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 Dame
Amazing 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.
