Photos Part Deux: The Reckoning

Title shamelessly stolen from Müs.

Here, for your viewing enjoyment: Austria and the Alps!

First off, to Vienna: Here, you can see the palace Schönbrunn, which I find very difficult to pronounce and where the Hapsburgs lived from... er, whenever they built it until Austria lost WWI. This is actually a view of the palace from the garden. And I think I took more pictures of that stork than of the palace and garden combined.

On Sunday, since nothing was open, Cathy and I went to the top of one of the towers of Stephansdom. Legend has it that the cathedral was supposed to have two towers (spires?); one was finished. Unfortunately, various tragedies kept happening at the top of the other tower: people falling to their deaths, perhaps a fire, I don't remember exactly. So after a couple of tries, they just stopped building where they were, put a little roof on it, and were done. This is the tower we went up. No wonder the fencing up there was so high.

Oh yeah, the roof of the cathedral was rebuilt post-WWII, hence the date.

The hills are alive in Salzburg...

The Festung: It puts the 'burg' in 'Salzburg'!

I think someone should put that on a t-shirt.

Then we went back to Germany, via Berchtesgaden and the Alps:

Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler's hideaway/vacation home. It was his 50th birthday present from the NSDAP. When I turn 50, I want someone to pick a mountain in the Alps, build a road almost to the top, dynamite a hole in the middle to create an elevator up to the peak, transport tons of raw materials up there, and build me a house. Funny thing was, Hitler didn't even like the house so much, or spend a whole lot of time there. But how could you ever get tired of the view?

Amazing.

The End.

On an unrelated note, Müs is coming to visit tomorrow!! Woo!

Photos!

At long last: Photos From My European Adventure! (PFMEA?) Some of them are kind of boring, and you probably have seen these things before, but oh well. You don't have to look. So there.

Moving on...

Ah, the East... how I've missed you, your Ampelmänner and your Ostalgie...

The Brandenburg Gate, with no scaffolding! Will wonders never cease?

Gendarmenmarkt. Say it with me now: "Die Tasche! Die Tasche!"

One of the lions on the Ishtar Gate, at the Pergamon Museum.

Inner workings of the Reichstag. The color of those chairs was specially made for the Reichstag... I mean, you can't have green or red chairs favoring any political party now, can you?

Entrance to KZ Sachsenhausen. Chilling.

And now we're in Prague...

The Charles Bridge, home to street vendors and pickpockets. And one of the main tourist drags in Prague.
On the Charles Bridge. See the tourists? And the castle in the background?

That's enough of Prague. (I'm not a fan.) Now for Budapest:

The first night we arrived, everyone was a little hyper after the 10 hours spent on the bus. We all met in the lobby to do some sight-seeing at 9.30 at night, because... well, why not? This is the view from the Pest side of the river (where the Parliament is) across to the Buda side.

Heroes' Square. This is the part where Hungarian reading skills would have been nice, since I didn't know who any of these people were. Except for the...
Barbarians! Aren't they frightening? Whereas most countries have these Classical-style marble statues of their heroes (Lincoln, Goethe, whoever), Hungary has barbarian hordes. Parliament building, as seen from here:

Fisherman's Bastion. Not entirely sure what its use was (check the Wikipedia link), but nice-looking just the same. The view made up for the endless stairs we had to climb to get here.

I think that's about it for now; my poor laptop and I are tired of uploading pictures. Enjoy! Photos of Austria and the Alps yet to come...

Much ado about nothing

So I've been harassed by the only two semi-regular readers of this blog that I should update. Good thing I succumb easily to peer pressure! I suppose I should catch you all (?) up on recent events, but to be honest, there haven't been a whole lot of those. Suffice it to say that I love being on vacation. Sleeping till 9, watching movies and reading all day, cooking decent food because I can... being a teacher has its perks.

Let's get to the point.
Recent Event #1: Chaperoning a high school trip to Europe
This was actually ganz okay, to use the proper German. Not quite as fun as traveling with friends and having an open schedule, but it was paid for and I got to know some interesting kids. The first two weeks were pretty awful, weather-wise; it was cold (in the 60s) and rained EVERY SINGLE DAY. Which is typical German weather, but not at the beginning of July. The last week of the trip was sunny and really warm, so it made up for the miserableness of the preceding weeks. There were also some crises: a girl decided to wander off, by herself, on the last night of the trip (!) and there was an incident of two couples kicking other people out of their hostel room so that they could have some 'alone time'. (Side note: Doesn't it seem counterintuitive to have 'alone time' when there is another couple in the room? Ew.) However, it was quite successful, and I'm going through the 300+ pictures I took so that I can post the good ones and write a decent update about the trip later. At some point.

Recent Event #2: More drama at school
That's right, I'm not even under contract anymore and I still can't get away from it. Apparently some comments that I made to a co-worker (who, until recently, I considered a friend) got back around to my boss, through two other people. These statements were used to attack her and her effectiveness at the school. Sketchy? Let's count the ways:
(1) These statements were used fourth-hand, without bothering to reconfirm with me.
(2) Board chairperson called me after the fact, to get my opinions.
(3) Apparently, griping to your co-workers can be used against you and the subject of the complaints.
I called her (my boss) today, and we're having coffee tomorrow to clear things up. She didn't sound incredibly upset, so I'm hopeful, but we'll see how it goes.

Recent Event #3: Harry Potter 7
Woo! I bought it Saturday morning (not quite enough of a dork to go to a midnight party, but enough to get up early on Saturday) and read it straight through until that evening. Fabulous! Lots o' action and drama, and plot twists. I'm going to have to read it again, slowly, because I rushed through the first time, but I must be the only person on the planet who thought the epilogue was cute. Granted, not as good as the rest of the book, but warm and fuzzy just the same.

That's the overview. Pictures of Germany/Prague/Budapest/Austria to come!

Some day, when I win the lottery...

I would like to buy this entire website. Too bad my birthday just passed.

Excerpt of nearly 3-hour long conversation

Me (after finishing story about co-chaperone): Is this weird, or is this just me? Because I sometimes blow things out of proportion.
Jamie: Dude, this always happens to you!
M: I know! It's like I give off this 'helpless, please-protect-me' vibe.
J: You do; it's this 'fragile English rose' thing.
M (laughing): Are you serious?
J: I know because I'm the opposite, like 'I'll kick your ass!' The funny thing is that I'm more of the sensitive type, but you're liable to be like, 'WTF? Get away from me, you weirdo!'

News, in haiku form

This morning, I woke
Up, and I was twenty-six.
Funny how that works.

School is over now,
Except for some paperwork.
Freaking report cards.

I'm playing for a
Friend's friend's wedding next weekend.
This time, we'll practice.

The family for
Whom I'm housesitting are back.
They're leaving Sunday.

All my stuff is crammed
Into my room, so that the
Kids don't play with it.

I knew that one day, those hours of writing inane haikus in elementary school would come in handy.

They might not have to downsize our branch. And I could work here for years... and years... and... years.

What NBC "The Office" character are you? Your Result: Jim Halpert You are the kind of person that everyone likes. You are funny, laid back, and not bad looking. You love practical jokes and having a fun time with your friends. However, because you are so laid back you often let the things that are most important to you get away. I miss Dwight. Congratulations Universe, you win.
Toby Flenderson
Pam Beesly
Ryan Howard
Kelly Kapoor
Dwight Kurt Schrute
Angela Martin
Michael Scott
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Chicago!

Chicago was awesome. Or, if you will, 'dawesome'. (shoutout to Müs!) All the energy, culture and variety of a big city, plus the niceness of the Midwest. Three days was definitely not enough, and I do not want to go back to school tomorrow. Some highlights of the trip, in picture form...because I have a new camera...

Chicago from the 94th floor of the Hancock Tower. The Sears Tower is on the right.

Pizza! The Germans didn't like it, which shocked and horrified me. And provided me with extra lunch.

Michigan Avenue, or the Magnificent Mile. I didn't do any shopping though; I was waiting at the bus stop to get to the Museum of Science and Industry...

... to see the greatest exhibit ever! If I weren't a teacher, I'd totally be a forensic scientist.

I also spent some time outside the Adler Planetarium enjoying the sun and the view.

Amazing. Now I just need an excuse to go back. I hear they're opening an immersion school in Chicago...

I hate to be such a sqealy fangirl, but...

...tonight's episode of 'The Office'? Made me so very, very happy. *sigh*

Off to NY for the (extended) weekend, to see Müs graduate! My little brother's all grown up. Except he's going back to school in the fall, so not quite. Wait a minute, so am I...

Feeling accomplished, for once

One of the only advantages to moving is that it gives you the incentive to clean out your closet. Which I absolutely hate doing, but it's either that or pack up and move extra pounds of stuff which I will probably not wear again anyway. So that was today's project, along with packing up my winter things and replacing them with tank tops and shorts. One less box I'll have to pack when I move, yay! Also, yay for donating stuff. Now it's just a matter of taking the bags down to Goodwill, along with the other bag of stuff that has been riding around with me in the trunk since October...

Also building my self-esteem: clothes that I bought for my first trip to Germany (5 years ago!) still fit! Awesome. Does this mean I need new summer clothes? Possibly.

Also, what is this?? Hi, WB, are you ripping off ideas from foreign films now? I have two main gripes with this: (a) The original movie is fantastic! and (b) Judging from the trailer, the directors have just ripped off the ideas from other directors. I mean, the shots are taken exactly from the original film, down to the one of the girl sitting on the counter, eating spaghetti, and the one of the chef bringing out a raw, bloody steak on a knife and impaling it to the table. It makes me want to go watch the German original again, just so I can recall how great it is.

Also, one of my students is moving to India on Tuesday. And she's one of the really great ones: hard-working, does everything without complaints, gets along with everyone, is just generally a happy person. Having taught her for almost two years, I'll miss her.

Also, no more 'also's. Get out there and enjoy the lovely spring weather.

Possibly an overreaction, but sometimes you just need to vent

I am so annoyed. SO ANNOYED.

The kids wrote their own books on their favorite animals this week, for which they had to make a list of questions and do some research. One of the questions was how big the animal could be. The know-it-all kid in the class decided to write his book on fish. I don't know how big a fish can get, so I look it up online. After searching around for a while (surprisingly, searching for the key phrase 'world's largest fish' doesn't get you anywhere), I find some site that says a certain kind of fish can get up to 2 meters long. Okay, here you go. He insisted that it was up to 17 meters, and I was like, you can't just make up numbers; besides, why did you ask me to look this up if you already knew what it was? You're writing this book in pencil; you can change it later if you have to.

Here's the kicker: I just got an email from him (via his dad's address) that's like, did you know that this certain type of fish can grow up to 18 meters and why did the school computer say that it was only to two meters when my laptop says 18? And he included the link to the article.

Seriously. Now a seven-year-old is treating me like I'm stupid. How the hell am I supposed to know how big fish are? I'm trying harder to get the class to get their work done, stop winding each other up, and think about what they're actually supposed to be doing. And clearly his parents take his side; why else would they let him write this email? And probably proofread it for him?

I AM NOT F****** STUPID. This is why I'm going to Cambridge next year. I am sick of this sh!t.

Arrr, eh?

I was listening to the radio on my drive in to work yesterday, as I do every day because the 40 minutes are otherwise mind-numbing, and this song came on. At first, I thought, what IS this? But then it made me laugh, and that's tough to do during the morning commute. I mean, come on, it's about CANADA! and PIRATES! In fact, it's about a CANADIAN PIRATE! How can you go wrong?

Also, 'The Office' is new tonight! And it's 45 minutes long! I feel like it's Friday, or my birthday.

Threat Level: Midnight!

This is the trailer someone made for 'Threat Level: Midnight', which you would be well familiar with if you watched 'The Office'. Even if you don't watch 'The Office', go watch this; it is the funniest video I've ever seen on YouTube.

Feel the need for more 'arbitrary' quote marks? 'Channeling' Moslow's 'syllabi' from 'high school math classes', perhaps? Here 'you' go.

Also, I told both directors that I'm not coming back next year. Went surprisingly well. One was really supportive, the other was a bit cooler but said that if I want a job there within the next five years, I'm hired. Which is nice, I guess. I'll have to weigh this against the endless crap that I have dealt with during the past year and a half, but having a backup plan is not a bad idea.

Lessons learned this weekend

1. When playing at a friend's colleague's wedding, always drive yourself. Do not carpool, no matter how much fun said wedding will supposedly be.
2. Practice may not make perfect, but you should definitely run through the music at least once before the wedding. Receiving the music earlier than two hours before is key.
3. When playing at an outdoor wedding, wear pants. No skirts, especially none that can be caught by the wind.
4. Cold medicine + Alcohol = NOT GOOD.
5. Try not to overanalyze things. At the very least, don't think about 200 steps in advance.
6. I am a mean-spirited, bad person. *frowny face goes here*

WTF?

My housemate asked me earlier this evening if I was going to play violin today. (strangely, this is not an uncommon question from him) I said yeah, I have to practice for the wedding I'm playing in tomorrow, but I'd rather not have it recorded, ha ha. He was like, okay, I won't tape record it. I thought that this was a weird turn of phrase, but whatever.

So I wait until he's downstairs watching TV, and I play around for about half an hour. I pack up, leave the room, and he's standing there with the camera and says, 'Can you do that last part again?' WTF, dude?? I was pretty ticked off at this point and was like, 'I asked you not to record me.' He goes, 'I said I wouldn't tape record you.' I was like, seriously, this is not funny. I'm not going to get into a semantic argument with you right now; the point is, I asked you not to tape me practicing, and you did it anyway. When he saw that I was so pissed off, he said, 'Okay, okay, I'll erase it.'

WTF, dude. If this tape even ends up on the internet, I will be so pissed. Creeeeepy.

Brought to you by tea and antihistamines

So 'allergies' have turned into sinusitis. I stayed home sick today and have done nothing but sleep, read, and watch TV. And it sounds like my TA wasn't there either...and I hadn't written up any sub plans... oops. But I did ask if there was anything I could do, and my boss didn't say anything... and she could have called and asked me to email in some plans, right? Oh well. Hopefully my class didn't get into some huge fight or burn down the school or anything.

Not a whole lot to report besides this...except that my housemate is getting on my nerves. I don't know if this is because I've been not feeling well, but all I really want is for him to leave me alone. He's got this tendency to ask questions that don't really have to do with anything, like 'What kind of violin do you have?' or 'Did you graduate high school when you were 14 or something?', or tell me random information that I don't really care about, like how he used to think the woman for whom we are housesitting was really hot. Between this and his posting a video (or, more accurately, audio) of my violin-playing online, I'm starting to get weirded out. Müs, come on out here and break his kneecaps.

*squeak*

It's Saturday! And this means I can give you lovely folks an update about what has happened this week. Not a whole lot has been going on, per usual, but some strange/annoying/illogical stuff at work. Surprise, surprise!

Before I get into that, some notes:
1. My sinuses are squeaking. Thanks, allergies. (TMI? Ha, welcome to my blog!)
2. If you haven't heard of this band, they are worth checking out! Not as good as GBS, but fun music. (Müs - I will burn you the CD, no worries.)
3. My housemate keeps trying to get me to play violin again. So he can record it, I guess. Uh, creepy or just weird?

Okay, let's get back to the stories about work. It was my director's brilliant idea to have a big 'First Grade Exchange Program' between the two classes. First, the teachers would teach each other's class for a day. Then, we would swap three kids a day for a week or so, or until all the kids had a chance to visit the other class. The point of this was for the kids to get to know each other better, since they'll all be in one huge second grade class next year, but the underlying reason was for me to bring some sort of order to the other first grade class. Because I am mean and strict and don't tolerate any disrespect or kids screwing around.

So we started this program on Wednesday, and my coteacher spent the day observing my class so that, hypothetically, he could copy the routines and techniques that I have down and apply them to his class. I took this as a compliment, so I was okay with it. Until he brought a book to class and proceeded to read it while I was teaching class. Every time the boss would show up, he'd quickly shove the book under the desk and take a few notes in his notebook, but other than that, he had a free day. And after he had finised the book, he played solitaire on his palm pilot (as observed by my TA). I was pretty ticked off, so I called him on it at the end of the day. He was like, 'Oh, don't tell [the boss]; I'll help you move again when you have to move or help you find a dishwasher!' It's not like I'd tell her anyway (hi, not a tattle-tale), but I found this very obnoxious and unfair. Especially since we swapped classes on the next day, and he was supposed to be following my routines in my class, but just brought over his routines. Whereas I'd had no exposure to his classroom structure and was just supposed to jump in and teach his kids cold. According to my TA and some of the kids, it did not go too well. (Actually, my TA was a bit horrified and the kids all gave me hugs when they saw me at lunch and were like, 'We miss you!' Yeah, that's right, I'm awesome.) So, in summary:

• Coworker gets a free day and gets to teach a (usually) well-behaved and orderly class.
• I get no day off and have to teach a crazy class for which I have had no preparation.

Is this my reward for being a decent teacher? And it's not like I think I'm amazing or anything (definitely, definitely not amazing), but if there's one thing I do have, it's structure and follow-through. And then he asked me if we should get together this weekend to plan, which we usually do at the beginning of each unit. I said, 'Maybe, but to be honest, I don't really feel like it.' I'll try it on my own this weekend, I think, because I was just too annoyed at the whole situation. And if he even shows up on Monday and asks me for my plans for the week... well. Nothing dramatic will happen, but I can pretend it will.

Guilt trip

Today, I lodged a formal complaint with my boss about the aide for the ADHD kid. And by 'formal complaint', I mean 'handwritten note on a piece of notebook paper'. And by 'aide', I mean 'the 60ish-year-old man from the Ukraine who sits in my classroom and gets paid $12 an hour to do nothing'. Anyway, he was undermining my authority yet again in front of my class and just generally being a huge pain. Again, I question why we pay this guy and why we don't just ditch him, but apparently it's not that easy. Being incompetent is clearly not reason enough to lose your job. (case in point = me! ha ha!)

ANYWAY. I was griping to my boss about this and wrapped up with something like, 'Just wanted to make sure this was documented somewhere, if anything else happens or a pattern shows up.' She congratulated me on being stubborn and said, 'You know, you wouldn't have trusted yourself enough to stand up to him last year. You've really grown into this job. I'm proud of you and so glad we have you.'

Heh. Uh... I won't be back next year. Every time something like this happens, it makes it harder for me to bring it up. (needless to say, I haven't done it yet) However, I have found a solution to the not-getting-paid-over-the-summer dilemma: I've volunteered to teach two week-long summer courses at school. In August. That way, they'll have to pay me through then, unless they don't want me to do the courses at all....right? Is that too backhanded? I just don't want to get screwed over, and I feel getting paid less (10 out of 12 months) for just as much work as the returning teachers is unfair. Hopefully they'll be relatively sympathetic...

'Hold on, I'm going to stop and take a picture...'

To change up the format a little bit from the usual bullet points, I present to you: A (Rather Small) Photo Slideshow of DC! Note that I am not in these photos because my uncle nearly dropped my camera. Twice. (At which he said, 'At least there's no film in it!' Ha ha... give it back now.)

The White House. Actually, it looked smaller than I thought it was.

WWII Memorial (obviously) and Lincoln Memorial in the background.

Cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial. Luckily, we went on Wednesday, since there was a huge thunderstorm that night and most of the blossoms were gone the next day, I heard.

The Capitol. You can play 'Spot the Security Guards' with this picture!

Requisite photo of cherry blossoms. Does not, however, capture how ridiculously cold it is here; where's that lovely early-April spring weather?

Freudian slip?

I was just searching online for things to see during my stay in DC, and I was checking out a description of the US Capitol:
'CAPITOL HILL. The White House notwithstanding, this domed icon of democracy is the capital city's most significant and, perhaps, most impressive building.'
And the first time I read it, I saw the word 'doomed' instead of 'domed'. What does this mean for the future of my country??