting than traveling to foreign countries on the weekends. Well, we can't all lead fascinating lives.

Enjoy.