Thankful for the breaks

I feel like I start every blog post off with a Whoops and apology for not posting in so long. September dragged by, but boy did October and November fly. And now we're one week into December and gearing up for winter break. I sure did lose track of time. 

Part of why I haven't posted in so long is because things feel a little more stable and normal, and part of it is because things are just busy. This job is never dull and there's always more to do, but in the day-to-day I'm not encountering anything I've thought was funny or interesting enough to write a whole post about. I mean, the students say and do crazy things (like insist I have 50 cats, or tell me about random abnormal pets they'd like to have) but nothing really hilarious so far. 

It's hard to believe this year is nearly half over already. As I think back to this time last year, I know I was marveling at the same thing. I was drowning in grading, struggling to keep my students motivated and engaged in each lesson, all while struggling to keep myself motivated and engaged. With Christmas break drawing nearer and nearer, the motivation level and attention span of even the best students drops rapidly. And yet, we chug along, trying our hardest and putting big X's on our mental calendars as the final bell rings each day. 

It's funny, because we just got off Thanksgiving break, so you'd think we'd be refreshed. But instead that little taste of a break only makes us anticipate Christmas break more. 

I did have a lovely, albeit fast and busy Thanksgiving break. I went to an AP training in IN on Tuesday, and then drove home to MI. Wednesday was full of appointments and errands, as well as an always-anticipated visit with my great-grandmother. Thursday was my only "downtime" day, where I lounged around with my mom, only leaving the house to see Mockingjay (no Black Friday shopping here!). On Friday and Saturday, I was in Grand Rapids for my best friend's wedding. It was a fantastic weekend and a beautiful wedding. I felt honored to stand up in her wedding, and although there was minimal bestie time, like I usually get, it was a perfect and wonderful weekend! (My phone wanted to correct wonderful to WONDERFUL. Apparently it was just THAT good!) Then I drove back to SC on Sunday, which took far too long, and started back to school on Monday. 

And now I'm looking forward, to a week and a half in Florida with my grandparents and my sister (yay!!) for Christmas and then New Year's back here. Less than two weeks to go...less than two weeks to go. 

2015 is just around the corner. I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions or over-anticipating whatever the new year holds, but I am ready to start writing 2015 instead of 2014 on my classroom white board ;)

Ich wünsche euch eine schöne Weihnachtszeit und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr <3 

The First Quarter

Somehow September dragged by, yet I failed to update this blog!

It's finally October and officially Fall, which means I'm officially homesick for a good, Michigan Fall. The colors, the crisp Autumn air, the boots and scarves and sweaters, and apple picking with hot cider and donuts. I can't say I miss Michigan Winter, but man do I love Fall. The weather here in the past couple of days has started to cool off, but it could be just a teaser. We'll see :)

Next week marks the end of the first quarter. Exams begin, grades will be entered...and somehow that means we're one-fourth of the way done with the school year. Although I said September went by slowly, it's hard to believe that we're nearly a quarter done. It always sneaks up on me. 

In this next quarter, I'm looking forward to going to an AP training in Indiana right before Thanksgiving break, and then I'll be going home for my best friend's wedding. I'm really looking forward to both of those things, but obviously for very different reasons. :)

School is going well; it's just busy as always. I'm behind on grading, but loving teaching everything for the second time. Just like last year, I'm already thinking of ways to improve for next year. It's so great getting a "redo" on what you do, every single year. It's great being able to perfect lessons and bring new ideas and innovations into them. 

One wonderful thing we've gotten at our school are laptops for the students. I don't know all the details of logistics and whatnot, but by the end of next school year, all students will have their own laptop to use in class. The current freshmen received theirs and sophomores are next. Next year will be seniors and new freshmen. I don't know how the order of the rollout was decided, but that's that. As an unexpected bonus, each teacher also got a laptop to use, so now I can incorporate that technology into the classroom, and be able to test it out/demonstrate it myself. My freshmen students have only had them for a week and are already asking when we'll use them in our classes. I don't have any classes of all one grade level, so current integration is a challenge, but definitely a good challenge to have!

As far as my life outside of school goes, I'm trying to have more non-school related things going on in my life. I've set a goal to leave school earlier than last year and spend less time on school stuff in general. I am in a new small group of "young professionals" (mostly young, single, 20-somethings in college or new in the workforce) and I really enjoy it. It's a really great mix of people and the church-wide study we're doing is really good! 

Well, I've got some quizzes and projects to grade for tomorrow. Til next time :)

Round Two!

Round Two, y'all (Do I pass as Southern yet? Haha, nope...er, no ma'am! sir? I give up.)

Today was the first day of my second year of teaching! It's crazy how fast last year flew by, and the summer flew by even faster (as it always does).

Last week was full of meetings--professional developments and general faculty meetings, all chock full of information (ahem, mostly useful). There was a lot of scrambling to get done, but I noticed a significantly lower amount of stress than last year. As I prepared my classroom and thought about all that I needed to do (and still need to do, as I'm writing this), I reflected on the stress of last year: I had just moved into a new apartment in a new state for a new job, with an apartment in shambles of moving boxes (I will forever be sending my mother a bazillion thanks for unpacking my ENTIRE apartment) and a classroom for which I had 0 decorations and 0 ideas. Phew. Thankfully, this year, my classroom mostly stayed the same (my favorite still being my dictionary-page bulletin board) and the addition of some new hand-made posters/signs AND A MOUNTED PROJECTOR. You have no idea how EXCITED I am about that. Yes, I know, I'm a nerd.

As I was reflecting during my post at morning duty (making sure the kiddos go where they're supposed to be going in the morning), I realized that it doesn't feel like I've started a new school year. It feels like we had some time off, but I don't feel like it's a NEW year. We just had a break and now it's time to keep going! Except with all new classes? Yep! I still feel like I'm supposed to be a newbie first-year teacher, even though I'm not the newest at the school anymore, and it's not my first year anymore.

And then the students came. I started the day energized and ready, and was greeted with UTTER SILENCE. Seriously, complete silence, even when I asked them questions or tried to joke around with them (I am definitely not a follower of the No-smile-til-Christmas rule). I guess I forgot how ridiculously shy the classes are, as a whole. I know that will not last long, and I should be relishing in the silence for now, but when you're trying to get to know them and introduce them to the classroom rules and procedures, you sure do feel like you're talking to a wall when all you back get are blank stares. Sheesh. Not to mention all the repetition, since all three classes today were German 1 classes (the last one is technically the 4x4 class that will meet every day and do German 1 and 2 in a year, but they're still starting out as German 1). I had to repeat the same intro information over and over and over. Fun. Tomorrow will be some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces, most who already know the ins-and-outs of the German department and have some basis in the German language. To be honest, I'm not yet 100% sure how to do the class of last year's students differently than today, since so far, in my whole one year and one day of teaching, all first days have been brand new classes of brand new (to me) students.

I'm also anxious for tomorrow's first class, being my only class with any of my own students from last year, to see how much they actually remember of German. Two and a half months of NO foreign language (because I am not kidding myself into believing they even thought about German at all over their summer) is like an eternity in teacher years.

I also realized how much I already miss some kids from last year. I knew that I would, but seeing them in the hallway made me realize how blessed I was with some truly awesome students last year. Some stopped by between classes or shouted hello as they walked past, many expressing regret that they didn't have me as a teacher this year--I didn't inform any of them that I wouldn't be teaching German 3 this year, because I knew they'd just complain. Students want what they're used to and that's it; they don't like change. It warmed my heart and made me more excited to get to know the students from this year.

So, here's hoping this year is as good as last year. Everyone says the first year is the worst, so I'm hoping that's true. Not because last year was bad, but because if that was the worst, it's only going to be awesome from here on out ;-)

In the blink of an eye...

Somehow there are only days left of my summer vacation. I knew it would fly by, but I still wished it wouldn't. I know having summers off is a big, needed perk of the job, but it still goes by too fast, just like it always has and will.

So, since my last post about my travels in Europe with the school, I've kept extremely busy! After stressfully and frantically finishing that first summer class, I breathed a sigh of relief for about three seconds and promptly started the second summer class...I spent two weeks on Sanibel Island with my grandparents. My grandma and I spent a lot of time scrapbooking together and taking breaks in their pool. 

I also watched the World Cup, and obviously rooted for Germany the whole time. In true me-fashion, I painted my nails for the final game to show my support :-)

Then Dorina, my roommate from Switzerland, came to visit for three weeks! It was the perfect amount of time to show her my hometown, where I studied, and where I currently live. A few days after she arrived (to let her acclimate to this time zone a little first!) we drove to Michigan--all 13 hours. It went by fairly quickly, and we shared the driving, so it was really great. 

My brother had his graduation party, for which we made most of the decorations. 

Then we went to Grand Rapids for a few days. Some sweet friends were gracious enough to open their home to us so we could avoid hotel costs. I showed her Calvin, some of my favorite places in GR, and we ventured to Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, it was a cooler day and super windy, so the beach was not as lovely as it normally is. Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves :-)

Back in Waterford, we hung out with my family and helped my brother shop at IKEA for college dorm things before beginning our return 13-hour drive.

And back we went, with a car stuffed full (I can never seem to leave with only the things I brought!) and my cat. 

Once back in Columbia, we mostly did what we love to do: hung out together. Some of our favorite memories together from my year in Switzerland was watching movies and talking for hours. So we did just that! Some might think that's boring or think we should have done more sightseeing or something, but for us, it was perfect. In between movie and chat sessions, we went to the movies and in my apartment pool with a friend of mine, had a girls night with some girls from church, took her to see my school, went to church and lunch with friends afterward, and went shopping lots. 

We also ventured to Charleston for a day. It was cloudy and full of predictions of rain, but we managed to miss the rain. We ate at Hominy Grill for some especially Southern cuisine, walked up and down King Street for some window shopping (and a little real shopping mixed in ;-D), and to Sullivan's Island, one of the many beaches in Charleston. Although it was cloudy, it was quite warm and perfect for sitting on the beach and not sweating our faces off :-)

And then, all too soon, it was time to say goodbye! The time was perfect, but (as usual) not nearly enough. It was fun to show her all the things that make up my life, to show her the little and typical American things, and to spend so much time with one of my best friends. After spending a year where we lived and traveled together, and spent almost all of our time together, three weeks was a wonderful gift. 

And, to answer the most common questions: 

1. Yes, we spoke mostly in English. Normally, we switch off and on, but before she got here, I thought to myself "If I were spending three weeks (or any amount of time, really) back in Germany/Austria/Switzerland, I know I would want to speak German as much as possible" and knowing that Dorina likes to speak in English, I decided that I would intentionally talk in English with her, for as much as she wanted to. Of course, we had random sentences or words that were in German, and yes, when we didn't want people to know what we were talking about, we would often switch to German :-)

2. She really enjoyed being in the US. It was her first time here, so it was fun to show her all the little differences. She loved Target and Hobby Lobby, just like I knew she would and was as amazed about our "low" prices as I was about the exorbitant prices in Switzerland. She enjoyed the food we ate and restaurants we went to.

3. The differences I think she was most surprised/impressed by were: free refills at restaurants, the number of lanes on our streets, and our typical greeting of "Hi, how are you?" where we don't really care about how the other person is--it's just a part of the greeting.

And now, I'm enjoying my last few days of nothing, while my brain begins to remind me of all the things I could have (and maybe should have) done in preparation for this school year, but I don't really feel bad. This summer was full to the brim, but so perfectly full and just the break I needed. 

Traveling abroad with students

I had a whole post typed out, describing my trip in Europe, and then it disappeared. I guess that's what I get for trying to type it up on my phone in Airplane Mode...

So, I spent the beginning of my summer break with eighteen students, three other teachers, another group from a school in Missouri, and an EF Tours tour guide, traveling around Europe--specifically Germany, France, and Spain. We had a jam-packed trip, and were exhausted every night. The students were really awesome, and I'm glad they were able to go, especially to experience the language and culture that they were learning in context. Overall, it was a really great trip. I'm hoping to plan one for the future of just the German-speaking countries, though.

Because it was so jam-packed full, I'm going to try to give you the highlights of the trip, since the details would go on for far too long.

We left June 8 and had an overnight flight to München. Once we arrived, we waited for the other school from Missouri to arrive and then went full-force ahead into the day. We first went to Dachau, a concentration camp. It was unfortunate that we went to a concentration camp on the first day of the trip, because the students were so exhausted that I don't think they were able to appreciate it fully. After that, we spent some time at BMW-Welt, with some awesome cars and motorcycles (did you know Mini Cooper is made my BMW? I didn't!), followed by a walking tour of the city, and finished by dinner and then finally the hotel. We were exhausted. Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

The next day, we went to Neuschwanstein, which is the famous castle that Mad King Ludwig II built (and that the Disney Cinderella castle is supposedly modeled after). We had a tour of the castle and time to look around after. Then we went to Oberammergau and had an awesome tour of the Passionstheater, which is where they perform the Passion play of the life and death of Jesus Christ--but only every ten years!

The following day, before heading to Heidelberg, we had a really interesting 3rd Reich Tour, where we walked around Munich and were told of all the places that were of importance in the making of and during the 3rd Reich. It was really interesting to see, because you wouldn't know it by just looking at the places as-is. Then, we had some free time, where I finally got to buy my very own Dirndl :-) There was a lot of traffic on the way to Heidelberg, so we made it in time for dinner and that was it.

The next day, we had a tour of Heidelberg, including the castle and the wine cellar, followed by plenty free-time before dinner, in which I bought some German kids books and German movies for my classroom.

The next day, we drove to Paris, stopping in Reims for lunch and to see the cathedral. Once in Paris, we had a delicious dinner and a boat tour on the Seine river (which could be romantic, just not with three other female teachers and 18 students). The students LOVED seeing the Eiffel Tower and took full advantage of the free-time afterward to take pictures in front of it, buy delicious crepes, and buy a zillion Eiffel Tower figurines from all the street sellers there.

The following day, we had a bus tour of Paris, and time to visit the Notre Dame. On the way to the Louvre museum, we saw the famous bridge of locks (with an INSANE amount of locks, let me tell you.) Once in the Louvre, we had just enough time to see the Mona Lisa and the Napolean apartments (although the students were so exhausted, many of them booked it for the Mona Lisa and then sought out benches until it was time to go). Then, we went to dinner, wandered up the Champs Élysées and finished the night by climbing the Arc de Triomphe for one of the best views of Paris.

Although we normally spent every day with the other group, sometimes only one group wants to go on the extra excursions offered by EF Tours. The next day, my school wanted to go to Versailles, and only half of the other group wanted to go. The other half went to the Catacombs, the Eiffel Tower again, and Montparnasse/Sacre Cœur. I decided to go with them, which ended up being a lot of fun and really cool to see. We met up with the rest of the group/my school at Montparnasse/ Sacre Cœur (where there's a lot of really cheap shops). After dinner, we went to Montmartre Tower, for probably the BEST view of Paris.

The next day, we were supposed to have a train to Avignon, but there was a train strike, so we had to take a bus for 12 hours. I secretly love long bus and train rides, because it's a chance to sit and think and watch the beautiful scenery pass you by. I love putting in my earphones, playing my current favorite music, and just looking out the window. Although, after 12 straight hours with 40 teenagers on a bus, that tends to be a little less lovely. We stopped in Avignon really late, so we could see the outside of the Pope's Palace, which was amazing, but we didn't get to see the Aqueducts. So, we got to stay overnight in Avignon just to take another bus the next day (this bus was planned) to Barcelona. We stopped in Carcassonne on the way, which is a really cool medieval city, with a fortress and everything. Once in Barcelona, we had dinner and went back to the hotel.

The following day started out with a bus tour of Barcelona. After which we had a tour of La Sagrada Famíla, which is a church that isn't projected to be finished until 2026, and will have been in progress for over 100 years at that point. It was an amazing church, both on the outside and inside, and every single detail has a specific reason behind it. Goudi really put a ridiculous amount of thought into it. We had free time after the church, which was meant to explore the main shopping streets of downtown Barcelona, but the students were enraptured with the Mediterranean Sea and preferred to spend the whole time lying on the beach (save for 10 minutes where they actually went in the cold water). Oh well, this meant the adults got to split some real Spanish Sangria at a beachside café :-)

The next day we took a train--finally!--to Madrid. This happened to also be the coronation day for the new king, so it was crazy! There were people everywhere, some protesting the monarchy system, and police all over the place. We went to the Prado museum, where our tour guide had prepared a sort of scavenger hunt for us--and the royal botanical gardens, where the students had some free time to rent a little rowboat on the pond. We then had some free time to go shopping in Madrid, although it was crazy crowded because of the coronation.

For our final day before flying home, we had a tour of Madrid, including the bull-fighting arena and a tour of the Reina Sofia museum (with really cool Picasso and Salvador Dali pieces, but no pictures allowed). We had lunch, which was paid for by EF because of the train strike problems, and then my school group went to Toledo, while the other group stayed behind. We had a tour of the city, the church, a giant painting by Greco, the synagogue, and a sword-/jewelry-making place. We had dinner, and then said our goodbyes to the other school and the tour director. And although I was happy to be going home after twelve long (but good) days, I couldn't help but feel the familiar bittersweet sadness in the pit of my stomach. I guess my old blog name (europeanatheart.blogspot.com) was truer than I realized.

So, it was a good trip. It was thoroughly exhausting, as we were go-go-go for twelve days straight, from early morning to late evening. The students were great and real troopers. I'd say it was a successful first trip with students.