Heiligabend

I'm home. It's happy and warm and loving.

Ruhe.

Lonely

Ugh. My friends have flown home (I'm in Berlin).
They're eating Christmas cookies (I'm finishing up leftovers).
They're spending time with friends (I'm spending time watching Friends).
Their bags are unpacked (I'm packing mine).

This sucks.

Lessons and Carols

My church in Berlin had a beautiful lessons and carols service. There is something so magical about Germany at Christmas and hearing the story of Christ's birth in both German and English was a memory I'll treasure. Enjoy the words to Away in a Manger in Deutsch. I love that Jesus laid his "kopfchen- sweet head" in the manger. Isn't kopfchen a beautiful term?

Im Stall in der Krippe eine Wiege auf Streu,
legt der kleine Herr Jesus sein Kopfchen aufs Heu.
Die Sterne am Himmel, sie schauen ihm zu,
die kleine Herr Jesus schlaft in himmlischer Ruh.

Watch out, they spit!

I was on my way home last night from the train station and was just thinking, "I caught this train just in time" as the U6 barrelled into the Friedrichstr. station when the doors opened and HOCH! and big reddish brown loogie exited the ubahn door. It landed centimeters from my New Balances. Some dude then casually followed his nasty deposit through the doors looking totally pleased with himself.

I looked around at my fellow travelers for their looks of disgust and outrage, yet no one seemed to notice... or care that he defiled the ground with his (scarily) off-colored flem. I've seen Germans get into yelling matches over whether a bike should be locked on this side of the bike rack or that side of it, so I braced myself for the yelling to follow.

Nothing happened.

As I rode home I realized that I see piles of spit everywhere in Berlin. Berliners must be spitters. It's on the sidewalks, in the Metro stations, even in my elevator in my building on occasion. When I first moved to Berlin, I missed all of the people smiling as we walked places. Berliners seemed to keep their heads down (shame from ancestors, oder?) but yesterday night I got it. Their heads are down to avoid the ground loogie. Or maybe the dog poo.

Thanks Janna!

Stolen from Janna's blog...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. It's way more fun getting to rip through the paper. Plus, I love making those sharp creases on the edges of boxes. It's when my CDO comes out.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I prefer real, but I have an artificial because I try to live green.
3. When do you put up the tree? After Dad's birthday
4. When do you take the tree down? Before school starts back up.
5. Do you like eggnog? Nope, gluehwein owns my heart.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? American Girl dolls
7. Hardest person to buy for? Dad (but I've got a good idea this year!)
8. Easiest person to buy for? Amanda
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, when I lived in KY I loved it so much I left it up all year.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail (P.S. I'm starting to send my own Christmas cards this year. I think that means I'm officially a grown-up
11. Worst gift you've ever received? Crystal urn and a stapler from a student. Actually, the stapler was lovely, but the urn sent mixed messages.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Love Actually or The Family Man
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? September
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cheesy potatoes and clove cookies
16. Lights on the tree? Lots of white ones, but my artificial tree is pre-lit
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night, Baby, It's Cold Outside, and The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? home- you come to me!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Obvi, I teach children.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the tv ads
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? wooden ornaments
24. Favorite place for Christmas dinner? With family
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To be home

And since I missed all of November...

1.) I'm 26 now.

2.) Spent Thanksgiving at Uncle Sam's, the American diner.

3.) Went to Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Saarbrucken and Zweibrucken for Fall Break.

4.) Lots of fun outings with friends.

5.) Going home for Christmas. Can't wait.

'Tis the Season

Living in Germany at Christmastime is magical. And, because of my job, the magic is multiplied by the 28 eyes of the kids in my class. This year, Morning Meetings in my room have been thrown to pieces by one simple statement, "The Christmas man isn't real." (In Germany, Der Weinachtsmann is Santa Claus because St. Nicholas is the man who comes to your house on December 6th and leaves candy and treats in good children's shoes. My shoes were empty this morning...) Well, as soon as the statement was made, immediately battle lines were crossed.

"It's true." "My nanny told me so." "Then who leaves the presents?" "I saw him last year in my house." Lips started to tremble, eyes started to water and that was just me. Eventually, the kids noticed that I wasn't participating in the discussion and pointedly asked what I thought. Now, I struggle to always tell the kids the truth. I want them to trust me without question, so I responded the only way I knew how.

"Just like religion, I don't try to tell people they must believe what I believe. I'm open-minded (haha! PYP word!) so I try to understand other peoples rights to believe what they want."

Then, I went on a search for The Polar Express and Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Laugh riot in room 3306

(Setting: Morning Meeting)

Girl 1: (Looking at Girl 2) Ew. It's so gross to chew on your hair.

Girl 2: (Takes her hair out of her mouth.)

Miss R.: (Looks at Girl 1 with the intent to discuss kind ways to use words to help people, not hurt them and sees that Girl 1's finger is digging for nose gold.) Girl 1, that is really unattractive too.

Vogue.

Jason and I decided to take some pictures while I was home. Prom was a long time ago!

Isn't my brother a cutie? Oh, and hands off ladies, his girlfriend is a dream, so don't even consider the idea of being my sister-in-law. (Not that it matters, he's one loyal guy!)

At the Olympic stadium for the Hertha game. Notice the sunshine- treasure it.

Kathryn, Ben and I enjoy a pils at the footie game. Hertha lost, yet we smile. Why? Beer.
Andrea and Sara (and their three offspring) examine a diaper in my favorite baby shower game!

I also have Spidey skillz.

Rotes Kreuz

Fear not, people in emergency situations, I am again certified as a "first aider." I spent Friday and Saturday getting trained to perform lifesaving techniques... in German. Now, truly, my German is getting better, but I just can't trust it too accurately help someone with sonnenschtreike (sunstroke, albeit misspelled- well, who knows, I added each and every letter I thought might fit into the word). Everyone except for the trainer spoke English and two people did quite a bit of translating... but honestly... they gave me a certificate... Perhaps my favorite moment happened while demonstrating my ability to perform CPR for 10 minutes. (This may not sound as exhausting as it felt.) The trainer told us time was up, and yet still I continued CPR because I was so focused... oh, yes, and because I couldn't verstande ihnen! Another beautiful moment happened when we were given silicone faces to place on the dummies with instruction in Deutsch. I leaned over to the nearest translator and asked what made the masks magic (zauber). She cracked up and told me that the masks were clean (sauber). I still can't hear the difference.

Thank goodness this is like my 8th training in as many years.

Twists and Turns of Life

Just a quick update note. School started and my class is sweet and has some major characters which, of course, means I'll have some super stories. One of the first is perhaps one of the sweetest things I have ever heard. One of my first day of school activities is to take a blank puzzle and give each child one piece. They decorate it as they desire and we talk about how each one of is is like the piece we drew on. Then, we put the puzzle together and discuss how we are all a community and each piece/person is important. (Perhaps it is a touch abstract for 7 year olds, but they usually get it...) Then, one of my students said, "What if someone is absent? Should we take their piece out of the puzzle?" I posed the question back to the class, and one sweet little girl piped up with "Even if they're not here at school, they're still in our hearts." Adorable.

Right now, though, I'm sitting in the comfort of my parents' living room listening to mom butter her bagel. Sadly, my Gma West passed away on September 1, 2008. She had been sick for about a month, and it is good for her not to be in pain anymore, but bad for us to not have her more present in our lives. When I started teaching, Grandma gave me an old-fashioned school bell she had used while teaching. Now, at BBIS, I use that bell to call my class to morning meeting. I know she would have loved to visit me in Berlin, and now she can hear her bell and join us for Morning Meeting each day.

Being back in the US has brought a flurry of emotions and I just don't know how to answer the question, "How are you?" It's wonderful to see family and friends, terrible to miss my gma, relaxing to only speak English, but nerve-wracking to think of the time with my class I'm missing. In addition to all of that, even though Jason and I have been talking daily since mid-May, seeing him in person makes getting to know one another even more real. He makes me happy. My blog is a bit too much of a public place to tell more, but send me an email, letter, or let's go for coffee and I'll spill.

I'll be here in Ohio until Saturday.

No crazies on the S-bahn!

Or maybe there were... I took the U bahn home instead!

I love the beginning of a school year. There is something so refreshing about a new school year with its clean slate and new class. I usually get jittery, but this year I feel pretty calm thus far. I battled through a lot of turmoil last year, and think I'm a better teacher for it. This year I have many goals for the year which include more collaboration with my team, a stronger Writer's Workshop for my class, and a more balanced personal life.

AAAARRRGGGGGG! (and eek!)

Okay, now that the crib tour is finished I have to share what just happened to me. I should preface this with the note that I find Berlin to be incredibly safe and this is the first time I've really had any frightening occurances.

In seven days school will begin. I decided that today I would "officially" go back to work. This year (as, it seems, every year) I'm trying to achieve better balance in my work and personal life, and have decided my working hours will be 7:00 to 4:30. In order to start that I arrived at school at 8 with certain goals in mind. The day was quite ordinary until I got on the S-bahn to head home.

I climbed on the S-bahn with a single thought, 'I am starving and so glad I have a yogurt in my bag.' Unfortunately, I didn't see any seats available. I'm not usre if you've tried to carry two bags full of education resources, a purse, and eat a cup of yogurt, but I've ruined enough shirts (himbeeren yogurt...) to know that I needed to sit down. Then, across the 2 cars I saw a person sitting alone in a booth. Huzzah! Yogurt time, I thought! I made my way over to the booth to see a female a few years older than I who was quite unkempt. Still, I'm trying not to be all judgie, so I sat down. She looked sleepy anyway.

I opened my yogurt and relished in curing my headache while listening to my iPod and being kicked slightly by this person across the booth. She looked exhausted. In fact, she reminded me of being in Wyatt's class with Kelly after we pulled an allnighter working on a paper or two. Her head would start to fall and then she would wake with a start and glare at me. After the first time that happened, I kept my eyes averted. She seemed to be drifting to sleep again, but she was all twitchy and she wrapped her arms around the plastic bag she was carrying and rested her head on it.

A few second later, she jerked awake again and knocked her entire bag over onto the floor (interestingly, exactly where my legs had been before my lighting fast reflexes kicked in.) She started grumbling at me in German in an accusatory way as she picked up the trash from the floor. I said, "I have no German" and looked helplessly at the women sitting in the booth across the way. They shrugged and the sleepy woman kept griping at me so I shrugged and got up and walked away. I stood in a doorway (since the yogurt was finished and there were few seats to be had) and tried to listen to Queen (they make me feel powerful) until I heard her again. She had gotten up out of her seat and followed me! She said something (stupid language barrier) and then shoved me against the door. I have a long fuse, and frankly at this point figured she was high or schizo, and so I walked to another part of the car with a booth filled with 3 people and sat. She stood in the nearest doorway staring at me. Freaky.

At this point I didn't know what to do and I had forgotten my cellphone. I decided I was probably paranoid and she wouldn't follow me off the train. I was wrong.

I got off the train at Anhalter Bahnhof and took a deep breath when I didn't see her get off. I started walking toward the nearest exit (which wasn't mine) and was halfway up the stairs when I saw her behind me. I did a quick U-turn back into the station (lots of people in there) and yelled "help me" to the nearest people. They didn't even look up. I figured I knew the station better than she did and wasn't high, so I'd just outpace her along the platform and then get away with the 4 different exits at Anhalter Bahnhof. If nothing else, I'd run to the police station near my house. She walked about 30 paces behind me along the platform yelling in German. I booked it up the escalator and through the open area of the station to the exit closest to my bike. I didn't look behind me (in adventure movies, looking behind you never turns out well.) I unlocked my bike and took off. While passing by another s-bahn exit I saw her come up the stairs and heard her yell and start chasing me down Anhalterstr. At this point, there was really no hope for her. I can be damn speedy on my Oma bike, afterall. Still, my heart was pounding and the yogurt felt like it was curdling so I locked my bike and bolted into my apartment building, hopped the elevator and am holed up in my apartment now. All because I wanted to sit to eat my yogurt...

Cribs- Entry

Well, cyberstalkers (except for Heather and Alyssa who leave comments- they are cyberfriends), I'm sad to say that this is the end of my flat tour. There is only so much my 450 Euros per month can rent. (Did you say rent? "December 24th, 9 pm eastern standard time, from here on...")

My shoes live on bookshelves, everything hangs, and (look!) storage near the ceiling! The boxes are empty, but I thought maybe the EC kids would like them.

My world map in German so I can plan my next adventure.

Cribs- Bathroom

A view of my bathroom from the doorway. Please ask Emily about the shelf toilet when you get the chance. You won't regret it.

One of the main reasons I moved. I need a bathtub in my life.

Cribs- Living room

The view of my living room from the foyer. I don't usually have the table set in the middle, but I was having people over for lunch when I remembered to take a picture. I love being able to see the park from my window.

See my t-shirt quilt? Thank you Aunt Jill!

My desk and awesome reading chair (IKEA Poang Schwarz Leather). Oh, and I heart the map of Berlin from the 20s. Choice.

The living room view from the kitchen. I never use the balcony. Why? No balcony furniture, and I refuse to buy any because as soon as I do summer in Berlin will end.
Standing in my bedroom you can see a better idea of how the apartment is laid out.

Cribs- Kitchen

This is the kitchen from standing in the living room. The little blue trash can is where I store plastic bottles. One major improvement from my last apartment is that I can wash dishes without hitting my head on the ceiling. This is my little kitchen table, and it folds out to a table for four. Do you see the little pot propping up the window? I grew that herb garden!!

My new fridge is twice the size of the previous fridge. YAY for full size bottles! (And for word poetry.)

Cribs- Bedroom

Each day, I'm going to add another room of my apartment to my blog. (It's all about the antici....)
Here is the background: I have been to IKEA 6 times this year, and I'm planning one more trip for next week. Why? Because at the beginning of May I moved from the furnished Aztec apartment in Steglitz to empty apartment on Friedrichstrasse. (Now I live in Kreuzberg, but very close to Mitte!) My old landlords were unethical jerks when I left, but I got back most of my deposit and never have to contact them again. Thank goodness. I've waited to post pictures of the new place for a variety of reasons: I had friends visiting, I didn't have furniture, I was traveling, but I think the place is finally close to being set up the way I want it. (More plants, a bedside lamp, and a desk lamp are on the list for the next IKEA trip.)

There isn't a door to my bedroom, which is fine since I live alone. I hung these ribbons to help divide the bedroom from the living room. So, the picture is taken from the living room.

I went on my balcony to take this picture (notice the open window?) I have a bed and a little bedside stool instead of a table for when I need extra seating in the living room.

This little nook is used as a closet. I have entirely too many clothing items. I'll have to send some home with Mom and Dad when they visit in October!

This picture is taken from the perspective of my bed. (You can see me in the window reflection.) The room faces the East which makes 7 am a VERY bright time of day for someone on my bed. When Anne and Emily were here I would wake up to find them off of the air mattress because the sun was so bright and hot. Since I've survived a Berlin winter, I don't complain about the sun. I know the alternative...

Muskatgenuss was nutmeg! Score one for the away team!

Also, today I went to The Story of Berlin (good, but overpriced) and while enjoying the experience heard some girl remark to her friend that the room was colder than the rest of the museum. I thought, 'She's right. It did get cold. Where is my sweater?' Then, 'She said that in German... and I didn't have to stop and internally translate... damn, I'm fierce!' It was my favorite part of the experience.

Baking in Berlin

Last year at this time I remember scouring the supermarket shelves for ingredients, flipping through my dictionary, and shaking containers to find if the item I was holding was actually the ingredient on my list. Today, I went to the market to get zucchini and nutmeg (for some zucchini bread I plan to bake tomorrow) and when I arrived at Kaisers realized that nutmeg probably had a different name in German, but only the spice wall would tell. I gazed at the hundreds of spice bottles and reached out and plucked one container from the shelf. It seemed right. It had the right color, and the name even seemed correct. I suppose I'll find out tomorrow if I'm right about the jar labeled "Muskatnusswurzer gemahlen" when the bread comes from the oven.

I think I'm figuring out this life abroad thing.

Summer pleasures in Berlin

Sleeping in
Calling people at home
Acting like a tourist
Watching tv on surfthechannel.com
Drinking hefeweizen
Evenings of iTunes
Reading in the park
2 free hours to enjoy the gym
Long dinners with friends

The Switch Up

When Mark hired me at UNI, he mentioned the transitory nature of international schools, and today I got it. Some of my friends are leaving/have left. New potential friends are arriving. August is bittersweet.

Dear American Tourists,

1.) Thank you for visiting Berlin in spite of the weak dollar. We appreciate your cash.
2.) Get off of the bike lanes. Yes, you.
3.) Please stop being loud and rude. Your efforts make it harder for those of us who live here to be seen as polite people.
4.) Yes, KaDeWe has chili flakes in their some of their chocolate bars. These bars are labeled "Chili" which should tip you off. That does not mean you and your extended family should stop directly in front the of escalator and exclaim, "Oh my buckets, this chocolate here is SPI-CEEE!"
5.) Please don't only eat at Subway, Burger King, and McDonalds. Expand your horizons, please. Write to me, I'll give you suggestions.

Your desperate countrywoman,
Ashley

Am I a Writer?

August 1, 2008
My heart thumps when August peaks her head
to the tippy top of my calendar.
Jumpy/eager/anticipatory beats.
Light
Persistent
Shaky
Reveling
taps.
School starts soon. (Too soon? Not soon enough?)

Each summer I try to step away from school, but the truth is that I love my job. I miss it. Yeah, there are parts that drag me down, but I believe I have the perfect profession for me because guiding children as learners and global citizens is my passion. (It sounds like a purpose statement for a resume... sorry.) Today I spent a good portion of the day reading the 6 +1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades by Ruth Culham. I've decided to keep a notebook for the year (like Andrea) with a record of the 08-09 school year, and while reading, I jotted notes, ideas, quotes and plans. For some reason, I feel compelled to share them here.

First, I should inform you that I'm a process teacher. I teach so that the students can gain independence and personal fulfillment in whatever we are accomplishing, and (hurrah!) this book shares my philosophy. I struggled last school year with my value as a teacher because my students' works displayed on the bulletin boards didn't quite match up with the work another teacher's students were demonstrating. For a lot of visitors and parents who weren't educators, it must have appeared as though my teaching was subpar. Then, I spent some time reflecting on why I have a Writer's Workshop and realized that my students were excited to write, to share their work, and called themselves writers. They knew the language and process of writing, and every single writer in my class made excellent progress throughout the year. Value reaffirmed!Today I read a phrase in 6+1 which solidified my position, "When we emphasize finishing the work and making it look neat, students don't become writers. They become task-completers."

On the first day of school I take a writing sample. The assignment is simple. "We're going to write. You can write anything you want to write. We will write for 30 minutes, so there is no hurry. At the end of the time, we'll talk and make this the first piece for your portfolio." It's my first chance to assess my writers. Who ponders? Who stares out of the window? Who asks for help? Who pounces into the task? Who writes in English? Who illustrates? Who writes for 5 minutes? Who begs for more time? At the end of the time, we gather in a Writer's Circle and I congratulate my writers for taking the hardest step, getting started. Then, everyone unwraps their very own Writing Workshop folder, and Writer's Notebook. We celebrate our first victory by sharing a few pieces from brave 6 year-old writers.

I have such good intentions in the fall. This year, one of my goals is to have Writer's Workshop 4 times per week. Writing takes time, and I need to give it more.

While reading 6+1, I had flashbacks to 2 of my elementary writing classrooms. (Warning, these recollections are the perceptions of an 8 and 10 year old. Are they reality of the actual day-by-day classes? Debatable, but they are indeed my perceptions, and I've heard that "perception is reality..." I remember writing in Ms. Marshal's 3rd grade class. My friends and I wrote fantasy tales, realistic fiction, and books of poetry independently and cooperatively. I loved to write that year. I loved sharing my work, and felt like I was an awesome, talented, inspiring writer. (Actually, when reading it over in college, my work was okay...) Regardless of the actual product, my confidence as a writer soared. That year in addition to being a hairdresser, a mom, and a lawyer, I wanted to be a writer. Two years later, my confidence as a writer bottomed out. I remember using an English textbook and numbering a piece of notebook paper 1 to 25. On each line I wrote the answer of whatever exercise was assigned that day. "Find the helping verb in each sentence." "Capitalize the proper noun in each sentence." "Choose the correct homonym for each sentence." I was bored and lost and frustrated. What was a helping verb again? Why did it matter? When I asked for help, my teacher told me to read the text on the previous page and look at the examples again. I wanted to do well and be smart and so I did each exercise, and everytime I got back one of those papers the top said the same thing: how many I got wrong, the percentage, and the letter grade in bright ink. I always missed some, and felt confused about why I couldn't choose the right homonym. I remember Mom and Dad going in to talk to my teacher about why I was upset about English. I was upset because I wasn't a writer anymore. One of my biggest fears of being a teacher is turning a child away from learning like my 5th grade teacher did. She probably never knew how those percentages changed my self-perception.
I love my job, but it is delicate. I try to focus on Haim Ginott's words each day, "Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression."
(If you've read this far, thank you. "We write so that we and others know what we think." -6+1 Traits of Writing:The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades)

So you can benefit from my bad experience...

If you don't speak a language and have to spend 10 minutes at the local drugstore deciding which box is the right waxing kit, (a) don't waste 6 Euros buying it and (b) don't attempt to translate the directions to use it in the privacy of your nearly furnished apartment. The results will be painful.

What blog? Top Five

This lack of blogging is becoming a pattern. My bad.


Five Important Events From the Past 2.5 Months (organized in no particular order)


1.) I went camping with 45 second graders for 2 nights at Werbellinsee. First, let me say a big shout out to all parents over the world. Bedtime is hard time. In spite of that, it was wonderful to really spend 100% of a day with my students. One in particular made me so proud. She was very nervous about being away from home for 2 nights and so we "did lunch" to talk about what worried her and how we would handle it. On our first day, she was fine from 9 am to 5 pm and then decided she wanted to call her mother. We said, "later," at bedtime. Poor thing. The problem is, once one kid calls his or her mama, everyone wants to. Also, homesickness (and I know from experience) only gets worse as you dwell on it. Also, it is contagious. Anyway, later that night I said how proud her mom would be if she called the next morning after making it through the first night. Then, independently, she kept delaying her call to make her family prouder and never actually called throughout the trip. I was so proud of her. I think that is a bit like being a parent- guiding and leading someone through difficult experiences so that they become more self-sufficient. (But, I'm not expert, not a parent, and won't be one for several years...)


2.) First year of international teaching finished on June 20th. I'm always amazed at how close my students and I become in one year. Even though it is quite tough to be away from my friends and family in the US, being a teacher creates automatic familial feelings. I'm really going to miss those kiddos, but (for the first time since I started teaching) I'll get to see them on their way to 3rd grade in the morning. Several have promised to stop by and say good morning each day. Also, the 1st graders look like a lively bunch of fun! We'll see how it goes.


3.) Jason (yes, that one) contacted me via Facebook and we've been chatting regularly (daily-it's summer) online and on the phone. After spending some time getting to know one another and mucking through the tough stuff from our past, I'm really enjoying getting to know the man he has become. Quickly, he has become an important person in my life again.


4.) Anne and Em's visit to Berlin and Paris. Ma cousines came to visit at the end of June for weeks. I had such a blast showing them around Berlin and introducing them to many tasty International foods. Paris is, of course, a wonderful place of joy and pastries. I love that city and enjoyed sharing it with the girls. Although we're family and spend time together each year the age gap between us was awkward for many years. Now that they're adults (yes, even you, Em) I'm so grateful they came to visit just so that we could become friends, not just family. They're both wonderful people, and I think their trip has changed our distant relationship to a much closer one. Who would have guessed that through my moving to a different continent I would become closer to family at home?

Outside of Notre DameAmazing Berthillion ice cream. I'm trying to find a way back to Paris for more of
salted butter caramel ice cream. In fact, Graeters, who?

L'incroyable Hulk vs. L'Incroyable Ashley

Ich liebe!

5.) Laura, Katie and Bobby came to visit and then we traveled. Berlin continues to rock it for my guests. Frankly, blog-readers, you should plan a trip to see Berlin if you haven't ever before. Even if you can't make it while I'm here, this city has my heart and is worth a visit. Anyway, we tooled around Berlin and even rented bikes for a day of traffic dodging, ahem sightseeing. Then, sadly, Bobby had to leave to go back to work and Katie, Laura and I went to Poland. I wasn't impressed with what I saw of Warsaw (the dirty train station) , but (shhhh) I'm going to let you in on the world's biggest secret, Krakow. Krakow is incredible. It is gorgeous. It is amazing. There is a church made out of salt. Seriously. There are chatchapuri restaurants. The city is beautiful, amazing and astounding. I will go back some day. (Do not tell anyone, Poland has the world fooled in to thinking it is no good. I'm only sharing this with you because I care about you. Tell no one.) After Krakow we traveled across the mutter land to Amsterdam. It was also awesome, and props to Rick Steves for the excellent hotel suggestion. I enjoyed the whole experience, but leave you with two glimpses of the trip. While walking through a pedestrian avenue after dark, a well-dressed lady walked over to us and quietly said something to Laura, Katie, and me . We couldn't hear and asked her to repeat it. (It was really odd how quietly she was speaking because the streets were mostly empty.) Then, she said it again, "Where is Kentucky Fried Chicken?" As fairly international people, we had no clue, but pointed up the street. We had a vague idea that between where we were standing and the train station we had seen a KFC. Now, how in the world did she know we were from Kentucky? The other glimpse comes from a morning we spent biking outside of the city. We were enjoying the canals, getting yelled at for riding 3 by 3, breaking for excellent photo ops when we saw this huge tour bus leave from what looked like a farm. We decided to go see what was worth seeing. After figuring out how to lock our bikes, a man came out to see us. We said we saw the tour bus and we are tourists. Can we see something? He said he would show us how they make cheese and shoes. At the time, we were unaware that our heavens were waiting inside. We learned how cheese is made (although Laura had seen a documentary in Russia about this place and therefore had prior knowledge) and watched a pair of tiny wooden shoes constructed in 3 minutes. Hopefully, Katie will put her video on youtube and I will add the link for you here. We sampled delicious fresh cheeses of total tastiness and bought a yummy mustard cheese to enjoy later. I also bought a pair of tiny painted wooden shoes and salt and pepper shakers as souveniers. Going to this farm was one of the best parts of being a traveler- just going out and seeing what is out in the world for us to see.

Spring Break- Italy

It's a beautiful day and there's street fair not too far away with ethnic food (I heard rumors about nachos) and great shopping. I'll blog about Italy later. In the mean time, here are some pictures to give you a hint of our travels! BTW: I'm spending quite a bit of time getting this stuff together, so please give me some feedback (facebook, email, comments...) so I keep it up. Though, I must admit that it is nice to be chilling in Starbucks rather than assembling manymanymany IKEA pieces to furnish the new flat.

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Spring Break- Berlin and Greece

Hi friends, family, strangers, and lurkers. First, I recognize that I seriously dropped the ball in maintaining this blog. I'm going to give serious effort to keeping this up-to-date and a thank you to Heather for reminding me that some people really enjoy it. (Frankly, it feels kinda vain to blog.) I'm going to do a series of blogs to try to catch up!

Spring Break was awesome!. I got to spend loads of time with people I adore, visit two new lands (what the kids in my class call other countries), and relax. Whoopie!

First, Amanda arrived in Berlin to tour, recover from jetlag, and catch up on life. It was a bit tough to juggle teaching and touristing, but worth every minute. We even went to three new places I hadn't visited. (berliner Dom, Deutsche Historische Museum, and Pergamon) Also, we saw the Egyptian Museum, that wasn't the Egyptian Museum (long story which probably isn't funny except to the 2 of us.) The best parts were showing Amanda all of the silly stuff (Look!That's my grocery store. Ohh- that's the pizza place with the cute waiters!) and having the time to talk without the phone bill at the end. Poor Amanda, though, the U-bahns and busses were on strike which seriously complicated tourist locations and travel times. At least, we thought, we'll go to Greece and everything will be better!

Amanda and I chilling at the top of the Berliner Dom. Awesome view, no?

After one of the tastiest Berlin brunches I have ever experienced (Rubens on Merhingdamm), we set off on our journey to Athens, Greece. (Not Athens, OH, like many of you first thought...) The traveling was uneventful, except for the fact that we waited for our gate until the time the flight should leave. The flight was relaxing and when we arrived in Athens it was WARM and dry!Amanda and I ready to take off for our holiday in Greece and Italy!

We arrived in Greece and hopped directly on a bus to the city center. Amanda chatted with a nice lady, while I (separated from them by luggage) watched as we drove through Athens. At the time I was particularly surprised to see a Chili's restaurant. (Afterall, Wednesday is fajita day and it had been 3 months since I had enjoyed a fajita.) We arrived at Sytagma Square and headed to check in at the hostel. It was a bit tricky figuring out where to go and I can't say that the area was particularly lovely, but we managed okay. What was really odd, though, was seeing the HUGE piles of trash. Apparently the garbage workers were on strike. Why I didn't take a picture, I'll never know. this is the stuff I always think you'll be interested to see. We shared a hostel room with another girl our age who has been traveling for a year and she recomended that we get up early the next day and head to the Acropolis since the school and senior groups usually arrived around 11. (She was right.)

Lookin' cute at the Pantheon on St. Paddy's Day. (We wore green and our sunscreen, moms...)

After visiting the Acropolis (which seemed like a trip back in time to Hum 110 with Tammy Thompson and Odysseus) we grabbed some lunch at a cafe near the Tower of the Winds. This was, of course, after I was reprimanded for sitting on a bench which was actually some ruins. Some other people were sitting on an identical one about 50 meters away, and the guard informed me that they were old... "not older than the ruins," I wanted to retort. (But I'm wimpy with authority figures and therefore dutifully cast my eyes downward in shame, stood up, and nodded agreeably.)

Since I can't relive each event, I'll hit the highlights with a few favorite stories of Greece.

One of my favorite times was when we went to the Temple of Zeus Olympian and relaxed. The weather was incredible and the sight more astounding. Since Amanda and I felt we had seen the majority of what we wanted to see (excluding the Museum of Personal Hygiene, the Acropolis Museum and the outdoor theatre) we sat and relaxed. While there we enjoyed the wild roaming dogs. Often, they would bark at people who got too close to the ruins or people who seemed to offend them. (Of course, they loved us. Secretly, I think Amanda has a tad smidgen of Dr. Dolittle within her.) While relaxing near the ancient temple we saw one dog barking toward the fence. We looked to see what ticked this dog off and saw people sticking their cameras through the fence to take pictures. Apparently, this dog regards non-ticket paying photographers as little more than piles of ant pee (more on this later)and went crazy. the most amazing part was that the offending photographer backed off. We imagined that the dog's internal monologue went something like this "Hey! Hey. You with the @#$%^ camera! Yeah you- the guy clicking away with the digital camera. You didn't pay! Buy the (expletive) ticket. It's only a few Euros. You probably already bought it, schmuck! Look on the Acropolis pass. Yeah. THAT'S RIGHT YOU SHOULD WALK AWAY FROM ME! I'm a roaming wild hound with a knack for appreciating ancient architecture. Put the camera away. Yeah, move on. Yeah. (Sniff.)"

Amanda and Zeus's Temple (note the Top 10 Guidebook- shout out!)

Another special memory was walking down the street toward our second hostel (since the electric people and the public transport people were on strike too. Did I remember to mention that?) and feeling a burning sensation in my nostrils. I told Amanda that my nose hurt and the back of my throat felt wierd too and she said she felt the same way. As we continued the walk we remembered the pension strikers we previously saw that day (see photo below) and imagined a grand story that a riot broke out and they were pepper sprayed. Later, we found out that it was true, and we were walking through the area about 2 hours later. It hurt. No fun. Really glad we weren't there earlier! (Of course, we stopped for a baklava tasting to soothe ourselves afterward.)

Strikers on parade.

Overall, I really enjoyed Athens and plan to head back eventually. Next time, I'll try to hit up the islands too! Any takers? After Athens, we made our exodus (see below) to Italia!

Waiting for election results... (I'm starting to get twitchy.)

It is infuriating that Dave sent out that slanderous lie about my father. Hopefully, the people of the 83rd District voted wisely for the public servant and not the lying idiot puke of pharmacyville. If that idiot will lie to get the job, won't he lie to us in any other event which suits his purpose? I hope Dad sues. (Really, I do. Please, Dad?)
-A

P.S. Dave, paying your taxes on time would be the principled act, but since you're not a man of integrity I suppose you can just ignore this note.

The Lost Events

Being abroad is lovely for many reasons, but it is also tough to miss the important events in the lives of family and friends. Here are three I'm missing now.

1. The final days of my Dad's campaign (He's the best man I know!)
2. My grandma's 38th birthday
3. The impending birth of my friend Vanessa's daughter

It is hard to not be around to support, encourage, and/or celebrate for these important events. I hope they know I'm with them in spirit.

On a related note: Vote on March 4th. When else does the government ask for your opinion?

Another lesson you only learn once...

Swish. Swish. Swish. Click. (The sounds of my holiday in the Alps are keeping me sane.)

Last night I returned from my skiing holiday in the Alps. I can hardly stop myself from looking at my new phone wallpaper taken on a trail down the side of Patscher Kofel. If you clicked on the link, you may notice the incredible beauty that makes you think, "What a photographer!" Honestly, though, the area was so gorgeous that any amateur (me) could get great pictures. Skiing in the Alps was an incredible experience and I think I said, "I just can't believe we're here. Doing this. Here." at least 45 times. It still seems unfathomable.

At Mad River Mountain (6-16 years ago) I was a decent skier. Not anymore. I pretty sure I became a chicken/wimp in the past several years. Maybe I'm just more aware of my bones, spinal cord, and mortality than I used to be, because I was a big old wimp in the Alps (I also believe this has something to do with the incredulous tone in my dad's voice when I told him I was going to ski in the Alps and he replied with, "Get a lesson as soon as you arrive. Better yet, get a lesson before you rent the skis." I imagine he was just picturing receiving a call from me in traction at an Austrian hospital and having to pass on the news to my mother. ) Anyway, I was cautious.

Being cautious was just fine for the group I was skiing with. I was with two teachers who had never been on skis and another who went sking when she was much younger. On the first day, we went to Nordpark and spent the day on a very small hill for the very new skiers. One of them is a true risk-taker and just went at it. She's a natural athlete, and became more skilled after running into a few people, as well as with practice and being told to get some control. The other was pretty cautious, but preferred (like me) to have total control. She has real skiing skillz, but perhaps has the same fear of pain/broken bones. I spent most of the first day with the latter learner which was relaxing and a good way to ease into skiing in the Alps. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a lesson on the first day so that I would have gained personal skiing confidence.

On day 2 we went to the Stubai glacier for more skiing and there... I remembered/learned the importance of reading signs. After quite a bit of time with the new skiers, the other girl who had previously skiied and I went to the top of the glacier (reread the last four words to recognize the heaviness of what we went through) to do a long blue (easy) run. So... Elly and I went up to the top to see four potential trails to the base. We spent considerable time looking at the map to make a prudent choice and headed down the mountain. We were feeling pretty impressed with ourselves as we handled a tight turn and a fairly steep slope. While congratulating ourselves, we noticed that we had reached a fork in the trail. We could go right or left and randomly chose right. About 10 meters down the slope, I yelled to Elly that my sunglasses were probably distorting the colors on the sign, because the sign for trail 7b looked like a really dark blue. We continued the slope for about 15 more meters until we noticed that it ended with a cliff. At that point, Elly sidestepped over to a sign, removed her goggles, and yelled that the sign was actually black, not dark, dark, dark blue. She announced that she was climbing back up to the fork. (Better the devil she knew and all that...) I pondered my skiing abilities and then took off my skis in the middle of the slope and started to climb. (Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.) I should have just sidestepped back up. Anyway, then I had to carry skies and poles and trudge up a ski slope. I trudged up for about 20 steps and then started to slide back, so I consciously chose to fall. Elly was yelling encouraging words from the top, but I was petrified from the slight backwards slide. Whether it was the 3200 meter altitude or nerves, I 'll never know, but I got sick, got up and tried again. After two or three rounds of this, I walked to the side of the slope and finally got a decent foothold and climbed to the top. There, I fell down on my back, took some deep breaths, and flipped out. Even as I write this, my palms are getting sweaty and my heart is racing. (Of course, after flipping out, Elly and I took great pleasure in the story we could now tell!)

The next few days were pleasantly relaxing. We spent a day at Lake Constance with a new Aussie friend, Dazzah, went skiing at Patscher Kofel, and spent the last day back at Stubai where I read each and every sign. The last two days I did a few short red runs, but mainly kept to the blues where I had less fear of death. It just seems incredible that I spent a week skiing in the Alps on a glacier, no less. I'll load some pictures pretty soon and you'll just have to say, "Magnificent!" (Actually, you can say whatever you want. I'll be picturing you saying magnificent, but you might be thinking, "Really dark blue? Stupid.")

Some lessons you only have to learn once...

Right now I'm back at my old haunt, Dunkin' Donuts.

"Why, Ashley?" you might ask. "You have a lovely apartment complete with Aztec furniture and Internet access."

Well, I came home today to see that my power had been turned off. Apparently, I forgot to enter my customer number when I transfered the money to pay the bill in January. When I got a second letter, I assumed the money had not transferred yet. (Note to self- it's time to sign up for volkschule German.)

Now, I've just finished repaying the bill. I'll get someone at school to help with the details in 9 days so I can get my money back.

That's right! 9 days! Tomorrow I'm climbing aboard a train to go skiing in Innsbrucke with some friends in celebration of Winter Break. I need it. Today at school was TelePizza Day, an assembly, my class finished and published our informational book about Egypt, and I threw a Valentine's Day party for them. (I almost feel sorry for their parents- they were SO wound up! Blame the gummis, people.)

Sorry about the resolution. Have you kept yours?

Six

I've lost six umbrellas since moving to Berlin. Two of them went astray this morning. Dang.

Ommmmm...

Whew. After a week of no personal life, on Friday I finished reports. Assessment like this is so difficult. There must be a healthy balance of praises and areas for growth for each child. I want to send a disclaimer home with each report card that says, "Truly, I think your child is great! Developing is normal." I tried to write the reports keeping in mind that the parents are not all fluent in English, but trying to describe each child with a third grade vocabulary was next to impossible.

Anyway, I took the weekend to catch up on sleep, laundry, vitamins and minerals, and planning for the next few weeks. Lovely. I also made peanut butter cookies for my lunch bunch. They're extra crumbly. Maybe I can get milk for the lunchers too.

No car...

I thought I would be miserable without a car, but actually life on the s-bahn is pretty nice. I can read, people watch, eavesdrop in Deutsch, enjoy my ipod, grade papers, put on eye make-up (I did this Friday morning in the window reflection) and ponder my next blog update. Sure, it takes a bit more time to get places, but after I pop 86 Euro into a machine, my travel fees are complete for the month. When I was home I spent way more than that on gas for 2 weeks! The only dreadful part of life on the rails is...

The long, denk walk to the pick-up spot.

When I leave school at 5 the night sky is pitch black. There is a short walk down an unlit road whichis mainly frequented by the kids at the hotel next door and carless teachers rom my school. Generally, I make plans to travel in pairs, but today I left school alone. I know I'm an adult, but it is reasonable to be a bit nervous in this situation. At Centre I used to fake talk to people on my cell phone when I was apprehensive and alone outside. The chatter probably sounded like, "Yeah mom, now I'm walking up the steps behind Sutcliffe. Yeah, I know they're steep. I'll be careful. Oh, by the way I forgot to give you DPS's phone number. It's 859-238-HELP. Sure I'll repeat it..." or " That's hilarious! I'm almost to the Warehouse now. Can you see me? I'm in front of the Beta House. Look out the window, Tricia. I'm right here." (I cannot believe I'm admitting this on public domain. Love me in spite of my dorkiness. Bitte?) Now, though, I'm a tougher woman of the city. I'm fearless. I'm like Destiny's Child, an Independent Woman. I sat next to a guy named B-Ball on the flight home- well, that's what his grillz said, anyway. I can take any one who comes my way because lurking under my striped Target mittens are... brass knuckles. ;)

Maybe I should mention them to my fake listener on the phone next time I have to walk home alone. Yeah. Sniff.

New student?

So, I'm really enjoying my class. They seem to remember the rituals and routines fairly well. Even my new student is getting along pretty well and catching on to the idiosyncracies of my class. Today, we heard that another new student will be transferring in from JFK in Berlin. We're not sure whose class he will be in, but I know that adding him will give my class eleven boys and five girls. Pretty unbalanced, no? Even so, I'm open to the idea of having him join our class. Sixteen is the perfect number for collaborating activities!

Reports currently own my life. Maybe that's why my students are being so fab? Nah, they're really just sweet at heart.

Get to sleep, already!

Ugh. I made a terrible jet-lagged mistake. After school today I went home and decided to go to bed. I was asleep before 7 which explains why I'm now wide awake at 1:30 am on a school night. Night is almost too reflective (it is a dark time for me- and everyone else except "Eskimos and dudes with night vision goggles" TY Blades of Glory.) I start feeling homesick, lonely, and a bit hopeless about where my life is going. Heavy.

So, I'll write some gratefuls and try my best to rest up for tomorrow.

I am grateful for my supportive family. They give me confidence.
I am grateful for good, true friends both here and abroad.
Iam grateful for a job which challenges me.
I am grateful for students who complained when I said it was time to go home.
I am grateful for the student who, the moment I finished our read-aloud book, asked, "Please, another, please!"
I am grateful for the technology which allows me to keep in contact with you.
I am grateful for the pink sunrise this morning.
I am grateful for the opportunities and luxuries to know that my basic needs are no concern. Way to go, Maslow and your rockin' hierarchy.
I am grateful that having the chance to express myself without fear.
I am grateful for the hope of having another day and a better attitude tomorrow.

(This is the kind of journal entry I used to destroy. We'll see how long this one lasts.)

New Year's Resolutions

According to the JCES 5th grade PSHE book, goals should be achieveable, measurable, and written down. This entry will complete the triad. My resolution is to write in this blog once per week. (Notice today is the 7th of January, so I'm still on track!) Wish me luck and resolve.

I'm at the airport right now getting ready to fly back to Berlin. One of the toughest and best aspects of this experience is constantly and never feeling at home. My homes are varied. I'm at home in Danville/Junction. I feel at home in Bellefontaine. I feel at home in Lexington. I hope when I return to Berlin I will feel at home too. Before leaving Berlin I was chatting with another teacher who is originally from Spain, lived in Chicago for several years, and now lives in Berlin. She said that she is constantly bringing foodstuffs and toiletries from all three countries. Do I want to do that for the rest of my life? There are worse predicaments...

I really enjoyed this holiday break. The best parts were seeing family and friends and really sitting down and catching up with them. Oddly, time didn't stand still when I left and changes have occurred for everyone. I'm glad. I think that change is painful because it forces you to grow. Isn't that why I'm here? To travel and grow. (I hate the term "find yourself." BITM, don't you already have yourself? Aren't you really seeking adaptation, reaction, and reflection? If you don't agree, you can go and "find" yourself...)

Happy 2008. I'm going to write some grade cards now. See you in less than 7 days.