Happy 101st post!

Guess I missed noticing the 100th one. Oops. Here's to 101 more frivolous blog entries to amuse myself and clutter up the Internet!

So... I moved this weekend. And seriously, every time I move, I forget what a gigantic pain it is. Packing, organizing stuff, schlepping it, cleaning the old place, rifling through your stuff so you have a semi-matching outfit to wear to school the next day... not fun. This will be the eighth consecutive year that I have moved to a new place. That's nearly a third of my life. Pretty sad, eh? On the plus side:

• low rent and utilities
• a wide-screen TV and cable
• a DISHWASHER -- if you know me, you know what a big deal this is
• Internet at home!!!!

Time to go unpack my stuff. And by 'my stuff', I mean 'one suitcase', because I am freaking exhausted and will no doubt collapse on the bed once I've cleared it off.

Baby, you can drive my car

That's right, I did it! I have broken down and bought a vehicle with more than two wheels! From now on, I can go to Target without spending 1 1/2 hours in transit! I can go to Irish dance without worrying how I'll get there! I can go to and leave school as early or as late as I want! I am very excited, as shown by the abundance of exclamation points, but still kind of leery... now that I've gone ahead and bought the car, I'm afraid that something is going to break off or that I'll somehow mess it up. But I think that's just me being a perfectionist and anal-retentive.

Check it out!

Note the wheel of the bicycle (my former mode of transportation) in the corner.

Spoiler! Not that I need a spoiler (in fact, I think they're kind of ridiculous) but there is a spoiler!

Other things that you can't see from the pictures: Cruise control, a CD player and a sunroof! I am the coolest marginally nerdy first-grade teacher ever.

You knew I looked familiar

I just ran my school photo (ha!) through this face recognition site, and I apparently look like the following people, in this order:
1. Angelina Jolie
2. Ann Kok
3. Brittany Murphy
4. Woranuch Wongsawan
5. Lee Hyori
6. John Cusack
7. Hugh Grant
8. Ueto Aya
9. Maggie Cheung
10. Q'Orianka Kilcher

This begs two questions. One, who are most of these people? Two, why do I look Asian? And like men? In comparison, Müs is most similar to David Beckham. Further proof that he got the good genes.

(Weekend) Update

Did I just reference SNL? Ha ha ha ha ha ha... that is so lame.

To keep everyone posted:
1. Still looking for a car. Finding a member of the male gender to take me to a car dealership is harder than I thought.
2. Still moving at the end of the month. Still have not begun packing.
3. The school is no longer moving. Instead, it will be paying exorbitant amounts of money to the current landlords next year.
3a. The possibility of closing the school next year has reared its ugly, sharp-toothed head.
3b. On the plus side, this gives me new incentive for the grad school thing.
4. The wedding went well. I should be getting paid soon. (!)
5. The application to Cambridge is coming together. I just have to get my ass in gear and get those essays done.
6. I've been invited to a Halloween party! Any costume ideas? I was thinking of fastening bags to a sweatsuit or something and going as a 'bag lady' but that seems kind of dumb. I know you all are crafty, help me out.
7. Still feeling guilty about asking DB for a reference on really short notice. He was obviously not happy. What can I do to make this up?
8. The music at this cafe is the theme to the 'Batman' TV show from the 60's!! Müs, this one's for you!
9. It is 76 degrees and sunny today.
9a. It is supposed to snow on Thursday.

Consider yourselves updated.

STRESSED OUT.

aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH WHAT WAS I THINKING?

This application is kicking my ass. It has grown legs and arms and is beating me to death. The worst part is the guilt I feel for springing reference requests on my three references. ('Uh, hi...do you remember me? Super! Would you write me a reference? Great! How about for next week?') Though I do things at the last minute, I hate it.

Stressing out majorly at this point.

On the plus side:
1. Müs caught the BNL reference.
2. I made shrimp scampi for dinner. I am awesome.
3. New running shoes are also awesome. No wonder Americans wear these all the time.
4. The wedding yesterday went well. Hopefully I will be getting paid soon.

Life, in a nutshell

What is happening with me, you ask? Some recent developments:

1. I am looking for a car.
2. I am moving at the end of October.
3. The school might be moving in December/January.
4. I am playing in a wedding tonight.
4a. I don't have the music yet.
5. I am applying to the University of Cambridge for next year.
5a. The deadline is October 15.
6. I will be applying to other grad school programs, whose deadlines are hopefully later than October 15.

There is some stress going on. Back to work.

PS- But how cool would it be to study in Cambridge?!

Back after extended period of laziness

So I recently realized I haven't posted to this blog in nearly a month....er, whoops. I actually have had some interesting thoughts (!) that may have been worthy of sharing (!!), but I haven't had the access. Oh well. Today, you're stuck with caramel-macchiato-fueled, slightly-congested me, Internet world. Brace yourselves.

First on the agenda, as always, is school. And let me just tell you that beginning the year at an established school as a SECOND-year teacher is about 2371893659287437 times easier than the hell that was last year. No kidding. The kids are one year more mature, have attention spans larger than that of a fruit fly's, and understand what I'm saying. That little last bit has made the hugest difference: I tell them to clean up, they clean up! I tell them nice job, they smile! I tell them to quit shrieking while playing with the dinosaurs, they do...sometimes. The best of all, though, is that there's no longer the permanent question of 'are they acting up because they don't understand what they're supposed to do, or are they just obnoxious little children'. Because the answer now is the latter.

Seriously, though, I have heard from various sources that my class is the quietest, most well-behaved class in the school. And I've got the crazed ADHD kid in my class. Granted, this compliment is only comparative, but still. I rock.

However, I'm not getting too complacent in my job, because we all remember what happened last year when I thought I was going fairly well. So I've still got grad schools in the back of my mind, which I'm going to start contacting once I get this project for the Wittenberg program done. That's right, the project that I supposedly 'started in July' and 'have been working on all summer'. In reality, it hasn't really been started yet and most definitely hasn't been worked on since that day when we had to present the projects. It has to be turned in by Wednesday. Guess what's on the schedule for today and tomorrow. My work ethic has certainly changed since college, though, because I feel that at least one person in the program is going to be doing a half-assed job, and why should I put in all this effort and make an awesome project when they clearly are going to be BSing it the night before? That's bad, I know...but I figure my version of 'zero effort' is actually more like '85% effort' and I'm trying not to drive myself crazy. Conceited, what?

In other news, I am in the process of buying a car (still looking around) and will be moving at the end of next month! Tough decision, this one; I really like where I am now but will be paying less than half my rent by doing this housesitting gig. You just can't beat that. Until then, I am enjoying my current location as much as I can: walking to the movies, going to Izzy's, etc. Both of those things will be much harder to do once I move.

I think that's about it for right now. Consider yourself caught up. (and then go see 'Little Miss Sunshine,' one of the few movies that actually made me laugh out loud, no kidding!)

Quotes!

Go to this page, pick the first five quotes that ring true and describe you, post them. Here goes:

Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down. - Charles F. Kettering (1876 - 1958)

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. - Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment. - Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. - Sir William Osler (1849 - 1919)

Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment. - Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

Thanks to Jess and Heather for the idea!

(Sorry about the lack of posting; if I'd post anything at the moment, it would be chock-full of negativity because I don't want to go back to work! So let's avoid that for the moment; content yourself with the quotes listed above.)

The Virtual Album meme...yet again, shamelessly stolen

This meme is your chance to become the next big singer-songwriter without setting up your own overhyped MySpace site. Here is a list of song titles to complete. The idea is NOT to fill in the gaps with the original lyrics – it is to provide your OWN answers in order to personalize the songs and create your own virtual album that is personal, emotional and relevant to the world today. (Or entirely and gratuitously stupid, self-indulgent and/or obscene, it's entirely up to you.) Now, enough of this yakking. Let's ROCK!

1. You can call me long-distance.
2. Summer's here and the time is right for getting some Guinness ice cream at Izzy’s.
3. I can't get no grammar lessons. I done love me some double negatives.
4. If I ruled the world, there’d be chocolate eclairs for everybody. Wait, that’d only happen if I were the King of Spain.
5. I've been to Paradise but I've never been to Disneyworld.
6. The only thing that looks good on me is not in my wardrobe.
7. I would do anything for love, but I won't do the dishes.
8. Oh my god, I can't believe it, I've never seen ‘Back to the Future’ in its entirety!
9. All you need is coffee.
10. The answer, my friend, is pi over 2.

'Cat, go AWAY!'

Title of this post brought to you by the one sentence I have repeated most often today. I am cat-sitting once again, which is basically an excuse for me to use someone else's free internet and eat their food. Oh yeah, and I do actually take care of the cat. The single thing about the cat that annoys me the most, though, is his tendency to jump up onto the table while I'm eating. I am totally grossed out by this. And as I was trying to read the newspaper this morning (since I don't do it very often), the cat jumped up onto the table literally 20 times. After each time, I picked it up and dropped it onto the bench. Apparently it does not know how to take a hint. Now, thankfully, he is sleeping on the floor and not shedding cat hair or sneezing all over my computer.

Side note: If you have never had dried apricots, you are missing out. I bought some yesterday and can't stop eating them; they'll probably be gone by the time I finish writing this post. They remind me of Greece. Seriously, go get some dried apricots.

Crisis of the moment: I have a workshop to go to this week, starting tomorrow. Said workshop is out in a suburb, about 20 minutes west of here by car. I was planning on going with a co-worker, so carpooling was no problem, and we had figured this all out back in June. However... it appears she was scheduled for a different session than I am, and she's already done her training. This means that I now have no way to get out there...I've emailed and called the place, and they were like, 'Well, if you can get here on Monday, the participants usually figure out carpools for the rest of the week.' I was like, that is not helpful. I haven't heard from people whom I've asked for rides, and the buses are such that I would have to leave here before 6am and end up walking between 2 and 3 miles to get to the school. So now I have to throw myself at the mercy of one of my colleagues, who obviously has better things to do than drive 40 minutes out of her way, but I do not see an alternative. Good lord, is this a pain in the ass.

Also about school, I didn't mention last time that last week's workshop (apart from the buzzwords) was remarkably helpful. There was some theory but some actual, practical tips were included, and I couldn't help but think: This would have been incredibly useful last year. Oh well, with experience comes cynicism, or something like that.

Anyway, I felt very prepared and excited to start the new school year with all of these ideas, and then we all met up at school one night to move in furniture. I don't know what it is, but upon entering the building, I just felt like I was not good enough all over again. The new kindergarten teacher's room (i.e., my old room) is set up completely differently, and it looks fantastic: full of great stuff but organized, and all so much more prepared than I ever was (...and am?). Just being back in the school building seems to remind me of all the times I felt utterly beaten down: when the kids made me cry, when parents verbally attacked me, when I was nearly fired because I wasn't working hard enough and appeared 'inept', when I was categorized as a weakness to the school because I was inexperienced. I know, take your past experiences and learn from them, etc., etc., but it's very difficult to get the past year out of my head.

Just thought I'd share that. Mmm, dried apricots.

Education-related buzzwords heard about 13874653286 times each during the past 5 days

• Proactive
• Scaffold(ing)
• Socio-cultural __________
• Administrative buoyancy
• Context
• Best practice
• Content-based instruction
• Challenges
• Standards
• Effective
• Authentic
• Prior knowledge
• Objectives

None of the above are made up. One workshop down, one more to go!

Aaaaaand we're back

Not much to report today; I got back from Ohio on Monday and have been doing all sorts of nothing over the past few days. I did make it into school today, though, to measure my classroom and furniture so I can figure out where to put everything. I'm basically trying to soak up the lethargy as much as possible, since I start a workshop on Monday and have pretty much no vacation after that.

To backtrack: The wedding was lovely, Pamela was beautiful, and the reception was lacking of alcohol. (just teasing, Pamela, it's okay!) It was fantastic to see everyone again, especially Heather and Jamie. With some people, you can just pick up your friendship right where you left off. Again, I was not particularly wanting to come back...assisted by Jamie in this matter, as we almost got lost and I almost missed my flight! (Un)Fortunately, I ended up catching it and made it back home with no further issues.

So since my mind is not currently occupied with school-related things, I've had time to think about other things, such as where I want to live for next year and whether or not to buy a car. I think I've decided for the car; being constantly dependant on people is obnoxious and maybe I'd get out more if I had the means. The other question is whether (and if so, where) to move. I like my apartment, especially the location, but it is a bit expensive. However, less expensive one-bedrooms are not to be had. Other options: (a.) moving in with a roommate, or (b.) housesitting for one of my students' families as they live in Germany for one year. Advantages to each of those: (a.) meeting new people, saving money; (b.) living rent-free (!) for a year. Disadvantages: (a.) having to get used to living with someone again, possibility of annoying roommate; (b.) living way the heck far away from everything that I'm involved with in this city, not feeling independent.

These topics are now open for voting! What do you think? Should I stay where I am, check out craig's list for a roommate, or housesit?

*EDIT: Just found an ad on craig's list for roommate wanted...right down the street from where I am now!

*EDIT #2: I am meeting with the housesitting family at the end of next month and have sent an email to the craig's list girl. Guess we'll see what happens!

Quiz

As Ginny, you are friendly but quiet and timid. You have a thing for men with glasses.

Apparently, it figures out which HP character you are most like, and it also sorts you into a house. The character and the house don't have to match. I guess that would be rather unfair, since nearly all the characters are from the same house.

Back in the US...A

Nothing like a thinly veiled Beatles reference as a subject line. Did anyone else get that or is the connection just in my head? I'll explain it if you want, but then it won't seem quite as witty.

Anyway: I'm back! And as much as I wasn't entirely looking forward to returning to my wreck of an apartment and lack of food, it's nice to be back. I got in on Tuesday and was jetlagged as hell, due to going to bed at 1.30, leaving the house again at 4.30AM to get to the airport, and then about 12 hours in planes and airports. Wednesday was also rather shot, but today has been much better, largely due to my having coffee in the house this morning. Life is good when you don't have to go to work.

So tomorrow is Friday already, and that means getting on another plane to fly to Ohio for Pamela's wedding! Amazing that it's in two days already; where has the time gone? I am very, very excited to see Pamela and meet Andrew, and to see Heather and meet Kevin. (sense a pattern there?) It should be an excellent weekend, rounded out by a Toledo Mudhens game on Sunday. (Müs - if you want a Mudhens baseball cap I will totally get you one.)

So... yeah, nothing else to report at the moment. I'll end with an awesome South Park image of me, made by Müs:


...and now for the description: 'I naturally assumed you have a Ramstein tee shirt, a frazzled expression in a classroom of children, and ice cream in one hand (izzy scoop? what?) and a knife to cut anyone who gets too close to it in another.' Thanks, bro!

Happy Fourth of July!

I was going to be all patriotic and write this in fancy red and blue, but (a.) that is too much work and (b.) it would be too hard to read. Nevertheless, Happy Independence Day, enjoy the fireworks and grilling! Oddly enough, this makes the third consecutive year that I'll have missed the Fourth...also oddly, I'm not too upset about that. Oh well.

We just got back last night from spending three days in Berlin and Potsdam, which were great. Berlin is one of my favorite cities; every time I go there, there is always so much to do and to see. I always go with a list of things to visit or do and leave with at least a third of them not accomplished. This time, I checked off the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie (disappointing), the new Jewish Memorial (very moving), and the New Synagogue (as part of a three-hour walking tour -- interesting and informative). Two days in Berlin is not nearly enough; I'm thinking of going back after the program is finished to do some shopping... with my extensive funds, you know.

However, one of the best parts of the weekend was going to visit a friend of mine in Schöneberg, which is a neighborhood in Berlin. She has been studying there for the past year and I hadn't seen her since summer 2004, when we worked in a random teeny village in Sachsen-Anhalt. It was excellent; not only did we get to catch up (a lot), but we also watched some of the soccer match at ......

TIM'S CANADIAN CAFE!!!

Hopefully Müs will find that as amusing as I did; I took pictures of the place and of the menu. The Germans as well as Fiona thought I was crazy. I was too busy laughing and being nostalgic to notice.

Double-double?

PS - Deutschland vor! Deutschland vor! Cheer for them today, it's the quarter final!

Gedicht des Tages

Seit ich ihn gesehen,
Glaub ich blind zu sein;
Wo ich hin nur blicke,
Seh ich ihn allein;
Wie im wachen Traume
Schwebt sein Bild mir vor,
Taucht aus tiefstem Dunkel
Heller nur empor.
-- Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838)

Sorry, non-German speakers, but I just can't translate it and make it sound as nice as that.

On an unrelated note (I swear! Totally unrelated!): We had an awesome class today, about poems and how to interpret them, and how to use them in class. Not quite related to working with 6-year-olds, but what a great seminar. It also helped that the man leading it was very attractive... however, he's married and has two small kids. Damn.

Requisite story about trains and almost missing them

Group dynamics are much better, though a little strange; I think the traveling this weekend helped 'group bonding' a little bit. Although I guess that wouldn't be considered group bonding, as there were a few smaller groups. At least I got to know some people a little better... nothing like being ridiculous and overtired on trains to help friendships along.

The train story: I went to Dresden on Saturday with a group of 4, and was returning with Pam (not to be confused with Pamela) that same evening. After getting up at 6.15, three hours on a train, and a day of fighting crowds of elderly tourists and 90° heat, we were rather exhausted. We had to change trains two times on the way back, once in Elsterwelde-Biehlau and once in Falkenberg (Elster), both of which coincidentally have really long names and are in the middle of freaking nowhere, in Brandenburg. (not to equate 'nowhere' with 'Brandenburg', but if you know anything about Brandenburg, it makes the story better) Anyway, I heard the woman get on the PA system on the train, announcing the connections for the town at which we were arriving, and I heard her say 'Elsterwelde', so Pam and I got off. As we got out, I was like, 'Wow, that was early; the Deutsche Bahn is never early.'

Lo and behold, we got off in Elsterwelde, which is not Elsterwerde-Biehlau. And we had 5 minutes between connections, so we had about 8 minutes to make it to the real station and get to our next train before we were stuck in this rinky-dink town in Brandenburg. We get to the ticket counter in the station; there's no one there. We get to the front of the train station; lo and behold, there is one lonely taxi. I'm like, 'Pam, get in the cab!' She's like, 'Maybe we should first make sure we're at the wrong station...' I'm like, 'Get in the cab!' We get in, tell the driver to step on it, he convinces us that we'll make it while I'm cursing under my breath. Four minutes, three minutes, two minutes left. The driver says, 'Why don't you get the money ready.' Finally, we pull up to the station, I hand him a five Euro bill, and we jump out of the cab. There's no train there...it's 8.25, when the connection was supposed to be. Did we miss it? The taxi driver is hanging around just in case we are stuck in this teeny Dorf with probably no place to stay. Suddenly the PA system sounds, and an announcement: The train is coming! Gott sei Dank! We say goodbye to the taxi driver (who probably then went home and told his wife about the two crazy Americans whom he drove to the next train station over) and get on the train.

And then I got hit on by the ticket-taker for the Deutsche Bahn. But that's a story for another time.

wtf?

Being in Germany and in WB again is fabulous, but to be honest, I am a little disappointed in the program this week. It has included a 3-hour long speed-walk through Wörlitz (a park; you wouldn't think you'd need to speed-walk if you had 3 hours, but the park is huge) and a lecture that was not helpful at all. However, our teacher is excellent and so nice; she has invited us over for coffee during the last week of the course.

The key weirdness here is the lack of group camraderie. I miss the hanging out with friends, inside jokes and generally being ridiculous; here, it's sort of clique-y, and I don't fit in with any of them. Who knew you could have cliques in a group of 11! It all feels very superficial, which I suppose is a typical American trait, but seriously. Can someone please be my friend?

Who knew you could feel lonely when you're constantly with a group, in a town where you know 1/3 of the population.

Rückkehr nach Wittenberg!

Here I am, once again typing away in the computer lab at the Leucorea in WB. Apparently, not much has changed in four years, except now the computers are (slightly) better and DB is probably not going to suddenly appear beside me in a bright orange shirt. Though you never know.

To back up a little, the school year is OVER!!! I survived! I will never be a first-year teacher again! The last two weeks were rather rough, what with summer craziness, report cards, end-of-the-year inventory, and people generally giving me tasks and saying, 'Now, you have to get this done before you leave.' Thank god it's done; time to enjoy being in Germany a little bit.

Coming back has reminded me of all the things I missed about Germany: the fabulous bakeries (a piece of cake for 60 cents!), walking to places, biking, public transportation, German breakfast...I'll surely think of more. However, there's already one thing on the list of things I didn't like about Germany: people talking to me like I'm stupid. I know the freaking numbers; you don't have to show me the number of fingers. Thanks, waitress at the Kartoffelhaus. Anyway, I'm having a great time so far and I'm especially looking forward to the 3-day Berlin/Potsdam trip in two weeks!

Returning to Wittenberg has been strange in some ways. In one sense, it hasn't changed much and so it feels like I never left. On the other hand, I get stared at on the street (ah, the German stare!) and realize that I'm once again the outsider, one of those tourists or students who comes in for a few weeks and then leaves. Also, all the places in town remind me of something that I did there; the Schlosskirche is no longer where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, but where I stood squashed in the balcony while watching Reformation services. This is the Blumengeschäft where I always bought flowers for people. There is the Kino where I saw Star Wars: Episode II (and sort of understood), Ich kann mal anders (and sort of understood and laughed a lot), Spiderman ('Die Wahrheit ist...ich liebe dich), Luther (and pretty much understood), Fluch der Karibik (and was proud that I understood), and Mona Lisas Lächeln (and understood but thought it was dumb). This is the Haus der Geschichte, where they have a stuffed cat. The list continues; suffice it to say it's rather a nostalgia trip.

Anyway, just wanted to say I made it and so far, so good. It's time to get out of the computer lab and go have some Eis!

Four more days!

...by which I mean three more days, plus the last day (during which kdg will be a madhouse), plus a 'culture week'. But really, the kids have lots of specials tomorrow so it's like two more real days. Can you tell I am ready to be done?

But right now, I am actually out of the apartment (!) at a coffee place, so I thought I would regale all 4 of my loyal readers with tales of my scintillating social life. Because this weekend was actually fabulous. It was in the 80s and sunny, so my TA and I biked down to the state capitol and took a tour and some pictures. (more fun than it sounds) Then we biked all the way back and were picked up by a mutual friend, who drove us to Uptown, where we hung out at a lake with a beach. I got good and sunburned, then we came back to our respective houses, made ourselves look respectable again, and went out to a few different bars. This was actually not especially great, since they were all really packed, but a good time nonetheless. And then we went back to this friend's apartment, where we hung out and learned some salsa dancing until 4.30 in the morning. What a social butterfly I am! (ha)

Sunday was comparatively low-key; my TA and I hung out at a local street festival for about an hour, until we got bored of navigating our way around people and watching drunk people. The award for the Stupid Comment Of The Day goes to a street vendor who saw me pushing my (bright yellow) bike through the crowd: 'Yeah, I'll give you a ride.' Yeah, you can kiss my ass, buddy.

Anyway, we are down to the LAST real WEEK, and I should mention that all kindergarteners are coming on Friday for the whole day. AM and PM kindergarteners converging; it's like the perfect storm. I need to come up with all sorts of stuff for them to do, so they don't tear the school down. But who cares, because not only is it the last day of school, it's my birthday, so there will be much celebration! Some friends and I are going out for Indian food on Friday night... Indian food! And I have friends! Doesn't this sound like the best plan ever? Perhaps my good mood is caused by the impending end of the year, or the good weather, or the fact that I'm going to Germany shortly, but I cannot be moved to care about schoolwork anymore. What, the classroom hasn't been vacuumed in a week and there are crushed Goldfish and grapes smashed into the carpet? And my table/desk is covered in papers 10 sheets high? I don't freaking care!

Bring on the vacation! And the end-of-school/birthday celebration! (Sidenote: Good god, I will be 25. What am I doing with my life?)