X, Y, and Z have done it again!

They won the 'stay on the wall as long as you can' race. Now, I wonder how long they will actually stay there. We'll see...

Chocolate, Coke, and Veggie Burgers

*this post was written friday evening, even though it wasn't posted until saturday. i had trouble with the pictures*


This week was a long week. I think it was because we had a half day right in the middle for conferences and that just made the week seem really chunky. It is over now, and despite thursday, it was a good week. Don't ask me about thursday, I have no idea what was going on that day, but it was "looong."

The best part about Thursday was that Delice and I got to hang out. We went to my apartment so I could change into more comfy clothes. Then, we walked to Rewe (pronounced Rev-A) and got some tortilla chips, so I could finish off my refried beans, as well as some other shops on the Hauptstrasse. The whole time we shared about the different "big" ideas, lessons, feelings we have been rolling around our heads recently.

**side note: Thursday also prompted Kelly to bring me hershey's kisses and a coke on Friday**


There was an accompanying note that said: "here's to hoping today is not as looong. P.S. If this is going to give you a migraine, don't eat it." Caffeine is one of my triggers;) Thanks for remembering and the boost!

I cannot explain how it felt to let loose and share my thoughts and heart to someone in the same country as me, especially one who seems to 'get me' having only known me for a few months. Beth and Mary, I love you dearly and your wise counsel and encouragement will always be needed in my life. But, there is something that is amazingly freeing to have that connection with someone who is so close in proximity. It's also amazing how it makes you feel less isolated. The human connection...Relationships...God knew what he was doing. We ended up talking for almost two hours, out in the cold, and have barely touched the surface. I can't wait for our next hang out session.

I had driving duty this week. Today alone, I took four driving trips and crossed the Swiss/German border six times. Even with how much I feel like a mother when I have driving duty, I love it. For two reasons: 1) I get to see the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets while out and about, and 2) I get to hear the students have the most interesting conversations.

On tuesday morning, one of our more witty students blurted out in surprise "I have frankincense." The other students were as confused as I, though I doubt their minds thought of myrrh, as well. Then she proceded to explain that she had a ten franc coin. Get it, franc-in-cents.

This students' little brother was also quite silly this morning with both his knit cap and jacket hood on inside the car. I could only see his eyes by the end of the 10 minute trip because he kept sinking more and more into his jacket. He also blurted out when we saw some of the fields near the school, "look...snow!"

I responded with, "Well, actually...frost. Sorry, we'll probably have snow soon, though."

"It looks like snow.?"

"You're right, but it's frost."

This was followed by contemplative silence. We also had fun jumping on the ice in the potholes, which lead to talk about ice skating (on lakes I think). I'm so excited for winter in a new place. As long as there's not a ton of rain, I can deal with the cold:)

This afternoon we had a conversation about all the kinds of sharks that exist, which led to whether or not Germany had any native species of sharks. I kind of laughed (although I don't know for certain if there are or not) because Germany is basically land locked, which a couple of the older girls brought up. This led to a discussion of this term and then fell back into what sort of shark species are people's favorites, etc.

Random daily bus event: We always check to see if the storks are home. They live in a nest at the top of a tower near the border. Their names are Maria (mom), Bob (dad), Maria Jr. (daughter), Bob Jr. (son), and Jack (other son). They were named by the "Frankincense" student.

I ended up staying at school tonight until about 7pm and still only have the basic framework of lesson plans done. Maybe the motivation will strike me and I'll go into work over the weekend. I stayed so long because I made three driving runs. Two to the Badisher Banhof in Basel and one to my apartment to drop off Amy-Jo and her new computer monitor. I also had to sweep and vaccuum the downstairs floor, as well as clean up my classroom. It was in quite a state.

Mainly because I decided that we were going to use up some scraps for art. The kids have acumulated an entire bucket full of 'only slightly used paper.' So, we cut a bunch of scraps into small pieces. All colors, red, hot pink, neon green, orange, blue (sounds like the nineties;). Then, I printed off an outine of a turkey (while I can skip Halloween, I refuse to ignore Thanksgiving) and had the kids paste the scraps on in a mosaic fashion. Needless to say, first graders can make quite a mess, especially with little scaps of paper. It looked like we had had Mardi Gras in our room. You should see our neon colored Turkey's. Definitely not traditional, but still gorgeous. The concept of 'mosaic' was also lost on the students. They ended up sprinkling the paper around in piles of glue, instead of laying each piece deliberately, as well as flat.

None of my classroom decorations want to stay on the wall. I now have a race between "L,M,N" and "X,Y,Z" to see which is the last portion of the alphabet to stick to my wall. Oh, we found "U,V,W" Blaise was writing at the white board during centers and she put her fingers behind the board and out she pulled "U,V,W" So much for the yard stick and sticky tack:)

Once I got home, I set off to make dinner. It was an experiment. Most cooking here is an experiment! A couple weeks ago I had bought a mix for making veggie burgers (Gemuse Burger). I also made pasta with a krauter (herb) sauce. For an experiment it turned out pretty darn tasty. If anyone from Weil reads this they will just laugh because it's another thing to add to the granola/vegetarian list. They all think I'm a hippie:) If they only knew...


The cooking state for dinner.


The presentation before mastication. (I liked the rhyme)

I am currently watching Princess Bride, which is such a fantastic, low key, yet enjoyable movie. Talk about the perfect action/comedy/drama/romance movie all wrapped into sweet goodness. We were talking about it at lunch and I thought it would be a nice way to end a long week.

It's now ten o'clock. My bedtime. And I am fading fast, so I will say goodnight.

Don't be too hard on the ducks. Nobody can be perfect.

Word of the day: Flaneur

Recently I again realized that being a primary school teacher tends to limit the vocabulary one uses and that I would like to actually sound relatively intelligent when conversing with people who are older than ten years old. So, I decided to subscribe to dictionary.com's word of the day.

This is also a great way for me to get my trivia fix for the day:)

The point of this story is that the word of the day a couple days ago was Flaneur, which means someone who strolls about aimlessly. My first thought was about how it must be french. It is. And, then, what an interesting picture is conjured in my brain by the definition of the word. I like even more that the french word it is derived from can mean 'to saunter'. What attitude!

I told this word to a couple colleagues and one of their responses was, "well, that's you." I guess, I am also known for wandering around the school aimlessly chatting with whoever I happen to find. What can I say, I am an extrovert. Plus, some of my best conversations happen during these times.

The weather outside is frightful

Actually, the weather hasn't been too bad, so far. Besides a day or two of rain and the wind in Freiberg, things have been relatively nice.

Although, I think we are now headed into the cold streak of the year. Today I looked at about 19.45 and it was 34 degrees fahrenheit but felt like it was 23 degrees. Tomorrow's forecast is for a high of 34 and a low of 19 and thankfully with no percipitation.

Some of the students today were mentioning that they had snow at their house and I saw a couple cars while on the bus route that had snow on them, but we have yet to experience that pleasure in Weil. I'm really hoping for a white Christmas this year!

But, I should probably try to get some winter clothes soon, so I don't come to school in an ice cycle costume. It's just a matter of the where and the when and then, always, the how much;)

P.S. You know it's winter in Germany when the city turns off and empties all the fountains. I noticed that the other night and thought to myself, "well, I gues winter has officially started." Although, I guess we, technically, have to wait for the equinox? solstice? whatever it is.

Parent/Teacher conferences

Today we had parent/teacher conferences. It was a half day and we only accomplished math and reading because we were supposed to take a school picture in the middle of the morning, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to rain. Yes. It is raining here. Honestly, I didn't notice until someone mentioned it. I must still operate under the assumption that it is raining unless otherwise noted:)

It's too bad the picture wasn't taken today because everyone looked so cute in their Christmas colors. I even had some of the ribbon that Angie gave me last year in my advent calendar.

After lunch, the kids went home and the teachers started conferences. I only had two today because one set of parents can't travel due to the new baby not having a passport, one set postponing due to the fact that their daughter missed a month of school to go to Colombia, and the other set of parents feeling it wasn't necessary to have a lengthy meeting, just a couple minutes to catch up would suffice.

*Side note: I hope you all appreciate my attempt at using larger and more varied vocabulary in my blogs because I spend all day with words the likes of "bed, sled, zed, fed," as well as, "add, cut, write."

The conferences went well, even though I was a bit intimidated. I know I am knowledgeable in this field, but I can sometimes feel inferior for whatever reason. I think I am a person who needs a considerable amount of positive self talk to buy into something that should be innately understood in my perceived level of confidence. (I'm sure that last part doesn't make sense, but trust me it does) It was good to know that the parents think things are going well!

I was done with conferences by about 1:30pm and went to work on some other projects I had been meaning to get done for a while. I was relatively productive and went home earlier than normal, but still not too early (about 5pm). I guess I have a reputation of being the late one, which is almost always true. But, in my defense, I do start my after school routine an hour after everyone else (because of tutoring).

When I got home, I didn't go for my usual run, instead I made refried beans for dinner and they were so good, but I ate way too much. I ate almost an entire bowl full (two cups) and an entire bag of tortilla chips (smaller than in the states, but still not a wise move). It was exactly what I needed, but I somewhat regretted it a bit later. I think refried beans and tortilla chips are my comfort food; one last piece of home to enjoy (besides all the hippiness;)

**On a random note: I lost 'U,V, and W' to the oblivian behind the white board yesterday. I, now, have a new challenge of whether or not I can get it out. I'm thinking yard stick and sticky tack. I'll let you know how it goes.


me at the open house a month or so ago, but I look roughly the same, just with longer hair and warmer clothes:)

a Hedgehog?

Hi all-
Today we had crazy hair day and it was so fun to see the students and staff. The staff stayed pretty tame, although Diana's hot pink "Marge Simpson" hairdo was a kick. I decided to do a bunch of little twisty buns all around my head. That way when we went for staff pictures later, I could take it out and have curly hair.

I had only tried this hair experiment once before and with only about a third of the buns. We got some crazy hair pictures done before the normal ones. But, let me tell you...I took out the buns and my hair was still pretty crazy. I think I liked it most in the middle stage where I had really tight ringlet/dred looking curls. Once I fingered these out it turned into a poof of frizz. I tamed it down a bit for the serious picture, but I'm sure it still looks wild.

The funny thing about this is that for my individual picture my hair was long and stick straight. Today was quite the opposite.

Once I got home from work, I went for a run. I had a nice chat with God and was able to pray, which is one reason why I think running releaves such stress. All you have time to do is think and pray.

While on the run, I was struck by how, despite having not run for several days, I felt really good. I could have run several more blocks and probably not felt it. Also I was not winded, which is always a good feeling.

After the run, during my cool down walk, I was headed towards the end of the street where the glass recycling bins are to look at the skyline of Basel, which is beautiful normally, but has lately been enhanced by the Herbstmesse (which is now over, sadly). While on my way there, I saw a creature crawling up onto the sidewalk from between a couple cars and I was struck by the fact that it was not a cat or even some sort of squirrel, etc.

It was in fact a hedgehog. "Are hedgehogs native to Germany? Are hedgehogs wild? Of course they're wild...but in Germany?" I stood and watched him for a while to see where he would go and he mosied along but was quite aware of my presence. His spines were in all different directions. I had an urge to try and pick him up, but thought the wiser of it when reminded of Sonic at Wildlife Safari.

Anyway, quite random, and relatively enjoyable. Actually, really enjoyable because I love random things like that. How often do you see a rogue hedgehog sauntering across the sidewalk?


My crazy hair for crazy hair day. I kinda like it. Maybe I'll start doing it like this for real:)


My crazy hair style in phase two. Another look I might try in 'real life'


Our crazy hair and our silly faces


Three of my cutie girls and their crazy hair


Me, the way I look most days (minus the wierd hairdo, of course); children trying to attack me;)

Good weekend

Yesterday I went with a group to Freiberg, Germany. It's a fun University town, I guess. I really enjoyed just walking around relatively aimlessly and chatting with the people in the group.

We saw the Cathedral that was not damaged (in the war?), whereas practically everything else around it was. There was a picture. It was amazing to see the church standing unscathed while the surrounding area was flattened. The church was nice. Much like many of the other European Cathedrals I've been to. Although it is always intriguing to see what people decide is important to display in the church, I always enjoy the stained glass rose at the back of the church best.

We also walked around and looked at the market and shops. We went into a second hand shop that was like it had scooped up Eugene and planted it into this shop. This also intrigues me because I loved being in that shop and seeing those things, but most of it I would never think of owning. Especially because the majority of it I can get back home from the person who made it. Everyone here thinks I am a hippie, as well and I am still undecided on that point. Really, I guess it's just fun to see such a familiar piece of home.

We also saw a demonstration that had something to do with Turkey. We're not quite sure what, but it had some decent energy and there were plenty of Turkish flags.

Another interesting thing was while we were walking through a smaller side street we saw a window display that had real models displaying the undergarments for sale.

The observation that was made was that the town had quite a few underwear (women's mainly) and tea shops (at least 7 or 8).

We ate lunch at a Thai restaraunt where I got to have some decent Pad Thai. I'm not quite sure if it's as good as Bangkok Grill's, but it's worth a trip back.

It's amazing how an hour train ride can go by so fast, especially with good scenery and good conversation.

Once I got home, I called Beth and caught her up on the week and day. I think it was good for her to hear about a good week and day because the last few calls have been good, but with a note of sadness. Not because of anything bad, just because of transition. I also got to speak with my uncle, who I hadn't talked to in a while. It was good to chat with him and catch up. I got to hear a pretty funny story about my grandfather's attempts to cook himself a steak and potato meal.

Today, I went to church at Basel Christian Fellowship (BCF). We had coffee afterwards and then went to Diana's for lunch. I got back at a quarter to nine. It was a ton of fun and I could have stayed late into the night. I got to try this great cheese, as well. It's called Vacherin Mont d'Or and comes in a wooden box and is cooked in the oven. We had it with potatoes and bread. In this meal alone there were my three favorite foods:) It was really good and I guess is only available in the autumn time. I can't wait for next autumn to roll around!

Anyway, It was a good weekend and I am now recharged and ready to go for the week, even with a stuffy nose.

BTW, I was so confused while on facebook because I saw different things about veterans. Then, I looked up what holiday might be on 12 November and duh, the 11 NOV is Veteran's day. The things you become less aware when you live away from someplace. So, enjoy your day off. I'll be going to work:)

Up before the alarm

This never happens during the week. Actually, I usually turn the alarm off (there is no snooze) and then proceed to sleep until about 20 minutes before I need to leave for work. Thank the Lord for making me a person who can get ready quickly.

But, it seems that on my days off work, such as last week's four day weekend, I wake up before the alarm anywhere between 7:20 and 7:40 am. That's what happened today, Sunday, where I could sleep in because church isn't until 10:30, but no, my body doesn't like that idea. Oh well, I guess it gives me an opportunity to catch up on things and think.

Like this morning, I am blogging. I also got to lay/lie (whichever is proper English) in bed and watch the wind make the tree across the street dance. It was beautiful, rhythmic, and calming.

Alas, I think the conclusion that can be drawn from these occurrences is that I might be in danger of becoming a morning person:)

Laundry

I thought I would share with you a typical load of laundry and the various steps involved. This round I did about three loads, which took about five or six days. Even though it takes longer (planning attire ahead of time is important) and my clothes get stretched out because they don't have the heat to shrink them, I kind of like this method. You can do other things while the load washes and then there is some mandatory think time while you pin the clothes on the line. We'll see if I ever adapt back:) I'm just grateful I don't have to scrub my clothes in a wash basin;)


Sorting my laundry. I'm sure all the mothers are scolding me for not sorting by color. I sort by types of clothes, which is really what clothes I wear most often and need to clean first, etc.


An hour (this is the shortest cycle possible on our machine) after putting the laundry in with detergent and softener (which I had not previously used in the states). I am pulling out the laundry to take it to the line. Notice that this is our kitchen (do you like the floor?)


Me hanging the clothes on the rack. My fingers were frozen by the time I was done with this load. Notice the difference in inside and outside attire. I'm getting quite skilled with clothes pins, as well.


After about two days outside, where it's cold, but not as cold as it could be, I decide to bring the laundry inside to finish it off because it's still not dry.


The last hold outs that get layed out by or on the radiator. They were dry within the hour.

Thanksgiving

I know the date posted is before Thanksgiving, but I wanted it to be in the general area of the actual time so it would not be so confusing. Sorry that this particular update is so tardy.

This year's Thanksgiving was a little odd in that I did not actually celebrate on Thursday or in The United States. Thursday was a Teacher Inservice day. To celebrate Thanksgiving we went to Subway in Lorrach (the neighboring town). I was completely thrown off by this experience. I think because I was expecting it to be familiar, which means I forgot that I would still be in Germany, they would still speak in German, and it would be a subway German style (no toasting, different sandwich combos and toppings, as well as dressings). Added to this, three people trying to mediate for me does not help ease my frustration or confusion nor increase my comprehension level.

I also spent that evening staying up late to call various houses of family and friends that I knew were having celebrations, so that I could have a better chance of talking to more people. It was fun to hear all these voices that I hadn't heard for a long while, but also sad because I wasn't home to enjoy their company.

I started the official Thanksgiving day (Saturday) by attending the Anglican Church of Basel's Christmas Bazaar with Anne, Allison, Amy-Jo, and Delynn. I bought a candle holder and some earrings. It was fun to have the air of Christmas all around, even though we were going to be celebrating Thanksgiving later that day.

Amy-Jo and I finally headed back to Weil from Basel at about three. We were supposed to be at Diana's at four. We got home with just enough time to grab our desserts and walk over to her house. We ended up eating about about 4:30, which was pretty good timing. There were all sorts of people there from all sorts of places. Quite the ecclectic group of people all with the common thread of either knowing Diana or knowing someone who knows Diana. There were at least two people in the latter situation.

Before I forget, I must mention how there were fifty people who were invited, but only thirty-four of them showed up. We had taken the tables and chairs (6 Tables and at least, 35 to 40 chairs)from school to Diana's apartment, so that everyone could eat at a table, which made things very crowded in her living room. More crowded than you can imagine the most crowded of any American party you have been to. And, of course I chose the seat where I was literally trapped once everyone sat down. No seconds for me:)



During dinner I sat with Amy-Jo, Josie (the ESL teacher), Stephanie (a girl from Bible study who is from Portland, Oregon) and one of her former collegues from Germany (I forgot what part). After dinner, I shifted tables and got to spend some quality fun time with Janet (another girl from Bible study who is in Basel studying at the Music Academy), Stephan (a guy from Bible Study who is from Basel), Richard (Bible study guy from England), Elaine (a friend I met through my friends at Bible study who is from Ireland), and once he arrived, Josh (another guy from Bible study who is from Wisconsin). We had fun eating all the delicious desserts and playing with candles and orange peels. Richard ended up making a jack-o-lantern (this is the web address to a picture, http://cambridge.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=453652&id=547871265) out of a clementine peel and Stephan showed me how to create a spark using the oil from the peel in the candle flame. We ended up not leaving until about 10 or 11 pm.

The Thanksgiving holiday continued on into Sunday with a lunch at Diana's house of leftovers. She remembered to bring out the cranberry jelly (no whole cranberries:) I got to hear that great sucking sound it makes, which I had been trying, unsuccessfully, to describe to my European friends. They didn't get as much joy out of the sound as I did. In the past I have never been a particular fan of cold turkey sandwiches or pumpkin pie (especially out of a can, to which my mother can testify because I would only eat exactly one piece every year), but this year, it all tasted fantastic! I would have eaten thirds or fourths...maybe not on the same day.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there were at least 8 nationalities represented at dinner. How cool to have a European style Thanksgiving where it's a true uniting of the nations around a holiday that is home to only one!!!!!

(Another web address for Photos, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31514&id=706425168)

Randomness

This morning I remember the other thing that went in my streak. The other day, I was blow drying my hair and some of my hair got sucked into the back portion of the hair dryer. It was quite fascinating to try to get my hair out without having a section noticibly shorter than the rest.

We started today with getting class pictures, which was an event in itself. I had the priviledge of chauffeuring my students, which took too long for Diana, to the studio in Weil. When we got there, they organized themselves into the picture taking position and all I had to do was sit down. Talk about efficiency and professionalism.

They also took the individual pictures today. I was up first. My students were in a fit of giggles the entire time I was being photographed. I don't know how well they'll turn out. Maybe that's because I like to be in more control over the way the pictures look, not just pose randomly and see what comes out. The students' individuals were absolutely adorable. Rosina sort of smiled, the most she has so far with a camera in her face. And, in typical child fashion, she burst out with the most gorgeous, full faced smile as she was getting up from her sitting. We thought she might not understand the word, so I smiled and asked her if she knew what I was I was doing, which she said she did. Then I asked her what it was called and she responded with "smile." So, I guess she did know what we wanted, she just didn't want to give it to us.

When living in Europe make sure to test the temperature of the water first, especially when brushing your teeth, or else you might burn your lips, like me.

I received my staff merchandise the other day and I am thoroughly enjoying the fleece I bought.

No matter what, I can't keep the posters on my wall to stay up. Our school is made of shipping containers, so the walls are metal and have limited insulation. You can't put pins or nails in the walls, only sticky ack or tape. The problem is that now the weather has turned, so it gets cold and then warm and back again and the sticky tack doesn't hold. At one point today, my students and I were playing higher/lower and I had one section of the alphabet fall completely off. I didn't notice until the students told me it was on the ground. Then, all the kids start their giggling again. My goodness, what is up with them today?! I looked and there was another section of the alphabet slowly creeping down the wall behind the white board like it was trying to non-chalantly hide from us. What randomness.

Something else random: whenever I leave the toilet room, I feel the need to click the light, whether or not I have turned it on on the way in. It kind of annoys me that I do this and yet, I am slightly ammused at the quirkiness of it.

Oh, the light switches here are different. You don't flick up or down, you click the top or the bottom. And, up is off, whereas down is on.

Lastly, my kids are so funny becuase I had asked them to walk quietly up the (metal) stairs. I was walking up next to them and I must have been too loud because Blaise turned to me and said, "quietly, Miss Aubrey!" Sorry Blaise. I then walked very slowly and very quietly up the stairs. Man, can they be bossy. I hope they don't get it from me;)

I'm sure I will have more randomness for you all, but for now I am going to sign off. I hope you followed and enjoyed the complete unorganization of this blog.

Grammar and Spelling

I was looking through some of my posts to see what I have missed sharing with you all and am slightly mortified at the amount of spelling and grammar mistakes I have made.

Please know that when I am teaching I am much more aware. I am writing my stream of consciousness when I am writing here, thus am paying less attention to those details.

Sorry, if any of these things bother you. I know sometimes I am jarred to a halt when I read errors in others' writing, so please forgive the oversights.

Just thought I would throw that out there.

Thank you all so much for all your prayers and encouragement. They are what keep me going!

-Aubrey

I found the tack!

Yesterday, I was procrastinating by putting up some ivy lights, that I got at ikea, around one of my windows. I was using some tacks and lost one in the process. I looked for it, but couldn't find it. It seems like that always happens. So, I thought to myself, "well, I'll find it later." Expecting that I would probably step on it because that is usually the way things go for me. Well, this morning I was walking to see what I should wear for the day and lo and behold I step on the tack. My thought was, "ow! I found the tack."

This sort of randomness always seems to take place in streaks. Hence why I have a hole in my jeans. The ones Angie gave me last year. I wore those things almost everyday for a whole year. Now I have to pach them up. They've lived a good life, though, and hopefully I will still squeeze som elife out of them. Incidently, this hole also occurred while I was putting up the ivy lights.

Report cards are being sent out this week. I was starting to fill them out when I accidently started putting my name on the wrong line. Dang it. Now do I use white out (on a brown piece of paper), do I go ask for another one, or do I just cross out the few letters and write the grade like I was supposed to? I did the latter. Then, I was writing the name of another student and proceded to try and fuse her first and last names together. Again, do I white it out, ask for another one, or pretend that it didn't happen, leave it, and see if anyone notices. And, again, I did the latter. I'll let you know if anyone notices;)

GO DUCKS!

I just found out that I can actually watch the home games for Oregon online. I hadn't ever seen the link on the site, but found one that said "watch ASU v. UO live." "What?!" was my reaction.

You should have seen me squealing and jumping for joy when I got everything registered and hooked up. I am currently catching up on the USC game, but am sad that I can't watch the Michigan or UW games because they were away. Oh well, my consolation is that we won.

This morning has been exactly like a college saturday morning. Wake up lazily, put some laundry in the wash, get some random breakfast (tortilla chips, beans, and guacamole), and watch a duck game. And, it only gets sweeter by going to Basel tonight to the Herbstmesse.

So, if any of you are online during the game on Saturday, I will be too! I can't wait to actually watch a game live, even if it will be an 11:30 pm kick off time for me.

Thanks for